THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Preference

“In science, read by preference the newest works. In literature, read the oldest. The classics are always modern.” - Amy Lowell

TOPIC OF THE DAY

First Things First

I've learned that the good is the enemy of the best when the first things in our lives are subordinated to other things. My daughter, Maria, recently had a new baby. A few days after she delivered, I visited with her, expecting to find her happy. Instead, I found her frustrated. She told me, "I have so many other projects and interests that are important to me.

But right now, I have to put everything on hold. I'm spending all my time just meeting the physical needs of this new baby. I can't even find time to be with my other two children and my husband." Seeking to understand, I replied, "So, this new baby is consuming you?" She continued, "I have other work to do. I have some writing projects that need my attention. I have other people in my life."

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Introduction To Game Theory In Business And Economics by Thomas J. Webster

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Innovation

“Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation. ” - Mason Cooley

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Coaching for Creativity in the Workplace

There was a CEO of a large company who had an interesting object on his desk. Over the course of many years the object had been the topic of numerous conversations by most employees and visitors who found themselves in his office. When I heard the story about the CEO and the strange object, I knew it had to be the topic of an article, because of how moved I was by the message.

The object on his desk was a hand-carved automobile made from wood that was similar to what you might see at a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. The car was about eight inches long and although quite detailed in design, obviously wasn't professionally made. Someone had constructed this car for a specific purpose. The unique part of the car was that its wheels were not round, but rather square! That's why it became the object of conversations: people were awestruck by the design and construction.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

The Financial Times Guide to Value Investing:How to Become a Disciplined Investor By Glen Arnold

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Gentleness

“Gentleness is not a lack of strength but a great power that doesn't force or disturb.” - unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 (also called Office 2010 and Office 14) is a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows, and the successor to Microsoft Office 2007. Office 2010 includes extended file format support, user interface updates, and a changed user experience. A 64-bit version of Office 2010 is available, although not for Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.

On April 15, 2010, Office 2010 was released to manufacturing. The suite became available for retail and online purchase on June 15, 2010.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

The Financial Times Guide to Value Investing:How to Become a Disciplined Investor By Glen Arnold

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Innovation

“Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity. ” - Michael Porter

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What is the MIX?

An open innovation project...

The Management Innovation eXchange (MIX) is an open innovation project aimed at reinventing management for the 21st century. The premise: while "modern" management is one of humankind's most important inventions, it is now a mature technology that must be reinvented for a new age.

The spur for a revolution in management...

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Discover

“I want to kick-start your imagination and let you discover the places it can take you. ” - Terry Brooks


TOPIC OF THE DAY

Rediscovering the Lost Network

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel "The Lost World" depicts a plateau in South America complete with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. To think that an entire sub-continent could lie undiscovered hidden from the rest of civilization.

Yet a similar thing could be happening in networks all over the world. How? It's all to do with the hectic pace of change. Planned or unplanned changes happen all the time: IT integration of branches and locations due to mergers and acquisitions; disruptive technology like virtualization; global corporate expansions; office reallocations; purchasing of new hardware; and datacenter consolidation projects. They all introduce the need for a complete re-discovery of the infrastructure, hardware assets and port to port connectivity.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

The Financial Times Guide to Value Investing:How to Become a Disciplined Investor By Glen Arnold

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Plan

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” - Zig Ziglar


TOPIC OF THE DAY

Positioning & Product management for the perfect marketing plan

Many products are essentially the same thing. There may be hundreds of different detergents. However, all the detergents essentially do the same thing. They clean the clothes. Still all the detergents are sold telling the consumer many different things. Detergents are sold telling the consumer that their clothes will be whiter if the use this detergent. Some detergents are sold telling the consumer that the color of the clothes will be retained or that the clothes will have a fresh smell etc. This is basically product management for positioning.

As discussed, in positioning the marketer tries to occupy a place in the mind of the consumer. Once the marketer decides the place he wishes to occupy, he has to change his product to reflect the position he has chosen.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Equity and Growth in a Globalizing World by Ravi Kanbur, Michael Spence

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Learning

“Learning is finding out what you already know.” - Richard Bach


TOPIC OF THE DAY

How To Break Through Fear in Turbulent Times

Fear is becoming all too common in many people's lives today. In turbulent times, inner voices of fear and self- doubt can surface with an increased vitality and urgency. By focusing on addressing these fears and restoring your inner balance, you can gain the resilience and healthy outlook that will get you through these difficult times.

Find the time to do the techniques in this exercise. Save this newsletter, print it out, and come back to it if necessary. Understanding how fears impact your life and activities will empower you to push past them. Here are some techniques and processes that can identify, address, and break through fears and doubts.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Equity and Growth in a Globalizing World by Ravi Kanbur, Michael Spence

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Trust

“I don't trust what this life has given me. ” - Dennis Rodman

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Growth Versus Real Growth

Time for a quick lesson in sales economics 101. Very few salespeople, management included, appreciate the difference between economic growth and real growth. I bring this concept forward because I have seen many salespeople and sales managers base performance appraisals and productivity on the wrong indicator. Growth is a result of a strong, buoyant economy; growth due to outside factors such as low interest rates, high consumer confidence, high demand, and limited supply. Your business becomes the beneficiary of economic growth stimulated by a strong, active economy. You did nothing to stimulate it—you only reacted to it. This scenario often creates a false sense of productivity throughout the company as management proudly high-fives each other. In boardrooms, they exclaim: "Aren't we great, we are 15% ahead of last year's numbers. Wow, we're awesome." Who's kidding whom? Yes, you may be up 15% but so is everybody else in your industry. You're all on the bandwagon together, riding on the coattails of strong economic growth. However, real growth is over and above economic growth—growth on top of growth. Real growth is stimulated by effective prospecting and is critical for long-term success. For example, if the economy generates 15% economic growth, your goal may be to achieve 5% real growth in addition to the 15%. Thus, when the economic wave crashes (they usually do) and the 15% growth evaporates, you're still left with 5% growth—probably 5% more than your competitors. That's real growth. It doesn't take very long to see and appreciate the tremendous impact real growth has on a business. Salespeople and managers usually don't think about growth in these terms. It's time you did. Reevaluate your productivity and challenge yourself. Is my business growing, or is it really growing? Clearly, your objective as a sales entrepreneur is to drive real growth. Don't simply respond to a natural economic growth spurt.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Agriculture, Rural Development,and Food Security by Asian Development Bank

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose. ” - Robert Byrne


TOPIC OF THE DAY

Warehouse Management

Warehouse Management Systems are gaining importance similar to that of other software solutions. A typical warehouse management system would include controlling the movement of materials and the storage of the materials. Though these functionalities are very basic the warehouse management system is expanding its functionalities to include light manufacturing, transportation management, order management, and integrated with the accounting systems. Now warehouse management systems are transforming into warehouse focused ERP system.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Agriculture, Rural Development,and Food Security by Asian Development Bank

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The good life

“The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” - Bertrand Russell

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Microcredit

Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most
minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit. Microcredit is a part of microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor.

The modern invention of microloans is credited to St. Louis entrepreneur Menlo Smith who was struck by the abject poverty he saw in the Philippines.

Microcredit is a financial innovation that is generally considered to have originated with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. In that country, it has successfully enabled extremely impoverished people to engage in self-employment projects that allow them to generate an income and, in many cases, begin to build wealth and exit poverty.

Read on.....

LATEST ARRIVALS

Microsoft Excel 2010 Plain & Simple By Curtis Frye D.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Culture
“No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.” - Mahatma Gandhi

TOPIC OF THE DAY
De-Cluttering Your Organization
There's nothing like moving offices to force you to de-clutter; it gives you the impetus to throw out the manual to your first PDA and the conference materials you've be holding on to for 5 years "in case you need them." Organizations acquire equally useless clutter, most often in the form of intangible things such as processes that have outlived their usefulness. You don't need to relocate your whole company to uncover the drive to de-clutter. Instead, think about where you want to go next and whether you can get there with the clutter you've accumulated. Frame a challenging goal — such as increasing customer face time by 10% or doubling revenue. Then ask yourself, What can we stop doing and how should we streamline our processes to get there?

Today's HBS Management Tip was adapted from "De-Cluttering Your Organization" by Ron Ashkenas.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Skill

“Art is skill, that is the first meaning of the word.” - Eric Gill


TOPIC OF THE DAY

Skills For Growth- Tips Required To Achieve Success

To achieve success in this competitive world one needs to be a step ahead. Skill for growth is needed to make one better than other individuals. If one acquires better skills then that person is likely to be the winner. A skilful person is likely to be good tool in the building of a nation. The skilful persons have wide range of choices. Skilful person is more innovative and useful. Skilful person is more productive. A country is likely to be more developed and advanced if it has more skilled manpower. The emphasis is on quality of manpower as compared with number of workers. A skilful person is likely to take the organization towards success as compared with unskilful person. Skill for growth is not confined to education but, it is also connected with business and other fields. As skill is the basic criteria for a sound organization (it may be a business firms, a company or a country).

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Microsoft Excel 2010 Plain & Simple By Curtis Frye D.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Career

“It's not what you achieve, it's what you overcome. That's what defines your career.” - Carlton Fisk

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Award Your Own Genius Grants

The MacArthur Foundation has just named its new crop of MacArthur Fellows, 23 creative achievers who have each been given a half-million-dollar "genius grant." The Foundation has been giving such awards for 30 years now, and every year's announcement seems to garner more attention than the last. If you're like many people hearing about the program, one of your first questions may be: How are these geniuses chosen?

Funny you should ask. A few years ago, my colleague Diane Coutu (genius herself of social science editing) published an interview in our pages with Daniel Socolow, the director of MacArthur's Fellows program since 1997. He describes a process that, appropriately, is as much art as science.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

India’s Silicon Plateau: Development of Information and Communication Technology in Bangalore by R.C. Mascarenhas

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Memory

“We must always have old memories and young hopes” - Houssaye

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How Your Brain Connects the Future to the Past

We tend to think of memory as a way to revisit past experiences: a vacation in the tropics, a bad business decision, or where you might have put those elusive car keys. Neuroscientists have long believed that the brain's so-called episodic memory circuits are largely involved in remembering past events or occurrences. Neuroimaging studies had even identified parts of the brain that are specifically activated when retrieving information from prior life experiences. These include regions in the prefrontal and medial temporal lobes, as well as more posterior regions such as the retrosplenial cortex. But recent studies (pdf)have found a striking overlap between these areas and brain regions that are activated when you think about the future.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Agriculture, Rural Development,and Food Security by Asian Development Bank

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Helpfulness

“We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” - Dr. Loretta Scott

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Your most helpful Colleague

Research suggests, however, that such selfless contributors are not so valued by their colleagues. In fact, they can inspire such negative reactions that others might believe the group would be better off without them. In a series of studies Asako Stone and I conducted, we found this to be the case: selfless people were almost as unpopular as their polar opposites, the very greedy people who contribute next to nothing but expect to reap the full reward of a group's success.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Agriculture, Rural Development,and Food Security by Asian Development Bank

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Hope

“If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes ” - St. Clement of Alexandra

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who was the first (and to date the longest-serving)prime minister of India, from 1947 until 1964. One of the leading figures in the Indian independence movement, Nehru was elected by the Congress Party to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1952.

As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He is frequently referred to as Pandit Nehru ("pandit" being a Sanskrit and Hindi honorific meaning "scholar" or "teacher") and, specifically in India, as Panditji (with "-ji" being a honorific suffix).

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LATEST ARRIVALS



Backwaters Of Development Six Deprived States Of India (Hardcover) by Shovan Ray

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

“A leader is a dealer in hope." - Napoleon Bonaparte

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Develop the 4 Qualities of an Inspirational Leader

Leaders need vision, energy, authority, and a natural strategic ability. But those things don't necessarily help you inspire your employees to be their best and commit to you as a leader. Here are the four qualities you need to capture the hearts, minds, and spirits of your people:

1. Humanness. Nobody wants to work with a perfect leader. Build collaboration and solidarity by revealing your weaknesses.
2. Intuition. To be most effective, you need to know what's going on without others spelling it out for you. Collect unspoken data from body language and looks given across rooms to help you intuit the underlying messages.
3. Tough empathy. Care deeply about your employees, but accept nothing less than their very best.
4. Uniqueness. Demonstrate that you are a singular leader by showing your unique qualities to those around you.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from HBR's 10
Must Reads on Leadership, one of six HBR article collections in the popular 10 Must Reads series.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

“Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. ” - George S. Patton

TOPIC OF THE DAY

True Leaders Are Also Managers

Tens of thousands of books have been written on leadership and there are several academic journals devoted entirely to the subject, including The Leadership Quarterly and The Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. Perhaps the most definitive review and integration of the leadership literature was Bass and Stogdill's 1,200-page Handbook of Leadership, which was published in 1990 (and still does the best job of making sense of the literature, for my money). And if you really want a long book on leadership, you can get the four-volume Encyclopedia of Leadership, which at 2,120 pages weighs in at 15 pounds, and costs a whopping $800. Clearly, the task of reviewing the leadership literature — and acting on it as leader — isn't to understand it all (that is impossible), but to develop a point of view on the few themes that matter most.

Read on...


LATEST ARRIVALS

Backwaters Of Development Six Deprived States Of India (Hardcover) by Shovan Ray

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Employee

“The corporation is the “master”, the employee is the “servant”. Because the corporation owns the means of production without which the employee could not make a living, the employee needs the corporation more than vice versa.” - Peter Drucker

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Retaining a Workforce that wants to quit

In each of the past three months, more employees quit their jobs than were terminated, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is good news for the economy but bad for individual businesses: when jobs become more plentiful, the first to exit are often the business's most ambitious employees — the innovators, the risk-takers, the future leaders. The cost of replacing an employee is estimated at up to 250 percent of annual salary.

An AchieveGlobal survey of 738 managers revealed that about one in four employees planned to leave their jobs within a year. A study reported in the May issue of Harvard Business Review revealed that 12% of high-potential employees were actively searching for a new job.

Read on...


LATEST ARRIVALS

Ethics, Business and Society: managing responsibly, Edited by ANANDA DAS GUPTA

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Criticism

“Before you go and criticize the younger generation, just remember who raised them.” - Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How to Handle Surprise Criticism

"Peter, there's something we want to talk to you about," Mark said as we were sitting on the ground eating dinner.

It was the summer of 1990, and Mark, Rich, and I were instructing a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course, leading about 15 students for a month in the Wind River Mountain Range in Wyoming. Our students were at their own campsites nearby, preparing to sleep.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Marketing calculator : measuring and managing return on marketing investment / Guy R. Powell

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Forgiveness

“If you can't forgive and forget, pick one. ” - Robert Brault

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Forgive and Remember: How a Good Boss Responds to Mistakes

Failure sucks but instructs. In fact, there is no learning without failure — and this includes failing at dangerous things like surgery and flying planes. Discovery of the moves that work well is always accompanied by discovery of moves that don't.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Marketing calculator : measuring and managing return on marketing investment / Guy R. Powell

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Forgiveness

““The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” - Thomas S. Szasz quotes

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Forgive but Don't Forgets

It is common wisdom that failure is inevitable, especially when innovating. If you want people to take risks and try new things, failure must be an option. But few organizations have actually created cultures that accept gaffes. To show your support for failure, encourage your people to make the most of their blunders. Try adopting a "forgive but not forget" approach. Forgive honest mistakes, but make sure employees learn from past failures so they don't repeat them.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Forgive and Remember: How a Good Boss Responds to Mistakes" by Robert I. Sutton as listed in HBR's Management Tip's

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Idea

“Money never starts an idea. It is always the idea that starts the money. ” - Owen Laughlin

TOPIC OF THE DAY

If You're the Boss, Start Killing More Good Ideas

wrote about this notion in my last post on Forgive and Remember where we saw that, to yield a dozen or so commercially successful ideas for toys, a group at IDEO generated over 4,000 non-starters. It turns out, however, that the best managed enterprises don't just recognize the flowers among the weeds; they mow down a lot of the flowers, too.

Read on...


LATEST ARRIVALS

Marketing calculator : measuring and managing return on marketing investment / Guy R. Powell

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Perfect

“Perfect order is the forerunner of perfect horror.” - Carlos Fuentes

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Business software

Business software is generally any software program that helps a business increase productivity or measure their productivity. The term covers a large variation of uses within the business environment, and can be categorized by using a small, medium and large matrix:

1. The small business market generally consists of home accounting software, and office suites such as Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org.

2. The medium size, or SME, has a broader range of software applications, ranging from accounting, groupware, customer relationship management, human resources software, outsourcing relationship management, loan origination software, shopping cart software, field service software, and other productivity enhancing applications.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Marketing calculator : measuring and managing return on marketing investment / Guy R. Powell

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Capability

“The depth of our despair measures what capability and height of claim we have to hope.” -
Thomas Carlyle

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Six Ways to Supercharge Your Productivity

It's Labor Day in the U.S. as I write this post. To my own amazement, I've spent most of the past month truly relaxing — reading lots of books, playing tennis, running, hanging out with my family and eating food I mostly shouldn't — scones and donuts for breakfast, BLTs and burgers for lunch. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Now it's time to return to work. I feel lucky to have a job, and especially one I love, but the fall ahead is intense, daunting, and demanding, as I suspect it is for you. I'm anxious about the economy. I'm wondering when the next shoe is going to drop. I'm concerned about how my company will hold up if things do get worse.

Read on...


LATEST ARRIVALS

Marketing calculator : measuring and managing return on marketing investment / Guy R. Powell