The WFM apron...left behind.

Many people don’t know that I spent a year working for Whole Foods Market, first at the new store in Short Pump, Virginia (near Richmond), and then at one of their oldest stores in Charlottesville, Virginia. I was reluctant to tell people because everyone that knows me knows me as “Power Connie,” or “ABC”―All Business Connie. I didn’t think they would understand.

I had very specific reasons at the time for joining the company:

• I was working through the graduate program in Sustainable Technology and Management at Arizona State University, and wanted to gain some experience in a company that visibly practiced sustainability values and practices.

• Whole Foods is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and I thought if I could move through the company it would be easy to transfer back to my home state.

• It’s been listed in the top 25 of Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For since it has been a public company.

• I love the store, and thought it would be a healthy, cool place to work.

The caveat is that in order to move up and through the company you pretty much have to start at the bottom. Read more

Connie Glover, Principal, CMarie Marketing Group

Back when I was in college, majoring in Marketing, it was all about the 4 Ps: Product, Price, Promotion, Place. And that was the mantra in education and in business up until quite recently. Then, Roy McClean, Principal of The Custom Fit Communications Group introduced us to the new Marketing Four, the 4 Cs of Marketing.

I’d like to focus on the fourth C: Communication. Marketing in the new economy is much more about creating a dialogue with your potential customer, rather than selling and marketing to a “prospect.”  It’s about inviting feedback, being receptive to ideas, and responding to needs; then presenting your product or service in response to what you have learned through these various interactions.

Hence, selling a Product has been replaced by responding to the Consumer; where your establishment or company is Placed has been replaced by Convenience of finding and buying your product or service through an Internet presence; Price has been replaced by Cost, which is now equated with value; and Promotion has been replaced by ongoing Communication with the Consumer. Read more

I made a promise to myself that when I started my Blog I would not rant—I would write about business, sustainability, and marketing. Granted my headline says “My thoughts on marketing, business, observations…and life!” so let’s just say that this one will fit under the “observations” category.

Can we please send Taylor Swift into a witness protection plan? The sooner the better! I take the Grammy Awards very seriously. I think the show itself is a fantastic production featuring interesting collaborations, a variety of music influences, and outrageous performances. And the featured nominees this year were well deserving—they are mature, experienced, influential musical artists who have and will continue to make their mark on music. I am stunned and confused that Taylor Swift, a little girl who can play maybe three chords on her guitar, has an awkward stage presence, and a limited, monotonous vocal range is worthy of nominations along with Beyonce and Fergie’s  Blackeyed Peas among others. Read more

Connie Glover, Principal, CMarie Marketing Group

I must give my husband credit for the title of this blog, Simply Forward. But I am using it to make my plea to our corporate leaders, our government, small businesses, and individuals: Take a step forward…right now! Stop blaming the economy for standing still, and be the one to make a move so that the wheels will be set back in motion and the economy will recover. It will never do so if we’re all waiting for someone else to do something.

Hats off to Hewlett-Packard—they’re actually hiring!  “You can’t cut your way to the future,” said Mateen Greenway, a fellow at HP Enterprise Services. “You have to cut your way to survival and then rebuild your organization as you come out of the recession.” HP is currently ranked 9 in Fortune’s 500, and may rank higher next year as they take proactive measures to increase their business by hiring salespeople, among other positions.

The phrase that has contributed most to the crippling of our economic recovery is “We’re waiting for the economy to recover.” Read more

Last year during the holiday season,  I submitted the following essay to NPR’s This I Believe. Although it was not selected to read on the radio, it does live in the NPR archives. As another holiday season approaches, and my brother’s death is still fresh as the second anniversary approaches, I felt like the sentiment expressed in this essay still applies. And as a thank you to all of those who express their care and concern, it serves as a “thank you” once again.

Gerald Bartholomew. July 18, 1966-December 25, 2007.

This, I Believe
December 2008.

My brother died tragically one year ago on Christmas Day 2008. As this year’s holiday season approached, those of us who were most closely connected with him, and those who were our biggest support systems (in my case, my husband) were anxiously anticipating how it was going to be for us this year, on the first anniversary of the traumatic event.

It has been an emotionally charged year to say the least. Read more

The word “job” is on the tip of everyone’s tongue in recent months: politicians promise “the creation of jobs”; many people have “lost their job”, and now need to “find a job”; government throws money at the problem, through the issuance of stimulus money, in the attempt that it will be used to “add new jobs”; the “job boards” are flooded with applicants to the point where companies that actually have a “job to post” can’t keep up with the influx.

It’s all about the job! I propose that we gravitate away from the notion of getting a job to the idea of creating and finding meaningful work.  My husband and I have both experienced job losses in the last three years; his being the most recent, and at the height of the unemployment crisis. I advised him to not even bother going through the motions on the job boards. Instead, we agreed that he had a lot to offer companies, especially being an effective manufacturing and operations leader—something sorely lacking in our country. Instead, he spent his time contacting everyone he knew in various industries, and offered his availability as a consultant, temporary turnaround manager, special projects work, and even business partner.

This approach accomplished several things:

• He wasn’t putting people or organizations in a position of feeling bad about not giving him a job—it was less threatening, and more comfortable for both parties.

• It got business leaders thinking differently about how to uncover and use talent, without necessarily adding someone to their already stressed payroll.

• Approached as a temporary situation, the business owner didn’t have to commit.

• In a time when downsizing and layoffs are common, they could still get good work done by a talented individual, and be poised to be ahead of the competition when the economy bounces back.

• My husband would then also have an opportunity to bring his ideas and effective leadership into an organization that may see him as then essential, and become permanent.

Years ago I read a book called “Creating You & Co.” (http://www.amazon.com/Creating-You-Co-Learn-Career/dp/0738200328) I feel like this approach is brilliant. It encourages you to figure out and embrace what you have to offer organizations and then finding an organization that will make use of your talents! Create your own “job”.  Read more

I have helped many organizations and individuals develop marketing strategy. Most of these relationships have started with the question, “Can you help me develop a Web site?” I always answer with “Yes, I can…but, it’s important to integrate a Web site into a complete marketing and PR strategy.” Many times the initial response is that of concern about the financial commitment. Organizations and individuals alike, regardless of their reasons for wanting a new or redesigned site, tend to think that merely having an Internet presence will increase their visibility–sort of like the notion from the well-known movie, Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.”

In the case of a Web site, I’m sorry to say, building it will not guarantee they will come. Web sites must be designed with the end goal in mind. Read more

During my graduate studies in Sustainability through Arizona State University I have learned much about organizational strategies built around sustainability initiatives. The definition of sustainability  is “meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Sometimes it is referred to in the context of the more commonly known Triple Bottom Line which takes into account an organization’s social, economic, and environmental practices and policies. Plainly put, making money while doing good.

Interestingly, when people think of “sustainability” they don’t include the social aspect; in fact, the focus tends to heavily be on the environmental aspect. And while environmental initiatives are certainly critical to the sustainability of an organization, and our planet for that matter, let’s consider the social aspect. In order for an organization to be sustainable it must invest in its employees, through continuous training, opportunities for advancement, encouragement of personal development, time to contribute to local charities of their choice, etc. It is impossible for an organization to move forward without a solid, consistent, loyal, and happy employee base. This is especially true in times of trouble, such as in the recent and ongoing economic crisis. Read more