cedar valley business monthly - april 2013

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For a month that starts out with All Fools’ Day, April sure comes with its share of

frowns.No doubt, tax

season brings more than its share of long faces.

This year is prob-ably fraught with a bit more than the usual dose of angst since the rules are changing, rates are rising and man-dated medical cov-erage for employ-ees is entering the equation.

Appropriately, this issue of the Cedar Valley Busi-ness Monthly takes

a look at taxes and solicits insights from leaders of several account-ing firms and tax consultants who

are in the trenches with business clients year after year, wading through an increasingly complex web of tax requirements.

The burden one company car-ries may differ from the chal-lenges another faces. The Cedar Valley is a veritable mosaic of commercial enterprises that offer a full range of products and ser-vices. There is a common bond, though, and it’s taxes. Everyone pays. How much often depends on the advice a company gets from a tax expert.

Companies, like individual tax-payers, profit by effectively us-ing deductions. That’s where concepts like hiring independent contractors, hiring family mem-bers, keeping meticulous records of business expenses and chari-table giving can prove invalu-able, according to tax experts.

Another key is being proactive. Companies that wait to react

to the latest changes in tax law coming out of Washington, D.C., find themselves in a defensive posture. Tax strategies might be compared to chess: Anticipating the next move — or two moves after that — is paramount to win-ning the game.

Nobody can predict what Con-gress will do with tax law. Talk of “tax reform” reeks of an all-too-familiar platitudinous timbre. Businesses have learned from nasty experience not to listen to what politicians say, but to watch carefully what they do and how they vote.

Tax experts talk of the benefits of real tax reform but sound a cautionary note about special in-terests who want to “protect their turf.” Lobbyists are headquar-tered in Washington for good reason. They monitor all activ-ity on Capitol Hill and have their own paying interests to protect.

This year’s tax season marks a strange turn for businesses since the gears now are turning for full implementation of the Afford-able Care Act, which requires every man, woman and child in the U.S. have health insurance in 2014. That means businesses face some tough choices. All com-panies employing 50 full-time workers will be required to pro-vide health plans for all. Wheth-er they choose to comply with the mandate or decline to cover workers and leave them to find coverage on their own — and ac-cept a per-employee fine — will have a direct implication on their bottom lines.

For all the talk of simplifying taxes, the opposite seems to be occurring. For the business com-munity that means April 2013, and all subsequent Aprils in the foreseeable future, likely will be-come increasingly humorless.

Jim Offneris the Courier

business editor. Contact

him at jim.offner@ wcfcourier.

com.

Tax time no joke for businesses

from the editor

Cedar Valley Business Monthly is a free monthly publication direct-mailed to more than 5,300 area businesses.

Contact us at (319) 291-1448 or P.O. Box 540, Waterloo, IA 50704.

EDITORIAL STAFF

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CEDAR VALLEY BUSINESS EXPO

Strictly Business the perfect place for businesses to show off their products, network. page 6

contents

BRANDON POLLOCK Cedar Valley Business Monthly

FROm thE COVER

Tax time is a season of worry for small-business owners in the Cedar Valley. page 4

April Fools?

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April means one thing for businesses as well as their customers: It’s tax time.

It’s normally a frightening enough prospect, but this year brings changes that provide an extra jolt of apprehension for small businesses, according to tax prepar-ers.

Think ahead, they advise business owners.“One of the things we try to do is be proac-

tive and work with clients and try to antici-pate and plan for things, try to plan to avoid certain things from happening,” said Chad Abbas, a partner at Bergan Paulsen.

The accounting firm based in Waterloo works with hundreds of small-business cli-ents.

Many businesses run into problems at tax time by not anticipating changes in the rules, Abbas said.

This is a good year to plan ahead since changes are afoot in the tax system. Some changes already have taken place. Others may be coming soon.

One example is tax credits on depreciation, Abbas said.

Tax time Changes bring angst for local businesses

BRANDON POLLOCK Courier Staff Photographer

Kevin Hemmen, right, with Waterloo Warehousing, drops off tax documents with Chad Abbas at Bergan Paulsen in Waterloo.

� APril 2013 CEdaR VallEy BusINEss MONthly


Register online or call 319-296-4290.www.hawkeyecollege.edu/business-and-community

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Professional DevelopmentOPPORTUNITIES

“Basically, for equipment pur-chases, for example, that need to be depreciated over their useful life, the purchases up to $500,000 you can elect to expense in the first year as opposed to depreciate over its useful life,” he said.

Companies can take a 50 per-cent depreciation credit up front on new assets purchased during 2013. That credit was extended from 2011 and 2012.

Health care reform The Affordable Care Act, which

Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010, starts to hit businesses in 2013. Small businesses in particular have to be mindful of the changes it will bring.

“There’s a lot of new stuff out there,” said Roger Neumann, a partner with McGladrey, a tax con-sultant firm in Waterloo.

Some employers are entitled to a tax credit for providing insur-ance coverage to employees. And all employers with 50 or more full-time workers must offer health in-surance plans or pay a fine for each employee not covered.

“I think that’s going to be a very costly part of a small business’s budget, and required coverage dic-tates that you at least look at your employee count and see what you can do to be fiscally responsible,” Neumann said.

Abbas said it will take time for businesses to come to terms with new requirements.

“There’s still guidance coming out in regards to that whole bill,” Abbas said. “They’re trying to de-termine what the guidance is, and we’re still trying to learn it.”

Tax reformTax reform also is a major topic

of discussion.“The new tax rules are still being

created,” Neumann said. “There’s a lot of discussion about changing the tax rules fairly completely, and we’ll probably sit fairly tight with where everybody is now until we see what they bring us in April.”

Companies may want to consid-er filing as an S corporation that does not pay federal income tax. The corporation’s income or losses are divided among its shareholders and reported on their own individ-ual returns.

Most small businesses with any-where between 10 and 60 share-holders are S corporations, Neu-

mann said.Another classification is C cor-

poration, under which most major publicly held companies fall. Such firms have their own tax schedules and rates and pay their own in-come tax.

Frustrations can mountUncertainty about the tax sys-

tem can frustrate small businesses, said Dave Rogers, a partner with Carney, Alexander, Marold & Co. LLP, a Waterloo accounting firm that handles small-business tax re-turns.

“I think probably the biggest frustration was the uncertainty that existed last year,” he said. “That im-pacted a lot of planning for people. We weren’t able to give them de-finitive responses.”

Some of those issues have been resolved, but only to a degree.

“The majority of those resolu-tions are a short-term type of fix,” Rogers said.

Probably the most dramatic change for 2014 will be the depre-ciation credits.

“Bonus depreciation and ac-celerated depreciation will revert to much lower figures,” he said. “That has been kind of an annual issue in every tax bill revision that gets changed or extended. That is going to be a very drastic change as people plan between 2013 and 2014. For accelerated depreciation, it goes from $500,000 to $25,000.”

Implications And while there is a lot of talk

about tax reform, what it means is difficult to determine.

“There are a lot of quote-unquote special interest groups and lobby-ists looking to make sure their in-terests are protected,” Rogers said. “The home interest deduction was something that was actually talked about in the fall of last year. There’s probably a week where the conver-sation was pretty intense related to that, and it kind of disappeared. I would anticipate there were a cou-ple of lobbies out there that were very active in protecting that.”

Abbas said meaningful tax re-form is going to be tough to achieve.

“Believe it or not, even as tax preparers we’d like things to be simpler, as well,” Abbas said. “Whenever you hear about tax sim-plification, it’s kind of ironic that in-stead of things becoming simpler, they become more complex.”

Cedar Valley BusIness monTHly APRil 2013 �


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Businesses network at expoJIM OFFNER [email protected]

Seventy-one exhibitors are signed up to participate in one of the Cedar Valley’s largest business networking events,

Strictly Business, from 4 to 7 p.m. April 2 at Park Place Events Centre in Cedar Falls.

Bob Justis, vice president of community de-velopment with the Greater Cedar Valley Alli-ance & Chamber, will present a seminar on cus-tomer service from 3 to 3:45 p.m.

The event is changing venues after two years at the Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo.

Park Place had hosted the expo the previous three years.

“I think it’s just to keep it fresh and move it around, a couple of years at each place,” said Grant Gubbrud, co-chairman of the event. Both sites were suitable for Strictly Business, Gub-brud said.

“It’s been a great event for both venues,” he said. “We had about the same number of booths. I think it’s good to keep it fresh.”

Last year’s event drew a “best-ever” crowd of 500 attendees, said Bette Wubbena, direc-tor of membership retention with the Alliance & Chamber.

It will be the 22nd year for Strictly Business.

Photos by TIFFANY RUSHING Cedar Valley Business Monthly

Ashley Dulin, left, a Cedar Falls native, and her mother, Deb Dulin, center, of Cedar Falls, speak with Mary Alfrey of Cedar Valley Hospice at last year’s Strictly Business Expo at the Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo.

� APril 2013 Cedar Valley BusIness Monthly

Cedar Valley Business monthly March 2013 �cvbusinessMonthly.coM

The event originally was held over two days and two nights in the Five Sullivan Brothers Conven-tion Center in downtown Waterloo. In the early days it was more of a public event, but the focus has sharpened to concentrate more on its value to the business community, organizers say.

“It used to be like a two- or three-day event, and we quickly realized it was just too long,” said Nat-alie Kracht, director of occupational health at Al-len Hospital, a longtime member of the task force that plans the event. “We get a good attendance. It’s a great networking event not only for attend-ees but for us to network with other vendors that are there.”

The theme for this year’s event is “Make an Im-pression.” Vendors will have an opportunity to network before the event opens.

“I think it’s fabulous just to meet the business owners face to face and see the different products that are available in the Cedar Valley,” Gubbrud said.

Strictly Business allows vendors to showcase a variety of products and services that are available locally, Gubbrud said.

“I think just looking at the variety of businesses that have a booth and all the options available lo-cally is the primary value,” he said.

The format is successful enough, he said, that there is a waiting list of vendors who want to par-ticipate.

“The chamber continues to push it hard as an opportunity for all businesses, so filling the booths is not a problem,” he said.

I’ve always been pretty crazy about sports of all kinds. By high school,my enthusiasm for sports outpaced my talent for playing them.

Wartburg gave me the opportunity to work in student media.There were long hours and late nights, but we also shared a lot oflaughs and good times in the studios and production rooms.

Sports and communication together helped me build a career.Every day, I get to use my passion and abilities to tell someone’s story.

Being able to provide recognition to someone who wouldn’tordinarily get it makes my job rewarding.

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Mason Fromm, right, of Signs & Designs talks with Bryan Burton of Aces at the Strictly Business Expo at the Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo in April 2012.


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Lots of places help you find appsPreviously we have talked

about the emergence of tab-lets — iPads and Android

alike — as the de-vice people are putting in their backpacks and briefcases.

With an abun-dance of apps for calendars, lists, notes, email, so-cial media and cloud storage plus cameras for pictures, video, web conferenc-ing and scanning documents, there is no shortage of tools. But with an estimated 600,000 apps, how can you find informa-tion about new apps to avoid d o w n l o a d i n g apps that won’t

be worth your time?

There are several ways to find useful apps, including using a search engine and some websites.

How do you decide which apps to download? Most likely you are asking your friends for suggestions and reading up on apps in online reviews. Now there is a search en-gine just for apps: quixey.com.

Quixey works across platforms. It has been around since 2009 and was designed to make it easy to find apps by describing what it is you want to do (plan projects, for example). It is easy to use. Search results are highly visual, with op-tions for a variety of platforms, in-cluding iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows and Web. You can also target just iPad or Android apps, or display only free apps.

Results include quick reviews by people who have used the app. Apps with such snippets display the familiar row of five stars indi-cating their rating. You can click on preview when selecting an app in the search results. This opens up a more detailed page that gives

you additional information, screen-shots and the opportunity to share your new discovery on Facebook or Twitter.

Where else can you look for in-formation about apps and how to use your tablet? There are a num-ber of blogs and websites devoted to the iPad, such as ipadinsight.com, theipadguide.com and Ap-padvice.com.

Appadvice has seven main sec-tions. Looking for apps to manage finances? Need holiday-themed apps, apps for cooking, hobbies or apps aimed at zombie lovers? App-lists has you covered. Appguides profiles the best apps in a variety of categories: business card scan-ners, for example. You get an over-view of the category of apps (what

do they do? Why would you need them?) and a list of recommended apps as essential, notable and de-cent. Appcharts has lists of the top paid and free apps for iPhone and iPad. The top 20 paid iPad apps include Pages, Notability, iMovie, and Keynote — the apps for creat-ing documents and presentations, taking notes and editing video. The rest are games. The top 20 free iPad apps include Netflix, podcasts, Skype, Weather Channel, Gmail, Calculator and YouTube. The rest are games. Appisodes are a series of short articles and videos featur-ing new apps. Finally, clicking on the circular icon takes you to the home page with articles, news and tips for users.

There are more recognizable technology websites that also offer their own lists of recommended apps, as well as tips for using mo-bile technology. You can also sign up for weekly email from these websites. My favorites include PCMag.com, pcworld.com, and techrepublic.com.

tech wAtch

Cherie Dargan

is associate professor of

communications at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo.

Contact her at 296-4000, ext.

1701, or cherie.dargan@hawkeyecollege.

edu.

“With an estimated 600,000 apps, how can you avoid downloading apps that

won’t be worth your time?”


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Our address is located at 3404 Midway Drive, Waterloo, IA 50701.

Thursday, April 25th • 7:30 am — NoonPark Place Event Centre, Cedar Falls

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Interview! Hire! Coach! Retain!Lois Rupkey, CEO, Byrnes and Rupkey, Inc.

Learn best practices for hiring and retaining top quality employeesthat can help your business succeed!

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Learn what steps are needed to ensure a happy retirement for youas well as the continued success of your business!

Beware debt relief scams consumer advocate

Got debt? If you’re making payments on a mortgage, a car, an education or credit

card bills, you’re in good company. While manageable debt doesn’t keep most people up at night, getting be-hind on monthly bills and mounting debt can be over-whelming.

But when adver-tisements or tele-marketers claim there are easy fixes that will result in smaller payments and lower debt,

don’t believe them. Debt relief can be complicated. In certain cases it can’t happen without you declaring bankruptcy, and the consequences can impact your credit rating and your finances for many years.

If you’re behind on your bills, start a conversation with your

creditors before you talk to anyone offering debt relief. Ask if you can work out a payment plan. If the answer is no or you can’t seem to reach an agreeable payment plan, call an expert for help.

Nonprofit credit counseling ser-vices will seek reasonable solu-tions based on your circumstanc-es. Credit counseling services have trained counselors who work on your behalf with creditors. These nonprofit agencies may charge small fees but will charge much less than for-profit debt relief companies. You can find National Foundation for Credit Counseling local member agencies at www.nfcc.org, or call (800) 388-2227.

For-profit debt relief companies may claim that there are simple so-lutions for everyone, but they often charge expensive advance fees and hidden costs that don’t go toward reducing your debt. Those fees can include initial fees, monthly service fees and a closing fee. Some firms may do little or nothing but collect

fees. For-profit debt relief compa-nies that sell their services over the telephone may no longer charge a fee before they settle or reduce a consumer’s credit card or other unsecured debt, but this federal rule does not apply to debt relief agreements made through the In-ternet or in person.

When contacting anyone who provides debt relief services, ask questions up front before agree-ing to any services. Ask about all fees and costs, and request a writ-ten copy of the fees they charge. Don’t do business with anyone who tells you to stop communi-cating with your creditors. It’s not only bad advice, it’s illegal to give that advice.

Stopping payments to creditors will increase your debt amount, can hurt your legal standing and can negatively affect your long-term financial situation. A debt re-lief service must explain the con-sequences of stopping payments to creditors. Those consequences

could include losing your home if it was purchased with a mort-gage, increased debt because of penalties and interest, significant damage to your credit rating, ex-posure to debt collectors and legal trouble.

If you are considering bankrupt-cy, do so carefully. Bankruptcy, de-pending on the type, can eliminate unsecured debts and stop foreclo-sures, repossessions, utility shut-offs, certain debt collections and garnishments. But bankruptcy can also result in unintended and long-term consequences. You should consult with a lawyer to talk about bankruptcy options. You’ll find a basic bankruptcy information sheet at www.justice.gov/ust.

To file a complaint or for more in-formation, contact the Iowa Attor-ney General’s Consumer Protec-tion Division, Hoover Bldg., Des Moines, IA 50319. Call (515) 281-5926, or, toll-free, (888) 777-4590. The website is www.IowaAttor-neyGeneral.gov.

Tom Miller is attorney general for

Iowa. Contact his office

(515) 281-5164.

Cedar Valley Business monthly aPril 2013 �


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April is volunteer month

Established in 1974, National Volunteer Week has grown each year, drawing the sup-

port and of U.S. presidents, gover-nors, mayors and other respected officials.

It presents an opportunity for in-dividuals, families, nonprofit organi-zations and gov-ernment entities to celebrate the ordinary people who accomplish e x t r a o rd i n a r y things through service.

National Volun-teer Week embod-ies the energy and power volunteers evoke as they lead

by example — not only encourag-ing the people they help, but moti-vating others to serve as well.

The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley will host the Mayors’ Vol-

unteer and Top Teen Awards April 23. The Mayors’ Volunteer Awards honor the exemplary contributions of individuals ages 19 and older who dedicate their time and talent in Black Hawk County. The May-ors’ Top Teen Awards honor youths ages 13-18 attending a school in Black Hawk County. The Commu-nity Foundation of Northeast Iowa also selects one junior from each of the accredited high schools in Black Hawk County to receive the $1,000 Mother Moon service scholarship.

The program is sponsored by the cities of Cedar Falls, Evansdale and Waterloo; the Greater Cedar Valley Chamber of Commerce Ambassa-dors; the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa; the R.J. McElroy Trust; and the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley.

The VCCV will also lead a Global Youth Service Day on April 26 in a collaborative effort between the VCCV and Iowa State University Extension.

To secure volunteer opportuni-ties call 272-2087 or go to www.vccv.org.

Anne Nass is

communications coordinator at the Volunteer

Center of Cedar Valley in Waterloo.

Contact her at 272-2087. The

website is www.vccv.org.

nonPRofits

I consider myself somewhat steeped in politics as well as American military history. I must confess, however, my knowledge of Ike Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, was slim. Michael Korda paints a complete picture of a boy from the

middle, much like me. Ike was born in Texas and raised in Kansas, and he became a most unlikely leader. Ike’s impact on life in America is still felt today. Surprisingly, his lessons on leadership are subtle, yet truly significant.

Ike’s path was seldom his path of choice and somewhat determined by others. His choice to attend the U.S. Naval Academy was undermined when his best friend got the nomination. West Point Military Academy was offered to him as an alternative. While at West Point, Ike was an average student. He had always been a gifted athlete and was hopeful to become part of West Point’s famed football team. A sports-ending injury once again sent him in another direction, one he wasn’t thrilled about. Ike was relegated to coaching the JV team. Can you imagine the leadership skills you develop as a coach, compared to those skills you develop as a running back? Quietly, Ike did what he was told and led people along the way.

The United States hadn’t entered World War I as he graduated from West Point, yet he was anxious to show his stuff when we finally joined the war. Once again disappointment reigned for Ike when he was overlooked for a battle assignment. As a young lieutenant he was relegated to duties of his commanding officer. Ike became the power behind the throne, so to speak, yet this exercise and duty would eventually carry him to the top of his profession. His duties stateside varied from coaching Army football teams to setting up military camps for training newly commissioned officers, training tank warfare with a guy named Patton and handling the logistical nightmare of receiving all supply materials for new encampments.

Jumping to ahead to WWII, Ike, although having never been in combat, had accumulated the experiences necessary to be named the Supreme Commander of the Allies. His skill helped to develop a constituency of leadership that made him one the greatest military leaders of one of the finest armies of all time, using all the skills developed from previous assignments that seemed mundane.

When Ike was ushered into the White House, he brought along ideas germinating from his early years in the army. Lt. Eisenhower, in 1919, was part of a War Department convoy that traveled from the White House to San Francisco on the Lincoln Highway. It took the convoy 61 days to cross America. As a visionary, Ike could see the automobile was going to be the primary means of transportation. Ike’s impact on America’s interstate highway system clearly had an effect on not only the domestic automobile industry but the

freedom of all Americans to travel and adventure across our lower 48 states.

I truly enjoyed this book. Whether in life or in business, when things don’t necessarily go as planned, or you meet disappointment, act like Ike. Move forward; learn as much as you can. Your experiences and lessons will surely lead you, making your journey worthwhile.

Ike: An American HeroAuthor: Michael KordaPages: 800

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Glass ceilingBloomberg News

Rosalie Wolf, an investment ad-viser, asked the male-only partners of a Los Angeles money manage-ment firm, all in their early 40s or younger, why they didn’t have any female colleagues.

“They said maybe they’d look for a woman intern,” said Wolf, man-aging partner of Botanica Capital Partners, which advises clients in-cluding institutional investors and foundations.

Twenty-seven years after Wolf and other women first complained in 1986 about bumping against an invisible barrier — dubbed the glass ceiling — when they aimed for top jobs, just 21 are chief ex-ecutive officers of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Now, a rash of books, from Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to former State Depart-ment official Anne-Marie Slaugh-ter, are appearing on the shelves, seeking to empower women.

Wolf, the one-time treasurer at International Paper Co., quit in 1986, figuring she’d almost hit the ceiling, and subsequently worked at Bankers Trust in private equity and then at the Rockefeller Foun-dation as chief investment officer.

“Women are fed up,” said Julie Daum, who heads executive re-cruiter Spencer Stuart’s search practice for corporate directors in North America. “They’ve worked hard and played by the rules for years, and that hasn’t gotten them anywhere near parity in leadership positions.”

Work and parenting have both become more demanding in re-cent decades, increasing pressure on women who still do the bulk of child care, female executives say.

Increasing numbers of women and men in managerial and profes-sional jobs, including 32 percent of single mothers in this group, work 50 hours a week or more, accord-ing to the Center for American Progress.

Everyone’s putting in more time at the office and then in the eve-nings and weekends, they’re ex-pected to answer emails, which

interrupts family time, said Steph-anie Coontz, who teaches fam-ily history at Evergreen State Col-lege in Olympia, Wash., and has written about men and women’s changing roles. At the same time, working mothers now put in more parenting hours than stay-at-home mothers did as late as 1965, “doing all sorts of enrichment activities,” she said.

Men who grew up in recent de-cades playing sports with girls or were outperformed by them in school still don’t necessarily want to share power with women, said Adam Quinton, a former manag-ing director at Bank of America Corp. and now an early-stage in-vestor in startups.

“Never underestimate the power of ingrained traditions and net-works,” said Quinton, adding he has observed women failing to get the promotions or recognition

they deserve because they’re per-ceived as outsiders. “If men are on the inside and it’s men they’ve al-ways seen being successful, that’s who they think they need along-side them.”

Lucie Salhany, the former chair-man of Fox Broadcasting Co. and a former director at Compaq Computer Corp. and subsequent-ly Hewlett-Packard Co., has often been the sole woman in the room at business meetings. She said she thinks the main reason so few women have ascended to the C-suite and boardrooms is because a lot of men prefer other men they know or admire — no matter how many times they hear that diversity leads to better decision- making or that women could help them reach female customers.

Early in her tenure as a direc-tor, Salhany was urged by anoth-er director to stop talking about

the need for more women on the board and in executive ranks, she said.

Later at Hewlett-Packard, when she was a member of the board’s nominating committee, an outside recruiter gave the committee a binder divided into three sections — one listing CEOs who were po-tential director candidates, one of chief financial officers and one of women. Salhany said she ques-tioned the segregation of women, including those who were CEOs.

“While we cannot verify the ac-curacy of Ms. Salhany’s story, HP has a very strong history of diver-sity at both our senior executive and board levels,” said Howard Clabo, a Hewlett-Packard spokes-man. The company’s current CEO, finance chief and three of its direc-tors are women.

Barriers still stifling women in executive suites

Bloomberg News Photo

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Sandberg has written a book that seeks to help women in the business world pushing against the glass ceiling.

See CEILING, page 11

Cedar Valley Business monthly APRil 2013 11


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Women who have reached senior corpo-rate ranks haven’t helped other women near-ly enough, according to Pat Cook, who runs Cook & Co., a Bronxville, N.Y.-based execu-tive search firm, and in 1981 became the first female senior vice president at Chemical Bank.

When women get promoted and have a chance to assem-ble a new staff, “they’ll name a woman to be in charge of hu-man resources but rarely pro-mote women to key sales or operating positions, because they’re nervous about not be-ing seen as on the men’s team — or don’t want to take risks,” Cook said.

At Yahoo Inc., CEO Marissa Mayer, who joined the company in July, has a female head of human resources and a female chief mar-keting officer. Other top executives she has recruited are male, including the chief operat-ing officer, chief financial officer, executive vice president of platforms and senior vice presi-dent of emerging products.

The company doesn’t comment on internal matters, said Sarah Gorman, a spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo.

No wonder top women see a market advis-ing female colleagues how to succeed. Women comprise just 15 percent of senior executives at companies in the S&P 500 index and only 16 percent of corporate directors. They fill 51.4 percent of managerial and professional posi-tions, yet still earn 23 percent less than men on average, according to U.S. Census data.

Even Sandberg, who came to Facebook from Google, where she was a vice president, didn’t become a Facebook director until the world’s largest social-media company was criticized for not having any women on its board.

Her book, “Lean In,” which was released March 11, tells women to get over their am-bivalence about being ambitious, think big and take risks. Along with her book, Sand-berg is starting “Lean In Circles” at sponsor

companies such as American Express Co. and Google, in which she hopes women will share their experiences and learn how to succeed.

Slaughter, a professor at Princeton Univer-sity who served as the first female director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department, is writing a book in which she advocates more flexible workplaces so women and men don’t have to choose between being leaders and par-ents. Barnard College President Debora Spar, in a book that will be published in September, urges women to quit trying to be perfect and understand they can show up at power break-fasts with baby spit on their lapels.

These manifestos are hitting a nerve.“Sure women need to lean in and be resil-

ient, but they’re going to tip over if the men in power don’t reach in and support them,” said Subha Barry, a consultant and the former head of diversity at Freddie Mac and, before that, at Merrill Lynch. “Women who manage to get to the top sometimes worry they’ll be branded if they pull other women along with them.”

Some female executives aren’t supportive of policies that help the working parents on their staffs. Yahoo’s Mayer took off just two weeks from work when she had her first child in Oc-tober. Last month, she told employees with work-at-home arrangements that they have to start coming to the office as of June 1.

“We don’t discuss internal matters,” said Gorman. “This isn’t a broad industry view on working from home — this is what is right for Yahoo, right now.”

Women seeking to advance their careers while devoting time to families say they’re still searching for role models. Shyama Ven-kateswar, who is 46 and has two school-aged children, worries she’s setting a poor example for younger, unmarried women.

A Ph.D. in political science who until a few weeks ago was head of research at the Nation-al Council for Research on Women, she’s been juggling 60 hours of work a week with child-care and volunteering at her kids’ schools.

“Younger women I worked with would see me typing proposals and reports while talk-ing to the school principal, a half-eaten salad on my desk. And then I’d send them e-mails at 1 a.m. because that’s the only time I have to think. I feel like I’m on skis all the time, leaning forward, and if I lean in any more, I’m going to fall down.”

When she went to lunch recently with three girlfriends, also working moms, they were all too tired to eat, said Venkateswar, who lost her job in a restructuring and is looking for a new position.

Until women gain a bigger share of leader-ship spots, they’ll have a hard time competing in business, Salhany said.

“You’re different and you stand out because there are so few of you,” she said, adding that now, with companies consolidating, women are less likely to get promoted.

Salhany has found a way around the prob-lem for herself. She’s now consulting for a fe-male entrepreneur — Paula Deen, the televi-sion cooking show host and author.

CEILINGFrom page 11

Marissa Meyer

Yahoo Inc. CEO


cvbusinessmonthly.com Cedar Valley Business monthly APRil 2013 13

Washington Post photo by by Jessica Rinaldi

Rethink Robotics designed the Baxter robot to work alongside real people. Its cartoon face changes expressions to warn people what it is doing.

Will robots create jobs or end them?

At MIT, a management robot is learning to run a factory and give orders to artificial co-workers, and a BakeBot robot is reading recipes, whipping together butter, sugar and flour and putting the cookie mix in the oven. At the University of California at Berkeley, a robot can do laundry and then neatly fold T-shirts and towels.

A wave of new robots, afford-able and capable of accomplishing advanced human tasks, is being aimed at jobs that are high in the workforce hierarchy.

The consequences of this leap in technology loom large for the American worker — and perhaps their managers, too. Back in the 1980s, when automated spray-painting and welding machines took hold in factories, some on the assembly line quickly discovered they had become obsolete.

Today’s robots can do far more than their primitive, single-task an-cestors. And there is a broad debate among economists, labor experts and companies over whether the trend will add good-paying jobs to the economy by helping firms run more efficiently or simply leave hu-man workers out in the cold.

“We’ve reached a tipping point in robotics,” said Daniela Rus, direc-tor of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The possibility is to run a factory, she added, “all while you are sleep-

ing.”U.S. firms have already begun

deploying some of these newer robots. General Electric has de-veloped spiderlike robots to climb and maintain tall wind turbines. Kiva Systems, a company bought by Amazon.com, has orange ot-toman-shaped robots that sweep across warehouse floors, pull products off shelves and deliver them for packaging. Some hospi-tals have begun employing robots that can move room to room to dis-pense medicines to patients or de-liver the advice of a doctor who is not on site.

Many companies see automation as the key to cutting costs and stay-ing competitive. Sales of industrial robots rose 38 percent between 2010 and 2012 and are poised to bring in record revenue this year, says industry analyst Dan Kara.

“There will certainly be winners and losers,” said Ryan Calo, a pro-fessor of law at the University of Washington who focuses on robot-ics and public policy. “We’re talk-ing about robots now because they are so versatile and affordable, and that will have profound affects on manufacturing, the entire supply chain and jobs.”

Already on the market is Baxter, a robot developed by a former di-rector of MIT’s lab.

See ROBOTS, page 27

The Washington Post


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Estate planning when it’s just the two of youPlanning for the future can

take a different shape when children aren’t involved.

Estate planning is important regard-less of your paren-tal status. A well-crafted estate plan assigns decision makers, designates heirs and specifies who gets what af-ter you and your partner pass away. It allows couples to create contingen-cies for individual survivorship and can minimize taxes. It also can help en-sure your mutual wishes are respect-

ed as health or cognitive abilities decline.

Assign decision makers. Cou-ples without children can each ex-ecute a power of attorney naming their spouse to act on their behalf. Each can also designate an alter-nate attorney-in-fact in the event

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both become unable to make deci-sions. This person may also be as-signed executor of your estate. You might consider asking a trusted family member or friend (generally someone younger) or a profession-al in the estate planning business to take on these responsibilities.

A living will — also called an ad-vance health care directive — is an-other important document both of you should have on file. It specifies your wishes in the event of an inca-pacitating illness and enables your assigned designee to make deci-sions about your health care.

Decide how your assets will be distributed. An attorney can help you draw up a will that specifies how and to whom your assets will be distributed when one or both of you pass away. Without a will in place, your estate will be han-dled according to the statutes of the state in which you reside. Of-ten, when there are no children or designated heirs identified in a last will and testament, the surviv-ing spouse is the primary heir, then other living relatives. If this is what

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you intend, you can make that clear in your will; if not, determine how you want to split your assets.

Your estate plan can include strategies for giving financial gifts before or after your death. Under current federal tax law for 2013, an individual may gift up to $14,000 per person to as many people as he or she likes without gift tax conse-quences. You can also pay college tuition for anyone without being subject to gift taxes or using any of your annual or lifetime gift tax exclusions, as long as you pay the institution directly.

Create avenues for charitable giving. You may choose to give to causes you’re passionate about. There are ways to be generous in a tax-efficient way while you and your partner are both still living. You can donate to a donor-advised fund and receive tax benefits up front while suggesting how the funds should be invested and later distributed to your chosen non-profit organization. With a chari-table lead trust, the charity receives payments for a period of time after

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which you or your heirs receive any remaining assets. A charitable remainder trust operates in the re-verse, giving you or your heirs a stream of payments for a period of time (not exceeding 20 years) or for life, leaving any remaining amount to the selected charity.

Plan for the unexpected. Your estate plan should include adequate insurance coverage for unexpected events. Be sure to name the appro-priate beneficiaries, including one another, on your respective poli-cies. You may wish to purchase long-term-care insurance policies that help cover assisted living ser-vices or nursing home care.

Consult the experts to create a comprehensive estate plan.

A financial adviser can help you and your spouse or partner make plans for handling your estate. In conjunction with legal and tax ad-visers, you can take steps to ensure you both have sufficient means to live well after the other passes and that your mutual wishes are re-spected regarding the legacy you leave.

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PeRsonAl finAnce

Larry K. Fox is a private

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Contact him at 234-7000.


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Financial stress costs employersThe National Health Statis-

tics group recently reported that health care costs in 2010

neared $2.6 trillion, more than 10 times the amount spent in 1980.

Health care ex-penditures are ex-pected to continue to grow faster than income for the fore-seeable future. The increase in health care costs has trans-lated to higher in-surance premiums for employees and employers, a stag-gering increase of 119 percent from 1999 to 2008, ac-cording to the Kai-ser Family Foun-dation. During this same time frame, employee pay rose just 29 percent.

The rising cost of health care has caused employers to search for ways

to manage costs. The annual Top Five Total Rewards Survey conduct-ed by Deloitte Consulting LLP cited health care cost as the top concern for 75 percent of employer respon-dents. To control costs, 70 percent of employers said they are review-ing corporate wellness programs to encourage healthy lifestyles, up from 59 percent in 2011.

Some form of wellness initiative can be found at virtually any work-place in the Cedar Valley. A sample of benefits offered by local employ-ers includes:

On-site Weight Watcher meet-ings.

Free and discounted member-ships to weight loss programs such as Jenny Craig and NutriSystem.

On-site fitness centers.Smoking cessation.Reductions in insurance premi-

ums based on health care measure-ments such as cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index, etc.

While these programs are benefi-cial, they don’t address a core rea-son why employees have underlying

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health issues: financial stress. The American Psychological Association recognizes financial stress as the leading cause of unhealthy behav-iors like smoking and weight gain as well as alcohol and drug abuse. The Debt-Stress Connection by WebMD concluded that financial stress can cause illness as well as unhealthy be-haviors, which result in more health care visits and claims. Financial stress was reported as the leading cause of illnesses such as migraines, back pain, depression, insomnia, ul-cers, weight gain and heart attack.

Many participants in corporate wellness initiatives either don’t have positive results or don’t have long-lasting results because their financial stress hasn’t been addressed. Even the best-educated students don’t make smart decisions about man-aging their finances. They simply haven’t been taught how to manage their money, which leads to financial stress.

Local employers do provide finan-cial education to their employees, primarily in regards to the impor-

tance of contributing to their 401(k) accounts as well as investment op-tions within 401(k) accounts. Unfor-tunately, the financial education of-fered by employers doesn’t address many of the challenges facing our diverse workforce. Concerns as:

Establishing a budget and emer-gency savings fund.

How to build credit or improve their credit.

Managing debt.Purchasing or selling a home.

To an employee struggling to de-velop credit and manage a budget, planning for retirement isn’t the pri-ority it should be. A well-designed financial literacy program needs to start with the basics and then pro-ceed to more complex topics.

As such, the best financial educa-tion program we can offer our em-ployees touches on all the financial topics that our employees need to know about. This allows the employ-ee to make the decision as to what would benefit them and help reduce their financial stress, which leads to reductions in the cost of health care.

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Connie Moyer

is Iowa branch manager for Paramount

Mortgage Co. in Waterloo.

Contact her at 486-2022 or cmoyer@

paramount mortgage.

com.

finAnce educAtion


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Make a good first impression


You never get a second chance to make a first im-pression.

A first impres-sion could make or break a deal, so a proper introduc-tion is important.

Be prepared. Always do your homework and learn something about the compa-ny and the person you are meeting with. Preparation also means being able to adapt your approach to meet their needs. You should develop a variety of greet-ings and openers

■

and know when and how to use each.

Dress appropriately. Don’t dress for the job you have now, dress for the job you want to have. People seldom criticize you for over-dressing, but it is impos-sible to upgrade your appearance when you are under-dressed.

Be aware of body language. You could wear an expensive suit, but if you stand slumped with your head down you won’t give off a confident aura.

Make eye contact and smile. This will create an upbeat and positive environment. Maintain-ing eye contact a good portion of the time will demonstrate you are interested in the conversation.

Avoid starting the conversa-tion with “Hello, how are you?” Greet them with something that

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stimulates and encourages con-versation. If you need something to get the dialogue started, scan the room for pictures of fam-ily, sports memorabilia and the like and strike up a conversation about that. This sort of an intro-duction places you in a social con-text, focusing less on the sale, and helps to start the process in a re-laxed and comfortable tone.

Be a good listener. People like to talk, particularly about them-selves. If you let them talk it’s pos-

■

sible you will get the answers you need. They also like to hear their own name, so use their name whenever possible.

Make the most of their time. You should pay attention to their body language for clues that they may be in a hurry. Focus on help-ing them quickly and efficiently.

Lastly, earn their trust. Don’t mislead. If you can’t answer the question, advise them you will find out the answer and get back to them.

If you’re lucky enough to get the attention of a decision maker, you should make the most of it. Once you have their attention, what is said next is when the clock starts ticking.

You want to ensure people re-member you, as you may not get a second chance.

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Mike Tynan is vice

president, commercial

lender at Community

National Bank in Waterloo. Contact him at 291-2000.

Best Buy is latest company to end teleworkBest Buy Co. has ended its pro-

gram that allowed corporate em-ployees to control their schedules and how often they showed up at the company’s Richfield, Minn., headquarters.

Known as Results Only Work En-vironment, or ROWE, the compa-ny evaluated employees solely on performance. Employees worked when they wanted and wherever they wanted, just as long as they got the job done.

Now most employees will work a traditional 40-hour week, though managers have discretion to ac-commodate some workers. ROWE, which the company launched in

2005, did not apply to Best Buy’s store employees, who make up the lion’s share of the retailer’s 168,000-person global workforce.

“It makes sense to consider not just what the results are but how the work gets done,” said Best Buy spokesman Matt Furman. “Bot-tom line, it’s ‘all hands on deck’ at Best Buy, and that means having employees in the office as much as possible to collaborate and con-nect on ways to improve our busi-ness.”

Last year, 63 percent of compa-nies allowed employees to work some hours from home, compared with 34 percent in 2005, according

to a study by the National Study of Employers, which was produced by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Families and Work Institute.

In 2010, 54 percent of women 16 years and older participated in the labor force, with 71 percent of those women raising children, the study said.

Erin Kelly, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota who has authored studies on ROWE, said companies are unfairly scape-goating flexible work programs for their subpar performances.

“I’m concerned that these flexi-bility initiatives and telework initia-

tives are getting blamed for what may be other problems those orga-nizations are facing in the broader market,” Kelly said.

In her research, Kelly said ROWE “reduced work-family conflicts. In the period we were studying em-ployees in the ROWE departments, they were less likely to leave the company and less likely to be think-ing about leaving the company.”

But industry experts say Best Buy and Yahoo, each led by a new CEO who inherited companies hobbled by dysfunctional cultures, are try-ing to send a broader message to employees, male or female, that they mean business.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Among the hundreds of reasons to hate performance reviews, here’s another: They dull certain parts of our brains. Temporarily, at least.

Research shows that when a per-son’s status is threatened — some-thing that often happens when we’re told in a performance review how we need to improve — activity diminishes in certain regions of the brain. When that occurs, says David Rock, the author of “Your Brain at Work,” “people’s fields of view actu-ally constrict, they can take in a nar-rower stream of data and there’s a restriction in creativity.”

Not exactly a state of mind anyone wants to have. But we don’t need neuroscience to tell us why the an-nual performance review song-and-dance is so universally reviled. We have our own reasons: the endless paperwork, the evaluation criteria so utterly unrelated to our jobs and the simplistic and quota-driven ratings used to label the performance of oth-erwise complex, educated people.

What makes this annual rite of corporate kabuki so baffling is that those of us getting and giving re-views aren’t the only ones who hate

them. Corporate leaders aren’t big fans, either. In surveys of managers and human resource professionals, leadership advisory firm CEB found performance reviews get pretty bad reviews themselves.

They’re wildly inaccurate, for one: CEB’s research finds that two-thirds of employees who receive the high-est scores in a typical performance management system are not actually the organization’s highest perform-ers. Go figure. The reviews are inef-fective, too: Managers told CEB that conventional reviews generate only a 3 to 5 percent improvement in per-formance.

Our collective distaste of the pro-cess worsened as the economy has stagnated, workplace dynamics have changed and a new generation of workers has emerged with differ-ent expectations. Making matters worse, raises are so paltry that the difference between getting a “4” or a “5” on your review might mean lit-tle more than taking the kids out for pizza every couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, in workplaces that have moved from command-and-control hierarchies to ones that val-

ue teamwork and matrix-style man-agement, performance edicts from on high are a terrible fit. “They’re designed as though they’re Russia in the ’60s,” management adviser Mar-cus Buckingham says.

That’s especially the case for work-ers of a younger generation, who have come to expect immediate feedback in nearly every other as-pect of their lives.

So why then, pray tell, do we still do performance reviews?

One answer: We always have. An “imperial rater” was apparently used as far back as the Wei Dynasty in third-century China to make perfor-mance evaluations of people at the imperial court. The Navy used per-formance ratings during the Civil War, says Kevin Murphy, a consul-tant. “These are large-scale, com-plex systems for making people un-happy,” he says. “They’re not a new problem.”

By the time the 1980s rolled around and General Electric’s Jack Welch fueled the rank-and-yank craze, in which companies rank-ordered em-ployees and culled the bottom 10 percent, it was hard to imagine a

world without them.Another reason is the notion that

company lawyers require them. The paper trail many companies rely on to support personnel decisions fre-quently happens not as part of the regular review process but after a company has decided to manage someone out. “I have had count-less situations that go like this: I get a phone call from a client saying an employee’s work is intolerable, and they need to take immediate action. But then I get the evaluation file and it says ‘meets expectations,’” says Garry Mathiason, chairman of the global employment law firm Littler Mendelson.

CEB found a small but growing 3 percent of companies in 2012 had dropped traditional annual perfor-mance reviews. Studies have shown over and over again that “people simply think they perform better than other people,” says Mary Jen-kins, an HR consultant who co-wrote the book “Abolishing Performance Appraisals.” “Unless you rate some-one in the highest category, the con-versation shifts away from feedback and development to justification.”

Performance reviews actually dull your brain


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Author: Think big and get richTo become a millionaire you have

to do more than save money.So says Steve Siebold of Boynton

Beach, Fla., a self-made millionaire who interviewed 1,200 other mil-lionaires and wrote a book about his findings, “How Rich People Think.”

People who salt away millions tend to be both frugal and prag-matic — they’re always looking for ways to make money, Siebold said in an interview.

“They take their skills and find a problem they can solve,” he said.

While saving is important — there’s even a national movement called America Saves Week, which ended recently — Siebold said it is also important to adopt the mind-set of millionaires and develop a passion in building wealth.

“I’m all for saving money,” he said. But the average worker won’t reach a million dollars in net worth just by saving, Siebold said.

Better, he said, to save and devel-op an entrepreneurial passion. Mil-lionaires tends to be lifetime learn-ers who are always looking for

ways to improve products or ser-vices and make money, he added.

“The rich expect to earn more money every year and aren’t sur-prised as millions of dollars flood their bank accounts,” he said. “The rich have trained themselves to expect big things to happen, and as a result they are bold, aggres-sive and fearless in their pursuit of wealth.”

Siebold, a former tennis player, said he first became a millionaire at age 31 by creating a service for large companies. He teaches sales people mental toughness to pur-sue business leads even when their sales pitch is rejected.

He said he got the idea when he was teaching athletes to mentally prepare for competition — and then figured he’d make more mon-ey helping Fortune 500 companies train sales people.

“That turned out to be right,” Siebold said.

A Chicago-area chiropractor, Dr. Alok Trivedi, said he has been able to build wealth using Siebold’s advice in looking at problems he

can help solve. Trivedi said he has helped both patients and other chiropractors.

“In looking for business oppor-tunities, we look at what problems we can solve with our skill set,” Trivedi said.

Over the years, Siebold has ap-peared on national television news shows, from CNN to Fox.

Nancy Register, a director of America Saves Week, agrees with Siebold that its importance for people of any income level to ac-quire knowledge and skills so they can make more money.

But it’s also important that people learn to regularly save and invest some of their earnings so they can build wealth, said Register, who is

with the nonprofit Consumer Fed-eration of America.

“It’s making your money work for you,” she said, adding, “You want to take advantage of the time value” and build net worth with years of dividends, compound in-terest and gains in stocks, bonds, real estate and other investments.

Right now, about a third of Americans spend more than they earn and don’t even have sav-ings to cover an emergency, the Consumer Federation has found. About half of Americans ac-knowledge they aren’t squirreling enough away for their retirement, the federation added.

As a young man, Siebold said, he was broke. That’s why he studied how millionaires made money.

He said he has had to take risks and suffer losses — he lost money during the housing bust, for exam-ple, when he bought real estate.

But long-term, Siebold said thinking like a millionaire has paid off.

“They’re real focused on making money,” he said.

“The rich have trained themselves to expect big

things to happen, and as a result they are bold,

aggressive and fearless in their pursuit of wealth.”

donna Gehrke-White Sun Sentinel


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POWERTO LOWERBUSINESS COSTS

We’ve seen it happen a thousand times. Jane Doe has worked hard to

build up a professional presence in the community and has a reputation for being trustwor-thy and having in-tegrity. Before too long, a nonprofit organization comes knocking, asking Jane to serve on the board of directors.

Jane is pleased to be asked to serve the community, ex-cited about the op-portunity to grow her professional network and expe-rience and eagerly accepts the posi-tion. The only prob-lem is that Jane

doesn’t really know much about nonprofit organizations and what it means to serve on a board of di-rectors.

Nonprofit organizations are at the heart of our community. Faith-ful supporters and advocates of-ten find themselves serving on the board of directors of their favorite charity but often don’t receive the proper training and education nec-essary to feel comfortable in their role.

The Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa sent a series of sur-veys to local nonprofit organiza-tions after the financial downturn of ’08 and ’09. Each time, results showed the first budget items on the chopping block during difficult financial times for nonprofit organi-zations were staff and board train-ing. This was disconcerting news considering having well-trained staff and boards would arguably be especially necessary during partic-ularly challenging fiscal times.

New board members should take advantage of opportunities to re-ceive the training they need to be

able to offer high-quality service to the nonprofit organization while on the board. This includes clearly understanding the mission of the organization as well as the purpose and responsibilities of board mem-bers. Some local board training sessions are offered at no charge, and various webinar opportunities can be found without too much dif-ficulty.

Another key to having a strong board is having a well-rounded board of directors. One of the re-sponsibilities of nonprofit board members is to nominate new mem-bers to fill open positions. It’s im-portant to think strategically when building or making changes to a board of directors.

Before deciding whom to ask to serve on your board of directors, you need to think about the pur-pose of your board and what each member will need to accomplish to effectively serve the organization. Board members with various back-grounds are important to having a successful board. Consider build-ing a matrix of several categories you want to consider when choos-ing new board members, like age, race, gender, occupation, circle of influence, giving ability and non-profit experience. Then make sure you have many of the areas covered and fill in gaps as necessary. Some nonprofit organizations find it use-ful to have an application process to aid in board recruitment.

Be sure to set clear expectations for your board members, includ-ing number of meetings, volunteer hoursa and giving requirements. Creating a job description is a sim-ple way to accomplish this goal. In-clude a purpose statement, major roles and responsibilities, qualifica-tions, the division of staff and board responsibilities and the benefits to the board member.

Strong nonprofit organiza-tions are essential when building a vibrant community, and strong boards equal strong “orgs.”

Good boards help to build strong ‘orgs’

Ali Parrish is development director at the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa. Contact

her at (319) 287-9106 or [email protected].

nonprofits

20 April 2013 Cedar Valley Business monthly


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mAnAgement

Effective leaders understand the power of ‘we’ Shortly after I began consulting,

I was having a conversation with a client when they interrupted mid-sentence:

“You know what I like about you?” they asked.

“What’s that?”“You always talk

about ‘we,’ like you’re a part of our team, not some outsider simply coming in to tell us what to do.”

As leaders, how we lead is just as important to those following as the de-sired destination.

Utilizing inclusive pronouns (we, us, our) rather than ex-clusive (you, I, your, mine) is a small but

powerful mechanism for leaders. It sends a clear message that “we’re in this together.”

Obviously, when recognizing someone for a job well done, it’s more appropriate to use “you.” Likewise, when discussing a short-coming on your part, it’s best to own it with “I” or “my.”

Language is a telltale indicator for me when interviewing candidates. I keep a mental scorecard of the candidate’s use of “I” versus “we” when discussing prior accomplish-ments. Too many “I did” statements and the deeds themselves take a backseat to my conclusion that they are not a team player.

Of course, words are just icing on the cake. The real proof is in how a leader leads. Perhaps there is no better indication of this than how decisions are made.

Research conducted by the Cen-ter for Management and Organi-zational Effectiveness found that a leader’s decision-making style dra-matically impacts whether employ-ees sign up to follow:

When an authoritative style was used, the direction was simply or-dered up. Data showed followers

■

were split almost 50-50 between those resisting the decision and those who complied. Only a sliver of employees were truly committed to making the decision successful.

When a persuasive style was used, leaders took the time to ex-plain the decision. This resulted in equal thirds of followers classify-ing themselves as resistant, com-pliant and committed.

Finally, when a collaborative style was used, leaders gathered input from followers and involved them in the decision. This resulted in almost 80 percent of followers being committed to its success, with the remainder evenly split be-tween compliant and resistant.

Obviously, the situation often dic-tates which style is appropriate. A crisis may not allow the time neces-sary for a collaborative debate.

Four factors should be consid-ered when determining the level of participation for a given decision.

Quality: Who possesses ad-equate knowledge of the situation in order to make a good decision?

■

■

■

If you don’t know enough by your-self, others must be involved.

Urgency: How time sensitive is the situation? As the need for ur-gency increases the opportunity for participation decreases.

Acceptance: How important is acceptance to successfully imple-menting the decision? How likely is acceptance to be increased through participation?

Development: Is there an op-portunity to develop employees through delegation or their in-volvement with the decision?

It serves a leader well to move as high on the participatory scale as the situation allows. The research shows that, even in a crisis, sim-ply explaining your reasoning will convert employees from resistance to compliance and commitment.

Developing employees to confi-dently make decisions is essential to relieving leaders of daily duties so they can focus on more strategic activities. It’s also vital to building a strong, committed team where “we” is the appropriate pronoun.

■

■

■

Rick Brimeyer is president of Brimeyer

LLC, an independent management

consulting firm in Ames.

Contact him at www.brimeyerllc.com or by

calling (515) 450-8855.

Alliance & Chamber NEWSLETTERwww.cedarvalleyalliance.com

Welcome NEWInvestors/Members

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Jiva Salon Spa223 Main St. Cedar Falls, IA 50613319-268-0772Fax: 319-268-3736Website: www.jivasalonspa.comContact: Sadie FoertschCategory: Spas – Beauty & Day

*The Alliance & Chamber has approximately 900 Investor/Members representing over 50,000 employees

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✥ May 22nd – Road Map to Communications: Social Media for Business

Learn about the tools to use, how to communicate with young employees, and how to eliminate liability issues.

✥ May 29th – Road Map to Retirement: Successful Succession PlanningHelpful insights into decision making and identifying a successor, about the process, and success stories from those who have made the transition.

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Upcoming EVENTSAPR 04Multicultural ReceptionAllen College Student Center, 1990 Heath St., Waterloo4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

APR 12 Friday Forum with Senator Bill DixFive Sullivan Brothers Convention Center, 205 W 4th St., Waterloo, IA7:30 – 9:00 a.m.

APR 25 Power NetworkingAllen College, Baskins Classroom1990 Heath St., Waterloo4:00 – 5:30 p.m.Cost $10. Reservation deadline is April 18. RSVP to [email protected] networking event is limited to 50 Alliance & Chamber representatives (limit 2 per business). An opportunity to build your prospect list with a minimum of 25 new business contacts in just 90 minutes.

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Baxter launched in Septem-ber and is being used by plastics and metal manufacturing firms. With red plastic arms and a car-toon face, it can do the job of two or more workers, simultaneously unpacking pipe fittings from a conveyer belt while it weighs and places mirrors into boxes. When a human blocks its path, Baxter stops, its eyes widen, and then it courteously gets out of the way.

The price tag: $22,000.The adoption of this technol-

ogy is taking place even as many Americans, particularly those who are seeking blue-collar work, are struggling to find jobs that pay a middle-class wage. Many of them have seen little improvement in their lives even four years after the Great Recession ended.

Andy McAfee, a fellow at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, notes companies are getting more productive without hiring more workers. Since the end of 2001, the nation’s gross domestic prod-uct has risen about 20 percent. Meanwhile, the number of hours worked has gone up by only 2.8

percent and the total number of U.S. jobs has increased just 1.9 percent.

“Those latter two numbers are pretty close to zero. Is it so hard to believe that a realistic future combination of fast automation and relatively slow GDP growth could cause them to turn nega-tive?” asked a recent blog post by McAfee, who co-wrote “Race Against the Machine,” a book about how Internet technology is altering labor markets.

But the International Federa-tion of Robotics said in a study last month that paid employment has increased in countries that are the biggest users of industrial robots. For all the jobs lost in manufactur-ing, others have to be created in distribution and services, the re-port says.

Marlin Steel, a company in Balti-more, said it has increased its staff from 18 to 34 people in the past seven years because it began us-ing robots to produce wire baskets it sells to carmakers and pharma-ceutical firms. The new positions are administrators and sales and marketing staffers, as well as engi-neers at its Baltimore factory.

“It’s a virtuous cycle. We are shipping great quality products

fast due to robots, and that in turn means more jobs,” said Drew Greenblatt, president of Marlin Steel.

But the math on job losses and gains due to new technology is a fuzzy science and highly subjec-tive, other companies say.

Lear, a car parts maker near Detroit with nearly $15 billion in annual revenue, says it uses ro-bots developed by Danish firm Universal Robotics to help screw together seats and put together electronic dashboards. The tasks require precision in a fast-mov-ing environment. Humans could do the job better, but Lear officials say they have to use robots for the company to survive.

“We use them to stay competi-tive and to keep core employment for everyone,” said Mel Stephens, a spokesman for Lear. “Does this lead to more jobs or job losses? I think you would be able to find numbers that support either the-sis.”

Baxter’s creator, Rethink Robot-ics, says there will always be a need for humans in manufacturing.

The company designed Bax-ter to work alongside people. It’s cartoon face changes expressions to warn people what it is doing.

When it is interrupted, a confused look comes across its face. It ap-pears sad when it is shut down.

By using cameras no more so-phisticated than those in smart-phones and with technology used in video game consoles such as the Xbox Kinect, it can sense when people are nearby or in its way. And it can be reprogrammed easi-ly by guiding its arms to new tasks and pushing a few buttons.

Rethink counts Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos as an investor, but both firms declined to com-ment on whether the online re-tailing giant will begin to use the robot.

These days, Rethink chief execu-tive Scott Eckert spends his time defending his industry against critics who decry robots as job-killers. He said the firm is target-ing 300,000 small businesses that can afford his product.

Without his robots, Eckert said, many of these companies might simply look overseas for manu-facturing. But now it has become cheaper to buy a factory robot, he said.

“We want to bring U.S. manu-facturing back and at least slow or stop the trend of people leaving the field,” he said.

ROBOTSFrom page 13

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cedar valley business monthly - april 2013

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