Maurilio Amorim

Month: December 2012

How Men Should Wear a Scarf

After a few weeks in hiatus, the Fashion Friday post returns. With the weather turning cold, we turn our attention to one of the most basic, and yet, stylish pieces of winter wear: the scarf. Most of our winter garb is primarily black or dark. A colorful scarf can add style and personality to your winter clothing without breaking the bank. Most scarves are unisex, so look around your wife’s closet, you might even find something that you could pair up with an existing coat for free.

Brad Pitt sports a formal tied scarf

Tom Brady and Usher wearing the casual knot

Robert Downey Jr spices it up with a Matthew Williamson butterfly scarf

Just in case you don’t believe you can be cool and wear a scarf

So how do you wear your scarf? Here are a few of the most popular styles:

Basic

Seen on: Everyone from prep schoolers to snowmen.

How to: Like tying your shoe—over, under, and pull.

Formal

Seen on: Guys in suits, Obama … and the English.

How to: Drape around neck, tuck into sides of jacket and cross ends under your jacket’s buttons.

Slip

Seen on: Regulars on the Sartorialist … and Italians.

How to: Bring ends of scarf together, wrap around neck, and pull ends through the loop.

Loose Loop

Seen on: LA hipsters and those not in need of real warmth.

How to: Loop once (or twice) around neck, leaving the ends hanging at your sides.

Bird’s Nest

Seen on: People trying to avoid hypothermia.

How to: Take every inch of that scarf and wrap it around any exposed skin.

Do you wear scarves? What’s your preferred style?

December 14, 2012
Your Brand Promise and Your Least Paid Employee

The larger an organization grows, the more its brand message and promise gets delivered by their lowest paid employee: the front liner.

Whether your business is retail, food services, theme parks, or a church, those first interactions with a customer usually happen with the lowest paid person in that organization. These are part-time sales people, wait staff, hourly workers and in the case of churches, not-for-profits, and ministries, those positions are volunteers who give of their own time to serve. The challenge here is to create a effective system to screen, train, and measure the effectiveness of the front line team.

Disney Parks figured that out a long time ago and has created an effective way to make sure that each “cast” member understands the importance they have as spokespeople for the Disney brand. Chick-Fil-A is another organization that hires and trains their front line employees to carry the company’s brand promise. Unfortunately, most all other fast food restaurants have not yet figured out how to do that and the discrepancy in experience is quite stark.

Next time you think of your most basic hires, think of the real impact they will have in the eyes of your customer and potential customer. This implication might change your hiring and recruiting practices. It has mine.

What’s your experience with organizations that get the importance of their front line workers and those that don’t?

December 10, 2012
Getting Your Way: The Art of Negotiating.

Life is a series of negotiations. We negotiate our way through traffic, we negotiate with family, with our boss, with a car salesman, and with our clients. Some of us are better at it than others. But whether it comes naturally and easy or whether negotiating is hard work, your negotiating skills are on the line every day. In the art of the deal, proper communication is critical. Here are a few things to consider next time you want to get your way.

Know your non-negotiables. Some things in life, such as your morals and convictions, should never be up for discussion, and they ought to be truly deal breakers. If you don’t know what they are, you’ll always find your life in the midst of a mess. Figure out your non-negotiables before your life becomes unmanageable.

Know what you want. I’ve seen people try to negotiate without knowing what they want out of the deal. To me that’s like my children arguing with their parents for the sake of arguing. Much like them, you are bound to be sent back to your room empty handed.

Know what you’re willing to give up. A successful negotiation is a give-and-take situation. Even if you get everything you want and never give up anything, the other party is often resentful. Decide what you’re willing to give up. Give the person on the other side of the table a chance to feel good about the outcome, even if what you give up is trivial or meaningless to you.

Know how to say no with grace. There’s never a reason to be rude. You can be firm in your stance and still smile and be gracious. While you can’t control anyone else’s behavior, you certainly should keep yours in check. I’ve never heard anyone say: “I should have lost my temper in that meeting.”

What else would you add to this list?

December 5, 2012
Rethinking Regifting

Regifting is considered to be the lowest form of gift giving. After all it is passing along something that didn’t cost you anything and that you don’t particularly like. It’s less like “paying it forward” and more like “dropping it backwards.” However, I would like to offer another perspective. I would like for us to think of regifting as a very positive thing.

If we take the position that every good gift comes from God, meaning all we are and possess, then the act of giving to others becomes a true re-gift. Think about it. My children will “buy” gifts for some of their love ones this Christmas. But neither of them has jobs, and whatever money they have is itself a gift from others, mainly their hard-working parents.

We give because we have been given. We are able to bless because we have been blessed. We are able to love, because God first loved us.

This Christmas think about re-gifting, but not the things you don’t like, but re-gifting the abundant blessings you have received. Remember that anything you give away– your time, your resources, your love–is something that has been given to you in the first place.

What’s your most memorable Christmas gift?

December 2, 2012