2010 Seven Keys Webinar Series

The 2010 Seven Keys to Successful CPA Firm Management Webinar Series begins on Thursday, June 10, 1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern with "Leadership and Management: New Rules for the New Normal." Register today and learn more about the Seven Keys:

• Leadership and Management


• Technology Trends


• Marketing and Business Development


• Client Service and Satisfaction


• Creating a Great Place to Work


• Building the Learning Organization


• Strategy Execution

Social Media Marketing GPS

Social Media Marketing GPS, written by Toby Bloomberg, Bloomberg Marketing, is the first business book written on - not about - Twitter. Tweet interviews with 40 prominent social media marketers including people from Dell, Comcast, Marketing Profs, BlogHer. 12 chapters take you from the importance of social media to ethics to the social enterprise, tactics, sponsored conversations, blogger relations with a few case studies.

"The goal was to create a comprehensive body of knowledge that could serve as a roadmap (GPS) for developing a strategic social media plan," explains Bloomberg. "My thoughts were if this could be accomplished in a series of 140 character tweets it might help ease the apprehension for people new to social media, while at the same time, providing a review and offering some interesting ideas for those more experienced."

The Five Essential Elements of Wellbeing

To construct a comprehensive measure of individual wellbeing, Gallup designed an assessment composed of the best questions they have asked over the last 50 years. To create this assessment, the Wellbeing Finder, hundreds of questions were tested across countries, languages, and vastly different life situations.

Upon completion of the research, five distinct statistical factors emerged. These are the universal elements of wellbeing that differentiate a thriving life from one spent suffering. They describe aspects of our lives that we can do something about and that are important to people in every situation we studied.

The Elements
These elements are the currency of a life that matters. They do not include every nuance of what's important in life, but they do represent five broad categories that are essential to most people.

The first element is about how you occupy your time or simply liking what you do every day: your Career Wellbeing.

The second element is about having strong relationships and love in your life: your Social Wellbeing.

The third element is about effectively managing your economic life: your Financial Wellbeing.

The fourth element is about having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis: your Physical Wellbeing.

The fifth element is about the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live: your Community Wellbeing.

While 66% of people are doing well in at least one of these areas, just 7% are thriving in all five. If we're struggling in any one of these domains, as most of us are, it damages our wellbeing and wears on our daily life. When we strengthen our wellbeing in any of these areas, we will have better days, months, and decades. But we're not getting the most out of our lives unless we're living effectively in all five.

Although these elements are universal across faiths, cultures, and nationalities, people take different paths to increasing their individual wellbeing. For many people, spirituality drives them in all these areas. Their faith is the most important facet of their lives, and it is the foundation of their daily efforts. For others, a deep mission, such as protecting the environment, inspires them each day. While the things that motivate us differ greatly from one person to the next, the outcomes do not.

To learn more read Well Being by Tom Rath (author of How Full is Your Bucket?) and Jim Harter, Ph.D. (co-author of 12: The Elements of Great Managing).

7 Key Steps to Turning Your Big Idea Into a Big Success

In an article for MarketingProfs Mike Sprouse, chief marketing officer of Epic Advertising, provides seven key steps to turn your big idea into a big success. As you create your firm's marketing programs consider these seven steps:

1. Figure out what makes you tick, what makes you passionate about your career, or what you see in your industry that you really enjoy and think you can add value to.
2. Create a business plan. It should go beyond the necessary dollars-and-cents analysis and include a how your idea will benefit your company, your job, and your target audiences.
3. Figure out the "who"—who else in your company or industry might share your passions and ideas. Develop a "who's on board" list of people who might be willing to help bring your idea to market.
4. Once you have people on board, figure out—with them—the "how," or the process via which you'll make your idea a success.
5. Establish key goals or benchmarks—two or three short-term targets and one long-term target.
6. Finally, when you're ready, figure out how you will tell your story to people who may be interested. If your idea is a good one, then it is your responsibility to share it with them.
7. Have fun. When ideas or projects cease being fun, the passion dries up and, typically, the end product suffers.