Mark Kolier’s Blog

Archive for June, 2010

I still enjoy the Who’s 1979 movie ‘The Kids are alright. But in my case the years snuck up on me – the notion that I am no longer the young guy who can outdo my older coworkers and business associates. I’ve been running a company for fourteen years now and I am the second oldest on our 12 person team. I wonder if the oldest feels some job security knowing that maybe I’d prefer to not be the oldest. I had not really thought of that until now to be honest.

We have a number of really talented experienced professionals as a part of our team. Those that have been around the longest have endured what they likely feel is a state of constant reinvention. Kudos to them for embracing the changes (ok they may not have had much choice), and continuing to contribute at a high level.

Yet we’ve added a number of young (20’s and even a teen intern) to our roster and I constantly get a fresh perspective on how ‘they’ look at and do things. Some of my fellow CEO’s lament that young people are unmotivated, have unreasonably high expectations, and show little or no loyalty. But I’ve not seen any of that. And by the way – loyalty is a two way street and the past several years would not offer a young employee any confidence that companies will show loyalty to their employees when things get tough as they have been.

These ‘kids’ (I have a son who is twenty-one so I still fight the temptation to call them that) are smart, can multi-task at light speed and are better at writing than I would have imagined. They don’t have the same perspective that we more ‘experienced’ members have – and that’s a good thing. No actually it’s a VERY good thing. They think and process information differently. I somehow knew that in the back of my mind but it took me a while to actually put it into practice and now we are a better team because of it.

The integration of the younger members with the older members (doesn’t experienced sound so much better?) has its challenges but it is well worth taking on that challenge. Going forward as we continue to grow (hopefully) we will need both sides of the team equation to be filled. It makes for a more vibrant workplace and I think makes everyone a better contributor.

It’s great for our team as we can learn from each other, great for our clients and thus great for our company.

So if you are running a company and have reservations about bringing in the young and inexperienced – get over it. The future is bright and these kids are totally alright.

One story that caught my eye last week was the one reported last Thursday http://nyti.ms/cdKHnH where Wal-Mart is planning to offer eligible employees 15% price reductions on college tuition at American Public University (www.apus.edu) which is a for-profit online university. This would go for Sam’s club employees as well.

Most of the time Wal-Mart seems to me to be the company that people love to disparage and even hate. With more than 1,400,000 employees (a number that always staggers me); Wal-Mart has to think about building a better workforce. Making college more affordable is an excellent way for Wal-mart to help people help themselves, while at the same time perhaps improving the performance of current employees.

The article notes that ‘with the work credits and tuition discounts, an associate’s degree for a Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club cashier would cost about $ 11,700 and a bachelor’s degree about $ 24,000. While those aren’t incidental costs they are a far cry from what a college education will cost in the United States currently at most 4 year universities.

Many people are of the opinion that education is the key to helping America and Americans stay competitive – and I fully agree with that opinion. Online universities are increasing in popularity for the obvious reason that they are substantially less expensive. Of course the college experience is vastly different from the campus environment that young students enjoy when they attend a 2 or 4 year university or college. The choice for many people today is not to go to college since they cannot afford it AND they could not make the time for it even if they could find a way to pay.

Wal-mart has hit on something big here. The time people spend online increases with each passing day. Offering a college education online is truly a win-win and speaks to the adage (and I paraphrase) – ‘if you want to catch fish you have to go where the fish are’. 1,400,000 employees represent a fine kettle of fish.

I like the idea a lot – how about you?

We have a client in Lexington, Kentucky that I visit frequently. Flying direct into Lexington from the New York area while possible, is limiting in the amount of direct flights offered and expensive. Since the flight itself is only about an hour and a half – connecting makes no sense to me at all.

In the recent past I have flown into Cincinnati (whose airport is actually in Covington, KY) and driven the 80 miles or so down to Lexington. On my trip last week I decided to try flying into Louisville which is actually 70 miles from Lexington (I had only done this once in the past 12 years). It was a direct flight both ways, (yes the plane was tiny like they all seem to be these days) and the flight left out of LaGuardia (as does the flight to Cincinnati).

On the return to LaGuardia I arrived at the airport early and looked for traveler’s club as I have card that allows me into a few. No clubs of that sort. But I noticed a staircase for a ‘club’ called ‘Altitude’ – A Traveler’s club. I went upstairs and was pleased to see a traveler’s lounge with internet access, free soft drinks – a cash bar, rechargeable stations for my laptop and phone, free local and long-distance phone calls (I suppressed the desire to call my friend in Asia), televisions and comfortable seating. What pleased me more was the cost – $ 5.00 for the day.

When my flight was delayed by an hour and a half I was not all that aggravated since I was able to work in a quiet, comfortable and pleasant atmosphere. HMS Host is operating this club and I suspect it is a test – both in pricing and usage. The club only had a few people in it that came and went as their flights did.
There are ‘flexible’ membership options (daily, monthly, and annual). So for those that travel out of Louisville a great deal a monthly option might be just the ticket. Considering that if you want internet access at LaGuardia and don’t subscribe to a plan you have to pay Boingo.net at least $ 4.00 to get wireless access – but you are in the noisy and often uncomfortable terminal.

If you have not figured it out already – the Altitude club is a GREAT concept. And I hope some other airports consider bringing in this concept. It was a very good experience.

Don’t’ tell anyone but by the way – I would have paid $ 10. Got any good stories like that? Or bad ones?

Having blogged about it a couple of times, I have also been ‘using’ Foursquare’s location based platform to ‘check-in’ over the past five months. I am dubiously proud of being able to claim that I am the ‘Mayor’ of the Acela club at CitiField in New York.

And I have been to the Acela club exactly three times this season which leads me to think that people who visit the Acela club do not subscribe or care about Foursquare. In fact the few people I asked who work there had never even heard of location based services like Foursquare. As Acela club ‘mayor’ I have not been offered the key to CitiField or even a free drink – alcoholic or not.

In an article in today’s NY Times http://nyti.ms/aDGgmn, it was noted that Loopt is offering people a mobile game that rewards people for checking in frequently to particular places. And as such one can become ‘boss’ of certain locations – sort of like being the mayor. The key thing is that companies like Gap, Burger King Etc., plan to use Loopt Star to reward loyal customers. Foursquare is also working with its partners to offer real-time rewards for check-ins and frequencies of visits.

One thing the article fails to mention is the vagaries of GPS check in on these platforms. I know for example on Foursquare when I attempt to ‘check-in’ I am given a list of nearby locations even if I am smack in the middle of one on the list. (Somehow I find it really odd that if I am sitting in a Starbucks it tells me that the one I am sitting in is somehow 137 meters away). But I can also check-in to any of these GPS-enabled locations whether I am actually physically there or not.

GPS technology is set to make a major leap forward with the advent of High Accuracy-NDGPS which will enable accuracy to the centimeter level. This will be a critical enhancement since it appears that I can check in at any number of places simultaneously/concurrently (or at least in quick sequence), so that I could gain reward points at places I actually never visited.

Think about it, you are sitting at coffee shop in the middle of the city, but you check in at Burger King (for the third time that week) even though you have been to the Burger King. Now Burger King sends you a coupon for a soda with a sandwich purchase. Retailer margins will be squeezed. People will game the system – that can be guaranteed.

I understand that companies can counter that talk about the fact the patron actually purchased something, but at the same time product is being given away for nothing. And how is that a good idea?

So join up now and get free stuff – while you can.