FACT: 90 percent of information that comes to the brain is visual.
FACT: The brain processes visual information 60,000 faster than text.
FACT: 90 percent of information that comes to the brain is visual.
FACT: The brain processes visual information 60,000 faster than text.
It was bound to happen. After the accusations of affairs and harassment continued for another week, Presidential candidate Herman Cain announced the suspension of his campaign.
I heard an assessment of the initial charges against Cain put in an interesting context:
1. You can expect these kinds of charges if you are a political candidate;
2. Sexual charges will be levied against political, business and personal rivals in a blanket fashion whether they are true or not. Just like when someone sprays for pest control — if there are no roaches, everything still looks the same, but if there are roaches hiding somewhere, the spray flushes them out.
The outcome shows how completely uneven and somewhat capricious sexual charges can be in terms of how they stick.
Cain gets hammered for his alleged affairs, but Newt Gingrich has at least 2 well documented affairs and he is currently leading the Republican field in Iowa. Tiger Woods has traveled a long public image road (not to mention professional road — having just won a tournament for the first time since 2009) after multiple affairs broke up his marriage, but Ashton Kutcher has multiple affairs which break up his marriage and there is hardly a peep out of the press.
Maybe it’s the Two And a Half Men syndrome, because Charlie Sheen, formerly star of the same show, has a well-documented career of semi-scandals. In Gingrich’s situation, the element of time has probably helped “age” the news to the point where it is not so relevant anymore. I think he has done a good job of explaining his position in the past. He has said when asked about the stories that he’s not proud of what he’s done and he has not run from the story. He acknowledges the story and then bridges to a message he is trying to communicate. In addition, the fact that he has been married to his third wife for more than 11 years also takes a lot of the newness factor out of the equation.
I’m also of the opinion that there are also a couple of other factors that come into play which affect the public interest/disgust meter:
1. The Holier Than Thou Hypocrite. You portray yourself as a highly religious or moral person who has
condemned others for the same behavior in which you are currently engaging. Think Jimmy Swaggart or Newt Gingrich here. (Gingrich was having an affair while he was publicly taking Bill Clinton to task for his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky). Or you work hard to build an image of yourself as a family man while carrying on with prostitutes and various other women. Think Tiger Woods here. If you are a genuine and long-standing bad boy, you are not going to be
2. Feeding the ‘Men are Pigs’ Stereotype. This is more of a measure of public revulsion – particularly by women – to your antics. Think John Edwards here who was having an affair while his wife was in the hospital battling cancer. Or, come to think of it, Newt Gingrich who did the same thing with his first wife, Jackie Battley, who was also fighting cancer. Another side is to cheat while you have the ‘perfect’ family; the young Swedish model wife with two beautiful children. Tiger Woods – again — fits this bill as well.
If you are a high-profile individual, you are at risk of this type of attack. The charge is easy to make and is often hard to disprove.
However, in the end, you are most vulnerable to this type of attack if you really are cheating. If you are not, the story has no legs and dies.
Waffle House, that iconic American highway diner, is one of the best companies in the U.S. in recovering from a crisis. It’s so good, in fact, that FEMA uses the restaurant chain as a gauge to how serious the damage is in the area.
The Wall Street Journal profiles a very interesting, but very little known, strategy of the company which cements customer loyalty by using a strategy of doing extraordinary things to stay open — or to re-open — during a crisis.
It’s always been an assertion, but the tools for quantifying the actual monetary value that can be derived from a positive reputation are becoming more sophisticated.
“More and more [companies] are finding that the way in which the outside world expects a company to behave and perform can be its most important asset. Indeed, a company’s reputation for being able to deliver growth, attract top talent, and avoid ethical mishaps can account for much of the 30%-to-70% gap between the book value of most companies and their market capitalizations. Reputation is a big reason Johnson & Johnson (JNJ ) trades at a much higher price-earnings ratio than Pfizer (PFE ), Procter & Gamble (PG ) than Unilever (UN ), and Exxon Mobil (XOM ) than Royal Dutch Shell (RDS ). And while the value of a reputation is vastly less tangible than property, revenue, or cash, more experts are arguing it is possible not only to quantify it but even to predict how image changes in specific areas will harm or hurt the share price.”
Digital video viewing is increasing across all demographics with particular strength in the 13-31 year-old market.
According to online research provider Knowledge Networks, 56% of Gen Y internet users stream video on a weekly basis—twice as many as among boomers. Gen Y is also four times more likely to watch video via mobile than boomers.
Ironically, for all the hype about the larger flat screen LED screen TVs, the screen of choice is most probably the small screen of a tablet or mobile device.
A new woman is said to be revealing her story accusing Herman Cain of sexual harassment back in the 90s while both were at the National Restaurant Association.
This new mystery woman is being represented by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who is well-versed and experienced in media relations. The announcement is due out today in New York City.