Virtual Organization Management Institute Repository

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Content Monetization Strategy for Social Networks

The New Virtual Organization World

It's a New Principled World, It's Virtual, and It's Organized

Content Monetization Strategy for Social Networks

by Pierre Coupet

Overview of Our Content Monetization Strategy for Social Networks

Our content monetization strategy is geared toward both Social Networks AND Social Network Members. But before we start talking about the strategy, it's extremely important that we're all very clear on the definition of the terms: "Social Networks" and "Social Network Members."

Definition of Social Networks and Social Network Members

A social network includes not only a primary commercial social network, e.g. XING, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., but also social network platform providers that enable individuals, groups and businesses to form their own "private social networks" on-the-fly--organizations such as NING, Wikidot, Wetpaint, etc.--and also each individual group and subgroup within the primary commercial social network or social network platform provider. Why do we categorize a group as a social network? Well, the membership of some of these groups can number in the thousands to hundreds of thousand members.

With respect to the definition of a social network member, a social network member is an individual who is either a member of a primary commercial social network or one of the individual groups and subgroups within the primary social network; or a member of any private social network, group and subgroup within a social network platform provider. However, that being said, technically speaking, a case could be made that anyone who is a member of a primary commercial social network or social network platform provider can be classified as a social network member. Which is the reason why I've gone through the painstaking process of making the distinction between the two.

Current Monetization Strategy for Social Networks

So what is the current state of affairs for social networks with respect to a monetization strategy? The following scenario pretty much sums it all up:

Borrow or Acquire Funding from Investors

Spend 100's of thousand or millions of dollars to build a platform and develop a strong membership base - better known as "generating a lot of eyeballs"

Social Network Members, for the most part, generate the content for the social network

The social network is then used as an advertising platform in order to generate revenues

Revenues Do Not At Least Equal Expenses and, therefore, they either go back to Investors for more money or look for an exit strategy

The exit strategy is either going public OR go through an acquisition

In most cases, even after going public or having gone through an acquisition, Revenues Still Do Not At Least Equal Expenses and they're back to step 1, which is Borrow, Acquire More Funding from New or Existing Investors, or Recapitalize

It's obvious that something is definitely missing from this process, but what exactly is it?

Innovation Is Only One Side of the Coin

The primary reason that social networks are facing this dilemma is that they keep trying to purchase goodwill from their members with a One-Sided Coin. What would any of you do if someone tried to purchase something from you with a one-sided coin or one-sided dollar bill? If you wanted to be kind to that person, you would politely reject the coin or dollar bill and just walk away; or take the one-sided coin or dollar bill and not give back anything of value; and if you didn't suffer fools gladly, you'd probably be furious and/or call the police.

In a sense, this is exactly what is happening today with most social networks. Innovation in and of itself is not enough; it is only ONE SIDE OF THE COIN.

Why is that? It's because your competition is fierce and Mister or Miss Innovation is coming at you Fast and Furious without taking a breather. The minute you come out with the latest fancy tool, gadget and widget---right when you are beginning to get some traction---10 other competitors pop up out of nowhere and start to bite and nip at your heels, trying to develop a better tool, gadget and widget in order to grab some of your market share.

The latest tools--although we all love them dearly and want more and more of them--should only be seen as the means to an end, whatever that end is, instead of being the end in and of itself for your social network members.

The Other Side of the Coin: Ultra Premium Content

So what is the other side of that coin? Hold on to your horses! I am getting there. I am sure you have all heard of the old expression, "Content is King". Well, when it comes to social networks, we need to make a slight modification to that expression and, that is, "Ultra Premium Content is King."

Why is that? That's because "Content" or "Premium Content" is widely available for FREE over the internet and no one in their right mind want to pay for it, however, "Ultra Premium Content" is rare and not widely available. There are plenty of reasons why that is so, however, they do fall outside the scope of this discussion.

In any case, let us proceed with this relevant question: With respect to social networks, what exactly is that Ultra Premium Content?

Ultra Premium Content is the information and knowledge that your social network members truly and desperately need in order to leverage the tremendous power and potential of this amazing collection of tools and contacts that are available at their disposal--the social network--to their individual or collective benefit. Which explains the reason why I've been approached by thousands of social networking groups, requesting that I contribute my expertise in order to leverage the tremendous power and potential of their social network.

Sorry for the long wait--I hope it was worth waiting for. As you can now see, we can all answer the question about the other side of the coin: The OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN is that Ultra Premium Content your social network members need in order to leverage the tremendous power of the social network to their individual or collective benefit. That's what we call Real Empowerment.

Source of Ultra Premium Content: Virtual Organization Management (VOM)

So where do you get that Ultra Premium Content from? I thought you'd never ask! It's from the modern Virtual Organization Management (VOM) discipline. However, before we proceed, let us quickly tell you what Virtual Organization Management (VOM) is all about.

What is Virtual Organization Management (VOM)? The modern VOM discipline specializes in the development of best-next practices, policies and procedures for operating in a virtual environment and for managing a virtual organization and social network.

Please keep in mind that Virtual Organization Management (VOM) is technology-agnostic and platform independent, therefore, its application is not restricted to any specific tool, gizmo, gadget or widget or, for that matter of fact, any specific social network. In a real sense, this is exactly what happens once your social network members learn how to virtual organize and manage their social network. They are no longer bound by, and nor do they care about, any specific operating system, tool, technology, or social network. They only care about freedom, flexibility, and substance in the form of Ultra Premium Content that leads to Real Empowerment.

Here is a perfect analogy: Generally speaking, once you've learned 1) how to drive, 2) the rules of the road, and 3) how to read maps and use a navigation system, you can travel to any location and distance without regard to the make and model of your car. Any car will do. The make and model of your car then becomes a matter of personal preference subject to your economic status and overall taste. I hope that made sense to you.

Composition of Ultra Premium Content AKA Other Side of the Coin

So let us now resume our discussion regarding this Ultra Premium Content derived from VOM. This Ultra Premium VOM Content comes in the form of a series of Ultra Premium White Papers on how to virtual organize and manage social networks.

But there is more! Each Ultra Premium White Paper comes bundled with the Video Presentation version.

But we're not done yet, each Ultra Premium White Paper also comes with a registration to a 3-Hour Live Interactive Audio-Web Presentation on that exact topic--which includes a Q&A session with the author who currently also happens to be yours truly, the founder of the modern virtual organization management discipline.

And for the ultimate in convenience, these live interactive sessions with the author are conducted twice a week on an almost indefinite basis. That way, each Ultra Premium VOM Content purchaser can select the most convenient time to attend the live interactive session.

And, last but not least, this entire package is sold at a price that everyone can afford---from the small fry to the big fish.

In essence, what we've done here is pile up value on top of value so that [everyone]--instead of just a few--can afford to reap the benefits of the social networks, especially during periods of severe economic crises.

Now, please indulge me a bit as I digress a little, however, there is a great deal of similarity between what VOMI is now doing and what Bill Gates-Microsoft did in the 80's. Bill Gates-Microsoft's mission and vision was extremely simple: Make the PC affordable to the masses so that there would be a PC in every home and business. The first question was: How do you do that? And his answer--although brilliant, revolutionary and a stroke of genius--was equally simple: License the operating system. What is the end result of that simple mission, vision and strategy? Well, since my 7-year old granddaughter has her own laptop computer and is constantly on the internet, I am sure you all know the answer.

However, let's stop and think for one second. What was the logic behind Bill Gates' idea of making the PC affordable to ALL? Again the logic was very simple: the value of owning a PC--in terms of both its current and future potential for all of mankind--was and still is something that transcends all demographics. As you can see, brilliant ideas don't have to be complicated. In fact, what makes them brilliant is their simplicity.

Well, in essence, we -- meaning YOU, once you partner with VOMI, and I -- are doing the exact same thing: We are making VOM knowledge affordable to the masses so that VOM can be practiced by everyone in every home and business anywhere in the world. And our logic is the same: The value of virtual organization management--from learning how to virtual organize and manage your social network all the way to learning how to virtual organize and manage a team, group, department, division, region or entire company---in terms of both its current and future potential for all of mankind is indeed something that transcends all demographics.

Each day that passes by, our world gets virtualized more and more and, eventually--there is no doubt or question about it--everyone will need to know how to virtual organize and manage in a virtual environment. Make no mistake about it, within the next 15-20 years, my "future" 7-year old great-grandson or great-granddaughter will be able to virtual organize and manage (VOM) in a virtual environment. God willing, it would be exciting for all of us to be around then.

Benefits of 2-SIDED COIN to Social Networks and Social Network Members

So what are the benefits of the 2-SIDED COIN to both the Social Network and the Social Network Member?

First, let's talk about the people that really matter since you can't have a social network without people: your social network members.

To a Social Network Member. A 2-SIDED COIN represents "real currency" that a social network member can gladly accept in exchange for the goodwill and economic benefit the social network seeks in return. The social network now really has something "exclusive" and "highly beneficial" to offer that differentiates it from all the other social networks out there using the typical One-Sided Coin.

As stated earlier, the social network member is now Really Empowered to leverage the tremendous power of the social network to his/her individual or collective benefit. The 2-SIDED COIN now becomes the means to an end for them instead of the standard 1-SIDED COIN message that says "here are my latest and most exciting tools, now go ahead and use them and tell all your friends about it."

The social network member now finds purpose and stability, can now focus on one or more key objective(s), no longer has the urge--and nor can he/she afford the time--to hop around all over the place joining 1000's of social networks [just a figure of speech, folks] and making a bunch of so-called friends and contacts that they will never even have a conversation with, let alone the time to get to know each other long enough to engage in something that could be remotely called constructive or mutually beneficial.

Now let's talk about the social network.

To a Social Network. Once you empower your social network members with a 2-SIDED COIN, guess what happens next: they will give you what you paid for. In other words, they become a loyal, active, captive, and satisfied audience and, most importantly, revenue-producing members. After all, isn't that what almost every social network wants?

The icing on the cake for your social network is that the cost of developing and providing this Ultra Premium VOM Content to your social network members is ZERO. Your Ultra Premium VOM Content Provider does it all.

The second layer of icing on the cake for your social network is that your partnership with VOMI, the Ultra Premium VOM Content provider, does NOT, and will not, cause any kind of interference in your current business activities; and nor will it cause any sort of disruption to your existing revenue-generating activities. This means you can continue to use your social network as an advertising platform for BOTH your social network and your clients without any sort of conflict of interest. This will drive your competition nuts. But the best is yet to come.

The third layer of icing on the cake for your social network is that since the SECOND SIDE OF YOUR COIN---this Ultra Premium VOM Content--is "technology-agnostic", that means you don't have to worry about your social network members getting bored and jumping ship each time your competition comes out with the latest and fanciest tool, gadget, or widget. Even when your social network members go to your competitors once they release a better mouse trap, they will always come back to you in order to learn how to make effective use of this new mouse trap for their "individual or collective benefit."

Once your members gain an understanding of VOM, it will NOT be necessary to hop around like a bunny rabbit on 10,000 other social networks. In fact, it would be totally counterproductive for them to do so since that would create a virtual organization management (VOM) nightmare for them. With VOM, the trend is toward consolidation of activities at a central location instead of "hopping around all over the place" and getting to be everybody's friend. After all, you can only have so many friends.

The fourth and final layer of icing on the cake for your social network is that the SECOND SIDE OF THE COIN comes with the highest possible level of credibility in the industry. VOMI is the world's leading and ONLY global educational institute, think tank, professional association, certification and accreditation provider, and conference producer solely focused on virtual organization management. The founder of VOMI is the founder and pioneer of the modern virtual organization management discipline.

Currently, every single Ultra Premium White Paper is authored by the founder of the virtual organization management discipline to insure authenticity and value. In the foreseeable future, once VOMI has trained a sufficient number of VOMI academics, each single Ultra Premium White Paper will either be co-authored or reviewed and approved by the founder of the discipline in order to insure continuity and consistency in authenticity and value.

According to Google, VOMI and its founder's profile were viewed by over 100 million internet visitors in 2008. Therefore, your association with the most prestigious and only virtual organization management institute in the world--headed by the founder of the discipline--means that you don't have to worry about the long-term viability of our standing in the industry and the value of your offerings. The quality and value of your offerings will always remain in the foreseeable future the very best that the industry has to offer.

How Do We Deliver This "Ultra Premium VOM Content?"

These Ultra Premium White Papers bundled with the Video Presentation version and the 3-Hour Live Interactive Audio-Web Presentation with Q&A session with the author, collectively referred to as this "Ultra Premium VOM Content", are strategically released and delivered to your social network members in such a relevant and timely fashion so that each new Ultra Premium Content release not only builds upon, but also adds tremendous value to, the previous one.

Here is how it works: .......................>>>>>

To purchase this entire white paper as well as participate in a 3-Hour Live Interactive Audio-Web Presentation with Q&A session with Prof. Pierre Coupet, the author of this document, as well as to receive the Video Presentation version, please sign up at the following location:

http://www.virtualorganizationinstitute.com/ (No longer on sale)

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Let Us Manifest!
on The New Virtual Organization World Consortium

Host a Futuristic City-State Enclave Based on a "Civilized World Financial System"

View Article: Stand Up and Walk Away from the Monkey See, Monkey Do Crowd

View Article: Making the Case for Virtual Organization Leadership .... for Everyone

Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization World Domain Names :::: Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization NFT Domain Names.

Stock Photo: courtesy of Pixabay

Copyright 2007-2023. Pierre Coupet. VOMI. Virtual Organization Management Institute. Virtual Organization Leadership. Virtual Organization Advisors. Virtual Organization Executives. Blockchain Executives. VOMI Virtual Organization Academy. Virtual Organization Recruiter. VOMI Global Think Tank. All rights reserved. Cannot be reproduced without permission.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Global Economic Meltdown: Time for Startups to Explore New Monetization Strategy

The New Virtual Organization World

It's a New Principled World, It's Virtual, and It's Organized

Global Economic Meltdown: Time for Startups to Explore New Monetization Strategy
by Pierre Coupet

In the midst of this global economic meltdown, the two most popular questions that are being asked respectively by both startups and investors are: "Where have all the investors gone?" and "Where have all the dollars gone?" If you are a startup in need of cash, the first question particularly applies to you; and if you are an investor nervous about your portfolio of investments, the latter is a matter of serious concern. Well, unless you've been living in a bubble for the past few months, the answer is quite obvious. Scarcity of cash and the resulting need for both cash conservation and a new monetization strategy have now become the central point of focus for both startups and investors as they begin to reevaluate their going-forward strategy. What this means, in turn, for a lot of startups is that Darwin's theory of evolution--survival of the fittest--will ultimately determine which startups will fail and which ones will be able to adapt and thrive in this new and perilous environment.

Virtual Organization Management and Web 2.0 to the Rescue

Fortunately, for a small number of startups who are bold, daring and forward-looking enough, the right combination of Web 2.0 and Virtual Organization Management can help usher in a new monetization strategy era for them so they won't have to needlessly suffer the fate of dinosaurs. Virtual Organization Management (VOM)--a modern discipline which establishes best-next practices, policies and procedures for operating in a virtual environment and for managing a virtual organization and social network--can help reduce your start-up costs by as much as 95% as well as exponentially increase your revenues; and is THE KEY that unlocks most--if not all--previous constraints and limits you faced with respect to the development of a monetization strategy in either a brick and mortar or virtual environment. Your imagination becomes the only limit you will ever face. Whereas, Web 2.0 provides you with all the tools you will ever need in order to implement your new monetization strategy. The statement that best captures the essence of VOM and Web 2.0 is the following: "VOM gives you the freedom to chart your own destiny and Web 2.0 gives you the tools to implement." For purposes of this discussion, more about VOM can be viewed on the Virtual Organization Management Institute blog at http://www.virtualorganization.net

Burn the Midnight Oil for Revenues First, Investors Last

Once you have put in place the right combination of VOM and Web 2.0, the REAL solution is for entrepreneurs to really start thinking-out-of-the-box when it comes to a monetization strategy instead of the standard "got an idea, go to an investor, burn some cash, go back for more cash, burn more cash, get plenty of eyeballs, and hope that, eventually, over God knows how much time, revenue can be generated from product sales or advertising." How about Burning the Midnight Oil trying to figure out the "killer value" of your offering and who your first "paying customers" are going to be? For those of you in the western world who are too young to be familiar with the [old] expression, "burn the midnight oil", it's primarily used to indicate commitment, hard work, and dedication to one's task by working during the wee hours of the night under an oil lamp when there is no electricity.

Some Practical Pre-launch Ideas: ASK, ASK, ASK, ASK, ASK

1. ASK some of your "future paying customers", before you even launch your business, if your product or service is something they have an urgent need for because it would solve an existing problem or issue for them NOW (assuming your product or service really worked the way you say it would.)

2. ASK them to GIVE YOU--instead of you giving them--specific examples of how your product or service would make life much better for them and how it would positively affect their bottom line...good reverse psychology....after all, if they really understood the value of what you are offering, then who would be in a better position to have this sort of information?...certainly NOT YOU, an outsider who doesn't know a darned thing about the inner workings of their company and the day-to-day issues they have to deal with.

3. ASK them if it is something they would pay for, and at which price point--besides FREE--your product or service would be attractive enough to get them to at least try it upon release.

4. ASK them what kind of guarantee do they expect and then you can figure out what kind of guarantee you are willing to provide to these paying customers who are willing to try your products just in case they are not satisfied.

5. ASK them if they are willing to make an "informal-no guarantees" purchase commitment to you before you roll out the product...that's your way of distinguishing from those who are just blowing smoke up yours and those who are genuine.

6. Once you have obtained all this information gathered from step 1-5, you will now get a chance to find out: (i) YOUR REAL VALUE PROPOSITION, (ii) how much money you will REALLY need to get your business off the ground, (iii) whether you can build it slowly and profitably in an organic fashion or whether you really need an investor to help you get it off the ground OR whether you should even go ahead with the idea.

Long Hard Road but a Golden Opportunity for Success

I know it's tedious, may take a long time, can be very discouraging because you're bound to get a lot of negative feedback from people who may not clearly understand what the hell it is you are offering as well as from those who could care less about what you have to offer. Keep in mind that when people have difficulty understanding what it is that you are offering, the problem lies with you, the messenger--and not with them. That means you will need to go back to the drawing board in order to refine your message. The simpler the message, the better. The more complicated it gets, the greater the level of difficulty at getting your message through.

A lot of well-meaning, as well as mean-spirited, people may try to pierce some holes into your armor in order to point out some weaknesses in your arguments or value proposition. Some people will just outright ignore you because they are just not interested in helping you do your homework either because they don't have the time or they figure you can contact them once you've got everything figured out, have a product or service in place in roll out condition, and then they might give you the time of day. But when you really take the time to look at the bright side of things, just to have known or come across all these individuals is a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY--a gift and blessing in disguise--that will help make you a much better business person-entrepreneur and which will help guarantee your success. Whether they are The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, in some strange fashion, you will owe your success to ALL of them.

Conclusion

The point being, target paying customers FIRST before you even launch. This is standard research which can be accomplished over the web at absolutely very little to no cost to you the entrepreneur, outside of your own sweat and tears. And with the right combination of VOM and Web 2.0, The Sky is the Limit!

*************

Let Us Manifest!
on The New Virtual Organization World Consortium

Host a Futuristic City-State Enclave Based on a "Civilized World Financial System"

View Article: Stand Up and Walk Away from the Monkey See, Monkey Do Crowd

View Article: Making the Case for Virtual Organization Leadership .... for Everyone

Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization World Domain Names :::: Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization NFT Domain Names.

A Brief Interlude for the Virtual Soul

The New Virtual Organization World

It's a New Principled World, It's Virtual, and It's Organized

Dear Colleagues,

I want to take a brief interlude so I can share with you some beautiful poetry-melody that I received from my poet and artist friend, Alasdair, which has absolutely nothing to do with Virtual Organization Management. It's food for the Virtual Soul ..... helps us to put things back into perspective .... reminds us that we are all not only virtually connected but also an expression of "The Wholeness." I hope you enjoy it as much as I have... you can even listen to it while reading my ....long....articles. It helps time fly.

Take good care.

At One With,

Pierre Coupet

(Youtube video no longer available)

*************

Let Us Manifest!
on The New Virtual Organization World Consortium

Host a Futuristic City-State Enclave Based on a "Civilized World Financial System"

View Article: Stand Up and Walk Away from the Monkey See, Monkey Do Crowd

View Article: Making the Case for Virtual Organization Leadership .... for Everyone

Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization World Domain Names :::: Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization NFT Domain Names.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Viewing OpenSocial Applications Through a Virtual Organization Lens

The New Virtual Organization World

It's a New Principled World, It's Virtual, and It's Organized

Viewing OpenSocial Applications Through a Virtual Organization Lens
by Pierre Coupet

Time to Look Ahead

These are exciting times for social networks as the OpenSocial developer community continues to bloom and flourish. However, that being said, it's important to note that social networks are currently in the process of evolving to virtual organizations and, therefore, the focus of our veteran OpenSocial developers should be on the relevance of each application with respect to its usefulness, strategic importance, and vital contribution function in a virtual organization. I recently wrote an article titled "Evolution of Social Networks into Virtual Organizations" which sheds a bit more light on that subject.

Does that mean we should stop developing those little cute and fancy widgets and gadgets that operate across other social networks? Not at all, what I am instead suggesting is that we include an additional layer of criteria in our thinking process as we begin to formulate the application development methodology. I know that some of you may say, "Why develop something that a vast majority of users will have no use for?" Well, a brief look at the history of the internet will tell you why and there are so many examples to choose from.

The Not So Distant Past

Let's select the evolution of the website as a good example:

Back in December 1993, when I started to build my first website which consisted of 2 words, "Hello World!", I thought to myself how every single company would one day embrace the internet and that just about everyone would one day have a website and be able to do business online and prosperity would spread around the globe. Obviously I was 90% correct in my assumptions, however, what I grossly miscalculated was the adoption rate and the demographics of the early adopters. Initially, I thought big business would be the early adopters since they have so much more capital AND human resources than us little peons; have all these Ivy League MBAs and Ph.D.s at their disposal and, therefore, so much smarter and knowledgeable than us regular folks. Instead, it turned out to be my kids and their friends, as well as millions of other kids throughout America and other parts of the world, followed by a slew of independent consultants, and small businesses -- all in that order -- who became the early adopters. It wasn't until 1997-1998 that mid-size and big businesses started to get on the web at a serious pace. Obviously, we all know what happened next and there is no need for anyone today to preach about the usefulness of a website to small-to-large businesses as well as to individuals and other organizations of all stripes and persuasions.

The Present

To fast forward to the present, my point is that you're seeing the same patterns all over again. Currently, social networks are all the rage and its initial adoption was fueled, in part, largely by kids all over the world. To digress a bit, we should all thank God for kids because they are so much smarter than we give them credit for and even though we eventually wind up following their lead. In any case, businesses--small to big--have begun to look differently at these social networks from a sales and marketing standpoint even though they are not all there yet. With respect to most businesses today, it's primarily an individual lone ranger effort by individuals within small-to-large organizations who take it upon themselves to employ this medium for business purposes. We really have to excuse these slow pokes. However, that being said, it's a good step in the right direction.

The Future

But the really good news is that this step is only the beginning of a process which will eventually lead to a full integration of social networks within their organization in a virtual environment. Therefore, these social networks will have no choice but to eventually evolve into virtual organizations since that is the only way you can maintain accountability.

VOMI Seal of Approval

In that regard, VOMI (Virtual Organization Management Institute) has instituted a VOMI Seal of Approval program for developers who would like to know whether or not their application meets the VO benchmarks we've set for not only OpenSocial applications but all other applications designed for use in a virtual environment. We will soon release additional information regarding the VOMI Seal of Approval program in order to provide you with some guidance and welcome your inquiries.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while you are having fun developing the latest gadgets and widgets, just keep in mind there are a lot of old guys and gals out there who are seriously looking at what you're doing and, as sure as I am that the sun will rise in the east and will set on the west, they will eventually wind up following your lead. Keep up the good work.

*************

Let Us Manifest!
on The New Virtual Organization World Consortium

Host a Futuristic City-State Enclave Based on a "Civilized World Financial System"

View Article: Stand Up and Walk Away from the Monkey See, Monkey Do Crowd

View Article: Making the Case for Virtual Organization Leadership .... for Everyone

Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization World Domain Names :::: Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization NFT Domain Names.

H1-B Visas in the Midst of a Global Economic Meltdown: Talent Shortage or Cheap Labor?

The New Virtual Organization World

It's a New Principled World, It's Virtual, and It's Organized

H1-B Visas in the Midst of a Global Economic Meltdown: Talent Shortage or Cheap Labor?
by Pierre Coupet

With all due respect to Seagate CEO, Bill Watkins, and the rest of my colleagues---not just in Silicon Valley but also irrespective of where they may be located---I respectfully disagree with the notion that we should lift all caps on H1-B visas or any of the other insane proposals and suggestions they have been trumpeting over the years. Americans are suffering and we need to get our heads out of the sand.

Addictive Behavior

US employers are behaving like crackheads or heroin and nicotine addicts who think that the way to cure their illness and craving is to get more of it in some sort of sanitized version, e.g., methadone or a nicotine patch, instead of taking stock that they have a serious problem and the time has come to muster up the courage and willingness to QUIT. I know it will be hard and painful at first but there is no other way to really recover and avoid falling into a precipice.

Plenty of US Talent

I refuse to believe that we don't have enough Americans in the US who are smart or ingenious enough and willing to work; or that Americans just don't give a hoot about technology. As the former head of a national executive search firm for about 18 years, and up until my departure from the industry 15 years ago, we had talent up the ying yang who were just begging to go to work. But guess what? This talent consisted of native-born and naturalized Americans, the latter group I belong to, as well as "permanent resident" immigrants from every corner of the globe living in the US.

Plenty of Cheap Labor Overseas

The problem was, and still is today: they were just too darned expensive in comparison to our lower-paid colleagues from overseas on a H1-B visa who were just too happy to be in the US working for an American company and were willing to do whatever was required of them. Their level of dedication and enthusiasm is unsurpassed, and rightfully so, given the opportunity presented to them. And what do I mean by that? Well, for the most part, in most of these countries, they train them to learn and think like robots. By the way, I am from one of those countries. But once in the US, we train them how to build upon their basic knowledge and provide them with all the tools and support they need in order to "innovate." This is just too good a deal to pass up and I don't blame them one bit for taking us up on our generous offer. Whereas, in the US, we train our kids from day one to innovate but, for the most part, fail to adequately provide them with the requisite basic knowledge and support they need to succeed until they get to college. However, once in college, they have no problem at all excelling in whatever discipline they've chosen. The real question then becomes, "Which discipline are they steering toward that Corporate America needs in sufficiently large numbers?" That part is easy to resolve with a little bit of Yankee ingenuity.

Facts on the Ground Just Don’t Add Up

But we all know that's not what's really at play here because, if this were truly the case, we would have used the H1-B visa program on a temporary basis, and purely as a stopgap measure, during a period of approximately 4-8 years, while engaged in a parallel and concerted effort with academia to remedy the problem. But the H1-B program has a perpetual life and the request figures for new workers only get bigger and bigger year after year, instead of smaller and smaller. Just the way an alcoholic or crackhead or heroin addict wants more and more instead of less and less. Asking for less substance would indicate that some honest effort and equal amount of progress is being made toward some sort of recovery. Whereas, asking for more and more substance while claiming some attempt is being made toward a full recovery is, at best, a joke or just downright insulting to someone's intelligence.

Therefore, it's not really "specialized knowledge" that we're after, it's "cheaper labor." Call a spade a spade and let's dispense with all the smoke and mirrors about this artificial shortage. If we indeed had a "shortage" of talent in the United States, American companies would put in place the biggest "Brain Stimulus Project" known to mankind; pouring in droves into both our private AND public high schools and community colleges -- from coast-to-coast, in both the inner cities and the suburbs -- doling out a ton of money, sponsoring all kinds of technology outreach projects, providing mentors on a daily basis as well as part-time jobs and internships to kids who otherwise might fall through the crack. We already have something similar to that in the schools with respect to sports and entertainment. I don't see us importing Chinese, Japanese, or Indians in huge numbers for sports and entertainment.

Solution to Addiction

Even if we are to go along with their argument that there is a shortage, there is a solution to that. In fact, I propose that we adopt this solution whether or not we have a shortage. Here it is: Just imagine if each American company decided to put in a place a serious Strategic Marketing, Technology & Recruiting Plan that, at its core, would have the company adopt a particular high school or local community college in order to make a really concerted effort to help develop the sort of talent that this company needs. This must be a Joint internal effort between HR, Technology, and Marketing. Who knows, depending on the community and its location, you could wind up with more than one company adopting the same school. The more the better, however, I am sure one is enough to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

I am fully aware that you can't possibly get all the talent you need from one high school or community college, however, that being said, you would, as a member of this group of companies, be able to recruit talent from ALL the other adopted high schools and community colleges. The cost of doing so would be MUCH CHEAPER in both the short and long run. And you wouldn't need to wait to form a consortium prior to getting started. Go it alone for now and the herd mentality would kick into gear. Eventually, you could help organize this group of companies so they could share information on prospective talent out there, wherever in the US they may be. You'd be surprised at how quickly a "shortage" would turn into an "overabundance" of talent.

Just Do It!

I refuse to believe that our Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Technology Officers, and Chief Talent Officers are so brain dead that they lack the imagination and foresight to put in place such program. I believe it's only a matter of them choosing "the path of least resistance." It's much easier for them and much less complicated to just obtain some cheap labor from overseas, end of story. As my son used to tell me every time I would come up with some "not so brilliant or brilliant ideas" and try to bounce them off of him, he would say to me, looking somewhat irritated, "Papa, Just Do It!" Well, I've got the same refrain for my colleagues, Just Do it! Time is not on our side and we need to catch these kids while they are about to graduate from elementary school or starting high school, not after they've dropped out or graduated from high school with a mediocre education, at best. By that time---although it's never too late because our college students eventually get to catch up by the time they enter into their upper division phase of studies---they will definitely be starting from the back of the line at the very beginning because their counterparts in Europe and Asia are already way ahead of them in terms of both "basic technical" and "mental" preparation for the skills "you may need."

Yes We Can!

Such partnership effort can be almost painless and highly cost-effective---a stroke of genius, to say the least---with the right combination of Web 2.0 and Virtual Organization Management. As to the question of where the money would come from, it's already there, buried in your existing budget for HR, Advertising, Sales, Marketing, PR, R&D and any other department in your organization. Just call all your department heads, tell them their mission is to find ways to do things better within 1 week to 30 days because you need to reallocate some of this cash sitting in their budget, and tell them two other things, "Yes We Can" and "Just Do It!"

Don't chuckle or laugh out loud if you're thinking that I must live on some other planet and that just isn't the way things are done in your organization. Why? Well, if someone had told you a year ago that Obama would be elected president of the US and that the web would be his secret weapon, you surely would have thought that "this person was on crack." Therefore, it's really only a question of them taking the time to figure out how to be more efficient with respect to existing business processes, re-examining priorities, and the proper reallocation of resources. Skip all the high-powered consultants, year-long studies, etc., because your department heads are smart enough and already have most of the answers. They are just too afraid to step forward, rock the boat and ruin their careers--in respective order. After all, who wants their colleagues and bosses to think that they are on crack or are some sort of nut job.

What Next: Drastic Action or Status Quo?

On the other hand, if Corporate America believes that the shortage problem is really not that serious---it doesn't really rise to the level of a national crisis---then it would really have no valid or compelling reason to take such drastic action and it could opt to maintain the status quo and continue to do business as usual. So which is it?

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though I know this message will fall mostly on deaf ears, I still intend to continue to shout it out from the top of my lungs in the hope that some day we might begin to reverse this perilous course that we've been on for the past 20 years.

*************

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Job Losses at Their Highest Level: Virtual Organize Your Social Network Now!

The New Virtual Organization World

It's a New Principled World, It's Virtual, and It's Organized

Job Losses at Their Highest Level: Virtual Organize Your Social Network Now!
by Pierre Coupet

What Next?

What will happen next to all these people who are being laid-off? Will they ever get back a similar or better paying job? If so, when? If not, do they have transferable skills that could allow them to make a successful transition to another occupation that offers equivalent or better pay and, therefore, allow them to maintain or restore their previous standard of living? Or will these individuals be relegated to a permanent underclass or incognito status?

What about those individuals who have been notified that they will be laid-off in the near future? What about those who no longer feel secure about their jobs? Even the sacred cows aren't so secure anymore; the vegetarian employers are turning into carnivores these days and that sacred cow is beginning to look more and more like some good old, tasty red meat.

Getting Closer to Sunlight

In light of these questions and observation, a maxim I came up with as a result of my previous trials and tribulations came to mind: "the darker it gets, the closer to sunlight you're getting." After all, you don't get to live on this planet for 53 years without having gone through your share of trials and tribulations.

Although I am clearly aware of the fact that no one who is currently going through their own nightmare is thinking about, or can see, that sunlight right now. Their only interest is to survive as best they can; although, for some, they will think it's the end of their world and give up without a hard fight.

Virtual Organize your Social Network Now!

But I can assure you that this sunlight is there waiting for you if you know--or learn--How to Virtual Organize Your Social Network. Thanks to Web 2.0, there is no need to feel completely isolated or drowning in a whirlpool of disaster, however, you will need to shed old ways of thinking and adapt to new ways of doing things "very quickly" because you won't be able to continue doing business as usual.

Here is a link to an article I wrote on that subject titled "Social Networks: Virtual Organize It, Stupid!":

http://virtualorganizationinstitute.com/social-networks-virtual-organize-it-stupid.pdf (obsolete)

Virtual organizing your social network allows you to take control of your life and is a better alternative to just waiting for an economic recovery to take place. Hopefully, you will be part of that group of people who have made possible the economic recovery. Best of luck to all.

*************

Let Us Manifest!
on The New Virtual Organization World Consortium

Host a Futuristic City-State Enclave Based on a "Civilized World Financial System"

View Article: Stand Up and Walk Away from the Monkey See, Monkey Do Crowd

View Article: Making the Case for Virtual Organization Leadership .... for Everyone

Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization World Domain Names :::: Exclusive Premium Virtual Organization NFT Domain Names.