Business

This is an interesting study, but the authors of this study write quite a bit about how the experiment could be improved upon. I wonder as well how much of the Affect Grid especially was influenced by the fairly common knowledge of the effects of lavender and peppermint.

The “trust game” used in the experiment is also known as the game made up to help demonstrate Game Theory created by John von Neumann. Business students like myself are taught this game generally within the realm of economics to the end that rational people will try to optimize their benefit, and to teach the Nash equilibrium, which is when everyone involved in a situation is making a decision that takes into account everyone else’s choices, and an individual cannot stand to benefit from changing their strategy.

Sometimes, when the game is set up so that being unified in every decision results in the highest reward, a sort of positive Nash equilibrium that wasn’t really demonstrated in Game Theory’s conception which indicated unity as a neutral state, it’s used to teach business students not to step on each other on the path to success. That working together instead of indulging our innate competitiveness, we stand to have win-win situations instead of win-lose.

Perhaps the next time I need to negotiate for something, I should put some of Caldey’s Island Lavender on and the game will swing in my favor, or maybe it will just make me the sucker, and I’ll end up risking too much as a result of my own inclusive state of mind.

Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work

Posted on January 17, 2015 by elemonated

Happy 200th post!

❤

Wix Breakfast: Brand Personality!

Posted on January 14, 2015 by elemonated

Actually called: Wix Breakfast: Life Attracts Life- Give Your Brand a Personality Boost!

School’s getting closer, so I decided to retrain myself for it by going to bed ridiculously late and waking up ridiculously early for a lecture! Yay! I found it on Eventbrite while browsing and took a chance.

And I’m really glad I did. It was a really interesting seminar, a little on the short side, full of little tips I would have never thought of, like how important emotional touchstones, big and small (“anything from a big brand experience to a tweet”), are to a customer base. There are tons of examples of these connections with consumers that I can think of. Some smaller gestures include Xbox’s (T, F) and T-Mobile’s (T, F) avid usage of their twitter handles and Facebook support apps to annual events like Krispy Kreme’s Day of the Dozens, Talk Like a Pirate, and National Doughnut Days. Everyone remembers larger political gestures like Oreo’s support for gay pride, to well-established, company-wide policies like Starbucks’ C.A.F.E Practices (they work with Conservation International to keep the farming sustainable) and TOMS Shoes policy of donating a pair of shoes for every pair purchased. All of them work to improve the perception of the brand and endear its consumers to it, while actually decreasing a little of the bad in the world at the same time. And of course, little gestures like that are key for small business owners to create their own communities; Milk Sugar Love’s content on their Facebook page regularly attempts to engage users with questions and relatable expressions.

Musical plagiarism, misuse, and KPop

Posted on January 7, 2015 by elemonated

http://www.businessinsider.com/korean-singer-yoon-mi-rae-suing-sony-for-using-her-music-in-the-interview-2014-12

Basically, Tasha (legally, Yoonmirae, but I know her as the stage name Tasha and I like it), an old-school KPop/KRap star from the US is suing Sony for the use of her song “Payday” in The Interview. “Payday” is a great song, so I understand why they used it, and it makes sense in context when you read the lyrics. But, of course, the issue is that they didn’t get permission, and I’m pretty sure no SK star wants to be associated with something as belligerent to NK as The Interview. Especially if they don’t even technically have a stake in it, because Tasha is a quarter black, a quarter white, and from the US.

There have been a few weak responses surrounding this, including that she samples “a” Jackson5 song in “Payday”, and that Sony owns the rights to Jackson5 music, but I’m pretty sure, since no one I’ve read so far has been able to identify which song, it would fall under fair use because what’s sampled is too little to prosecute.

And anyway, music companies don’t even go after South Korean anymore because of the 2011 Korean Copyright Act, which opened up seemingly all copyrighted music to be used without the copyrighter’s permission. Whether or not this is only in-country (which I’m leaning towards) or not is unclear, though I’m sure it makes much harder for indie groups to succeed, which is unfortunate. This, of course, does not apply to Sony, because Sony is a Japanese company and the movie is a US movie; they still have to comply with international fair use laws and whatever they have in their system, and since the US is one of the only countries to fully recognize fair use, well.

With that in mind, there’s one more KPop-related scandal I wanted to touch upon. I’m not quite sure what the intention of the allegations are, since allegations against KPop stars don’t usually work out, and it can’t be publicity because taking on KPop fans is a bad idea (Mr. Bullock’s single is now rated 1 star on iTunes), but apparently YG is taking countermeasures against the allegations and it’s going to be fun to see a small guy take on one of the big three. It’s usually just Sony.

Empathy

Posted on December 29, 2014 by elemonated

http://www.livescience.com/17378-rats-show-empathy.html

“When the free rat opens the door, he knows exactly what he’s doing — he knows that the trapped rat is going to get free,” Mason said. “It’s deliberate, purposeful, helping behavior.”

Lean on You by lakteed

Old picture of mine!

Business is “competitive” and it’s cool to be “cutthroat” and you have to be “willing to be a bitch” to get what you want. It’s good to be “good at manipulation.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Look, I get it. We get told this so that we stand up for ourselves and be ambitious despite the vocal minority of incredibly irritating people, so that we know how to act around certain people, so that we work hard and grab fleeting opportunities, and so that we’re successful. Most of the advice that comes out of the people telling you the above catch-phrases are well-meaning and only want to make sure you don’t slack off because they want you to do well. That’s fine. But people have this weird “Tragedy of the Commons” sort of issue with the “business fields” when they’re young that really doesn’t seem to be based on reality. There’s a lot of opportunity for you and your peers, surprise! Some of which can be self-created if we feel up to it. It’s up to you to seize it, but very few people have gotten really far (I guess except in politics. Yay royalty and conquering.) by pulling down the people around them.

You can open the damn cage for the other guy before getting to the chocolate chips, aight?

Perfume Adventure NYC Part 1!

Posted on December 26, 2014 by elemonated

The other week I wanted a break from the onslaught of final presentations and final papers and finals in general, so I poked my boyfriend really hard and demanded we go do smelly things. Like go to New York and visit things on this map. Because he gets headaches pretty easily from perfumes and I wanted to take my time and talk to people in each of the places I went to, we divided the places they listed up by area of the city to visit on different days, and because I like lists and Racked offers a pinned map, I put it in an Excel sheet.

I think you can guess where we hit first. And we went to Papyrus to pick up my Reddit Gifts card exchange gift.

I had a great conversation with the Aedes De Venustas guy about jasmine perfumes and the history of one of his favorite brands, Acqua Colonia, and I got the names of a bunch of stuff I might buy later when I have money, plus a refresher on brands I had completely forgotten about (BYREDO and Eau D’Italie!) and I’m fairly determined to go back and prove myself a customer that was eventually worth the time he spent on me. Sorry man, I probably should have just told you up front I was there for research purposes that day, but I will get you that commission! I got a bunch of people to say they’ll check out the place for gifts and already went through part of the choosing process with them so I hope I already earned some of your time back. I’m sure you guys earn on sales, and I know how that feels.

We went took a detour to Radio Shack to clear the boy’s nose because someone had accidentally sprayed some Amouge near him and that ish is strong stuff, and then headed over to Jo Malone because I thought he would appreciate how simple the scents were in comparison. Again, awkward sales rep avoidance ensued until we took haven with the Art History grad student named Kate making Christmas ornaments for people who purchased over $150 in the store. I did grab a few samples I liked though, like the Wild Fig and Cassis and Earl Grey and Cucumber that I’ll review another time, along with notes on other things I liked. We made off with the samples and a secret ornament that Kate accidentally messed up and then handed my boyfriend to finish, hehe.

I had by this time completely forgotten what Enfleurage was, so I wasn’t prepared for an essential oils distillery, and I just kind of ended up a bundle of awkward in that little store. I’ll come back with questions, and perhaps earlier, as the guy behind the desk seemed to be pretty tired. We didn’t stay long because I couldn’t think of any questions to ask, unfortunately.

But after we left, I realized that we still had time to hit the last of the stops I wanted to hit, and my energy was renewed from getting to pet some puppies in sweaters being walked. I was able to speak and think again without an overcast of uncomfortable. At our last stop, By Kilian, I got to meet Kimberly Waters of the reminiscent30 blog and Modern Urban Sensory Experiences, and we had a whole discussion on careers involving scents and the By Kilian brand, which was a lot of fun and pretty enlightening for my amateur mind, and it made me feel like I could do something I enjoy, for a living. She reminded me that, contrary to my belief, I was not running out of time. I guess I’ll just keep writing. Reviews for Imperial Tea and Love and Tears, Surrender coming soon!

Things about scents

Posted on November 17, 2014 by elemonated

Mockingbird by C-91

I learned today from an executive from Marriott that Marriott owns Bvlgari. I didn’t know that before today, and I’m still kind of getting used to the information. I don’t know why it’s so weird to me. But it kind of makes me want to stay in a Marriott hotel more, because their tea fragrances are some of my favorites, so I guess +1 to Marriott. (Also, their international digital marketing strategies are amazing. I knew China was a mobile-focused country, but I didn’t know about the constant-scroll preference. I also had no idea Germany doesn’t like scrolling. I really want to work with Marriott now, and I’ve never really given the company a serious thought.)

Also, Westin’s White Tea scent is really nice. When I get a place, I’m thinking I’ll buy the diffuser. It’s just very gentle and IMO, encourages focus. The last time I went to a Westin was for a focus group/consumer good study dealing with pillows and sheets, and I didn’t fall asleep.

Toxic relationships

Posted on November 3, 2014 by elemonated

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-signs-youre-in-a-toxic-relationship/

This post is not about friends, families, or significant others.

This post is about work dynamics, and in a roundabout, rather passive aggressive way I guess, about how I’ve been feeling for a few months now, and the situations I’ve needed to change. Situations that I personally need to handle better. Situations that I really just have to avoid. Some of the points certainly apply to me, and how I react to certain situations. I am fighting a lot of unhealthy behavior in my life, and I don’t always win and this damages my relationships with others across the board. I try to acknowledge this as much as possible, but I’m kind of at the point where it’s not a 100% hit rate. Anyway.

I’m going to take the Tiny Buddha points and rewrite them to describe how they may apply to a work setting.

1. It seems like you can’t do anything right.

Your efforts are constantly brushed off, mocked, or otherwise not taken seriously. Suggestions you make don’t count in the context of the group, and you are regularly being criticized without given adequate constructive material to improve.

2. Everything is about them and never about you.

The goals are the only things that matter, and your needs and desires are not taken into consideration at any point for any reason. Any expression of discomfort or misgivings is met with accusations of bad attitude or undesirable qualities. At times, you may be talked over.

Daybreaker Party Halloween!

Posted on October 30, 2014 by elemonated

http://daybreakernyc.splashthat.com/

DSC_0988[1]

Today I said good bye to sleep and hello to…morning?

That’s right. I left at 5AM for a 6AM party on a boat in New York City filled with EDM music, costumes, juices, coconut water, tea, coffee, and KIND bars. And it was brilliant. There was a newscast from Univision talking to Spanish-speaking guests. CBC 2 was there, I think, and some other news channels as well.

The sunrise was gorgeous, and the boat took us past lower Manhattan to near the Statue of Liberty. There was a helicopter taking air shots and showing off above, and the sun gave everything this rich glow that I haven’t seen in months of sleeping in. All of the food provided was decidedly healthy; veggie juices, juices with chia seeds, Runa drinks, Chameleon Coldbrew, protein shakes, coconut water, and AMAzon coconut water/tea drinks (I linked the brands I remembered!) The only solid food I could find were the KIND bars, which was considered pretty healthy as well. I think they were helping sponsor, or had an ad spot because they weren’t just set on a table with everything else, and someone was physically handing them out.