If your business is looking to gain any edge it can, one surefire way to stifle progress is for your representatives to give lackluster presentations. Carmine Gallo of BusinessWeek recently took a sarcastic look at "How to Give a Lousy Presentation." Here are the steps that are sure to get folks talking about you in a less than flattering manner, and you can read the full article for expanded explanations:

1. Misspell words
2. Create distracting color combinations
3. Use inconsistent fonts
4. Use a really small font size
5. Insert improperly sized photos that are stretched to fit the slide
6. Look completely and totally disinterested
7. Look disheveled
8. Ready every word of a slide
9. Don’t bother with a backup plan
10. Don’t practice
11. Call attention to your mistakes
12. Open with an aggressive or off-color joke
13. Use wild animations
14. Use cartoon clip art
15. Use ancient presentation software

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) offered this advice to Democrats in a Wall Street Journal column today:

Last month the Office of Management and Budget predicted that the national debt will increase by $9 trillion over the next decade—$2 trillion more than forecast just four months earlier. Government net interest payments exceed $1 trillion in 2019, up from $382 billion this year. Because projected deficits exceed projected economic growth, the gap will be self-perpetuating.

The consequences of all this will not be benign. A world saturated with U.S. currency will eventually look elsewhere to invest, causing the dollar’s value to drop; foreign creditors, their confidence shaken by our fiscal profligacy, will demand higher payments to keep holding our debt. The net effect will be "stagflation," that pernicious combination of slower growth, higher inflation and interest rates, and lower living standards Americans suffered through in the 1970s.

These events will diminish our global influence, because fiscal strength is essential to diplomatic leverage, military might and national significance. No great nation can rely upon the generosity of strangers or the forbearance of potential adversaries to meet its security needs. America is doing both. China uses its monetary reserves to curry favor in developing countries once in the U.S. sphere of influence; we must borrow to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Worst of all is the legacy we will leave. From the "Greatest Generation" we inherited an America that is the strongest, most affluent, freest nation on earth. On our present course, our children will not. We violate a fundamental part of our national character by taking from our children to satisfy our desires today.

Congress’s initial reaction to our fiscal peril has not been encouraging. The $410 billion omnibus spending bill passed in March increased domestic discretionary spending by 8% and included more than 8,000 earmarks. This year’s budget contemplates domestic discretionary increases of nearly 9%, three times the rate of inflation. If the past is any guide, it will include thousands of new earmarks.

Any serious effort to control the deficit must begin with spending restraint. Efficiency and frugality, common virtues in the private sector, must be incorporated into government. Congress should enact health-care reform that actually lowers the deficit. For the next fiscal year, assuming the economy has gathered sufficient momentum, we should freeze domestic discretionary spending, limit increases in defense spending to the rate of inflation, forgo pay raises for federal workers, and institute a federal hiring freeze.

These steps alone won’t put our fiscal house in order; more difficult action is needed. But by showing common cause with middle-class families facing their own budget crises, we can send an important signal that Washington has the will to chart a more responsible course.

Writing for BizVoice magazine has afforded me many eye-opening experiences. Case in point: While interviewing an interesting new company, Road Rage Fun Signs, I also met with Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana (an Indiana Chamber member, btw). Goodwill is working as a partner on the production of these signs, which are geared toward making roads safer by allowing drivers to notify each other about upcoming hazards.

Now, if you’re like me, you’ve always had a very positive impression of Goodwill, but only thought of them as a place to donate clothing, nightstands, and maybe even some Christmas-related "re-giftables" (my apologies to society). But as it turns out, many Goodwill locations across the country provide more than just a chance for material objects to get a new lease on life. The company’s commercial services division also provides American workers with a chance to work and/or enhance their skillsets before entering or re-entering the workforce. This portion of the business provides outsourcing for other companies to aid their production and assembly needs, while allowing Goodwill’s employees to grow and learn to be economically self-sufficient.

"Ninety percent (of customer services division) employees have some type of barrier to employment," explained Goodwill Marketing VP Cindy Graham, noting that they may have physical or mental disabilities, or prior convictions. "Some learn skills and move on to other organizations, but we also have some people who have worked here for 30 years."

Dean Graham, CEO of Road Rage Fun Signs (and no relation to Cindy), explained working with Goodwill has been a blessing.

"I’m really impressed by their work," he said. "One key goal with our business is that we want to work with companies that lend a hand up. What better company for that than Goodwill?"

Look for the article about Road Rage Fun Signs in the November/December edition of BizVoice, and we also covered Goodwill’s adult services efforts in the March/April 2007 edition.

Though he’ll likely be most remembered in Indiana for being the person who fired Bob Knight, Myles Brand’s legacy in regard to collegiate academia and athletics marked his greatest impact. Brand’s connection to young people and their future careers was demonstrated through his Indiana Chamber board of directors position while at both Indiana University and the NCAA.

I was a student at Indiana University during the Knight firing. Even though his decision was extremely unpopular at the time (illustrated by the alarming vitriol of some on campus), I’ve since held great respect for Brand for doing what I too felt to be the right thing. Brand died Wednesday from pancreatic cancer at the age of 67, and is remembered by the NCAA News.

NCAA President Myles Brand, the first university president to serve as the Association’s chief executive, died Wednesday from pancreatic cancer. He was 67.

"Myles Brand was a dear friend and a great academic leader. He was a tireless advocate for the student-athlete," said Michael Adams, president of the University of Georgia and chair of the NCAA Executive Committee. "Indeed, he worked to ensure that the student was first in the student-athlete model. He will be greatly missed."

Brand, who began his tenure in January 2003 after having served as president at Indiana and Oregon, died at his Indianapolis home. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2008 and announced his condition to the NCAA Executive Committee, the national office staff and the leadership at NCAA member schools in January, saying the long-term prognosis for his condition was "not good."

Brand remained committed to leading the Association even through his illness, guiding the national office staff and communicating with presidential leadership up until the final days. He attended the Men’s Final Four in Detroit, was at the table for the Association’s spring governance meetings and worked at his office into September.

Brand built his presidency on academic reform and advocacy of intercollegiate athletics, accomplishing both. Under Brand’s leadership, Division I adopted an academic reform structure anchored by the Academic Progress Rate, a team-based, term-by-term measure of academic success that encourages improved academic performance. Divisions II and III also made significant advances under Brand’s watch — Division II by implementing an identity campaign and a strategic-positioning platform tied to specific divisional attributes, and Division III by fortifying its philosophy to manage unprecedented membership growth. Read the rest of this entry »

While the Indiana Chamber is proud to represent the business community of the entire state, our physical home is in downtown Indianapolis. Because of this, we fondly remember Mel Simon, whose contributions to Central Indiana will be difficult to equal. Simon passed away at the age of 82 Wednesday. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard offered these words:

The City of Indianapolis today lost a true partner and friend with the death of Mel Simon. Mel and the entire Simon family have done great work in strengthening our local economy and improving our downtown district. Mel will be truly missed and forever remembered for his many contributions to this city and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this time."

Inside INdiana Business has the release from the Simon Property Group:

Melvin Simon, shopping center industry pioneer and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Simon Property Group, has died at the age of 82 after a short illness.

A native of the Bronx, New York, Mr. Simon attended the Bronx High School of Science and the City College of New York, where he earned a B.S. degree in accounting, and an M.B.A. with emphasis on real estate. He came to Indiana in 1954 while serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis.

Upon his discharge from the Army, Mr. Simon worked as a leasing representative with the Albert Frankel Company, an Indianapolis developer of community shopping centers. In 1960, sensing the vast potential in this industry, Mr. Simon, joined by his brothers Herbert and Fred, created Melvin Simon & Associates, who quickly became known for their willingness to do business on a handshake. Read the rest of this entry »

Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, was widely criticized by financial professionals and journalists for predicting a global financial crisis more than two years ago. Byrne, a native of Fort Wayne who received his education from Cambridge and Stanford, warned of a market meltdown perpetrated by cheap credit and writing checks on the bank accounts of future generations. The man who took Overstock.com from a half-million dollars in annual revenue to nearly $1 billion annually, takes little pleasure in accurately predicting our current economic situation but continues to advocate for what he feels are positive reforms – specifically to the controversial practice of short selling stocks.

Byrne will appear at the Economic Club of Indiana luncheon in Indianapolis on November 5. Get your tickets today.

How do you define a small business? The federal government has varying definitions, the most common being 100 or 500 employees, based on the program or agency. Others will attach different numbers, depending on their industry or motivation. At the Indiana Chamber, 250 or fewer is the magic number for nominees for the annual Small Business of the Year award.

But it’s not the employee count that is critical. It’s what those workers and the management of the organization do that makes a difference. It’s company performance, committment to those employees and community involvement that are among the factors judged.

The two most recent winners are highly successful AIT Laboratories (which has zoomed out of the small business category with its continued growth and expansion) and POLARIS Laboratories (both recognized on the inaugural Indiana Companies to Watch list and their chief executives part of a BizVoice roundtable conversation in the current issue on entrepreneurs and leadership).  

There are many outstanding small business stories out there. Nominate your organization, recommend it to someone else — just get involved. The details are on this nomination form. The deadline to apply is September 30. The award will be presented November 10 at the Indiana Convention Center as part of the Chamber’s annual membership meeting awards luncheon.