Argee Abadines

Donald Trump and the New World Order: A Philippine Perspective By Argee Abadines Soon after Donald Trump became President elect of the United States of America, President Rodrigo Duterte extended his warm congratulations to the electoral victory of Donald Trump. He delightfully highlighted one similarity between the two of them: both of them love to swear. Western media has consistently portrayed Duterte as the ‘Trump of the East’ and highly volatile. Both have won under a populist platform. This is in sharp contrast to Duterte’s threat to swear at Barrack Obama if he questions and criticizes his war on drugs and criminality which has left a few thousands dead. Duterte also wants American troops out of the country in two years. Perhaps the Philippine’s recent pivot to China was a strategic move by Duterte, who likely felt Trump was going to win the election. The move would provide a safety net for the Philippines given the protectionist and inward orientation of Donald Trump. BPO and OFW Remittances If Donald Trump’s election promises won’t remain as mere rhetoric, then investment flows to Philippines from America will likely slow down. One of industries that could suffer is the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) if they cease operations and move to America. The BPO industry is one of the bright spots of the Philippine economy. In 2014, it yielded $18.9 billion in revenues for the economy and is projected to overtake OFW remittances in 2017. In 2016, BPO revenues are forecasted to reach $25.5 billion according to FT Confidential Research. However, with the Philippines’ competitive edge in the BPO industry, it is unlikely that these BPO companies will easily be swayed or coerced to go back to America. Trump’s immigration policies can also be a game changer. Although most Filipinos are documented and legally reside in America, those that are illegally staying will definitely be deported. It will also likely be more difficult for Filipinos to immigrate to America, which remains to be the top choice for Filipinos who want to migrate to other countries. Family ties are highly valued by Filipinos and if there is a small chance that the whole family can be together in America, Trump’s immigration policy will prove to be deal breaker for those thinking of migrating to America. America is home to around 3.5 million Filipino expats who sent home $10.4 billion worth of remittances in 2014. OFW remittances drive the domestic economy and a slowdown in remittances will have a chilling effect in consumer spending, in particular the real estate market. OFW remittances also serve as a buffer from global risks and external shocks. Global Warming and Climate Change Trump thinks global warming is an expensive BS and wants America to exit the Paris Treaty. This means less focus on renewable sources of energy and a resurgence of American extraction and production of coal, oil and natural gas. According to a research by Lux Research, a Trump presidency can create 3.4 billion tons more of carbon emissions compared to the Clinton administration. The Philippines remains in the top countries to be affected by climate change. With America’s possible exit from the Paris Treaty, extreme weather caused by climate change will derail the Philippine’s momentum in growing its economy and reducing poverty level. In 2013, super typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines and was responsible for over $14 billion in terms of economic damage. West Philippine Sea Given Trump’s inward focus to the domestic issues of America, it is unlikely that his Presidency will seek to influence or deter Duterte’s pivot to China which will include bilateral talks about the West Philippine Sea which China claims as part of its territory despite losing the Hague international tribunal decision which favored heavily the Philippines. Trump’s presidency would be a boost to China’s military occupation of the disputed territories. The Philippines has no chance in taking on China’s military might and America under Trump will not be protecting the Philippines in the event a war breaks out despite the decades of close friendship and alliance between the Philippines and America. Hence the reason for Duterte’s strategic pivot to China to warm up the bilateral relationship and gain economic incentives in exchange for a friendlier tone in negotiation over the disputed islands. In a way, a Trump presidency may have reduced the possibility of armed conflict emanating from the disputed islands and territories. Trade War and Economic Prosperity Trump protectionist economic policies can lead to a trade war with China. America is China’s biggest export market and if Trump implements trade barriers such as 45% tariffs, China will likely retaliate and America’s exports to China will also fall drastically. This scenario will hurt both economies especially with America still recovering from the 2009 recession while China’s economic growth has gone into single digits after years of double digit growth. Recently, Trump advisors have been downplaying this possibility and this trade war heavily attacked during the elections is likely to remain as rhetoric. If China’s economy continue to slow down as a result of a trade war with America and both economies suffer, growth globally will continue to be anemic. Philippines will finally be exposed to these external shocks as OFW remittances will slow down and global trade lessens. With Trump seeking to withdraw America from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, this dampens further the prospect of global prosperity. Although the Philippines will likely continue to outperform in the near future, the prospect of a weakening global trade environment creates many questions for the Philippines and the rest of the world. Najib's popularity dips in protest. Will Najib survive this round of protest? By Argee Abadines Bersih 5 Prime Minister Najib continues to be hounded over the alleged US $681 million that was allegedly diverted from the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) into his personal bank account despite preliminary investigations declaring him innocent. 1MDB was created in 2009 to invest in property, energy and infrastructure projects. According to the US government, as much as US $3.5 billion were misappropriated from the 1MDB fund. To further pressure Prime Minister Najib to resign, more independent and credible investigations need to yield more information that pins him down on his alleged crime. Last November 19, Saturday, as much as 40,000 anti-government protesters wearing yellow T-shirts converged on the streets of Kuala Lumpur demanding his resignation. The size of the rally is tiny compared to the protests being done by South Koreans which have reached hundreds of thousands. The opposition needs to summon a bigger crowd if it wants to send a stronger message to Najib. The opposition also needs to make the protest rallies more frequent. Last year’s opposition’s rally was said to reach 200,000 at its peak. In Bersih’s 2015 rally, the government banned any clothing which was yellow and contained the words “Bersih 4.” Despite that threat, the rally still pushed through and people defied the prohibition. The organizers of Saturday’s rally were led by pro-democracy group Bersih (means “clean” in Malay) which is a coalition of nongovernmental organizations seeking to reform and clean up Malaysia’s electoral process. This is Bersih’s 5th mass anti-government protest since 2007 and the second one in the past 15 months. Most of Bersih’s protestors are ethnic Chinese and Bersih has been very active reaching to small towns to try to convince Malay voters of its call for change. Saturday’s rally was festive with lots of drums, songs, and chants calling for a “clean Malaysia”. The chosen venue where protestors marched toward to was Dataran Merdeka which means independence square but it was blocked off and thus they had to go KLCC instead where the iconic Petronas Twin Towers stand. Wearing a Bersih 5 t-shirt, former Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed also joined the protest and encouraged Malaysians to join their protest. Last year, he also joined Bersih’s 4 rally together with his wife. Mahathir Mohamed has recently formed a new party called Bersatu which seeks to target UMNO’s voter base. Najib was in Peru to attend the APEC summit and he blasted the rally as a “tool of the opposition” attempting to unseat a democratically elected government. He added that rallies are constitutionally wrong and illegal at the same time. Authoritarian Regime Bersih leader Maria Chin Abdullah was arrested a day before the rally in a bid to weaken Saturday’s protest. She was arrested under the 2015 law called the Security Offences Act which was created specifically to deter terrorist activities. She is likely to be kept in solitary confinement for the maximum 28 days under the law. The rallies will continue and Najib’s responses to these rallies have been increasingly authoritarian in nature. For one, the government blocked websites such as the Sarawak Report and the website of the Bersih Movement that has critically covered the 1MDB scandal extensively. This silencing of media has angered many Malaysians but is unlikely to be a strong catalyst for Najib to step down given that media has long been highly controlled and monitored in Malaysia. Malaysia ranks 146 out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom in 2016. News that can be accessed in Malaysia will remain biased in favor of the government. As such, these rallies will not be sufficient for him to step down as government forces continue to silence media and personalities that continue to push the 1MDB financial scandal into the limelight. The controversial Sedition Law was also strengthened in 2015. It now imposes a minimum jail term of 3 years for those charged guilty under the law and gives authorities the right to block websites that they deem seditious. Najib had previously promised to repeal this law in 2012. This is one reason why Malaysian’s discontent with Najib has dramatically grown. Since then, the law has been used by the government to obstruct anti-government entities including those that continue to spotlight the 1MDB scandal. Another reason could be the ethnic quotas on government funded universities which mean meritocracy is not improving in the country. In 2013, out of the 41,573 slots available in government-funded universities, only 23% were allotted to the minority ethnic Chinese and Indians. This is in sharp contrast to Najib’s earlier promise to emphasize ethnic plurality and meritocracy. This broken promise can drive more ethnic minorities to support the Opposition party in the 2018 general elections. Najib’s power base are the Bumiputeras (an ethnic Malay group that makes up 60% of Malaysia’s population). Until this group starts supporting the Opposition party, the chances of Najib’s ouster is very slim. It also helps that the national budget is being used for cash handouts to keep UMNO supporters and ethnic minorities happy in preparation for the 2018 general elections. Clearly, the odds of a Najib victory in the 2018 general elections continue to remain strong as the political machinery of the government continues to be harnessed to remain in power. Strong Political Support Najib continues to enjoy political support from the Barisan Nasional coalition which has dominated Malaysian politics for over 30 years and from his political party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). In the 2008 general elections, Barisan Nasional invincibility showed some cracks when it failed to get a supermajority in Parliament. Barisan Nasional continued to slide in the 2013 general elections when it only garnered 47% of the popular vote. It, however, retained control of the parliament by garnering 60% of the parliamentary seats available. Losing this political support is the most likely situation that Najib will be forced to step down. The strength of Barisan Nasional and UMNO will tide Najib over this financial scandal. The momentum shift that the Opposition seeks is to have more UMNO members unhappy with the leadership of Najib is unlikely to unfold. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad predicted that Barisan Nasional will lose the general elections in 2018 if Najib continues to lead Barisan. However, he also acknowledged that the opposition is not strong at the moment and has plenty of issues to resolve. Hence, there is little evidence to suggest that political support by Najib’s parties will wane suddenly. Najib simply has to rally his party and get them to work on tough policy changes that appeal to the changes the masses are seeking, especially its middle class which has been hard hit with the global and domestic economic slowdown. Also, last June 19, Najib’s UMNO party won in two special elections which could build momentum for the party entering the next general elections whether in 2018 or an earlier one in 2017. Clearly the strength of UMNO is still evident. With 2017 just around the corner, Najib will likely survive this financial scandal and finish his term. The Erosion of Singapore’s Middle Class By Argee Abadines Anxious Middle Class Gone are the days when the advice “Study hard so you can get a good job” is gold advice. Good jobs are rare these days especially in Singapore. Forces of globalization and a weakening domestic economy have wreaked havoc on the middle class. Jobs are going to the foreigners because they are willing to accept lower pay and because of the advancement of technology and education across the world, people are now getting more skilled. It is basic economics: supply of labour goes up and it will push wages down. Job security and Mobility used to be key defining factors for the middle class, but according to National University of Singapore (NUS) sociologist Tan Ern Ser, these middle class income characteristics are on the decline and have increased the anxiety of many Singaporeans. This is the result of a lack of new jobs created, lack of promotions, and the slow rise of wages in general. Middle class Singaporeans find themselves stuck at their current jobs, hoping that the economy improves or they start considering finding work abroad. In 2008, 43.3% of those retrenched were from the middle class group. The Rich Get Richer, the Middle Class Get Poorer The thing is that the rich will continue to be rich because they have the money, the connections and the financial know how to lessen their taxes and protect their wealth. The poor has been given more assistance and social nets by the Singaporean government. It’s the middle class who bear the brunt of increase in taxes because they end up subsidizing the lower income groups. The Singapore government needs to help the middle class or they risk going down to the lower income group. One implication of a weakening middle class level is that the lower income group will have less aspiration to reach middle class status knowing that it is harder on that level and may prefer to stay at the lower income group knowing that the government has their back. Singapore has quite a high gini coefficient and worse, taxes and other transfers don’t reduce the income inequality much. A rising lower income group will burden the resources of the government and will lessen spending for growth and innovation. According to Singapore Management University economics professor Ho Kong Weng, another implication of a weakening Singapore middle class is that they have a weaker sense of belonging to Singapore. This loss of national identity threatens the national fabric of Singapore as middle class families make up the majority of the population. Less nationalism could lead to a brain drain and less engagement in nation building activities. For a small city state, it is necessary to have a united population to stay strong. The country has mandatory national service but it won’t be enough to build nationalism. Only good economic policies that cater to all income groups will strengthen the sense of belongingness and unity in a society. Challenges ahead According to Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, every S$1 that a middle income family pays in tax, whether direct or indirect tax, they get back at least $2 in subsidies in education, healthcare and retirement. He compared it with Finland where the return on their tax is around $1.30. So with that comparison, it seems that Singaporean middle class families are better off compared to Finland’s middle class. However compared to Finland, Singapore is a popular destination for expats, and this has increased competition for jobs and has depressed salaries. Companies prefer to hire foreigners who are willing to get paid lower compared to Singaporeans who feel entitled to have a good paying job immediately because they went to a good university and have a good degree. Companies have to do this to remain competitive as world trade and economic activity slows down and hits their profit margins. The Singaporean government has to find ways of ensuring inflation is kept at a low level and so far, they have done so. But the low inflation can be misleading as it can be a sign of poor consumer and business confidence. A deflationary period can also be a risk in the near future if inflation continues to slow down. Singapore has tried to limit foreign labour hiring, creating a policy called Fair Consideration Framework that forces companies to prioritize Singaporeans and creating incentives to boost innovation and productivity. This is a good policy and if all goes well, it will create more employment and better paying jobs for Singaporeans. The US elections that brought Trump to the White House will also prove to be challenge for export-intensive countries like Singapore. They have to find alternative ways and markets for their export industries to remain competitive and in demand. In terms of labour force, Singapore’s excellent education system should be able to address what skills expats have that the locals don’t. In that way, the skilled locals won’t lose out to foreign skilled workers. China is also continuing to lead regional and global trade so increasing trade relations with them will be a good idea. Also with the ASEAN integration, Singapore can boost its exports with the other member nations to lessen the impact of a protectionist USA. Trends in Other Developed Nations In Japan, also a developed nation like Singapore, a similar trend has also unfolded. Japanese strategist Kenichi Ohmae observed that among the middle class income group in Japan, only a few made it to the rich income level. Most of the middle class population in Japan went down to the lower groups. This phenomenon has been labeled as the ‘M-shaped Society’. The middle class who went down to the lower groups experience deterioration of living standards, a decline in average income and the threat of long-term unemployment. Taiwan is also trending towards becoming an M-shaped society as there is a rise of polarization between the rich and low-income groups, coupled with an ageing population and like Singapore, Taiwan is also exports reliant. Hong Kong is also an M-shaped society as the divide between the rich and the low income is massive. In South Korea, the elderly that has created its economic prosperity is now suffering in relative poverty. Half of their elderly population is poor. Will Singapore’s middle class suffer the same fate as these countries? Clearly, the situation Singapore is facing now is not unique. The government needs to get the middle class trusting them again. They need to convince the middle class that their policies will improve their situation. They need to make them believe in the system once again and that their future is secured. The middle class has to grow in strength once again, believing once again to reach high income status is no pipe dream. The positive link between Happiness and Productivity The conventional management thinking is that if we pay workers enough, they will be productive. But as more industrial psychology research is done, we find that there is a significant relationship between a worker’s happiness and their productivity at work. A recent research from the University of Warwick led by its Economics department has concluded that happiness made people 12 percent more productive while unhappy employees are 10 percent less productive. The research team said: “We find that human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity. Positive emotions appear to invigorate human beings.” Professor Oswald from University of Warwick said that companies like Google that invested in employee support and satisfaction has led to more to increased productivity, which in Google’s case is 37%. This finding shows that simple financial incentives are insufficient to produce highly productive employees. Shawn Anchor, author of the book, The Happiness Advantage, has found from his research that the brain works so much better when a person is feeling positive. This allows the person to be smarter and more creative during work. Hence the positive link between Happiness and Productivity. He adds that “happiness leads to greater levels of profits” for companies that invest highly in the welfare and happiness of their workforce. Some easy ways for workers to boost happiness at their workplace include helping coworkers, meditating for at least two minutes and reflecting on three things to be grateful about. A research done by Harvard professors Phil Stone and Tal Ben-Shahar found that students with strong social support at school and home showed high levels of happiness and a strong ability to counter stress. It can therefore be translated into the workplace. Workers that have positive relationships with their coworkers are able to boost their levels of happiness and perform better during high stress situations. This shows that organizations that cultivate good working relationships inside their organization will benefit from increased productivity from their employees. As a result of this study, this leads to the proposition that happier employees make better leaders. According to Alexander Kjerulf, founder of Woohoo Inc. and is the organization’s chief happiness officer, happiness is the “ultimate productivity booster.” By having happy employees, they can make better decisions and are more creative, and they can manage their time better, all of which are important traits and skills of good leaders. In addition, research has shown that when workers are happy, they become better collaborators and work better towards common goals. This benefits firms that utilizes project teams. According to a Gallup survey, only 13 percent of workers are engaged at work. This means workers do not enjoy their work. This costs US companies $450 billion to $550 billion annually. However, this also presents a big opportunity for companies to boost company performance and employee productivity by investing in their welfare and improving workplace happiness. However the question of how much organizational resources to devote to improve workplace happiness still remains. There remains the research opportunity to find out what are the most effective business practices out there that boosts employee happiness. 10 Business Lessons from the Shark Tank Show Shark Tank is an interesting American reality TV show featuring real and successful venture capitalists. Entrepreneurs then pitch their ideas to this panel of ‘sharks’. This series is good for people who would like to pitch their business ideas to investors and for people who’d like to be a venture capitalist in the future. Here are some lessons we can learn from this series. 1. Don’t grow your business too fast. A business eats up a lot of working capital easily. By expanding too fast and without proper cash flow projections and management, you’ll be running to banks and other financiers in a flash to seek new infusion of capital to save your business. If you look desperate in front of venture capitalists, you’ll be losing a big chunk of your ownership of your own business. 2. Do your homework when you face financiers. They will ask for numbers, projections, your competition, the unique selling point of your product, and how will they be able to make money by financing your business. So part of getting a loan or an equity infusion successfully is to get your accounting right. 3. Cash is king. Trim unnecessary expenses and keep a big amount of your working capital in cash and try to limit credit facilities to customers. Always encourage them to settle their payments quickly. Make sure your liquidity ratios are solid. Financiers like businesses that are liquid because it means they can pay back creditors easily. 4. Learn to negotiate. This means you have the ability to make counter offers and offer scenarios which can be win-win for both parties. If you don’t learn how to negotiate, you’ll always be on the losing side in deals. 5. Trust your gut instinct if you’re financing a business venture. Yes, sometimes the numbers might not make sense but your intuition tells you that the business venture can be a spectacular hit if you finance it. Take the risk. Big risks can sometimes mean big rewards. 6. If you’re pitching your business idea, show its market viability. Investors like businesses that have good growth potential and can capture a big market if it gets the necessary funding. Serving a tiny niche market is not golden to big time venture capitalists. 7. If your product or service is a ‘need’, it has a better chance of getting funded than if it is a ‘want’. If your product or service is a ‘want’, you’d want to convince your potential investors that eventually it will become a ‘need’. A product or service that is needed is a safer business and is a key consideration by many investors. 8. Have a ‘story’ for your business idea. Practice narrating this ‘story’ and how your business will provide a solution to its target market. Having a story gives your pitch a personal touch and can be a powerful way to influence people to invest in your idea. 9. Be realistic in your presentation. It’s not good to be overly optimistic about your business. Understand that it does have challenges and weaknesses. When it comes to financial figures, try to be a bit skeptical or a little pessimistic. 10. Be passionate about your business idea. Investors know that passionate people are not in the business just to make money but because they sincerely believe their product can make a difference in the world. At the same time, be passionate of also growing it and making your company strong. Why breaks make people more productive Taking breaks is one of the secrets of productive people. They know that taking breaks is part of maintaining good health. Research shows strong correlation between the health of a workforce and their corresponding productivity. Power naps in the afternoon are known also to boost productivity. A nap 30 minutes or less would be most beneficial to boost productivity in the difficult hours after the lunch break. Taking breaks could also be in the context of taking vacations. All of us have paid leaves but some people don’t utilize them. That’s a bad move and that can mean lesser productivity. Taking a vacation replenishes job performance while not taking vacations mean more mistakes and resentment towards colleagues. So take the time off your company gives you. You’ll do yourself a favor and them as well as a result of your increased productivity upon your return from your vacation. In fact, scientists have found a formula for maximum productivity at work. Work for 52 minutes and then take a break for 17 minutes. Or to simply on an hourly basis, work for 45 minutes, and then take a 15 minute break. Even microbreaks (breaks of less than 5 minutes) can have significant boosts of productivity. This infographic shows that taking regular breaks of 1.5 minutes can increase your productivity by 6.45 percent. Therefore, a quick walk to the bathroom or to the pantry to get some water can be a quick way to boost productivity. Apparently, 2:55 pm is the most unproductive time for workers, so this can be one of the times you can take a microbreak. Our brain has a limited capacity to focus and by not taking a break, our brains can be overwhelmed and so we end up suffering a burnout which totally destroys productivity. So taking breaks is one way to replenish our brain’s capacity to do productive work. Another benefit of taking breaks is a cognitive one. Researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign assert that taking breaks provides goal reactivation. This means after we take a break, we refresh our minds on what we are trying to achieve and so we remain focused on the task at hand which contributes to productive work. By not taking breaks, we might lose sight of our overall objective. The pomodoro technique is a simple system to follow to make sure you have regular breaks. A pomodoro consists of a 25 minute work interval of intense focus and productivity and then taking a 5 minute break after that interval. You can use a normal watch for this task or you can download an app for this. Another good break to take on a regular basis is by taking a walk. Even better if it’s in a park or it involves Mother Nature. Walking boosts creativity and it helps you refocus after your walk. It’s important we don’t fall into the ‘busy trap’. We need to carve out regular breaks in our working time to recharge. It may seem you’re taking one step back when you take breaks, but actually you’re taking three steps forward after each break. How startups can use influencer marketing to grow their business Startups in the beginning often don’t have the capital to promote their brand using above the line advertising strategies like using TV, get celebrity endorsements or use print media like newspapers. One of the cheaper ways to do advertising aside from social media is to tap influencers. Influencers generate awareness for startups according to Roxanne Varza, editor in chief for Techcrunch France. They can also boost sales of the startups. According to a survey from Burst Media, companies received $6.85 in media value for every $1 they spend of influencer marketing. That’s a great return on investment! If your target market involves millennials and mom, influencers are people they look up to and they make spending decisions based on what their influencers recommend. These influencers are often bloggers and celebrities. They have high social media following and getting these influencers on your side can be a great way to generate awareness and interest in your startup. Malcolm Gladwell in his bestselling book, The Tipping Point, describes mavens as influencers. Mavens are considered experts in their respective fields. People who are influenced by these mavens often buy the product or service their favorite mavens recommend. One way to be successful in influencer marketing is to do your research well. Find the most relevant people to help promote your business. It should be someone whose image and values are aligned with your business. These influencers should also authentically believe in your business and will want to promote it themselves without a lot of money paid to them. For example, Shoes of Prey wanted to scale up their growth using microinfluencers in 2010. Instead of using celebrities, they tapped a 16 year old beauty blogger, Blair Fowler. With their great campaign using social media platform, Youtube, they were able to create a 300% increase in sales! The second thing you do after you identify prospects for your influencer marketing is to engage them. Develop a good relationship with them. Think of a marketing plan to will be a win-win situation for your business and your brand influencers. Ask them how they can work with your startup. Would they want to invest in it personally? Will the arrangement be a series of campaigns to promote the business? If they like you and your startup, they will passionately promote your brand and influence their followers to avail your product and service. In 2014, startup travel and lifestyle company website Adventure.com tapped their twitter followers to boost their following and to bring visitors to their site. They even managed to find a freelance photojournalist using their twitter influencers. Your influencer marketing campaign will mean you’ll need to know how to use effectively the technologies your influencers use. These could involve social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. Track your campaigns. Make sure your startup can track how successful were the influencers in generating sales for you and improving awareness. These numbers can also include your social media profiles. Did it receive a spike after getting your target influencers to your side? Finally, remain ethical. Make sure full disclosures are done when you work with influencers. This will generate trust from your customers. Elements of Successful Content Marketing Campaigns The Content Marketing Institute defines Content Marketing as creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to a well-defined target audience with a clear objective of them acting on the content provided. Many successful brands have utilized content marketing campaigns to boost company image and profitability. IBM has been one of the best content marketers. It has blogs, resources, and relevant technical information in their website that gives them authority in their niche. By building authority, your company becomes the leader in your business niche. In these campaigns, there are key elements that are prevalent in all of them. According to Kristian Nielsen, the CEO of Honolulu Hi 5, one of the important elements for a successful content marketing campaign is that the content must help solve the specific problems of your target audience. She explains that by making your content useful to your audience, you build trust with your customers and trust is the currency of the new economy according to Rachel Botsman. Content marketing is one of the best ways to generate trust from your target audience. Secondly, creative copywriting is important for a successful content marketing campaign. This involves writing good headlines and crafting an engaging story. Storytelling is one of the best ways to deliver a good content marketing campaign. Microsoft is one the better corporate storytellers out there. Their video narratives are about people that anyone can relate to. They are also excellent with spreading good content in their Linkedin profile which has around 2.4 million followers. According to Kevin Spacey, the stories that we tell our audience should have some sense of conflict to create some tension and hit the emotions of people. According to research, emotions that can lead to a viral content marketing campaign include surprise, amazement, curiosity and uncertainty. Craft your stories with these emotions in mind and you can have a better chance of a viral campaign. The storytelling must also be authentic and be in line with your brand’s values and culture. Being true in digital space is important to gain trust with your target audience. There are loads of social media platforms that you can choose to place your content marketing campaign on. But it’s important not to be everywhere. Select the most appropriate social media platform where your target audience hangs out. Every content marketing campaign must have a clear call to action. This refers to the action that you want your target audience to take. Do you want them to comment, share, visit your website, or join an email list? This is one of the metrics to measure ‘success’ in a content marketing campaign. How persuasive was your campaign to influence them to take action? Given that content marketing campaigns are online, it must be easy to share and distribute. Successful campaigns go viral and this is one of the easiest ways to measure the success. Statistics on call to actions and sharing can easily be monitored using digital marketing tools, e.g. Google Analytics. Going forward, there are many upcoming trends in content marketing you have to be mindful about. For one, visual is still in. This means content that are only words will have difficulty competing with content that has words, sounds, infographics and videos. Secondly as smartphones continue to become more accessible, this means people will access the internet more through their phones. Thus your content marketing has to be mobile friendly. It has to be customized to fit smaller screens and with narrow attention spans, your content needs to grab and hold the attention of your target audience quickly. Content marketing will continue to evolve and marketing professionals need to update themselves regularly on this field for their organizations to survive in this competitive business landscape. Why Schools Should Teach Us More than Failing A lot of parents believe that education is the best gift they can give to their children. Let’s call that kid, Sam. Sam goes through each hula hoop of the school system, taking a test every day and getting good scores as a result from high expectations of his parents. They want Sam to get a good job, get married and live a good life in the suburbs. Then the economy crashes and Sam doesn’t know what to do. He was always under the protective shield of the school system and school always was predictable and safe. Sam ends up losing his job to the recession and has to make means meet by flipping burgers. Sam was a straight A student in high school and college. Schools need to go beyond testing. Too much testing makes learning a drag and yields unmotivated students. They will just study for the sake of passing the test instead of because they want to learn it for the sake of learning. As a result, our education system becomes a testing system that teaches our students that they are a failure if they fail the tests. Too much testing sends the clear message to students that failure is bad- that failing tests is a crime and your life will become hopeless if you don’t succeed in the exams. This makes students fear failing and it is as if it’s the worst thing that can happen to you. So they avoid trying because they want to avoid making mistakes which in turn would help them avoid failing. Even though history has shown that the greatest discoveries and inventions were often driven by mistakes and failures. The education system needs to get practical and help students do well in the real life and not just exams. Tests do not simulate real life and very often are not connected to the demands and requirements of the workplace. Teaching needs to go beyond failing students and instead raise motivated learners who will make a difference in the world by solving real world problems. In fact teachers believe that too much testing has too many drawbacks. It makes them lose their passion in teaching and make them want to leave the profession. Internships, real world projects, student led inquiries and problem based learning are all better than rote learning and regurgitating it in exams. Even teachers who are excellent suddenly become mediocre in light of rigorous testing. Many successful entrepreneurs skipped formal schooling because it was not feeding their curiosity and helping them develop their passion and skills. Instead it just told them that mistakes are evil and that failure is something to be avoided. If they stayed in school, Mark Zuckerberg won’t have made Facebook or Google won’t have been invented. Our best and gifted students are bored and disengaged in an education system full of testing. Michael Jordan has said, “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” If he allowed school to make him fear failing and making mistakes, he never would have been the greatest ever in basketball. A lot of startup companies would have not begun had their founders chose to take the academic route. Instead they knew that too much testing will not hone their entrepreneurial spirits and they knew that failing early and failing fast was the quickest route to success as billionaire Mark Cuban would attest. Schools need to teach creativity and to make a learning environment where their interests and strengths are recognized. Tests by their nature are very limited in what they assess. They can’t assess creativity, soft skills, talent in sports, music and arts. The good news is that many schools now use Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. How can multiple choice exams do that? At best they test knowledge (which are often useless given that knowledge is easily accessible with technology) and some analysis (by making the students choose between options). School reform needs to be done by educators, not by policy makers who have no clue how education works. The government should not let testing giants like Pearson dominate and make millions by screwing the future of the country’s minds by making them allergic to failing and making mistakes.