June 15, 2009

Digital ID?

Switzerland recently approved a government plan to switch to electronic passports, tied to a national fingerprint registry. The new passport will contain a microchip that stores personal data, a digital photo, and two fingerprints.

Miracle Comeback

CompUSA, a seemingly failing computer retailer has innovated itself into a new market by changing its stores into "Internet onramps" to purchasing online. Shoppers can also check store inventories and even browse competitors' sites to compare prices.

Government Invests in Green Training

Vice President Joe Biden recently unveiled a national program to train workers for "green jobs" that will make public housing more energy-efficient. Roughly $500 million of the $787 billion will be distributed as grants for training workers.

Develop your personal brand. This tactic applies to the "brand" you attach to your name outside of the company as well as your internal personal brand. Think o f your "external" personal brand as a seamless image that you present when you are at any public events as well as the image you build with your internet presence.

Influence is often the most powerful tool you have for building a successful project, career or company. Are you a thought leader in your world? What can you do to increase your influence, therefore increasing your overall effectiveness? Here are some areas you can concentrate on in order to keep expanding your influence (and therefore, your actual authority).

Editor's Note

The June 2009 issue of Personal Excellence features an article by Suzanne Updegraff, the President of EDSI, entitled Show Gratitude. Click here to check it out.

The May 2009 issue of HR Magazine has a very interesting statement: Building personal accountability among employees should be the heart and soul of a companys business strategy. In our opinion, only those companies that are proactive in this area during this economic downturn will come out stronger. Pulling back is reactive and not positive for talent development. EDSIs course, Increasing Personal Effectivenessis all about personal accountability.

Book Report

Who: The Who Matters
Geoff Smart and Randy Street

This breakout book, co-written by Geoff Smart and Randy Street (2008, Ballantine Books), offers the reader an insightful method for hiring. We all know that each hiring decision gone wrong can mean thousands of dollars for the organization. In a time when extra weight is put on each decision and every budget dollar is savored, this book is very timely.

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Undermining Colleagues

It seems that no workplace is completely immune to the ill effects of gossip. Our situation this time is no different. Christine has not ever gotten along with her boss, and feels confident that she is smarter and more competent than him. When given the chance to work off-site at an industry conference, she was excited to get the ear of her boss's immediate superior.

Taking charge of this opportunity, she gave him a complete description of all that had gone wrong due to her boss's actions, starting with the facts, and injecting her outrage as she continued. You are the superior in whom she confided.

What would you do?

Send in your solutions!

Author Profile

David Metcalf

Our author profile this time is David Metcalf PhD, author of M-Learning: Mobile E-Learning (HRD Press, 2006), and leader of the M-Learning movement. What is M-Learning, you ask? M-Learning combines technologies with mobile communications to enable electronic learning.

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