Curious about Statistics: How Do You Feel about Them? Are They Useful and/or Dependable?

“Our scientific age demands that we provide definitions, measurements, and statistics in order to be taken seriously. Yet most of the important things in life cannot be precisely defined or measured. Can we define or measure love, beauty, friendship, or decency, for example?” - Dennis Prager, American journalist

Definition of Statistics: The science which has to do with the collection and classification of certain facts respecting the condition of the people in a state, their health, their longevity, domestic economy, arts, property, and political strength, their resources, the state of the country, etc., or respecting any particular class or interest; especially, those facts which can be stated in numbers, or in tables of numbers, or in any tabular and classified arrangement. The branch of mathematics which studies methods for the calculation of probabilities.

All right, I will come clean. My first college degree was in mathematics. And, I did find statistics to be fascinating – especially in the area of probabilities. However, I also came to the conclusion that statistics could easily be skewed to give credence to results and/or ideas that a perpetrator wanted to use – as Prager states – “to be taken seriously.”

So often in the areas of health, fitness and business, we are bombarded by questionable statistics. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to check out our experts to learn how they feel and have felt about statistics. Almost every quotation I encountered either made tongue-in-cheek humorous statements or questioned the truth and/or validity of statistics.

The only quotation that was positive was made by the Irish dramatist, George Bernard Shaw who wrote, “It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.” Was he being serious or sarcastic?

Anyway, here are some of the other quotations:

• “Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.” - Fletcher Knebel, American author
• “There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up.” - Rex Stout, American writer
• “You cannot feed the hungry on statistics.” - David Lloyd George, English statesman
• “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts - for support rather than for illumination.” - Andrew Lang, Scottish poet
• “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” - Mark Twain, American writer
• “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” - Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman

And, yes, a few more with a bit of truth:

• “Consumers are statistics. Customers are people.” - Stanley Marcus, American businessman
• “Statistics is the grammar of science.” - Karl Pearson, British mathematician
• “In ancient times they had no statistics so they had to fall back on lies.” - Stephen Leacock, Canadian economist
• “Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.” - Zig Ziglar, American author
• “Life is not just a series of calculations and a sum total of statistics, it's about experience, it's about participation, it is something more complex and more interesting than what is obvious.” - Daniel Libeskind, Polish architect
• “The Governments are very keen on amassing statistics - they collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams.” - Josiah Stamp, British businessman

So, how do you feel about all of the statistics that are being tossed about – especially now about the economy?

Just remember and consider the following thoughts:

• “I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.” - George Canning, English statesman
• “Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment.” - Jean Baudrillard, French sociologist
• “The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.” - Rita Mae Brown, American writer
• “Statistics are no substitute for judgment.” – Henry Clay, American statesman

Create your own statistics. Have a healthy, wise and wealthy week!

Curious about Brands and Branding: Do We Need Them? And, if so, What Should They Say and Do for Us?

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” - Jeff Bezos, American businessman

“You now have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.” - David Ogilvy, American businessman

I chose brand and branding for this week’s blog, because it popped up several times.

First, Dan Kennedy wrote about the strength of brands from the past. And, to me, they actually sounded more like taglines and/or slogans. For example, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”

Then, I will be helping one of my subscribers with her signature story, and the reason she wants to work on it is that she feels it will lead her to defining her brand. It is true that we all have a story that defines us and our personality. The interesting part of that belief is that the story we live by may not actually be the truth and may be hurting us and our future. It creates our mindset. If we have always believed that we aren’t good at something – like the accumulation of money – we will fulfill that belief.

Do you have a brand that defines you, your business and your life? Don't think you can escape it. Seth Godin firmly believes that in the age of Google, MySpace, YouTube, and blogging, everyone is a brand. Marketers brand you. Politicians brand you. Your colleagues brand you, and so does your boss. So where were you when all of this happened? "You have to take control of your brand," says Godin. "Many of us are taught to do our best and then let the world decide how to judge us. I think it's better to do your best and decide how you want to be judged. And act that way."

If you are a small business or even a solo-preneur, how do you “take control of your brand?” One way I suggest is to determine your USP. This is your Unique Selling Proposition. What makes you unique in your industry? Why would someone hire you over another? Determining this will lead you to your brand and/or tagline.

Here are some of the interesting quotations I found when visiting the experts:

• “The world is changing. Networks without a specific branding strategy will be killed. I envision a world of highly niched services and tightly run companies without room for all the overhead the established networks carry.” - Barry Diller, American businessman
• “When people use your brand name as a verb, that is remarkable.” - Meg Whitman, American business woman (have you “googled” lately?)
• “My greatest strength is common sense. I'm really a standard brand - like Campbell's tomato soup or Baker's chocolate.” - Katharine Hepburn, American actress
• “Positioning the brand and regaining trust are all smart things for us to do and those are the litmus tests for any decisions we make.” - John McKinley, American politician
• “It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate.” - Eric Hoffer, American writer
• “And what we did with this new company in 1985 is we did start focusing on PCs instead of video game machines, because we learned the hard lesson about bringing a product to market in a consumer world where it's very expensive to build a brand and get distribution and so forth.” - Steve Case, American businessman

I feel that the whole challenge is summed up by American businessman, Jay Chiat “It's hard to build a brand, competitively, and tell people what you do as well.”

And a scary thought is expressed by Warren Buffett, “Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business.”

So, what do you think? I would love to read your comments.

Curious about Fraud: Have You Experienced It? How Do You Feel about It? What Do You Do to Avoid It?

Definition of Fraud: Deception deliberately practiced with a view to gaining an unlawful or unfair advantage; artifice by which the right or interest of another is injured; injurious stratagem; deceit; trick. An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another. A trap or snare.

“But I'm acutely aware that the possibility of fraud is even more prevalent in today's world because of the Internet and cell phones and the opportunity for instant communication with strangers.” - Armistead Maupin, American novelist

This week’s blog is about fraud. Why? Because this past week I was a victim and I want to warn as many people as possible so they won’t also become victims. It’s not any fun , but I realize that it can be avoided.

I admit that I had become rather complacent and, like you, I tend to trust everyone. Oh, yes. I do have updated virus protection and a strong firewall. I am also careful about phishing. I don’t go to sites that ask for passwords and other information in my e-mails. But, I did give information to the hacker(s) who contacted me through one of my Facebook friends. How did that happen?

The message from my friend informed me that my photo was featured on the website whose link was given. Thinking right away about the good PR, I clicked immediately. When I reached the site, there were blurry pictures in the background and I was told that to see mine I needed to enter my e-mail address and Facebook password. Caught up in the curiosity and excitement, I told them what they wanted.

Of course, I never got to the photo, but soon found out what the whole goal of the original message was. The clever hacker – who must have a program that performs this fast and easily – had sent the same message to close to all of my 700 friends. I was receiving questions galore and other messages indicating that many of my friends had responded as I had. I then spent at least four hours posting warnings, sending explanations, deleting the original message appearing on friends’ walls, and feeling devastated that I had caused these problems. I am still answering questions and messages.

I mentioned that I had become complacent and trusting. Since all of this happened, I realized that at a lot of the websites – especially the Social Networking websites that ask for a password - do not ask one to log out or sign out. They also seldom suggest that we reset our password regularly. I am now doing both. I now log out and have also reset my passwords. It’s sort of like closing the barn door after the horse has been stolen, but, at least, the most I lost was time. (And, I hope, not many friends.)

When I looked up fraud quotations to share with you, I found a large number that address political fraud – including voter fraud – and corporate fraud. So, I will share only a few in this blog, that I think are interesting:

• “Things gained through unjust fraud are never secure.” – Sophocles, Greek poet
• “There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.” - Frederick William Robertson, English clergyman
• “Style is a fraud. I always felt the Greeks were hiding behind their columns.” - Willem de Kooning, American artist
• “Some people think that prayer just means asking for things, and if they fail to receive exactly what they asked for, they think the whole thing is a fraud.” - Gerald Vann, British theologian
• “Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.” – Phaedrus, Roman poet
• “Why, I ask, isn't it possible that advertising as a whole is a fantastic fraud, presenting an image of America taken seriously by no one, least of all by the advertising men who create it?” - David Riesman, American sociologist

And one more from the Greek poet, Sophocles, “Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.” I feel that is the best advice I can give, embrace and live by. Be careful. Be skeptical. And do watch what you click on.

Curious about Behavior: Can We Change Our Behavior? What Does Our Behavior Say About Us?

Definition of Behavior: Manner of behaving, whether good or bad; mode of conducting one's self; conduct; deportment; carriage.

“Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.” - Emily Dickinson, American poet

Originally, this blog was to be titled: “Curious about Behavior: Using the Knowledge of Behavioral Styles to Advantage.” It was to be all about the four styles of behavior that have been stated and studied for centuries. They show up with different names, but still bear the same descriptions and properties.

I found, however, when I started to peruse the experts’ quotations that the directions described covered much more and differently the word “behavior.” These quotations were so interesting that I did – as you can see – change my title and decide to share what I found with you.

What about the styles article? I will have it finished by the end of this weekend (November 9, 2008) and you will find it at http://www.squidoo.com/relationalmarketing .

My first question is, “Can we change our behaviors?” The good news is that we can. Usually, this means that we need to work on certain habits – either getting rid of them or adopting them. It is said by the gurus that you can change a habit in 21 days. But I have found that to make a habit change, it usually takes between 60 and 90 days.

Being a fitness instructor, I find that many of my students succeed with new diets and regularly attending classes. However, if they don’t establish the habits of eating properly and exercising, they return to the original habits and behaviors, and before you know it are back to their original weight and lack of fitness. It is almost heart breaking.

And, of course, this can happen across the board with our goals and intentions. Have you ever started on a habit-behavior-changing-program (often the same one you’ve started many times before) and either dropped it or kept it up? I know that I have. I would love to hear how you did it.

Let’s investigate some of the quotations I found during my extensive search:

• “Human behavior is incredibly pliable, plastic.” - Philip Zimbardo, American psychologist
• “Anything that changes your values changes your behavior.” - George A. Sheehan, American writer
• “People don't change their behavior unless it makes a difference for them to do so.” - Sharon Stone, American actress
• “It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.” - Warren Buffett, American businessman
• “Our learning ought to be our lives' amendment, and the fruits of our private study ought to appear in our public behavior.” - Thomas Nashe, English writer
• “Public behavior is merely private character writ large.” - Stephen Covey, American businessman

And some more with a different focus:

• “Desperate? That can be a justification for all kinds of behavior.” - Jessica Walter, American actress
• “Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves.” - Herbert Simon, American scientist
• “The contradictions are what make human behavior so maddening and yet so fascinating, all at the same time.” - Joan D. Vinge, American author
• “Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” – Plato, Greek philosopher
• “Behaviors are a choice. Feelings are sometimes out of our control. Behavior has to do with choices.” - Randall Terry, American celebrity
• “Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.” - Logan P. Smith, American writer

Three more to keep you thinking. I know they will do the same for me:

• “Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding, that influences behavior.” - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian sociologist
• “When you're the victim of the behavior, it's black and white; when you're the perpetrator, there are a million shades of gray.” - Laura Schlessinger, American writer
• “The difficulty we have in accepting responsibility for our behavior lies in the desire to avoid the pain of the consequences of that behavior.” - M. Scott Peck, American psychologist

So, how do you feel about behavior – yours and others’ ? I have written out some habit adjustments to work upon. I feel that pursuing them daily is the way to succeed. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Curious about Zeal, Zest and Vigor: Do They Go Hand in Hand in Your Life?

I chose these three words for this week’s theme, because they were included in Robert Middleton’s weekly, marketing e-newsletter. He was writing about the importance of enthusiasm and listed several words that relate. It is interesting from the definitions and the quotations I found for each that they have similarities and dissimilarities.

Definition of Zeal: Passionate ardor in the pursuit of anything; eagerness in favor of a person or cause; ardent and active interest; engagedness; enthusiasm; fervor.

Definition of Zest (most definitions referred to taste): Hence, something that gives or enhances a pleasant taste, or the taste itself; an appetizer; also, keen enjoyment; relish; gusto.

Definition of Vigor: Active strength or force of body or mind; capacity for exertion, physically, intellectually, or morally; force; energy. Strength; efficacy; potency.

These are my kind of words, and I feel we need them right now in these uncertain times. My advice is to live our lives with zeal, zest and vigor. Think and learn with zeal, zest and vigor. Exercise with zeal, zest and vigor. Network with zeal, zest and vigor – on the Social networks and at in-person networking events. Embrace and exude zeal, zest and vigor. You will be amazed by the changes you will feel and experience in your self-image.

It’s time for some interesting quotations from the experts:

• “When you are laboring for others, let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.” – Confucius, Chinese philosopher
• “If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind.” - Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman
• “Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist
• “We do have a zeal for laughter in most situations, give or take a dentist.” - Joseph Heller, American novelist
• “Give me the comma of imperfect striving, thus to find zest in the immediate living. Ever the reaching but never the gaining, ever the climbing but never the attaining of the mountain top.” - Winston Grahamm, English novelist
• “If you put all your strength and faith and vigor into a job and try to do the best you can, the money will come.” - Lawrence Welk, American musician

And, just one more each using our theme words for you to take with you this coming week:

• “Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal.” - Charles Buxton, English public servant
• “If things don't come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.” - Branch Rickey, American athlete
• “The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny.” - Colin Powell, American statesman

Have an enthusiastic week, filled with zeal, zest and vigor!