A frequent mistake that leaders, and managers of all kinds (including affiliate program managers), commit is failing to admit mistakes. It is a very destructive path to follow. The main reason being that it compromises your integrity, which is, actually, the most important characteristic for any leader.

Addressing this problem in January 2010 at Affiliate Summit West (Las Vegas, NV), I emphasized:

…it really boils down to the problem of integrity and honesty with your affiliates. Very frequently merchants think that admitting a mistake means admitting that they are a failure. It’s quite the contrary: if you don’t admit a mistake, and don’t address it, that‘s when you are a failure.

Decades of leadership research have proven that the most admired characteristic of any leader is honesty.

Here’s the part of my above-quoted session where I addressed this topic:

Years ago when I first heard the phrase “it’s ain’t weak to be meek” it struck me how true these words are… Very similarly, it takes a lot of courage and strength to stick to the path of honesty and integrity. The weak ones, actually, follow an alternative route.

Each year since 1992 on the third Monday of January the United States celebrate Martin Luther King Day, commemorating the life and work of the nation’s legend and inspiration.

In honor of this great man of faith and vision, I’d like to devote my today’s blog post to his quotes that encourage me personally as an entrepreneur and leader. Here they are (in no particular order for who am I to rank them?)

1. “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
2. “Faith is taking the first step … even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
3. “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal …requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
4. “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.”
5. “The time is always right to do what is right”
6. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
7. “I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
8. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
9. “Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”
10. “Our lives begin to end the day we decide to become silent about things that matter.”
11. “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”
12. “If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values — that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.”
13. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
14. “We must use time creatively.”
15. “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”
16. “The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”
17. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
18. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
19. “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”
20. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

If I’ve missed your personal favorite — especially if it can be applied in entrepreneurship or leadership — please do post it below, using the “Comments” area.

Yesterday we’ve lost an American genius, an inspiration to so many of us (especially in the computer- and business-related worlds)… the great Steve Jobs.

And today — while there’s no lack of blog posts [hundreds of millions have already been posted!] and articles on who he was and what impact he has made — I cannot remain silent either. A video comes to mind — a recording of his 2005 Stanford University commencement address. One of the stories Steve Jobs told there was a story “about love and loss”, and it was the story that really hit home for me. He said:

Sometimes life’s gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t loose faith.

I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is gonna fill a large part of your life. And the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.

I can identify with this 100%, and so, I’m sure, can thousands of other business people, self-motivated affiliate marketers, and other risk-takers who have tasted success in life.

You may watch the full Jobs’ speech below:

Rest in peace, leader. You’ve shined your light so bright that it will, undoubtedly, keep lighting the way for us many decades past your departure. Thank you for setting an amazing example. Rest in peace…

I believe this is the first year they’re running these, and here’s how the official website describes the awards:

“Small Business Influencer 2011″ produced by Small Business Trends and Small Biz Technology and brought to you by Blackberry. Small Business Influencer 2011 honors companies, organizations and people who have made a significant impact on the North American small business market. In phase I, you nominate influencers. In Phases 2 and 3, you and an all-star judging panel will vote for the top 100. It all culminates with honoring the Top 100 Small Business Influencers in mid-August 2011, with an awards dinner to follow on September 13, 2011.

…Once the community has voted, the all-star small-business judging panel will cast their votes. The community vote counts for 40% and the Judges’ vote counts for 60%. The top 100 will be announced in mid-August 2011.

While I personally am not a fan of the word “guru”, I’m honored to be among the nominees, and would highly appreciate your support if you have a moment to cast a vote for me.

Many thanks in advance for your support.

With the Winter Olympics 2010 going on, and the first ice hockey match involving the Russian team (the 2008 and 2009 world champions!) coming up in just two days, I was happy to find out that one of the Russian channels I have here in the U.S. was going to have a biographical documentary on Vyacheslav “Slava” Bykov.

Bykov is currently the head coach of the Russian team, and he is already a true legend of both Soviet and Russian ice hockey. I myself know very little about ice hockey (I’m a European football fan), but am trying to watch every game the national team of Russia plays. So, it was great to catch this film on TV today.

With “Slava” Bykov, one thing especially hit the nail on the head for me — his style of coaching. Apparently, upon returning to Russia from Switzerland (where he first played, and then coached Fribourg-Gottéron) — when he was invited to coach CSKA Moscow — he stood out in his very different approach to team players. In contrast with the widely accepted dictatorial style of Soviet school coaches, he practiced an approach based on mutual respect between the coach and team players. Later on, when he headed up the national team of Russia, it was his approach that worked best. The reason for this being that when Russian players were returning from their NHL teams to play on the national team, Russian coaches simply did not know how to communicate with them. After being exposed to a very different approach in the West, these hockey players would not respond to dictatorship and tyranny in coaching.

The above illustrates a very important point. Coach Bykov is a true leader. He understands that while some players do benefit from the yelling and harsher style, many do not. The key to the hearts of most is in practicing respect, building a mutual respect as a result.

In affiliate program management (which many still mistakenly believe to be a task of “affiliate management”), it is precisely the same way — the managers that practice sensitive coaching and mutual respect are the ones that achieve more. Affiliates respect them in return, and want to do more for them.

All the best to the Russian hockey team during the Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver, and best of luck to every affiliate program manager that reads this post!

Many people come to my blog searching for “free affiliate tracking software”. There are a number of free (and inexpensive) scripts that merchants can install on their server to start an affiliate program. Here’s just a brief list:

• Affiliate Program Script
• Cosmic AffiliateClick
• SimpleAffiliate
• TigerTom’s Affiliate Program Software
• TWSC Affiliate Lite

Additionally, some shopping carts offer free affiliate program plug-ins. See a list in the second half of this post of mine.

Finally, there is also a number of affiliate and CPA networks that charge merchants no setup fee for joining them. These are:

• Click2Sell
• clixGalore
• CyberBounty.com
• DirectAssociate
• e-Affiliatez.com (looks almost identical to DirectAssociate)
• Paydot.com
• Profitistic

I would caution affiliate program managers and merchants from using anything that is marketed as a free product. I personally have never tried any of the above (so, in no way does this post constitute any kind of endorsement), and one of my favourite sayings — which comes from Benjamin Franklin — goes like this: “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” No, don’t take this as any kind of conclusion. Just be cautious, and do a thorough due diligence prior to starting using any of the free affiliate tracking solutions.

Discussing the future of philanthropy, Seth Godin has said that for a proper understanding of the subject, it is important to realize “there isn’t just one reason why people are doing something”. He used an example of Starbucks vs Dunkin’ Donuts, where in case with the former people go to the coffee shop not just to get the caffeine they can get at home for much cheaper, but they do so for a whole number reasons (main one, of course, being a whole different experience of coffee-drinking than you have at home) “that don’t match” what the competitor “sets out to do for people”.

Godin’s statement goes hand in hand with what Fyodor Dostoyevsky pointed out over a century before the above-quote interview. Dostoyevsky wrote that “man never acts from a single motive” (italics mine).

There is a common misconception among affiliate program managers that the main need that affiliates have is the need for money. Such thinking leads to a one-sided approach to motivating affiliates (though cash bonuses, tiered commission increases, gifts, and other cash-based motivators). It is true of every individual — we do need money to buy food and provide for a comfortable living of our family — but it is a generalization that makes us forget that people also have other needs (e.g.: need for self-relization, job satisfaction, need to feel secure, to compete, to have a status, etc.) These needs become our drives and motives, and it is essential for affiliate program managers (and other types of managers too!) to understand that only a complex approach to every individual’s needs will result in a truly motivating approach. Very few people get motivated by cash only.

The August 2009 issue of the FeedFront Magazine, one that is also going to be distributed at the upcoming Affiliate Summit East in NYC (where I’m speaking), is already out, and available in its entirety at Scribd.com. I have an article in this issue too. It is entitled “4 Characteristics of Successful Affiliate Program Managers” and you may find it on page 61 by following the above-quoted link.

In this article I quote some interesting data based on two decades of leadership research by such well-known theorists of leadership as James Kouzes and Berry Posner. As it is obvious from the title of it, the focus of the article is on the characteristics that shape an effective affiliate program manager. The most important of the top 4 characteristics is honesty. Here’s an excerpt from that article:

… it is honesty that is the greatest and the most valued [by people surveyed across the globe in the course of twenty years!] characteristic.

No matter whether it is a military leader, a president of a country, a CEO of a corporation, or an affiliate program manager, people want to be confident in their leaders; and confidence is always dependent on the leader’s integrity. Most frequently integrity gets challenged when an affiliate program manager commits a mistake. We need to remember that it is okay to commit mistakes. It is how we deal with them that shows who we really are.

You may read the whole article here, and if you’re not receiving this magazine in the mail yet, I certainly encourage you to subscribe to FeedFront, which is distributed free of charge (within the USA). Every issue of this magazine is packed with useful information for marketers working across the affiliate marketing spectrum: from affiliates to affiliate program managers, from merchants to employees of affiliate networks.

Having read through one of Harvard Business Publishing’s management tips of the day, I have decided to elaborate on the same topic but in a more narrow context — that of affiliate program management.

Are you managing your affiliate program(s) staying continuously motivated and happy? Here are my 3 tips on how to be a happier affiliate program manager:

1. Lead instead of managing. I always talk about the impossibility of managing affiliates [see this post and this comment, for example]. Don’t even try to! Be a leader. Sensitive to the affiliates’ needs, flexible to change yourself, and always approachable.
2. Put together a contest. Make marketing fun for your affiliates, and it’ll become fun for you too. To differentiate contests from trivia (which are also good, but not directly tied to your practice of affiliate program management), I divide productive contests into two groups (i) those helping affiliates market better (performance-based contests, guess-the-product in another affiliate’s order, etc), and (ii) those helping you get to know your affiliates better (any photo, hobbies or similar contest).
3. Start developing relationships. Chances are that you are not happy, because you’re missing out on one of the most important parts of the equation — individual relationships with affiliates. Unlike in traditional management contexts where leaders are appointed, in affiliate program management context much is based on personal relationships, genuine care, and emergent leadership.

Wishing everyone a great weekend, and happier work from now on, as well!

I’ve blogged about the differences between leaders and managers. I have also written about transformational leadership, and how it can be applied in the context of affiliate marketing. But today I have found an interesting diagram that shows how and when management, leadership, and transformational leadership can overlap (in traditional business environments). Here it is:

It is somewhat simplistic, but it’s in sync with everything that I have read, and written so far:

Management is about the mind. It is the manager’s job to stay focused on the task and goals, to set action plans, thereby helping followers deal with complexity.

Leadership, on the other hand, is more about the heart, or staying focused on the people and their individual characteristics, creating a shared vision that helps followers to participate in a change process.

Finally, transformational leadership is about breaking down resistance to change. This is done both through “assigning meaning to change” and through the change within the leader (him)/(her)self.