Jon M. Huntsman School of Business

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Ignoring distractions

For Christmas, I got an iPhone 4S. One of the most hyped-up features of this device is Siri, the voice recognizing and talking assistant. The phone also has a “reminder” app, so I can either manually type in reminders or tell Siri to take care of it for me. Siri has made it easier for me to keep and respond to a “to do” list.

According to Peter Bregman, a strategic advisor to CEOs and their leadership teams, there is one other list I should think about: an ignore list. Bregman wrote a post for the Harvard Business Review Blog Network titled, “Two Lists You Should Look at Every Morning.” The two lists he talks about are your focus list and your ignore list.

Connor Child
I know it may seem silly to write a blog post about another blog post, but this is just what I needed to hear. As the new year approaches, many of us will make resolutions about what we will do in the coming year. My resolutions will be more about what I will stop doing in the coming year. For instance, do I really need to read the comments below a YouTube video? Odds are that I’m already not making productive use of my time by watching said video; what could I possibly get out of reading what ragtag57 has to say about it?

Bregman says the “ignore list” should contain distractions. What types of things are getting in your way? I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say for myself that there are several distractions that have limited my academic progress. With the internet and social media networks, the number of distractions out there is limitless. As I near the beginning of the final semester of my undergraduate career, I have made a commitment to eliminate or reduce the timewasting activities that have gotten in my way.

But not right now. I just got a cool new smartphone and I want to play with its lightsaber app for a little bit.

- Connor Child

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Show, don't just tell

I have been keeping my eye on sites like Forbes and Time for any tips on the search for what my wife calls "a big boy job."

Lately, I have noticed that a lot of sites post articles about words to strike from your resume or buzzwords to take off your LinkedIn profile.

Paul Lewis Siddoway
Reading these articles, they all seem to say the same basic thing: instead of using your LinkedIn profile, cover letter, or resume to try and convey your qualities, you should show people.

For example, if you are in marketing, you can (and should) have a portfolio. And I suggest a nice hard copy to show off, a decent one you can give away at interviews, and an online one you can share with everybody.

Obviously, you have to have to have words in your cover letter and resume, but it seems like there are some words that used to mean something, and now they have been overused and have lost what they used to mean.

In all my business correspondence, I try and use real language (not anything too flowery or academic) and whenever I have a potentially abstract term, like "experienced," I try to quantify. That, along with my portfolio, allows whoever is reading my resume to determine how experienced I am.

If pictures are worth a 1,000 words, then I would imagine making sure a potential employer sees my portfolio is worth striking a few words from my resume.

- Paul Lewis Siddoway

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

We have a contractor!

Ken Snyder
After a very close competition, our selection committee chose Spindler Construction to be the contractor on our new building. Spindler reportedly won based on bringing several ideas on how we can save money in the construction process. Their history of working on buildings on campus, where they have helped stretch the budget through their innovations, persuaded the committee that they are the right people to work with.

Spindler has built several buildings on campus, including the Early Childhood Education Building and Widtsoe Hall.

Spindler is a local company with headquarters in Logan, Utah. For more information, see their website at www.spindlercorp.com.

I’m looking forward to working with them.

- Ken Snyder

Friday, December 16, 2011

The Law of Diminishing Returns

This week I read an article in the Harvard Business Review called “How to Accomplish More by Doing Less”. I was immediately drawn into this idea. Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to make more happen in the time that they are given? I was pleasantly surprised by what I learned.

The article begins by giving examples of two men named “Bill” and “Nick” who have equal skill, who work at the same office and at the same hours, coming in at 9 a.m. each day and leaving at 7 p.m.

Rob Goates
Bill is the typical worker. He doesn’t stop for the whole 10 hours, he’s always in meetings and, in order to save time, he even eats lunch at his desk. He counts his productivity based on the amount of hours worked. He is like many of the workers in today’s society.

Then there’s Nick. He works intensely for approximately 90 minutes at a time, and then proceeds to take a 15 minute break before resuming work. At 12:15, he goes out for lunch for 45 minutes, or works out in a nearby gym. At 3 pm, he closes his eyes at his desk and takes a rest. Sometimes it turns into a 15 or 20 minute nap. Finally, between 4:30 and 5, Nick takes a 15 minute walk outside.

While they both work hard while they are at work, Nick takes the opportunity to refuel and put more energy into his eight hours of work than Bill has in his 10. Studies show that people who work like Nick have faster reaction time and make fewer mistakes as they are more alert. They also have more energy for other aspects of their lives outside of work, such as family and hobbies. They understand that they work to live, not live to work.

People around the world believe that Americans are working themselves to death. We need to discover the importance of smarter, not harder and as we do that, we will begin to realize that it is just as important to work hard as it is to unwind and recover.

- Rob Goates

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Final Four

The college basketball season may have just begun, but the Huntsman School is already focused on a Final Four of its own. After seven construction companies submitted bids to build our new building, the selection committee narrowed the field down to four.

Ken Snyder
The process may not have involved three-pointers at the buzzer or Cinderella stories, but a great deal of thought and effort went into making the selections. Each of the bids were given a score in four criteria: past performance rating, strength of contractor’s team, project management approach and experience with working in a campus environment. The four contractors with the highest combined score were added to the short list.

For a detailed breakdown of the scoring, click on the pdf titled "Short Listing" on this link. The following four firms made the short list:

Layton Construction
Jacobsen Construction
Gramoll Construction
Spindler Construction

Fortunately, we didn’t have to look at strength-of-schedule or tinker with a complex formula like RPI. But these four firms achieved the highest combined scores, and they will present and interview this Wednesday.

No word yet on whether or not Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg will be there to announce the proceedings.

- Ken Snyder

Friday, December 9, 2011

The day the NBA died

Born: June 6, 1946
Died: December 8, 2011

The National Basketball Association passed away under duress as a result of strangulation from 25 of the 30 league team owners on Thursday, December 8, 2011. The hands on the throat that applied most of the pressure and led to loss of blood to the brain resulting in death belonged to Cleveland Cavalier’s CEO Dan Gilbert.

The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders are hard at work today laying the groundwork for actions against the perpetrators.

Some would characterize this as a crime of passion. The chain of events leading to death were precipitated by a proposed three-team trade that would have sent Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers, and an assortment of other players and draft picks moving to New Orleans and Houston in order to complete the deal. All-Star Pau Gasol and NBA Dream-Teamer Lamar Odom would have moved from the Lakers to the Rockets and Hornets, respectively, as part of the deal.
Eric D. Schulz

Upon word leaking of the impending trade, several small-market owners- led by Gilbert – called the league office, and stated that the proposed trade was a “travesty” and urged NBA Commissioner David Stern to put the deal to a vote of the “29 owners of the Hornets” (the team is owned by the league, therefore the other 29 NBA teams all “own” an equal percentage of the franchise). Other small-market owners rallied behind Gilbert, afraid that the “superstar” team formations that had begun in Miami and New York – and ostensibly would be halted by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which was sold to the owners as a move towards a more level playing field among teams – was still business-as-usual. Gilbert mused that if the deal were approved, the NBA would become “five teams, and 25 others all named the Washington Generals”. For those of you unfamiliar with the Washington Generals, it is the long-time opponent of the world famous Harlem Globetrotters. The Generals have only beaten the Globies six times in 49 years, losing over 13,000 games since their last win which came on January 5, 1971.

With his brain both oxygen deprived and with reduced blood flow, commissioner David Stern killed the trade and his league with an unprecedented and never-before-used veto power, citing “basketball reasons” as the rationale for nixing the deal. Never before has the league interfered in trades, as long as they had met the required financial criteria (i.e. salary matching).

Pre-meditated murder with extenuating circumstances are the charges being prepared for filing. Temporary insanity is contemplated as a primary defense motion for Commissioner Stern and the League office.

Services are pending.

Eric D. Schulz is the co-director of strategic marketing and brand management at the Jon M Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Prior to joining the University, he spent five years as Vice-President of Marketing for the Utah Jazz (NBA); he previously was VP of Marketing with the XFL Football League, and served as a general manager in minor league baseball. He can be reached at eric.schulz@usu.edu.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Political website in top 20 of Intel competition

Editor's note: A group composed of students, alumni and faculty from the Huntsman School recently launched a political website called Politicit. A unique aspect of the website is the "It" score that it assigns to each candidate. The score is calculated through a software program that utilizes a neural network to calculate how people feel about candidates today.

A handful of Huntsman students, alumni and a professor (the creators of PoliticIt) have made it to the semi-final top-20 round of entrepreneurs in the Intel Innovators Competition! The top five teams from this round will have a chance to win $100,000! Please help our Huntsman family out by doing the following (The person who invests the most points will be a judge for the next round):

1. Click this link: https://apps.facebook.com/intelinnovators/ (You must be logged in to Facebook to participate.)
2. Let Intel Innovators have access to you (safe app that doesn't post any material to your wall unless you ask it to).
3. "Like" it to get your first intel points in the right upper corner.
4. Once you have the first 10,500 points click on the "i" tab.
5. Click on "Pitch Room" tab.
6. Find "Politicit" among the 20 entries by mousing over them to see the names.
7. Click "INVEST"
8. Type "10500" (the points you just earned) into the box and click "INVEST".
9. If you want a chance to earn more points and a better chance for PoliticIt to win, press play on 10 videos. You don't have to watch them all! Just press the play button and you'll see points added for each one to your pool. Repeat the invest step with these new points.
10. You CAN repeat these steps EVERY DAY until Dec. 19, and each day you invest Intel points, you get another chance to win. The top prize will go to the entrepreneur team with the most points.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Progress Hastens

So many things are happening with our building plans that it is difficult for me to report on just one thing each week. This past week, three big things happened. Let me give a brief report of each:

Ken Snyder
First, we are very close to locking down what goes in the building. The architects created a proposal as to where everything will go in the new building. It seems like it will work very well. We made a few changes to their proposals, but we generally really liked what they proposed. Most of the space in the new building will be classrooms. Our two event rooms will have the prime views of the south end of the valley. There will be two main entrances – one at the northwest corner of the complex, and the other at the southwest corner. Both entryways will be two-stories. The café will be near the south entryway.

Second, we showed our plans to President Albrecht. He seemed to like the plan as much as we do. He especially liked the additional new classrooms the project would bring to the campus. The shortage of classrooms on campus is a bigger and bigger problem as enrollments have grown. The classrooms in our building will help bring some needed relief. He also seemed to like the iconic look of the new building.

Third, construction contractor proposals were due last Thursday. Seven firms submitted proposals. A selection committee is now narrowing down the list to the top three or four. One contractor will be selected to work with us and the architectural firm as we work through the process of creating the design documents for the building.

It’s exciting to see this progress. It will be a great building!

- Ken Snyder

Monday, December 5, 2011

Some important skills can't be quantified with a letter grade

I recently read a blog which was sparked by a Twitter conversation about the importance of GPA's in the "real" world.

The blog basically said that while taking classes seriously, working hard and learning are important, you can only be graded on certain aspects of your education.

Once I started studying things that would need to last me for the rest of my life in a vocation (I'm sorry, but the role of the plow in the settlement of Nebraska just doesn't figure into my plans for the future), I started working harder than when I was just doing school work.

Sometimes it is still hard for me to keep that focus in mind, but at least I don't have any more worksheets.

Through my college career, I have learned more than just facts and formulas. I've learned other things that are more abstract, and therefore harder to give a grade to.
Paul Lewis Siddoway

For example, personal skills or social skills.

Whenever I need to do a new task, it really helps to see someone else do it. I play music, and whenever I want to learn something new, the easiest way for me to do that is to see someone else do it; I can see how their hands move.

Teachers give students assignments so the student can not only learn the material, but also so they can learn how they learn best. Good teachers will teach using different methods and give assignments requiring different skill sets. The grades given will help students learn what works and what doesn't, but no kind of teacher can really grade on whether somebody knows their learning style.

Being married, working two jobs, going to school full time and finding time for myself has taught me prioritization and time management. That's something else I doubt I could be graded on. Sometimes you have to sharpen that proverbial saw to push through and get work done. Sometimes you have to do a rush job on a project and you have to know what other things you can or can't procrastinate.

And you have to know how to be a big boy and take accountability for your decisions. Gratefully, I'm pretty sure I have received better grades based on my being honest with my professors.

One of the biggest shortcomings I run into is everyone being so worried about hurting other people's feelings. If I have done a botched job on something, I want to know about it so I can make it better. I don't need you to tell me two good things I did first. I do appreciate "positive" feedback, but only when it's honest. (Being able to tell if it's honest is another un-gradable thing I've learned in college.) And really, if it makes me and my work better, isn't it all positive?

I don't want to say that GPA's aren't important (graduate school, anyone?), but there are other things that are important that can’t be given a concrete grade quite as easily.

- Paul Lewis Siddoway

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Effect of the New CBA on the Utah Jazz & Small Market Teams

Did the Jazz and small market teams get any “wins” in the deal?

Yes. The new deal includes an increasingly painful luxury tax for teams that habitually stray into taxpayer territory, which should keep the Lakers and Celtics of the world from going significantly over the luxury tax line (as the Lakers, Dallas, Celtics, Bulls and several others do nearly every season). This should – at some point in the future – begin to level the salary playing field between the big-market, high revenue teams and the smaller market teams. However, the new luxury tax doesn’t begin to kick in until the 2013-14 season, so until then, it’s business as usual. It will be five years before the real effects of the new, steeper taxes manifest themselves.

Eric D. Schulz
An immediate win the Jazz have available to them is the new “amnesty” clause, which allows each team to waive one player prior to any season and have 100% of that players salary removed from their team salary for cap and tax purposes. This new clause will allow teams to dump players that they signed to big contracts and then had buyer’s remorse – as would have been the case with Andrei Kirilenko and his $17 million dollar annual contract the past couple of seasons. The team still has to pay anyone they dump (unless he’s picked up by another team, in which case they have to pay a portion of the contract instead of all of it). On the Jazz radar for using the amnesty clause this season is Mehmut Okur and his $11 million salary. If somebody shows up to camp way-out-of-shape, they also could be on the radar.

Will the new deal allow small market teams to compete for the NBA championship more effectively?

No. The big market teams will continue to be the only ones you’ll see hoisting trophies at the end of the year. The new deal does nothing to address the “Miami Effect”, with players leveraging their way to the big markets to play with their All-Star buddies. Before this year is out, you will see Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, and Pau Gasol as the “big three” in LA; Amare Stoudamire, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul headlining the Knicks; Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer and Tim Duncan on the Bulls; Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, and Brook Lopez headlining the Mavericks; and of course, LeBron, D-Wade and Bosh in Miami. Nothing has changed. The haves will continue to have. The smaller market teams will continue to be have-nots and be in continual rebuilding mode.

Will the Jazz have an easier time signing big-name free agents under the new deal?

No. Utah is not a destination where players want to come and form their “big-three’s”. Once players get to Utah they like it, but it is not a preferred destination, and any free agent player that’s top-tier has multiple options from which to choose. Major markets, with big opportunities for incremental cash from personal sponsorships and endorsements -- along with nice weather and beaches -- win every time.

Will the Jazz be able to make a profit under the new deal?

Only if they keep their player salaries at or near the salary cap – in the $50 - $55 million dollar range. As it stands today, the 2011-12 roster is at about $59 million, and they have to sign at least two more players.

Will the new CBA keep owners from handing out outrageous contracts?

No. In fact, they can give out MORE outrageous deals. The maximum that any single player can make under the old CBA was 25% of the salary cap. Under the new deal, a max contract can be up to 30% of the cap.

The free agent signing period starts next Wednesday, and it will be interesting to see the feeding frenzy. The New Orleans Hornets only have five players under contract. Most teams need to add two-to-four players. It will be a crazy week next week!

- Eric D. Schulz

Eric D. Schulz is the co-director of strategic marketing and brand management at the Jon M Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Prior to joining the University, he spent five years as vice-president of marketing for the Utah Jazz (NBA); he previously was VP of marketing with the XFL Football League, and served as a General Manager in minor league baseball. He can be reached at eric.schulz@usu.edu.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Work on the new building will require constructive input

We recently met with the contractors who would like to build Huntsman Hall. We plan to follow an approach that is commonly used on the Utah State University campus and throughout the state when new buildings are constructed. It is called the Construction Management General Contractor process. This is a state-approved approach that allows our contractor to work with the architects as the building is designed to help identify ways we can save money.

Ken Snyder
Proposals, including a cost proposal, management plan, references and statements of qualifications, must be submitted by 12:00 noon on Thursday, December 1, 2011. You can view the bid requirements on the DFCM website.

After we get these proposals, we will narrow the field of prospects down to three to six companies and select the final firm by the end of the year.

We will, of course, be looking at each firm’s track record. Companies that have already delivered impressive results and constructed remarkable buildings will have a competitive advantage. We know some of the top firms in the state want to be a part of this project. Once the design work is done, we will determine the final construction cost of the project.

This is an exciting time. We have a new design concept and we are selecting our contractor. I can almost hear the sounds of construction underway already.

- Ken Snyder

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Fill your wallet and feed the hungry!

Wouldn’t you like your end-of-the-year holiday card to serve a better purpose than to be temporarily magneted to a fridge alongside a dozen others?

This holiday season, the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University is offering people the chance to donate to a local charity and win as much as $500 in the Huntsman Holiday Card Contest.

The contest will be held on the Huntsman School’s Facebook page. Contestants will submit their best holiday cards to the page, and for the first 300 votes, the School will donate $0.50 to the Cache Community Food Pantry. The contestant(s) who submits the entry with the most likes will win $500. Second prize will win $200 and third prize will win $100. Entries are to be submitted by Dec. 4 at midnight, and voting will go from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9.

To summarize:


  • The contest will be held on the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business Facebook page
  • For the first 300 votes on all contest entries, the Huntsman School will donate $0.50 to the Cache Community Food Pantry
  • Entries are to be submitted by Dec. 4 at midnight, and voting goes from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9
  • 1st prize: $500 2nd prize: $200 3rd prize: $100

For more details, please visit the Huntsman School's Facebook page.

Monday, November 28, 2011

The right way to use social media: timely, relevant, actionable

A new study came out this past week that said 56 percent of chief marketing officers at companies who believe they are "advanced" in the use of social media admit they still don't know how to utilize social media effectively as a marketing tool. Scary. I've been giving this a lot of thought recently and have come to the conclusion that there really is a simple rule for effectively using social media and it's this -- your messages must be TIMELY, RELEVANT, and ACTIONABLE. If they don't meet at least two of the three criteria, don't do it!

Eric D. Schulz
It seems that many companies have invested in having people dedicated to social media, and therefore figure that if they've got this person, they better be posting on Facebook and Twitter 17 times a day! And therein lies the problem. If you are doing this, you’re spamming. Grit your teeth, and hold yourself back. Look at every message -- is it TIMELY, RELEVANT, and ACTIONABLE?

Social media is great for giving things away, but most companies are having a hard time figuring out how to generate sales. There are certain industries that are perfectly positioned to effectively use social media -- restaurants, fast food chains, retail stores and movie theatres. Need to stimulate purchases? Need some customers for dinner tonight? Tweet and post a "today only" special. Timely, Relevant, Actionable. Sports teams can use social media effectively to disseminate information and special offers. TV/Radio stations absolutely can use social media to drive consumers. Watch this show for a chance to win X. Listen at 4 p.m. to win Y. A local TV station here in Utah in fact has used social media so effectively to drive it’s 10 p.m. newscast that it was able to rise from a perennial #2 position to #1 in the market and continues to build their ratings/share advantage on the back of their effective use of social media tied to a "watch and win" contest nightly within their newscast.

Consumer product companies have a problem, however -- what can you say about Tide detergent that's timely, relevant and actionable? Probably not much. So, as my momma always said, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Save your breath. The same study I referenced also asked consumers how often they wanted to hear marketing messages from companies they "liked" -- the answer? Most only wanted to hear from them once a month or less. A smaller portion said once a week was OK -- none said "everyday" -- let alone 17 times a day!

Social media CAN be a powerful marketing tool if you use it correctly. Unfortunately, most companies are just using it for spamming out useless information. If what you have to say isn't timely, relevant and actionable, stop doing it.

- Eric D. Schulz

Eric D. Schulz is the co-director of strategic marketing and brand management at the Jon M Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Prior to joining the University, he spent over 20 years in consumer product marketing with Procter & Gamble, The Walt Disney Company, and The Coca-Cola Company. He can be reached at eric.schulz@usu.edu.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving break. We look forward to seeing you next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A room full of people are smitten by a design

I promised you last week that I’d give you a peek at a new design concept that changed the way we have been envisioning what Huntsman Hall might look like. Hey, you went ahead and looked at the picture already, didn’t you?

Well, what do you think? If you were like those of us who were presented with this preliminary design concept last week, you liked it immediately. Of course, we got to see a three-dimensional model but this image should give you a sense for the unusual, innovative design that we fell in love with. We unanimously voted to go in this direction. We were smitten by this concept.

The new building, Huntsman Hall, as proposed, would be a functional, iconic building that would integrate well with the George S. Eccles Business Building. The first and second floors, which would be mainly classrooms and student meeting rooms, would offer great views of Cache Valley. The third floor will be mainly office space.

The sweeping design will take up where Lund Hall now sits and will extend into the construction staging area on the west side of the business building, and will wrap around the east side of the building to near Moen Hall.

We think it is a phenomenal concept that will look just plain cool. This initial concept includes two large two-story entry ways – one from the side of building that faces Route 89, and one on the northwest side of the building that will offer access to both the George S. Eccles Business Building and Huntsman Hall. It will connect the old to the new buildings in two places and create a nice open courtyard area, which will be sheltered from the wind, between the two buildings.

This is just a preliminary design concept, so the design may change as we work out details. I will share with you more images as the architectural renderings begin to take shape. But isn’t it cool?

- Ken Snyder

Monday, November 21, 2011

Graduating class with brighter outlook

Good news. According to U.S. News and World Report, the class of 2011 has a brighter job outlook than previous years. And salary offers are on the rise in addition to job offers.

That may be the case, but it's still not easy. I read a blog with some tips on what to do between graduation and that first big-boy job.

Paul Lewis Siddoway
The main point I got was essentially "pretend like you have a job." Have a regular schedule, set goals, and spend at least 40 hours a week working toward them. If you have a job, great. If you have time left, spend it looking for a job. If you still have more time left, be working on something else that will help. If you're into marketing, blog about marketing fails (like putting an ad for 5th and 6th graders' ski passes in a college newspaper) and marketing successes you've seen. If nothing else, it shows you are keeping up with your job competition and critically thinking others' marketing strategies. Companies like critical thinkers.

And then be patient and don't stress out.

I think that's good advice for anyone.

- Paul Lewis Siddoway

Friday, November 18, 2011

The best and worst thing about the internet

Sometimes, it’s best to just keep some thoughts to yourself.

Connor Child
Arguably the best and worst thing about the internet is that it gives just about everyone a voice. Once upon a time all you could do was rant about the Raiders’ offense to three of your friends – now, you can get on a message board and say something deeply poignant like “CARSON PALMER SUCKS!!!” and get 15 responses in an hour. The upside is increased feedback, efficient communication and instant responses. The downside is that a phrase like “CARSON PALMER SUCKS!!!” is Shakespearian compared to 90 percent of the drivel you will come across on any open internet forum.

As I said earlier, some thoughts are better off left unsaid. This American Life recently reran one of my all-time favorite episodes, “Right to Remain Silent.” The first segment of the program focuses on Joe Lipari, a man who became infuriated with the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City and made his anger abundantly clear in a Facebook post later that day. After watching the movie Fight Club, he posted a paraphrased quote from the movie that said, among other things, that he might “walk into an Apple store on Fifth Avenue with an Armalite AR-10 gas powered semi-automatic weapon and pump round after round into one of those smug, fruity little concierges."

One of his Facebook friends saw the post and reported him to the police, and it wasn’t long before he was visited by the police and charged with two felonies. He has spent the last few years in and out of courts fighting the charges. Although the ordeal appears to be over (a judge dismissed the charges in February), he definitely paid a price.

Lipari was obviously being sarcastic. But sarcasm doesn’t come through on the web quite like it does in person. Additionally, it’s probably a good idea to avoid any sort of references to pumping rounds of ammunition into people.

Extreme cases like Lipari’s are the exception and not the rule. The First Amendment is thriving in today’s era of social media, according to an editorial in the Dallas Morning News. In 2006, 45 percent of students surveyed said the First Amendment guaranteed too many rights. That number dropped to 23 percent in the 2011 survey. The increase in use of social media has also led to increased tolerance of opposing views. A group called the Knight Foundation “found a link between social media and tolerance of unpopular opinions; daily users were the most tolerant and infrequent users the least.”

Let’s just hope these people eventually come up with something cleverer than “CARSON PALMER SUCKS!!!”

- Connor Child

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Huntsman Hall - What's in and what's out

After brainstorming, prioritizing and more prioritizing, we’ve made some decisions about what we want to go into Huntsman Hall, our new 85,000-square-foot building. Here is what we are planning for now:

Ken Snyder
• There will be 15 to 20 study rooms for meetings and student group projects.

• We are planning on ten new classrooms in the building.

• There will be a nice student lounge.

• We plan to accommodate our students with a café.

• We will have a “resource library” with a quiet study area.

• There will be two rooms for meetings and VIP receptions. One will be larger than the O.C. Tanner lounge on the ninth floor in our current building, and the other will be an executive board room for 25-30 people.

• We will convert the classrooms that are sometimes called “the caves” in rooms 317 and 319 in the Eccles Building into office space, freeing up more room in the new building for new, state-of-the-art classrooms.

• Most of our faculty offices will remain in the Eccles Business Building. We will probably need to move one department of faculty offices to the new building.

• The Orson A. Christensen Auditorium, Room 215 in our business building now, will remain our largest classroom.

The architects also proposed a really cool idea for what the building might look like, but I’m going to save that information for next week. Here’s a teaser, however. It’s a unique design unlike anything we have discussed or envisioned before. Stay tuned for more information next week.

- Ken Snyder

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

NBA players should form their own league

Memo to: All NBA Players (Past & Present)

From: Eric Schulz

Subject: Game Plan for Starting Your OWN League

Congratulations on turning down the latest proposal from the owners. Bold move. Now, here’s something to think about. How about thumbing your nose at the NBA and its owners, and start up your own league – the UBL (Unified Basketball League)?

When the NBA was formed decades ago, it needed rich people to make it work. But it doesn’t anymore. YOU are all rich people. Screw them. They locked YOU out. You don’t need “owners” anyway. It feels so aristocratic. They want a nuclear option? Well here it is. Blow up their entire system and put them all out of business. You want to strike fear in their eyes – this is it. Starting a players-owned league isn’t that hard, and in fact, you can do it much cheaper and streamlined than they can. And if YOU own the league, YOU keep ALL the revenues, not just half. So, here’s your game plan.

Eric D. Schulz
1) Form A League Where All Teams Are 100% League Owned. This gets rid of “the man” (David Stern, league lawyers, and all the “owners") and you are in complete control. Make your own TV / media deals. Sell your own sponsorships. Sell your own tickets. Instead of having 30 different teams operated by 30 different groups all doing 30 different things, you’ll have ONE centralized system for everything managed at the league level. Each city would need a small staff, but nowhere near the size they are now. And the economies of scale you’d have from one ticketing system, one licensing / sponsorship group, one building leasing group, and one media division would slice out a lot of the costs of doing business that currently exist, and give you great negotiating leverage.

2) Pay Each Of Yourselves A Base Salary + Incentives + Cash Shares That Are Divvied Up At The End Of Each Season. There would be three pay components for every player:

a. Set up your league so that everyone on every team makes the same amount of base salary during the regular season.

b. But here’s the twist --everyone on each team earns a $50,000 bonus for each regular season victory, and a $250,000 bonus for each post-season victory. So, you get paid to play, but you get paid more to win!


c. At the end of the season, you divide the remaining league revenues amongst yourselves, based on a statistical model with the players who performed the best and put butts in the seats (Kobe, Dirk, Kevin, Dwight, LeBron, et al) getting more.

So how would this play out? Assume every player in the league is paid a base salary of $2 million. A team that wins 50 regular season games (earning an additional $50,000 per win) would earn bonuses of another $2.5 million each.

Then, for every playoff win, each player on winning teams makes a $250,000 bonus. With 16 post-season victories needed to win the championship, that’s another $4 million for each player on the championship team. Add it all up, and every player on the championship team would earn a total of $8.5 million as their salary, plus a share of the remaining league revenue splits at the end of the season based on the statistical model. Oh, and by the way, with this system, you can all stop paying your agents 3-5 percent of your salaries. No agents needed!

3) Level The Playing Field Every Season For Every Team. We all know that none of you like living in places like Utah or Minnesota during the winter. Miami and LA are the places to be. We get that. So here’s another twist. Let’s make our league work like fantasy sports. Every year, we redraft new teams, done by random draw (to keep teams from trying to tank it at the end of the season). So, the NBA Draft becomes a draft of EVERY PLAYER, not just rookies. Twelve rounds. Pick your your 12 players for this season. So, if the first ping-pong ball goes to Memphis – you want LeBron, OK he’s yours. Second pick to Dallas – you want Kevin Durant, he’s yours. Third pick to Phoenix – Kobe it is. And so on. This would eliminate the current systems problem of having all the top talent purchased by over-cap spending large-market teams, and spread the best players all over the league, making it more competitive, and giving every team the chance to compete for a championship every year. It also gives every team a chance to have LeBron, or Dirk, or Kobe, Kevin, Dwight, D-Wade, D-Will and others play in their city for at least one season of their career. What would this do to league licensing revenues? Think about it. Now I need to buy a new jersey for my team’s favorite player EVERY year, at $125 retail! And for you players, if you are drafted by Minnesota or Utah, it’s not a death sentence – you’re only stuck there for one season, then can get redrafted by somebody else!

That’s it – a pretty simple operating model that would raise the boat for all of you and stick it to the man. So let me know when you want me to get going on this for you. We should be able to have the UBL up and running by next season. I’ll be your first league commissioner – and we’ll put headquarters here in Logan, Utah to keep down costs!

- Eric D. Schulz

Eric D. Schulz is the Co-Director of Strategic Marketing and Brand Management at the Jon M Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Prior to joining the University, he spent five years as Vice-President of Marketing for the Utah Jazz (NBA); he previously was VP of Marketing with the XFL Football League, and served as a General Manager in minor league baseball. He can be reached at eric.schulz@usu.edu.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Students invest real money in finance course


Fred Dickson, the Chief Investment Strategist from DA Davidson, spoke at USU tonight. He emphasized the importance of gaining experience in the field before you graduate from college. In fact, one of the big reasons for his visit was to reward the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business as a result of investments by a group of students.

Students in Paul Fjeldsted’s Investing Practicum class have a unique opportunity to invest real money. DA Davidson donated $50,000 for this purpose. When the investments work out, DA Davidson cuts a check to the school. Tonight, Mr. Dickson presented the school with a check for $1,500. Before presenting the check, Mr. Dickson praised the efforts of the school in promoting real-life involvement.  

Monday, November 14, 2011

It never hurts to ask

Recently, I wrote a blog post about an article by Jeff Haden, a blogger for CBS. After reading the article, I was left with a question: "What can I do to get a business to notice me in the sea of other applicants?"

I wrote him and asked the same question. He wrote an article, posted it, and sent me a link.

I can't say he did this just because I asked, but one thing I've learned in life is that it never hurts to write people letters. You often get something for your trouble.

So what did he have to say?

First, determine who you want to work for. Not just what industry, but narrow it down to specific businesses. Then get to know the company and think about what you can offer immediately, then tell them. One of my professors already suggested this to me as a potential job search option, but didn't go quite so far as to have a show-and-tell presentation ready.

Paul Lewis Siddoway
Another thing Haden said that I really liked was, "Don't be afraid to take charge of the interview." Obviously, it's not an ideal thing in every job interview situation. And you should always go into the interview with questions about the company that show you've done some research into what they do, but I would imagine the interviewer would get bored asking the same questions. Engaging in a conversation would probably be nice for them, too.

Haden also gave advice for the people on the other side of the interview. Mainly, employees should show they are willing to work for the company, not just fulfill their job description.

One thing Haden said reminded me of the account of Sir Ernest Shackleton, an Antarctic explorer. If you haven't read the story of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, you need to. At least check out the Wikipedia page. When I think of leadership, I turn to Shackleton first.

When he was outfitting his expedition to the South Pole in 1914, he got more than 5,000 applications for 28 spots. The semi-finalists for the positions were chosen based on skill. The men who ended up going on the expedition were chosen based on personality and how personable they were. Shackleton knew they would be in close quarters for long periods of time. Besides himself, only two of his men had previous experience in the Antarctic.

Haden said it may be more important to hire someone with a little personality that can learn the job than someone who would be a great employee, but a horrible co-worker.

- Paul Lewis Siddoway

Friday, November 11, 2011

"Big Four" CEO, USU graduate to speak on Wednesday

James Quigley
This Wednesday, we will have the opportunity to hear from one of our most distinguished alumni. James Quigley, who graduated from USU in 1974 with a BS in accounting, will speak at a Dean's Convocation on Nov. 16.

Most people have heard people talk about the "Big Four" accounting firms. Well, Mr. Quigley is the global CEO of one of them - Deloitte Touche. He has clearly built a career around the fundamental principles of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. Students who take the time out of their day to hear Mr. Quigley will undoubtedly walk away with a better understanding of how to succeed in the business world.

Doug Robinson of the Deseret News recently wrote an article about Mr. Quigley. Here is how the article begins:
Jim Quigley is an oddity in the corporate world of high finance. His peers tend to be graduates of leafy old Ivy League schools – Wharton, Yale, Harvard, et al. Then there's Quigley. He grew up in a town of 400 in southern Utah. Graduated with a class of 92. Earned a B.S. degree from – ahem – a state school. And that advanced degree? Didn't get one. 
"Not exactly the credentials you have to have to be CEO of a large company," he likes to say.
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Penn State now "Penance" State

A brand is a living, breathing thing – built over time. Brands, like people, have good days and bad days. Unfortunately, as the stunning revelations coming out of Penn State this week demonstrate, the power of a brand that took years and even decades to build can be destroyed in a matter of days.

Penn State and Joe Paterno are the definition of big-time college football. The image of Paterno – a football professor with a tie, thick glasses and Nike coaching shoes - has stalked the sidelines in Happy Valley since 1950. The success of the football program has driven the reputation of the university for decades. The Nittany Lions won national championships in 1982 and 1986.

Eric D. Schulz
Just how powerful is Joe Paterno? In 2004 the university president demanded his resignation. Paterno ignored him and kept on coaching. He and his wife Sue have donated over $4 million to the university. The school library bears his name, as does an ice cream flavor at the campus creamery.

In the past three days, the reputation and brand of both the school and Paterno have been destroyed as quickly and completely as New York’s Twin Towers. In case you haven’t followed the news, a former defensive coordinator under Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, has been accused of sexually assaulting young boys over a 15-year period. In 2002, a graduate assistant witnessed a sexual assault by Sandusky on a 10-year old boy inside the football locker room showers and reported it to Paterno. Paterno in turn told his superior, school athletic director Tim Curley, who took it to the school’s senior vice president for finance and business, Gary Schultz (no relation to me, thank heaven).

All three decided that protecting the power and prestige of the brands of Penn State and Joe Paterno were more important than doing the right thing. They swept the information under the table and never reported it to police. Curley and Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report to authorities what they knew in a Grand Jury investigation, but Paterno has not been charged (yet).

Regardless, the brand reputations of Penn State and Joe Paterno have lost their luster. The school will need to do some serious damage control. Their plight is similar to that which the Miss America pageant faced back in 1984 when nude photos – pics that had been taken back in 1982 -- surfaced of then Miss America Vanessa Williams (yes, THAT Vanessa Williams – the singer and actress, most recently seen on “Ugly Betty”.) The pageant had brushed with scandal before, and responded in 1985 by crowning the most squeaky – clean contestant they could find, Utah’s Sharlene Hawkes.

Penn State will need to sweep out their entire athletic department leadership, as well as their football coaching staff, and start over with a coach and new athletic director above reproach, never tainted or even hinted at by scandal or NCAA violation. If they do – and if the football team excels – they will be able to regain their luster quickly. Winning fixes everything in sports (unfortunately sometimes – as in Kobe Bryant / Ben Rothlesberger / Michael Vick cases). For Joe Pa however, there will be no redemption. The man who spent over 60 years building his reputation will need to slink off into retirement and stay away from Penn State forever. It's a shame, but when he walks away from his resignation press conference, that will be the last we will ever see of the winningest coach in football history.

The moral of this story is something all brands should take note of. No matter how big or powerful a brand you have stewardship over, morality trumps all. Do not try to “protect the brand” by actively doing, or ignoring, immoral acts. Don’t hide negative test results from the FDA or other government agencies in place to protect the public. Don’t – as auto companies are famous for doing – have “statistical” acceptability of product failures. A death due to your product is not acceptable under any circumstance.

When I was at Coke, I was standing alongside the Chief Marketing Officer, Sergio Zyman one day, when an international Coke brand manager approached him and started explaining the idea she had for a Coke brand consumer promotion in her country. His reply was the height of brand arrogance. He said “Let me ask you this. Do you think you have within your power the ability to destroy brand Coca-Cola?” “Of course not”, she replies. “Then do whatever you want”, he said.

Unfortunately, as was the case at Penn State, too many leaders think that way.

- Eric D. Schulz

Eric D. Schulz is the co-director of strategic marketing and brand management at the Jon M Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Prior to joining the University, he spent five years as vice president of marketing for the Utah Jazz (NBA); he previously was VP of marketing with the XFL Football League, and served as a General Manager in minor league baseball. He can be reached at eric.schulz@usu.edu.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Apps, apps, and more apps

Apparently, one screen isn’t enough to keep us entertained any more.


recent article on CNN.com says that numerous studies show that 80 percent of TV viewers of all age incorporate a “second screen” – laptop, smartphone or tablet computer – into their viewing habits.

Connor Child
The most likely reason for this trend is that people like to talk about TV shows and event while they are happening. Zeebox is an app developed to take advantage of this scenario. It “determines what show is currently being viewed and then provides streams from relevant social media, as well as offering targeted links to spin-off products, and background information about the actors, music or writers drawn from online resources.”

I appreciate the concept behind this service as much as anyone. I’m always going to the internet during shows to see what other movies/TV shows such and such actor has been in. During a sporting event, I like to see other people’s responses to the ref’s last call or Coach Jackson’s decision to go for it on fourth down.

But, the old man inside of me worries about whether this type of technology will dumb down TV. For example, my favorite show of all time is Lost. I would turn my phone off while I watched an episode, and if anyone ever tried to talk to me I would pause it. It’s too cerebral of a show to allow yourself to be distracted by apps or any type of second screen. Since Lost went off the air, I have been worried about whether I will ever see a show like it again. Now, as shows try harder to be second screen compatible, I am even more worried.

In addition to being fun and neat, apps can be genuinely useful. Jayne O’Donnell wrote an article for USA Today about how apps can help consumers save money as the Christmas season approaches. eBay has its Red Laser app and Amazon has its Price Check. Both are price comparison apps that quickly tell consumers where else they can get Good A and at what price.

Ms. O’Donnell offers a few other tips on how to use apps to help you shop smartly. One of the coolest apps she highlighted was Lemon, an app that keeps track of receipts. As someone with no organized method of keeping receipts, I can quickly see how that app would make my life easier.

- Connor Child

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

It's all about context

Even though the design of our building is the next major step after we complete the programming, there are some design issues that affect spaces in the building, and therefore, are important for us to consider as part of the programming process. So, we have started working on some design concepts with our architects. In short, we need to make sure our building fits the context of the campus.

Ken Snyder
Let me share examples of some of the issues we are considering:

• One of the things we must consider is how our building will fit in with the other buildings and features of the campus. We have a beautiful campus and our building needs to enhance that beauty and not detract from it.

• Another thing we must consider is traffic flow. Our building will be between two parking lots and the rest of campus. We want it to prove inviting so that people will want to walk through it, even if it is only in one door and out the other. It’s important to us that we be connected with the campus community and one way to do that is to design a facility that is welcoming.

• We have to think about how tall the new building should be. We don’t want it to block the view we have from the George S. Eccles Business Building.

• We want to maximize the terrific asset we have of providing views of the south end of Cache Valley. We need to create reasons (classrooms!) that pull people into the south end of the new building where they will be able to enjoy the great views. If our classrooms are all located in or close to the old business building, the part of the new building with the great view of Cache Valley will be underutilized.

• One of the first things that visitors to our campus will see is Huntsman Hall. It will be like a face of the university. We want that face to reflect the campus.

Context counts!

- Ken Snyder

Monday, November 7, 2011

The difficulties of quantifying abstract skills

When I was in high school, my mother, as a joke, gave me a t-shirt that said, "My mommy says I'm special." I don't often wear it in public.

I would wear a shirt that says, "My boss thinks I'm exceptional." Or “outstanding.” Or “dependable,” “smart” and “talented.”

Paul Lewis Siddoway
I would even consider wearing it to an interview. Especially if my boss signed it.

Okay, maybe not.

It seems like getting a job is just one struggle after another. Finding openings is hard enough. Standing out in relation to the crowd and actually getting an interview seems impossible at times.

Jeff Haden, a blogger for BNET, part of CBS's interactive business network, came up with some suggestions on things businesses are looking for. Essentially, Haden says uniqueness, social smarts, adaptability, inquisitiveness, focus, the urge to tinker with the status quo, a desire to prove they (the employee) are right, public praise of others, and complaining only in private are some of the qualities businesses are looking for.

That's great. My question is, "How do I show potential employers that I'm focused?" Or, "How do I show in my résumé that I have social skills?"

Any suggestions?

- Paul Lewis Siddoway