It turns out that those funny looking running shoes, that were supposed to help tone your body, are nothing more than funny looking running shoes. The claims that, just by wearing the shoes, you would tone your problem areas, get in shape, and build muscle are bogus.
Now the Federal Trade Commission has levied a $40-million fine against Skechers for the false claims. On top of that, the company has earned The Whiner of the Week Award.
So called, toning shoes, are big business and a billion dollar industry. The chance to become fit through passive activity was promoted by Skechers in numerous advertisements. Celebrity endorsements boasted that that shoes were an exercise breakthrough.
An independent clinical study provided support for the claims. Alas it turns out that the results were manipulated by a chiropractor who is married to Skechers marketing executive.
The company preyed on the desire of an increasingly obese nation to find a quick fitness fix.
While $40 million is a very large number, in some ways it doesn’t seem to be enough of a punishment. Most people don’t have an unlimited budget to spend on fitness. What’s the cost of someone not pursuing a legitimate exercise program because they bought shoes that they thought could do the same thing?
Does your sales copy seem a little flat? Maybe you can take some inspiration from those annoying emails you receive from Nigerian scam artists. In this week’s 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, we dissect how these messages work and how you can legally apply the same principles in your business.
This podcast changes the way leaders approach challenges and obstacles. A new 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast comes out every Wednesday. You’ll never miss an episode when you subscribe through iTunes. Click here to make it happen.
Have modern video games affected our ability to overcome challenges in the real world? In these games, when you run out of lives, you’re given a chance to hit the “reset” button.
This allows you to continue the game at a level close to where you just “died.” You’re not forced to start from the beginning.
For some players, failure has become a strategy. You sacrifice lives to learn things about the game and then continue.
The reset button represents a shift in how we think while at play. In sports, a team may not score on a possession but it will likely have another opportunity very soon. But in these contests, there’s an important variable: The clock. Failure has a consequence. You don’t have an unlimited amount of time to score.
But in video games, we’ve learned that you can complete the game in a day, a week, or a month and there’s no difference. Success is a mental war of attrition against a computer programmer.
What’s wrong with this you may wonder?
We’ve become comfortable with failure and it’s changed the way we approach challenges.
This can create problems, because in life, there are no reset buttons. If you screw up a presentation at work, then you live with the consequences. You don’t get another shot right away. There may be future opportunities to perform better but they won’t be the same.
We’ve forgotten that for many challenges, you have one chance to get it right. When faced with a problem, you need to be able to quickly consider your experience, find solutions, and then commit to one.
It’s all about performing under pressure. You don’t have a chance to try one strategy, stop, and then start over. There’s great value in being able to do what it takes to Clear the Path to success and then execute.
One button may have cost us our competitive edge. And a lot of us have spent countless hours pressing it again and again.
A tenth of a mile is not very far but it can be the difference between running a marathon and having a long run. Many start projects but few are able to finish them. Focus on your finish line and do whatever it takes to cross it. No excuses…
The producers of movies on video have lost touch with their audience and are making it hard for them to enjoy a film. It’s problem that earns the DVD and Blu-ray manufacturers The Whiner of the Week award.
Let’s say you’ve worked a busy day and want to relax by watching a movie. You pop in the disc with the expectation that you’ll be able to momentarily enjoy the film. But instead of munching on some popcorn and sipping a delightful beverage, you have to mow through a bunch of stuff. Here’s what I’m talking about:
Anti-piracy warnings from both the FBI and Interpol: Usually you can’t fast-forward or skip these warnings. Have these messages ever stopped illegal copying?
Previews: Why do we need previews on these discs anymore? All the previews are online. I know that we have previews at movie theaters. Part of that is to give people a chance to settle down before a film, something you don’t need to worry about at home. Putting previews on DVDs and Blu-ray discs is like advertising rotary phones at an iPhone announcement.
Charitable pitches: There are plenty of hours in the day where I’m happy to listen to charitable pitches. I’m doubtful that anyone is putting the disc on pause to make a donation. Unless the charity or issue is tied directly to the film, I’m not looking to find out more.
Pre-film credits: Just when you think the movie is about to begin, you have to sit through the credits for the distributors of the film, the producers of the DVD (a sister division of the distributor), and the various companies that produced the movie. In the past, these were simple text announcements. Now everyone has to have some sort of animated ego driven proclamation to tell me that their company is called, Leaky Faucet Productions.
As I mentioned, some of these pre-film ads can’t be skipped. And it’s a pain to have to fast-forward the others. Perhaps I need to reduce my caffeine intake but is it good business sense to annoy your customers prior to them (hopefully) enjoying your product?
DVDs and Blu-ray movies can be great because of the additional content, like behind the scenes features, that viewers receive. But you don’t want to dine at a restaurant that makes you wait a long time before you get your first bite of food.
How are new ideas handled in your organization? Too often, the good stuff ends up on the scrap heap. In this week’s 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, you’ll find out how to change your attitude toward innovation.
This podcast changes the way leaders approach challenges and obstacles. A new 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast comes out every Wednesday. You’ll never miss an episode when you subscribe through iTunes. Click here to make it happen.
How do you react when a mistake happens in front of your customers? Too often, we reach for the panic button.
I received a lesson in dealing with mistakes from the sixth row of a theater. At the time, I was the Executive Director of a professional ballet company, watching our final performance of Cleopatra. This was a lavish show that had received overwhelming positive reviews.
I imagined the final performance as a validation of the company’s dedication to such a complex production. The large set pieces could be changed during an act, allowing seamless transitions between scenes. By the final production, I knew the timing perfectly.
Midway through the first act, I knew that something was wrong when a large piece of scenery wasn’t moving from backstage right to offstage. It was on wheels and a couple of good tugs should allow the offstage stagehands to make it disappear.
But something was caught on the wheel and it wasn’t moving. Instead of pulling it from offstage, a stagehand had to enter the performing area to give the scenery a good shove. It was a 15 to 20 second delay that felt like an eternity to me.
In my mind, the performance is probably ruined. The technical breakdown had spoiled the illusion. With any live show, you have one chance to make an impression.
Then I realized something: The audience hadn’t noticed the problem. How could they miss such an obvious mistake? The answer is that the company (with the exception of a flustered Executive Director) was prepared for mistakes.
It all happened in a few seconds:
The stagehands wear black so it’s harder to notice them onstage
They didn’t panic and calmly walked out and moved the scenery as if there wasn’t a problem
The floor manager had the dancers hold for a couple of moments before they started their next scene
And during that time, the orchestra was able to smoothly stretch the music
It also helped that the performance up to that point had been flawless and the audience was very engaged
When the curtain fell on Cleopatra, not one audience member mentioned the stuck scenery. The only way people would have probably realized there was a technical glitch would have happened had I stood up and started apologizing to the crowd.
But there was no need for that and that’s an important thing for leaders to realize when encountering public mistakes. These are going to happen but does your team understand how to calmly move on?
As a leader, you may feel that you need to react, apologize, and panic whenever something goes wrong. But you could end up making things worse. To Clear the Path, remember that mistakes don’t need a spotlight. Solutions do.
Run potential customer service problems in your mind and make sure your team knows how to react to them. Like the members of the dance company, you want their training to take over when a problem arises.
Sometimes being an effective leader is about sitting back and letting your team perform.
It turns out that those funny looking running shoes, that were supposed to help tone your body, are nothing more than funny looking running shoes. The claims that, just by wearing the shoes, you would tone your problem areas, get in shape, and build muscle are bogus.
