September 16, 2008

Fast Facts

 

In a Jiffy

 

A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be there in a jiffy.

 

"Can" You Renew Energy?

 

Just by recycling one aluminum can, enough energy would be saved to have a TV run for three hours.

 

The Beginning of A New Age

 

The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com on March 15, 1985.

 

Quick Quiz

 

Who has been the only woman to appear on US paper currency?

 

 

50% off Specials   Get 50% off of select products Click here for more details on this can't-miss deal!     Online Training Activities   Trainers Activities License includes more then 1,000 different training activities covering 24 core competencies. 30 day access only $9.95 ($100 value). Click here for full details       Table of Contents: Keeping Up: Current Events Leadership Skills: The Value of Give and Take   Career Advancement: The Professional Power of Optimism   Editor's Note   Book Report Situation Room Author Q & A Hottest Deals   Keeping Up: Current Events Lower Anxiety & Reduce Costs   A recent study at Texas Instruments sought to find out what gains could be made if the causes of anxiety were reduced among new employees. Training courses were shortened in length, lowering costs by one third. Absenteeism and tardiness dropped to one half of the previous normal. :Waste and rejects were reduced to one fifth of their previous levels and costs were cut as much as 30%. Top CIO Concerns   The Society for Information Management conducted its annual survey of the top concerns for business executives. This year, "IT and business alignment" ranked number one. Last year this concern was in the second place slot behind "attracting new IT professionals." Nearly 300 CIOs and other top level IT executives participated in SIM's online survey this year. Training Gets a Second Life   The virtual world, Second Life, has been fostering opportunities for use of the virtual world for many business uses. AHG Inc. ran a roundtable discussion that focused on the business possibilities called "Starting Corporate Training Program in Second Life: Best Practices, Security Concerns and Future Developments." The Value of Business Intelligence   Social network analysis has become much more than tracking gossip or finding the source of a rumor. Much of the studies in this area were conducted before the Internet became an essential part of everyday communication, but a quantum leap has occured in the form of sophisticated search engines that can track mini-trends in communication, and we can now capitalize on these trends as they ebb and flow on any given day. Leadership Skills: The Value of Give and Take "He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it." – Karl von Knebel Being a leader and being an effective teammate are intricately linked. Great leaders surround themselves with great people, and are aware of how to use the strengths of each teammate in order to achieve goals. Seeking and listening to the insight of key advisors is an invaluable leadership asset. What are you doing right now to maximize this resource? Leaders who enjoy taking on the hero's role don't take the time to ensure that their advisors have the tools they need to offer the insight we are seeking. How can you optimize the effects of advice that is given, and ensure that you are paying attention to the advice of people who may be more objective than you are?                 Career Advancement: The Professional Power of Optimism "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." - Dale Carnegie Our inner thoughts directly affect our outer life, which is why it's essential to make sure that you are directing your thoughts in as positive a way as possible. Building optimism helps you develop a buffer zone against stress, setbacks and disappointments. It gives you staying power and resilience when your future is fogged with uncertainty. It helps you protect your health and overall quality of life. Optimism has long been considered to be a major asset across such diverse fields as business, politics, academics, leadership, athletics and health – but we’ve never put our finger on the reasons why, making the notion of a "soft" one. Now science is backing the charge towards a more optimistic workplace, and world. Eye opening information has surfaced on the impact of optimism. Some results include determining that: Positive emotions and optimistic thinking lead to higher pay and better evaluations from supervisors. Pessimistic salespeople sell less and have higher turnover than optimists – and that the most effective executives use positive words four times more often than negative words. With those kinds of results, it is well worth your time and energy to examine and possibly alter your thought patterns towards a more positive path.                 Book Report The Plot to Save The Planet Brian Dumaine I picked up a bit of an oddball this week on a whim. I’ve got to admit that the title and cover of Brian Dumaine’s new title The Plot to Save the Planet (Crown Press, 2008) drew me in, being an old comic book reader. Additional credence was given in knowing that Dumaine is the editorial director of my favorite business magazine, Fortune Small Business. Despite its breezy storybook name this is fairly heavy reading, but pleasantly and interestingly so. The "Plot" mentioned is in turning what has been relegated to appearing as a soft, tree hugging, smiley-face cause into business. Big business. Both little entrepreneurs and industry bohemoths alike are turning their sites, and ROI studies, to greener pastures. Read More...       Situation Room Your fiscal year is coming to an end. Last year around this time you challenged your workforce to implement several new programs, step up their measurable service rating through increased positive responses in client surveys, and provided three tiers of goals to measure fiscal success. Your marketplace had been arching, so it was no surprise that you reached all three levels of your goals – however you dwarfed even the highest tier, adding nearly 15% on top of what you thought would be difficult to reach. The biggest surprise was in the customer service surveys, where you went from a respectable 91% up to a staggering 98.5% satisfaction rating in regards to your frontline service workers. Each of the other managed components for whom a satisfaction rating is compiled, supervisors, sales staff, and IT support stayed nearly identical to the numbers from previous years. However there was a noticeable decrease in satisfaction rating numbers from the product repair department where they dropped from 87% to 79%. The director of the department blamed the drop on a new part that failed consistently, leading to customer frustration, although there was nothing directly in the survey from clients supporting that claim. You want to recognize everyone in the organization for helping you to exceed goals, and will deal with the possibility of faulty components as a contributor to the low rating for the repairs department. However you want to give special credit to the customer service department at your annual meeting for their increase. How can you best leverage their success to inspire other departments without making the repairs department feel worse for being the only division to see a slide – especially one that may not have been completely their doing? Send in your solutions! Author Q & A Five Questions with Kenneth Gronbach Last month we featured a book review on The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm, and we were blown away. The information provided that will impact both local and global economies was slap-you-in-the-face common sense, yet somehow they where the types of thoughts that you never navigate to on your own. If you’ve not yet picked up your copy make a note to stop by your local (or national) bookstore on your way home. We reached out to the author to congratulate him on his work, and invited him to come back as part of our "Five Questions" section, which he graciously accepted. Enjoy the interview and don’t forget to make that note... Read The Interview Now Editor’s Note With each issue, we will be providing new recommendations to help enhance your performance. EDSI recently established a partnership with InfoSource Learning to provide eLearning courses which will complement our existing classroom curriculum. We are so convinced of the quality and convenience of these programs that we are offering a FREE online course to our subscribers. Managing Meetings will help you to shape the way your team communicates and works together. It will equip you with techniques to make the best of any challenging people and situations you might encounter, and it will help you to build high performing teams that are flexible, creative and light on their feet. Please go to http://eds.howtomaster.com which is our new Online Learning Portal. Click on New User, fill in the name information, use edsdemo as your license key, click register and my courses to go to the Managing Meetings course. I hope you enjoy your experience.   This Month's Hottest Deals   NOTE: These offers are only available during this calendar month. Shop now!   OFFER 1: Management Online Self Study Battery Improve performance, increase productivity, boost morale…. for you and your team. Try some of the best soft-skills, self development materials in the industry. Covering over 35 different subjects like Conflict, Coaching, Management, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building and more. 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Ranging in size from 15 pages to 230 pages, these pocket guides are concisely written by industry experts such as Bruce Tulgan, Michael Greer and Alexander Hiam. Pocket Guides are packed with information and resources on each subject area covered and include extensive research, worksheets, assessments, case studies and more - they are the ultimate reference all in a handy pocket size book.   These products can be purchased individually or in Unlimited Use License's, good for use by your entire organization. We have selected 10 subject areas for your trial subscription. Select any one product line for just $4.95 each (a $50 value). Or select all 10 subject areas for just $29.95 (a $500 value). For each subject area chosen you will receive 30 day access to 1 assessment and online access to the SkillBuilder, One-Page Coach and Manager's Pocket Guides for that subject. Choose from the following subject areas: Change Management, Coaching, Team Building... 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