THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listening

"Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly." - Plutarch

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Listen Without Reacting

Listening is harder than speaking. Even the best listeners sometimes have to bite their tongues to stop from reacting, interrupting, or trying to console the person talking. Here are three ways you can truly listen:

• Avoid distractions. This doesn't just mean putting down the Blackberry or closing your web browser. Try not to think about what you're going to say next. Simply focus on what the other person says.
• Repeat back. This sometimes feels silly, but repeating back what you heard shows the other person that you're listening.
• Ask thoughtful questions. Ask open-ended questions that help you see the issue more clearly and allow your conversation partner to go deeper into what he cares about.
  

Today's Thought is adopted from HBR’s “Management Tip” cited "How to Really Listen" by Peter Bregman on December 30, 2011.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Vision

"The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious." - John Scully

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Vision without action is a dream

“Vision without action is a dream”. So said Joel Barker in the late 70’s and 80’s, when he introduced the corporate world to the “paradigm shift”. A “paradigm shift” is a radical change, more metamorphosis than evolution, of thinking. This was an extension of Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolution”, popularized in the 60’s. The printing press or more recently the internet, are examples of paradigm shifts - radical, irreversible changes in the way things work on a mass scale.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Learning

"Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere." - Chinese Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Your First Job Doesn't (Really) Matter

I recently polled a trailblazing group of women leaders — Northwestern University's Council of 100 — about their careers. How many of us were in the same job or even on the same career path today as we were when we graduated from college? The answer was three: three out of one hundred women. Then I asked how many were in the same industry. The number went up to about twenty.

So, at twenty-one years old, 20% of us knew the field we wanted to be in (and would ultimately succeed in) and 3% of us got both the job and the industry right out of the starting gate.

Gen Y's, don't worry: this isn't a cautionary tale; it's a reprieve. Don't worry so much about your first job — you're probably not going to get it right anyway, and that's okay.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Great by choice : uncertainty, chaos, and luck - why some thrive despite them all / Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Change

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change." - Jim Rohn

TOPIC OF THE DAY

9 Tips for Change Agents

The job title on Chris Turner's business card simply reads "Learning Person."

"It's like 'citizen of the world,'" she says. "Ultimately my hope is that people in all parts of XBS will see themselves as Learning Persons."

As nonhierarchical as her job title sounds, Turner's role at XBS is that of "chief change agent." Here are her nine lessons for would-be change agents.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Great by choice : uncertainty, chaos, and luck - why some thrive despite them all / Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Identity

"An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience." - James Baldwin

TOPIC OF THE DAY

What's in a (First) Name

Back in the day when I was growing up (think early 80's) there wasn't an adult whom I didn't address as Mr. or Mrs. so and so. Grown ups were addressed with deference, distance, and formality and we kids knew what the protocol was. Today, I have a four-year-old whose friends all call me Jodi — and if someone were to address me as Mrs. Glickman, I'd do a double take and assume they were talking to my mother.

As goes our social world, so too goes the workplace. Addressing people by their first name is now the norm in corporate America (though not in the rest of the world — to the ongoing consternation of business travelers). And while there are critics and bow-tied traditionalists who will decry such an outrage or indecency or informality, I think that we all need to get with the times.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Great by choice : uncertainty, chaos, and luck - why some thrive despite them all / Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success

"A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success." - Elbert Hubbard

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Should you stay Late or go Home?

Let me start this post with a confession: I'm usually the last person to leave my office. I get in around 8:00am or earlier and often don't get home until after 7:00pm. But I'm not complaining. I love my work (and have an understanding family). But since there's always more to do than there is time to do it, I've gotten into the pattern of expanding my workday.

I'm not the only one. In fact, a recent study suggests that nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies report that their employees have worked more hours over the past three years. It's likely that there are similar percentages in other countries.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bad money : reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism / Kevin Phillips

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Feedback

"Feedback is the breakfast of champions." - Ken Blanchard

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Reconnect After Giving Tough Feedback

Hearing that your performance is lacking can be harsh, even alienating. That's why as a manager, you need be thoughtful when delivering difficult feedback to your employees. You probably know to do two things: first, articulate what your employee is doing well, and second, provide input on problematic behaviors. But don't forget an important third step: reconnect. After hearing difficult input, an employee may avoid you or feel she can't come to you for advice. Reestablish your relationship and reiterate what you value most. Point out her writing skills or thank her for asking tough questions during meetings. You can also check in on a personal matter: Ask, "How was your daughter's play?" or, "Did your wife hear back about that job?" Do this at the end of the feedback session or wait until the next day. Just be sure to connect so she is comfortable continuing the relationship with you.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from Guide to Giving Effective Feedback as cited in HBR’s Management Tip cited on December 22, 2011

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Honesty

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Drop Your Mask and Be Authentic

Are you hiding from your employees? Too many leaders try to conceal their flaws and present a polished façade. Or they try to behave like they think "great" leaders do. When you try to be someone else, it erodes trust and effectiveness and causes people to question your true identity. So drop the mask and be who you really are. This can enhance your relationships, foster trust, and create better business outcomes. Be honest about your imperfections and ask others to help you determine how to bring more of your authentic self to work.

Today's Management Thought was adapted from "Fire, Snowball, Mask, Movie: How Leaders Spark and Sustain Change" by Peter Fuda and Richard Badham as Cited in HBR’s “Management Tip” published on December 21, 2011.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leadership

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Fire, Snowball, Mask, Movie

What does it take for an ineffective manager to become a highly effective leader? Talk to 50 top CEOs, management consultants, and academics, and you’ll get a different answer from each. There are countless books, models, and formulas for success. But the truth is this: Leadership transformation is deeply dependent on context. Everyone follows his own path, has her own story. The key for people who are seeking transformation is to identify the common threads in the experiences of others who have achieved success and absorb the insights they find there.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bad money : reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism / Kevin Phillips

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Delayed Action

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." - Japanese Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Procrastinating...Now

It seems that no one is immune to the tendency to procrastinate. When someone asked Ernest Hemingway how to write a novel, his response was "First you defrost the refrigerator." But putting off tasks takes a big hit on our productivity, and psyche. Procrastination is not inevitable. Figuring out why you postpone work and then taking concrete steps to prevent it will help you get more done and feel good about yourself.

What the Experts Say-

According to Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist and the author of 12 books, including Driven to Distraction, delaying work is often a symptom of how busy you are. "We procrastinate because we all have too much to do," he says. And of course, we want to dodge things we don't like. "Many people procrastinate because they fear the drudgery or the difficulty of the task they are avoiding," says Teresa Amabile, the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and coauthor of The Progress Principle.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Bad money : reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism / Kevin Phillips

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Self Management

"It is the necessities of life which generate ideas of right and wrong." - W. Somerset Maugham

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Five Tips to Break Through Your Filter(s)

It is no surprise that we instinctively seek out those who share our interests. This is especially true in times of increasing pressure and uncertainty. We have an understandable tendency in such times to seek out the familiar and comfortable as a buffer against the unforeseen changes around us. In so doing we can inadvertently put ourselves in a cage of similarity that narrows our peripheral vision of the world and our options. The result? We may be even more vulnerable to being blindsided by events and trends coming at us from new and unusual directions.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Foundation course in human values and professional ethics : presenting a universal approach to value education-through self-exploration / Gaur, R. R.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success

"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore." - Dale Carnegie

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Foundation course in human values and professional ethics : presenting a universal approach to value education-through self-exploration / Gaur, R. R.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Customer Service

"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it." - PETER DRUCKER

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Engage Employees Using Customer Service Tactics

Most companies claim they want enthusiastic, engaged employees — and with good reason. Employee engagement and financial performance are connected. A recent study by Aon Hewitt, for example, found that companies with high levels of engagement outperformed the stock market in 2010.

And yet Gallup research indicates that more than 70 percent of employees in the typical company are "not engaged" or "actively disengaged."

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Theory of Consumer Behaviour by Shri Prakash

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Business

"In the word Business, the letter “U” comes before the letter “I”." - Anonymous

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Five Things You Should Stop Doing in 2012

I recently got back from a month's vacation — the longest I've ever taken, and a shocking indulgence for an American. (Earlier this summer, I was still fretting about how to pull off two weeks unplugged.) The distance, though, helped me hone in on what's actually important to my professional career — and which make-work activities merely provide the illusion of progress. Inspired by HBR blogger Peter Bregman's idea of creating a "to ignore" list , here are the activities I'm going to stop cold turkey in 2012 — and perhaps you should, too.

1.Responding Like a Trained Monkey.
2.Mindless Traditions.
3.Reading Annoying Things.
4.Work That's Not Worth It.
5.Making Things More Complicated Than They Should Be.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Theory of Consumer Behaviour by Shri Prakash

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Apologize

"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth." - Benjamin Disraeli

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Smart Apologies should be Strategic

Last month when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings hit "send" on his now infamous "I messed up" blog post and summarily announced the formation of the "Qwikster" business to run Netflix's DVD network, a new chapter in botched crisis communications was written.

After more than 27,000 comments, significant customer backlash, and a startling drop in the company's stock price, we can finally step back and discern several lessons from Hastings' communications faux pas.

Chief among them is how business leaders can use strategic communications techniques to stop adding fuel to the digital-age fires. Throwing half-hearted apologies at an issue will just exacerbate a festering problem — and people will view it as an obvious and empty attempt to quiet the masses.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Theory of Consumer Behaviour by Shri Prakash

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Loyalty

"I’ll take fifty percent efficiency to get one hundred percent loyalty." - SAMUEL GOLDWYN

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Keeping Your Clients Loyal, From Wherever You Are

For building the kind of enduring client relationships necessary for long-term growth, nothing replaces face-to-face contact. But these days, you're just as likely to be doing business across the world as down the street (just yesterday, I was Skyping from Boston with a client in Vancouver). Except for the most bedraggled of new consulting firm recruits, no one is on-site with clients 24-7. So how do you cultivate loyal, trusting — and lasting — client relationships when you can't always pop in for a meeting or take them out to dinner? Here are five ways to do it.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Doubt

"Doubt Your Doubts But Not Your Beliefs." - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Six Social Media Trends to Watch for in 2012

Every year for the last five years, social media pundits have written posts about “what’s going to happen” in the next year. Specific mergers and acquisitions are predicted, the rise and fall of technologies are predicted, and improbable future trends are hyped ad nauseum.

Rather than focusing in on a granular level (which is often wildly incorrect), it’s more realistic for small, medium, and enterprise companies to examine high-level trends and apply them in a sensible manner to their businesses. Goodbye “shiny new object,” hello balanced perspective. In that spirit, here are some macro developments to plan for in 2012:

1. Social customer relationship management becomes the norm for medium and large companies.
2. Social marketing automation becomes tangible and inexpensive.
3. Most social media platforms adopt robust analytics.
4. Outsourced social media management becomes commoditized.
5. Completion of the Baby Boomers’ adoption of social technologies.
6. Rapid consolidation occurs in enterprise-level social media.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Communication

"Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them." - Author Unknown

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Never Ask 'Does That Make Sense?

Just as a chef is attuned to the subtleties of flavor and trends in the culinary arts, a presentation coach is attuned to the subtleties of language and trends in the communication art. One trend I've noted recently is the expression, "Does that make sense?" often used by a speaker during a conversation — or a presenter during a presentation — to check whether the listener or audience has understood or appreciated what the speaker has just said. Unfortunately, the expression has two negative implications:

• Uncertainty on the part of the speaker about the accuracy or credibility of the content
• Doubt about the ability of the audience to comprehend or appreciate the content.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Truth

"Truth is often eclipsed, but never extinguished." - Livy

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Weave Change into Your HR Processes

Profound changes in an organization must be led from the top, but human resource professionals can play a big part in making them happen.

Consider HR's role in accelerating Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates' operational improvement initiative. This 4,500-employee Massachusetts healthcare group embarked on "Care Improvement" three years ago. Chief Human Resources Officer Dan Michaud told me how HR has helped weave the initiative into all the firm's processes for managing people:

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Advantage

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." - Mark Twain

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Use Office Politics to Your Advantage

No matter what your company, you've probably encountered organizational politics. One of the most frequent complaints that I hear from managers is how difficult it is to get things done in the face of conflicting agendas, misaligned priorities, pursuit of personal goals, and unresolved issues — all often lumped under the umbrella of "politics." Recently, for example, a health care manager told me about a proposal she had made that had the potential to generate millions in new revenue and provide a critical service to customers — but was shot down because other groups were lobbying for the status quo. "It's a shame that politics got in the way of doing something that made so much sense," she said.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Education

"Education is all a matter of building bridges." - Ralph Ellison

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Understanding the role of trainees in effective training:

Training is amongst a multi-facet function of human resource management which helps in deciding the positive outcomes for an organization .Right from retention of employees to better performance and efficient working it is the training function which builds a positive brand image and brings a sense of commitment since the employees feel they are able to produce as well as learn better. But this can be made true only when it is need based for trainees.

By designing effective and need based training( specifically keeping trainees in focus) program employees learn better ,get motivated to enhance their skill, knowledge and attitude and are able to reproduce the implication of learned skills in improving further thus bringing benefit to both self and organization as a whole. The present paper focuses on keeping trainees as most important component while designing training program. It will help in bringing clarity on role of different trainee related factors on training.

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LATEST ARRIVALS

Web Services by B V Kumar, S V Subrahmanya

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Leader

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Become an Extraordinary Leader

Here's a short quiz:

When you brought your report card home in high school did your parents:

A) zero in on the C's and say, "What's the matter here?"

B) focus the A-minuses, pat you on the back, and say, "Great job, now let's push these up to A's"?

If you're typical of the high-potential leaders I work with, you experienced A. And I suspect that wasn't only your parent's reaction, it was yours as well — and not just for your report cards but for your performance reviews. And why not? The point of a progress report is to point out where you need to make progress. And certainly that means shoring up your weaknesses, doesn't it?

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Fundamentals of Cost Accounting (3e) by William Lanen, Shannon Anderson, Michael Maher

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Performance

"You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That's the mark of a true professional." - Joe Paterno

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Stop Competing to be the Best

With Cyber Monday, the tablet wars kicked into full swing. Which one is the best? Is it the iPad? The Kindle? Who has the best technology? The best distribution? Who's the best overall? For most people, "being the best" is what competition is all about. So General Motors CEO Dan Akerson was simply echoing popular sentiment when, on the day the new GM went public, he threw down the gauntlet: "May the best car win!" he told reporters. The phrase reflects an underlying belief about the nature of competition that feels so intuitively correct that it is almost never examined or questioned.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Fundamentals of Cost Accounting (3e) by William Lanen, Shannon Anderson, Michael Maher

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Challenges

"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." - Joshua J. Marine

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Challenge of the Average Employee

Most businesses have a normal distribution of talent — a limited number, say top 10 percent, of high potential, rock star performers, a bottom decile of under-performers, and a thick middle of 80 percent of folks who get the day-to-day stuff done. In well-managed businesses, there are clear feedback mechanisms to ensure that the bottom of the talent pack gets managed out efficiently and objectively. While at GE, Jack Welch popularized the notion that it was good to fire the "bottom 10" of his managers every year. On the other end of the spectrum, the better companies manage the top-end of their talent pool, providing mentors to groom this group of next-generation of leaders and compensating them differentially in recognition of their superior performance.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

Fundamentals of Cost Accounting (3e) by William Lanen, Shannon Anderson, Michael Maher

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Delegation

"Give up control even if it means the employees have to make some mistakes."- Frank Flores

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Art of Delegation

Delegation is a skill of which we have all heard - but which few understand. It can be used either as an excuse for dumping failure onto the shoulders of subordinates, or as a dynamic tool for motivating and training your team to realize their full potential.

"I delegate myne auctorite" (Palsgrave 1530)

Everyone knows about delegation. Most managers hear about it in the cradle as mother talks earnestly to the baby-sitter: "just enjoy the television ... this is what you do if ... if there is any trouble call me at ..."; people have been writing about it for nearly half a millennium; yet few actually understand it.

Delegation underpins a style of management which allows your staff to use and develop their skills and knowledge to the full potential. Without delegation, you lose their full value.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life

"Life is a book of riddles with the real lessons writ small in its margins." - Mohammed

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Using Social Networks to Improve Operations

For decades the mystery shopper was the main way retailers assessed operations from a customer's point of view. By sending in a fake shopper, typically once a month, an individual store essentially was buying a dozen performance snapshots per year. Then telephone surveys began to supplement mystery shopping. Today, digital technologies are supplanting both, with online customer surveys providing an exponentially greater number of performance snapshots per day.

A well-managed loop that links customer experience feedback with recommendations on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp, can boost service quality and operational performance, increase traffic and create more happy customers — people who crow about a retailer online for free, turning their friends into new customers too.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Motivation

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Motivation to achieve success

Turn off the T.V. Turn down the volume on your radio. Block out all noise. Be quiet and listen. Listen for just five minutes. I don’t want you to pay attention for my sake, but for yours. Are you not worth five minutes of your own time?

Do you have a deep desire to achieve something great? Do you want to live a more satisfying life? Can you see yourself being happy and successful in every way? Do you believe in your own potential and that here is much more to you than meets the eye?

If so, you are a dreamer. This article is dedicated to you. Right now you are the most important person around. If you had been the only person to ever read this article, I would still have written it, just for you. You are that special.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Perfectionism

"Even the best needles are not sharp at both ends." - Chinese Proverb

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Perfectionism: Healthy or Hurtful?

I'm a perfectionist, even though books like Overcoming Perfectionism and Perfecting Ourselves to Death tell me I should stop trying to be one. As a psychologist specializing in obsessive compulsive disorder, I have even worked with patients specifically on giving up perfectionism. But I have come to realize that negative views of perfectionism don't ring true to them, or to me. In fact, I now consider perfectionism to be one of my most valuable attributes.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Advertisement

"A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself." - David Ogilvy

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Wrap Advertising

For your business to succeed, you need effective marketing campaigns. Without any means of advertising, your corporation will not have as many customers as you expect.

There are several ways to promote a company to the public. These include print, broadcast, celebrity, Internet, and mobile advertising. With the increasing prices of traditional media, companies are looking for ways to reach wider audiences without shelling out a fortune. One way of doing this is to use vehicle wrap advertising.

Wrap Advertising is nothing but advertising on vehicles is called Wrap Advertising. Wrap advertising is a new concept in recent trends of marketing. Wrap advertising is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping) a vehicle in an advertisement or livery, thus turning it into a mobile billboard.

Read on...

LATEST ARRIVALS

How to Write a Great Business Plan (Harvard Business Review Classics) by William A. Sahlman