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Adam Enbar

For Contact Info. Text enbar to 50500

Posts

  • August 13, 03:35 PM

    Just saw the Rabbi who grew up with my grandmother in Spain, officiated my wedding in Saint Maarten and my uncle’s wedding in Miami, did my cousin’s Bar Mitzva, etc…  on TLC’s show “Four Weddings.”

    WTF?

  • August 11, 08:37 AM

    “Indication of harm, not proof of harm, is our call to action.”

    —>My daily dose of inspiration. I walk by this every morning on my way to work.

  • August 06, 10:21 AM

    Social Media Marketing Lessons From Justin Bieber

    What else would my first company blog post be about?

  • July 31, 09:46 PM

    This is why the internet is awesome.

    thedailywhat:

    Heartwarming Personal Interest Story of the Day: Sixty-two years after going their separate ways, octogenarians Jack and Betty reconnect via the Internet, and arrange a long-overdue reunion.

    Hope you’ve got the Department of Waterworks on speed dial, because you’re about to spring a major leak.

    [tnw.]

  • July 28, 10:00 AM

    10 Things I Hate About Commandments

  • July 27, 10:00 AM
    “

    Michael Lewis’s The Big Short is considered the definitive history of the financial crisis. But to understand American finance, you need to understand Ace Cash Express as well as you do Goldman Sachs. Which is why Gary Rivlin’s Broke, USA is a necessary companion. While Lewis tells the story of mortgage-backed assets and the bankers who flogged them, Rivlin tells the story of the underlying mortgages and the folks who bought them. “To me, it was so counterintuitive,” Rivlin says. “People with no money in their pockets is good for business?” But they were profitable. By 1996, there were more payday lenders than all the McDonald’s and Burger Kings in the land combined.

    Welders looking for an advance on a paycheck became unwitting cash cows for big banks. Schoolteachers taking out home loans became the collateral for leveraged bets on housing worked out in London and Greenwich, Conn. But before they were Wall Street grist, the working poor had to first become big business.

    Unlike traditional banking, it wasn’t about finding good credit risks who could repay their loans promptly. Quite the opposite, actually. The central insight was that you wanted people who couldn’t quite stay ahead of the loan. Then you could use late fees and new loans to bleed them.

    ”
    Ezra Klein, on one of the under-reported aspects of the financial meltdown. For a fantastic account of this whole ugly business, see Daniel Brook’s really nice “Usury Country” in Harpers. (via newsweek)
  • July 26, 04:06 PM

    Well this is just too awesome.

    thedailywhat:

    Kickass Kid of the Day: 13-year-old knuckleballer Chelsea Baker hasn’t lost a single sanctioned game in four straight seasons, and is widely believed to be the best Little Leaguer in the country.

    This is her story.

    [espn / mefi.]

  • July 26, 12:14 PM

    The Birth of the (Lacoste) Crocodile

    “Boston is where Lacoste was given the nickname ‘The Crocodile.’ Back in 1923, on a stroll through its streets with his team captain Pierre Gillou, he passed by a leather goods store and bet a crocodile-skin suitcase that he would win his match that afternoon.  It turned out that Lacoste lost the game, but George Carens, the Boston Post Journalist covering the match heard about the wager and referred to the French player as ‘The Alligator’ in his sport. The nickname stuck and led to Lacoste asking his friend, the fashion designer Robert George, to embroider a crocodile onto his white blazer, which he would proudly wear every time he walked onto the tennis court before a match.”

    I love it when brands have good stories behind them. 

    P.S. Lacoste has possibly the most creative website I’ve seen for a company of its size. If you’re interested in web-design, it’s worth checking out (specifically the Rene Lacoste story section which is actually a really awesome pop-up book). Here it is.

  • July 26, 09:53 AM

    Happy Tu Be’av (Jewish Valentines Day)

    notfacebook:

    You had pink fingernails and got on the Q train at Atlantic (if not Dekalb). I felt an irrational desire to invite you out to dinner. I found you stunningly beautiful, but you’ll probably never know. I think you changed trains at Times Square and I watched as you stepped between closing doors and disappeared. If for some reason you check this, It’d be nice to hear from you. Either way, I hope you’re well.

  • July 20, 09:34 AM

    BP photoshops fake photo of crisis command center, posts on main BP site

    There seems to be a major disconnect between generations of leadership. 

    Yesterday was deny, cover-up, down-play, spin… essentially “no comment”

    Today’s leaders need to realize that we’re living in a world where “no comment” doesn’t exist and the only way to maintain trust is with open and honest communication. We all know BP didn’t want the oil leak. But how much different would we feel about them if they apologized up front, set up a visible command in the gulf, gave us *honest* daily updates, took questions/comments from the public, and didn’t do shit like this?

    What I would give for a sit down with BP’s head of global PR.

    soupsoup:

    nickdouglas:

    Check out the high res image to see how hilariously obvious this is.

  • July 20, 09:15 AM

    soupsoup:

    peetypassion:

    Wild dogs that commute from suburbs to scavenge in city The clever canines board the Tube each morning. After a hard day scavenging and begging on the streets, they hop back on the train and return to the suburbs where they spend the night.

    Experts studying the dogs say they even work together to make sure they get off at the right stop — after learning to judge the length of time they need to spend on the train. The mutts choose the quietest carriages at the front and back of the train. They have also developed tactics to hustle humans into giving them more food on the streets of Moscow.

    Dr Poiarkov told how the dogs like to play during their daily commute. He said: “They jump on the train seconds before the doors shut, risking their tails getting jammed. They do it for fun. And sometimes they fall asleep and get off at the wrong stop.” The dogs have learned to use traffic lights to cross the road safely, said Dr Poiarkov. And they use cunning tactics to obtain tasty morsels of shawarma, a kebab-like snack popular in Moscow.

  • July 14, 11:00 AM

    Map: Where Americans Are Moving

    “More than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another during 2008.”

    Someone at Forbes made a neat little map that visualizes those moves. You can click on any county to see comings and goings: black lines indicate net inward movement, red lines net outward movement.

    Obvious (and interesting) implications for real estate developers. Sorry Detroit.

  • July 14, 08:25 AM

    Pure Genius.

    davemorin:

    This might be the most brilliant social media marketing idea yet. By far. Man.

    brit:

    The latest social media campaign from Old Spice is absolutely brilliant. I can only imagine how much copywriting took place today. Marketers, take note.

  • July 14, 08:12 AM
    “Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I will move the world.”
    Archimedes
  • July 13, 06:00 PM
    “It is a fool’s prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak.”
    Neil Gaiman (via notfacebook)
  • June 25, 10:19 AM

    World’s Most Honest Politician.

    I would vote for this guy.

  • June 23, 09:06 AM

    Another reason to love Tumblr- This is the e-mail you get when someone starts following you.  

    Other variants include:

    Socre, Sweet, OMG!, Hooray, nom-nom (my personal favorite), Whee, etc…

    When was the last time an e-mail from a web company made you smile?1


  • June 22, 06:21 PM

    9gag:

    How secure is my password?

    This is great.

  • June 21, 06:53 PM
    “Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends.
    My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery… My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted
    results, though overall it serves our country well. I’ve worked in an economy that rewards
    someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate’s distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.”

    Warren Buffet’s Philanthropic Pledge: More than 99% of his wealth will go to philanthropy during his lifetime or at death. 

    An example to live by. 

    (via suzannexie)
  • June 17, 10:45 PM

    The Giving Pledge

    davemorin:

    This is so awesome.

  • June 17, 10:29 PM

    thedailywhat:

    Single Serving Site of the Day: Well that didn’t take long: The BP apology was just the opening shot of Rep. Joe Barton’s Inappropriate Apology Tour. Check out some of the other woefully aggrieved institutions Joe Barton would like to apologize to.

    [boingboing.]

    Related: Joe Barton apologizes for apologizing.

  • June 17, 12:43 PM
    “The goal of the project, says Hassan, is to “take the largest sports brand in the world and turn it into largest participatory brand in the world.” To that end, the company’s not only monitoring its brand on social media, but giving its fans increased access to its athletes and scientists.”
    Inside Gatorade’s Social Media Command Center (via tedr)
  • June 10, 10:51 AM

    Preparing for the World Cup (From Boston.com’s Big Picture- click the image for more).

    “Next Friday, June 11th, South Africa will step onto the world stage as host nation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup as the international soccer tournament begins - welcoming 32 teams from around the world. South Africa was selected as the host six years ago, and has been preparing ever since, building five new stadiums, upgrading five existing stadiums, and building up public transportation, including a new rapid transit railway. Over the past weeks, the teams and their legions of fans have begun arriving while final preparations are made and and dress rehearsals held for the Opening Ceremony on Friday. The tournament takes place over a month, ending on July 11th. Collected here are recent scenes from South Africa as it readies itself to welcome the world.”

  • June 10, 08:18 AM

     

    The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination. 

    JK Rowling’s speech at Harvard Commencement. 

    “It is impossible to live without failing at something. Unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all- in which case, you’ve failed by default.”

    (For my friend who’s afraid to take the leap. You know whom you are.)

    1. June 03, 07:49 PM

      My blog just turned 1!

    2. June 03, 12:04 PM

      Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reaction to the UN.

      notfacebook:

      Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reaction to the UN

    3. June 02, 11:19 AM

      How Game Theory Solved a Talmudic Mystery

      A man owes debts of 100, 200, and 300, but dies with insufficient funds to pay everyone ($200). How should his estate be divided?

      The Talmud uses an interesting game theory concept called “equal division of a contested sum” to come up with 50, 75, 75.

      (via Instapaper)

    4. June 01, 01:19 PM

      Lost Generation

      A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward.  Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite..

      This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant.   Make sure you read as well as listen…forward and backward.

      This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old.   The contest was titled “u @ 50” by  AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.  So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.       

    5. May 31, 10:49 PM
      “Can we change the font on Saturated Fat and Sodium to something more exciting? We need people to have a positive feeling about them. And while you are at it, lets put the percentages in little stars so they think it’s a good thing that they are so high.”
      And, this is why we are fat. Thank you marketing. (via clientsfromhell) (via suzannexie) (via hiten)
    6. May 31, 11:16 AM

      barticz:

      TED.com: Inside a school for suicide bombers.

    7. May 27, 10:26 AM

      For the Splendor of Creation, sung at Harvard Graduation 2010

    8. May 23, 10:58 AM

      Humans: Why They Triumphed

    9. May 21, 03:46 PM
      “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”
       Theodore Levitt, Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School
    10. May 21, 02:11 PM

      Drive: The Art of Motivating Employees, by Dan Pink.

      This is a great video- very worthwhile for anyone that plans on managing a team.  Pink discusses how higher level performance is purpose driven, not profit driven, once a certain financial threshold is met.

    11. May 19, 09:55 PM

      Six men to be locked up in isolation together all in the name of science.

      fuckyeahspace:

      The ambitious project, the first full-duration simulated flight to Mars, aims to test one of the biggest unknowns of an eventual manned mission to Mars: the psychological and physical toll on humans.

      The idea is to exactly reproduce the timescale of a Mars mission — 250 days for the trip to Mars, 30 days on the surface and 240 days for the return journey, totalling 520 days, cut off from the world in a mock spaceship.

      It will be interesting to see how this will pan out. Will a computer kill them all? Will a demon from another dimension find its way onboard and kill them all? Will they create robots that look like humans and who then go on to enslave the race that made them? Will they make it back before they run out of air?? Will Sam Rockwell make it back to Earth alive??!?! The suspense is already killing me. (via reddit)

    12. May 19, 12:46 AM

      New York Nightowls: NY Nightowls goes global! 4 weeks, 6 cities & lots of people skipping sleep to get shit done later...

      COMING SOON TO BOSTON, MA!

      EXCITING NEWS! In just 4 weeks, we’ve witnessed late-night co-working take off not only in New York but around the world too! San Francisco, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Tel Aviv and Stockholm are among the newest sister cities to join the Nightowls network!

      Danielle, Jen,

    13. May 14, 05:32 PM
      “

      “Prestige is just fossilized inspiration. If you do anything well enough, you’ll make it prestigious. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. Jazz comes to mind—though almost any established art form would do. So just do what you like, and let prestige take care of itself.

      Prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, the way to do it is to bait the hook with prestige. That’s the recipe for getting people to give talks, write forewords, serve on committees, be department heads, and so on. It might be a good rule simply to avoid any prestigious task. If it didn’t suck, they wouldn’t have had to make it prestigious.”

      ”
      Excerpt from an essay by Paul Graham entitled “How to Do What You Love”
    14. May 14, 09:22 AM

      Video: the Social Media Revolution.

      The world is changing.  Get on board.

    15. May 10, 10:37 AM

      jared:

      Great video on Web 3.0 and the semantic web.

      (via Kate Ray)

    16. April 30, 10:27 AM

      Porter’s Five Forces.  An explanation by Michael Porter himself- incredibly, the most cited academic on the planet.

    17. April 29, 09:59 AM

      A day in the life of New York City.                               

      I’m loving Boston but really, there’s no place like NYC.

      9gag:

      A day in the life of New York City (miniature)

    18. April 28, 04:24 PM
      “There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.”
      Here is New York, E. B. White, 1949 (via cdixon) (via saadiq)
    19. April 28, 11:35 AM

      NY Times: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint

      Finally, the NY Times gets something right.  

      valarywithawhy:

      I have written before, and will again, about the ineffective use of PowerPoint in all sectors. I don’t think it is inherently evil, just abused. But I have to say, my favorite quote in this piece might just be: 

      Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters.

    20. April 28, 10:49 AM

      Distraction of the Day: Super Mario Crossover

    21. April 26, 01:52 PM

      My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-4-25)

      1. Big Punisher (1)
      2. Big L (1)
      3. Eazy-E (1)
      4. Gang Starr (1)
      5. Nas (1)

      Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    22. April 22, 09:34 PM

      tedr:

      jamiew:

      Ranking tech companies by revenue per employee - (37signals)

      via Hiten Shah

      Hmm, Dogster, Inc in 2009 was $270k/employee ;)

    23. April 20, 07:59 PM

      The Art of Positioning, by Wile E. Coyote.

      (via Guy Kawasaki’s book “The Art of the Start,” an incredible resource for entrepreneurs)

    24. April 20, 03:38 PM

      My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-4-18)

      1. Capitals (1)
      2. Marc Broussard (1)
      3. Jay-Z (1)
      4. Big L (1)
      5. Allison Weiss (1)

      Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

    25. April 20, 08:27 AM

      2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

      (Click to view the PDF)

      (via barticz)

    26. April 19, 06:18 PM

      Happy 62nd Birthday Israel!!!!  Congrats on 62 years of incredible accomplishments.  

      Despite being only 8,500 sq miles in size, with a population of just 7.5 million (1/1000th of the world population), Israel has achieved the following in the 62 years since its founding:

      1. The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.

      2. Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.

      3. The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel. Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed, and produced in Israel.

      4. The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel.

      5. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

      6. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.

      7. The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.

      8. According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry’s most impenetrable flight security. US officials now look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.

      9. Israel’s $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.

      10. Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.

      11. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.

      12. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people — as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.

      13. In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the second largest number of startup companies after the US (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).

      14. With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration hi-tech companies in the world — apart from the Silicon Valley, US.

      15. Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the US.

      16. After the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.

      17. Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.

      18. On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups.

      19. Twenty-four percent of Israel’s workforce holds university degrees — ranking it third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland — and 12% hold advanced degrees.

      20. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.

      21. In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at risk in Ethiopia to safety in Israel.

      22. When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world’s second elected female leader in modern times.

      23. When the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day — and saved three victims from the rubble.

      24. Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship — and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.

      25. Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.

      26. Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as “conflict free.”

      27. Israel has the world’s second highest per capita rate of publishing new books.

      28. Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert.

      29. Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.

      30. In the field of medicine, Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

      31. An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in US hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.

      32. Israel’s Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

      33. Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart’s mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

      34. Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the US, over 70 in Japan, and fewer than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as well.

      35. A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the ClearLight device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct — all without damaging surroundings skin or tissue.

      36. An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant (in southern California’s Mojave desert).

      37. Israel did all of the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction and an economy continuously under stress by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other country on earth.

      Source: Middle East Facts



    Tumblr

    Posts

    • April 26, 05:44 PM

      Salespeople: Hunters, Farmers... and Fisherman

      I recently read an HBS note by Professor Thomas Steenburgh entitled "Personal Selling and Sales Management". The note outlines the general qualities that differentiate sales professionals and help them succeed.

      For example:
      "In a classic article, Mayer and Greenberg (1964) suggest that salespeople must have two basic qualities: empathy and ego drive. Empathy allows salespeople to treat customers’ problems as their own, and ego drive enables salespeople to persist even after experiencing failure."
      The note then goes on to categorize salespeople into two broad categories- Hunters and Farmers.

      Hunters, generally, are characterized as being persuasive, transaction-oriented salespeople; they are resilient, have a strong sense of urgency and are well suited for securing new business. Farmers, on the other hand are relationship builders, adept at providing expert advice and developing existing business networks.

      While I generally agree with most of what's said in the article, I'm wondering if some revision is necessary in light of the new mediums through which people acquire goods and services. Specifically, I propose a new category of sales person: The Fisherman.

      Let me explain:

      I've been spending some time online looking for venture capitalists to whom I might pitch my business plan. It didn't take long for me to find some favorites- mostly due to their own self-produced content (Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc...). This got me thinking about how VCs use social media to sell* their services- and how I use the content to qualify them. I realized that this is the same process I'd follow whether I was looking for a VC, a realtor or a tax accountant- and the ability of the respective service provider to stand out through these social mediums provides a tremendous advantage when it comes to getting the client.

      Inbound marketing has become a tremendous tool for anyone selling products or services. It is a question though, whether the people that can do this effectively can be categorized as hunters or farmers. In order to draw in a potential customer the seller needs to produce relevant and valuable content The ability to create this kind of content however, does not necessarily place someone in the hunter or farmer category. While it's possible that the person may be adept at hunting or farming, I posit that inbound marketing is a separate and distinct skill- one that is becoming increasingly relevant as we become less reliant on conversations and relationships for transactions.

      The closest metaphor I can come up with for someone with this skill set is Fisherman. A fisherman doesn't aggressively hunt his target nor does he develop it over time. A fisherman picks an area, develops a deep understanding of what his prey wants and how it wants it, puts out the bait, and lets the fish come to him. In a given body of water, the fisherman with the best bait, in the best area, with the best skills catches the biggest fish. Over time, different fisherman will come and develop their own methods of catching specific types of fish using their own unique skills and methods.

      So too with the inbound marketer. All of the parallels don't need to be spelled out. What's important to note though, is that social media offers the opportunity for salespeople to develop very specific niches, target very specific (and self-selecting) customers and, in the long run, be much more efficient than the hunter who has to figure out whom to chase, or the farmer who has to make big bets on long-term relationships.



      *Note to Entrepreneurs: VC's ARE selling you there services. Financing, in any economy, is much easier to come by than a great opportunity backed by a great team- so choose wisely and look beyond the post-money valuation.
    • March 05, 04:57 PM

      In Defense of Sales

      Over the past few months I've noticed an uptick in the discussion around the topic of Sales (both as a business skill and as a chosen career path) among Blogs written by some of my classmates. Unfortunately, I find that there are some fairly prevalent misconceptions that I would like to address.
      1. Sales is not a skill that is taught in business school.
      This, I can say without a doubt, is false. Rafael Corrales, a classmate at HBS, wrote in his blog that "If you want to learn sales, you have to do it..." While there is much truth to that statement, I'm fairly certain the same thing could be said about Entrepreneurship and Leadership, two required courses at HBS (and many other B-Schools, I imagine).

      In 2007, the Sales Club at MIT Sloan was founded, a movement that has spread to business schools across the country including Wharton, Tuck and many others. In 2009, the Sales Club at HBS was founded and within one year grew to 270+ members and offers training workshops to its members that range in title from "Effective Cold-calling Techniques" to "Running the Perfect Sales Meeting." During the first official HBS January Term, the administration even invited Miller Heiman to conduct an Intensive Sales Seminar designed specifically for MBAs.

      I agree that nothing compares to the education one can get in the field. However, pretty much any successful sales executive will tell you that the difference between a good and a great sales person is what's taught in the classroom. This includes process, technique, strategy, analytics, and even basic behavioral theory. So why isn't it taught in the classroom more often? Well, for one, the lack of academic research in the field. But that's changing. There is currently a course at HBS with a full module on Selling (Business Marketing with Thomas Steenburgh) and there is much talk among the administration of adding an optional course solely based on Sales. Baby steps...

      2. A job in Sales is a Waste of an MBA
      My friend Jonathan Assayag recently analyzed this idea in a recent blog post entitled An Interview with Someone in Sales. While he does offer a fair categorization of some of the sales roles that are out there, his final takeaway, below, embodies a few of the thoughts that I've heard floating around the MBA community over the past year and I believe they are worth addressing. He states:
      “you’ll probably be as well off as the slick guy who graduated college and did really well. Your MBA might get you some good leads, but it’s certainly not going to do much for you when you’re a corporate salesman. It’s definitively not the best use of your education, but it may give you a leg up later in your career”.
      A couple of responses to this:
      1. If you end up as well off as the slick college grad, one of two things are true. One is that you suck at your job and the MBA really didn't help you. The second is that the slick college guy is really good at his job and you shouldn't be too upset to end up like him (some great salesmen that come to mind: Shai Agassi, Steve Jobs, James Weddle...). Regardless of which it is, I think the fear implicit in that first statement is precisely the reason many top MBAs don't go into sales- it levels the playing field. And for most "I've never failed at anything" overachievers, that is scary.
      2. This brings me to my second response. Re: "Your MBA... (is) certainly not going to do much for you when you’re a corporate salesman." While it is true that the MBA is probably more directly applicable for people in management rotation programs at fortune 500 corporations, most MBAs (at HBS at least) will one day start their own companies. My guess: the MBA probably won't help you any more in Entrepreneurship than it will in Sales- the sooner you decide not to rely on your degree to take you somewhere, the better.
      3. Finally, Re: "It's definitely not the best use of your education," short of trying to save the world, it's hard to argue that any of us are putting our degrees to their best use. That aside, I would argue that many sales jobs offer the most opportunity to take advantage of the MBA education. By this I don't mean the hours spent trying to learn CAPM or adjust deferred revenues on a balance sheet. Most of us will forget that anyways. I mean the chance to lead a team and make strategic decisions that will impact a company's bottom line. For example, I recently had a chance to meet some of the people over at HubSpot. They are hiring MBAs into direct sales positions with the hope of growing them into management positions over relatively short time periods. I met MBAs one year out of school taking full ownership over new business verticals while directing their own teams and, essentially, running startups within a startup. THAT is good experience. Other companies that look to hire MBAs into high level sales roles include Google, Goldman Sachs, SAP, IBM, etc... Most of these involve complex sales with sophisticated clients, long lead times and intense analytics. I'd venture to say that few positions offer more responsibility and valuable training than these do so early on in one's career.
      Sales is a discipline that, much like leadership, is difficult to systematically define. For now, I'll leave my understanding of what makes a good salesperson to another time.  I will say though, that like Leadership, while some people are born with higher dispositions toward Sales, training can have a tremendous impact on individual performance, regardless of innate ability.  And the MBA community has finally started to admit that fact.










    • February 24, 07:37 PM

      Soon.

    Blog

    Profile

    Adam Enbar

    Inbound Marketing Specialist at HubSpot
    Internet | Greater Boston Area, US

    Summary

    We help Entrepreneurs and Marketers grow their businesses by leveraging the power of the internet via new media tools (blogging, social media, SEO, etc...).
    Specialties: Sales, Business Development, Internet Marketing, Social Networking

    Experience

    • Jun 2010 - Present

      Inbound Marketing Specialist / HubSpot

      HubSpot is a modern, inbound marketing system that enables businesses to get found online using new media (search engines, blogosphere, and social media sites) and convert a higher percentage of leads into customers.
    • Jan 2010 - May 2010

      Business Development Intern / SCVNGR

      Developing Sales and Marketing Strategy for technology expansion into new business verticals.
    • Dec 2008 - May 2010

      Co-Founder & President, HBS Sales Club / Harvard Business School

      Founded the HBS Sales Club to promote Sales as a fundamental business skill for leaders across industries; and to assist in the development of Sales skills throughout the HBS community.
    • Sept 2009 - Dec 2009

      Sales, Marketing & Business Development Intern / Stion

      Developed a go-to-market strategy for a thin-film solar company in San Jose, CA funded by Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed, General Catalyst and Braemar.
    • Jun 2009 - Jul 2009

      Strategic Marketing & New Product Development Intern / Guthy-Renker

      • Analyzed media spend for established subscription brands to maximize return on promotional investment.
      • Performed statistical analyses on new marketing initiatives to determine the significance of impacts on returns.
      • Explored strategic partnership opportunities with a publicly listed vendor, including a potential acquisition and joint venture.
    • Aug 2005 - Aug 2008

      Principal, Construction Management / Flatiron Equities

      Obtained General Contractor’s License and performed rehabilitation work on properties throughout Upper Manhattan and Queens, both within and outside of company portfolio. Managed residential developments; oversaw design, government filings, scheduling and general construction. Negotiated contracts with subcontractors and material vendors; maintained construction budgets and payroll.
    • Jan 2005 - Aug 2008

      Principal, Real Estate Development / Flatiron Equities

      Founded boutique real estate development firm focused on distressed multifamily and retail, mixed-use developments in New York City. Performed due diligence and developed financial models for potential real estate acquisitions and partnerships. Prepared financing proposals and offer letters and negotiated contract terms. Created Property Management division overseeing management activities of properties throughout New York City. Managed daily cash flow and created quarterly portfolio budget projections.

    Education

    • 2008 - 2010

      Harvard Business School

      MBA
      Activities: Founder & Co-President, HBS Sales Club. Member: Entrepreneurship Club, Real Estate Club, VCPE Club.
    • 2001 - 2005

      Cornell University

      B.S. in Policy Analysis & Management, Concentration in Consumer Markets
      Activities: Public Relations Chair, Hillel / Jewish Students Union Executive Board Member, Ski & Snowboarding Club

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