Blog

Despite the political climate in the United States and all of its talk about building walls, many leaders are taking initiative to build bridges. LEAP Global Partners (LEAP) is one such leader. They have launched an early stage venture capital fund called LEAP Partners I.

LEAP’s mission is simple and powerful. It wants to develop, connect and invest in talented Latin American entrepreneurs working on impactful global solutions in the areas of finance, marketplaces, health, education, shared economy and media. READ MORE AT HUFFINGTONPOST

Historically, when have leaders been needed? According to Ronald A Heifetz, in his book Leadership Without Easy Answers, “Leadership is oriented by the task of doing adaptive work.” That is to say, leaders are needed when traditional solutions to problems produce less than palatable results. Leaders inspire others to offer creative solutions to new challenges or to problems that continue despite attempts to solve them.

Where are leaders needed today? Where I see change and challenge intersecting is in trends of K-12 and higher education for minorities, particularly among Hispanics, in the United States. READ MORE AT CHRISTIANITY TODAY

The Capstone College of Nursing recently received a $1.7 million grant for the purpose of increasing the number of Latino nurses with bachelor's degrees. The grant is aimed at recruiting 80 Latino registered nurses with associate degrees and getting them on the track to receiving a bachelor's degree in nursing from The University of Alabama.

The College of Nursing will admit 20 students over a four-year period to meet the desired goal. The Health Resources and Services Administration Nursing Workforce Diversity program is funding the grant and efforts to recruit the nurses. READ MORE AT THE CRIMSON WHITE

When the sun is shining and many of your colleagues are away from the office, it might be tempting to tune out a bit from your job and start daydreaming about your when it’ll be your turn to turn on that OOO email message and turn off your phone. That would be a mistake, however.

In fact, summer is the best time to hatch plans to make your next career move. While it might not be the most obvious or desirable time to apply to jobs per se (i.e. nobody wants to have to decline a second round interview because they already made holiday plans), it’s a great time to plan your career moves and job search for four reasons... READ MORE AT FORBES

Latinos’ economic contributions in the U.S. make up an essential part of the country’s future, according to a new report.

The Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), a non-partisan national organization focused on “advancing a more accurate portrayal of Latinos,” released a study that measured the community’s economic power by calculating the strength of its workforce and the Latino Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of 2015. READ MORE AT HUFFINGTON POST

Mothers and grandmothers realize the impacts climate change will have on their babies, according to a new poll released yesterday (June 29). And they’re worried—especially Black and Latina moms.

Public Policy Polling conducted the poll, which surveyed 804 mothers and grandmothers in the U.S. from June 21 to 22. Of those, 13 percent were Black, 7 percent Latinx and 5 percent other races, but the numbers show that these moms have the strongest sentiments about the global manmade catastrophe.

The survey found that 87 percent of Latinas and 84 percent of Black mother figures surveyed agree with the statement: “We are not doing enough as a nation to protect clean air and clean water for your children and grandchildren in the coming years and decades.” READ MORE AT COLORLINES

Half of the highest-paying jobs for college graduates are in technology, but—despite the high pay—employers struggle to fill these and other positions. According to the National Science Foundation, in 2013, there were 262,981 blacks, Hispanics, and Indian Americans ages 45 years and younger with bachelor’s or advanced degrees in computer and mathematical sciences or electrical engineering—three of several fields closely associated with high-tech jobs. READ MORE AT CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS

Creating an engaged audience on any of your social networks involves give and take. People "like" brands on Facebook as a sign of support. They shop in your store, appreciate the service provided, and support the work. They have some sort of relationship with your business or organization and are demonstrating a willingness to receive updates. Before developing a working social media strategy, here are some useful information:

Facebook  -- According to a Syncapse study, which surveyed 2,000 respondents, the main reason people like a Facebook Page is because of the relationship they share with the brand.

Here are the top three reasons consumers decide to like a Facebook Page:

• 49% To support a brand I like

• 42% To get a coupon or discount

• 41% To receive regular updates from brands they like

Twitter -- The Advertising Research Foundation, 54% of users took action after seeing a brand mentioned on Twitter. 

• 23% visited the brand's website

• 20% visited the brand's twitter page

• 20% search the brand online

• 19% consider trying the brand

• 18% retweet Tweets mentioning the brand

Social Media is About Relationship Building

Companies and brands readily include their product offerings in social media. Equally, consumers are increasingly comfortable with purchasing products online. Given the promising potential of eCommerce, it is important to have a flexible marketing strategy. A good marketing plan will grow and adjust with the fads and trends within social media. To achieve an effective marketing plan, one must understand both  corporate and consumer perspectives. 

3 Pillars of Creating a Successful Social Media Strategy

Create Detailed Goals And Objectives

A recent article in Forbes Magazine, companies have spent over 11% of their budget on social media. The article says, "Success in the social world of marketing requires a deep connection to the customer and the ability to drive a transformation of the company to embrace a whole new type of customer engagement." As more and more companies work on integrating social media into their corporate marketing and communication plans, there is a growing emphasis in creating a winning social media strategy.

Top-level athletes, successful entrepreneurs and achievers in all areas of life set goals. Goals give a vision of the future, but also motivation in a moment. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life.

• S – Specific (or Significant)
• M – Measurable (or Meaningful)
• A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented)
• R – Relevant (or Rewarding)
• T – Time-bound (or Trackable)

For example, instead of having "to sail around the world" as a goal, it's better to use the SMART goal "Completed my trip around the world by December 31, 2018." Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of preparation has been completed beforehand.

Take Time to Measure Results

It is equally important to measure success after goals and objects are in place. Among the most common goals include:

• Consistent brand placement across social media platforms
• Increase traffic to company website
• Increase positive consumer sentiment and perception towards brand
• Develop relationships for potential partnership opportunities in the future

Analyze, Adjust and Improve 

Once you have measured your success and progress towards your goal, you need to analyze and identify key areas that need improvement, adapt to changing trends and improve your overall social media campaign. Remember, it is not always a straight road ahead, so you need to constantly evaluate and adjust.

Complexities of Social Media 

Social media is very complex and constantly evolving. It’s no wonder why many businesses struggle to figure it out and keep up. While a number have enjoyed quantifiable success, there are also many who failed, and the rest have still yet to figure out their social media strategy.

Missteps in meeting social media goals and objectives occur due to not understanding the important social media concepts. While it is true that social media gives businesses free exposure, many organizations fail to carefully plan the message they want to convey, as they would have normally done for any expensive ad campaign.

Need a Coach?

11 Actions for implementing your social marketing strategy

Any organization needs to build and nurture the needs of their social networks. There are many approaches to achieve these results, the following are methods that work:

1. Building relationships first. Business transactions are a by-product of your relationships. Any attempt to overtly sell a certain product or service can easily damage your online presence.
2. Define your target audience carefully, including geographies of focus and identify specific areas of expertise. There is greater value in maintaining a smaller network with regular interactions and active engagements.
3. Automation as a shortcut to relationship building is a fast way to destroy any social media strategy, Take the time to interact with those that choose to follow you. 
4. Consumers no longer have to think of excuses and come up with a polite “no” to a persuasive sales person, all they have to do is to click the “unfollow” button.
5. Organizations must assign a dedicated social media expert. Don’t make the mistake of assigning anyone to handle your social media campaign. The person must be qualified and work independently as a social media evangelist and report directly to top executives.
6. Engagement is more important than follower counts. Organizations should focus on cultivating engagement and not on figures. 
7. Don’t try to cater everyone by being all things to all people. If you are truly keen to reach power users, key decision makers your design your content around your market.
8. Social media is not a place to publish your award-winning sales pitches. Posts should be clear and concise, not emotional or impulsive. It should be carefully constructed and always politically correct.
9. Twitter posts in particular should be free from any gimmicks or hidden strings attached, but instead provide information, free resources and best practices.
10. Updates should be frequent and consist. Social media campaigns are long-term and ongoing efforts, and work as an integral part of the company’s online presence. It is not an 9 to 5:30 weekday job, however update and post 7 to 9 times daily, especially if your potential audience is global. 
11. Social media profiles MUST be impeccable. Profiles are the first and most viewed age in social media platforms. But all too often, it is the most ignored aspect. All elements, including background, images and messages should be consistent with the corporate image and brand.

Consider getting a coach, a life coach, business coach or both. I feel fortunate enough to have had this experience and am now in a position to return the favor to others that are just starting out. If you are interested in a coach, please send me your email so I may contact you directly within the next 24 hours or go to my website: https://21kgroup.com/coaching.

Amid the bloodshed in Venezuela, the corruption scandal in Brazil and the stream of bizarre statements coming out of President Trump’s Twitter feed, a very important news item has gone almost unnoticed in Latin America: A new study says the region is failing miserably in innovation.

The Global Innovation Index 2017, a ranking of 130 countries across the world, says that African, Eastern European and Southeast Asian countries are doing much better than Latin America when it comes to modernizing their economies... READ MORE AT MIAMI HERALD

Latinos are becoming an increasingly critical engine for America’s economic growth, a new report finds.

In 2015, the 55 million Latinos living and working in the U.S. were responsible for $2.13 trillion — or 11.8% — of America’s $18.04 trillion gross domestic product, according to a study released Thursday by the Latino Donors Collaborative, a nonpartisan association of Latino business, political and academic leaders.

And those contributions are expected to continue to grow. READ MORE AT FOX NEWS ST.LOUIS

Tempting as it is for any student to focus their search for work or work experience on the big household names such as Rolls-Royce or BAE Systems, when it comes to STEM, small is often beautiful.

So says Ann Watson, chief executive of not-for-profit employer-led skills organisation Semta. She is a passionate advocate for young people getting hands-on experience in engineering and science before embarking on a career.

“It’s the smaller firms which offer the vast majority of openings to undergraduates, graduates and apprentices, and whether you want to stay in your university town for the summer or travel back home, it’s always worth checking out the opportunities locally.” READ MORE AT THE TELEGRAPH

Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion is the largest acquisition to date by the Jeff Bezos-led company, and the most important merger in the retail industry. With this deal, Amazon now has 450 stores in major cities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. What are the implications for marketing and multicultural/Hispanic marketing in particular?

“Consumers are increasingly demanding products and services in near real time or "on-demand," and a physical presence in major cities gives Amazon an infrastructure to support consumers in near real time. This is especially salient when it comes to the grocery category,” READ MORE AT PORTADA

The economic output of the roughly 55 million Latinos in the United States would form the seventh-largest economy in the world, a new report shows, with a GDP of $2.1 trillion in 2015 — just behind France, but ahead of India.

If they were a US state, they'd have the country's second-largest economy, behind only California.

The report, produced by the Latino Donor Collaborative, is part of an effort to promote what is says is "a factual view of the importance of Latinos to our economy."

Far from being "a burden to U.S. society," it says, Latinos are a young, growing, and productive part of the economy. READ MORE AT BUZZFEED NEWS

Everyone wants success in his or her career, but it does not happen by accident or overnight. Those seeking to reach this destination should pay equal emphasis to the journey itself. Perseverance, hard work, training and the habits cultivated, are the path to achieving success and fulfillment that you want in your career.

Professional goals are proportioned by personal traits. These traits separate regular professionals from successful professionals:

1. Resilience : Rather than succumbing to failure, resilient people accept that something didn't work and go about finding a successful solution. READ MORE AT ECONOMIC TIMES

The workers’ comp industry is in for big changes as older workers continue to stay on the job longer and more Latinos are employed in the workplace. These changes to the U.S. workforce present employers with challenges to safety and retention, according to Rich Ives, Travelers vice president of workers’ compensation claims.

According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017 career outlook report, older employees (ages 65 and up) are staying on the job longer and, as a labor group, are expected to grow the fastest of any other age group through 2024. READ MORE AT CLAIMS JOURNAL

Hispanics are less likely than other demographic groups to access the internet, while whites continue to be more connected than anyone else, according to new data from internet research company eMarketer.

In 2017, less than 80 percent of Hispanics in the U.S. will access the internet at least once a month from any device compared with 85 percent of whites, thanks to socio-economic factors, as well as education. READ MORE AT RECODE

As with so many other industries, higher education is facing major existential challenges. Among the biggest issues raising questions around the fundamental model of colleges and universities include:

• Reduced revenue driven by flat/declining enrollment and reduced public funding
• Reduced demand resulting from a shrinking pool of high school students and stagnating household incomes

• Increased questions about the value of a four-year college degree as young people’s attitudes change and demand increases for better outcomes

• Technological disruption with the growth of online education, MOOCs (massive open online courses), and other non-traditional forms of education powered by digital technology READ MORE AT MEDIAPOST

Can’t access a desktop computer? There’s an app for that. Thanks to the rise of smartphones, underserved populations are more digitally connected than ever. Since 2009, internet connection has shot up 20 percentage points among Latinos and 10 percentage points among African-Americans.

Smartphones are behind the bulk of these gains. According to the Pew Research Center, 1 in 5 Americans rely on smartphones to access the online world. Young Americans, non-whites and populations with low income and education levels are especially “smartphone dependent.”

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to explore the digital universe on a 5-inch smartphone screen. And now that skills like coding and web development are increasingly valuable in the professional world, low-income students are experiencing a new kind of poverty. READ MORE AT THE DETROIT NEWS

AT&T and more than 150 CEOs agreed to join the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. They will sign the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™.

CEOs are pledging to promote a workplace where diverse perspectives and experiences are welcomed and respected and employees feel encouraged to discuss diversity and inclusion-. For continued advancement of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, companies can share best practices through a unified hub, CEOAction.com.

“At its core, diversity is not about tolerating our differences – it’s about understanding them. And that requires a commitment to honest and open dialogue,” said Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO, AT&T. “I’m proud to work with my fellow CEOs to help make that a reality in the workplace.” READ MORE AT AT&T NEWSROOM

What is your motivation?
What is the motivation?
Are you motivated?
Motivation is the desire to achieve what you believe is worthwhile. How can you demonstrate the desire if you are not pursuing what you think is worthwhile? Many people go through life with the lack of motivation to push themselves or because they never were challenged by anything they believed worthwhile. These people will unfortunately never see greatness. Looking at our past actions too often tells a tale of self-injury and unhappiness stemming from our blind desire to be judged worthy and acceptable by people who hardly know our true hearts and abilities. We forget that the natural enemy to life is not a distant death, but the day to day detachment from pursuing those things that make you happy.

George Burns said, "We can't help getting older, but we can help becoming old." 

EVALUATE YOURSELF ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10

Mental Attitude
How do you feel about you?
How do you feel about life?

Physical Appearance
Do you take care of yourself?
Are you eating healthy foods?
Are you allowing yourself to get overweight?
Do you exercise?

Environment
Do you like your job?
Is the community you live in safe?
When you daydream of a better life, how distant is it from what you are doing right now?
Challenging and stimulating are not the same thing. Are you stimulated by what you are working on at home and/or work?

Relationships
Do your "Friends" build you up?
Do your "friends" drain you?
Are you the one who invites everyone over for dinner and dinner parties, but no one reciprocates?

Contribution to the world
What will people say about you when you are gone?
What will people remember you by?
What do people say about you when you leave the room?
What do people say about you when you hang-up the phone?
What will be different because you were here?

Do you need a coach?

Life is a gift from God and how we live our lives is our gift to God. What is your gift? We are not defined by the sum total of our intentions, we are defined by the sum total of our actions.

Get Up!

1) Work on yourself continuously
2) Don't look for the perfect conditions to act
3) Practice joy and gratitude
4) Never stop investing time in yourself and what makes you happy
5) Read books that don't just inspire you, but move you forward
6) Attend a course but don't take another course until you've acted on 100% of what you've learned
7) Don't read 50 books. Read one book and action 100% of what it said to do
8) Learn in the morning as this is when the mind is clearest
9) Read and learn in search for insight beyond what's in the pages
10) Don't ask permission to be great, just ask for people to get out of your way!

Having a coach is not a sign of weakness. In fact, it’s one of the smartest decisions you can make in your entrepreneurial career. I feel fortunate enough to have had this experience and am now in a position to return the favor to others that are just starting out. If you are interested in a coach, please contact me at michael.drayton@21kgroup.com.