Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

How the Employer Brand Dies in Applicants Inboxes

Applicant experience is buyer experience in recruitment. Buyers are people who come to you once. Based on the experience, they may decide to walk away and never come back. Or, they could come back again and become customers. In some cases, they might tell everyone they know about you. Your choice whether that's positive or not. Based on what they say, other people may buy, or not. The roots of complacency Companies make this mistake all the time. They seem to think that only employee experience and marketing prowess counts to their employer brand for reputation. Top companies to work... Read more →

Brands that don’t Need to Steal Energy to Survive, Thrive

I was reading an article about a study by Minneapolis agency SuperHuman about marketing and women above 40. How brands get it wrong. It was 2017, I forgot where they published about it. But I remember I seemed to agree 300 percent with the gap they observed between what women want and look for and marketing messages. Companies still get it wrong. For this reason, I've been shopping (almost) exclusively in Italy for years. Less stereotype, more fun. Women in their prime are severely underserved in American culture: from travel to food to apparel and lifestyle. At work, too. But... Read more →

What Happens to the Brand in Acquisitions?

When a brand dies, we hardly even notice anymore. And yet, a rebrand is not a superficial thing. Forget customer pledges. Unless you truly intend to keep your promises. There are consequences to the business and the community beyond what happens to followers and fans in social media. In 2015, DuPont announced their new sustainability goals for 2020. The following year would be a difficult one. “For practical purposes, DuPont doesn't exist anymore,” said Abraham Lenoff, chemical engineering professor at the University of Delaware after DuPont merged with Dow Chemicals to create DowDuPont. In an article about the death of... Read more →

Human Progress: What 'it' is and Where it's Going

Human progress is not measured by good enough, but by those who strive (with great sacrifice) for a more perfect misunderstanding. Versions of this thought have been part of my conversations with Peter Tunjic for the better part of twenty years. It goes in the same category with “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Consider an example of this concept in a comment about corporate governance Peter posted on a LinkedIn Group ten years ago. Here's what he said (insert your pet theory in place of governance, and it still works): Believe it or... Read more →

Read Different to Think Different

Is there a good way of knowing things you can use? I've been asking myself this question more frequently as of late. On one hand, you can train yourself to ask better questions. Which is especially useful about topics that are right under everyone's nose. Take the internet, for example. We consider it infrastructure. Like with the roadways, we rarely challenge the changes to it. But this is failure of the imagination (or pure laziness). Wondering about the premise could give you a new frame of reference. So I asked on your behalf: Is the Internet a significant break from... Read more →

Human Systems Need Better Thinking

Current systems don't take into account the energy in human systems. Systems need better thinking. Twenty years ago, I coined a term to talk about the effects of this situation: “energy vampires.” Time and time again, I've observed (and proven in business) that when things go bad, it's no so much because of “bad” energy. But it's often because energy doesn't circulate at all. What and therefore who sucks energy? Systems and what they prevent. Because of how they're designed. Here's how: The efficient forced self-administered customer service (and therefore an additional fee or energy tax on customers) Technology with... Read more →

How do You Get to "Good Enough"?

It took Clare Trapasso nine months of scouring the market in three states, touring dozens of homes, losing multiple bidding wars, and rescinding another offer on a fixer-upper that would need more work than they could afford to put in, before she and her partner finally closed on a cute, renovated Cape Cod outside of New York City last year. Along the way, Trepasso, who is a writer for Realtor.com, learned a few things that no amount of writing about the housing market could teach. If you're on the hunt for a house, her article could be valuable to shortcut... Read more →

Reinventing the Assumption on Human Motivation

We overlook how much in life is about steps. There isn't a neat division between them, either. The development of one competency, skill, or the attainment of an achievement can be concurrent. You move up a step, and then review the previous one again. Hierarchies don't reveal nuance. Needs go beyond the physical and psychological. To make a person, you have intellectual and spiritual dimensions as well. I've been reflecting about these past two years and how we don't seem to see light at the end of the tunnel. But it's there nonetheless. Challenging the premise The first thing is... Read more →

What we Talk About When we Talk About Love

Together is the word of the year. As Copy Chief Vikki Ross says, Christmas 2021 Brief: Togetherness. Gap: All together now. Uniqlo: Warmer together. Pandora, Lufthansa, Extra Gum: Together again. So much in common. Toyota: Let's come together for the holidays. Guinness Storehouse: Together at last. We're in this situation together, yes. But each of us is living it separately. A genuine together is not a slogan. It's a demonstration that one cares, and a context that provides that experience. Perhaps all brands' narratives have run out of steam. Former Unilever CEO Paulson says current executives and boards are ill... Read more →

My Best Books of the Year List

Books are a non-addictive way to stimulate curiosity. The difference between reading a book and engaging in social media is stark. That's because the two activities engage different areas of the brain. Many studies have demonstrated that social media stimulates dopamine, which seeks short term pleasure and is addictive. By contrast, an activity that creates long term satisfaction involves serotonin. While the first touches 5 brain receptors, the second touches 14. We don't get addicted to being grateful for what we have. And that's a shame, because gratitude is like Vitamin D for the soul. I'm grateful to all the... Read more →