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7 career tips you can learn from the CIA

Your workplace and the CIA aren’t so different after all. Here’s how America’s first NSA director-turned-CIA director advanced his career—and how you can do the same.

By Bethany Chambers, Digital Operations Manager

Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), recently released an insider’s look at national security in the form of the 400-page career retrospective “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror.”

The book, which Hayden says can’t be deemed a tell-all what with some of his favorite parts redacted, offers a glimpse of U.S. diplomatic relations with other countries and Hayden’s experience as the director of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

What’s most surprising in the book, though, is just how much like the average American working experience the CIA is.

Last week I had the chance to hear Hayden speak at Duquesne University (our shared alma mater) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, about his book and came up with these seven tips we can all apply to our jobs.

1. If a tree falls in the forest…it’s not such a bad thing.

Just after taking the helm at the NSA in early 2000, America was without signal intelligence for 72 hours. But with a blizzard hitting the East Coast and people stuck at home, it didn’t make the news cycle—which gave the agency a chance to make some much needed improvements.

The moral of this story (other than how scary it is to think this happened) is that if you suffer a career setback, you don’t need to broadcast it.

2. Question everything.

On the failure of the media to fully vet Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein was buying uranium in Africa to build weapons of mass destruction, Hayden says the media was too credulous and called it a “clear swing and a miss.”

As Pulitzer Prize-winning intelligence reporter Joby Warrick, who spoke with Hayden at Duquesne, says of other journalists post-9/11: “They were skeptical of my skepticism.”

In hindsight, it’s clear that journalists, security officials, politicians—all of us—must continue to seek the truth and look past the easy answers.

3. Everybody’s boss is putting the squeeze on them.

After Sept. 11, Hayden says President Bush asked “Is there anything more you can do?” to identify the terrorists responsible. When Hayden responded that there was nothing more within his authority he recalls being told, “That’s not what I asked.”

So the next time you find yourself between a rock and a hard place with demands from your boss, employees, coworkers or clients, find a Plan B that’s as amenable as possible to the stakeholders involved. And keep in mind: Everybody has been there. Even the head of the CIA.

4. Communication and consensus-building are key.

Hayden says one of his biggest career regrets is that he failed to garner consensus from Congress during his tenure.

Each time you roll your eyes at another interdepartmental meeting request, remember: You don’t want a failure to communicate to be a lasting legacy that haunts your retirement.

5. Sometimes you expect the worst and get the best.

Hayden and Warrick agree that they anticipated there would be widespread negative reaction to the CIA’s drone surveillance program before it became public, but it was “pretty popular as it turned out.”

If you have an idea to propose to your boss or clients and you’ve stalled thinking it’s too radical or sure to be rejected, stop assuming and start taking action.

6. ‘Don’t opt in the direction of caution.’

To quote Hayden: “There are no easy answers. When the phone rings at 2 a.m. … this not an invitation to be conservative. If you’re conservative, you could end up with a worse outcome.”

Just be glad your phone doesn’t usually ring at 2 a.m.—and when it’s 2 p.m. approach your job with boldness and confidence.

7. Whatever you do, ‘have an animating vision.’

Hayden’s intelligence career was punctuated by significant disasters and roiling international conflict, but throughout it all he says he continued to follow the same morals and principles he’d always had, many of which he credited to his Catholic upbringing.

You may be disappointed to learn that the CIA isn’t as you see on TV (or as Hayden joked, he “never once met Jack Bauer or bumped into Jason Bourne or even saw Jack Ryan.”) but you can find some comfort knowing that some challenges are inherent to career advancement in any field that you choose.

Chambers graduated from Duquesne University’s A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration in 2007, the same year Hayden spoke at commencement—which you can read about in Chapter 13 of his book.

6 ways to ensure your webinar will attract an audience

By Diane Sofranec, Managing Editor

Webinars are an excellent lead-generating tool because every person who signs up must disclose their name and contact information. The trick is attracting an audience.

A successful webinar hinges on many factors: compelling topic, engaging speakers, targeted and timely marketing. It IS possible to offer a webinar your audience will want to attend.

As you plan your next webinar, ask yourself these 6 questions:

1. Did I choose an interesting subject?

A hot webinar topic is the best way to attract a large audience. Select a subject your potential audience needs to know more about right now. If you’re stumped, check social media to see what people in your industry are talking about. For example, the next webinar for North Coast Media’s Pest Management Professional will focus on how to talk to customers about the Zika virus.

2. Are my speakers knowledgeable?

An expert speaker will give your audience a good reason to attend your webinar. Choose a speaker your audience trusts and respects. Because your audience is attending to learn more about your topic, be sure your speakers can offer accurate and useful information. They should have no qualms about answering audience questions on the fly, either.

3. Are my speakers good presenters?

When you choose your speakers, ask them whether they have public speaking experience. Those who have typically know better than to recite their notes or talk too fast. Seek out energetic communicators. Hold a practice session so you will know what to expect and can offer advice if necessary.

4. Do my slides convey my message?

Webinar slides should not include every word of the speaker’s speech. Instead, slides should highlight the key points of the presentation. The text should be easy to read and include images that illustrate the key points. Speakers should strive to make the topic easy to understand. They can accomplish this by explaining – not reading — the text on their slides.

5. Is my marketing message accurate?

Your webinar should deliver what you promised your audience would learn. Make sure your marketing materials convey the information your speakers plan to share. Otherwise, your audience will drop off the webinar in droves, and think twice about attending any future events you offer. Use bulleted points and straightforward language (In this webinar, you will learn how to…) to communicate an accurate message.

6. Did I get the word out early enough?

When you’re ready to market your webinar, consider using every marketing channel at your disposal. Print, email, social media, website, and direct mail are all worthwhile options. Don’t delay; you want your audience to sign up and put your webinar on their schedule at least one month in advance.

By planning ahead, you can provide your audience with a webinar they will want to attend and pass along to their colleagues.

Diane Sofranec has more than 25 years experience in B2B media. She joined North Coast Media in 2013 as a digital content producer. Now managing editor of the company’s Pest Management Professional magazine, Sofranec frequently writes about social media and mobile trends and techniques.

Photo credit: Project On Government Oversight via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

5 reasons you need YouTube

By Diane Sofranec, Managing Editor

If your company has Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, you may think you’ve got social media covered. But if you don’t regularly upload videos to YouTube, you’re missing out.

Here are five reasons why YouTube is a social media platform you simply can’t ignore.

1. YouTube has more than 1 billion users worldwide.

No surprise here. Everybody knows YouTube is the site to visit when you want to watch a video. In the United States, 81 percent of Millennials, 58 percent of Generation Xers and 43 percent of Baby Boomers use YouTube. What is surprising is that only 9 percent of small businesses in this country use YouTube, according to statistics compiled by DMR.

2. YouTube is more than crazy cat videos and movie trailers.

Because anyone can upload a video to YouTube, the videos are as unique as the people who watch them. Consider creating videos that showcase tips related to your company’s products or services, share your company’s history, and highlight fun employee events and activities. There’s an 11-hour(!) limit for videos, but keep them to just a couple minutes to hold viewers’ attention. There’s also a place to include a summary and web address, so videos can help boost traffic to your company’s website.

3. There’s more than one way to use YouTube.

Sure, YouTube has billions of users, but they don’t all create and upload video. YouTube makes it easy to share, comment on, and rate videos, too. Create a compelling video, and it might make the rounds on other social media sites, like Facebook.

4. YouTube is widely believed to be the second-largest search engine behind Google.

YouTube is comprised of a lot of videos. Users upload an astounding 300 hours of content every minute. To find the content they’re looking for, YouTube users search the site, which has pushed YouTube toward the top of the search engine heap. To ensure your company name pops up in a YouTube search, post a video. As an added bonus, YouTube videos rank in Google searches because Google owns YouTube.

5. YouTube makes it easy to upload and track your videos.

It’s easy to shoot a video on your smartphone and instantly upload it to your YouTube page. Then, you can use YouTube Analytics to track its popularity. There’s no need to notify subscribers to your YouTube channel that you posted a new video, because YouTube does that for you.

So what are you waiting for? Create a company video, establish a channel, and get your company’s information out there, for billions to see.

Photo credit: Rego – d4u.hu via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

5 crucial tips for interviewers

By Kevin Yanik, Managing Editor

This is part two of a two-part series on interviews. The first part of this series covers preparing to be interviewed, and the second part focuses on conducting a thorough interview.

Interviewing sources and job candidates is a regular part of my job as a journalist and a magazine editor at North Coast Media.

Conducting an interview may seem simple. You ask questions and receive answers. But the gig isn’t as simple as it sounds.

Getting the answers you seek often requires a thoughtful strategy, whether you’re interviewing a source for a news article or a candidate for a job opening. Below are five considerations to keep in mind related to interviews.

1. Do your homework.

Whether you’re interviewing Kim Kardashian or the Queen of England, preparation is a must.

You’re likely in a position to interview a source or a job candidate because you’ve advanced to a point in your career in which you’ve been entrusted with that particular responsibility. Still, just because you’re in a position of “power” doesn’t mean you can approach an interview blindly.

Preparing for an interview these days is a simple task considering we live in the age of the Internet. Information on a source or a job candidate can be accessed in mere seconds through a Google search. A person’s job history is often available on LinkedIn, and other tidbits can be gathered about a person through a Web search and social media.

Take at least a few minutes to prepare this way before any interview. If you aren’t doing this already, you’ll be surprised how much you can learn about someone in 60 seconds.

2. Ask thoughtful, relevant questions.

You’re more likely to get what you want from a source or a job candidate if you put in the necessary time beforehand and draft relevant questions. Plus, once you’ve established yourself as a knowledgeable source on the subject you plan to discuss, you’ll position yourself to gain the trust of the interviewee if trust wasn’t previously established.

Also, don’t ask cookie-cutter questions. Personalize questions as much as you can because everyone brings a unique perspective to interviews. Use your research to develop these questions.

3. Be prepared to adapt.

After all the work you’ve done preparing questions for your interviewee, one or more of these questions might not apply. Don’t fret. Just listen to what the interviewee says and be prepared to ask questions on the fly.

Your prepared questions should really be a loose guide for how an interview plays out anyway. It’s important to have questions prepared in case you hit a wall. Still, an interviewee will likely reveal a tidbit that surprises you – something that opens a door for another totally worthwhile discussion during the interview.

As the interviewer, be prepared to steer the conversation. But don’t be afraid to give a little leeway to the interviewee. You just might take away something you didn’t expect to learn.

4. Be professional yet real.

Whether you’re interviewing somebody for a news story or for an open job position, you’re expected to bring a high level of professionalism to the task. Still, you don’t want to present a false you.
For example, if you don’t quite understand something an interviewee says, ask for clarity. Showing a little vulnerability can further build trust. To me, this shows the interviewee you’re truly interested in what’s being said and that you want to understand the meaning.

On a related note: When circumstances permit, put your questions aside for a moment to get to know the interviewee better. Time may not always permit, of course, and, depending on the type of person you’re interviewing, you may decide it’s not worth briefly getting to know the interviewee on a personal level.

But, based on the research you’ve done, you may be in a position to ask about the city the interviewee is from or a colleague they’ve worked with. These little moments are another opportunity for building trust. They also help to put interviewees at ease if tensions exist, and they can help to build a rapport with the person for future encounters.

5. Follow up when necessary.

Always remember to say thank you. For example, a follow-up email is generally a go-to for me following a phone interview with a story source.

Remember that this source took the time out of his or her busy schedule to spend time with you. To me, the most precious commodity people can invest in another is their time. When people offer you their time, a thank you is always warranted.

Follow-ups are a little different on the job-interviewing front, though. A follow-up thank-you note is more of a must for interviewees, but interviewers should respond after these with a “thank you” and a follow-up of their own.

On the job front, follow-ups that tend to occur are inquiries from interviewees about their status as candidates. Interviewers are probably divided on how to best handle these responses, especially if an interviewee is unlikely to get the job.

I come down on this front simply: be real. You’re not expected to divulge every detail of a candidate search, but you can respectfully inform a candidate that a search is still ongoing or that you’ve moved in a different direction.

At the same time, you can express thanks for a person’s time and for the opportunity to meet them. Rejection isn’t easy to deliver, but remember that you’re dealing with a person – someone who deserves respect and a thoughtful response so long as that person handled himself or herself in an appropriate way.

Kevin Yanik joined North Coast Media in 2012 and has worked in B2B media for more than seven years in various editorial positions. Kevin is a Cleveland native and a 2006 graduate of John Carroll University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications.

Photo: iStock

‘Controversial’ NFL press conference question stirs debate about reporter roles

By Kevin Yanik, Managing Editor

NFL legend Peyton Manning retired the other day. His retirement press conference in Denver was largely a joyous occasion, as Manning reflected on his 18-year career in the league.

The occasion wasn’t all joyous, though, as USA Today reporter Lindsay Jones asked the “squeaky-clean” Manning about a sexual assault allegation stemming from his days as a quarterback at the University of Tennessee.

Manning answered the question with a few deflecting remarks, and the presser steered back to football from there. But Jones’ question immediately drew ire on Twitter, where the consensus seemed to be how dare Jones taint Manning’s walk-away celebration.

Jones deserves credit for asking the question, though. In a room full of reporters, many of whom have fawned over Manning for years, Jones did her job. She asked the tough question.

But why did Jones have to ask Manning about the allegation there, you might ask? The event was, after all, supposed to be a shining moment for one of the greatest players in NFL history, you might argue.

Jones asked about the allegation because that’s what real reporters do. They ask questions. Real questions. Relevant questions. Tough questions. Questions that publicly warrant answers, even if the answer is like the canned response Manning delivered.

Who knows when reporters would again have access to Manning to even ask the question Jones posed. The guy could decide to move into a cabin in the woods for the rest of his life, denying the media another opportunity.

Reporters should ask tough questions because that’s their job. Unfortunately, too many sports reporters avoid asking the tough questions because they want to stay in the good graces of players and teams. Teams want to protect their own. If reporters “go rogue” and ask tough questions, there’s a chance reporters may be penalized and have their media credentials revoked.

The reporters at the Manning presser were tasked with asking Manning about his career and the sexual assault allegation. Unfortunately, all but Jones took on the role of puppet in a mostly celebratory event that required at least one tough question.

Photo credit: the past tends to disappear via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” – Print

By Scott Gebler, Marketing Manager

As a publishing company, we’ve heard it for a number of years, and still do even today: traditional print is dying or dead.

With the rise of the Internet and digital media, people treated it as if there were two sides to a scale: If more people are getting their news and information online, then fewer must be using print. So the myth grew.

But we knew otherwise. We see it in the year-over-year results of our magazines, and we constantly come across great statistics, research and science that prove print is alive and well.

Further research supporting that fact was released recently by MPA—The Association of Magazine Media. The white paper, What Can Neuroscience Tell Us About Why Print Magazine Advertising Works?, was written by Scott McDonald, Ph.D., a Harvard-trained media consultant and professor at Columbia Business School.

The notion that younger generations, in particular, are moving away from print is countered right off the bat, with statistics showing greater demand for many print categories now than in past decades. For example, a greater percentage of Americans 18-24 read print magazines than they did 10 or 20 years ago – and 95 percent of Americans under 25 read print magazines, which is the highest of any age group in the study.

The white paper is an in-depth read that goes on to outline findings from dozens of studies and reports. Cumulatively, they all point to screen reading being a faster “scan,” more prone to distraction and associated with reduced cognition and memory, while print is a deeper, more focused and more easily comprehended read.

Furthermore, McDonald’s research shows print ads activate neural activity that is more closely associated with desirability and reward.

It was actually Mark Twain who said “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” But to anyone who says print is dead, I’ll leave you with another of his quotes: “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as you please.”

As the company’s marketing manager, Gebler is responsible for advancing all of North Coast Media’s brands and their related products to both advertisers and end audiences. He has more than 10 years of experience in Cleveland-area corporate marketing departments and advertising agencies and is a 2004 graduate of Ohio University.