Management

Health Records - Watch Out!

2011-08-02T18:43:00.000-04:00

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I learned a hard lesson today and will pass on my unfortunate experience to you for your consideration.

I had a detailed vision examination years back and assumed that the medical provider kept a copy... especially in the case of an emergency (i.e., injury, accident or destruction of eye ware while traveling, etc.)

Health care providers do keep a copy... for a time.

I've been lucky over the years in that my vision has been good, and I haven't needed a change of prescription.

During my last physical examination, my general primary health care provider suggested that, even so, it might be a good idea to get a routine vision checkup.

In my case, absolutely unknown to me, at some time during the intervening years, my vision provider destroyed my records, including all details about the detailed examination provided to me. All that information (test results, etc.) lost forever!

Now, it is just like I was born yesterday! Absolutely no information available to the next vision specialist who will examine me.

What a waste!

I have learned my lesson.

The next time you have any sort of health care procedure performed, ask the provider to give you a physical copy of your record. Keep it in a safe place, and do not assume that the provider will maintain your records, certainly not for any substantial length of time.

I wish that I had done this.

Lesson learned!

Google Project Oxygen

2011-03-20T12:13:00.000-04:00

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I'm often amazed when I find some large enterprise that spends tons of money and time to produce the glaringly obvious!

Take Google, for example. Apparently, managers there felt that that they were so special and different from ordinary mortal men and women that they spent a considerable amount of time and money investigating why good Google managers were good, and why bad Google managers were bad. Being different (at least in their own minds), they produced a list.

The project, called Google Project Oxygen, was written up in today's New York Times.

Here is the list... you be the judge. The ideas aren't bad at all, but would you spend a ton of time and money to produce them?

-----------------------------

Here’s the full list (in order of decreasing importance):

1. Be a good coach.

2. Empower your team and don’t micromanage.

3. Express interest in team members’ success and personal well-being.

4. Don’t be a sissy: Be productive and results-oriented.

5. Be a good communicator.

6. Help your employees with career development.

7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team.

8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team.

Here are the three pitfalls of managers:

1. Have trouble making a transition to the team.

2. Lack a consistent approach to performance management and career development.

3. Spend too little time managing and communicating.

College Not Worth Cost

2009-09-11T17:27:00.001-04:00

Local TV station investigates...

See:

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/1085384

Executive Pay Continues Skyward...

2009-09-03T15:40:00.001-04:00

The "shareholders" mentioned here are really executives at financial firms, like mutual funds, etc.

It would appear that they are uninterested in restraining excessive pay for themselves and for others...

From the Wall Street Journal...

Shareholders this year approved executive-pay packages at every public company that received funds from the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program and disclosed the results of the vote, according to a recent analysis.

The findings call into question the value of such "say-on-pay" resolutions, says David Wilson, a securities lawyer and author of the study. They come as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote this fall on a bill that would give shareholders of all public companies advisory votes on executive compensation, following the passage of a similar measure by the House of Representatives in July.

Cordless Electric

2009-09-02T09:23:00.001-04:00

(CNN) -- Electronics such as phones and laptops may start shedding their power cords within a year.

Wireless electricity may soon make tangled power cords a thing of the past.

That's the prediction of Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity, a company that's able to power light bulbs using wireless electricity that travels several feet from a power socket.

WiTricity's version of wireless electricity -- which converts power into a magnetic field and sends it sailing through the air at a particular frequency -- still needs to be refined a bit, he said, but should be commercially available soon.

Giler, whose company is a spinoff of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research group, says wireless electricity has the potential to cut the need for power cords and throw-away batteries.

"Five years for now, this will seem completely normal," he said.

"The biggest effect of wireless power is attacking that huge energy wasting that goes on where people buy disposable batteries," he said. Watch Giler demonstrate the idea

It also will make electric cars more attractive to consumers, he said, because they will be able to power up their vehicles simply by driving into a garage that's fitted with a wireless power mat.

Electric cars are "absolutely gorgeous," he added, "but does anyone really want to plug them in?"

Ideas about wireless electricity have been floating around the world of technology for more than a century. Nikola Tesla started toying with the ability to send electricity through the air in the 1890s. Since then, though, making wireless electricity technology safe and cheap enough to put on the market has been an arduous task for researchers.

Engineers have developed several ways to convert electricity into something that's safe to send through the air without a wire. Some of their technologies are available on commercial scales, but they have some limits.

Low-level power

One set of researchers is able to send power over long distances but in very small amounts.

For example, in 2003, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, company called Powercast used radio waves to light a low-power LED bulb that was 1.5 miles from its power source, said Harry Ostaffe, spokesman for the company.

Now, Powercast's technology is used in office buildings to power temperature sensors that regulate air conditioning systems and in other low-power applications. The company also has sold wireless artificial Christmas trees strung with LED lights for about $400, Ostaffe said.

But radio waves can't transfer the larger amounts of electricity needed to power laptops or mobile phones, he said.

Power pads

Another type of wireless electricity technology can send large amounts of power over very small distances, often not more than a few centimeters.

Such technology is available today, but only in minimal ways. Think, for instance, about electric toothbrushes that sit on charging cradles but don't actually plug in.

One problem with the high-power, small-distance idea is that each device requires its own charging pad, and consumers hate that, said Menno Treffers, chairman of the steering group at the Wireless Power Consortium. The group formed in late 2008 to promote standardization of the technology.

Treffers said consumers soon should be able to buy one power pad that would charge all of their electronic devices. It might look like a placemat, and cell phones, remote controls and appliances would charge automatically when they're placed on the pad.

"The key reason to do it is convenience, because if you want to get rid of all the different power supplies, there are other ways that are cheaper," he said.

The pads, which would rely on electrical sockets as their initial sources of power, also would be more energy efficient than plugging all of the devices into power sockets directly, he said. The pads would shut off automatically when a device has finished charging and are about 70 percent to 90 percent as efficient as transferring power through a wire, he said.

Wire-free chargers for a single item are relatively cheap: about $10 to build, he said. But it's unclear how much pads that could power a living room worth of equipment would cost, he said.

'Magnetically coupled resonance'

Ultimately, Giler's group from MIT wants to combine the best of both worlds: large amounts of power sent over long distances.

Their technology is called "magnetically coupled resonance," and it basically sends a magnetic field through the air at a specific frequency that an an enabled phone or TV can pick up and turn back into electricity. It works kind of like sound. Think about how an opera singer can break a wine glass if he sings at just the right frequency.

Adding the technology to cell phones, mp3 players and other devices should not increase their cost much, he said.

Despite Giler's optimism, there are some doubts about magnetically coupled resonance.

Treffers said there may be health risks associated with the magnetic fields created in the MIT process. Giler said the technology would produce magnetic fields that are "about the same density as the earth's magnetic field."

He said wireless electricity has many environmental benefits. Companies make about 40 billion disposable batteries each year, he said, and wireless electricity could do away with that.

The biggest barrier to the technology's adoption, he said, is that people just aren't familiar with the idea.

Be VERY Careful With Words!

2009-08-27T10:23:00.001-04:00

13. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

12. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux."

11. Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "Manure Stick."

10. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

9. Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

8. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read.

7. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

6. Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken," was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."

5. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

4. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).

3. The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are You Lactating?"

2. General Motors had a very famous fiasco in trying to market the Nova car in Central and South America. "No va" in Spanish means, "It Doesn't Go".

1. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the Wax Tadpole" or "Female Horse Stuffed with Wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokoukole", translating into "Happiness in the Mouth."

Bad Domain Names

2009-04-05

All of these are companies that didn't spend quite enough time considering how their online names might appear – and be misread…

Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is
www.whorepresents.com/
Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange Advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com/
Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net/
Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com/
There's the Italian Power Generator company,
www.powergenitalia.com/
And don't forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales,
www.molestationnursery.com/
If you're looking for IP computer software, there?s always
www.ipanywhere.com/
The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is
www.cummingfirst.com/
And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
www.speedofart.com/

PS. Some of these companies realized their mistake and had since changed their domain names.

R. D. Jones And His Sewing Machine

2009-03-22

The following is an ad from a real-life newspaper which appeared four days in a row – the last three hopelessly trying to correct the first day's mistake.

MONDAY:
For sale: R. D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Phone 948-0707 after 7 P.M.. and ask for Mrs. Kelly who lives with him cheap.

TUESDAY:
Notice: We regret having erred In R. D. Jones' ad yesterday. It should have read "One sewing machine for sale cheap. Phone 948-0707 and ask for Mrs. Kelly, who lives with him after 7 P.M."

WEDNESDAY:
Notice: R. D. Jones has informed us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of the error we made in the classified ad yesterday. The ad stands correct as follows: "For sale — R. D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 948-0707 after 7 P.M. and ask for Mrs. Kelly who loves with him."

THURSDAY:
Notice: I, R. D. Jones, have no sewing machine for sale. I intentionally broke it. Don't call 948-0707 as I have had the phone disconnected. I have not been carrying on with Mrs. Kelly. Until yesterday she was my housekeeper, but she has now quit.

In Order Of Stupidity…

2009-03-22

In case you needed further proof that the human race is doomed through stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods.

On a Sears hairdryer — Do not use while sleeping. (Darn, and that's the only time I have to work on my hair).

On a bag of Fritos — You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside. (the shoplifter special)?

On a bar of Dial soap — "Directions: Use like regular soap." (and that would be how???…..)

On some Swanson frozen dinners — "Serving suggestion: Defrost." (but, it's "just" a suggestion).

On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom) — "Do not turn upside down." (well…duh, a bit late, huh)!

On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding – "Product will be hot after heating." (…and you thought????….)

On packaging for a Rowenta iron — "Do not iron clothes on body." (but wouldn't this save me more time)?

On Boot's Children Cough Medicine — "Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication." (We could do a lot to reduce the rate of construction accidents if we could just get those 5-year-olds with head-colds off those forklifts.)

On Nytol Sleep Aid — "Warning: May cause drowsiness…" (and…I'm taking this because???….)

On most brands of Christmas lights — "For indoor or outdoor use only." (as opposed to…what)?

On a Japanese food processor — "Not to be used for the other use." (now, somebody out there, help me on this. I'm a bit curious.)

On Sainsbury's peanuts — "Warning: contains nuts." (talk about a news flash)

On an American Airlines packet of nuts — "Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts." (Step 3: maybe, uh…fly Delta?)

On a child's Superman costume — "Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly." (I don't blame the company. I blame the parents for this one.)

On a Swedish chainsaw — "Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals." (Oh my God…was there a lot of this happening somewhere?)

Funny Menu

2009-03-22

The following are items found overseas in which people have made inappropriate use of English words for various products, and bizarre menu items in restaurants.

Cold shredded children and sea blubber in spicy sauce – China

Indonesian Nazi Goreng – Hong Kong

Muscles Of Marines/Lobster Thermos – Cairo

French fried ships – Cairo

Garlic Coffee – Europe

Sole Bonne Femme (Fish Landlady style) – Europe

Boiled Frogfish – Europe

Sweat from the trolley – Europe

Dreaded veal cutlet with potatoes in cream – China

Rainbow Trout, Fillet Streak, Popotoes, Chocolate Mouse – Hong Kong

Roasted duck let loose – Poland

Beef rashers beaten up in the country peoples fashion – Poland

Fried friendship – Nepal

Strawberry crap – Japan

Pork with fresh garbage – Vietnam

Toes with butter and jam – Bali

French Creeps – L.A.

Fried fishermen – Japan

Teppan Yaki – Before Your Cooked Right Eyes – Japan

Pepelea's Meat Balls – Romania

Church Bulletin Humor

2009-03-22

The following announcements actually appeared in various church bulletins.

Don't let worry kill you — let the church help.

Thursday night – Potluck supper. Prayer and medication to follow.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

The rosebud on the alter this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.

This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.

Tuesday at 4:00 PM there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk will please come early.

Wednesday the ladies liturgy will meet. Mrs. Johnson will sing "Put me in my little bed" accompanied by the pastor.

Thursday at 5:00 PM there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be "Little Mothers" will meet with the Pastor in his study.

This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come foreward and lay an egg on the alter.

The service will close with "Little Drops of Water." One of the ladies will start quietly and the rest of the congregation will join in.

Next Sunday a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet will come foreward and do so.

The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind. They can be seen in the church basement Saturday.

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

start: 0000-00-00 end: 0000-00-00

Mulitasking

2009-08-24T19:26:00.001-04:00

WASHINGTON – The people who multitask the most are the ones who are worst at it. That's the surprising conclusion of researchers at Stanford University, who found multitaskers are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than people who do less multitasking.

"The huge finding is, the more media people use the worse they are at using any media. We were totally shocked," Clifford Nass, a professor at Stanford's communications department, said in a telephone interview.

The researchers studied 262 college undergraduates, dividing them into high and low multitasking groups and comparing such things as memory, ability to switch from one task to another and being able to focus on a task. Their findings are reported in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

When it came to such essential abilities, people who did a lot of multitasking didn't score as well as others, Nass said.

Still to be answered is why the folks who are worst at multitasking are the ones doing it the most.

It's sort of a chicken-or-egg question.

"Is multitasking causing them to be lousy at multitasking, or is their lousiness at multitasking causing them to be multitaskers?" Nass wondered. "Is it born or learned?"

In a society that seems to encourage more and more multitasking, the findings have social implications, Nass observed. Multitasking is already blamed for car crashes as several states restrict the use of cell phones while driving. Lawyers or advertisers can try to use irrelevant information to distract and refocus people to influence their decisions.

In the study, the researchers first had to figure out who are the heavy and light multitaskers. They gave the students a form listing a variety of media such as print, television, computer-based video, music, computer games, telephone voice or text, and so forth.

The students were asked, for each form of media, which other forms they used at the same time always, often, sometimes or never.

The result ranged from an average of about 1.5 media items at the low end to more than four among heavy multitaskers.

Then they tested the abilities of students in the various groups.

For example, ability to ignore irrelevant information was tested by showing them a group of red and blue rectangles, blanking them out, and then showing them again and asking if any of the red ones had moved.

The test required ignoring the blue rectangles. The researchers thought people who do a lot of multitasking would be better at it.

"But they're not. They're worse. They're much worse," said Nass. The high media multitaskers couldn't ignore the blue rectangles. "They couldn't ignore stuff that doesn't matter. They love stuff that doesn't matter," he said.

Perhaps the multitaskers can take in the information and organize it better? Nope.

"They are worse at that, too," Nass said.

"So then we thought, OK, maybe they have bigger memories. They don't. They were equal" with the low multitaskers, he added.

Finally, they tested ability to switch from one task to another by classifying a letter as a vowel or consonant, or a number as even or odd. The high multitaskers took longer to make the switch from one task to the other.

This particularly surprised the researchers, considering the need to switch from one thing to another in multitasking.

"They couldn't help thinking about the task they weren't doing," lead author Eyal Ophir said. "The high multitaskers are always drawing from all the information in front of them. They can't keep things separate in their minds."

The next step is to look into what multitaskers are good at and see if the difference between high and low multitaskers is one of "exploring" versus "exploiting" information.

"High multitaskers just love more and more information. Their greatest thrill is to get more," he said. On the other hand, "exploiters like to think about the information they already have."

The research was funded by Stanford Major Grant, Volkswagen Grant, Nissan Grant and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant.

Change CEO Pay!

2009-08-24T15:34:00.001-04:00

Bigger Bang for the Buck?

Investor G. Mason Morfit, chairman of the board compensation committee at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, offers these suggestions for shareholder-friendly pay packages:

* Make top managers buy lots of stock with their own money.
* Tie equity grants to total shareholder return.
* Be generous on the upside, but tough on the downside.
* Don't grant equity automatically every year.
* Don't backslide -- no bonuses if executives miss targets.
* Scrap 'entitlement' perks like car allowances and club dues

J. Michael Pearson paid plenty to become chief executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in 2008. He'll be paid plenty more if he succeeds.

Mr. Pearson's unusual pay package wins praise from compensation critics, who say it may offer a model for other public companies. Directors of the midsize drug maker required him to buy at least $3 million in stock, forgo routine annual equity grants and hold many shares for years before selling.

No single element is unique, but the combination is rare -- for a public company. G. Mason Morfit, chairman of Valeant's board compensation committee and main architect of the package, says he wanted to mimic executive-pay deals at businesses controlled by private-equity firms. Mr. Morfit is a partner of ValueAct Capital, an activist hedge fund whose 22% stake makes it Valeant's biggest stockholder.

Pay experts say the deal gives Mr. Pearson incentives to boost long-term value for investors. For example, the 49-year-old CEO only gets to keep certain restricted shares if Valeant's share price increases at least 15% a year through February 2011. Mr. Pearson can't sell most restricted shares or exercised stock options for two years after they vest.

"It goes a substantial distance toward addressing my concerns about executive-pay arrangements," says Lucian Bebchuk, a Harvard law professor and frequent pay critic.

"Many companies would benefit from imitating this or moving in this direction," adds Steven N. Kaplan, a University of Chicago business professor and pay researcher. "More pay for performance is a good thing."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125106931496352353.html

Hold-till-retirement requirements provide executives with counter-productive incentives to leave the firm in order to cash out accumulated options and shares and diversify risks. Perversely, the incentive to leave will be strongest for executives who have served successfully for a long time and whose accumulated options and shares will thus have an especially large value. Rather than supplying retention incentives, equity compensation with hold-till-retirement requirements would have the opposite effect.

A similar distortion arises under any arrangement tying the freedom to cash out to an event that is at least partly under an executive's control. Following the requirement adopted by Congress in February as part of the stimulus bill, Treasury's new regulations mandate that TARP recipients preclude executives from cashing out granted shares before TARP funds are repaid. To the extent that TARP recipients adopt the regulations' minimum restrictions on cashing out, executives would have incentives to return TARP funding even when they shouldn't be doing so.

To avoid the above problems, the period during which vested equity incentives may not be cashed out should be fixed. For example, when an executive's options or shares vest, one-fifth of them could become unblocked, and the executive would subsequently be free to cash them out, in each of the subsequent five years. Because the blocking period would be fixed, the executive's actions wouldn't be distorted by a desire to accelerate the cashing out of equity incentives. And as long as the executive is working for the firm and options and shares continue to vest, the executive would always have an incentive to care about the company's performance several years down the road.

The devil, as is often the case, is in the details. Well-designed blocking periods can do a great deal to curtail the perverse incentives that we have seen – and to provide executives with desirable incentives to enhance the long-term value of their firms and shareholders.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124516105628518981.html

Good Investments Start with the Brain

2009-08-24T11:02:00.001-04:00

AUGUST 23, 2009, 5:34 P.M. ET The Mistakes We Make—and Why We Make Them
How investors think often gets in the way of their results. Meir Statman looks into our heads and tells us what we're doing wrong.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204313604574326223160094150.html

Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society

2009-08-23T13:27:00.001-04:00

The Death Book for Veterans

Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society.

By JIM TOWEY

If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

http://www.ethics.va.gov/docs/policy/VHA_Handbook_1004-02_Advance_Care_Planning_20090702.pdf

Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

"Your Life, Your Choices" presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political "push poll." For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living."

The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to "shake the blues." There is a section which provocatively asks, "Have you ever heard anyone say, 'If I'm a vegetable, pull the plug'?" There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as "I can no longer contribute to my family's well being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and that the vet's situation "causes severe emotional burden for my family."

When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?

One can only imagine a soldier surviving the war in Iraq and returning without all of his limbs only to encounter a veteran's health-care system that seems intent on his surrender.

I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update "Your Life, Your Choices" between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as "Compassion and Choices").

This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients. America's 24 million veterans deserve better.

Many years ago I created an advance care planning document called "Five Wishes" that is today the most widely used living will in America, with 13 million copies in national circulation. Unlike the VA's document, this one does not contain the standard bias to withdraw or withhold medical care. It meets the legal requirements of at least 43 states, and it runs exactly 12 pages.

After a decade of observing end-of-life discussions, I can attest to the great fear that many patients have, particularly those with few family members and financial resources. I lived and worked in an AIDS home in the mid-1980s and saw first-hand how the dying wanted more than health care—they wanted someone to care.

If President Obama is sincere in stating that he is not trying to cut costs by pressuring the disabled to forgo critical care, one good way to show that commitment is to walk two blocks from the Oval Office and pull the plug on "Your Life, Your Choices." He should make sure in the future that VA decisions are guided by values that treat the lives of our veterans as gifts, not burdens.

Mr. Towey, president of Saint Vincent College, was director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives (2002-2006) and founder of the nonprofit Aging with Dignity.

AUGUST 18, 2009, 7:12 P.M. ET

VA Corruption

2009-08-21T11:39:00.001-04:00

Fri Aug 21, 3:45 am ET

WASHINGTON – Outside the Veterans Affairs Department, severely wounded veterans have faced financial hardship waiting for their first disability payment. Inside, money has been flowing in the form of $24 million in bonuses.

In scathing reports this week, the VA's inspector general said thousands of technology office employees at the VA received the bonuses over a two-year period, some under questionable circumstances. It also detailed abuses ranging from nepotism to an inappropriate relationship between two VA employees.

The inspector general accused one recently retired VA official of acting "as if she was given a blank checkbook" as awards and bonuses were distributed to employees of the Office of Information and Technology in 2007 and 2008. In some cases the justification for the bonuses was inadequate or questionable, the IG said.

The official, Jennifer S. Duncan, also engaged in nepotism and got $60,000 in bonuses herself, the IG said. In addition, managers improperly authorized college tuition payments for VA employees, some of whom were Duncan's family members and friends. That cost taxpayers nearly $140,000.

Separately, a technology office employee became involved in an "inappropriate personal relationship" with a high-level VA official. The technology office employee flew 22 times from Florida to Washington, where the VA official lived. That travel cost $37,000.

The details on the alleged improprieties were in two IG reports issued this week. VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said the agency was extremely concerned about the IG's findings and would pursue a thorough review.

"VA does not condone misconduct by its employees and will take the appropriate correction action for those who violate VA policy," Roberts said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The number of claims the VA needs to process has escalated, and the Information and Technology Office has a critical role in improving the technological infrastructure to handle the increase. President Barack Obama has said creating a seamless transition for records between the Pentagon and the VA could help eliminate a backlog that has left some veterans waiting months for a disability check.

Much of the IG's focus was on Duncan, the former executive assistant to the ex-assistant secretary for information and technology, Robert Howard.

In one situation, a part-time intern with connections to Duncan was allowed to convert to a full-time paid position even though the individual was working a part-time schedule 500 miles away at college, the IG said.

"We have never known of any other new VA employee provided such favorable treatment," the IG said.

The individual's name and relationship to Duncan was blacked out, as were many other names in the reports.

Investigators recommended that the employees who received the college money pay it back. The largest amount awarded was $33,000.

In addition to Duncan, three other high-level employees received $73,000, $58,000 and $59,000 in bonuses in 2007 and 2008, the IG said. In 2007 alone, 4,700 employees were awarded bonuses, on average $2,500 each.

Some employees were given cash awards for services that were supposedly provided before the employees started working at VA, the IG said.

A man who answered the phone at Duncan's residence in Rehoboth Beach, Del., said she was not available, and he said not to call back.

The IG also found that Katherine Adair Martinez, deputy assistant secretary for information protection and risk management in the Office of Information and Technology, misused her position, abused her authority and engaged in prohibited personnel practices when she influenced a VA contractor and later VA subordinates to employ a friend.

The IG also said Martinez "took advantage of an inappropriate personal relationship" with Howard to transfer her job to Florida. In the nine months after she moved, the IG said Martinez traveled to Washington 22 times "to accomplish tasks that she could easily do from Florida."

The relationship between Martinez and Howard started in April 2007 and continued several months after Howard left the VA in January of this year, the IG said.

Roberts' e-mail did not address a request from the AP to speak with Martinez. Howard could not be immediately located for comment.

Indiana Rep. Steve Buyer, top Republican on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, urged quick action to fix the problems. "VA must appoint honorable individuals to these critical positions," he said.

The VA has faced criticism before in its awarding of bonuses. In 2007, the AP reported that the then-VA secretary had approved a generous package of more than $3.8 million in bonus payments in 2006, citing a need to retain longtime VA executives.

___

On the Net:

Reports from VA Inspector General:

http://www.va.gov/oig/51/fy2009rpts/VAOIG-09-01123-196.pdf

http://www.va.gov/oig/51/fy2009rpts/VAOIG-09-01123-195.pdf

Wolfram Bing?

2009-08-21T10:56:00.001-04:00

I really like Wolfram Alpha... I use it with my finance students, and have offereed to help them... but to no avail. They seemingly are determined to go down the road without my particular input.

This is an all-too-common situation at organizations of all types... "PLEASE do NOT confuse us with the facts! We'd rather do things by ourselves!"

Yup! Sure...

In the meantime, here's a little of what Michael Arrington had to say today about them...

"The original excitement around Wolfram's launch quickly died down, whereas Bing's continued to accelerate... It helps, of course, to have a $100 million marketing budget and be backed by Microsoft, but Bing actually seems to be striking a chord with regular search consumers.

Maybe that is because Wolfram Alpha is not as approachable as Bing. It is good at "computing answers" to arcane questions, and has some very impressive technology under the hood. But it has a long way to go before it can deliver results that really Wow you. As Paul Carr puts it, Wolfram Alpha is the "technological equivalent of a boring uncle; the method was more impressive than the effect, and so the hairs on the back of my neck remain unstood.""

Study warns of cyber warfare during military conflicts

2009-08-17T16:31:00.001-04:00

August 17th, 2009

Study warns of cyber warfare during military conflicts

Posted: 04:23 PM ET

By Jeanne Meserve

CNN Homeland Security Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) — An independent research group predicts cyber warfare will accompany future military conflicts, and is recommending international action to blunt it's impact.

The non-profit U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit studied the cyber tactics used against the country of Georgia during its military conflict with Russia last year. Cyber attacks in August 2008 shut down the Web sites of critical Georgian government agencies, the media and banks.

"The Russians have developed a model here that is very effective," said Scott Borg, director of US-CCU. Because of the sensitive nature of much of the information, the full 100-page report is being released only to U.S. government officials and selected cyber-security professionals. CNN was provided a nine-page summary.

The study concludes that the cyber attacks against Georgian targets were carried out by civilians, many of them recruited via social networking forums devoted to dating, hobbies and politics.

"There was a large-scale collaboration on these forums," said US-CCU's chief technical officer, John Bumgarner. "They were used to recruit potential actors to launch attacks, to collaborate on what types of attacks worked and what types of attacks didn't work. They were used to collaborate on how to bypass security controls and share attack codes."

Confessions of a Health Insurance PR Flack

2009-08-17T08:05:00.001-04:00

Editor's note: Wendell Potter has served since May 2009 as senior fellow on health care at the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit organization that says it seeks to expose "corporate spin and government propaganda." After a 20-year career as a corporate public relations executive, Potter left his job last year as head of communications for one of the nation's largest health insurers, CIGNA Corporation.

Ex-insurance company spokesman Wendell Potter says the industry seeks to drive the health care debate.

(CNN) -- Having grown up in one of the most conservative and Republican places in the country -- East Tennessee -- I understand why many of the people who are showing up at town hall meetings this month are reacting, sometimes violently, when members of Congress try to explain the need for an expanded government role in our health care system.

I also have a lot of conservative friends, including one former co-worker who was laid off by CIGNA several years ago but who nonetheless worries about a "government takeover" of health care.

The most vocal folks at the town hall meetings seem to share the same ideology as my kinfolks in East Tennessee and my former CIGNA buddy: the less government involvement in our lives, the better.

That point couldn't have been made clearer than by the man standing in line to get free care at Remote Area Medical's recent health care "expedition" at the Wise County, Virginia, fairgrounds, who told a reporter he was dead set against President Obama's reform proposal.

Even though he didn't have health insurance, and could see the desperation in the faces of thousands of others all around him who were in similar straits, he was more worried about the possibility of having to pay more taxes than he was eager to make sure he and his neighbors wouldn't have to wait in line to get care provided by volunteer doctors in animal stalls.

Friday morning my former CIGNA buddy sent me an e-mail challenging something he said his wife heard me say in a radio report about my press conference in the Capitol on Wednesday with Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-New York, chairwoman of the House Rules Committee.

"She heard you say that these protestors are funded by the insurance companies. Frankly, nothing would surprise me, but certainly not each and every person," he wrote. "If there was a meeting near me, I certainly would tell my local representative how I feel about this entire subject (and it wouldn't be pretty), and I certainly am not funded by anyone. So I am ultimately wondering what proof there is that seemingly ordinary Americans are finally protesting what is going in Washington and there are all of these suggestions of a greater conspiracy."

If the radio report had carried more of my remarks, he might have a better understanding of how the health insurance and its army of PR people are influencing his opinions and actions without his even knowing it.

Until I quit my job last year, I was one of the leaders of that army. I had a very successful career and was my company's voice to the media and the public for several years.

It was my job to "promote and defend" the company's reputation and to try to persuade reporters to write positive stories about the industry's ideas on reform. During the last couple of years of my career, however, I became increasingly worried that the high-deductible plans insurers were beginning to push Americans into would force more and more of us into bankruptcy.

The higher I rose in the company, the more I learned about the tactics insurers use to dump policyholders when they get sick, in order to increase profits and to reward their Wall Street investors. I could not in good conscience continue serving as an industry mouthpiece. And I did not want to be part of yet another industry effort to kill meaningful reform.

I explained during the press conference with Rep. Slaughter how the industry funnels millions of its policyholders' premiums to big public relations firms that provide talking points to conservative talk show hosts, business groups and politicians. I also described how the PR firms set up front groups, again using your premium dollars and mine, to scare people away from reform.

What I'm trying to do as I write and speak out against the insurance industry I was a part of for nearly two decades is to inform Americans that when they hear isolated stories of long waiting times to see doctors in Canada and allegations that care in other systems is rationed by "government bureaucrats," someone associated with the insurance industry wrote the original script.

The industry has been engaging in these kinds of tactics for many years, going back to its successful behind-the-scenes campaign to kill the Clinton reform plan.

A story in Friday's New York Times about the origin of the absurdly false rumor that President Obama's health care proposal would create government-sponsored "death panels" bears out what I have been saying.

The story notes that the rumor emanated "from many of the same pundits and conservative media outlets that were central in defeating Bill Clinton's health care proposal 16 years ago, including the editorial board of The Washington Times, the American Spectator magazine and Betsy McCaughey, whose 1994 health care critique made her a star of the conservative movement (and ultimately, the lieutenant governor of New York)."

The big PR firms that work for the industry have close connections with those media outlets and stars in the conservative movement. One of their PR firms, which created and staffed a front group in the late '90s to kill the proposed "Patients' Bill of Rights," launched a PR and advertising campaign in conservative media outlets to drum up opposition to the bill.

The message: President Clinton "owed a debt to the liberal base of the Democrat Party and would try to pay back that debt by advancing the type of big government agenda on health care that he failed to get in 1994."

The industry goes to great lengths to keep its involvement in these campaigns hidden from public view. I know from having served on numerous trade group committees and industry-funded front groups, however, that industry leaders are always full partners in developing strategies to derail any reform that might interfere with insurers' ability to increase profits.

So the next time you hear someone warning against a "government takeover" of our health care system, or that the creation of a public health insurance option would send us down the "slippery slope toward socialism," know that someone like I used to be wrote those terms, knowing it might turn many of the very people who would benefit most from meaningful reform into unwitting spokespeople for the industry.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Wendell Potter.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/17/potter.health.insurance/index.html

Unemployment 80% on Indian reservation

2009-08-14T13:38:00.001-04:00

CHERRY CREEK, South Dakota (CNN) -- The tiny one-room house rests on a hill; no electricity and no running water. A creaky metal cot and a rusting wood-burning stove is all the comfort Herbert Hale says he needs.

"All it is is logs, glue -- dirt and water put together -- then cement and the chicken string," Hale says of his home. "Long as the windows don't break, it's nice and warm in here."

The roof leaks a bit, and the floorboards are rotted in one corner, but Hale isn't one to complain.

"It's home," he says, almost under his breath, as he invites a visitor to have a look.

Firewood is stacked in one corner inside, and more outside as Hale uses the summer months to stockpile for prairie winters, where 20 below zero is not all that uncommon.

He also pulls bunches of long weeds in the prairie grass, to dry for use as a firestarter.

"I have to be careful," Hale says matter-of-factly as he pulls a few fistfuls. "Sometimes there are some snakes. Rattlesnakes. Nothing to mess around with."

He is 54 years old, aveteran of two Army combat tours in Vietnam, a member of the Lakota tribe and part of two stunning statistics, even as communities across America deal with the pain and challenges of recession:

The unemployment rate on his reservation runs higher than 80 percent;

Ziebach County, where he lives, is the nation's poorest, with just shy of 56 percent of its residents below the poverty line. Poverty among children in the county eclipses a staggering 70 percent.
After the Army, Hale worked 16 years as a firefighter. But he began having some back problems in the early 1980s and then, "cancer caught up with me. I have a brain tumor."

He says he gets a check for just shy of $17 every week from a tribal welfare fund, and tries to find odd jobs to pay for his food and to help out a diabetic sister.

But there's a catch: Tiny Cherry Creek has no such jobs. There are one or two one-room homes like Hale's, but it is mostly a collection of a couple dozen simple modular homes provided by a federal and tribal housing program. It doesn't even have a gas station or general store.

So Hale heads out most days toward Eagle Butte -- 17 miles up one road and then 21 miles more up the next. A few more twists and, "It's about 42 to 43 miles, someplace around there."

Herbert Hale can't afford a car.

"Well, I take off, go to my sister's, then get some water and take off. Somebody along the way will pick me up."

Often, that somebody is Bryce In The Woods, a member of the tribal council whose district includes Cherry Creek.

"It is bad," he says of the area's economic plight, walking a visitor through the gravel streets where many residents, idle because of the lack of jobs, are sitting out front or shout out a greeting from inside their small homes.

To spend a day crossing the reservation is to see a place stunningly beautiful and seemingly forgotten all at once, small, poor communities tucked into the hollows of western South Dakota's Cheyenne River Reservation. The poverty is all the more striking because of the richness of the setting: green and golden rolling hills, roaming horses and cattle, and tall corn and golden sunflowers sprouting from the fertile soil.

"Ziebach County is the No. 1 county statistically with child poverty," he said. "Now that alone is generational, with the trauma of poverty and the broken family."

Breaking that cycle is Bryce In The Woods' obsession. He highlights a bright spot: A building in the community converted to a makeshift classroom and library where residents can get tutoring help and then take the GED --- the high school equivalency exam.

"It is so difficult," he says of the challenge facing younger reservation residents. "Some of our young people join the services, the armed services, some of them go to college or apply to college," Bryce In The Woods told us. "The majority, if they are staying here, end up moving to Rapid City or some of the bigger cities to try to find employment."

In Eagle Butte, the largest community on the reservation, a bustling construction site is a new source of pride.

A medical center is under construction, thanks to funding from the Obama administration's stimulus plan, and Bryce In The Woods says about 65 construction-related jobs so far have gone to tribal members.

"At this point I am very appreciative of what we have received," Joseph Brings Plenty, the elected tribal chairman, says when we ask if the stimulus funding is enough. "But as far as expectation, I can say no. There would be a lot more need to be fulfilled by the U.S. government for our tribe before I can say yes."

Outside, Brings Plenty's office is a "First Americans for Obama" sign -- a reminder the tribe was an early backer of Barack Obama. Brings Plenty says he hopes the president remembers.

"I can sympathize, empathize, with the demands, with the pressures that are on his shoulders, on his plate and put in front of him," Brings Plenty said during a break from a Tribal Council meeting.

The biggest help Obama and Congress could give, the chairman and others told us, is greater water rights. The tribe has money for more housing, but can't build because the water pressure is too low and its treatment systems too outdated to handle increased demand.

"I feel that we are forgotten because we don't have that voice out there," Chairman Brings Plenty said. "It's demoralizing in a way for some of our members that go out and receive an education and come back and are unable to get a job here."

To be clear, Chairman Brings Plenty and Bryce In the Woods say not all of the tribe's problems rest with the federal government.

Both mentioned obstacles and disagreements born of factional tribal politics and rivalries, which were in full evidence during just a few minutes of the Tribal Council's debate.

In The Woods is also a strong advocate for land reforms he says would get the tribe a better deal for grazing rights on its property.

Still, they would welcome more economic development help, from the state and from Washington, but say their voices don't always get heard, even in the best of times.

"When it comes down to a vote, a lot of the urban representatives, I don't think they really know the plight on the reservation," Bryce In the Woods said. "I think there is a stereotype out there that all tribes have casinos and that's not true."

Herbert Hale shrugs when asked if Washington has a responsibility to help his struggling community.

"I can't really say," he said quietly. "I'm not into politics to tell you the truth. I was when I was younger, back in the '80s."

Now, he lives the simplest of lives.

A few hours of work if he is lucky, and perhaps an hour or two collecting wood, even in the scorching August sun. The temperature neared 100 degrees on the day of our visit, yet Hale's wood stove was warm to the touch. Prairie mornings can still be chilly.

More important, memories of winter's past remind Hale of the value of his growing stockpile.

"Sometimes it's a long walk," he says. "Especially in February. Twenty below and I have to walk. Often no cars ... A few times I felt like falling asleep on the road. I told myself, 'Fall asleep, you're froze and you're gone.' I pushed myself to keep walking."

Once home, he has a battery-powered radio and uses a small kerosene lamp to pass time at night reading. He's extra careful because he recently broke its glass chimney, so the flame burns without protection from the winds that can pick up suddenly.

Herbert's worries are more immediate than whether the president or any other politician understands his plight. "They never stopped up here," he says."If they did, I wasn't home."

On the odd jobs in town, $1 here and $5 there adds up -- not too much, but his goals are modest.

"You know, take the trash out. I sweep the front. A few dollars a day wouldn't hurt. That's as good as you need. That's all I care about. One day at a time."

MBA Ethics Oath

2009-08-14T13:25:00.001-04:00

Some really great students and professors at Harvard Business School created a voluntary MBA Ethics Oath.

You can see it here:

http://dealbreaker.com/2009/05/theyve-got-it-laminated-on-lit.php

So far, so good.

But then the MAJORITY of students at Harvard and MIT refused to sign it, providing all sorts of lame excuses and intellectual sophistry. They are intellectually smart people, after all.

The oath itself is plain vanella... which makes one wonder why anyone entrusted with any sort of management responsibility would refuse to sign it.

If you yourself wonder why our society is in the shape it is in, and wonder what it will take to turn things around, please consider why MBA students would absolutely refuse to sign, let alone implement in their daily lives, such a simple ethical document.

Should you count your fingers after shaking hands with one of them?

And what kind of senior management would even want these kind of ethically blind people around, no matter how intellectually gifted they might be?

I realize this is a small point in the overall scheme of things. But sometimes, small points can reveal a larger truth. From my point of view, this episode nicely illustrates the "ethical rot" that is underpinning our present and future business leadership.

If your organization chooses to hire one of these Harvard/MIT "ethically warped" geniuses, just remember... you've been warned.

Remember Harvard MBA Jeffrey Skilling of Enron fame?

If you need a refresher, here it is:

In 2006 he was convicted of multiple federal felony charges relating to Enron's financial collapse, and is currently serving a 24-year, 4-month prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, near Littleton, Colorado.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Skilling

Was he really very, very smart... or really, really dumb? IQ, after all, isn't everything in my book.

Good luck, folks!

Congress Has Cushy Health Benefits for Themselves

2009-08-13T11:36:00.001-04:00

Congress Has Cushy Health Benefits for Themselves

As reported recently by the Los Angeles Times, you see, senators and members of the House of Representatives enjoy a health insurance program that insulates them from the costs, problems and worries suffered by millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans. Like other government workers, they have their choice of ten different health plans, while 85% of companies offering a health plan to their employees offer a single option. They pay a modest $300 a month for family coverage, according to the Times. And — in stark contrast to the difficulties faced by cancer survivors or diabetes sufferers who try to get health insurance on the individual market — they don't have to worry that pre-existing medical conditions will prevent them from getting coverage or sorely limit their coverage if they do manage to get a policy.

http://moneyfeatures.blogs.money.cnn.com/2009/08/13/give-congress-a-taste-of-our-medicine/?section=money_topstories

Massive Change Coming!

2009-05-10T16:08:00.003-04:00

.
Two thirds of companies world-wide believe that massive changes in the economy will force them to create fundamentally new businesses that can compete under radically new conditions. Eighty percent of these firms believe that working collaboratively with other companies to do this will mean the difference between success and failure.

.

10,000 Hour Rule

2008-12-05T12:25:00.000-05:00

Want some great advice on what it takes to become a true expert in anything?

From the Harvard Business Blog...

"
One of the stars of Outliers, the bestseller from Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer for The New Yorker, is a psychologist named K. Anders Ericsson, who did an investigation of three different groups of violin students: the unquestioned stars, those who were good but not great, and those who had no hope of becoming professional musicians. What separated the stars from everyone else? It wasn't raw talent, Ericsson concluded. (Every student had huge talent.) It was sheer persistence--those who practiced harder did better, and those who practiced insanely hard became wildly successful.
Gladwell dubs this phenomenon the "10,000-hour rule." Becoming great at anything--sports, science, business--requires ten years of practice and 1,000 hours of practice per year. "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness," he argues.
Geoffrey Colvin, a high-profile editor at Fortune magazine, is equally smitten by Ericsson's research. In his new book, Talent is Overrated, Colvin doesn't just embrace the importance of ten years of practice. He explains just what sort of practice is required--a regimen that he calls "deliberate practice."
What are the elements of deliberate practice? It's designed explicitly to improve performance--the little adjustments that make a big difference. It's repetitive, which means that when it's time to perform for real (sinking a putt, pitching a product), you don't feel the pressure. It's informed by continuous feedback; practice only works if you can see how you're improving. And it isn't much fun, which isn't all bad. "It means that most people won't do it," Colvin says.
So what does this thinking about success tell us about how to succeed in perilous times? For individuals, one message is that practice does make perfect. So if you're a computer programmer who's spending fewer hours writing code, or a product designer whose portfolio of projects is shrinking, or a customer-service specialist with fewer customers to serve, don't let down time become wasted time. Turn it into practice time--find ways to work intensely and deliberately on your technical and business skills, confident that hard work will pay off in the long run."

What's a CEO Really Worth?

2008-12-02T20:31:00.000-05:00

What's a CEO really worth?

Not much, if you consider the global economic melt down we are all experiencing. All that CEO compensation paid out... for years... for what? We were told that these guys were the smartest people in the room... real corporate brainiacs. So... stockholders doled out millions for compensation. For what? For the "privilege" these days of asking for a government bailout?

Let me see if I have this straight...

These guys walked away with millions every year, supposedly because they knew more than anyone else. But they didn't. Not that THAT stopped them from keeping their princely pay packages.

So we have a global economy wrecked, and household name firms in economic tatters.

Today comes a great article in the New York Times by Andrew Ross Sorkin entitled "Putting a Value on a CEO". Must reading!

Key comments...

What, then, should Citigroup pay Vikram S. Pandit, its embattled chief executive? On his watch, Citigroup, hobbled by bad investments, grabbed not one but two financial lifelines from the government. Its share price plummeted about 80 percent. (In fairness, he took the reins of the firm less than a year ago.)

By most standards, Mr. Pandit is rich already: he made $800 million by selling his hedge fund to Citigroup (he later shuttered it).

[Dan's comment: Doesn't this mean that CitiGroup paid $800 million for nothing? What idiot approved that deal? Haven't they ever heard of an "earn out"? And now this same CEO has managed to depress share value by 80%? But I digress... ]

[Dan's Comment: You can listen to Vikram Pandit explain to you why all this happened... in a Charlie Rose interview. ]

“What has caused the most outrage is the difference between pay and actual performance,” said Lucian Bebchuk, the director of the program on corporate governance at Harvard Law School.

Sarah Anderson, a director at the Institute for Policy Studies, is an advocate of aggressive pay curbs and isn’t likely to buy into an eight-figure income, no matter what the performance.
“I want taxpayers to feel confident that an unreasonable amount of money isn’t ending up in their pockets,” Ms. Anderson said of the executives. “This may be the time to inject some sanity into the pay system.”
That may be so. But Mr. Pandit and others — to the extent you believe they are the right leaders of Citigroup — or whoever takes their roles are unlikely to hang around if they’re not amply paid.

[Dan's comment: Is that really such a bad thing? Can't we find SOMEONE who is competent, at a fair level of pay? After all, the President of the United States, the leader of the entire free world, commander-in-chief with hundreds of nuclear weapons, makes only $400,000 a year... and there is always a long line of talented people that want the job. ]

“If I’m in Kansas and losing my house, I think it’s madness to pay them a big bonus,” Mr. Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, a compensation consulting practice based in New York said. “Vikram has to take one for the team this year.”

So here’s another idea that might prompt executives to keep a closer eye on the risks that their bankers and traders take: have executives invest in their own firms on the same terms as we taxpayers. And for good measure, have them invest in the financial products that their companies sell. If executives had put their own money into the tricky mortgage investments that their banks were selling, they might have asked hard questions from the start.

[Dan's comment: This is good advice from a seasoned observor! But I genuinely doubt that the Wall Street crowd will go for it... unless it is imposed upon them. Don't hold your breath! ]

Thoughts to Ponder...

2008-11-20T09:25:00.000-05:00

21st Century Auto Management

2008-11-18T18:18:00.002-05:00

The Harvard Business Blog offers 6 key rules for 21st Century auto industry survival:

Choose good. In the 21^st century, every moral imperative is also a strategic imperative: doing good - for customers, employees, suppliers, or society - is a radical strategic choice that unlocks new pathways to innovation and growth. The opportunity cost of defending evil for Detroit was never learning how to choose good - and that's a crucial mistake other auto players didn't make. Tata chose to make a car that was accessible to the world's poor. Porsche and BMW chose to invest in talent, people, and imagination. Honda and Toyota chose to invest in renewables and partnerships with the public sector. All opened new avenues to growth for an industry at the brink of extinction.

Purpose is self-interest. The 21^st century demands a more enlightened self-interest: one factoring in a longer timescale, fuller contingencies, and an honest and broad consideration of hidden and unintended consequences to people, society and the environment. When we understand all that, have begun to develop a purpose - a way in which we will change the world radically for the better. By confusing selfishness with self-interest, Detroit vaporized it's own purpose - and will stay trapped in a wilderness of economic meaninglessess until it rediscovers it.

Get constructive. True 21^st century businesses can be judged in the blink of an eye: how intensely do they put the "co" in constructive? Can they let demand spark and fuel co-creation, can they co-produce from a pool of shared resources, are they capable of letting value activities be co-managed, are they tuned to cooperate? Detroit can't get constructive because it's spent the better part of a century playing the games of destructive strategy.

Seek difference. Ultimately, the problem is simple: differentiation is about perception. Difference is about reality. People in the 21^st century aren't the zombified, braindead consumers of the 20^th century. And so the 21^st century demands not mere differentiation - a bean counters' eye view of the world if ever there was one - but true difference. True difference is built by making different choices from the ground up - different in the very essence of the value activities that make the wheels of production and consumption spin. Porsche and BMW strove for difference - not mere differentiation - and it is that choice that is at the heart of their global leadership of the automotive sector.v

Seek crisis. By insulating themselves from real-world economic pressures, boardrooms also dilute and sap incentives for innovation and renewal. Detroit wasn't innovating because the opportunity cost of strategy as gamesmanship was, ultimately, foregoing innovation itself. In the 21^st century, gamesmanship - and its attendant dilution of incentives - is a sure path to near terminal strategy decay. Forget Detroit - just ask big music, big pharma, or big food.

Advantage happens for. Competitive advantage against bears a striking resemblance to simply bullying. Bullying is easy: just as in the sandbox, any boardroom with market power can jack up margins by forcing others - buyers, suppliers, consumers, society - to bear costs. But if every corporation across the economy is playing that game, the economy's just a game of musical chairs.

The World Just Changed!

2008-11-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

Fantastic blog post from Robert Scoble who is touring factories in China...

The business world you think you know just changed drastically... it doesn't work the way you were taught is works... wholesalers, retailers, etc.

Here's how products actually get to consumers today... in Scoble's words...

"

Today? A product goes from factory directly to your front door via FedEx through Liam’s supply chain. How long does that take? Four to five days. All trackable via FedEx and other methods.
What’s different today? The Chinese are now cutting out Amazon and are building Websites that you can buy products from directly and they’ll ship right to your door.
Next? We used Twitter to discuss a new product with people around the world, get feedback on what they want, and the designers, who no longer will be in Europe or America, can work with the customers to build something highly customized and that serves their needs exactly. Then a factory gets fired up and the product gets shipped out — all within days of the Twitter storm.

...showed me a new gadget that will get on blogs like Engadget, Gizmodo, Obsessable, GearLive, Gdgt, CrunchGear. It is mind blowing. The engineering is done all in China. The factories are all in China. The website will be hosted in China, or maybe over on one of the new clouds that Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Rackspace are now opening up. The brand name will be done in China, via Twitter and FriendFeed. The PR is done in China via Twitter and FriendFeed, or maybe via a blogger tour in San Francisco and New York because that’s where most of the gadget bloggers live (last night CNN’s Rick Sanchez Twittered me, which demonstrates that Twitter has a powerful reach now into mainstream media).
This is total ownership of everything. Total disruption of everyone who used to make money along the supply chain. Retailers? Disrupted. Traders and middlemen and distributors? Disrupted. Web designers and developers? Disrupted.
Are you scared yet?
You should be if you are being disrupted.

Where are the high value bits in this whole process?
Not the manufacturing.
The real value and profit is in two places: R&D and coming up with new businesses and new ideas.

Other jobs that’ll open up? Anything involved in building brands. Marketing, PR, blogging/Twittering/FriendFeeding, building web experiences, videos, going to conferences to show off new products to audiences, etc.

That’s it. That’s where our new economy is going to be. And this process will happen to EVERYTHING. The American car industry? Well, they figured out how to sell Buick’s and Chevy’s to the Chinese, so if I were working at GM right now I’d be trying to figure out how to take advantage of this new manufacturing capability and ability to ship custom cars right to your house.

Americans are being fed only the negative stories about China and that is lulling them into complacency. The largest book store in the world is in Shenzhen. The largest city hall I’ve ever seen is here. The largest library I’ve ever been in is here. This is an increasingly educated workforce that’s just starting to get going. Americans need to come to China and see what’s going on because it is absolutely stunning in its scale."

Are YOU really ready for all this???

A CEO "That Gets It"

2008-11-04T19:44:00.000-05:00

I'm not particularly impressed with many CEOs that govern our most prestigious corporations.

But every once in a while, I come across one that seems to "get it".

Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase is one of those rare CEOs that seems to run his large organization in a responsible manner... and we can learn a lot from following his example.

What makes this story interesting is that Dimon uses plain common sense. The wonder of it all is that so many of his peers lack this essential quality. Sorta makes you wonder why others don't emulate him, doesn't it?

Learn more about the "Dimon Way" by reading a trio of articles that have appeared at various times in Fortune Magazine here, here, and especially here.

He's not perfect, perhaps, but he certainly is very, very good!

Time Management for Creative People

2008-11-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

I've just come across a small but very helpful e-book called "Time Management for Creative People", by Mark McGuinness.

It's a short book, which is befitting, about doing much more in far less time... and who doesn't face THAT challenge?

Key chapters include:

1. Why you need to be organised to be creative
2. Prioritise work that is ‘important but not urgent’
3. Ring-fence your most creative time
4. Avoid the ‘Sisyphus effect’ of endless to-do lists
5. Get things done by putting them off till tomorrow
6. Get things off your mind
7. Review your commitments
8. Resources to help you get things done

If you're a fan of Stephen Covey, as I am, then you'll definitely want to pick up a copy!

You can get your own copy here!

I think you'll be delighted that you did!

I know that I was...

Background Checks

2008-10-01T17:02:00.001-04:00

Ever wonder how a potential employer does a background check?

Sure, computer checks may show a lot these days, but nothing beats a personal interview and an in-depth field investigation.

Have a look at this old Dragnet TV Show episode and see how its done!

Sustaining High Performance

2008-09-18T13:10:00.003-04:00

How is top talent dealing with the current financial crisis onslaught? In a word -- badly.

A new study published this week by the Center for Work Life Policy details a sobering picture.

Loyalty and trust are at an all-time low:

the number of employees who feel loyal to their company has fallen 42% over the last year, while the number who trust their company is down 41%.

Top female talent is particularly skittish.

Eighty-four percent of women in this study are considering leaving - compared to 40% of men.

The voices in this study are powerful. A male investment banker (who has lost 80% of his net worth in the last year) tells of bad dreams and grinding his teeth so badly he recently cracked two molars. A woman trader talks about being "almost glad" of a recent diagnosis of breast cancer. In her words "it's only stage one and it sure puts the crazy stress around losing my job into perspective."

Source: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/hewlett/2008/09/in_finance_embattled_top_perfo.html

2008-09-09T12:16:00.000-04:00

Intrusive Questions

Someone just showed me a job advertisement that contains the following language from some over stuffed HR Manager...

"In the interest of time, your cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and current base salary & incentive compensation MUST be included for your candidacy to be advanced."

"In the interest of time"

This tell me that this HR Manager considers THEIR time to be of much more importance than YOUR time! Who would want to work with an outfit with an attitude like this?

"your cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and current base salary & incentive compensation MUST be included"

First, since this job was listed on Craigs List, are you absolutely SURE where this information is going?

Are you comfortable with just ANYONE having access to this information?

Why does ANYONE really need a cover letter in today's day and age? This sounds like a holdover 20th Century mentality. Again, not a good sign in a 21st Century global environment! But this HR Manager obviously doesn't realize this.

Why would anyone just want to handout "current base salary & incentive compensation" information over the Internet to a complete stranger without any indication that the firm is actually interested?

Or is it that the HR Manager is so clueless that they have to find out the salary range for jobs like this from the job candidates themselves?

"for your candidacy to be advanced"

Isn't that a nice turn of phrase? It implies to me that we're doing you a big favor just THINKING about you!

I really wonder if the senior executives at this outfit have any clue what their HR Manager is doing?

And the impression this creates on the general public.

It sometimes shocks my students to learn that unscrupulous and unethical companies use tactics just like this, not to actually offer a real job to someone, but to gather competitive intelligence about their competitors, who is working for them, who their clients are, what they are working on, what the company's plans are, what tools they use, and what they pay for various positions, from unsuspecting employees who only want to impress a potential new employer with their knowledge and are honestly considering a job change. Sometimes these tactics go one step further to actually interview the "job candidate', to entice them to spill their guts about their present employer. Little do they realize that they are being used... and they are, of course, promptly discarded.

Even if this particular job offering is real, this sounds like a place that I wouldn't want to associate with myself!

2008-09-03T11:11:00.000-04:00

Don't You Just Love "Executives"?

Having watched many companies with bright prospects and more than ample resources crater under the burden of so-called "professional executives" and all the great advice they received from those hired high priced "corporate headhunters", nothing much surprises me these days.

Here is an interesting post about failures at Skype.

Key points to ponder...

First eBay installed a string of executives who came out of eBay into the company. Over time, dedicated Skype executives prior to the purchase left or were asked to leave.

Second, when the first wave didn't work, Skype hired more people, some with ties to eBay and others recruited by headhunters employed by eBay.

At each turn Skype has grown, but heck, a rolling boulder going down the hill picks up more snow too. Skype is growing by sheer inertia and problems like the ones reported in the Register are evidence of that.

They can't keep up with the issues.

This means Skype has cost eBay more than they paid...and likely isn't really paying back.

Do you think any of those executives or headhunters gave back any money when their advice didn't pan out?

Nah!!!

Capitalism at its finest!

2008-08-28T13:32:00.000-04:00

Workmobile!

Volkswagen recently revealed its T-6 concept vehicle - quite literally an office on wheels - that appears to be larger than a VW Camper and a cross between Tom Cruise’s ride in Minority Report and Tron’s Lightcycles.

Your experience as a passenger is more likely to resemble Tom Scott’s hilarious Tea Party In A Transit than an orderly business meeting.

Who wants to be the first to own one?

2008-08-25T10:28:00.000-04:00

Why CEOs Fail

11 behaviors, either deep-seated personality faults or qualities that once were beneficial but became problematic, that can de-rail any organization... from the book by the same name written by David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo.

Arrogance

Melodrama

Volatility

Excessive Caution

Habitual Distrust

Aloofness

Mischievousness

Eccentricity

Passive Resistance

Perfectionism

Eagerness to Please

2008-08-24T18:06:00.000-04:00

What is Falun Gong?

A new book attempts to answer this question:

FALUN GONG AND THE FUTURE OF CHINA

By David Ownby

By 291 pp. Oxford University Press. $29.95

Here is a review from the New York Times.

Ownby himself praises another book on this subject, David Palmer's Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China -- and makes it clear where his own interpretations tend to diverge. The biggest difference between the books, from the everyday reader's point of view, is that Palmer looks at the larger Qigong movement since the 1940s and explores Falun Gong within that context. Ownby's book is focused entirely on Falun Gong -- both in China and in the Chinese diaspora.

Another book on Falun Gong is "Falun Gong: The End of Days", by Maria Hsia Chang. Though not perfect (and somewhat trivialized by David Ownby), it offers less history and more about the actual beliefs of Falun Gong.

2008-08-23T08:24:00.000-04:00

Agent of Change?

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence (AP)

A statesman known for slips of his tongue

Eamon Javers, Jonathan MartinSat Aug 23, 2:44 AM ET

Forget the idea that opposition researchers got cracking the very moment that Sen. Barack Obama announced Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate—they’ve long been poring over his records and background, and those of all the most likely vice-presidential picks.

For all that, though, the likeliest attacks in Biden are all matters of public record, and often problems of his own making.

Biden, who dropped out of the 1988 Democratic primary after he was accused of lifting sections of his stump speech about his humble origins from British Labour party leader Neil Kinnock, more recently took heat in 2006, when he said, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

This year, he managed to blow up his official announcement he was entering the race when he deemed Obama “the first mainstream African American [candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Reporters and opposition researchers are already salivating at the verbal grenades yet to be launched.

More substantively, Biden supported the 2002 resolution that authorized the war in Iraq—a resolution that Obama opposed and, in the primaries at least, painted as “the most important foreign-policy decision in a generation.”

Biden was on the wrong side of that thinking, by Obama’s lights. In 2002, he said that America had “no choice but to eliminate” Saddam Hussein.

While preparing for his own run at the party’s nomination last year, he took several shots at Obama’s inexperience, warning that “If the Democrats think we’re going to be able to nominate someone who can win without that person being able to table unimpeachable credentials on national security and foreign policy, I think we’re making a tragic mistake.”
When Obama gave a speech saying he’d send troops into Pakistan if he had actionable intelligence and the Pakistani government was unwilling to act, Biden told NPR that “It’s a well-intentioned notion he has, but it’s a very naïve way of thinking how you’re going to conduct foreign policy,” adding of his then-rival, in a remark Republicans are sure to revive, “Having talking points on foreign policy doesn’t get you there.”

Biden also said last year of his now running mate, that “I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” He may also see clips from his 1988 presidential run, when he ran an ad in which the narrator warns:

”The White House isn't a place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power... the economic future of the next generation,'' the narrator of Biden's 1988 ad for the Democratic nomination said. "The president has got to know the territory.”

Biden, 65, came to Congress at the age of 30, meaning he’s spent more than half his life in the institution, which Republicans will surely charge makes him an unsuitable running mate for a candidate of change.

Another moment likely to be re-used against him is his August 2, 2005 Daily Show appearance where Jon Stewart asked him of a potential 2008 run, “You may end up going against a Senate colleague, perhaps McCain, perhaps Frist?”

Biden replied, “John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off — be well off no matter who...”

First elected to the Senate at the tender age of 29, Biden has now spent more than half his life there, which cuts against Obama’s change message, even as it insulates the first-term Illinois Senator from charges that he’s too green for the White House.

Biden has accepted $5,133,072 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists since 2003. Obama does not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists.

And he has one other weakness that hasn't received much attention to date. One of Biden's sons, Hunter, is a registered Washington lobbyist in a year in which Obama has been excoriating lobbyists and the culture of corruption in Washington. The younger Biden is a name partner at the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, LLP, and seems to have specialized in lobbying for just the kind of earmark spending by Congress that Obama has vowed to slash. Republican insiders say the party is likely to make an issue of Biden's family lobbying ties.

Also expect to hear more about Biden's close ties with credit card companies. His largest contributor (based on total contributions by employees) over the past five years has been MBNA, the Delaware-based bank aquired in 2005 by Bank of America than until then was the world's largest independent credit card issuer and a major supporter of the 2005 bankruptcy bill that Biden crossed the aisle to support.

Top five donors (including employee donations):
MBNA Corp. (Delaware-based bank acquired in 2005 by Bank of America)
Pachulski, Stang et al. (law firm with major Delaware officers)
Young, Conaway et al. (large Delaware law firm)
Law Office of Peter Angelos (mid-Atlantic trial law firm)
Simmons Cooper LLC (national trial law firm)

Top five industry group contributors:
Lawyers/law firms
Real estate
Retired
Securities & investment
Miscellaneous finance

2008-08-22T12:29:00.000-04:00

Another Business Book

Ho hum...

Here comes yet ANOTHER over-the-hill corporate big whig trying to sell you a book with supposedly "inside information" about what leads to failure in organizations.

Donald Keough was recently interviewed on the Charlie Rose Show, so you can take a look for yourself and draw your own conclusions...

Of course, it doesn't help matters much that Charlie lionizes this guy... which, for the record, may have something to do with the fact that Keough's company has sponsored Charlie's various TV projects over the years. Charlie has done this before with his various corporate benefactors, bless his heart! Remember his forgettable, recently re-broadcast interview with Chuck Fruit (who died "after his ritual morning swim")? Nice touch, that, perhaps... taking care of those that take care of you.

Not that this guy Keough is wrong, mind you.

It's just that the book, in my mind, is a wee bit oversold.

And there is just something that bothers me about rich people who talk in terms of me, me, me. Wouldn't be nice to hear Mr. Keough give constant and sustained credit to the hard working, every day people at Coke and elsewhere who actually EARNED the money. Nah... it's not about them, it's about me, me, me!

Moreover, he and his family are really well off by any reasonable standard of global wealth. Wouldn't it be nice for him to donate the proceeds of this book to the less fortunate... say, wounded veterans who protected the economic system which allowed him to amass a large personal fortune, and who actually bought the products he was selling? Nah... Keough wouldn't do that... it's not about them, it's about me, me, me!

If you do a web search online, you can find his "commandments"... 11 in fact, rather than the 10 commandments as advertised. Keough manages to do the Almighty one better!

Commandment one/top of the list: if you want to fail, quit taking risks

Commandment two: if you want to increase your chances for failure, be inflexible

Commandment three: to achieve failure, isolate yourself

Commandment four: for guaranteed failure, assume infallibility

Commandment five: to fail, play the game close to the foul line

Commandment six: don't take time to think

Commandment seven: to fail, put all your faith in experts and outside consultants

Commandment eight: if you want to fail, love your bureaucracy

Commandment nine: if you want to fail, send mixed messages

Commandment ten: if you want to fail, be afraid of the future

Commandment eleven: if you want to fail, lose your passion for work/for life.

Now, doesn't all this make you want to run right out and spend $16.47 of your hard earned, after-tax dollars to help amass even MORE wealth for this guy through book royalties... for even more of his "inside information"?

Nah... I think I'll pass...

2008-08-17T12:32:00.000-04:00

Stuck in Traffic?

2008-08-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

2008-08-02T15:41:00.000-04:00

Corporate Mismanagement

Great blog post about corporate mismanagement at public companies!

This one is definitely NOT to be missed!

2008-07-25T00:20:00.000-04:00

Pay him now, so we can pay him later

By Howard Troxler, Times Columnist

Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008 6:59 PM

You and I — let's call us "schmoes" — will now be paying $224-million to Warren Buffett — let's call him "one of the richest guys in the world."

The state of Florida decided the other day to ask Buffett to take our money, which he no doubt will.

Now, what are we buying? A nice chunk of his company, Berkshire Hathaway? No.

We are buying the right to borrow money from him later, in case a really big hurricane (or series of hurricanes) hits Florida this year.

If we get Andrew-sized damage, then Buffett agrees to lend us up to $4-billion by buying our bonds.

(The state says there is about a 3 percent chance of that happening.)

If we don't get that hit — well, we're out the $224-million. But we'll have had the security of knowing his money was there for us.

This is why Warren Buffett is one of the richest guys in the world, and we are schmoes.

In the lingo of the market, what Florida is buying is called a "put option." We are buying the right to borrow money later. This is one big honker of a put. We are paying top dollar for it, too.

The decision was made last week by Gov. Charlie Crist, by Florida's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, and by Attorney General Bill McCollum.

The governor is always cheerful, but Sink and McCollum were not.

"This is not a good deal overall," McCollum said. But he called it "the only responsible choice at the moment."

"We waited until the last minute," Sink said, noting Florida is already more than a month into the hurricane season. "We're not thinking ahead. This is not the way to run policy."

Here is the immediate problem: Florida has a hurricane catastrophe fund, called the "Cat Fund," that kicks in if a storm is bad enough.

But we would have to borrow most of that money, and pay it off by future assessments on insurance policies.

In theory, this works.

In practice, we are at the mercy of the markets. We might not be able to borrow that much on the spot. So we looked around for safe options and came up with Buffett.

I asked Dr. Jack E. Nicholson, director of the Cat Fund, if this was the ideal way to do things.

He said no, but it is the right thing to do now. There has been a lot of upheaval in the state's investment setup —there was a big scandal; you might have heard of it. Florida has been racing in recent months to redo things.

With more time, the state could line up its options earlier. Maybe we wouldn't be paying top dollar to Warren Buffett for a put option at the last minute. Maybe.

Here's another thing: Earlier this year, Sink proposed changing the rules for the Cat Fund to reduce Florida's exposure by $3-billion or so. But the Legislature didn't like it because it might have led to a small increase in premiums.

Oh, and here's one more thing: The governor, a "let's pay later" fellow, decided we will pay Buffett out of what cash we have in the Cat Fund now, instead of dunning everybody's insurance policy.

Nicholson sounded like a guy I could kid, so I told him: "If we get that storm, you'll be the smartest guy in the world. If we don't, you'll be the idiot who gave $224-million to Warren Buffett for nothing."

He said that for Florida's sake, he hopes he is the second guy instead of the first. I hope so, too.

2008-07-24T13:16:00.000-04:00

From Fast Company...

July 23, 2008

"Within five years, technology will obliterate the need for business travel."

Apart from becoming more and more unpleasant, recently business travel is also becoming far less necessary. With videoconferencing technologies improving and fuel prices rising, more businessmen and women seem to be choosing the option to stay put and use new technology to cut down on travel.

Companies too are making an active effort to limit employees’ air travel for the duel-pronged benefits of cutting costs and being environmentally friendly. AT&T has reportedly reduced employee air miles by 15% through video conferencing and Web meetings, while Accenture plans to have 22 video conferencing rooms installed around the world by the end of this year.

2008-07-17T13:10:00.000-04:00

Great Management Tools!

Here are some great, FREE management tools online... just for you!

Check them out!

2008-07-17T00:07:00.000-04:00

Does Your Airline Captain Want More Fuel?

How about YOU?

WASHINGTON - The pilots union for US Airways said Wednesday the airline is pressuring pilots to use less fuel than they feel is safe in order to save money.

The union also paid for a full-page ad in Wednesday's USA Today addressed to "our valued passengers." The ad accuses the airline of "a program of intimidation to pressure your captain to reduce fuel loads."

Ray said soaring jet fuel prices have sent all the airlines scrambling to find ways to cut the weight of airliners because the heavier the plane, the more fuel the plane burns. US Airways, based in Tempe, Ariz., has recently removed movie players, redesigned its meal carts and replaced glassware with plastic to cut weight.

But US Airways recently crossed the line when it ordered eight pilots who requested "an extra 10 to 15 minutes worth of fuel" to attend training sessions, or "check rides," that could put their pilot licenses in jeopardy, Ray said. The pilots were supposed to report for their training sessions Wednesday, he said.

"We feel they're trying to set an example," Ray said. "Captains shouldn't be intimidated into thinking, 'If I say I need this fuel, they may send me for a check ride.' ... Cutting peanuts off the plane, that's one thing. But cutting a captain's fuel level below his comfort, that's another thing."

US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said the decision to bring in the eight pilots for extra training was not meant to be punitive. "That's totally not true," he said.

2008-06-11T07:42:00.000-04:00

Top Management Blogs

The Top 100 Management and Leadership Blogs That All Managers Should Bookmark

By HR World Editors on June 10, 2008

Are you looking for inspiration on leadership and management? Lucky for you, the folks who live and breathe leadership and management every day enjoy sharing their thoughts and successes with the masses. Check out these top 100 blogs to help bolster your business acumen.

Leadership

CEO Blog — Time Leadership: Jim Estill, CEO of SYNNEX Canada, talks about how you, too, can meet business success.
Dispatches from the New World of Work: Tom Peters heads a consulting services company. His personal motto: “The starting point of all significant change is mindset.”
Extreme Leadership: Have you heard of extreme sports? Well, now there are extreme leaders, too. Steve Farber heads up Extreme Leaders Inc., a business-development company, and he also shares his thoughts on his site.
Leading Blog — Building a Community of Leaders: Michael McKinney thinks that everyone is a leader. Find out how to tap into your potential with his musings about learning, creativity and communication.
Leadership Turn: “Leaders DO — and it's your turn,” according to this site solely based on leadership and management.
Management Craft: Management is an art, according to Lisa Haneberg, a professional management and leadership trainer, coach, and organization-development consultant.
LeaderValues: LeaderValues aims to help leaders in all kinds of organizations and provide a meeting place for emerging trailblazers.
Slow Leadership: The title of this blog is legitimate: Postings are aimed at truly developing a leader through mindset and behavior change.
Say Leadership Coaching: This Polynesian-themed blog offers mentoring, coaching and training advice to managers and leaders.
Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Blog: Wally Bock’s very easy-to-scan site dishes up regular doses of information on leadership issues for North American business leaders.

Creativity and Inspiration

A Budding Contrapreneur: This snappy new blog by Matthew K. Ing talks about ideas and why some fail.
Liderlik/Leadership: Both English and German readers can check this blog to become inspired.
Life Beyond Code: Categories on this blog cover business models, distinguishing yourself and innovation.
Stephen Shapiro: Changing the Rules of Innovation and Creativity...: Steve shares his “unconventional approach on business innovation, creativity, goals, performance and critical thinking.”
Simplicity: The author of "Simplicity Is the Key" offers tips and tidbits on management, such as “Staff at the front line know all the answers. All the time.”
Springwise: Springwise offers a wellspring of ideas for entrepreneurs.
Orrin Woodward Leadership Team: Orrin discusses “ideas of consequence.”
Leading Answers: This blog offers leadership and agile project-management ideas, observations and resources.
Crossderry Blog: You’ll learn how to see “the forest for the trees” and take “the correct fork before heading into the woods” on this site.
Creative Energy Officer: Recharge weekly with “ideas and insights for optimistic, yet cynical humans.”
Troyworman.com: Troy Worman cultivates creativity in every page of this blog.
Chief Happiness Officer: Alex apparently is the “leading expert at happiness at work.” If you think “happiness” and “work” can’t possibly go together, fill up on his posts, which include research, lists and cute pictures.
Slacker Manager: With pictures, funny lists and useful tips, this slacker blog works hard to keep you interested.
The Bing Blog: You’ll surely find out what not to do to become an effective leader in this blog that covers bad jobs, bad bosses and how to zone out in an all-day meeting.
The Bogle E-Blog: The founder of The Vanguard Group Inc. tells you how to be as successful as he is.
Iinnovate: Iinnovate is a podcast by students at Stanford University's Business and Design Schools.
How to Change the World: This “practical blog for impractical people” shares the secrets of being an agent of change.
BrandSoul: This consultant wants to help you awaken the soul of business with some inspirations and ideas.
Digital Roam: You’ll clear up the fog in your mind’s eye with this site on visual thinking.
Self-Awareness
The Leadership Evolution: This site offers quotes, examples and information from books on leadership.
BrainCram: Brain Cram inundates your mind and soul with lengthy posts on you and your work.
Timothy Coote: Timothy Coote works for a French company but gives you his views in English.
Lead on Purpose: This site fosters discussions on being a leader in your organization.
The Recovering Leader: Another behavior-modification approach to building your inner leader can be found at this blog.
Marshall Goldsmith Blog: The co-founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners LLC, a network of top-level executive coaches, wants to help “successful leaders get even better.”
The Practice of Leadership: How-tos and inspiring quotes fill this blog.
Zinger On Strength-Based Leadership:“Strength-based leadership applies strengths, caring and energy in the service of engagement. Powerful leaders transform energy into engagement leading to improved results.”
Seth Godin's BLog: The best-selling author, entrepreneur and “agent of change” gives you personal insights on the leadership landscape.
800-CEO-READ Blog: Do what the blog says and read up on the latest on business books, authors and the publishing industry.
Bigger Isn't Always Better: This blog imparts the wisdoms of the book of the same name, which was written by management consultant Bob Tomasko.
The Long Tail: Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, shares the theories behind his book "The Long Tail," which purports that the economy is shifting its attention from mainstream products and markets to niches.
David Maister: This leading authority on the management of professional-service firms shares his ideas with readers.
Mavericks at Work: This blog covers "Mavericks at Work," a veritable how-to book for “what-if executives and entrepreneurs — a collection of new and provocative answers to some of the most basic questions facing companies of every size and leaders in every field.”
Development, Marketing and Finance
Kent Blumberg: Learn leadership, strategy and performance tips at this site.
Pink Slip: Maureen Rogers wants to make sure that you don’t get the pink slip and offers advice on business lessons learned the hard way.
Ed Batista: Executive coach and change-management consultant Ed Batista wants to tell you how to become the best possible leader.
Business Pundit: Learn how to cope when your venture fails, the six traits of idiot bosses and other useful leadership information.
Sanders Says: “Sanders Says is an advice Weblog about business, culture and spirit.”
Managing Leadership: Stay on your toes with this blog “designed to help busy directors and executives understand how leadership really works in their organizations.
Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog: Get daily doses of leadership development advice on the go.
SustainableWork: Novices can get tips for innovation, startups and emerging enterprises, while established leaders can get know-how on developing sustainable new products and services.
Signal vs. Noise: This blog discusses design, business, experience, simplicity, the Web, culture and more.
apbLIFESUCCESS Blog: Positive posts permeate this site.
Mary Schmidt: This marketing troubleshooter wants to help you get your business back on track.
Trusted Advisor Associates: Speaker and executive educator Charles H. Green tells you how to build trust in your business.
ASK THE CZAR: You’ll never again require business advice from another source, according to Gerry “the Czar” Czarnecki.
The Trump Blog: Financial fodder straight from the Don’s mouth.
The Becker-Posner Blog: Becker and Posner are the Siskel and Ebert of business and financial info.
Digital Rules: The Blog: The publisher of Forbes magazine blogs about — you guessed it — business and finance, along with a smattering of politics.
Feld Thoughts: Emailing, rejection and photos of bloody injuries greet you on this blog by Brad Feld, an investor and entrepreneur.
Using Technology
Web Worker Daily: The site amasses advice for using the Web for work..
Biz Stone: The co-founder and creative director of Twitter ruminates on social media and business.
Scobleizer: Known as a “technical evangelist,” Robert Scoble can help you discover the newest ways of communicating with customers.
Marketing with Technology and More: Jordan Ayan, CEO of SubscriberMail LLC, an email-marketing service, offers tips on marketing using technology and email marketing.
The Business Blog at Intuitive.com: These online strategies and communication tips are applicable to leadership.
TomBomb.com: Tom Hayes is the bomb at discussing viral business.
MarketingProfs Daily Fix: These professors will tell you how to market your business using social-media, Web 2.0 and other tools.
Daniel H. Pink: Businessman, author and lecturer Dan Pink blogs about business and technology in the new workplace.
Listen Up: John Porcaro's unofficial blog about marketing, public relations, the Xbox, management and personal life.
Pause: Personal anecdotes pepper this blog by Jory Des Jardins, a media consultant who works with businesses and media companies to develop communications strategies.
Getting Results
Steve Yastrow: Reinvent the way your company connects with customers through Yastrow’s know-how.
Bob Sutton: Gear up to get better results with the professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University's School of Engineering.
PyroMarketing: Greg Stielstra, author of "PyroMarketing: The Four Step Strategy to Ignite Customer Evangelists and Keep Them For Life," shares his marketing mastery on his blog.
Bird's Eye View: Learn how to better engage employees and get results with this blog by Susan W. Bird, an author and expert on leadership.
ManagementIQ: BusinessWeek writers Diane Brady, Michelle Conlin and Jena McGregor gather insights from the business thinkers and critique the latest management trends to help you manage smarter.
Fred Reichheld: Fred Reichheld blogs about bettering your business through customer, employee and partner loyalty.
Cali and Jody: Cali and Jody created ROWE — Results-Only Work Environment — to reinvent the relationship between employers and the people who get the work done.
Made to Stick: Another blog based on a book, this one is about communicating ideas that will sink in.
KR Connect: Kevin Roberts serves as the CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world's leading creative organizations, which employs more than 7,000 people in 83 countries. Translation: He knows his stuff.
Management by Baseball: “Management consultant and ex-baseball reporter Jeff Angus shows you almost everything you need to know about management you can learn from baseball.”
Rock & Roll Lessons: John O’Leary blogs about business lessons from rock-and-roll bands, which he also using to compile a book.
Play the Game of Life: Columbia University Business School graduate and world traveler Ryan Petersen shares his thoughts on business.
Branding
The Engaging Brand Blog: Employee-management tips permeate this blog by Anna Farmery, speaker and social-media coach.
Influxinsights: “The goal of Influx is to provide ideas for brands that help connect them to culture and allow them to thrive” by “using a combination of skill sets: Account planning, anthropology, trend forecasting and creativity, Influx helps create future pathways for brands.”
Hog Blog: Action, insight and inspiration will make you happy that you checked out these musings from a speaker, author and branding expert on radical innovation.
MartinLindstrom.com: Martin Lindstrom, who founded his own advertising agency at the age of 12, is a branding guru who imparts knowledge on transforming marketing strategies into positive business results.
Name Wire: Experts with experience at Pillsbury, Kraft Foods Inc., Pizza Hut inc. and other companies blog about brand development and strategy.
The Simmons SOM Library Blog: This blog is for the Simmons College School of Management community and is maintained by the school's librarians.
Frontline Leadership TRENDS: Get leadership tips, lessons and ideas.
Personal Branding Blog: Learn how to not abandon your brand but instead see it through from conception to completion and beyond.
What's Your Brand Mantra?: Jennifer Rice blogs about brand strategy, integrated marketing communications and customer research.
Metacool: Marketer, engineer and educator Diego Rodriguez wants to inspire your innovation.
Women
The Power of the Purse: Fara Warner finesses on how companies can cater to “the world’s most important consumers”— women.
The Wild WE: This fun blog targets businesswomen.
WonderBranding: More useful information on marketing to women appears on Michele Miller’s blog.
Great Leadership: Opinions on information on leadership and leadership development by Dan McCarthy, manager of leadership and management development at an undisclosed Fortune 500 company.
Learned on Women: This blog researches female customers to help your business target them.
Boomer Women Marketing: Mary Brown, president and founder of Imago Creative — the only marketing firm in the U.S. specializes exclusively in marketing to baby boomer women — shares her beliefs about creative branding relying on human connections.
Rethink Pink: News about marketing to women can be found at this blog.
Women's Leadership Exchange Blog: Leslie Grossman threads news and politics with business basics for women.

The Top 25 HR Blogs

By David Hakala on December 19, 2007

Surveying the HR blogosphere can be like searching for a rose in a desert. The landscape is littered with abandoned efforts, but there is a close-knit family.

Career Hub: This blog focuses on career and job-search strategies and tactics. No fewer than 24 career-counseling and employment professionals contribute to its content. Career Hub contains a wealth of information.
Cheezhead: Author Joel Cheesman is one of the most widely read bloggers on emerging recruitment issues and has won several “best of” awards in the category. The tiniest new development doesn't get past Cheesman, and he’s guaranteed to blog about it.
SixDegrees from Dave: Dave Mendoza is recognized for his expertise in the integration of sourcing methodologies, employment branding and recruitment techniques. SixDegrees from Dave spotlights HR industry leaders, sourcing gurus, global staffing practices and social networking.
Gautam Ghosh: A prolific blogger, HR management consultant Gautam Ghosh writes from India, though most of his posts on every conceivable HR topic have a global tone to them.
Insourced's Employment and Jobs Blog: It’s hard to say which is more attractive, the blog or the job-search engine. The blog touches on issues ranging from job hunting to work/life balance, while the search engine covers the entire United States.
Evil HR Lady: Written anonymously by “an HR professional in a Fortune 500 company,” this blog reeks of “been there.” The Evil HR Lady has seen it all, done it all and blogs about it all.
good to know: Martin Burns, recruiting manager for ZoomInfo Inc., writes this blog about career-search and recruitment practices. Tips on interviewing from either side of the desk, how to source candidates online, what to wear (never sandals) and how to write a cover letter are all covered.
GoodRecruits: Robert Merrell, a technical recruiter and talent manager for executives, hiring managers and job seekers, writes the GoodRecruits blog. His main theme is how to use blogs as marketing and communications tools in job searches or recruiting.
HR Tests: Written by Bryan Baldwin, an HR consultant in Olympia, Wash., this blog has timely news of laws, regulations, products and conferences concerning testing and assessment instruments. Baldwin also writes the HR Coal blog, which deals primarily with the management of technical talent.
HR Thoughts: A good all-around HR blog covering everything from recruitment to EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs) to performance evaluations to professional book reviews and more. It's written by Lisa Rosendahl, an HR manager in a medical facility.
Beyond HR: Written by an anonymous HR professional, this blog covers the leading edge of employment branding, search-engine sourcing and other modern HR innovations.
Dr. John Sullivan & Associates: Sullivan is a consultant to management on everything related to HR. His blog is full of articles on college recruiting, employee-screening and -assessment tests, training, and new-hire orientation.
HR and Strategies: This graduate student combines HR philosophies and news in a blog that is at once thoughtful and informative.
HR Daily Advisor: Published by BLR Business & Legal Reports, a vendor of training aids and resources for HR professionals, HR Daily Advisor offers a deep and broad archive of tips on ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), compensation, FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act)/wages, harassment, hiring and recruiting, general HR management, and more.
HRMetrics.org: HRMetrics.org is all about things that can be measured and how to measure them — from retention effectiveness to home worker productivity.
HR Web Café: This blog concerns general workplace issues, employment matters and work trends. Sponsored by ESI Employee Assistance Group (an EAP), its posts are frequent and detailed.
Breaking Human Resource News: This is a welcome blog, serving up constantly updated news about products and services for the HR professional, from software to EAPs.
CharlotteRecruiting: Written by a recruiting specialist in Charlotte, N.C., this blog has advice on managing staffing firms, interviewing and other recruiting topics.
Jibber Jobber: Jason Alba runs this popular blog, which is heavy on summaries and links to other HR bloggers’ posts. This is a great blog for quickly scanning the best posts of the day. Jason’s own posts and guest bloggers make insightful reading, too.
Chief Happiness Officer: Consultant Alexander Kjerulf teaches HR departments and entrepreneurs how to transform their workplaces from dreary and stressful to fun, energized and happy.
Generations@Work: This blog will help you relieve the tensions among Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y workers. It is written by Russell Eckel, an expert in organizational and workforce development who now consults mainly on the Millenial Generation.
Human Resources 101: As the title implies, this blog steps through the nitty-gritty of HR management and policy development, with topics such as “How Graphic Should A Workplace Safety Ad Be?” and “50 Behavior-Based Interview Questions.”
Employment Law Blog: Check out this great blog to learn how to throw an office party without being sued, download forms, stay abreast of employee-rights decisions and much more.
Inside Human Resources Blog: A good place to learn about trends in workforce demographics and the attitudes of younger generations.
The Human Capitalist: A well-informed review of news about HR technology written by industry guru Jason Corsello, a vice president with HR technology consultancy Knowledge Infusion.

10 Must-Read Online-Recruiting Blogs

By David Hakala on April 3, 2008

The Web is full of blogs written by and for recruiting professionals. One site, Recruitingblogs.com, has over 3,000 members.

Many are personal blogs, full of random ramblings about politics, ecology, Web 2.0 and other unrelated subjects. Others are promotions of seminars, webinars, books and training workshops offered by the blogs’ proprietors. What the online-recruiting blog world really needs is a blog that is all about the techniques of online recruiting. Most blogs drop a hint or two, but the real trade secrets seem to be locked up in for-fee seminars and other products. That’s to be expected in a hot industry where the tricks of the trade are learned by trial and error.

But there are some blogs that focus on recruiting topics. Here are a few of the best:

1. Six Degrees From Dave: Dave is a principal of recruitment-training firm Dave Mendoza & Associates Inc. Self-described as a “master cybersleuth," Mendoza is an affiliate partner of Shally Sheckert’s Jobmachine.com. His blog spotlights HR-industry leaders, sourcing gurus, global-staffing practices and social networking. It was also recently named Best Overall Recruitment Blog of 2007 by Hireability.com.

2. Advanced Online Recruiting Techniques: Blog author Glenn Gutmacher has been an interactive-products manager for Community Newspaper Company, where he launched the JobSmart site in 1996. Since then, Gutmacher has focused on teaching companies the ins and outs of using the Internet to recruit talent. His blog is full of tips on how to find managerial candidates based on number of direct reports, how to find qualified candidates on LinkedIn.com, how online marriage announcements can generate candidates and much more.

3. Krista Bradford: Bradford is an Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist turned retained-search consultant. Her firm, The Good Search, was founded in 1997. Bradford’s self-titled blog focuses on brand-building and using the Internet to generate buzz about a company. She also discusses relationships between recruiters and employers, social networks, how to mine résumés for contacts within a company and other topics of interest to recruiters and HR professionals. Her recent post about the valuable connection between HR and corporate social responsibility is worth a read.

4. Shally's Blog (on Jobmachine.com): This blog draws people to Shally Sheckert’s candidate-sourcing, research-consulting and seminar business. The posts are frequent and interesting to recruiting professionals. The latest, as of this writing, concerns a new LinkedIn feature that provides competitive intelligence on contacts' companies. Other posts discuss search-engine optimization for career sites; software that integrates with LinkedIn and other business networks; and plugs for various recruiting seminars put on by Sheckert and his colleagues.

5. Old Cheezhead: This blog is authored by Joel Cheesman, a well-known blogger, speaker, entrepreneur and “agent of change” for online-recruitment topics. Cheesman is a firm believer in the power of search-engine optimization to promote companies’ career sites and job listings. His motto is, “You don’t need Monster when have Google.” The online-recruitment category of his blog features interviews with major industry players, news about startup job sites and social networks, tips on video résumés, workplace diversity and more.

6. CollegeRecruiter.com Blog: This corporate blog by the CollegeRecruiter.com career site is full of news about Facebook and MySpace applications; the economy and recruiting; new recruiting and interviewing techniques (e.g., adidas Group gives away free webcams to short-listed interviewees); and how small firms are using Facebook and YouTube LLC to recruit entry-level employees. Articles for both recruiters and job seekers abound, such as “How to Recruit Great Interns” and “Salary Negotiation Tips for College Students and Recent Grads.”

7. RecruitingBloggers.com: RecruitingBloggers.com aggregates blog posts from around the recruiting-blog world. Articles are by some of the top names in online recruiting, such as Jim Stroud. Recent topics include recruitment advertising, the outlook for recent college graduates, new Facebook applications, social media relationships and “flip searching” to find passive candidates.

8. GoodRecruits: This blog “offers tips, resources and insight on how to get the most out of those recruiting dollars,” and is maintained by Mary Elaine Ramos. It concerns offline as well as online recruiting techniques, such as recruitment advertising, interviewing skills and salary negotiations.

9. Tales From the Digital Side: Tales From the Digital Side is a well-written blog by Laura Shannon, vice president of Interactive Sourcing & Strategy for Bernard Hodes Group. Shannon has been involved in online recruitment since 2000. Her blog discusses the recruitment value of affinity circles, demographically targeted recruitment advertisements on Google, search-engine optimization strategy for career sites, behavioral targeting in recruitment advertising and much more.

10. Ask The Recruiter: This blog is by “Dakotta”, who works in the online-media section of the Los Angeles Times. Recent topics include “How to find diversity candidates on LinkedIn," “Finding Résumés with Social Networking" and “Grokker.com: A Recruiter’s 2nd Best Friend”. Dakotta also speculates on general HR topics like creating a well-balanced work environment and using HR metrics to measure the effectiveness of different recruiting channels.

2008-05-23T17:59:00.000-04:00

Decision Trees in Politics

Interesting use of a decision tree to explain which candidate (Clinton or Obama) would win what county in the primaries.

2008-05-22T11:37:00.000-04:00

Even Churches Have Bad Management

When I think of bad management practices, I usually think of large corporations.

But large churches suffer some of the same maladies...

Take, for example, the recent reorganization of the Catholic Church in the New York area.

Of course, this is also a sad reminder and echo of the recent sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.

I suppose this is a natural result of a medieval church management style, a model based upon the Roman Empire, kings and queens, that rewards unswerving fealty to the very top of the organization, at the ongoing expense (and potential punishment) of absolutely anyone else who dares challenge (or oppose) the supreme leader. I would not recommend this particular dictatorial management approach to anyone, other than those at the very top who lack any confidence in the general good inherent in all mankind.

Ever watch the EWTN Catholic cable TV network? Have you noticed that on many shows, there is almost always a picture of the current Pope hanging in the background somewhere? Some might say this is so merely to honor the "vicar of Christ on earth walking among us today." Others, of a decidedly less charitable bent, might say that this is an uninhibited example of sucking up to power.

As to the current situation in the New York Archdiocese, here are some telling comments from priests and pastors... the "employees and middle managers of the church"... normally the most disciplined and faithful of the flock... who are expected to work 6 days a week without complaint, and give up any hope of what others may see to be a normal life... no spouse, no kids, complete and total obedience without any question whatsoever to their boss (the bishop), exceedingly poor career opportunities outside the church (who wants to hire an ex-priest?), poor income, etc. After all this (for decade after decade in many cases), it must certainly make the depths of your heart ache for the pain these men (and they are ALL men, aren't they?) are expressing here:

The reorganization bore the distinct odor of appearing, as one cleric put it, "unjustly punitive."

In circles of every stripe, the dominant reaction -- both from those
being moved and those staying in place -- has been a mix of sadness,
pain, malaise and even lower morale.

The mood of the presbyterate had fallen again, this time to "the worst I've ever seen it."

"We might just lose guys over this."

Openly climaxed in October 2006 with the circulation of an anonymous letter among the clergy calling for a vote of no-confidence in the cardinal.

"At no time has the relationship between the Ordinary and the priests
of the Archdiocese been so fractured and seemingly hopeless as it is
now,"

During the last six years, the Cardinal’s relations with the Priests of
New York have been defined by dishonesty, deception, disinterest and
disregard. Far too many of our brothers can speak personally of the
arrogant and cavalier manner in which they have been treated by the
Cardinal. Early in his tenure, the cruel and ruthless way in which
several priests who served on the seminary faculty were dismissed, was
an adumbration of how many other priests would also be treated. Time
and again, the Cardinal fails to be the Father that every bishop must
be to his priests.

A sad reminder of the Cardinal’s decision to leave New York only two
days after the September 11 attack, during a time when the city desperately needed a
spiritual leader.

No one will go “on the record” because they fear how the cardinal might react.

Unpleasantness abounds.

Revealed continued dissatisfaction with the cardinal’s management
style. They said Cardinal Egan had not only disregarded the personnel
board in recent years, but had also failed to provide any guidance on
how to handle the transition for those priests and congregations
affected by the transfers.

Many priests said that this had ultimately affected morale — a precious commodity among an increasingly aging and overworked clergy.

“There
are some priests who are hurting right now and are devastated,” said
one priest who has been fielding calls from colleagues. “And no one is
officially reaching out to them. That I emphatically know. There is no
outreach right now.”

"No one knew it was coming," said one pastor who was reassigned.
"We haven't been given a reason, and many of us are terribly confused
about what's taken place. It's kind of unprecedented, really."

A common view expressed by priests, those affected by the moves
and others, is that Egan is settling scores before his expected
retirement.

"What does it appear to be about?" said one pastor who is being
reassigned. "Rewarding the priests he likes and punishing the priests
he doesn't. It appears that way."

"There is a certain amount of arrogance and highhandedness involved."

"I have never seen morale this bad," he said. "I talked to a guy today who is absolutely broken."

--------------------

Conflict Resolution

from Whispers in the Loggia by Rocco Palmo

After
years of tensions between the two sides -- including a March call from
60% of the active presbyterate for his ouster, a seeming Vatican hand-slap and various skirmishes over finances -- long-embattled Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton is seeking dialogue with his priests:

The
meetings will include participation by The Reid Group, a non-profit
that bills itself as "...a consultation and mediation service which
specializes in assisting Catholic organizations transform challenges
into opportunities."

In a May 26 letter to priests, Braxton
stated, "The goal of the discussions was to explore ways of working
toward better communication among priests in order to move beyond the
current situation."

The discussions will be coordinated by the
Presbyteral Council, a priests' organization that was instrumental in
raising criticism of Braxton for misusing money donated to restricted
funds and failing to meet with priests concerning other issues.

The sessions, which will continue into the fall, will not be made public.

"It
is important that these conversations take place in the prayerful
spirit of Christian fraternity and not in the public spotlight," the
letter said.

Noting the state of affairs in some
dioceses which have seen priests and bishops at loggerheads in the
years since the sex-abuse scandals eruped on the national stage in
2002, Pope Benedict told the nation's bishops
during his mid-April visit that "a vital part of your task is to
strengthen relationships with your clergy," especially in venues where,
he said, "tension has arisen" between the two.

"It is important
that you continue to show [priests] your concern," the Pope added, "to
support them, and to lead by example. In this way you will surely help
them to encounter the living God, and point them towards the
life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks.

"If you
yourselves live in a manner closely configured to Christ, the Good
Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, you will inspire your
brother priests to rededicate themselves to the service of their flocks
with Christ-like generosity. Indeed, a clearer focus upon the imitation
of Christ in holiness of life is exactly what is needed in order for us
to move forward."

And this...

Today, June 27, 2008 at noon in Rome (5 a.m. CDT), it was announced that His
Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has named Archbishop Raymond Burke prefect of the Supreme
Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, effective immediately. With the
announcement, he ceased to be the Archbishop of St. Louis.

"Oh, my gosh, that is marvelous news," said one parish priest on
hearing the news Friday morning. He declined to allow his name to be
used. "The priest morale here has been so low."

"I've been getting phone calls since 6 o'clock this morning from
parishioners singing 'Ding, dong, the archbishop is gone,'" said the
Rev. Marek Bozek, who, along with his parish board, were excommunicated
by Burke after a long-simmering dispute over control of St. Stanislaus
Kostka's assets.

"Catholics in St. Louis are exhausted after 4 1/2 years of constant scandal and control by Archbishop Burke," Bozek added.

Some see him as a champion of orthodoxy who represents a refreshing
return to church values. Others view him as sorely lacking as a pastor,
an unbending stickler for the letter of the law. His targets said he
fought them using arcane, medieval church codes they could barely
decipher.

Though warm and charming one-on-one with the laity and on pilgrimages
he led, his official communications and actions with church members has
often left them stunned because his efforts to help them understand his
actions failed.

"I've been frustrated, and bothered that the impression of me has been
quite negative ... as unpleasant, arrogant," Burke said Friday,
reflecting on his time here. "I've tried to be a good shepherd for the
flock."

Have you noticed from the above sample of press reports that these unfavorable opinions seem to be everywhere in the Catholic Church... and not merely confined to just one bishop or just one diocese?

And isn't it amazing that a bishop who has been focus of widespread dissatisfaction has often subsequently been promoted to the highest levels of the church, as happened both in Boston and St. Louis?

Go figure.

Could it be that it is the general style of church management that is at fault?

--------------------

Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning

By Kerry Kennedy

Today, like many Catholics, Kennedy has a hard time reconciling her own views with some of the teachings and actions of her church; in
fact, she often can't. So Kennedy decided to talk with well-known
Americans about their often complicated relationships with the Catholic
faith; the result is a revealing book being released tomorrow.

The
book, "Being Catholic Now," offers an unusually intimate view of how
much being raised Catholic shapes the identity of many prominent
Americans, but also how much tension many feel with the institutional
church.

"Don't even let me go into Cardinal [Bernard F.] Law and
that he has been rewarded with a princely title in Rome," House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi told Kennedy, referring to the former archbishop of
Boston, who resigned over the sex abuse scandal and now oversees a
prominent basilica in Rome. "It is just appalling. I cannot deal with
that, so I don't."

Bill O'Reilly, the FOX News personality, told
Kennedy, "Cardinal Law is a villain. I got him removed from office in
Boston. I pounded him relentlessly, because he was not doing what he
should have for the protection of children in this country."

And
Anne Burke, an Illinois Supreme Court justice who was appointed by the
American bishops to a board overseeing the church's response to the
clergy abuse scandal, was clearly infuriated by her up-close view of
the church's upper management.

"It's the culture of the
administration of the Catholic Church in the United States that
permitted a climate of cover-up to go on for the past 50 years; it's
the same culture and it's still out there today," Burke said. "Things
have hit rock bottom in the Catholic Church, and it's going to get
worse."

-----------------------------

9/17/08

"Our present infrastructure isn't sustainable," said Msgr. John J.
Bonzagni, director of pastoral planning at the Diocese of Springfield,
which expects to have 25 fewer priests in just seven years.

The trend also suggests that scars from the six-year-old clergy abuse scandal may be deepening rather than fading.

The
scandal has cost U.S. Catholic archdioceses $2 billion, and it is not
over. In May, a former altar boy who accused a priest of molesting him
30 years ago won an $8.7 million jury verdict against Vermont's Diocese
of Burlington. A judge put a $10 million lien on the diocese's
headquarters.

More than 850 parishes nationwide have shut since
1995 -- the majority since 2000, according to figures compiled by the
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown
University, a Catholic university in Washington.

--------------------------------

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame...

...or at least, its legendary former President, Fr. Theodore Hesburgh.
The Wall Street Journal sat down for a chat with this 91-year-old icon
recently.

A snip: WSJ:
In your day, the Church produced figures such as Bishop Sheen and
Father Drinan and Pope John XXIII. Who are the Catholic leaders today
of their caliber? Are there any?

Father
Hesburgh: That's a fair question. I'm not in a position to come up with
an answer, but I have my ideas about it. I think somehow, either in the
educational system for clergy or in the kind of people we attract to
the clergy, we are going to have to take a very close look at that,
because whatever we're doing, let's say it's not working. The number of
Catholic clergymen is going down, and the same is probably true of many
other churches. It's one of the key problems that exists in our
country, and we ought to find a way of getting at that problem.

The
Catholic Church, like any other human organization, depends on
leadership, and leadership depends on performance. If you look for
leaders in a given group and you don't find them, something is wrong.
When you had leaders, such as you just mentioned, a few decades ago, I
have to say the Church seemed more vital to most people, even to people
outside the church.

Is the lack of leadership why the Church ended up in the priests' scandal?

Father
Hesburgh: Everything is part of an organic whole, and the scandal is
one aspect. I wouldn't want to be personally buffaloed about whether
there was a scandal, because there is no question there was. The answer
is to find a different caliber of training and of selection and of
inspiration of young men going into priesthood. And I think, more and
more, women have to be involved in this, and I suspect that in the long
run, married people are going to be a lot more involved in this whole
problem than we have today.

It has to evolve over time. I have
no problem with females or married people as priests, but I realize
that the majority of the leadership in the Church would. But what's
important is that people get the sacraments. You have to remember,
there were married priests, even married popes, in the first 1,000
years of the church.

----------------------

2008-05-10T14:07:00.000-04:00

Where Goes America?

Looking for an interesting summer read?

Concerned about America's place in the global society?

Look no further!

The New York Times has not just ONE (A Challenge for the US: Sun Rising in the East), but TWO (The New World) reviews of this important new book:

The Post American World, By Fareed Zakaria, 292 pages. W. W. Norton & Company. $25.95

In his book, Mr. Zakaria writes that America remains a politico-military superpower, but “in every other dimension — industrial, financial, educational, social, cultural — the distribution of power is shifting, moving away from American dominance.” With the rise of China, India and other emerging markets, with economic growth sweeping much of the planet, and the world becoming increasingly decentralized and interconnected, he contends, “we are moving into a post-American world, one defined and directed from many places and by many people.”

America's future: Good or bad? Up or down? You be the judge of this book which is being discussed in boardrooms and backyards all over the globe.

If it does nothing else, it will get you thinking about America's place in the world order over coming decades.

Highly recommended!

2008-04-27T18:28:00.000-04:00

What MBAs Want

In a recent survey of M.B.A. students at 15 major business schools, respondents listed the factors most important to them in choosing a job. The No. 1 factor was “challenging and diverse job responsibilities.” Compensation came in second, followed by work-life balance.

In keeping with not making money the be-all and end-all, the fourth-most-important factor in a job was “potential to make a contribution to society.” About a quarter of the respondents named this as a priority in 2007, compared with just 15 percent in 2002, the last time the survey was conducted.

2008-04-25T19:19:00.000-04:00

Proctor & Gamble

A great Charlie Rose interview with A.G. Lafley, the CEO of P&G, the consumer products company.

He recently wrote a book entitled "The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation".

The principles of innovation include: motivating purpose and values; stretching goals; choiceful strategies; unique core strengths; enabling structures; consistent and reliable systems; a courageous and connected culture; and inspiring leadership.

A game-changer is a visionary strategist who alters the game his business plays or conceives an entirely new game; a creator who uses innovation as the basis for sustaining profitable organic growth and consistently improving margins; a leader who understands that the consumer or customer - not the CEO - is boss; a catalyst who uses innovation to drive every element of business from strategy to organization, and from budgeting and resource allocation to selecting, rewarding, and promoting people; an integrator who sees innovation as an integrated end-to-end process, not a series of discrete steps; a breaker of chains of commoditization who creates differentiated and value-added brands and businesses through innovation; and a hardheaded humanist who sees innovation as a social process and understands that human interaction - how people talk and work together - is the key to innovation, not just technology.

Can't be missed!

2008-04-09T15:00:00.000-04:00

Government Credit Cards

Who knew that anyone could do this?

Lingerie, iPods on government credit cards

GAO: Federal employees charged millions to government credit/debit cards
The charges include: Internet dating services, iPods, expensive clothing, lingerie
The audit also found agencies could not account for nearly $2 million worth of items
Nearly half of transactions made in the 2006 fiscal year were improper

WASHINGTON Federal employees charged millions of dollars to government credit or debit cards, according to a Government Accountability Office study released Wednesday.

Those charges include Internet dating services, iPods, expensive clothing, a $13,500 dinner and lingerie to be worn during jungle training in Ecuador, the study said.

The audit also found that government agencies could not account for nearly $2 million worth of items, which included computer servers, laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras.

Nearly half of transactions made in the 2006 fiscal year with government credit or debit cards -- referred to as "purchase cards" -- were improper, the study found, and the audit condemned the government-wide "rate of failure" as "unacceptably high."

The improper purchases were either not authorized or did not meet the government's requirements for using purchase cards, the study said.

Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, and Carl Levin, D-Michigan, initiated the investigation into the use of government cards.

"Too many government employees have viewed purchases cards as their personal line of credit. It's time to cut up their cards and start over," Coleman said in a news release about the GAO study.

"The basic rules for authorizing purchases and accounting for goods and services are not that difficult: Use the card for legitimate purchases, not to cover the costs of buying yourself an iPod," he added.

The study used scientific sampling to examine spending across federal agencies, and mined data from purchases made from July 1, 2005, through September 30, 2006. The study categorizes the inappropriate purchases as "fraudulent," "abusive," or "improper."

In the fraudulent category, the most egregious case involved a Forest Service employee writing about 180 credit-card-linked checks worth $642,000 to an individual with whom the employee shared living quarters and a bank account.

"All transactions were undetected by the agency," the report said.

After an investigation initiated by a tip from a whistle-blower, the employee was indicted and pleaded guilty in June 2007 to embezzlement and tax fraud, the study said.

The employee was sentenced to 21 months of prison and was required to pay over $642,000 in restitution.

In another fraudulent case, a postmaster used a government credit card to subscribe to two Internet dating sites, the study said, and the employee also used a government computer to access pornographic sites.

The postmaster racked up $1,100 in charges for the dating services, it said, and "the activity went unnoticed" by U.S. Postal Service for a full year.

After an investigation, the employee paid back the $1,100, the study said. He was also removed from his position.

In a case characterized as abusive, four Department of Defense employees purchased $77,000 in clothing and accessories for service members from high-end clothing and sporting goods stores, including stores such as Brooks Brothers, Talbots and Johnston Murphy, the study said.

The DOD purchased the items to provide service members with civilian clothing while they worked at American embassies, the cardholders said, according to the study.

However, the purchases far exceeded the maximum allowance of $860 per person for civilian attire, the study noted.

In another case, USPS spent $13,500 on a dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse for employees who were attending a national postal forum in Orlando, Florida.

The dinner included more than 200 appetizers and the agency paid for about $3,000 of alcoholic drinks, including more than 40 bottles of wine and top-shelf liquor, the study said. It deemed the dinner as an "excessive cost."

Another case, described as a "questionable government need," involved a State Department employee who spent $360 on women's underwear and lingerie to wear during jungle training by "trainees of a drug enforcement program in Ecuador."

A State Department official agreed that the charge, for items purchased from Seduccion Boutique, was "questionable" and said it should not have been approved.

About 300,000 government employees use purchase cards, the study said. The purchase card system, which was established in the late 1980s, was designed to streamline federal purchasing, and the cards are typically are intended for purchases of $2,500 or less.

All purchases are to follow federal guidelines, which include proper authorization and independent receipt and acceptance.

2008-04-02T11:20:00.000-04:00

The Scattered Mind

From...

Founders: Overcome ‘The tyranny of the scattered mind’!

from Found+READ by Carleen Hawn

New York Times columnist David Brooks is one of my favorites. Without fail, Brooks’ weekly observations on human behavior transcend his mandate as a political and economics commentator, delivering lessons on leadership, ambition, strategy and failure relevant to anyone — especially founders. (See our post on Brook’s recent column about behavioral breakdown among high-achievers called The Rank-Link Imbalance.)

Yesterday’s column, “Pitching With Purpose” has particular value. It’s about prioritizing task-oriented discipline — above even courage or creativity — to affect change in your work. In Brooks’ demonstration, ‘the work’ happens to be Major League pitching, but as he writes, “it’s easiest to change the mind by changing behavior, and that’s probably as true in the office as on the pitching mound.”

We all have a success dogma that pays mental homage (or at least lip service!) to discipline. Brooks’ writes that this isn’t good enough:

you can’t just urge someone to be disciplined; you have to build a structure of behavior and attitude. Behavior shapes thought. If a player disciplines his behavior, then he will also discipline his mind.

Discipline your behavior. Affect the mind. Affect change. Sounds easy enough…

Brooks refers to the book “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching” by sports psychologist H.A. Dorfman, who forced behavioral regimens on his clients, including “rituals” and “repetition,” to cure pitchers who suffered for “thinking about a thousand and one things up on the mound.” Low and behold, by freeing pitchers of their “mental tyranny,” Dorfman improved their performance, too.

Being consummate multi-taskers, founders no doubt suffer the “mental tyranny” of thinking about 1,001 things, when what you really should be thinking about is only the task at hand (strike zone!).

Happily, there are several tips in Brooks’ essay to help you “free your mind”:

1) Repetition isn’t enough. Sometimes you gotta pretend.

Just as a bike is better balanced when it is going forward, a pitcher’s mind is better balanced when it is unceasingly aggressive. If a pitcher doesn’t actually feel this way when he enters a game, Dorfman asks him to pretend. If your body impersonates an attitude long enough, then the mind begins to adopt it.

2) Re-examine the geography of your workplace.

There are two locales in a pitcher’s universe — on the mound and off the mound. Off the mound is for thinking about the past and future, on the mound is for thinking about the present. When a pitcher is on the pitching rubber, Dorfman writes, he should only think about three things: pitch selection, pitch location and the catcher’s glove, his target. If he finds himself thinking about something else, he should step off the rubber.

While at work, think about nothing but your business-task at hand, or “step off the rubber.”

3) Focus more on your task-effort (which you control), less on responses to it (which you don’t).

A pitcher shouldn’t judge himself by how the batters hit his pitches, but instead by whether he threw the pitch he wanted to throw.

4) Focusing on the (comparatively) small task at hand will arrest diverted thinking about the (comparatively large) ego involved.

A baseball game is a spectacle, with a thousand points of interest. But Dorfman reduces it all to a series of simple tasks. The pitcher’s personality isn’t at the center. His talent isn’t at the center. The task is at the center.

Dorfman’s discipline theory is rooted in his original belief that “it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any craft — three hours of practice every day for 10 years.” Have you mastered your craft? By his measure, I’m not close to mastering mine, but after reading Brooks’ column, I’m only too eager to “free my mind” and get more disciplined about it.

2008-04-02T09:52:00.000-04:00

China on My Mind

Here are a few recently published books about doing business in China... for your reading pleasure and serious professional consideration....

Operation China: From Strategy to Execution, by Jimmy Hexter and Jonathan Woezel

A "how to" manual.

Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours, by Tarun Khanna

A "compare and contrast" look at the region.

In the Jaws of the Dragon: America's fate in the Coming Era of Chinese Hegemony, by Eamonn Fingleton

China has a long term strategy and the US doesn't.

The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash, by Charles Morris

Not about China per se, but about the coming economic meltdown in the US.

2008-03-28T14:41:00.000-04:00

Happiness Habits

Being happy is of great importance to your success in life.

Having happy employees is essential to having a prosperous, thriving business.

So... how do you become "happy"?

In her book...

Happy for No Reason - 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out, Marci Shimoff shares her research.

Her conclusions, based upon numerous interviews?

Happy people can be described as...

• Having a sense of lightness or buoyancy

• Feeling alive, vital, energetic

• Having a sense of flow, openness

• Feeling love and compassion for yourself and others

• Having passion about your life and purpose

• Feeling gratitude, forgiveness

• Being at peace with life

• Being fully present in the moment

How to BE happy?

1. The Foundation—Take Ownership of Your Happiness

Focus on the Solution

Look for the Lesson and the Gift

Make Peace with Yourself

2. The Pillar of the Mind—Don’t Believe Everything You Think

Question Your Thoughts

Go Beyond the Mind and Let Go

Incline Your Mind Toward Joy

3. The Pillar of the Heart—Let Love Lead

Focus on Gratitude

Practice Forgiveness

Spread Loving kindness

4. The Pillar of the Body—Make Your Cells Happy

Nourish Your Body

Energize Your Body

Tune In to Your Body’s Wisdom

5. The Pillar of the Soul—Plug Yourself In to Spirit

Invite Connection to Your Higher Power

Listen to Your Inner Voice

Trust Life’s Unfolding

6. The Roof—Live a Life Inspired by Purpose

Find Your Passion

Follow the Inspiration of the Moment

Contribute to Something Greater Than Yourself

7. The Garden—Cultivate Nourishing Relationships

Tend to Your Relationships

Surround Yourself with Support

See the World as Your Family

2008-03-27T14:18:00.000-04:00

Dealing With Surprises

See...

Harvard: How to Predict Business Surprises & Disasters.

from Found+READ by Carleen Hawn

We write often about how the only thing predictable at a startup is — the lack of predictability. Today HBS Working Knowledge has has a quartet of essays on how you can anticipate surprises, manage disasters vis a vis your team, and ultimately, learn from failures when they occur. It’s a captivating series, being based on some historic events, and each essay has great instruction on leadership:

Ernest Shackleton’s failed expedition across Antarctica in 1914 (pictured): How disaster changes leadership goals
The 1996 ascent of Mount Everest, (chronicled by Jon Krakauer in Into Thin Air: Effective signaling in a crisis — nurturing confidence, dissent and commitment in your organization.
NASA’s failed Mission to Mars in 1999: Lessons from a failure.

But the fourth essay, Planning for Surprises, has the most relevance for founders. Why focus on reacting to such disasters when you can anticipate or even avoid them?
Harvard writes:

“Predictable surprises [like Enron] happen when leaders had all the data and insight they needed to recognize the potential, even the inevitability, of major problems, but failed to respond with effective preventative action” … Here’s the good news: There are reasons why leaders fail to prevent predictable surprises and there are ways to identify trouble while there is still time to stop it.

A few of these reasons are…

I. The 3 Vulnerabilities:
A few classic factors, really types of vulnerability, “conspire to keep us from dealing with problems that are worthy of our attention,” the authors write.

Psychological vulnerabilities

: have to do with well-recognized biases in the way people think, such as self-serving illusions and overcommitment, as well as the tendency to stick with the status quo and to discount the future. (This is the: “I can do this, if i just keep trying/have more time,” despite previous results that suggest otherwise.)

Organizational vulnerabilities
: arise because of structural barriers to the effective collection, processing, and dissemination of information, such as the division of organizations into independently operating silos and the filtering of information as it passes up through the hierarchies. (This is the “lack of communication problem.” Are you getting—and giving—the information that you need?)

Political vulnerabilities
contribute to predictable surprises when a small number of individuals and organizations are able to “capture” the political system or organization for their own benefit. (This is about incentives. Do the people on your team have the same goals? Or are your interests competing?)

II. Cognitive biases
…“people tend to exist in a state of denial that leads us to undervalue risks. In addition, people overly discount the future, reducing our willingness to invest in the present to prevent some disaster that may be quite distant.”
(For more on cognitive bias, see Venture Hacks’ terrific summary of Marc Andreessen’s essay on the same, published earlier this week. Marc’s piece is based on the theories of Charlie Munger, a.k.a. Warren Buffett’s investing partner for 60 years.)

III. Fear of the Unknown / Love of the Status Quo
…“People also try to maintain the status quo [and] are more willing to run the risk of incurring a large but small-probability loss in the future rather than accepting a smaller, yet certain loss now. We don’t want to invest in preventing a problem that we have not experienced and can hardly bear to imagine. Thus, far too often, we only address problems after the surprise has occurred.”

So what can do?
Step 1: recognize where you are susceptible to the 3 Vulnerabilities
Step 2: identify your cognitive biases
Step 3: become willing to experience small, but certain, losses today. No more wishful thinking that low-likelihood bigger surprises won’t happen in future. Deal now.

And the BIG ONE…

Step 4: Assume a ‘veil of ignorance’
This sounds strange, but the key issue here is to identify the difference between your hypotheses and your assumptions. Most of us make an assumption, where we really should be posing a hypothesis —- and then rigorously testing that hypothesis. To test appropriately, you must forget your pre-dispositions, your cognitive biases, your vulnerabilities and assume a veil of ignorance. Otherwise you won’t read the results correctly.

The authors write:

In practice it is difficult to assume complete ignorance. But it is essential to try to be conscious of the assumptions you are making about what is possible and critically what is not possible. To the extent that you can treat these as hypotheses to be rigorously challenged and tested, rather than as assumptions that are taken for granted, you reduce the potential to be predictably surprised. People always learn with a point of view; the key is to be open to altering that point of view in the face of reality.

For example, we question whether the Bush administration objectively considered the issue of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq from an objective standpoint (under a veil of ignorance), or whether the administration started with a partisan perception and then avoided any reasonable challenge to this view. Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar under Former President Clinton and President Bush, made a compelling case that the administration never escaped their desire to see the data as they wanted to see it.

They say ignorance is bliss. Well now, you’ve got a very good reason to make it one of your business tools, too. Following the steps laid out by these authors, ought to help you deal with small problems now, and avoid larger more devastating problems later on.

The complete essay, Planning for Surprises is based on the new book
Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming and How to Prevent Them by Max H. Bazerman (Harvard) and Michael D. Watkins (INSEAD).

2008-03-27T12:52:00.000-04:00

Work Life Balance

Check out an interesting new book about work life balance, from at professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania...

Stewart D. Friedman is the Practice Professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania ’s Wharton School in Philadelphia. He is the founding director of Wharton’s Leadership Program and of its Work/Life Integration Project, and the former head of Ford Motor’s Leadership Development Center.

Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

Use these two self-assessment tools. To delve more deeply, read the Harvard Business Review article and visit the book website and other Harvard leadership resources.

2008-03-08T10:59:00.002-05:00

CEO Pay: Defending the Indefensible

A recent Congressional hearing analyzed CEO pay.

Large pay packets have been handed out to executives whose companies have even stumbled or failed.

Forbes magazine said CEO pay averaged $15.2 million for the CEOs in the largest 500 U.S. companies in 2006, an increase of 38 percent in one year.

All three CEOs questioned at the hearing profited handsomely at a time when their companies were losing billions of dollars and stock values were plunging.

"It's only in the wacky world of CEOs where you get severance for failing," said Nell Minow, editor of The Corporate Library and one of the economic experts testifying.

Committee figures showed that Countrywide Financial suffered a $1.2 billion loss in the third quarter of 2007 and then lost another $422 million in the fourth quarter. By the end of the year, the company's stock had fallen 80 percent from its five-year peak in February. During the same period, Angelo Mozilo received a $1.9 million salary, $20 million in stock awards contingent upon performance and sold $121 million in stock. Some of those stock sales occurred at the same time the company was borrowing $1.5 billion to repurchase its shares. Mozilo also insisted - as documented in a November 2006 e-mail - that he be reimbursed for taxes owed when his wife traveled on Countrywide's corporate jet.

Separately, the FBI is looking into fraud allegations against Countrywide Financial Corp., a U.S. government official told CNN. The probe reportedly is examining underwriting and mortgage origination practices, and whether the company misrepresented losses related to subprime loans.

Stanley O'Neal, formerly of Merrill Lynch & Co., received a retirement package of $161 million when he was pushed out as Merrill Lynch CEO last October. But the committee said that if the company had terminated O'Neal for cause rather than letting him retire, he would not have been entitled to $131 million of that in unvested stock and options. During 2007, the firm reported $18 billion in writedowns related to subprime and other risky mortgages. O'Neal countered that he had received no bonus in 2007 and no severance pay.

[Update: 4/17/08 It's too bad O'Neal received no bonus and no severance pay. Today the company announced it was laying off 4,000 workers after posting a steep loss related, in part, to his mismanagement. That means that 4,000 workers have no bonus, no severance pay... no salary and no job. But he kept the $161 million.]

[Update - July 17, 2008 See news article below: Merrill Lynch reports $4.9 billion loss. Nation's largest brokerage suffers its fourth-straight quarterly loss. Great job there, Stanley O'Neal!]

[Update: 9/15/08 Merrill Lynch is no more... see below.]

Citigroup, which saw its stock fall 48 percent at the end of 2007 compared with a year earlier, awarded Charles Prince a cash bonus worth $10.4 million after he stepped down as CEO last November. He also received $28 million in unvested stock and options and $1.5 million in annual perquisites upon his departure.

[Update: 4/18/08 Citigroup posts loss, cuts 9,000 jobs, on top of the 4,200 cuts announced during the previous quarter. Financial services giant records $5.1 billion loss and more than $13 billion in writedowns, and says it will eliminate more positions. Last quarter, the company reported a eye-popping $9.83 billion loss - the worst quarterly loss ever recorded in the 196-year-history of the firm and its predecessors.]

[Update: 7/18/08 Citigroup posts $2.5 billion second-quarter loss. The net loss totaled 54 cents per share and compared with a year-earlier profit of $6.23 billion, or $1.24 per share. The bank reduced its work force by 6,000 during the quarter, bringing its job cut total to 11,000 for 2008. Citigroup has failed to turn a profit for three straight quarters now. Its shares have tumbled 65 percent over the past year, and recently hit their lowest point since the day Citicorp and Travelers combined in October 1998. Of course, Charles Prince kept the $39.9 million pay package.]

Several of the executives did acknowledge public resentment over the fact that large company CEOs now receive about 600 times what the average worker earns, compared to about 40 times in 1980.

Apparently, Gordon Gekko lives on!

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."

-------------------------------

Merrill Lynch reports $4.9 billion loss

Nation's largest brokerage suffers its fourth-straight quarterly loss, confirms plans to sell Bloomberg stake for $4.43 billion.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: July 17, 2008: 7:30 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Merrill Lynch booked its fourth-straight quarterly loss Thursday, this time losing nearly $5 billion, as the nation's largest brokerage was forced to once again take massive writedowns.

Merrill said it lost $4.9 billion overall. On a continuing operations basis, it lost $4.6 billion, or $4.95 a share, down from a profit of $2.01 billion, or $2.24 a share a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting the company to report a loss of just over $1.8 billion, or $1.91 a share on this basis.

The company has now lost more than $19.2 billion in the past twelve months, making it one of the hardest hit companies during the credit crisis roiling the nation's big financial services firms.

Merrill (MER, Fortune 500) shares plunged about 6% after hours, nearly wiping out the stock's 10% gain in regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday.

Driving the loss was yet another round of writedowns. Merrill took a $4.8 billion mark on its mortgage-related portfolio, a $2.9 billion writedown due to its exposure to the recently downgraded bond insurers Ambac (ABK) and MBIA (MBI), $1.7 billion in its investment portfolio of U.S. banks and $348 million related to leveraged loans.

That surpassed the nearly $6 billion total that some analysts were anticipating heading into this week's results.

"Is the company a good franchise? It's a very good franchise," said Brad Hintz, senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "The problem you have is it will be a long time until that balance sheet is clean."

Those marks hit Merrill's global markets and investment banking divisions particularly hard, as it suffered a pre-tax loss of $8.56 billion in the quarter from continuing operations.

Merrill's global wealth management business remained profitable, but its earnings fell 16% from a year ago.

"Our core franchise continues to perform well despite the extremely challenging market environment," said John Thain, Merrill's chairman and chief executive officer in a written statement.

Merrill also took a pre-tax charge of $445 million due to staffing cuts. During the quarter, the company said it trimmed its ranks by 3,100, slightly more than it anticipated when it first announced the planned cuts in April. At the end of the quarter, Merrill's total employee count stood at 60,000.

The New York City-based firm also revealed that it would sell its 20% stake in the media outlet Bloomberg LP for $4.43 billion to Bloomberg Inc., confirming long-running speculation that it would sell assets in order to raise capital.

Merrill added it reached a tentative agreement over the sale of a controlling interest in the financial services administrator Financial Data Services for more than $3.5 billion.

Ongoing deterioration in the housing market, mounting troubles in the economy and pressure from regulators has prompted brokerages, Wall Street firms and banks of all sizes to raise additional capital.

But Merrill said it is holding onto its 49% stake in asset manager BlackRock (BLK, Fortune 500). Larry Fink, BlackRock's CEO, revealed earlier Thursday during his company's quarterly earnings release that the two firms would stay together. BlackRock reported a 23% increase in its earnings, beating expectations.

Thain, just 8 months into his tenure as CEO, told analysts during a conference call Thursday evening that the company was in a "comfortable spot" in terms of capital, following the two sales.

But Merrill's latest loss raised a red flag for one rating agency. Moody's downgraded Merrill's senior long-term debt rating Thursday evening following Merrill's report.

"Management's options to sell assets or raise more common equity to offset unexpected losses are now reduced given the difficult industry and capital markets environment," wrote Peter Nerby, a senior vice president at Moody's in a note.

Thain, the former NYSE Euronext CEO and Goldman Sachs alum, did not rule out the sale of its stake in BlackRock in the future should the company need to raise additional capital.

But he suggested, however, that the company would probably consider alternatives before making such a move.

"There are, in fact, other options on our balance sheet," said Thain.

Merrill is the latest financial firm to deliver second-quarter results this week.

--------------------------------------------

Is this a surprise? If so, to whom?

Merrill Lynch is no more

Merrill Lynch agreed to be acquired by Bank of America for $29 a share, or $43.5 billion, after being pressured into a deal by federal regulators.

From the New York Times, September 15, 2008...

“It is an enormous shock,” said Steve Fraser, a Wall Street historian and author of “Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace.”

“Merrill was a kind of bedrock institution whose stability and longevity was taken for granted and was reassuring to people,” Mr. Fraser said. “Even in these very highly erratic and speculative marketplaces like we’ve been living through, you didn’t think Merrill would be vulnerable.”

Merrill, the nation’s largest brokerage firm, was one of the earliest Wall Street firms to go public, in 1971. Its executives, traditionally former stockbrokers, have long been viewed as spokespeople for the entire industry. After the crash of 1987, for instance, Merrill’s chief executive appeared on a television commercial and used one of the company’s long-time slogans, saying: “Merrill Lynch is still bullish on America.”

The investment bank has taken more than $45 billion in write-downs, a figure that is two times more than all the profit Merrill made in the two and a half years before the credit crisis. The charges have pushed Merrill Lynch deep into the red and forced the company to lay off 4,000 workers. Merrill has raised more than $15 billion in additional capital to strengthen its financial position but has struggled to regain investors’ confidence.

“A hundred guys flew this firm into a mountain,” said a broker who works for Merrill in California and asked to remain anonymous because he did not have permission to speak with reporters. “It’s really sad. Now we’re going to be a bank like every one else.”

As recently as last Wednesday, John A. Thain, chief executive of Merrill Lynch was still out selling the Merrill story. He met with worried employees financial advisers in Minneapolis as part of a series of town halls he has been holding to answer employee questions. Mr. Thain reassured them about the company’s capital base, dwindling level of worrisome assets, and the value of Merrill Lynch’s businesses, according to someone who attended.

And he told them that the pain looked like it would end by 2009.

-----------------------------

2008-03-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

Book: The NEW Asian Hemisphere

Here is a must read about the new emergence of Asian global power across all domains...

The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East

by Kishore Mahbubani

A great read for stimulating thought about an important current social development...

2008-03-07T11:25:00.000-05:00

A NEW Slogan

I just heard this today... it comes from a group at MIT... it is my new personal slogan...

"WE are the people we have been waiting for!"

2008-02-28T17:43:00.000-05:00

Creativity

There are so many great resources on creativity... too bad the vast majority of organizations and managers I am familiar with NEVER use them... and probably have never heard of them!

Might this be one reason we seem to have so many unresolved problems?

I wonder...

Anybody interested in using creativity tools? If so, PLEASE contact me!

In the meantime, here are some GREAT resources that I found online to get you started thinking about creativity... from the good folks at Foresight Consulting...

Enjoy!

How Would You Rate Your Creativity? (PDF)

Creative Problem Solving and Idea Generating Techniques (PDF)

Recognizing and Profiting from Opportunities (PDF)

Creating Mission, Vision & Value Statements (PDF)

A Call for a Different Kind of Thinking (PDF)

Guide to Unleashing Creativity (PDF)

2008-02-12T21:14:00.000-05:00

The World is Flat

If you enjoyed the book by Tom Friedman, columnist for the New York Times, you might also enjoy the "World is Flat" lecture video... a New York Times author introduction video... a Charlie Rose interview about the book... another video... yet another video... and the 2006 article about the book author in Washingtonian Magazine .

2008-02-01T23:42:00.000-05:00

Microhoo Management?

One of the New York Times blogs has an interesting comment about management if the proposed Microsoft/Yahoo merger goes through...

"At Yahoo, Jerry Yang and Sue Decker have yet to deliver either inspiration or financial results. And it’s not exactly clear who is running the show at Microsoft. The Internet unit reports to Kevin Johnson, who also looks after Windows. Below him is an inscrutable matrix that spreads blame for the losses of dollars and market share far and wide."

Sounds like a great management team and a potential recipe for success, right?

2008-01-03T10:25:00.000-05:00

The NEW New Careers Are Here!

Check out the NEWEST new careers... from CNNMoney.Com

2007-12-26T09:39:00.000-05:00

Fast Company Blogs

Fast Company, my all time favorite magazine, now offers a complete set of interesting blogs for your enjoyment!

Check them out!

Topics:

Innovation

Technology

Leadership

Change Management

Careers

Design

Social Responsibility

Work/Life

2007-12-23T10:16:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas From UPS!

An acquaintance of mine has suffered through dealing with UPS during this holiday season.

Read the whole sad story here.

When the history of these times is written... and people wonder how things could have developed the way that they did... perhaps someone will find little clues like this one.

How is it that so many large organizations fail to perform, yet top executives walk away with outrageous yearly pay packages?

For example...

Michael L Eskew
CEO/Chairman of the Board/Director
United Parcel Service

Cash Compensation (FY December 2006)

Salary $988,000
Bonus $41,500 (for what?)
Long Term Comp $5,136,086
---------------------------------------
Sub Total $6,165,586
Plus
Stock Options $2,855,203
---------------------------------------

Grand Total = $9,020,789

Source:
Forbes

Happy New Year from UPS!

On October 15, 2007, United Parcel Service, Inc. announced that Michael L. Eskew will retire as UPS's chief executive officer and chairman of the board effective January 1, 2008.

2007-12-18T15:45:00.000-05:00

Great Book About India!

Interested in learning more about emerging India?

Have a look at...

The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone: India the Emerging 21st-Century Power

by Shashi Tharoor

2007-12-18T12:14:00.000-05:00

Adchemy Values

I just loved this post from the Founder of Adchemy...

As a Founder or a CEO, your job is to build a company that creates sustained value for its employees, customers and stakeholders. Essential to this is defining and living by a set of core values. Why? Because core values breed competitive advantage and sustained value. How? Core values are the foundation of culture, behavioral norms, and decision making in the company. Strong cultures help recruiting and retention, in both good times and in bad. Shared behavioral norms lead to more efficient execution. A common decision making framework allows the company to decentralize and scale faster.

When I founded Adchemy in November 2004, I knew that a fundamental task would be to create a set of core values with my team that would be central to everything we do: They would govern how we work with each other; how we would deal with conflict; who we would recruit and promote; and how we would make investment decisions.
Adchemy’s six core values are:

Play to win… as a team
Dare to Simplify
Be Long-Term Greedy
Decide with Data
Learn. Then Teach
Never Compromise Integrity

In addition to quantifiable performance objectives, everyone at Adchemy is tasked to embody these values. Today i believe our culture is our most strategic asset. How did we establish this, and how do we keep it alive despite doubling our headcount year over year?

1. UNEARTH YOUR VALUES

Early on, we had everyone in the company spend a few weeks hammering out our values. We didn’t have marketing write them or look up values books to see what Edison or Rockefeller might have written. We all had a keen sense of what was important to us, what kind of company we wanted to build, and what types of people we wanted to work with. We used an consultant to guide our thinking and came up with our values to govern all aspects of Adchemy from building products to selling to customers to running financials. The entire team took ownership since these were their values as much as mine. As a result, what we ended up with rings incredibly true.

Some rules of thumb: Take a stand. Don’t waffle. Don’t try to please or appease. This will mean some people will not fit your culture and your values. This is a good thing.

2. BROADCAST YOUR VALUES

Values are useless if they only sit behind the CEO’s desk or buried in Powerpoint presentations from HR. Make your values visible. Hold people accountable from your board members to your most junior employees. If your summer intern can embody your values, you know you have succeeded.

We market our values just as much as we market our products. They are broadcast on our Web site, across the walls of our offices. We live them day in and day out. I tell the company that if they don’t find me living by a value, they have an obligation to tell me so.

3. HIRE YOUR VALUES

If you don’t make values integral to the hiring process, all is for naught – your values and culture get diluted by the vagaries of hiring.

Most of my time in interviews is spent assessing whether the candidate is a good fit with our values. Of course, you still need to screen for competence. But competence alone necessary but not sufficient.

Once you start explicitly looking for values in your hiring process, a virtuous cycle starts –prospects who share the same values become more interested in the company, and those who don’t share the same values tend to self-select out.

4. REWARD YOUR VALUES

Measure and reward what you want. In annual performance reviews we rate people on “performance against objectives” and “behavior against values”. We weigh both equally. Many people question how we would objectively rate behavior against values. There is always judgment involved, but that’s ok. It is the measuring and the discussion that is important, not whether you got an 8.2 or a 8.7 out of 10. And we celebrate values-performance: we announce “Living our Values” awards at monthly all hands meetings, and at this year’s holiday party, we awarded employees who had exemplified a company value throughout the year. In all cases, recipients are peer nominated.

Now for the hard part. You cannot tolerate behavior that violates core values, regardless of the performance of the individual or their seniority. As difficult as this might be, you need to take steps to ensure that individual changes their behavior or is asked to leave.

Murthy Nukala is currently the founder and CEO of Adchemy, a web marketing company. Previously he was founder and CEO of Digital Jones, a startup focused on guided selling solutions. Digital Jones was acquired by Shopping.com, where Murthy served as senior vice president for enterprise products before launching Adchemy.

2007-12-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

2007 - Year in Review

101 Dumbest Moments in Business

Ah, what a dumb year it was! Fortune chose the absolutely dumbest of the dumb that the gods of fate and humor delivered into our laps - and yours - this past year.

2007-12-11T20:28:00.000-05:00

Bloom’s Taxonomy

“Bloom’s Taxonomy” was released in 1956 by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom. Bloom’s Taxonomy categorizes cognitive and learning functions into six general categories shown in the left side of the table below.

Knowledge	arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state
Comprehension	classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate
Application	apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write
Analysis	analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test
Synthesis	arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write
Evaluation	appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, select, support, value, evaluate

Bloom’s six categories range from the simple recall or recognition of facts as the lowest level, through increasingly complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order of cognitive activity which he classified as evaluation. Verb examples that represent intellectual activity on each level are listed on the right side of the table, above. Consider what you will want your students to be able to do upon completion of the course.

In theory, the more exam questions, the better the evaluation of a student’s progress. In practice the student taking the exam is constrained by the time allotted. Exams should not require more than one hour on average to complete. Some types of questions are more quickly answered than others. Exams need to have the greatest number of questions that can be answered in the time allowed, while demanding the requisite level of thinking on the part of the student. The chart below can help you select question types based on the time normally required to answer them.

Question Type	Average Time Needed to Answer
True-False Questions	15 to 30 seconds per question
Multiple choice (brief questions)	30 to 60 seconds
More complex multiple choice questions	60 to 90 seconds
Multiple choice questions with calculations	2 to 5 minutes
Short answer (one word)	30 to 60 seconds
Short answer (longer than one word)	1 to 4 minutes
Matching (5 premises, 6 responses)	2 to 4 minutes
Short essay	15 to 20 minutes
Data analysis/graphing	15 to 25 minutes
Drawing models/labeling	20 to 30 minutes
Extended essays	35 to 50 minutes

Make sure you allow enough time for slower students to finish the examination.

2007-12-08T13:29:00.000-05:00

Competing in a Flat World?

You might want to read this book!

Competing in a Flat World: Building Enterprises for a Borderless World (Hardcover)

by Victor K. Fung (Author), William K. Fung (Author), Yoram (Jerry) Wind (Author)

2007-12-05T10:57:00.000-05:00

New Yorker

I'm originally from New York City... I love this classic magazine cover from the New Yorker... what can I say?

2007-11-29T15:31:00.000-05:00

China Makes, The World Takes

Interesting magazine article by James Fallow about manufacturing in China!

Highlights...

“Happy with crappy...”

The Chinese factories can respond more quickly, and not simply because of 12-hour workdays. “Anyplace else, you’d have to import different raw materials and components,” Casey told me. “Here, you’ve got nine different suppliers within a mile, and they can bring a sample over that afternoon. People think China is cheap, but really, it’s fast.” Moreover, the Chinese factories use more human labor, and fewer expensive robots or assembly machines, than their counterparts in rich countries. “People are the most adaptable machines,” an American industrial designer who works in China told me. “Machines need to be reprogrammed. You can have people doing something entirely different next week.”

At the moment, most jobs I’ve seen the young women in the factories perform have not been “taken” from America, because in America these assembly-type tasks would be done by machines.

But the Chinese goal is, of course, to build toward something more lucrative. Many people I have spoken with say that the climb will be slow for Chinese industries, because they have so far to go in bringing their design, management, and branding efforts up to world standards. “Think about it—global companies are full of CEOs and executives from India, but very few Chinese,” Dominic Barton, the chairman of McKinsey’s Asia Pacific practice, told me. The main reason, he said, is China’s limited pool of executives with adequate foreign-language skills and experience working abroad. Andy Switky, the managing director–Asia Pacific for the famed California design firm IDEO, described a frequent Chinese outlook toward quality control as “happy with crappy.” This makes it hard for them to move beyond the local, low-value market. “Even now in China, most people don’t have an iPod or a notebook computer,” the manager of a Taiwanese-owned audio-device factory told me. “So it’s harder for them to think up improvements, or even tell a good one from a bad one.” These and other factors may slow China’s progress. But that’s a feeble basis for American hopes.

2007-11-26T13:48:00.000-05:00

Want A Prestigious Job?

The 2007 "Most Prestigious Occupations" poll measured the public perceptions of 23 professions.

Participants were asked to rank these professions as having "very great prestige," "considerable prestige," "some prestige," or "hardly any prestige at all." They could also opt not to rank them or say they weren't sure.

Sixty-one percent of adults consider firefighters to have "very great prestige," making this occupation the most prestigious on the list.

Five other occupations were ranked as having "very great prestige" by over 50 percent of the adults surveyed: Scientists and teachers are considered very prestigious by 54 percent of adults, followed by doctors and military officers, who earn the prestige of 52 percent of Americans, and nurses, whom half of all adults consider very prestigious.

Among the least prestigious occupations are real estate brokers, actors and bankers. Only 5 percent of survey participants ranked real estate brokers as very prestigious; 9 percent gave actors this label, followed by 10 percent for bankers.

Accountants, entertainers, stockbrokers, union leaders, journalists, business executives and athletes all also ranked low on the list: Less than 20 percent of adults consider any of the aforementioned occupations to have "very great prestige."

Consequently, five occupations are perceived to have "hardly any prestige at all" by at least a quarter of adults: stockbrokers (25 percent), union leaders (30 percent), entertainers (31 percent), real estate brokers (34 percent) and actors (38 percent).

2007-11-24T11:47:00.000-05:00

Chinese Graduates Look for Jobs...

This is a photo from a recent job fair for college graduates in China...

China has been under great pressure as the number of college graduates keeps surging. According to statistics, 5.59 million students will graduate from higher education institutions in 2008,an increase of 640,000 over this year. About 30 percent or 1.4 million college graduates failed to find a job on graduation in 2007.

2007-11-20T11:43:00.000-05:00

FREE Knowledge Management Tools

A great new 94 page FREE guide is available online which offers an exciting array of knowledge management tools.

You just CAN'T pass this up!

Highly recommended!!!!!

2007-11-05T18:46:00.000-05:00

Teambuilding

A great article from Yahoo News about team building!

Some key ideas...

If you have a bunch of jerks, your brand is going to be a jerk," said Tim Sanders, former leadership coach at Yahoo Inc. and author of "The Likeability Factor."

Kris Thompson, vice president of human resources at Lindblad, said, "You can teach people any technical skill, but you can't teach them how to be a kindhearted, generous-minded person with an open spirit."

At KaBoom, a nonprofit that builds playgrounds, CEO Darell Hammond started thinking about who left and why, then focused on the characteristics of workers who stayed. The list of traits: Can do, will do, team fit, damn quick and damn smart.

Hammond said he isn't afraid of scaring people off, since the best candidates "are constantly looking at themselves to excel, not just cross the finish line, but blow through the finish line."

When all 90 of the people on his staff meet that criteria, he said, "It's incredible. If you have 89 who do and one who doesn't — it's painful."

2007-11-03T15:17:00.000-04:00

China is Reducing Costs Too!

You may think that China is mainly a source of cheap labor. While it is true that China DOES have cheap labor, it is also true that China is changing the way business is done... particularly with respect to introducing cost innovations that extend far beyond cheap labor, driving down costs for the mass market together with excellent execution with the "three faces" of cost innovation (offering high technology at low cost, a near-impossible range of choice, and "speciality products" at volume prices).

A new book, Dragons at Your Door: How Chinese Cost Innovation Is Disrupting Global Competition, by Ming Zeng and Peter Williamson, makes the case that perhaps the largest 200 Chinese corporations are doing something far more important than merely offering cheap labor. They are introducing cost innovations that could truly change the way business is done everywhere!

You might want to have a look... to fully understand global competitive forces in the 21st Century.

2007-10-26T12:12:00.000-04:00

Free Business Book Summaries!

A Miami, Florida business called getAbstract summarizes business books, enabling subscribers to be the best-read, most expert players on the business scene today. Their mission is to provide executives and business leaders worldwide with the best in business knowledge. They deliver this knowledge in concise summaries (audio or PDF) of the latest, sharpest and most relevant business books.

The firm offers the largest online library of business book summaries. More than 4,000 of the latest and most relevant business books - each summarized into five written pages or a short mp3 audio file. Learn the key points of any book in just 10 minutes. From Finance to Management, Sales to Careers - you'll never miss a trend!

Many of the world's largest companies offer their employees full subscription access to the getAbstract Library (check with your company to see if your firm already subscribes). Clients include some of the most sophisticated and knowledge-driven firms in business today. The customer base spans the globe and includes such household names as Microsoft, Citigroup, DaimlerChrysler, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SAP, Deutsche Post, UBS and Credit Suisse.

You might enjoy listening to two FREE summaries...

Listen to FREE MP3 Audio Summary

2007-10-22T18:20:00.000-04:00

NASA Wants To Destroy Safety Data

If the government collected data that indicated that air safety was more risky than previously thought, would you expect it to destroy the data?

That's exactly what is happening at NASA!

Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized.

Just last week, NASA ordered the contractor that conducted the survey to purge all related data from its computers. NASA directed its contractor Battelle Memorial Institute, along with subcontractors, on Thursday to return any project information and then purge it from their computers before October 30.

NASA said nothing it discovered in the survey warranted notifying the Federal Aviation Administration immediately.

In its space program, NASA has a deadly history of playing down safety issues. Investigators blamed the 1986 and 2003 shuttle disasters on poor decision making, budget cuts and improperly minimizing risks.

A senior NASA official, associate administrator Thomas S. Luedtke, said revealing the findings could damage the public's confidence in airlines and affect airline profits.

"If the airlines aren't safe I want to know about it," said Rep. Brad Miller, D-North Carolina, chairman of the House Science and Technology investigations and oversight subcommittee. "I would rather not feel a false sense of security because they don't tell us."

So... the reason the data is being destroyed is that it might "affect airline profits"?

Doesn't sound like a good reason to me!

2007-10-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

Trying to attain a personal goal?

Why not try a new online tool?

Two Brains

What is Two Brains?

Two Brains is an application that approaches the learning process in a different way. The application is built around goals, because in the end that's what you truly care about.

Benefits of Two Brains

Two Brains was designed with simplicity in mind. Identify what you want to learn. Create a ''Learning Goal''. Use the power of the network to help you achieve your goal.

With Two Brains, you and others can collaborate by sharing resources, comments, thoughts and ideas with one another. It combines social bookmarking and shared goals to support a community of learning. Once the network effect is achieved, you will experience a flow of learning resources that can deliver high quality content based specifically on achieving your goals. After all, we all know that two brains are better than one. Enjoy.

2007-10-22T11:52:00.000-04:00

What is communication through knowledge management?

Click here to find out, courtesy of Lotus/IBM!

2007-10-19T09:40:00.000-04:00

Here is an interesting idea... an online business simulation game !

2007-09-12T16:47:00.000-04:00

Say it isn't so!

Maureen Dowd comments about the testimony yesterday of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker about current conditions in Iraq...

Do you think the Iraqi government is corrupt?

2007-09-10T14:15:00.000-04:00

Where Dullards Rule

I just got off the telephone with a university in the northeast trying to propose a new course of study for their consideration.

Start at the top, right? So I originally wrote the president's office and was bounced, unexpectedly, to two other administrators... one in the graduate school and the other in their undergraduate department. No problem.

Trying to make contact with these two gentlemen proved to be a challenge (I was told that a shift in the date for their annual homecoming celebrations was the main cause), but eventually I called and called and was connected with both in turn.

The undergraduate fellow was extremely personable, and indicated that the subject matter for the proposed course was timely. This institution had a reputation in the discipline, but it had slipped in recent years, due to a focus on other matters. He urged me to speak with the graduate fellow, and indicated that he, himself, would follow up with him.

Chasing down the graduate fellow was a bit more challenging, but I finally secured a few precious moments with him on the telephone.

Ever get the the impression that you are a skunk at an outdoor garden party? This graduate administrator barely tolerated my call, and left me with the very strong impression that his mind was completely closed, and nothing I could do would possibly change it. This was later confirmed to me, in part, by the undergraduate administrator. I even offered that a foundation I had contact with expressed some interest in supporting the idea. No dice. Both administrators, after conferring amongst themselves, didn't want to "lead me on" or waste MY time" (Whose time?)

Why share this episode with you?

Just this...

When educational institutions are closed minded, we are ALL in a heap of trouble!

I've always thought of higher education as being an OPEN marketplace where all ideas are welcome and evaluated squarely on their own merits.

But that isn't necessarily true these days. We've become a nation where educational bureaucrats rule the roost, and conformity is the watchword of the day. So-called "accrediting agencies" enforce broad, across-the-board mediocrity standards, all in the name of stamping out a few bad apples in higher education, which exist, in the first place, because some states have exceptionally low licensing requirements.

Billions and billions are spent annually on higher education, and it just might be time for everyone to look beyond the ivy facades and glossy brochures and ask penetrating questions about what, exactly, we are getting for our money and how, exactly, our youth is being prepared for a tough, globally competitive life in the 21st Century. Are students getting a sound, useful, quality education, or merely paper "credentials" necessary to hoodwink a future employer's personnel department?

Such questions will rarely, if ever, be asked at that university I had the telephone discussions with today.

But if you care about your kids... and the direction of our country... you might start asking tough questions to those educators who really should know better.

It's time to think about change.

2007-08-01T17:05:00.000-04:00

Given the "quality" of US management, and inflated pay packets,
is this really a surprise?

What does this trend mean for the future?

2007-06-11T10:31:00.000-04:00

Take This Job... And OUTSOURCE It!

Large companies do it every day... and save substantial sums! Why shouldn't you use the global marketplace to complete small jobs around the office or home... and save significant amounts of money in the process?

Here's the challenge: Your boss tells you to create a corporate web page quickly, at low cost. How would YOU approach this problem? Ask around the office? Draft friends and neighbors? Search online for "web designers"?

There might be a better way.

More and more people are turning to the global marketplace to complete both business and personal tasks.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, outsourcing of small digital jobs around the home and office is becoming increasingly more common.

Jobs that were once done exclusively in Indiana are now being completed in India and other places at a fraction of the cost!

For example, say that you need math tutoring to complete a college course. A tutor in the U.S. might charge as much as $60 per hour. The same level of math assistance from India might be had for as little as $3 an hour... and you might have as many as 80 providers vying for your business!

Online sources for outsourced global labor include:

Guru.com

Elance.com

Rentacoder.com

Of course, this is not for everyone, or for every job... but you might consider it the next time you are faced with a small project.

2007-05-31T19:30:00.000-04:00

Carly Fiorina Speaks Her Mind!

Ever wish you could sit down with a corporate CEO to discuss things?

Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett Packard (1999-2005) recently spoke at Stanford University (audio file) about her journey from being a medieval history major, law school dropout, a secretary... to the leader of one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Fiorina describes ways in which leadership in business and entrepreneurship entails developing an appetite for risk and overcoming the fear of change. Fiorina offers her own 3Cs of leadership... capability, collaboration and character.

Isn't it interesting that many executives these days want to shrink their thoughts down to only words that begin with "C"?

2007-05-26T13:15:00.000-04:00

Interested in the Future?

The future is where you'll be spending the rest of your life!

You might want to subscribe to "The Futurist" magazine.

2007-05-08T11:44:00.000-04:00

Profit Optimization

The local paper today carried an interesting article about profit optimization... the art and science of re-arranging prices to generate maximum overall income... and profit.

This, of course, is a familiar story... airlines have been doing this for years. But now the technology is starting to be used in retail stores, and this is a trend that is definitely worth watching!

Leaders in the field include:

Profit Logic

Khimetrics

DemandTec

What do YOU think? How could this technology be used in YOUR industry?

2007-05-02T10:38:00.000-04:00

NEW Business and Management Search Engine

Professionals and MBA students typically have very precise questions and information needs. General search engines may be great for general information about a wide variety of subjects, but wouldn't it be great to use a search engine specifically tailored for the task at hand... say, finding financial information about mergers and acquisitions?

Now you can!

A new search engine has just been released for business and management inquiries.

Xexco Ltd. today launched knuru, a new knowledge resource that uses natural language search to pull relevant results from business information. As part of the launch, knuru will feature top-tier articles and research from the Wharton School's business journal, Knowledge@Wharton (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu ).

knuru allows the user to search using K@W, knuru.com and the research function embedded in Microsoft Office. Natural language search allows users to type short descriptive sentences rather than keywords into the search box, and get deeply relevant responses to their queries. Rather than return a list of ranked Web pages, knuru delivers fewer, more targeted findings that are ranked and ordered according to the relevancy of the search query and are not influenced by page rankings or sponsors. The combination of natural search, ranked by relevancy from a pool of professional content, results in a superior search experience for users.

2007-04-24T15:40:00.000-04:00

WorldBlu Article in the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has a feature article entitled “Can a Company be Run as a Democracy?” about select companies on the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces 2007 in the Monday, April 23 edition. Included in the article are Ternary Software, Honest Tea, and Continuum.

Fellow Member Traci is thrilled about the article and the fact that workplace democracy is hitting mainstream business thought. University of Phoenix students can read the article by logging into the Online Library and clicking on this link.

Feel free to share this great news with others!

2007-04-09T10:28:00.000-04:00

Innovative Ideas for GMail...

I love information about how to do more with less.

Consider that we have only 24 hours each day, and an amazing amount of new information to digest. Might it be possible to COMBINE online tools that we already have to help cope with the increasing amount of new information?

Steve Rubel, a PR and marketing expert, offers 3 blog posts that suggest many new and innovative ways to combine Google Email with other products and services to either save time or do things you didn't know you could do!

1. Turn GMail into your personal nerve center,

2. More ways to use GMail as a personal nerve center, and

3. How to use GMail as a business diary and more tips.

More posts like this are on the way in the future...

Even if you don't use all or even any of Steve Rubel's suggestions, I think you'll appreciate the creative spirit with which he combines common everyday online tools to save time and do more.

2007-04-04T15:11:00.000-04:00

Coming U.S. Challenge: A Less Literate Workforce

U.S. workers may be significantly less literate in 2030 than they are today.

The reason: Most baby boomers will be retiring and a large wave of less-educated immigrants will be moving into the workforce. This downward shift in reading and math skills suggests a huge challenge for educators and policymakers in the future, according to a new report from the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

If they can't reverse the trend, then it could spell trouble for a large swath of the labor force, widen an already large skill gap, and shrink the middle class.

"There is no time that I can tell you in the last hundred years" where literacy and numeracy have declined, says Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston and one of the report's authors. "But if you don't change outcomes for a wide variety of groups, this is the future we face."

The decline in literacy is one of the more startling projections in a report that examines what it calls a "perfect storm" of converging factors and how those trends are likely to play out if left unchecked.

The three factors identified are: a shifting labor market increasingly rewarding education and skills, a changing demographic that include a rapid-growing Hispanic population, and a yawning achievement gap, particularly along racial and socioeconomic lines, when it comes to reading and math.

Read Full Story

2007-04-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

College Students Seek Therapy in Record Numbers

The number of University of Washington students seeking new medical evaluations for mental health problems such as depression and anxiety has nearly tripled in the past five years.

At SPU, one-fifth of its undergraduate student body has sought therapy, many of the students reporting that they were suffering from stress.

Universities around the country -- including the University of Washington, Seattle Pacific University and Seattle University -- are reporting increases in campus mental illness, at times creating a backlog of cases and weeks-long waits to see a therapist.

No one is certain what's behind the phenomenon. Experts suggest that students today face greater pressures, taking on college loan debt to pay for rising tuition. Therapy is more socially acceptable, prompting more students to seek help. And students who once might not have attended college because of a mental illness are being diagnosed earlier, making it possible for them to go on to higher education.

"The generation that's in college right now grew up with Prozac advertised on television," said Alison Malmon, 25, executive director and founder of Active Minds on Campus, a grass-roots organization working to reduce the stigma of mental illness.

2007-04-04T14:54:00.000-04:00

Study Finds Students Narcissistic

Today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.

"We need to stop endlessly repeating, 'You're special,' and having children repeat that back," said Jean Twenge , the study's lead author and a professor at San Diego State University. "Kids are self-centered enough already."

Twenge and her colleagues, in findings to be presented at a workshop today in San Diego on the generation gap, examined the responses of 16,475 college students nationwide who completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006.

The standardized inventory asks for responses to such statements as, "If I ruled the world, it would be a better place," "I think I am a special person," and "I can live my life any way I want to."

The researchers describe their study as the largest ever of its type and say students' inventory scores have risen steadily since the test was introduced in 1982. By 2006, they said, two-thirds of the students had above-average scores, 30 percent more than in 1982.

2007-03-29T11:19:00.000-04:00

Goals & Needs - what psychological research tells us...

One of my favorite podcasts is a lecture series from Canadian TV Ontario entitled "Big Ideas", which offers the only ongoing series of academic lectures available on TV in North America.

Sometimes the topics can be a bit "dull and boring"... even for me!

At other times, however, the subject matter is just spectacular!

I've just finished listening to one such fantastic lecture entitled "Goals & Needs" (Best Lecturer Competition Week 4), by Professor Marc Fournier, University of Toronto at Scarborough, which lays out research-based evidence on what can make us truly happy.

You'll find Marc Fournier's lecture under "Professors 2007", 8th down on the list...

What the students say:
"Upon attending the first lecture with Professor Fournier, I was immediately drawn to his style of lecturing. The man refuses to STAND STILL!"
"He is definitely an inspiration, and a positive influence in my life."

One of the Members on my Management web page coincidentally just asked me to discuss the topic of goals and happiness!

You'll have to listen to the lecture to get the whole story, but the short answer is that intrinsic goals, based upon 3 universal needs of all humans, no matter where or in what country they might be located, work best of all.

Each and every human needs to be..

Choiceful - exhibiting autonomy
Capable - exhibiting competence, and
Connected - exhibiting a relationship with others

Goals which address each of these 3 needs work best of all!

I really can't do this program justice with short excerpts, so you'll have to view the video or listen to the audio of the lecture yourself.

Not to be missed!

2007-03-27T18:27:00.000-04:00

FREE Online Personal Financial Planning Course

University of California Irvine Campus Launches Free Online Financial Planning Course

Tuesday March 27, 12:01 pm ET

Tuition-Free Resource to Provide Financial Planning Information to the Public

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--University of California, Irvine is proud to announce the achievement of another milestone in the advancement of the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement announcing the offering of a new course, "The Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning," designed to provide comprehensive online financial planning information to self learners and students worldwide.

Made possible by a generous grant from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board), this free online course incorporates the UC Irvine Distance Learning Center's proprietary instructional design format, and will be made available at no cost to the public, worldwide, at ocw.uci.edu.

"UC Irvine is honored to be a part of the growing OpenCourseWare (OCW) movement, which aims to provide high-quality teaching and learning resources for the express purpose of increasing educational achievement and sustaining social and economic development," said Gary W. Matkin, Ph.D., Dean of Continuing Education at UC Irvine and head of UC Irvine's OCW initiative. "As part of our mission as a public university, it is important for our institution to provide educational pathways which cater to the needs of learners. The development of 'Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning' demonstrates UC Irvine's ongoing commitment to the goals of the OCW Consortium, and provides a comprehensive university-level overview of the 'nuts and bolts' of financial planning that is free and available to interested parties across the globe."

Whether consumers intend to do their own financial planning or just need basic information before meeting with a professional, this program provides a greater understanding of financial options. The robust curriculum was developed by Don Debok, CFP®, B.S., M. of O.E., assistant planner at Newport Planning Corporation and UC Irvine Extension course instructor, and is structured into eight modules which address the following topics: determining goals, creating a net worth statement, creating a cash flow statement, taxation, property and casualty insurance; life and disability insurance; long-term care insurance, investment basics, retirement funding, funding college education, and estate planning.

UC Irvine is the first to offer an educational financial planning resource of this caliber, free to the public. The course not only includes worksheets and links to financial planning resources, but offers a complete online educational experience containing a thorough explanation of financial planning.

The CFP grant has allowed UC Irvine to refine the existing curriculum in its UC Irvine Extension Personal Financial Planning Certificate Program, which is approved by the CFP Board, to suit the informational needs of the general public.

About CFP Board of Standards: Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM), and the federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements. The mission of CFP Board is to help people benefit from competent, professional and ethical financial planning. For more about CFP Board, visit www.CFP.net.

About UC Irvine's OpenCourseWare Initiative: UC Irvine is the first University of California campus -- as well as the only West Coast University -- to join the OCW Consortium. UC Irvine's membership in the OCW Consortium is consistent with its public and land-grant missions and its desire to play a significant role in contributing to the social welfare of the state, the nation and the world. Open Educational Resources (OER) showcase the University's high quality education and makes courses and course materials free for everyone in the world. UC Irvine's OCW is a large-scale, Web-based resource that houses educational assets that are discoverable, searchable, modifiable, and, best of all, free and easily available. Through the OCW Movement, UC Irvine provides university-quality courses and learning assets to populations of self learners that are underserved and in many cases, unable to participate in formal education at a university. This site also offers access to UC Irvine's online continuing education offerings. For more information about UC Irvine's OCW initiative, visit ocw.uci.edu or email ocw@unx.uci.edu.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.

2007-03-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

Offline Americans see Internet of Little Value

Study finds dial-up subscribers are converting to broadband but few newcomers in 2006.

Twenty-nine percent of all U.S. households (31 million homes) do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to an Internet service over the next 12 months, according to Parks Associates’ National Technology Scan. This nationwide project, now in its second year, found the main professed cause for non-subscribers is not economic but a low perceived value of the Internet. Forty-four percent of these households say they are not interested in anything on the Internet, and just 22% say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service.

2007-03-26T11:02:00.000-04:00

More Than Half of U.S. Adult Workers Think America is Unprepared to Compete in Global Economy

Monday March 26, 8:51 am ET

MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--56% of U.S. adult workers believe America is unprepared to compete in a global economy according to a new Workplace Insights survey commissioned by Adecco. Further, three-quarters of employed adults (76%) agree that today's U.S. employers do not invest enough in training and development to keep the U.S. workforce competitive with those in other countries.

Other findings from the survey include:

Nearly two-thirds of employed adults (64%) agree that the U.S. educational system is not providing workers with the necessary skills to be prepared for the jobs of the future
9 in 10 employed adults (92%) agree that strengthening the education system should be a top priority for the U.S. in the next decade
Older adults (ages 55+) are significantly more likely than younger adults (ages 18-34) to agree that America is not prepared to compete in a global economy (59% vs. 48% respectively)

What companies can do:

Issue a training and development report each year to all employees that outlines what training is scheduled to take place, how it will impact the organization, and how the company envisions improving employees' performance
If possible, let your employee base know how much your company is investing in training and development and communicate how critical your company views its programs to the success and the growth of the company
Celebrate successful training programs by showcasing examples of how people have implemented what they've learned into their work and also be candid about programs that weren't as effective and involve employees in making them better

Invest in your own career and training by:

Dedicating some time to focus on your own career development. Assess how much time you spend each month on your career development. Is it 3 hours? 5 hours? None? Try to come up with a realistic number of hours you will commit to investing in your own career development or training by reading books related to your job, participating in professional organizations, taking a course, etc.
Creating/updating your career map. A career map can help you determine where you would like to take your career, whether it's your next promotion or to help achieve your dream job. You should spend time at least once a year to assess where you are in your career, evaluate where you would like to go and outline some key steps to enable you to achieve your goals. Then, check in with your career map every few months or so to see how you're doing.
Identifying something to do better every week. Each week, pick something related to your career that you can do better. It can be as simple as getting to the office a half hour earlier or as involved as improving morale on your team. With about 52 weeks in a year, you can really invest in improving your career performance by making this a ritual.

2007-03-23T10:15:00.000-04:00

Scenarios - The Art of the Long View

Picking up on the idea that many useful business tools are frequently overlooked, inadequately explained, or completely ignored in higher education, my MBA finance class (MBA/540 Maximizing Shareholder Wealth) last evening started a spirited discussion about scenario analysis.

Perhaps the best known practitioner is Peter Schwartz, who wrote the leading book on the subject: "The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World".

I mentioned in the class that a simple explanation of this concept was available in an article by Lawrence Wilkinson, co-founder and, at the time, managing director of Global Business Network, in a special edition of Wired Magazine in 2001. I knew that Wired was one of the few publications that maintains a complete library of past issues online. While this is technically true, the publication must have changed computer systems or something, because the article about scenarios that is available online today contains a bunch of broken links, and lacks any of the helpful illustrations that appeared in the original print copy. (Note to self: Great idea! Poorly implemented.)

Not to worry! Technology to the rescue!

There is another wonderful tool that you should know about. It is called the "Way Back Machine", available at the Internet Archive, and this service preserves exact copies of many web pages that have sadly disappeared.

So... off I went on the Way Back Machine, and discovered a better copy of the scenario article, complete with all illustrations! By the way, sometimes the Internet Archive can be a bit slow to load, so if you don't see all the illustrations at first, fear not! Just hit the "Refresh" button on your browser to bring them up. I guarantee they are there...

Other examples of scenarios are available... such as the Internet 2050 video... five Tech Roadmaps.... and a Tampa Bay scenarios analysis which is quite wordy, pretty, the subject of a newspaper column, but ultimately doesn't have much "meat" in terms of who, what, when, where, how, and why...

Back to our story...

So... what do YOU think about scenario analysis?

How could you use the scenario analysis tool in your work... and in your personal life?

2007-03-22T14:52:00.000-04:00

Wonderful, But Ignored Tools

We had an interesting discussion last evening in a course I'm currently teaching, Health Care Financial Accounting HCS/405, about the volume of wonderful business tools that have been developed at US universities and corporations, written up in prominent and prestigious academic journals and books... and then promptly ignored by practicing managers in the US.

Creating great new ideas and tools is a wonderful thing to be sure... but ignoring and forgetting what we already know and have developed is certainly not!

In our quest for academic credentials, it seems to be an acceptable practice for students to read about a useful concept, perhaps in a textbook, but have little idea about how to utilize and actually implement the idea in actual practice in the workplace.

I have been collecting wonderful, but little used business ideas for decades. Along the way, I have developed a long list of favorites.

Heading the list is a book I picked up at a bookstore in the late '80s called "Techniques of Structured Problem Solving - Second Edition" by Arthur B. VanGundy, Jr.

This book is a goldmine of tools and techniques for problem-solving. It contains 105 battle tested problem-solving techniques - 35 more than appeared in the First Edition.

Perhaps I have been hanging around with the wrong crowd, or reading the wrong materials, but I have never heard of this book, or its author, being mentioned by any practicing manager... or listed in any business reference.

Which is a shame...

What's the point of identifying 105 techniques to resolve your most perplexing problems, if no one takes the time to read... or discuss... the book?

Why bother to invent even more new tools and techniques, if we don't make good use of the ones we already have?

OK, so now it's your turn... what tool or concept would YOU like to nominate as the most wonderful, but largely ignored business tool?