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A Business Blog exploring Leadership, Development and Caribbean Culture! "Happy Monday! Make it a prosperous week."
Identify the behaviors and skills of a successful sales professional.Describe different types of selling models.Prospect and conduct a powerful sales call.Use a customer centered selling approach to provide value.Choose a closing technique to earn...
Via Rami Kantari
Opera Software has acquired Skyfire Labs, the maker of mobile browser Skyfire, for $155 million, the company has announced.
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Before proceeding, it is perhaps worthwhile to review the past performance of this annual Miss Universe predictions list. Last year, Missosology’s final prediction is that Miss Ukraine Olesya Stefanko will win. She eventually settled for first runner-up. In 2010, Miss Ireland Rozanna Purcell was on the top of the final predictions and she was in the Top 10 missing the Top 5 by a very narrow margin. Back in 2009, the Missosology final predictions list said that Miss Dominican Republic Ada Aimee de la Cruz will be crowned as Miss Universe and eventually she finished as first runner-up. A year before that, in 2008, the final predictions of Missosology said that Venezuela’s Dayana Mendoza will win while Colombia’s Taliana Vargas will be 1st runner-up. The prediction eventually came true. Sure, no one can precisely know the the final results of Miss Universe 2012 at this early stage since so many factors and so many variables come into play. But there is an art in analyzing beauty pageants to the point that informed and sound predictions can be made. And that art is called missosology – the study of beauty pageants. This year, there are so many notable candidates and cutting them into say Top 15 or Top 16 is very difficult. After days of analysis, studying the trends and even to the point where meditation is required, the improbable became a reality. Here it is the Miss Universe 2012 Predictions by Missosology. 1.) Miss Philippines Janine Tugunon has proved without any doubt that she is a way superior delegate than her predecessors Shamcey Supsup and Venus Raj. Her signature walk is heavenly to look at and this will be her main weapon on the finals night. Her self-assuring aura allowed her exotic Oriental beauty to shine through. 2.) Miss Venezuela Irene Esser is full of jolly personality as she walks onstage. She is a well trained and highly prepared delegate that eventually showed everyone how a pasarela must be done. She’s adorable, with a beauty truly fit to become Miss Universe and that body she possesses is something to die for. 3.) The golden girl of the Miss Universe 2012 is no other than Miss South Africa Melinda Bam. Oozing with glamor and a face that could light up a dark room, Melinda is difficult to miss. 4.) Time passes by but the beauty of Miss Puerto Rico Bodine Koehler is undeniably timeless. Her features are all queenly. Her body is very shapely and her catwalk is just divine. Would it be wrong to conclude that this girl is just perfect? 5.) From a nation that won 2 of the Big4 crowns last year, Carolina Aguirre is making inroads in everyone’s list. She will soon prove that her country Ecuador is an emerging superpower with great Latina beauty that subtly combines sexiness with elegance. 6.) Statuesque Miss Mexico Karina Gonzalez looms large at the prelims catwalk and on stage or wherever she goes because of her brimming confidence. She is blessed with an aristocratic face and those delectable long legs are absolutely her best assets. 7.) Miss El Salvador Ana Yancy Clavel is a candidate with spunk and a flair for projecting her beauty effectively. Severely underestimated, this beauty is actually one that can surprise a lot of folks. 8.) Don’t write off Miss USA Olivia Culpo from your list. This girl has a fresh aura, a bubbly personality and possesses one of the prettiest faces in the competition. 9.) Miss Colombia Daniella Alvarez’ shapely body did not pass by unnoticed. The way she sashays onstage is truly remarkable. 10.) Miss Croatia Elizebeta Burg is a head turner beauty that can command a lot of attention. 11.) What is remarkable about Miss Czech Republic Tereza Chlebovská is her harmonious facial feature. Her nicely set eyes with a nose that juts at the right height go well with her opulent lips that begs to be kissed. 12.) At long last Poland will get its great leap forward with Marcelina Zawadzka. The gorgeous blonde will end the drought for her country which started way back in 1990. 13.) Miss Malaysia Kimberley Leggett will redeem the honor of Malaysia after it was snubbed last year. Kimberley’s movements show that she is a well polished and a well-prepared delegate. 14.) Miss Australia Renae Ayris performed well in the competition and momentum is on her side. This young and beautiful blonde can take comfort of the fact that Aussie beauty always land at semis since 2008. 15.) Miss Guyana Ruqayyah Boyer knows how to project her beauty. Her walk is surprisingly excellent and at prelims she had successful showed her courage, her confidence, and her steady disposition amid pressure. 16.) Miss Sri Lanka Sabrina Herft came out strongly during the prelims. She is fierce, exotically Oriental and above all else sexy!
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With fiscal cliff fears hitting a fevered pitch, I had the chance recently to sit down with Ken Fisher and query him on his views of this widespread investor concern
With fiscal cliff fears hitting a fevered pitch, I had the chance recently to sit down with Ken Fisher* and query him on his views of this widespread investor concern.
Q: Will there be a fiscal cliff deal by yearend?
A: Can’t say. I can’t see into Mr. Boehner’s or Mr. Obama’s overtly political hearts or minds and don’t want to. But if there’s no deal, it’s not a crisis. The fiscal cliff is fake. A political invention, arbitrarily put at January 1 because it was politically expedient in 2010 to stick it there. Now it’s politically expedient to push it past the 2014 elections. Democrats have more to lose in 2014 than is commonly perceived now and they’ll want to compromise.
Q: Is time running out?
A: No! The fiscal cliff which is really more of a fiscal rolling plain has many moving parts that don’t hit all at once. Spending cuts are already underway and will happen piecemeal, allegedly, over the year. The higher taxes, many of them, aren’t due until April of 2014. Maybe this impacts withholding levels if a deal is struck later—folks have to adjust them then adjust back.
What could happen is Mr. Boehner and Mr. Obama say, “Now we declare we have until February 28 to solve this issue.” They did the exact thing before with the payroll tax—arbitrarily moving the arbitrary deadline to buy time for a longer arbitrary can-kick. This is political. It’s fake. They made the rules, they can and will change them.
Q: If there’s no deal, how do you think government spending cuts impact investors?
A: People make two errors here. First, they think growing government spending is critical to a healthy economy. Wrong. Falling government spending detracts from headline GDP numbers, but GDP doesn’t perfectly reflect economic health. The private economy has been doing very well since 2009—better than most realize. Profits are near all-time high. Business spending is robust. Consumer spending is past the pre-recession peak. Incomes are growing. It’s true unemployment remains high, which no one wants. But unemployment lags economic growth, always. That started sometime before the first recession Christ lived through.
The second error is they don’t bother checking data themselves. Total government spending actually dropped a hair in 2012, and nothing terrible happened. GDP wasn’t rip-roaring, but reaccelerated mid-year. It was fine. In 2013, if you believe the plans, with the “cliff” government spending actually drops less than it did in 2012 if nothing changes. Starting in 2014 and forever after, government spending grows as it always does. From a spending standpoint, we already went off the fiscal molehill and it was fine. Not Armageddon.
Q: If current tax rates rise, what’s the market impact?
A: This is a case where the fear of the thing is so much bigger than the thing, it can’t be anything but bullish.
In the long history of income taxes in the US and overseas, there have been a great many rate jiggers. Same is true on capital gains taxes and every other form of tax imaginable. People simply do not want to believe this, because it goes against something that seems commonsensical. But there’s no clear pattern—zero—that when tax rates rise, stocks do badly (or well). Or if taxes get cut, stocks must do great. What’s clear to me from studying this is, whether you raise taxes or cut them, stocks want to rise much more than fall and will do what they were going to do anyway.
But to believe tax rates have a big darn impact on market direction you have to ignore the many, many other more important things simultaneously acting on stocks. And you have to ignore the 77% of non-US global GDP. I don’t like higher taxes because I think the government is a stupid spender of money. But I don’t fear the capital markets impact from a marginal shift in tax rates in a single country.
Q: So how is that bullish?
A: When I see big fear of potential tax hikes like now, I know that’s bullish. First, either the tax hikes don’t happen, or they’re not as bad as feared. Anyone can see how if a feared tax hike doesn’t happen, that’s a positive factor. But even if tax hikes happen as feared, vast history tells me it doesn’t have to have the big bad impact folks fear. And fear of a false factor is always bullish.
* In the interest of full disclosure, I work at Ken Fisher’s firm. Ken and I have also co-written 6 books together, and we’re working on our seventh.
Plan Your Prosperity by Ken Fisher (CEO of Fisher Investments) and Lara Hoffmans is available now.
This constitutes the views, opinions and commentary of the author as of December 2012 and should not be regarded as personal investment advice. No assurances are made the author will continue to hold these views, which may change at any time without notice. No assurances are made regarding the accuracy of any forecast made. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investing in stock markets involves the risk of loss.
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By Kerri Glassman for U.S News Health
The holiday season is in full swing, and we want to indulge! The holiday season is in full swing, and we want to indulge! Many of us look for healthy ways to satisfy our cravings for traditional pumpkin pie and gravy-laden mashed potatoes. But the holidays aren't just about what's on our plate. They are also about what's in our cup! (And no, I'm not just talking about alcohol).
The dry winter weather makes us more susceptible to dehydration, so it's important that we remember to drink enough fluids. Why not hydrate in the holiday spirit by indulging in these traditional favorites: hot chocolate, mulled cider, and chai tea. These drinks are typically high in calories and sugar, but I've provided you with recipes that quench your desires (without being too devilish). Enjoy these treats whether you are solo, hosting a soiree, or having an intimate shindig!
Stay warm this winter and be confident and conscious about your indulgences!
Chai Latte For One
Vanilla chai tea bag
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup steamed, low-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon agave
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Steep tea bag in boiling water for two to three minutes.
Stir in milk and agave.
Sprinkle nutmeg.
Hot Chocolate for Four
4 cups low-fat milk
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (about 7 squares)
Combine milk, ginger, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium-low heat until almost boiling.
Add chocolate, stirring until fully melted.
Whisk until frothy, and serve immediately.
Mulled Cider For Many
1 pear, not too soft
1 orange
1 to 2 tablespoons whole cloves
1 lemon
3 to 5 whole allspice berries
3 to 5 inches peeled, fresh ginger root, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium stick of cinnamon
2 to 3 gallons apple cide
r
Pour cider into a heavy pot, and bring it to a simmer.
Stud pear and orange with cloves.
Peel large pieces of rind from the lemon, and twist each piece to release the lemon oil.
Place fruits and spices in your slow cooker, pour a gallon of cider over them, and heat on high heat for a few hours.
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A new survey shows that some people put in extra hours during their workweek but still feel happy about their work-life balance.
Happy about being overworked? A new survey found that some people are.
In the survey by project management software maker Wrike, 87% of 2,000 participants say they feel overworked. Here's the catch: of that percentage, a whopping 38% find their work-life balance satisfactory despite feeling overworked.
Among all participants, which included business owners, executives, managers, employees and freelancers, 42% are happy with their work-life balance while 46% feel overburdened from time to time.
Participants disclosed how many hours they overwork in a week: 39% said more than five hours, 35% said two to five hours, and only 13% said less than an hour.
Wrike noted that those at the bottom of the corporate ladder--50.8% of non-high ranking employees--are more satisfied with their work-life balance than executives (40.5%), managers (36.8%) and business owners (29%).
The survey also asked participants what disrupts their productivity. About 41% pointed to common interruptions while 21% admitted to procrastination.
As for motivation to keep to the grind, participants said it's mostly a sense of responsibility (76.8%), while a good mood (56.9%) and the potential for a reward (42.1%) also rang true.
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The current state of the U.S. Congress—marked by gridlock and bad legislation—is attributable, in large part, to understaffing and a lack of bipartisan expertise, according to a new report from the New America Foundation. Representatives and...
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D-Link is an award-winning designer, developer and manufacturer of networking, broadband, digital... (I just entered @dlink & @kingstonhq's 15 Days of Giving to win tons of networking gear!
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Honor The Lord * Psalm 112:1 - 10[Basic Bible] 1 Let the Lord be praised. Happy is the man who gives honour to the Lord, and has great delight in his laws. 2 His seed will be strong on the earth; blessings will be on the generation of the upright. 3 A store of wealth will be in his house, and his righteousness will be for ever. 4 For the upright there is a light shining in the dark; he is full of grace and pity. 5 All is well for the man who is kind and gives freely to others; he will make good his cause when he is judged. 6 He will not ever be moved; the memory of the upright will be living for ever. 7 He will have no fear of evil news; his heart is fixed, for his hope is in the Lord. 8 His heart is resting safely, he will have no fear, till he sees trouble come on his haters. 9 He has given with open hands to the poor; his righteousness is for ever; his horn will be lifted up with honour. 10 The sinner will see it with grief; he will be wasted away with envy; the desire of the evil-doers will come to nothing.
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You Choose ~ Deuteronomy 30:14 - 18[KJV] 14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
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Facebook may acquire the key product behind Microsoft's $6 billion aQuantive purchase. Facebook and Microsoft are working on a deal that, if completed, would put Facebook one huge step closer to launching an ad network that could rival Google's in size, and change the way advertising is done online forever. According to several industry sources, Facebook is in negotiations with Microsoft to buy Atlas Solutions, the ad-serving product Microsoft acquired when it bought aQuantive for $6 billion in 2007. Our sources are outside of Facebook and Microsoft.
Microsoft has been trying to sell Atlas for years, and one of our sources is close to a company that was interested in buying it. In recent days, Microsoft ended negotiations with this company, and said it was moving forward on a deal with Facebook.
Since then, Facebook and Microsoft employees have reached out to other ad tech companies to do research for the deal. A source at one of these companies briefed us on the details of those conversations.
Though acquiring Atlas was the main reason Microsoft bought aQuantive for $6 billion in 2007, it seems like Facebook will pay a much lower price. One source says that prior to Facebook's negotiations with Microsoft, the highest bid for Atlas was $30 million. Microsoft has already written off most of that $6 billion.
Press representatives for Facebook and Microsoft declined to comment on this story. We haven't heard that the deal is about to close, only that talks are serious. It could fall apart.
Building or buying ad-serving technology is seen as one of the last tasks Facebook needs to complete before it can launch, at scale, an ad network for third-party Web sites.
"[Facebook] needs infrastructure because they are reliant on too many intermediaries," says one industry source.
In 2007, Google paid $3 billion to buy its own ad-serving product, DoubleClick for the same reason.
The value of a Facebook-powered/Atlas-supported ad network could be tremendous.
Here's why.
Facebook is the only company in the world that has a billion email addresses, home addresses, and phone numbers on file.
This asset allows Facebook to do something no other Website can.
Facebook can tell marketers whether or not a Facebook user saw, on Facebook.com, an ad for a product before going to the store and buying it.
This is possible because retailers often have their shoppers' phone numbers, home addresses, or email address on file. (They buy them from data collection companies.)
In the short term, Facebook will use this process to tell marketers exactly how much their sales increased thanks to ads on Facebook.com.
That should make Facebook an attractive place for marketers to advertise, because it's always nice to know exactly what you're getting for your money.
Facebook is already quietly rolling this product out.
What's really exciting is what it could do with an Atlas-supported ad network: perform the same trick for the rest of the Internet.
Facebook computers could track Facebook users across all sites partnered with Facebook, keeping track of what ads these users see and what products they later buy.
A Facebook-partnered website that serves an ad that later leads to a purchase will be able to take credit for helping that sale happen. Websites will be able to charge more, and Facebook will take a piece of the action.
What has to be thrilling to Facebook executives is that some of these Websites will have better, more naturally-situated ad inventory than the tiny, annoying ads currently on Facebook.com. Facebook will finally be able to leverage its real asset, data, to take advantage of better inventory off of Facebook.com.
There are a couple obstacles Facebook has to overcome to make this vision a reality.
First, it will have to keep people calm about what may look like an invasion of privacy. That shouldn't be a problem, because Facebook won't actually be invading anyone's privacy. All the data flying back and forth will be anonymous and encrypted — "hashed," to use Facebook's terminology.
Second, Facebook will have to actually build the tech behind such a sophisticated product. That'll be hard.
But that's why it's in talks with Microsoft to acquire Atlas
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Deductions are in the cross hairs as Washington hunts for a big deal to avert tax increases and spending cuts, and after years of successfully fending off such efforts, non-profits worry this time could be different. In 2011, the nation's biggest charities swung into action to oppose President Barack Obama using limits on tax deductions to help pay for a jobs bill. Warning that such a move would hurt charitable giving, they prevailed, and Democrats looked elsewhere. A year later, deductions are again in the cross hairs as Washington tries to avert tax increases and spending cuts. After years of successfully fending off such efforts, nonprofits worry this time could be different. "What we're up against now is a mega-fiscal issue," said Chris Hansen, president of the Cancer Action Network, the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society. "You worry that they will miss some important facts as they desperately try to come up with something that they can compromise on." Lobbies representing charities, home builders and oil firms are among those rushing to reverse a growing Washington consensus that tax deductions should be mined to raise fresh revenue. The result is a clash between two political priorities: cutting the deficit and preserving popular tax breaks, including deductions for charitable giving and mortgage-interest payments. Americans will pay roughly $40 billion less in taxes in 2012 due to the charitable deduction they take, according to Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. That could be hard for lawmakers and the White House to ignore as they search for ways to cut future deficits. There is no specific plan to eliminate deductions for charitable giving in current talks. Instead, proposals that have been floated focus on capping overall deductions. The White House in the past has proposed limiting deductions to no more than 28% of income for families making $250,000 or more. Republicans including former presidential nominee Mitt Romney have suggested limiting deductions to a specific dollar amount. Others have suggesting a "haircut" option, letting taxpayers claim, for example, 80% of their current deductions. Nonprofit leaders say that if deductions are limited, taxpayers will cut back their giving. Diana Aviv, president of Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofits, cited studies suggesting Mr. Obama's plan would lead to $1.7 billion to $7 billion less a year in charity giving. The impact of a dollar cap on deductions, she said, would be even greater. That is a small part of the roughly $300 billion Americans donate yearly, but Ms. Aviv said certain charities would be hit disproportionately. "This is not a Chicken Little situation," she said. "Something is going to happen unless we are able to persuade lawmakers that the charitable deduction is different from other deductions." Activists are descending on Capitol Hill next week. They have written letters to the president and congressional leaders. They are urging their supporters to contact congressional offices. On their side is the sensitive politics of the charitable deduction, given how charities provide services in virtually every congressional district. "I want to encourage charitable giving in this country. I think a country that doesn't do that is a country that's going to be in real trouble," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah). He said he is going to protect charities from being hurt in the deficit talks "if I can help it." Many lawmakers, however, say while they want to keep incentives for giving, new limits must be considered. "I don't believe for a moment there will be an elimination of charitable deductions," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. "But some reforms that affect charitable deductions—I think that's got to be on the table." Both sides are focusing on deductions because Democrats insist tax revenues must rise while Republican oppose tax-rate increases. That leaves few options. Under the tax code, a person can claim a charitable deduction that matches his tax rate. A taxpayer in the 18% bracket who donates $1,000, for example, would have tax savings of $180. Among the challenge facing charities is the large number of other groups making similar pleas to be exempted. The oil industry says any increase in its taxes would kill jobs. Home builders decry potential cuts in the mortgage-interest deduction . "This is absolutely the wrong time for them to start monkeying with housing incentives," said Jim Tobin, a senior vice president at the National Association of Home Builders. "The mortgage-interest deduction is an integral part of the American dream." Nonprofit leaders and their supporters are trying to make the case that the charitable deduction is different. "Congress is a little bit focused on where they're going to get revenue right now, and they haven't really thought through the impact of this particular approach in their communities," said Steve Taylor, senior vice president of United Way Worldwide. Author Credit: Naftali Bendavid —Damian Paletta contributed to this article.
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Program Objectives:
By the end of the program, participants will be able to:
Identify the behaviors and skills of a successful sales...
Via Rami Kantari
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What The Bible Says About School Shootings. School Shootings have increased since 1996 there have been over 30 school shootings in the United States, with over 80 students and teachers/professors killed. School shootings have been making the headlines in the USA at an increased frequency. The latest shooting on December 14, 2012 grieved the nation, as authorities reported at least 27 people, including 20 children, were killed, when a gunman clad in black military gear opened fire inside a Connecticut elementary school. The killer then killed himself bringing the casualty count to a total of 28 human beings including the gunman, and his mother who he also shot. This latest tragedy is just one of a long string of senseless shootings. One of the deadliest shooting rampages in recent US history was the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16, 2007 when a gunman massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech before killing himself, bringing the death toll to 33. On October 3, 2006, the nation was stunned to hear of a gunman who went into an Amish one-room school house and shot ten girls, killing five of them, before turning the gun on himself. The recent history of school shootings in the United States includes the University of Texas August 1, 1966 massacre, where a university student shot and killed 16 students and wounded 31 others from the campus observation tower. In the mid 1990’s, school shootings became a trend, with at least 16 such shootings resulting in over 240 killed; one of the most horrific being the Columbine incident on April 20, 1999, in which 12 students and one teacher were killed. Since 1996 there have been over 31 school shootings in the United States, with over 160 students, teachers/professors and others killed. In the rest of the world school shootings have occurred in Scotland, Yemen, Russia Sweden, Germany, Bosnia, Canada, Argentina and other countries, with the largest taking the lives of over 355 students. Why so much violence among our young people? A Department of Education Survey which analyzed violence in U.S. schools reported that public schools nationwide experienced more than 12,000 fights in which weapons were used, 4,600 rapes and other sexual assaults and over 8,000 robberies. Other reports from Time and Newsweek magazines tell us the suicide rate among U.S. teens has risen 118% in the last 15 years while drug use has risen almost 90% since 1992. The Bible tells us about a time that these kinds of violent deeds and rebellious acts will be committed by children all over the world. Christians Should Pray and Reach Out Another factor that encourages these things to happen is the lack of Christians to be “light” and “salt” in the earth. We have failed to share the gospel with those who are misfits in society. We have not taught our children to reach out either. These outcasts and misfits need to know that we all have sinned and all have imperfections and flaws and all of us need a relationship with Jesus. It is in Him that they will find their acceptance. One of the major ways we can all reach out is to pray for those around us instead of just doing those things we like to do and want to do. We have failed in witnessing to the lost. In fact, many times members of the church are involved in the same activities that the world is involved in. i.e.: watching violent movies on T.V., playing war games, etc. The other area we have failed in is we have become apathetic in our Christian involvement with the things of God. We had rather go to ball games than to prayer meetings. We seem to have a “Nero” spirit, we are fiddling while Rome burns. We are so involved in our jobs, entertainment and other pursuits that going to church and praying have been abandoned by many “so-called” Christians. Prayer in US Schools Abandoned The United States Supreme court made a terrible decision when they ruled to have prayer removed from schools in 1962. Statistics show that rebellion and violence have dramatically increased since that time. I believe this is another contributing factor to our children’s decline since then. The article below was taken from the book, ”America: To Pray or Not to Pray” What Happened When the Praying Stopped How did the removal of voluntary prayer from the schools of the United States affect our nation as a whole? That question has been answered in detail by a research company in Texas which has gathered and tabulated statistics from hundreds of sources relating to the rates of moral decline in America. Specialty Research Associates, P.O. Box 397, Aledo, TX 76008, under the direction of David Barton, has released a report entitled, “America: To Pray or Not to Pray”, which uses over 100 pages of graphs and statistical analysis to prove that crime, venereal disease, premarital sex, illiteracy, suicide, drug use, public corruption, and other social ills began a dramatic increase after the Engel vs. Vitale Supreme Court decision was made in 1962 which banned school prayer. The rate of violent crime alone, has risen over 330 percent.
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Does your LinkedIn profile make it look like you're hiding something? Five quick, essential updates. LinkedIn has become the de facto--and therefore the most powerful--social network for business. In case you weren't yet aware, LinkedIn is rolling out a revamp of the user profile. While the change has elicited a mixed reaction, eventually everyone will be migrated to it. So if you haven't spent much time learning about and optimizing your LinkedIn profile, now is a good time to get cracking. Time, or lack thereof, shouldn't be an excuse: Each of these tips should take you five minutes or less, and you'll end up with a more engaging profile that gets more hits and better results. 1. Upload your photo. These days, if you don't have your photo on LinkedIn, you look like you're hiding something. People want to see the people whom they plan to interview or do business with. Unlike in personal social networks like Facebook or Twitter, the expectation on LinkedIn is a photo in which you look polished and professional. Be ready for your close-up: If you can, use a headshot rather than a full-body pose or group photo. Uploading your photo is easy. Just click the Profile link on the menu and then Edit Profile. In the dedicated space for your photo, you will see a camera icon. Once you click the camera icon, you'll be taken to a screen where you can upload or edit your photo. It's pretty self-explanatory. 2. Customize your Professional Headline. Your Professional Headline appears next to your photo, under your name. This headline can be completely customized. Professional headlines help explain to people who you are, not just what you do, so you may want it to be different and more descriptive than your ordinary job title. The words in your headline are also indexed in search engines, so put them to work. You customize your professional headline in the same edit profile screen into which you upload your photo. Click on the word Edit (older profiles) or the pencil icon (newer profiles) and enter a headline that best describes you. You have a 120 character maximum. 3. Enrich your Summary with relevant keywords. LinkedIn's Summary enables you to describe yourself, your work history, your background and any other attributes you think will help you sell yourself when making and seeking connections. That alone should give you good reason to be deliberate when crafting your Summary. But in addition to the power of those words with the people who read them, you can also impact your visibility in search engines with the keywords you choose to weave into your Summary. You have 2,000 characters, so go for it! (Yeah, it's kind of nice to be listed 3rd out of 52 million results!) 4. Add Skills. Skills used to be important, but with LinkedIn's recent "endorsements"--the ability to give your stamp of support for someone's skills--having the right skills in your profile is now an imperative. You can select skills that already exist in LinkedIn's database: Just start typing a skill and LinkedIn will make relevant suggestions. Or, type in a new one. You can list up to 50 skills. You can also change the order of your skills by dragging them, though once you start receiving endorsements, your skills will appear in order based on their number of endorsements. Your Top 10 skills will also display who has endorsed you if you enable this feature. 5. Create your LinkedIn "vanity URL." Since LinkedIn is your calling card these days--and it is literally replacing the business card in certain circumstances--you'll want to have your very own customized, clean and relevant LinkedIn URL, sometimes called a "vanity URL." LinkedIn assigns you a cumbersome, hard-to-remember default URL that looks something like http://www.linkedin.com/pub/YOURFIRSTNAME-YOURLASTNAME/1/a59/374, but you can edit it to be short, sweet and branded with your name, e.g. http://www.linkedin.com/in/hollisthomases. Creating a vanity URL is also easy. Simply click on the Settings link below your log-in name, and once within your settings, look on the bottom half of the page for the "Edit your public profile" link. Once in your Public Profile screen, look for and click on the "Customize your public profile URL" link on the right-hand side. It will bring up a box that lets you enter whatever you want to appear as your own URL. While you're in your Public Profile, it's also worth noting that LinkedIn reminds you that you can "take control of how you appear in public search results" by editing how much of your profile content the public and search engines can see. If you expect people to be Googling your name, a customized vanity URL can help you be found too. Okay, this isn't directly related to your profile, but here's one last word of advice that will also take you five minutes or less. Each day try to share an update: something relevant and valuable to your network. Each profile edit and update you share gets broadcast to your entire network. There's no better way to stay top-of-mind than to be ever-present with your audience. Author Credit: Client advocate, digital strategist, and thought leader Hollis Thomases, founder of Web Ad.vantage, helps companies navigate the complexity of the ever-changing digital marketing landscape and develop digital strategies. @hollisthomases66
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Those who know the difference have a lasting impact. ;
Here’s something that might surprise you: The best leaders do not attempt to motivate their employees, athletes, students or children.
In fact, those people in leadership positions who try to light fires for others tend to not keep their jobs for long. However, those who know the difference between leadership and motivation create a different legacy; their impact on others endures.
The difference between leadership and motivation, to me, is summed up like this:
Leadership: A consistent example of rising above any and all circumstances. Leadership is external.
Motivation: The inner knowledge or insight that makes rising above circumstances possible. Motivation comes from within.
So, in my opinion, leadership is not about encouraging, pushing or cheering on; it’s about pointing others inward so they recognize that the ability to be motivated rests with them. If you are a parent, for instance, you know that it is virtually impossible to motivate your children to work hard at their studies. But you can lead. You can show your children, by example, that no matter how sick you might get or how difficult your circumstances might appear, you can passionately apply yourself to your own job or projects. Thereby pointing your children inward to their innate ability to rise above any circumstance (and excuse) and crack the books with pride and vigor.
My message about leadership is simple: Great leaders serve to bring out the inner wisdom and free will of those they serve. Instead of inducing people to view life situations a certain way (or their way), great leaders demonstrate that there are an infinite number of ways to view any life situation.
To illustrate, one of my mentors, Sydney Banks, must have given hundreds of seminars and lectures during his lifetime. Like clockwork before each talk, the audience would file in with notebooks in hand. While Syd was incredibly generous with his wisdom, he would always instruct those in attendance not to take one single note. His words were his alone — his interpretation of “truth,” he would say. He wanted the audience to develop their own feelings and ideas, and draw their own conclusions, not follow in his footsteps.
I believe, then, that great leaders are those individuals who, like Sydney Banks, set great examples. Why can’t we simply leave leadership right there? Who came up with the belief that leaders must be motivators of others anyway? We must recognize the difference between leadership and motivation, because if we don’t, our companies, teams, schools and even families will be overrun by followers incapable of lending an imaginative hand, let alone coming through when the chips are down.
Motivation is personal; leadership brings out personal potential for the benefit of the greater good. Take note of the difference. The business, sports and political worlds — actually the world, in general — can use more of both.
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You've got three ways to keep your best customers on board. Here's how to manage each.
In my last column, we discussed three types of customers, categorized by the type and strength of the attachment they have to your company. The biggest category, the “brain” customers, are the most analytical folks, and the ones you need to pay the most attention to.
What you need to do is simple. Accomplishing it is not. You need to have a conversation with your ‘brain’ customers that will address their concerns. Then you need to provide them with the “strokes,” or incentives, that will convince them to stay.
This is tricky. These customers don’t want to feel as if you’ve convinced them to do a certain thing. They want to make their own decisions. So your ‘conversation’ has to be conducted passively rather than actively. It’s not as if you can simply send someone a coupon in the mail. If you’re in an industry where it’s relatively easy to make comparisons between brands, and where customers don’t have strong attachments, your job just got a lot harder.
There are three large buckets of benefits that you can manage to try to reach and convince these customers. I call them:
1. Where’s the beef?
To borrow from Clay Christensen, the question here is how well does the product or service do its job? You’ll be judged on two metrics: the price/value equation (is it worth it?) and the cost of alternative solutions (where else can I find it?). You should do whatever you can, as quickly and as often as possible, to bolster and improve the customer’s perceptions in these two areas.
2. Where’s the heat?
The more “heat” or, more accurately, the more friction that is built into your systems and processes, the more likely that there will be direct and negative customer reactions. Anything that takes too much time, requires repetition, or seems to serve only your interests is a risk to your business. Customers buy for their reasons, not ours. Radio Shack has a pretty strong and flexible automatic return policy, but if you want a cash refund, you need to give them your phone number. That’s good for them, because it helps prevent internal fraud. But for a lot of customers, it seems like gross overreaching and defeats the whole salutary basis of the general policy. The customer doesn’t work for us.
Sometimes, businesses don’t even really understand the “job” that the customer wants done. Inadvertently, they make things harder or more expensive than they need to be. Customer loyalty punch cards are a well-intentioned retention device, but they were often more frustrating than rewarding to customers. How many half-punched cards can we jam in our wallets? Encouraging customers to consolidate their spending with you and return often is the holy grail, but only if the process is as painless as possible.
3. Who’s your Mama?
At the end of the day, everything in business is about relationships. The greater the connection and relationship that you can build with each and every customer, the longer you’ll keep them. Save me time or money, or make me more productive, and it’s going to take a very substantial and persuasive argument to make me walk away. Nine times out of 10, price alone won’t do it. The impression of “belonging”; being a coveted or top-tier customer; or receiving special perks can all improve your connection with the customer.
The best customers are those that “never come up for air” to look at competitors. That’s because you’ve satisfied their past needs and their present requirements, and you’ve anticipated their future desires.
Author Credit:
Howard A. Tullman is president and CEO of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy. He is also the general managing partner for Chicago High Tech Investors. Over the past 40 years, he has founded more than a dozen high-tech companies.
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Does it make sense for Bloomberg L.P. to think about buying LinkedIn? Here are three reasons why such fantasies should be left to dissipate. Amy Chozick and Michael Barbaro, two ace reporters at The New York Times, have people buzzing with an article about what Bloomberg L.P. and its majority owner, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, might want to buy. Most of the piece focuses on possible interest in acquiring The Financial Times from Pearson. There’s also a passing reference, however, to “a faction” that would prefer to buy LinkedIn, the social-networking site for professionals. It’s easy to see the superficial appeal of LinkedIn. The Mountain View, Calif., company is growing fast, with 187 million users worldwide and new ones coming onboard at a rate of at least two per second. LinkedIn, like Bloomberg, is all about work — not sharing cat photos. And LinkedIn makes much of its money by letting an elite group of customers buy high-powered access to its data, just as Bloomberg does. For about $20,000 a year, bond traders and other finance professionals can rent a Bloomberg terminal that pumps all sorts of astonishing market data and insights into their workspace, with second-by-second updates. For $8,000 or so a year, serious players in the corporate hiring world can sign up for LinkedIn’s Recruiter, which lets them sort through LinkedIn’s treasure trove of resumes, particularly successful people who aren’t looking for jobs but might be open to an amazing offer. As I noted in a FORBES cover story about LinkedIn a few months ago, Recruiter and the Bloomberg terminal belong in the same sentence. But it takes a lot more than one similar product to make for a sensible acquisition. Even though LinkedIn’s stock has climbed slightly in early Monday trading, to $111.23, up $1.53, investors hardly seem to be treating this speculation as a likely prospect. And they shouldn’t. Here are three reasons why Bloomberg’s deal team should let this brief fantasy fade from sight. 1. LinkedIn is too expensive. At last Friday’s closing price of $109.70, LinkedIn had a market capitalization of nearly $12 billion — and that’s before any takeover premium. Carrying out an all-cash acquisition would require uncomfortably large borrowings, even for Bloomberg L.P., which is a money-making machine that could be valued at $30 billion or more. Issuing stock would create even gnarlier problems. LinkedIn investors would have trouble with Bloomberg L.P.’s privately held shares, which can’t easily be traded. And there’s nothing in the financial-data company’s history so far that suggests Michael Bloomberg would ever want to dilute his ownership of the business or go public. Finally, LinkedIn right now trades at an astonishing 700 times trailing 12-month earnings. Tech stock investors are comfortable with that, believing that LinkedIn can greatly ramp up its profitability in the next few years. But Bloomberg is an older, more mature business that is valued at a more modest multiple of earnings. Pursuing LinkedIn would be highly dilutive to Bloomberg, no matter how the deal was structured. 2. The user/customer dilemma. At Bloomberg, users and customers are essentially identical. If you want to use the company’s terminals, you pay. LinkedIn operates in a profoundly different way. Most of its 187 million users engage with the site for free. The vast majority of the revenue comes from less than 1% of the LinkedIn user base: the recruiters and other people hunters who are willing to pay for premium access. So a huge part of LinkedIn’s success involves creating free content, connections and the like, so that its nonpaying users keep swarming in. Those apparent freeloaders actually create ever-larger data pools that are prized by the much smaller group of paying customers. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and his team have shown a savvy sense of how to carry out this balancing act. Bloomberg, by contrast, has its feet pointed in the wrong direction to get the hang of a “free” economy. 3. Technology. I spent a few months working at Bloomberg in 2011, where more experienced colleagues graciously shared many tips about how to use the Bloomberg terminal. It’s a mighty machine, once you learn many of the proprietary codes involved, some of which date back to the 1980s. That’s the heart of Bloomberg’s empire, and even though the company has set up a variety of websites, they tend to be small, with limited functionality. LinkedIn, by contrast, lives and breathes on the Web, with everything that entails. Site design is louder and livelier; navigation is intuitive; the pace of change is faster, and user input is woven into the fabric of the site in ways that older-generation technology can’t abide. As much as Bloomberg L.P. strategists might be intrigued by the idea of bringing LinkedIn’s careers and talent expertise into the fold, it’s impossible to imagine how such a technology integration challenge could be solved successfully.
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It's not always a candidate's fault when a job interview goes south. Hiring managers can be to blame. Now there are new techniques to help prevent the process from going wrong. (Now Hiring?
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Google+ launches Communities. Here's how to set one up and leverage them for marketing. Well, it's about time. Google+ hasn't had a big update in a while, it seems. Earlier this week, Google+ rolled out its latest new feature thingy -- Google+ Communities. I'll explain what they are and how to set them up in detail in this blog post, but the long and the short of it is they're little online communities on Google+ ... pretty much what the name implies. Think of it like your LinkedIn or Facebook Groups! But, you know, on Google+. Alright, without further ado, here's your introduction to Google+ Communities if you'd like to dabble in the latest and greatest of social networking! What Are Google+ Communities? Google+ Communities are places for people to gather around a specific subject matter. There are a few use cases for these communities that might be of particular interest to marketers: * Setting up public or private membership to support or discuss a particular topic or group -- let's say a local reading group, or people interested in Renaissance drama and poetry. (Stick with me here, I'm using that as an example later.) ;-) * Finding conversations about a particular topic so you can participate in the discussion -- like people interested in talking about John Donne's poetry, for instance. * Starting Hangouts and planning events with community members -- hey, your Marlowe book clubs have to start somewhere * Sharing your community via +1 buttons -- if you want more people to share the Shakespearean love, you bet your +1 buttons you'll want to use this feature. So, what's the use case for marketers? Ohhhh, let's say you own or do marketing for a local bookstore. That just happens to specialize in antique books. It might behoove you to network with other people that are really into that ... because they might just become a customer, or know someone who will. Just like you'd do some digital networking on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other online forums, you'd probably want to either find the Google+ Communities where these people hang out ... or create them yourself! Pretty straightforward stuff, right? Thought so. So if you're sold on the value of this sort of online networking, you might be wondering how you actually do it with Google+ Communities. I'm so glad you asked! How to Use Google+ Communities You can access Google+ Communities by clicking on the "Communities" icon when you're in Google+. To create your own community, just click the red 'Create a Community' button.
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PROVIDENCE, RI -- Retired state Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger has died, according to Craig Berke, spokesman for the Rhode Island Judiciary. PROVIDENCE, RI -- Retired state Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger has died, according to Craig Berke, spokesman for the Rhode Island Judiciary. He was 92 and in the years since his retirement, Weisberger had helped lead the court's mediation program.
Weisberger, of East Providence, served as chief justice from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he was a Superior Court judge and prior to his appointment to the bench, he served as a Republican in the state Senate.
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God's Love Gives... John 3:14 - 18[Moffatt] 14 Indeed the Son of man must be lifted on high, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world so dearly that he gave up his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life, instead of perishing. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to pass sentence on it, but to save the world by him. 18 He who believes in him is not sentenced; he who will not believe is sentenced already, for having refused to believe in the name of the only Son of God.
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Read through some inspirational quotes from the legendary Zig Ziglar. Today, we're very sad to have lost the legendary Zig Ziglar after a short battle with pneumonia at age 86. Widely known for his motivational speeches and corporate training to help better people's lives and careers, Ziglar inspired many businesses, salespeople, and marketers -- in addition to countless others -- by showing us the "The Ziglar Way." Ziglar was the author of more than 29 sales and motivational books, including See You at the Top and Over the Top. Because he has motivated so many marketers and salespeople throughout his more than 50-year long career, we thought a great way to honor his life would be to compile a list of some of our favorite Zig Ziglar quotations -- quotations that any marketer, salesperson, or business can learn from. 17 Motivational Quotes to Honor Zig Ziglar He was known for corporate training and motivational speeches that aimed to improve people's personal lives and careers. His company includes more than a dozen other speakers who advocate "The Ziglar Way." Ziglar has written more than 29 sales and motivational books, including "See You at the Top" and "Over the Top," and has made appearances with U.S. presidents and world leaders, according to his website.
1) "Every choice you make has an end result." (Tweet This Quote)
2) "Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days." (Tweet This Quote) 3) "Your business is never really good or bad 'out there.' Your business is either good or bad right between your own two ears." (Tweet This Quote) 4) "People don't buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons." (Tweet This Quote) 5) "A goal properly set is halfway reached." (Tweet This Quote) 6) "If you want to reach a goal, you must 'see the reaching' in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal." (Tweet This Quote) 7) "Remember that failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night." (Tweet This Quote) 8) "If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost." (Tweet This Quote) 9) "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." (Tweet This Quote) 10) "If you don't see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner." (Tweet This Quote) 11) "Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust." (Tweet This Quote) 12) "When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there." (Tweet This Quote) 13) "You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." (Tweet This Quote) 14) "Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business." (Tweet This Quote) 15) "Timid salesmen have skinny kids." (Tweet This Quote) 16) "For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough." (Tweet This Quote) 17) "Stop selling. Start helping." (Tweet This Quote) Zig Ziglar will be greatly missed, but we can still all learn a lot from his motivational wisdom. Thank you, Zig. To leave your condolences for Zig The Ziglar company website asks that you visit his official Facebook Page here.
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News startups are leading the way.... As digital becomes the dominant way to consume news, traditional publishers have started to rethink their strategies for staying relevant.
At our IGNITION conference today, USA Today publisher Larry Kramer asked Washington Post CEO Don Graham about what the Post is doing to keep up in the digital age, and whether it's focusing on its strengths.
"Of course we are," Graham said. "But I also think for you and for us, that might be a slightly backwards way of thinking about it. I think a lot of our issues stem from the fact that we've been constantly looking at redefining ourselves instead of looking at what the readers want."
Graham says that readers want to be their own "curators," selecting the news they find interesting rather than having an editor pick it for them, and have a highly personalized experience.
"There's an awful lot of news startups today," Graham says. "It's raining startups. and the best of them are personalized in interesting ways."
Graham argues that if you could combine the technology talent that startups have with the heft that great newsrooms have, "you'd have something that would be difficult to match for someone doing a startup."
An arm of the Washington Post Company called Socialcode recently hired most of the technology team behind news site Digg. (Another company, News.me, picked up the Digg brand.)
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