THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Moment

"Don't wait for the perfect moment. Take a moment and make it perfect!" - B. Alex

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How Stress Can Improve Your Performance

Recently, I read an article in which a developmental psychologist cited a mountain of evidence showing that IQ was one of the most significant predictors of emotional resiliency in children. The same pattern has also long been seen in the military, where it has been conclusively shown that higher-IQ soldiers show fewer signs of long-term post-traumatic stress.

Why would cognitive ability predict emotional hardiness? In truth, it doesn't. But the tests that measure cognitive ability do. When you tell people they have 12 minutes to show whether they are smart or dumb, the ability to stay calm and focused under duress has a huge impact on the scores.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice by H. Kent Baker (Editor), Ronald Anderson (Editor)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Self management

"Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power." - Lao Tzu

TOPIC OF THE DAY

A Better Way to Manage Your To-Do List

When my wife Eleanor was a little girl, maybe nine or ten years old, she needed new shoes. So she told her mother and they agreed to go shoe shopping the following Saturday morning. But when Saturday rolled around, Eleanor's mother was too busy and realized she wasn't going to be able to fit in the shoe-shopping trip. So she told Eleanor they'd have to do it later.

"When?" Eleanor asked.

"Sometime this weekend," her mom responded.

"When this weekend?"

"Tomorrow."

"When tomorrow?" Eleanor persisted.

"How about two in the afternoon?"

At that, Eleanor relaxed. "Sounds great! Thanks, mom."

And, sure enough, at 2 pm the following day, Eleanor and her mom went to buy new shoes. The shopping trip that would not have happened had Eleanor not insisted on knowing exactly when they were going to go.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice by H. Kent Baker (Editor), Ronald Anderson (Editor)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

MORNING

"MORNING means one more inning given by the god to play." - Jitendra

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How Good Designers Think

We all know that really good designers somehow think differently from you and me about new products. But just exactly what does this difference consist of? The best summary of what makes really good designers tick was a simple post by Bruce Nussbaum back in 2007. Since reading that I've often pondered the subject and today, I find it helpful to look at my experience of how good designers think (and do) at each stage of the innovation process: insights, inspiration, and action.the weekend was over.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice by H. Kent Baker (Editor), Ronald Anderson (Editor)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Work-life

"If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." - Albert Einstein

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Make the Weekend Last All Week

Not long ago I was talking with a recently retired client who said that the best thing about retirement was not having weekends. I must have looked puzzled, because he then explained that all the years of his working life had been based on one major distinction: that between the "workweek" and the "weekend." Monday through Friday was spent doing what he had to do, while the weekend was the time for doing what he really enjoyed.

So — like so many of us — every Sunday night he would start getting anxious about going back to work. But as a retiree, now his life wasn't regulated by this rhythm. In other words, he didn't have to stop doing what he really enjoyed just because the weekend was over.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice by H. Kent Baker (Editor), Ronald Anderson (Editor)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Confession

"Open confession is good for the soul." - Scottish Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Words many Managers are Afraid to say

When is the last time you said words like these to the people who work for you?

"I don't know."
"I was wrong."
"I'm sorry."
"Would you help me?"
"What do you think?"
"What would you do?"
"Could you explain this to me? I'm not sure I get it."

No one, boss or not, likes to admit error or ignorance. But an inability to recognize and admit openly when you lack knowledge or make a mistake will make you less effective as a manager in two ways.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Express Series English for Emails / Rebecca Chapman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Weakness

"The strength of a person is often weighed by how they deal with their weaknesses." - Nathaniel Summers

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What are you not Good at?

Not that it's news to me, but it has come to my attention twice in the past two weeks that I'm a terrible speller. A reader comment on this very blog pointed out that I used the word "conscious" when I meant to say "conscience." He added a "sigh" and a "really?" as if to say "shouldn't you know better?" — and of course I should. Only the week before I had received an email from another perturbed fan about a misspelling on my own website's homepage. Again, not my finest hour.

There are few people who welcomed the invention of automatic spell-check with more glee than I. I work very hard to check and re-check my spelling. But the fact remains, no matter how hard I try, how aware I am of my shortcoming in this area, I am a terrible speller.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Express Series English for Emails / Rebecca Chapman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Communication

"Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence." - Spanish Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Your Communications May Not Be Communicating

Have you ever been in an organization where communication was not an issue? If so, you're the exception rather than the rule.

Large organizations in particular have always struggled with the challenges of communications. In fact, the concept of span of control — a decades-old organizational design principle — was derived originally from communications research analyzing supervisors' interactions with various numerical sets of subordinates. For example, one study noted that going from four to five subordinates increased potential interactions from 44 to 100; and that going from seven to eight brought the total from 490 to 1080. Hence the ideal number for traditional spans was usually pegged at seven, so that supervisors would be able to get more face time with their workers.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Express Series English for Emails / Rebecca Chapman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Wealthy

"You aren't wealthy until you have something money can't buy. " - Mohammed

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Force field analysis

Force field analysis is an influential development in the field of social science. It provides a framework for looking at the factors (forces) that influence a situation, originally social situations. It looks at forces that are either driving movement toward a goal (helping forces) or blocking movement toward a goal(hindering forces). The principle, developed by Kurt Lewin, is a significant contribution to the fields of social science, psychology, social psychology, organizational development, process management, and change management.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Express Series English for Emails / Rebecca Chapman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

change

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. " - Nelson Mandela

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Change is Life

"I hate all this change. Why can't things just stay the same?" Dirk shouted angrily at the TV news anchor. He threw a pillow at the TV screen and clicked it off with a snort. Suddenly a hissing noise arose from the corner of the room and green, shimmering mist filled the air. Dirk stood in shock as a one-foot tall, wrinkled old man emerged from the glowing cloud. The tiny, grizzled fellow had a long flowing white beard and was dressed from head to toe in green. His eyes twinkled with mischief as he flashed a gap-toothed grin. "Hi, I am Mike. I can take you to a place where people don't have to deal with change and things stay the same all the time."

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Express Series English for Emails / Rebecca Chapman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Life is adventure, live every day to the fullest. Hold onto the good times, let all the bad times fall behind you." - Lana Reeves Cherry

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Green Business Strategy Collection

Just a decade ago, the term "green business strategy" evoked visions of fringe environmentalism and a high cost for minimal good. More recently, there's been a large shift in perception: an awakening of social consciousness combined with a realization that a strategy good for the world can also be good for your bottom line. This Collection gets to the heart of why you should and must put a socially responsible strategy at the top of your CEO's agenda.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Life is a combination of some hopes and dreams that we have to rely upon, either willingly or unwillingly." - Parminder Singh Aziz

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Creativity and the Role of the Leader

Creativity has always been at the heart of business, but until now it hasn’t been at the top of the management agenda. By definition the ability to create something novel and appropriate, creativity is essential to the entrepreneurship that gets new businesses started and that sustains the best companies after they have reached global scale. But perhaps because creativity was considered unmanageable—too elusive and intangible to pin down—or because concentrating on it produced a less immediate payoff than improving execution, it hasn’t been the focus of most managers’attention.


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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Stress

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are." - Chinese proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Make Stress Work for You

I had gone to bed at midnight. It was now two in the morning. I was still awake, stressed thinking about my book, which — ironically — is about happiness. Trying to unwind, I opened my laptop and started watching clips from The Daily Show. An ad for a popular sleep aid came on that I thought was still part of the satire; while the first 20 seconds promised me that if I took it, I could go right to sleep, for the next 40 seconds a soothing voice told me that if I took the pill, I would also risk seizure, sudden heart attack, hallucinations, extreme levels of anger, swallowing my tongue, and might commit suicide. After an ad like that, I knew if I took that pill I'd be much too stressed about the possible side effects to ever fall asleep.

I realized this was no joke — it was a real ad. And I realized this is exactly how corporate trainings talk about stress at work.

In order to get companies and employees to take stress seriously, for the past 30 years, most trainers and coaches have highlighted research that shows that stress is the number one health threat in the US (World Health Organization); that 70-90% of doctor visits are due to stress-related issue (American Stress Institute); and that stress is linked to the six leading causes of death (American Psychological Association).
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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listening

"Home is where you can say anything you like because nobody listens to you anyway." - Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Help Employees Listen When They Don't Want to Hear

When change initiatives fail, the culprit is often a lack of good communication from management. But that's not always the whole story. Communication isn't just about what management says; it's also about how employees listen.

This point was made to me by an executive whose organization had difficulty in getting employees to buy into changes it had proposed. He felt his employees were choosing to tune out as a form of resistance. Such resistance can often sabotage the best efforts of management to drive change throughout the organization. It even happens when managers are diligent communicators and active in the communication process. Resistance will occur for any number of reasons: perceived loss of autonomy, fear of the unknown, or a dislike for upsetting the status quo.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Being the boss : the 3 imperatives for becoming a great leader / Linda A. Hill

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Forgiveness

"The act of forgiveness is tough but it is the only way to forge ahead into blessings." - Esther Anarfi Minkah

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Comparison of Windows and Linux

Comparisons between the Microsoft Windows and Linux computer operating systems are a long-running discussion topic within the personal computer industry. Throughout the entire period of the Windows 9x systems through the introduction of Windows 7,
Windows has retained an extremely large retail sales majority among operating systems for personal desktop use, while Linux has sustained its status as the most prominent free software operating system.
After their initial clash, both operating systems moved beyond the user base of the personal computer market and share a rivalry on a variety of other devices, with offerings for the server and embedded systems markets, and mobile internet access.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Culture

"Culture is a framework in which we communicate." - Stephen Roberts

TOPIC OF THE DAY

How My Company Hires for Culture First, Skills Second

No two organizations' hiring processes are alike. No technology company hiring manager would ask a programmer applicant to teach the alphabet, but it's the first thing a school administrator might ask of a teacher. Obviously, you need different criteria to assess if people possess the skills needed to succeed in different positions.

But skills don't tell the whole story. Every organization needs employees who mesh with its core values — the principles that define who you are as an organization and that shape day-to-day business decisions. Employees who do not adhere to a shared corporate culture dilute it, detracting from the essence that gives your company its identity and helps it achieve aggressive goals. In my view, every organization's hiring process — from Microsoft to PS 90 to everything in between — should screen candidates for the best cultural fit.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

change

"Your past cannot be changed, but you can change your tomorrow by your actions today." - Esther Dada

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Cultural Intelligence

Cultural intelligence, cultural quotient or CQ, is a theory within management and organisational psychology, positing that understanding the impact of an individual's cultural background on their behaviour is essential for effective business, and measuring an individual's ability to engage successfully in any environment or social setting. First described by Christopher Earley and Soon Ang in Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures. The book was published in 2003 by Stanford University. In Singapore, Soon Ang has created the Center for Leadership and Cultural Intelligence. with its U.S. counterpart, the Cultural Intelligence Center [3] based in East Lansing, Michigan

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Courage

"Courage is as often the outcome of despair as of hope; in the one case we have nothing to lose, in the other, everything to gain" - Lauren Covington

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Request for proposal

A request for proposal (RFP) is an early stage in a procurement process, issuing an invitation for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. The RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and allows the risks and benefits to be identified clearly upfront.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Physician

"Nature, time and patience are three great physicians." - H.G. Bohn

TOPIC OF THE DAY

food and behaviour research

Nutrition can play an important role in the prevention and management of many kinds of difficulties in behaviour, learning and mood. These include:

* Everyday difficulties in behaviour, learning or mood that can affect children and adults - at home, at school or in the workplace.

* Developmental conditions - such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and autistic spectrum disorders.

* Mental health conditions - such as anxiety, depression, bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder and schizophrenia.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Life is not just about what you can do as a person. It's about what others learn from what you are doing, which has a positive impact on them." - Lawrence A

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Crisis management

Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a major event that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the general public. Three elements are common to most definitions of crisis: (a) a threat to the organization, (b) the element of surprise, and (c) a short decision time.Venette argues that "crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be maintained." Therefore the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure or incident.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Essential advantage : how to win with a capabilities-driven strategy/Paul Leinwand