BNET Nov 2009

A Frighteningly Thrifty Halloween?

The streets could be eerily quiet this Saturday night if consumers decide to save money by skipping their annual Halloween traditions. Reports the Houston
Chronicle:

A survey sponsored by the National Retail Federationfound that nearly a third of shoppers said the economy would affect their Halloween spending.
The trade group expects consumers to spend about 15 percent less on Halloween this year: an average of $56.31 per person, down from $66.54 last year.

However, as the article notes, Halloween is still a relatively cheap holiday. It doesn't cost that much to take your family on a haunted hayride or decorate your
home and fill it with candy for the kids. And since Halloween falls over the weekend this year, party goers may have the perfect excuse to finally loosen their
purse strings, if just for one night of [Link] Halloween picture courtesy of Flickr user "stevechasmar," CC 2.0.

Five Ways to Avoid Disclosing Your Age in an Interview

udging by the questions we receive from the senior job seekers who read our content, age discrimination is top of mind for most candidates north of 40.
"'How Old Are You?': Readers Tell Job Interview Tales." Reporter
Recently, we took their questions head on with a package titled

Patty Orsini took job-seeker inquiries directly to recruiters, lawyers and hiring pros to find out how much candidates are required to disclose about
their age and how best to avoid dating themselves in a non-confrontational [Link] are five techniques to keep in mind:

 Re-state the question. If an HR person asks for your high-school or college graduation dates, "say, 'I went to the University of X, and it was a very
successful time for me,' " she said. "'I was a member of student government and worked at the campus radio station.' " You don't have to answer that question
with dates, and that shouldn't keep you from being hired."

 For online applications, give vague dates. While some online applications cannot be submitted unless all fields are completed, you might be able to
generalize to a decade. If not, you might contact the company's HR department to point out the issue; it's contrary to fair-hiring laws, and it might be a part of
the online application process of which HR is unaware.

 Express concern with identity theft if photo ID or social-security numbers are requested. These are not items that need to be provided until you are hired.

 Provide work history going back 20 years at most. Any more, and it can date you.

 Be aware of questions that could lead you to reveal your age. These questions could be as innocent as, "Are you over the age of 18?" and, "What are your
long-term career goals?" Be cautious about what the interviewer is really asking. An interviewer might leave a bit of silence after you answer; it doesn't mean
you need to fill that silence with more detail.

Keep Your Career Moving Up and to the Right

The most common career mistake managers make is taking a lesser job than they should. Personal issues aside, too many managers and professionals are
too risk averse, pulling the trigger on that critical decision sooner than they [Link]'s a common enough story: a friend of mine - a director-level employee at
a Fortune 500 company where he's worked for 20 years - gets laid off. To me, this is a blessed event. After toiling in the agonizingly stifling and stagnant
shadows of big-company middle management, he finally has a chance to shoot for a top job at a smaller company where he can really make a [Link]
chat for an hour or so about his options and opportunities, when I finally come to the most important point I want to get across to my friend:
"Don, under no circumstances should you even consider a job beneath executive staff level.""Oh, really?" Don says, surprised. "Look, I know it's a tough
market, but you've grown big businesses from nothing; you've got tons of big-company management experience; and you have great presence. As long as
you've got the staying power to last 6 to 9 months - and you do - you'll have opportunities," I say, confidently. "Just spiff up your resume, make yourself
searchable, do some networking, and they'll find you, guaranteed.""Hey, you know that's what I want, but, well, um --"You don't want to hear how the rest of
the conversation went. But I'll lay two-to-one odds that Don takes a job beneath his capability - a lateral, maybe even a backwards move. I've seen it happen
too many times. What's sad about it is the guy's a star. And this may be his last chance to break out and test his capabilities as a big fish, albeit in a smaller
pond. So what makes people like Don - and you - so risk averse? Well, it's really not very far-fetched. It takes a lot of guts to spend your hard-earned savings
and pass up a sure thing while waiting for an opportunity that may never come. Any combination of strong work ethic, conservative risk profile, lack of
confidence, even upbringing, will do it. And it typically gets worse with [Link] the big question is how do you know if you're even capable of moving up and
reaching for the stars? Two ways.
 In my experience, if you're reasonably in tune with yourself, you'll know when you hit your limit. If you're not sure, then you probably haven't hit it yet. Failure
doesn't count. Failure is good. Reaching your limit is different.
 Ask somebody you trust and respect, somebody who's been around, preferably someone familiar with your work. He'll tell you. If you don't have one or two
mentor-like people in your business life, well, that's unfortunate.
Almost 20 years ago, I heard Robert Browning's words, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp." It's been a guiding principal for my career ever since. Now I
pass it along to you. It's really that simple. Don't make it complicated.

Three Web Services You Should Be Using

It's easy to get stuck in a tech rut, doing things the old, familiar way when there's a better, faster, cheaper, and/or more effective [Link] example, do you
still e-mail Word documents around the office so everyone can review or edit them? That's insanely inefficient. Let's take a look at three free and easy Web
services that will help break you out of your productivity-sapping tech [Link] Still copying large files to your flash drive, then walking the drive over to
your co-worker's PC (or, horrors, Fedexing it to a client)? That's not the smart way to share data, folks. The smart way is to upload your files to a temporary,
password-protectable "drop," then give anyone who needs it the link to that drop. Free. Easy. [Link] Docs If you have a document,
spreadsheet, or presentation that needs to be shared with other people, there's no easier mechanism than Google Docs (or Zoho Docs, if you prefer). It's a
snap to invite others to view and/or collaborate -- even at the same time. Documents reside in the cloud, so you can access them from anywhere. Oh, and
Google Docs is free. Tell me again why you're not using it?Meebo Instant messaging is an essential part of modern business, but too many people rely on
bloated, overwrought client software (cough Yahoo Instant Messenger cough) that supports only one or two IM platforms. Meebo is a free, Web-based
solution that lets you connect with every IM service known to man, including AIM, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, and even Facebook. There's nothing to install; just
sign in at whatever computer you happen to be using. Then kick your system-clogging IM client to the [Link], I'd be lost without these three services.
What about you? What Web tools do you find indispensable? Hit the comments and name 'em!In the meantime, check out my follow-up: Three More Web
Services You Should Be Using

Find the Right Time for Your Next Meeting with When is Good
If your office has an integrated scheduling system like Outlook with Exchange Server, you know the convenience of inviting people to a meeting and trusting
they'll show up as planned. For everyone else, finding a time slot that everyone can accommodate is somewhat more [Link] are plenty of Web
services out there designed to ease the pain of group scheduling, but most have their own annoyances, such as requiring you to create a user account -- or
worse, forcing everyone else to log in, as well. I've found an alternative that's painlessly [Link] is Good shows you all the times that work for all your
invitees, so you can pick the best option. I really like the fact that there's no need to log in or create an account (though an account does give you additional
conveniences). Just visit the site and, one click later, you can paint the calendar with potential meeting [Link]'ll get a link you can send to your invitees.
Again, no need to log in -- they just mark the available hours with times that work for them, enter their name, and send the [Link] the end, you can see
which times are most convenient and pick the winner, which you can even import into your iCal-compatible [Link] is Good has lots of little goodies,
like the ability to select time periods in increments as short as the quarter hour. It's time zone-aware, and you can even customize the URL that gets sent to
invitees. The service is similar to MeetingMade, which we discussed a few months ago. MeetingMade has a more polished interface, but both get the same
job done - and MeetingMade shows every sign of not being free after beta, so I suggest you give When is Good a try.

Get Your Lost Phone Back with Contact Info on Your Wallpaper
You know how you lock your phone with a PIN or password to keep thieves out of your phone if it gets lost? Well, that same PIN will also keep a Good
Samaritan from figuring out how to return your phone, as well. TUAW has a clever suggestion: Plaster your contact information on your phone's

wallpaper. If you have an iPhone, for example, you can enter your name and phone number on a Note,
then take a screen shot (press the power and home buttons simultaneously) and make it your wallpaper image. If you have a Palm Pre or some other phone,
you can do something [Link] upside: You might get your phone back if you lose [Link] downside: It's a pretty ugly solution. I'm not sure I could look at a
plain text "if found" message on my iPhone's startup screen every day for the rest of my life on the off chance I happen to lose my phone someday. A better
option might beStuffBak, SendMeHome, or BlueRetriever, all designed to reunite you with your lost phone. [via Lifehacker]

Problems with Windows 7? This Free E-Book Might Help

Based on my experiences so far, Windows 7 is a fairly trouble-free operating system. That said, problems are bound to [Link] you call tech support,
however, Microsoft is hoping you'll readWhat You Can Do Before You Call Tech Support -- a free e-book that introduces Windows 7's built-in
"troubleshooters" and explains some of the more common problems that can cause, well, [Link] 12-page guide is available in XPS and PDF formats.
It's written with a refreshingly tongue-in-cheek style by Microsoft MVP Mitch Tulloch, author of the new book Windows 7 Resource Kit (which, FYI, is a
decidedly IT-oriented tome).If you're new to Windows 7 (and aren't we all at this point?), I definitely recommend giving this a read. Just one complaint, though:
Why aren't the screenshots in color, especially when the author refers to color-specific elements of those screenshots?

Eliminate Duplicate Items in Microsoft Outlook

Outlook is a cumbersome and unwieldy beast, but it's an essential part of many of our lives. From time to time, Outlook gets gummed up with duplicate entries
-- most often, in Contacts and the [Link], I have no less than four identical copies of a Monday morning staff meeting stacked on top of each
other, for [Link]? Who knows. Usually this sort of thing happens as a result of synchronization errors between Outlook and various portable devices,
but I'm not here to assess blame. I'm here to tell you how to fix [Link] Duplicate Items Remover is a free utility that sniffs out dupes throughout
Outlookautomatically. The program puts the redundant entries in a separate folder so you can investigate and delete them as necessary. I tried Outlook
Duplicate Items Remover (the cool kids call it ODIR) and found that it did a good job, rooting out all the duplicates I actually knew about. Time will tell if it
missed anything.

Unfortunately, though, the program isn't especially configurable. ODIR has a fixed set of properties it inspects to identify dupes. If a contact shares identical
first and last names, company names, and email address, for example, it's a dupe. If everything matches except the company name, the program doesn't
treat it as a duplicate. Despite that shortcoming, though, it's well worth the cost of free, and can go a long way towards cleaning up Outlook.

Get Access to 25GB of Free Cloud Storage from Windows Explorer

I adore DropBox -- 2GB of online storage, fully integrated into Windows Explorer, so I can copy files among different PCs and locations as easily as if they
were all networked in the same [Link] only downside? It's just 2GB. I wish DropBox had SkyDrive's generous 25GB capacity. Well, I've found the next
best [Link] Explorer installs access to SkyDrive in Windows Explorer, so you can copy files to and from SkyDrive from any folder in Windows.
That's DropBox's trick, but with 10 times as much free storage. Very cool. The only limitation? Microsoft caps the maximum size of any single file to 50MB,
probably to keep you from streaming movies over the Internet on their dime. But for the vast majority of business applications, that's no problem at
[Link] Explorer is kind of an unusual little duck; it is a free 3rd party add-on for SkyDrive -- it doesn't come from the Windows Live team. The Web site
makes this app look like the work of one enthusiastic developer who is far better with dev-speak than plain English. "SkyDrive Explorer allows applying some
operations for group of objects that is not possible in web browser," the site says, for instance. Geek-to-English translation: You can use SkyDrive Explorer to
bulk rename and delete files, just like you can in any Windows [Link] mostly works as advertised, but I ran into a few difficulties. Image previews in Windows
7 don't work, so you can't select a SkyDrive file and see its contents in the Preview pane (in comparison, this works just fine with DropBox). And despite the
feature touted above, I found that bulk file renames failed [Link] glitches aside, this is a great step forward for SkyDrive users. Here's to hoping that
the author keeps updating this tool, or Microsoft rolls out something similar without the rough edges.

The Single Best Reason to Upgrade to Windows 7? Security

You may not like the idea of giving up your beloved Windows XP, but it's time to face facts: That leaky old OS is nowhere near as secure as Windows 7 (or,
for that matter, Vista).Don't take my word for it: PC World recently rounded up five things you should know about Windows 7 security, starting with its
protected kernel (i.e. core). Here's an excerpt:

The kernel is the heart of the operating system, which also makes it a prime target for malware and other attacks. Basically, if an attacker can access or
manipulate the operating system kernel they can execute malicious code at a level that is undetectable by other applications or even by the operating system
itself. Microsoft developed kernel-mode protection to protect the kernel and ensure there is no unauthorized access.
 Other Windows 7 security advantages include safer Web browsing, the much-maligned (but undeniably effective) User Account Control, and a robust batch of
built-in security [Link] of which, I'd go so far as to say that as long as you have a firewall-equipped router and effective e-mail filtering (either at the
server level or via Gmail), you can run Windows 7 systems without any third-party security software. I do.I know lots of people who stubbornly refuse to
upgrade, yet are constantly dealing with spyware and other security problems. It's time to abandon the Windows XP ship, if for no other reason than it's too
costly and time-consuming to [Link]? Disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Marketing Megatrend: Simple Sells

It's a hot trend and it's here to stay. Retail marketers at Starbucks, Kraft, and Campbell have discovered that "simple" sells. Products that stress fewer
ingredients - food, drinks, cosmetics, even pet food - are outselling rivals, as this USA Today story [Link] is simple really better, or is this just another
fad for health-conscious consumers, not to mention the ever-growing number of people looking for a quick fix so they can continue to gouge themselves on
high-fat and sugary foods without feeling guilty? Sure, fewer additives and processing is a good thing, but three simple ingredients - butter, sugar, and flour -
will kill you faster than you can say "cardiac arrest." More to the point, tricking consumers with creative marketing is one thing. But will the trend extend
beyond consumable products? Is 'simple' something we should all be watching and considering in our marketing, branding, and positioning? The simple
answer to that is yes. Here are ...Five reasons why you should Keep It Simple:

1. I don't care if your business is B2B or B2C, high-tech or high fashion, IT or HR. When it comes to positioning your product or service, the
simplest way of getting across your unique value proposition - the reason why customers should buy from you and not your competitor - is
always the best way.
2. We're all consumers. You, me, the CEO, even the seemingly unflappable finance and IT people. We're all consumers and we're all subject
to mega-marketing trends that invade our subconscious day and night. You can fast-forward your Tivo through the commercials all you
like, but major trends like this one will sink in anyway.
3. We're all stressed-out on media, product, and "choice" overload. I never thought I'd say it, but too much choice can be a bad thing.
Frankly, we're all overloaded with media and product choices. Moreover, technology adds complexity that takes time to learn. It's nice to
have one less thing to analyze and worry about. "Simple" is calming, relaxing -- for a change.
4. I've said it before, In Management, Keep It Simple. That simple rule goes a long way to explaining why Apple's Mac continues to gain
market share over PCs, Carol Bartz is a way more effective CEO than Jerry Yang, and Lou Gerstner was able to
restructure IBM while Jonathan Schwartz failed miserably at Sun.
5. Simple has both left and right-brain appeal, which probably explains the other four reasons. Emotionally, we associate "simple" with easy,
quick, controlled. And while we make left-brain decisions based on the perception of quality and performance, in many of those metrics -
defects, moving parts, size and weight - less is more. These days we just want things to work the way they're supposed to - no
instructions, no drama, no returns.
Last Word: To be honest, I've been preaching Keep It Simple in management and marketing for so long, I may not be the most objective commentator on the
subject. So what do you think? Am Ioversimplifying things?

Chip Conley: Should I Take My Burning Man Pics off Facebook?

When BNET heard that hotelier Chip Conley's Facebook photos caused a mild uproar among his employees, we invited the entrepreneur to
share his story. After all, usually it's the boss that's concerned about his staff's social media habits, not the other way around.

I'm grappling with a question of our times: When does something splashed on Facebook or broadcast via Twitter become bad for my
company? The problem is not with my staff but with me. Specifically, photos that I posted on my Facebook page in September after
returning from Burning Man, the weeklong anything-goes festival. Yes, I know it isn't the typical CEO getaway. That's part of the problem.
First, a little bit about me. I run Joie de Vivre, a company that operates a collection of boutique hotels in California. I founded the business
22 years ago, when I was 26 and a freshly minted MBA from Stanford. The first property I bought was a pay-by-the hour motel in a seedy
part of San Francisco. People told me I was crazy to buy it, but I transformed it into a world-renowned rock 'n' roll hotel. Today, Joie de
Vivre is a $230 million company with more than 3,000 employees and 38 properties. From the luxury spa resort in Big Sur to the urban
chic hotel in San Francisco and a surfer-inspired hotel in Huntington Beach, our mission statement is simple: to celebrate the joy of life.
And that's precisely what I was doing at Burning Man, which, incidentally, I have attended twice before in the past decade, before this
social media problem existed. I went with a close friend. She took a ton of pictures, and when I got home to San Francisco, I posted six of
them, two of which show me shirtless. In one I'm wearing a tutu; in the other a sarong.

Only recently has my personal Facebook page become very personal. My PR agency set it up along with a fan page in February, rightly
arguing that it was good for promoting the company and my latest book, Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow. I
accepted pretty much anyone who "friended" me, including plenty of employees, and gradually I began posting the usual Facebook fodder
— links to articles, quick takes on books, emotional missives. My profile picture — a business-casual blazer-and-collared-shirt look — was
uploaded by my PR team as well. I swapped it out in favor of a shirtless shot of me in a parking lot at Burning Man.

The two faces of Chip

Conley on Facebook.
 I'm just not a blazer kind of guy. I consider myself a rebel. My first book —The Rebel Rules: Daring to Be Yourself in Business — preaches
the value of authenticity in business, of being true to yourself. So a few pictures on my Facebook page that show me having a good time?
I honestly didn't give it a second thought.

I had, however, given thought as to how others at my company use social media, and this is where the whole thing gets a little messy. In
fact, the issue of my pictures came up as we were creating a social media policy and seeking input from our cultural ambassadors. Our
ambassadors are employees who are elected by their peers to represent each hotel; they work on such efforts as local philanthropy,
employee recognition programs, and, lately, social media policies. It's a role I instituted about 12 years ago after reading about how
Southwest Airlines had cultural ambassadors who served as representatives between field offices and headquarters. Joie de Vivre was
growing fast, and I was concerned about keeping our culture intact.

I learned from my head of HR that four of our cultural ambassadors had fielded complaints from young staff members who, odd as it
sounded to me, looked up to me, almost like a father figure. And, well, they didn't like seeing their father in a tutu. I also learned that
staffers were concerned about some of my Twitter musings, in which I expressed anguish over the demise of an eight-year relationship.
Somehow, all this seemed inappropriate for a CEO with thousands of employees.

Take the BNET POLL and help us answer the question, "What's the Etiquette for Social Media and the Workplace?"
The feedback I got was that it looked like I was setting a double standard by creating a policy for everyone at the company except me. My
HR chief suggested that I consider taking down the two pictures where I'm shirtless. My reaction was swift: "Screw that," I said. "People
who don't like it can go work at Marriott."

And yet, I've begun to see her point. I don't want to create tension at the company or be viewed as a hypocrite. In fact, she and my head
of public relations prevailed on me to keep the most controversial shots out of this article. The rebel in me balked. I honestly don't care
who sees my photos from Burning Man. But I reconsidered. I decided I don't want an important discussion about social media and business
to be sidelined by a hot-or-not type photo gallery of me.

Even so, I still plan to stick to my guns, practice what I preach about authenticity, and keep the photos on my Facebook page. Some of my
people said my pictures are sexually suggestive, but I don't see it. No one complained when I dressed in drag at a holiday party seven
years ago, although pictures never made their way to the Web. And I doubt anyone would be complaining if my pictures were from a
beach vacation.

Besides, the company's social media policy is mainly designed to protect the privacy of our guests. If Jimmy Carter or Megan Fox stays at
one of our hotels, I want to make sure the staff knows not to post photos on Facebook or blab about it on Twitter. The policy applies to the
employees and their own behavior, but that's less of an issue, so long as they're not damaging the image of the company in public.

And this is where I can get into trouble. What, exactly, does it take to damage the image of the company? Sometimes it's straightforward
— employees can't, for example, write about trade secrets — but other times, it's not. What if pictures emerge of a desk host drinking
from a beer bong at a football game, or decked out in an S&M getup at an underground club? I'd have no problem with that, although I
know plenty of CEOs who would. To me, that's an employee's private life. Take it a step farther — the employee is shown stealing
municipal signs, for instance — and I would have a problem with it. Even worse would be if that employee is wearing a Joie de Vivre shirt.
In other words, it's a case-by-case basis.

So as for a double standard, I don't buy it. I do think it's important that companies have a social media policy, and I don't think I violated
the one my company just rolled out. Should a CEO be held to a different standard? Let me know what you think is right.

Social Networks to Become Less Social

On a recent weekend I took a Defriend Hatchet to my Facebook account, lopping out a good 50 people including a fourth grade classmate, a barber from a
time when I had hair, and a colleague from a job 17 years ago whom I didn't like even [Link] I'm not alone in my desire to tame my online social
world. David Armano, co-founder of social media marketing firm Dachis Corp., predicts that social networks will actually becomeless social in 2010. He
writes on his Harvard Business Publishing blog:

With groups, lists and niche networks becoming more popular, networks could begin to feel more "exclusive." Not everyone can fit on someone's newly
created Twitter list and as networks begin to fill with noise, it's likely that user behavior such as "hiding" the hyperactive updaters that appear in your
Facebook news feed may become more common. Perhaps it's not actually less social, but it might seem that way as we all come to terms with getting value
out of our networks -- while filtering out the clutter.

That sounds right to me, but the question for BNETers is what does this winnowing mean for Internet marketers and service providers? If people become
more selective about who they tether themselves to online, it might be harder for you to grab their attention. On the other hand, smaller lists usually present
better defined potential [Link] this trend change about how you think of social network marketing?By the way, read Armano's entire post, Six Social
Media Trends for 2010.

How To Hijack Someone Else's Meeting

Sales pros spend vast effort honing their meeting chops for sales pitches, but what about all those other meetings -- especially the ones inside your own firm?
Wouldn't it be great if you could twist those meetings into something useful -- rather than just a waste of your valuable time? Never fear, it's pretty easy to
hijack a meeting and make it go wherever you think is useful. Here's exactly how it's done:
 STEP #1: Decide if you want to hijack that particular [Link] your goals to the stated purpose of the meeting. Can you
bend it to serve? If not, you might as well bail out, 'cause it's a waste of time. Otherwise, it's hijack time...
 STEP #2: If there is no agenda, offer to write one. "Help" the meeting holder by writing up an agenda that hits the holder's points,
but has places for you to work your issues. That feel too baldfaced? Then make some "suggestions" with neutral-sounding placeholders
where you can segue into your own issues.
 STEP #3: Provide a list of people who should also attend. The more allies you have in the meeting, the easier it will be to take it in
the direction that you want. Have a plausible reason on hand why they should attended -- other than the fact that they'll back you up on
the hijack.
 STEP #4: Pre-frame the meeting with key attendees. Call key attendees (and not just the ones you invited) and lay the groundwork
for discussing the issues you care about. Make sure that you state your issues within the context of the declared reason for the meeting.
 STEP #5: Volunteer to be the official recorder. If you're the one who's taking notes, you are the one who defines what happened.
Memory is shifting sand; the written word is solid rock. If there's already somebody taking notes, take your own notes anyway.
 STEP #6: Send an immediate follow-up email. Frame the meeting so that it serves your goals by being the first to publicly define
what happened and what was decided. Unless your memo says the exactly opposite of what happened, most people will think that you've
described the meeting accurately.
Here's an example:The marketing team invites you to a meeting to discuss the text of their latest brochure. Your first impulse is to blow the meeting off as a
waste of time. However, it's politically valuable for you to look like you're cooperating with marketing, so you decide instead to hijack the meeting to work on
something more [Link] issue you decide to work is getting the marketing group to go attend sales training so that they can better hone their lead
generation efforts. So you get "potential customer impact" added to the agenda. Then you make sure that the meeting list has some attendees on whom you
 can [Link] to the meeting, privately brief your allies on what you'd like to accomplish. Get their agreement that this is a good idea. Touch bases with the
other players who are supposed to attend. Within the context of the meeting's stated purpose, plant some seeds. (E.g. "As we look at the brochure copy, it
might be a good idea to see how well it fits with our sales training methods. Otherwise, we might be selling at cross-purposes.")When the meeting starts,
volunteer to be the official recorder. When the meeting reaches the "potential customer impact" item of the agenda, bring up the issue of having the marketing
personnel take the sales training course. (E.g. "This brochure is pretty good, but I think it would be easier for marketing to write 'on-target' if they understood
our sales process. How about making sure that everyone in marketing attends the next sales training seminar?")Your allies, of course, chime in and back you
[Link] soon as the meeting is over, you send off a "this is what happened" email which documents whatever nonsense happened about the brochure, but
emphasizes the "decision" that was made about sales training. Even if there was dissent, your memo should say something like "a robust discussion took
place, but the general consensus was that the idea had merit." Make sure your memo also contains the "next step" that need to happen to achieve your
[Link]'s how it's done. I've seen cases where this technique steamrolls over the poor sap who called the meeting. Sometimes they don't know what hit
them and think that they owe the hijacker a favor because he "helped out".BTW, if you don't want your own meetings to be hijacked, write your own agenda,
control the list of attendees, line up your "ducks", record your own notes and be the first to issue to the meeting report. If you're not doing this, I'll bet every
meeting you've ever called has been hijacked, probably without you even realizing that it happened!READERS: Any other political tricks you'd like to share?

Three Web Services You Should Be Using

It's easy to get stuck in a tech rut, doing things the old, familiar way when there's a better, faster, cheaper, and/or more effective [Link] example, do you
still e-mail Word documents around the office so everyone can review or edit them? That's insanely inefficient. Let's take a look at three free and easy Web
services that will help break you out of your productivity-sapping tech [Link] Still copying large files to your flash drive, then walking the drive over to
your co-worker's PC (or, horrors, Fedexing it to a client)? That's not the smart way to share data, folks. The smart way is to upload your files to a temporary,
password-protectable "drop," then give anyone who needs it the link to that drop. Free. Easy. [Link] Docs If you have a document,
spreadsheet, or presentation that needs to be shared with other people, there's no easier mechanism than Google Docs (or Zoho Docs, if you prefer). It's a
snap to invite others to view and/or collaborate -- even at the same time. Documents reside in the cloud, so you can access them from anywhere. Oh, and
Google Docs is free. Tell me again why you're not using it?Meebo Instant messaging is an essential part of modern business, but too many people rely on
bloated, overwrought client software (cough Yahoo Instant Messenger cough) that supports only one or two IM platforms. Meebo is a free, Web-based
solution that lets you connect with every IM service known to man, including AIM, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, and even Facebook. There's nothing to install; just
sign in at whatever computer you happen to be using. Then kick your system-clogging IM client to the [Link], I'd be lost without these three services.
What about you? What Web tools do you find indispensable? Hit the comments and name 'em!In the meantime, check out my follow-up: Three More Web
Services You Should Be Using.

5 Ways to Climb the Ladder Without Losing Your Soul

If you recently graduated into the world of work, most likely your picture of the corporate world is skewed away from the warm and fuzzy. With many
businesses spending the last year or so desperately trying to survive the downturn, recent entrants to company life have probably seen more than their fair
share of draconian cost cutting, lay offs and hiring freezes -- all of which might give you the sense that it's really a jungle out there and getting ahead is simply
a matter of dirty politics and soul-less self-promotion. In a fabulously titled article in Ad Age, Joe Hodas argues against this war of all against all school of
career advice, and instructs the office newbie in "How to Advance Your Career Without Selling Your Soul." His message is one I can't support enough and his
eleven tips, ranging from classic wisdom to offbeat and unexpected advice, are practical and actionable. Here are five of the best:

 We all have a personal toolkit -- know yours and how to use it. As my mother told me on numerous occasions, I have special
talents. Specifically, I'm a good consensus builder. You may be a killer salesman. Or extremely detailed. Whatever your "special talents"
are, hone them and let them help define your personal brand.
 It's about teamwork, but know who is and isn't on your team. I too hate office politics. And avoid them at all costs. But ignoring
their existence is not only careless, but possibly counterproductive. Even if you don't engage in them, someone else might on your behalf.
Know who has the boss' ear, who the players are, and who could take or leave ya. Whatever the political landscape in your company, it's
your reality and one you'll have to navigate whether you like it or not.
 Never lose your s**t -- at least not in public. Let's play a little game of association. When I say Christian Bale, you say what?
Probably not "great actor from 'American Psycho,'" right? Rather, I bet you said something along the lines of "overindulged jerk who
pulverized some poor sound tech on a movie set for making a mistake." I'm not saying that we shouldn't be human, but one single
outburst -- even if merited -- can do permanent damage to your personal brand.
 Life is not always a box of chocolates -- so decide how much you can take before you bail. The perfect job doesn't exist. I would
imagine that even the taste-tester at Krispy Kremehas complaints about his gig (though I can't imagine what they might be). Too often
we hit tough times and jump ship for a lateral move or get frustrated and stop giving 110 percent. A career is like a relationship, so make
sure you're putting as much effort into trying to fix the problems as you put into feeling bad about them.
 Always be that ray of light in your boss'/co-worker's day. This one's simple. Surprise. Delight. Be the kind if individual you'd like to
spend 200-plus days each year with. And to be clear -- that's much different than kissing ass.

Salary vs. Employment Contract -- Should I Sign?

Dear Stanley, What are your thoughts on employment contracts? I've been with my company happily for several years on a salary. Now I am being
asked to sign a contract and to switch to commission. It seems generous enough, although a bit less secure than the salary and bonus structure
that I'm used to. But mostly, I'm wondering why the company suddenly wants everyone on commission and if there are ramifications to the
employment contract (i.e., is it easier to let me go?). Help! Signed, Suddenly Insecure Dear Justifiably Nervous,Remember that old song by the Band
called "The Weight"? In that fine tune, which has now attained the status of Played Out on most boomer iPods, the narrator tells a story in which various
individuals shift the burden of their responsibilities to another. One gives away his dog. Another leaves her friend with a new companion -- The Devil. The
well-known chorus goes like this:
Take a load off [Link] a load for [Link] a load off FannieAnd... and... and... you put the load right on [Link] weight you suddenly feel on your
shoulders? That's the burden of the risk associated with your employment that just shifted from the shoulders of the company -- and... and... and... they put
the load right on you. It's not necessarily a bad thing. If you're a top performer and have confidence in your abilities to earn a good commission, you could
actually do better. But the reason you feel nervous now is because you should. That cold wind is prying into your bones because your security blanket just got
taken away. You're going to have to sing for your supper every day now if you expect to make your [Link] reason companies do this is quite obvious: If you
underperform, or the economy stabs you in the heart, they have to pay you less. That falls into the No Duh category, doesn't it? If they end up paying you
more, it means that you're selling your gonads out, and that's good for them, too. So it's a win/win either way. The only thing the company loses is the strong
tie that a salary and bonus creates between a worker and his corporation. They're taking care of that concern by offering you a [Link], an employment
contract is a funny thing. It feels like a nice development. They want you. They give you a deal. How nice. Except a lot of employment contracts do nothing but
tie an employee to the company without really giving him or her anything more than they had in the first place. Sometimes it also has clauses taking away
certain rights that you had before, or preventing you from taking another job if you should leave the company before (or even after) its term is out. Worse,
some contracts spell out severance deals that supersede existing company policies in the matter. If you've been a long-time worker, you have to be careful
that the deal you sign doesn't take away something from you if for some reason you're [Link] thing is for sure: You need a lawyer to look at your
deal -- and make sure it's a good one. But keep in mind that when a company offers you a contract, they want you to sign it. You can refuse, if you like, but
eventually they're going to take it as a statement of loyalty -- or lack thereof. So make sure it addresses all your concerns, and maybe even gives you
something extra that you've wanted for a while. Some guys get cars or club memberships built into their deal. Jack Welch got his greens fees paid for, at least
for a while. You're probably not going to be so lucky. But get what you can. And then sign [Link] final thing: make sure that, even if you ARE moving to a
commission-based structure, you don't go 100 percent commission. You need some kind of guarantee, a draw against commission. Having a job should
mean that you know you'll be earning something in good times and bad. Otherwise it's not a job. It's a dangerous hobby. Like bungee jumping.
Best Credit Cards for You
Do credit card companies deserve the scorn and vitriol that is heaped on them? Are Visa and MasterCard — or the banks that issue them
— really the Simon Cowells of the financial world?

Well, yeah. At least according to a new study by Pew Charitable Trusts, which found that practices labeled “unfair or deceptive” by the
Federal Reserve are now as widespread as, or even more common than, beforeCongress passed the consumer protection credit card law
in May. What’s more, with new federal credit card rules coming in February, issuers are instituting new fees and getting stingier with
rewards. Bank of America, for instance, is socking some customers with $29 to $99 annual fees if they don’t charge enough or if their
credit has deteriorated. Citigroup is “testing” $30 to $90 annual fees for some of its cardholders spending less than $2,400 a year. But
MoneyWatch’s exhaustive analysis will show you the best cards for your needs.
So what’s in your wallet, anyway? If travel rewards are your priority, Capital One may be your best bet. Otherwise, there are better
options. To find the best cards, MoneyWatch consulted the experts at [Link], [Link], [Link], BillShrink,
and Consumer Action. Then we pored over dozens of contenders to come up with the most generous and least expensive options. At the
first three of those sites, you can search among more than 1,000 cards for the best deals. BillShrink lets you compare more than 200
cards against the ones you now have, to see if there are better choices for the way you use plastic.
Here are the best cards, depending on how you charge.

If You Carry a Balance

Our first tidbit of advice to anyone who carries a monthly credit card balance is to pay it off. Now. But on the assumption that you’ve
heard that before, we’ll stop lecturing. If you think paying outrageous interest expenses is a good idea, at least sign up for a low-interest-
rate card with no annual fee. Steer clear of cash-back and rewards cards, because their rates are high and you’ll never earn enough
rewards to justify the interest you’ll pay. And look out: Even the lowest card rates are likely to be higher than a year ago, when several
issuers hawked cards with single-digit fixed rates. Today, the average rate for someone with a 700 FICO score is 11.4 percent (among the
top 50 card issuers), according to Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst with [Link]. You’ll pay a higher rate if you have a lower
credit score.

Fixed-rate cards are becoming an endangered species. Many have morphed into variable rates, transferring the risk of rising rates from
issuers to borrowers. And the way those rates are set has become costlier for cardholders. Many issuers are increasing the margin over
the prime rate (currently around 3 percent) that they use to set variable rates, says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities at
Consumer Action, a national consumer advocacy organization. Chase’s Freedom Visa Card, which cost prime plus 7.25 to 9.99 percent in
2008, now costs prime plus 8.99 to 17.99 percent.

Keep in mind that the lowest advertised rates — the ones cited below — are available only to consumers with the best credit scores. If you
get an offer for a new card in the mail, Sherry recommends checking to see if it is labeled as a prescreened or preapproved offer. “If the
letter says you have been preapproved at a specific rate, they have to honor that rate,” she says.

Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union Visa

Many of the lowest-rate cards are offered by credit unions, such as the Visa available from the Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union,

based in Palo Alto, Calif. (5.24 percent variable; 877-233-4766). To apply, you must open and maintain a $5 balance in an Addison
savings account. In the Pew study, the median interest rate on cards from the 12 largest credit unions was about 20 percent lower than
comparable bank-card rates. Find out which credit unions are available in your area or through your employer, or check [Link] to
compare rates for national credit unions, along with membership requirements and any fees.
You can also find cards with low variable rates and no annual fees at regional banks that aren’t household names. Two good examples are

the Simmons First National Bank Visa Platinum (7.25 percent; 800-272-2102) and the IberiaBank Visa Classic (8.75

percent; 800-968-0801).

You might also want to consider the new variable-rate Chase Slate Visa or MasterCard with Blueprint (13.24 percent; 800-432-
3117). Slate’s Blueprint feature means you’ll pay zero interest on designated everyday purchases you pay in full each month and interest
only on larger, occasional purchases. “I think this can be a very helpful tool if a person uses it correctly,” Sherry says. “And I don’t know of
anyone else doing anything like it.” But be sure to stick to your financial diet: If you cheat on the payment plan and don’t pay your
everyday purchases in full, you’ll owe interest on those too.
 If You Pay in Full
A card’s interest rate won’t matter to you, since you won’t incur interest. So get a cash-back or rewards card that lowers the cost of your
everyday purchases or travel. Rates on these types of cards are often on the high side, but that’s irrelevant if you religiously pay off your
cards.

Cash-back cards refund a portion of what you spend on certain items in certain stores or, sometimes, on every purchase. Some cards
provide a flat 1 percent refund; others boost the rebate for products in certain categories, such as 5 percent on grocery or drugstore
purchases, or for products bought during certain times of the year, such as a rebate on home improvement products purchased in the
spring.

Here are the eight best cards with no annual fee; the last four are affinity cards that require you to be a customer of the cosponsor:

American Express BlueCash

 American Express BlueCash (17.25 percent variable; 800-528-4800). Blue Cash pays back 0.5 to 1.25 percent on everyday
purchases and 1 to 5 percent on select items, including groceries and gasoline. Reward rates are based on your annual spending, with the
highest cash-back rates for customers spending more than $6,500 per year.

 Chase Sapphire Visa and MasterCard (12.24 percent variable; 800-432-3117). This card earns 1 point for every dollar spent; 2
points for every dollar spent on airfare booked through its affiliated travel agency; and 10 points for every dollar spent through its online
“mall,” whose offerings range from electronics to sporting goods. There’s no limit on the number of points you can earn.

 Discover More (11.99 percent variable; 800-347-2683). You earn up to 1 percent back on many everyday purchases and up to 5
percent on categories such as travel, gasoline, department stores, groceries, and restaurants. The categories change seasonally.

 Pentagon Federal Credit Union Visa Platinum (13.99 percent fixed; 800-247-5626). Although there is no annual fee, you’ll pay a
one-time $20 fee to join the credit union. The card pays back 5 percent on gas, 2 percent on groceries, and 1.25 percent on all other
purchases.

Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Total Merrill Cash Back

 Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Total Merrill Cash Back(9.99 percent variable; for Merrill Lynch customers only; 800-637-7455). This
card pays back 1.25 percent on all purchases, depositing the cash in your Merrill Lynch account.

 Costco/American Express TrueEarnings (15.24 percent variable; no annual fee for Costco members; 800-223-2670). Pays 3 percent
back on the first $3,000 in gasoline purchases and 1 percent back on all subsequent gasoline purchases. The card also refunds 3 percent
for purchases in restaurants, 2 percent for travel, and 1 percent everywhere else.

 FidelityInvestment Rewards American Express (13.99 percent variable; for Fidelity customers only; 866-598-4971). This card pays
back 2 percent on all annual purchases, deposited in your Fidelity account. Fidelity also has a Visa Investment Rewards card that pays
back 1.5 percent on annual purchases up to $15,000 and 2 percent on purchases above $15,000.

 Schwab Bank Invest First Visa (13.24 percent variable; for Schwab customers only; 866-724-9223). This card pays back 2 percent
on all purchases, depositing the cash in your Schwab account.
Travel cards, the original rewards cards, allow you to earn points you can use to buy airline tickets and hotel stays. But for flexibility and
maximum value, Curtis Arnold, founder of [Link] and author of How You Can Profit From Credit Cards, offers this advice: Steer
clear of a card from a particular airline unless you fly that carrier often. Instead, use a card such as the two below that offer points on any
airline and no redemption fees. Then you can use your points to cut the cost of the ticket and won’t have to worry about blackout dates.
Understand, however, that the value of those miles is going down. “In the past, 25,000 miles would get you a coast-to-coast airline ticket
on the Capital One No Hassle Miles card,” Arnold says. “Today, that buys you a $250 ticket with most rewards programs.”
 Capital One No Hassle Miles Reward

 Capital One No Hassle Miles Rewards (13.9 percent variable; 800-410-0020). Despite the change in how it doles out rewards,
Arnold still says Capital One’s card is worth considering, because it has fewer restrictions than an airline card. The card earns 1 mile per
dollar on the first $1,000 spent in a billing period and 2 miles per dollar after that. Miles can be redeemed for air travel, hotel rooms, and
other travel purchases at the rate of 100 miles per dollar. So to get a $300 ticket, you’d need 30,000 miles. That’s the equivalent of
charging $15,500 in one billing period or, since the mileage rate starts anew each cycle, a higher amount over a longer period.

Citigroup Citi PremierPass

 Citigroup Citi PremierPass (12.99 percent variable; 800-967-9800). This card is more generous than Capital One’s, because you get
bonus points for using the card to book flights. The card earns 1 point for every dollar spent normally, plus 1 point for every 3 miles flown
on any airline. Pay $500 for a round-trip ticket from New York to Los Angeles and you'll earn 2,500 points – 500 points for the ticket
purchase and 2,000 points for the flight (6,000 miles divided by 3). The catch: You can’t rack up more than 100,000 points in a year,
including 50,000 points for air miles. As with the Capital One card, 25,000 points buys a $250 ticket.

If You Want an Elite Card
A few issuers offer elite cards with premium perks, such as an outing with a celebrity, sold-out concert tickets, or last-minute reservations
at hot restaurants. They charge premium annual fees, though. Whether you think you’ll get your money’s worth with, say, a $450
American Express Platinum depends on whether it offers unique services you can’t get anywhere else — and, of course, if those services
are worth a steep fee. To qualifying for these cards, you’ll need not only a stellar credit score but also a rarefied income.

Barclays Bank Visa Black

 Barclays Bank Visa Black (13.24 percent variable; $495 annual fee; 866-252-2522). In case the annual fee didn’t make it clear, this
is literally not your ordinary plastic: It’s made of carbon graphite. Membership is allegedly “limited to only 1 percent of U.S. residents,”
who get 24-hour concierge service covering everything from reservations at exclusive restaurants to assistance locating rare books. Need
12 Arabian horses for your daughter’s wedding in Dubai? It can be arranged. You also get access to airport lounges in 500 airports and a
choice of 1 percent cash back on purchases for every $1 spent or points that can be redeemed on any airline at any time.

 American Express Platinum (balances must be paid in full monthly; $450 annual fee; 800-223-2670). This card earns 1 point for
every dollar spent, 4 points for purchases made with 200 retailers (from Saks to Gap) through AmEx’s “mall,” and 2 points for every dollar
spent on travel booked through AmEx’s travel service. The 24-hour concierge service can arrange reservations at five-star restaurants
worldwide, plus tickets to exclusive music and theater events.

Economic Scenarios to Keep You Up at Night

This story was updated on Nov. 9, 2009.

While the recession may be over, the U.S. economy still doesn't seem to be out of the woods. The stock market continues to be volatile,
lender CIT Group recently filed for the nation's fifth-largest bankruptcy, and unemployment remains stubbornly high.
So could this nascent recovery still be blown off course? We asked five money managers and financial gurus to share their worst-case
scenarios for the market and the economy. From runaway inflation to sky-high deficits that force the government to slash Social Security
and Medicare, we found five fears that still keep the experts up at night.

Not to suggest that these scary scenarios ought to make you hit the panic button. Just consider it a stress test for your portfolio: Are you
diversified enough to provide protection if the market goes south, or are you betting the farm on a best-case scenario? Inflation is a
recurring theme in our experts’ nightmares; you can hedge that risk by owning inflation-protected securities and boosting your exposure
to international markets. That way, you should be able to get a decent night’s sleep no matter what happens.
1. Runaway Inflation
“I don’t think we’ll have a crash like the last one, but the risk that we will have a significant bear market is very real. There could be
several catalysts. For one, European banks are undercapitalized and overleveraged — far more overleveraged than U.S. banks. So the
likelihood of a major European bank failing in the next two to four years is significant. Also, the likelihood of the commercial real estate
sector in the U.S. suffering a significant wave of foreclosures is high. A third risk is any sort of geopolitical shock, such as another terrorist
attack or a small war starting in another country. The fourth — and arguably the biggest — potential catalyst is that our aggregated
indebtedness as a nation has gotten totally out of hand. Rampant inflation is a serious risk if we keep spending $1 trillion to $2 trillion
more than our tax revenues.”

— Robert D. ArnottChairman, Research Affiliates

2. Stagflation
“The most likely nightmare scenario is inflation, and even possibly stagflation. Prices are headed up for raw materials like oil, copper,
grains, cement, nickel, and iron ore — all the things necessary to grease the wheels of an economy. That could put a real damper on the
market’s recovery. Historically, commodity prices have remained quiescent during the initial period of an economic upturn. This is the first
time in 40 years we’ve seen an immediate rise in commodity prices as the economy is just starting to come out of a recession. That price
increase will start to be a drain on the consumer. And if we can’t get employment restarted in this environment, you end up with
stagflation.”

— Jerry JordanPresident, Hellman, Jordan Management

3. Crippling Government Debt
“The U.S. government has $65 trillion in future promises on its books. I see three potential ways to manage those obligations, and none of
them are pleasant. One would be to manage our economy to a sufficient growth rate with moderate inflation to pay off all those
obligations. That would require a reversal in policy from large deficits to large surpluses through much higher taxes and a significant
contraction in government spending. There is no political will for that now, and even if it were accomplished, there would be such high
volatility in the inflation rate along the way that investors would periodically be terrified. Two, we could succumb to the temptation to print
the money needed to pay these obligations until inflation soars and the dollar becomes completely devalued. Or three, the government
could default on paying some of its debts, potentially by significantly raising the age to receive Social Security or cutting back on
Medicare. If that happens, there will be major social implications because people have paid into these systems for years and feel entitled
to these benefits. To me, scenarios one and three are the most likely at this point.”

—Jeffrey GundlachChief Investment Officer, TCW Funds

PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO

4. A 10-Year Japanese-Style Recession

“My biggest fear is the U.S. becomes like Japan. During their economic crisis in the 1990s, the Japanese lowered interest rates to zero,
never forced their ailing banks to write down their bad assets, and threw a ton of money at bad banks that accomplished nothing. That
looks like what we’re doing right now. We’re not requiring banks to take write-downs, and we’ve suspended mark-to-market accounting so
that banks can hide their losses. And we’re propping up banks that are borderline insolvent with billions of dollars in government
assistance even though they’re not lending as they’re supposed to do. If we follow Japan’s model, we may have Japan’s results — 10 years
of subpar economic growth and a lot of government spending on zombie banks that refuse to lend. The Nikkei stock index has fallen more
than 70 percent from its 1989 peak as a consequence. That could be our future.”

— Barry L. RitholtzCEO, Fusion IQ, and blogger at The Big Picture

5. The Dollar Collapses
“For me the next market crash is not an if but a when. It will start with the government continuing to print money till the dollar collapses.
China, Europe, and Japan are the biggest holders of U.S. currency in terms of Treasury debt, and they’ve already indicated an interest in
selling some of their positions. That will put further downward pressure on the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, unemployment will continue to
creep up. Seventy percent of the gross domestic product of our economy is from consumer spending. With unemployment high, spending
will go down. If inflation picks up, as it will with the dollar falling and oil already hitting $80 a barrel, the Fed will raise interest rates and
make it harder for consumers to borrow money to spend. Then the X factor is, God forbid, that there is another terrorist attack. With so
many potential negatives on the horizon, I’m just not buying this current rally.”

— Neil MenardPrincipal, Steben & Company

401(k) Mistakes to Avoid

The 401(k) has come under fire recently, right here on MoneyWatch and then from both The New York Times andTime magazine. But for
all its faults, it may be the single most important asset in your financial future. Until someone comes up with a better way to save for
retirement, your only choice is to save as much as you can and invest it intelligently. In other words, love the one you're with. "For most
people, this is the biggest bucket of money they're going to have when they retire," says Houston financial planner Gary Busch. "So it's
important to be doing a good job with it."
Here are the 12 dumbest mistakes that financial pros say you can make with your 401(k) — or403(b) — along with our advice on how to
avoid them.
1. Missing the Match
First things first: Enroll. It goes without saying that unless you are independently wealthy and you go to the office just for kicks, you ought
to be investing in your 401(k) plan. But even if you’ve got a different retirement savings approach — say, a Roth IRA — at the very least,
invest enough in your 401(k) to get the full company match. Although 11 percent of employers have recently dropped this feature, most
still hand out free money. Take it.

2. Betting on the Company

When Enron imploded in 2001 and its stock became worthless, many employees lost not only their jobs but also their retirement savings.
Employees had roughly $1 billion in company shares. And yet investors continue to make the same mistake: In plans where company
shares are an investment choice, about a third of employees have more than 20 percent of their money in the stock. That’s putting too
much faith in one business and violating a basic tenet of investing: diversification. After all, your income is already tied to your company’s
fortunes. If the business collapses — and recent history suggests that no company is invulnerable — you don’t want your retirement to
collapse as well.

Bottom line: Never invest more than 5 percent of your 401(k) in the company that employs you.

3. Freezing Contributions
When first enrolling in a 401(k), it’s fairly common for employees to set their contribution level at 6 percent, often the minimum required
to get the full match. But if you haven’t increased the contribution despite subsequent raises and bonuses, hop to it. “A lot of people lock
in a percentage,” says Cheryl Krueger, a financial planner in Schaumburg, Ill. “But if they get a 3 percent raise, they could easily increase
their contribution a percentage point or two and still end up with more money in their paycheck.”

When your salary goes up, boost your 401(k) contribution, too. Some companies allow you to set up your plan so that your contribution
increases automatically; if so, take advantage.

4. Cashing Out
Nearly half of employees withdraw their 401(k) savings when leaving one company for another. Big mistake. “People don’t realize that
they don’t have to cash out,” says Mike Alfred, CEO ofBrightScope, a 401(k) rating site. “We call it ‘leakage.’ They could roll the money
into a new 401(k) or IRA.”
PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO

Taking the 401(k) cash as an immediate payout means owing taxes on the money plus a 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty if you’re
under 55. Not to mention that you’re robbing from your retirement by pocketing the money now.

5. Misusing Target-Date Funds

About a third of 401(k) participants invest in target-date funds (at some companies, these funds are the default option), but many don’t
know how to use them. These accounts allocate assets based on the year you plan to retire and are meant to provide one-stop investing.
Vanguard’s Target Retirement 2030 Fund (VTHRX), for instance, divides contributions among domestic stocks and bonds and international
stocks in a ratio designed for someone retiring in 21 years (now 67 percent U.S. stocks, 16 percent bonds, 17 percent international
stocks). But some employees invest in multiple target-date funds with different dates, defeating the purpose.
“I wouldn’t say it’s disastrous, but it just doesn’t make any sense,” says Seattle financial planner David Lamp. Be sure to evaluate the
allocations in your 401(k)’s target-date funds before investing to see that they square with your appetite for risk. As MoneyWatch blogger
Nathan Hale reported, 2010 target-date funds — designed for investors planning to retire next year — lost an average of 23 percent last
year because they were heavy in stocks.
6. Failing to Rebalance
When you first signed up, you decided what percentage of your 401(k) would be in stocks, bonds, and cash. But over time, those
percentages have changed, depending on how their underlying investments have performed. If you haven’t rebalanced in recent years,
your mix is probably quite different from what you had originally planned. During the market collapse in 2008, for example, your stock
allocation shrank in relation to your bond allocation. Yet more than half of 401(k) employees didn’t rebalance, according to retirement
plan adviser I-Pension. (About a quarter didn’t even open their statements, but that’s another story.)

Aim to get your 401(k) ducks back in a row annually. Had you rebalanced at the end of 2008, for example, you would have been selling
Treasury bonds near an all-time high and adding more exposure to stocks, which started to rally in March.

7. Taking Too Much Risk

Inertia can be a force for good if it keeps you from trading too much and chasing winners, but it can cause problems if you don’t adjust
your investment mix as you age. “As you get older, your allocation should change. You want to put less money into stocks to get a more
conservative allocation,” Krueger says.

Remaining aggressive could mean delaying retirement or reducing your post-work standard of living if your retirement date coincides with
a bear market. Go too conservative, however, and your nest egg might not be big enough. Talk to a planner to determine the proper mix
or do your own calculations with tools such as the Asset Allocator at Sink or Swim and this investor questionnaireat Vanguard’s Web site.
8. Ducking Out
When the market collapsed last year, taking your 401(k) portfolio with it, panic was a perfectly understandable reaction. But the key is to
make investment decisions based on logic, not emotion. Employees who resisted the flight response and consistently participated in their
plans from 2003 through 2008 had an average annual return of 7.2 percent, even including 2008’s losses, according to the Employee
Benefit Research Institute.

“Emotional investing decisions are almost always bad decisions,” says Chicago financial planner Chris Long. “To be a good investor, you
can’t make short-term decisions for long-term money.”

Remember: One of the great things about a 401(k) plan is that you are dollar-cost averaging into the market — investing the same
amount at regular intervals — so you end up buying more shares when they’re cheap and fewer when they’re expensive. If you stop
buying during a trough, you’re missing the bargains. “Most stuff is still cheaper now than it was in November 2007,” says Busch.

9. Holding On to Lousy Funds

Don’t stick with a 401(k) fund that has performed worse than its peers year after year because you hope to recoup your losses someday.
The test: If you wouldn’t want to buy the fund initially today, you probably shouldn’t own it anymore. We’re not suggesting that you dump
your stocks — only that you look for another portfolio, preferably a low-cost index fund.

10. Getting Socked by High Fees

Your 401(k) provider loves telling you about its funds’ investment styles, and you may get to see performance numbers, but it’s not easy
to figure out what fees you’re paying. If the funds in your 401(k) have a high expense ratio, your returns will be snipped substantially.
Your best bet is almost always a low-cost index fund; the cheapest charge less than 0.1 percent of assets. If you must invest in actively
managed funds, try to stick with expense ratios below 1 percent. But since fees vary by type of fund (bond funds are typically cheaper
than stock funds, for instance), compare within asset classes as well.
 “The key is to look at fund expenses relative to others in that asset class, rather than on an absolute basis,” Busch says. Your benefits
department should be able to get you fee information, but also check BrightScope’s “Total Plan Cost” for your company to see how its
401(k) fees (which you are paying in addition to fund expense ratios) compare with the universe of plans.

11. Treating Your 401(k) Like an Island

It’s essential to be sure your plan’s holdings fit properly with the rest of your portfolio. Otherwise, you may have too much of your wealth
tied up in one type of investment. Busch, for example, recently discovered that a client had a brokerage account invested in the same
types of large-cap stocks that made up his retirement portfolio. “I had to adjust the allocation in his retirement plan,” Busch says.

12. Borrowing from Your Future

When money’s tight, it can be tempting to dip into your 401(k). After all, you’ll just be payingyourself back with interest (current rate:
about 4.25 percent), right? Wrong. For one thing, if you lose your job or take another one, you must repay the money within 30 to 60
days. If you can’t, the IRS considers the money you’ve taken out to be a withdrawal, and charges you taxes and penalties on it. Keep your
mitts off your 401(k) and you’ll thank yourself when retirement arrives.

World's Most Dangerous Sales Myths

The sales world is full of misconceptions that have wriggled their way into what passes for "common sense" in the business world. This post contains the five
most persistent (and pernicious) myths about selling that bounce around inside most companies. These stupid myths have wreaked more havoc and ruined
more careers, than any major economic crisis in recent [Link] in them at your [Link] HERE for the first myth » Myth #5. "Every
prospect is a potential customer!"

 Why it's a myth: Some prospects don't have a budget or don't have enough use for your product to justify the cost.
 Why it's dangerous: You can end up pursuing fictional opportunities that don't have much possibility of panning out.
 What's the truth: The first step in sales it to eliminate prospects that don't have the money or interest to become actually customers.
 The myth corrected: "Every fully qualified prospect is a potential customer."
CLICK HERE for the next myth » Myth #4: "Never take 'no' for an answer."

 Why it's a myth: If a prospect is being difficult or throwing all sorts of objections in your path, it could very well indicate (surprise!) an
unwillingness to buy.
 Why it's dangerous: You can spend so much time overcoming obstacles that you ignore the possibility of an easier sale elsewhere.
 What's the real truth: Sales opportunities are like buses; another one comes along in a 15 minutes. So don't obsess on any one deal.
 The myth corrected: "If you hear 'no' often enough, 'no' really does mean 'no'."

CLICK HERE for the next myth » Myth #3: "A good sales rep can sell anything to anybody!"

 Why it's a myth: There is no perfect sales rep or sale pitch and, in today's business world, selling has become more highly specialized.
 Why it's dangerous: It leads companies to hire sales reps who lack the business acumen required to sell into that market.
 What's the real truth: Top sales reps are experts in their industry as well as the industries of their chief customers.
 The myth corrected: "A good sales rep focuses on high-gain opportunities."
CLICK HERE for the next myth » Myth #2: "The customer is always right!"

 Why it's a myth: Sometimes customers have very strange and silly ideas about what to do and what to buy.
 Why it's dangerous: If you cater to the whims of foolish customers, you'll screw them up worse than they already are.
 What's the real truth: Customers can be unclear and even wrong about their needs; it's the job of the sales rep to figure out what's
needed.
 The myth corrected: "The customer only thinks he's always right."
CLICK HERE for the final myth » Myth #1: "Never walk away from money on the table!"

 Why it's a myth: Customers have other spending priorities that may be more important than the priority to buy your offering.
 Why it's dangerous: If you sell prospects offering they don't need in order to increase the booking, you're running a con.
 What's the real truth: You should be invested in the long-term financial health of your customer, not just trying to make a quick buck.
 The myth corrected: "Don't let customers buy things they don't need."
BTW, these myths (but not the explanations and rewrites) come originally from sales guru Jeff Thull.

How to Easily Avoid a Price War

Want to avoid a margin-killing price war? Simple. Focus on the "cost of not buying." Don't present features and benefits, overcome objections, and then try to
close the deal. Instead, research your customer and craft questions that will uncover areas where the customer doe...s not yet understand the cost of a
problem. Then help them estimate the financial impact of that problems. Here's how:

 STEP #1: Identify the Customer's Problems. The majority of business purchases are made to solve some sort of problem, e.g.,
productivity problems, delivery problems, quality problems, etc. These problems consume resources and drive costs within the customer's
organization. Find areas in the customer's business model where your offering can solve problems. Best case, your offering should do this
in a unique way that competitors can't imitate.
 STEP #2: Estimate the Financial Impact of the Problems. Depending on the size and sophistication level of the customer, they may
-- or may not -- be aware of the true economic impact of these problems. If not, then you must use your expertise and experience to help
them determine how much the problems are actually costing them. You want to uncover accurate dollars-and-cents information in order
to quantify the total economic worth of your offer.
 STEP #3: Determine the Root Causes of the Problems. It's not enough just address the "presenting" problems. You want to provide
a long-term solution that will create more economic benefit for them. This is not only better for them, it also allows you to increase the
total economic worth of your offer, because the root causes may spread financial problems throughout the entire organization.
 STEP #4: Estimate the Financial Impact of those Root Causes. Find opportunities where you can help the customer address these
root causes, either with your product offering alone or with a combination of your product and additional information, or services and
support, such as problem solving, application engineering, start-up assistance, etc. The most opportunities you can find to help, the
greater the economic value of your solution.
 STEP #5: Create a "Cost of Not Buying" Statement. Based upon the above, create a summary statement of what it will cost the
customer if they do not buy your product. Once you've got the customer to agree on the impact, you've already closed. The rest is just
detail work. In most cases, the "cost of not buying" will be so great that the price of your offering will be rendered entirely irrelevant.
BTW, the above is based on a conversation with Robert Nadeau, a consultant who helps companies with pricing issues. Very smart guy.

Vote: The Academy Awards for Selling

A few weeks ago, I posted the Top 5 Funny Sales Scenes from Hollywood. That got me thinking about sales-oriented movies what were more serious, so I
located these five dramatic clips, all from Hollywood movies, that feature characters who are sales [Link]'s interesting about these clips is that
each one teaches an important lesson about selling in the real world, so I've added my own comments about what I learned from watching the movie.
Warning: some of these clips include strong language... but it's tame compared to what I've actually heard in real-life sales teams.)I've included polls so you
can vote for your favorite, just like the people who vote for the [Link] HERE for the first dramatic sales scene » GLENGARRY GLENN
ROSS LESSONS LEARNED: This scene is, of course, legendary and many of the lines have slipped into daily vocabulary of sales motivation. Even so, I
think the best usage of this movie is to use it as a reminder that you don't have to work for a jackass if you don't want to. In my opinion, every sales pro should
have six numbers in his pocket he call and get a job in 24 hours or less. Then you don't have to put up with this kind of [Link] HERE for the next
dramatic sales scene » BOILER ROOM LESSONS LEARNED: While I think the motivation approach is a little bald-faced on the greed side, I think
there's a lot to say for knowing what motivates you, and why you're working. If all that matters is money, you'd be crazy not to sign on with this guy. If it's not,
and you're interested in other things, best to go [Link] HERE for the next dramatic sales scene » PURSUIT OF
HAPPYNESS LESSONS LEARNED: This is a textbook description of how to be successful at cold calling. You have to stick with it, stay focused, and try to
get the right people on the phone. While his technique is weak (a great acting job on the part of Will Smith), I don't think there's ever been a better and more
realistic depiction of cold [Link] HERE for the next dramatic sales scene » WALL STREET LESSON LEARNED: My, oh my... so many
lessons here. The most important one is that it's easy to convince people that they're doing good when they're being selfish. There's not a product in the world
that can't be positioned in such a way that the buyer thinks that he or she is making the world a better place by buying [Link] HERE for the final
dramatic sales scene » DEATH OF A SALESMAN LESSON LEARNED: I realize that the scene itself isn't about selling. Instead, it's about family. The
dysfunctional relationships, for me, are reminders that you need to measure success the right way. I measure success by the relationships that I have with my
friends and family, not by how much I can sell or write. Even if Willie Lohman had been a billionaire, who'd want this kind of sadness and misery?

FBI Wants Businesses to Rat on Their Customers

If you demand identity privacy or insist on paying with cash when patronizing a local business, then you could be a suspected terrorist. That's according to FBI
flyers which have been sent to tattoo shops as part of its "Communities Against Terrorism" [Link] government now wants local businesses to keep an eye
on their customers and report any suspicious activity. Apparently, getting a group tattoo or radically changing your hairstyle is a cause for [Link] me
if I'm wrong, but aren't most potential terrorists religious fanatics from the Islamic world who sneak into America hellbent on wreaking havoc? Kind of like
those 9/11 highjackers? So why target tattoo shops, then, FBI? Muslims can't get tattoos per their religious traditions. And who would bother getting a tattoo if
they were about to blow themselves up?I have to doubt whether this initiative is really about the terrorist bogeyman. What's more likely: Selling a million dollar
lottery ticket or selling to a terrorist? It seems just as, if not more, plausible that this is about quashing political [Link] neighbors to rat on their
neighbors is a page straight out of the Soviet Union playbook. When there is that kind of distrust at the local level, it's a lot more difficult to rally around a
petition against the [Link] business owners care more about the principles for which this government stands than for whatever officials happen to
have the power that day, then they have a responsibility to reject these types of FBI-community "partnerships."

Break through the Phone Tree and Talk to a Human Being

Getting in touch with an actual human person to dispute a bad charge or to get tech support for a computer that has burst into flames on your desktop can be
pretty difficult. The old rule of thumb to just keep pressing zero only works some of the time. Thankfully, I've got a new weapon in the war against the (phone
tree) [Link] Mobile Web has released another great, free app for devices like the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry: Dial Zero is a huge database of
customer service numbers and specialized instructions for reaching a human at hundreds of companies [Link] search by company name or browse
the expansive database. You'll be rewarded with a phone number, relevant instructions (like "Press 0, then 0 again at the next prompt, and then say "agent.").
There's also a crowdsource element to the app; you can scan user comments for additional tips or corrections to the connection [Link] iPhone version of
Dial Zero is very nicely done, which doesn't surprise me -- I also use their Phone Flicks and Craigslist apps. But if you'd rather have something like Dial Zero
in Web page form, be sure to check out Contact Help and GetHuman instead.

New Chrome Browser Beta Syncs Bookmarks

In the future, all browsers will be able to sync their bookmarks across multiple PCs. It only makes [Link] and Internet Explorer users can already get
this functionality courtesy of Xmarks (arguably the best add-on ever), but Google is baking it right into [Link] to take it for a test-drive? A newly
released Chrome beta includes built-in bookmark syncing. This short video shows you the ropes:The beta also promises a 30-percent speed increase over
the current version (which is already pretty dang fast).So what do you think? Would built-in bookmark syncing be enough to get you to switch to Chrome?
What about the speed bump?Me, I'm still perfectly happy with Firefox (plus Xmarks), and can't see much point in making a change.

Get a Pro-Level Desktop Publishing Program for $17

Remember the good old days when affordable desktop-publishing apps were plentiful? For the most part they've gone the way of the dodo (D'oh!), leaving
small businesses few options for designing newsletters, brochures, business cards, and the [Link], you might think your only recourse is pricey old-guard
heavyweights Adobe PageMaker and QuarkXPress, which sell for $500 and $700, respectively. Thankfully, there's an extremely budget-friendly
alternative: Serif PagePlus [Link] the you-get-what-you-pay-for rule, PagePlus offers pro-level desktop publishing tools but sells for just $99.99. If you
head to [Link], you can get PagePlus X4 for just $41.99. And if you don't mind mail-in rebates [PDF], your final price drops to $[Link] I was weaned
on PageMaker, I switched to PagePlus years ago and haven't looked back. It's a terrific program (you don't have to take my word -- read PC World's glowing
review), with enough publishing power to handle just about any print (or Web) [Link] can generate four-color seps, press-ready PDFs, and so on. Version
X4 comes with a logo designer, a photo editor, and tons of [Link] you have even the slightest need for a desktop publishing program, I can't recommend
PagePlus X4 highly enough. Especially at this price. (Note: The rebate offer ends Nov. 8.)

Search More Effectively in Windows 7 by Expanding Your Libraries

The most noticeable change to Windows Explorer in Windows 7 is the addition of Libraries -- essentially, virtual folders that allow you to browse and search
easily across any set of folders, hard drives, and other digital locations. Out of the box, Libraries are not much different than the old "My" folders; you need to
actually take some action to make them useful. Watch this exclusive Business Hacks video tutorial to learn [Link] the way: Adding locations folders to a
library doesn't permanently mix the files together. You can remove locations from a library at any time -- it's an extremely undo-able operation -- and you can
always drill down within any single location in a library to search or browse just that one folder. It's all a very flexible [Link]'t forget that we've got dozens
more of these videos where this one came from. Here are some of our favorites:
 Master Your Excel Data with Pivot Tables
 Use Outlook 2007's Quick Parts to Paste Frequently Used Text
 Set Up an E-Mail Auto-Responder in Outlook
 Teach Outlook to Prevent Sending Blank Subject Lines
 Use Filters in Excel to Organize and Edit Your Data
 Learn How to Apply Conditional Formatting in Excel to Add Visual Effects to Your Data
 Use Office to Translate Text Among 15 Languages
 Automatically Update Logos and Images in Word When the Source File Changes
 Disable the Annoying AutoCorrect Button in Word
Is there a particular tip, trick, technique, Office secret, or vexing Windows task you'd like to see demonstrated in a future video? Let me know!

Poll: What's the Etiquette for Social Media and the Workplace?
When hotelier Chip Conley posted pictures from his Burning Man trip on his Facebook page, some of his employees complained that they were inappropriate
for a CEO. We've covered the fracas inA CEO's Dilemma: Should I Take My Burning Man Pics off Facebook? Now we want to hear what you think about
social media sites blurring the line between work and play. Where do the boundaries lie in each of these scenarios?

Galleon Scandal Snags Top IBM and AMD Execs

Picture this: You are a top executive at one of the biggest technology companies on the planet. You spent 30 years working your tail off, climbing the
corporate ladder, building your reputation, and it all paid off. You're set for life; you can retire tomorrow and never have to worry about money as long as you
[Link] what do you do? You leak all kinds of inside information on upcoming earnings releases and a high-profile restructuring and spinoff to a friend at a
hedge fund who you know is going to illegally trade a million shares on the information and let another hedge fund manager in on the fun, [Link] you're
caught red-handed on tape by the FBI. Poof, it's all gone. Just like [Link], can you picture that happening to you? Of course not; neither can I. But it allegedly
happened, and not to just one guy, but two. One is former AMD CEO and Motorola president Hector Ruiz, who yesterday agreed to step down as chairman

of AMD spinoff Globalfoundries. Ruiz, apparently caught in the FBI snare, cooperated with the investigation and has not been charged.
The other is Bob Moffat, an IBM senior VP who has been mentioned as a possible successor to IBM CEO Sam Palmisano. Moffat, who was arrested by the
feds a couple of weeks ago and charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, ended his 31-year career at IBM on Friday. Other executives charged in
the biggest insider trading bust in decades includeRajiv Goel, a managing director at Intel Capital, and Anil Kumar, a director atMcKinsey & [Link]
obvious question is why? Why would anyone do something so spectacularly idiotic, so ridiculously self-destructive, so seemingly out of character? Hard to
say. The FBI's affidavit leaves little room for doubt. Both executives certainly seemed to know what they were doing when they allegedly leaked material
inside information to Danielle Chiesi, of New Castle Partners, who then passed it along to billionaire hedge fund manager Raj
Rajaratnam of Galleon. According to a Wall Street Journal report, wiretaps revealed that Moffat told Chiesi about AMD's turnaround plans and that IBM's
earnings would be better than expected. He also allegedly revealed that Sun's revenue and earnings would beat expectations (IBM was considering acquiring
Sun). The Wall Street Journal also reported that Ruiz revealed to Chiesi details and timing of AMD's upcoming restructuring and spinoff of Globalfoundries,
including statements like "you know, we're going to shock the hell out of everybody."Which brings me back to the question of why. One theory, according to
the NY Daily News, suggests it's all about testosterone:

For decades, Chiesi, a portfolio manager at New Castle Funds LLC, used her looks to gain access to insider information, sources said."Everyone that she
knew wanted to tell her everything that they could tell her," the insider said. "She very much captured people's attention by her look....They'd want to get close
to her. They all gave her tremendous access.""Wall Street is a locker room," the source added. "You bring a cheerleader into a locker room, that's what
happens."Now, check out this picture of Chiesi. With all due respect, she's no cheerleader. So, got any other theories?

Is Industry Corrupting Academic Research?

Over half of academic life science researchers maintained financial ties with industry, according to survey results published in Health Affairs. Here are the key
details about the relationship between universities and corporate America,according to the Wall Street Journal:

About a third of the respondents said they had served as consultants, nearly a quarter said they had been paid speakers and 20% said
they had received research funding from industry. That last figure is down from 28% of researchers who said they received research
funding from industry in a similar survey conducted in 1995. The authors suggest a number of possible causes of the drop in researchers
who said they got industry funding for research, including a big increase in NIH research funding since 1995 and more scrutiny of
academic-industry ties.

Interestingly, it was also found that faculty with industry support "were more productive than faculty without such support on virtually every measure."
However, we cannot conclude that corporate support caused the productivity surge, since it's possible that the most productive researchers tend to attract the
most money.

Take Control of Your Computer's Power Settings, Save Electricity and the Whales
We can all agree that extending your laptop's battery life conserving electricity are good things. And if there are simple things you can do to save electricity --
like putting your computer to sleep instead of leaving it on all night long -- then you should probably do [Link] this exclusive Business Hacks video tutorial, I
show you how to change the function of the power button on your Start menu so it can sleep, shut down, whatever you like -- and also how to change what
the power button on the computer case does (mine makes the PC hibernate). Don't forget that we've got dozens more of these videos where this one came
from. Here are some of our favorites:

 Master Your Excel Data with Pivot Tables

 Use Outlook 2007's Quick Parts to Paste Frequently Used Text
 Set Up an E-Mail Auto-Responder in Outlook
 Teach Outlook to Prevent Sending Blank Subject Lines
 Use Filters in Excel to Organize and Edit Your Data
 Learn How to Apply Conditional Formatting in Excel to Add Visual Effects to Your Data
 Use Office to Translate Text Among 15 Languages
 Automatically Update Logos and Images in Word When the Source File Changes
 Disable the Annoying AutoCorrect Button in Word
Is there a particular tip, trick, technique, Office secret, or vexing Windows task you'd like to see demonstrated in a future video? Let me know!
 Steer Clear of Malware on Facebook and Twitter
You've heard of drive-by shootings, but drive-by downloads? That's what happens when you click a seemingly innocent link and land on a seemingly innocent
Web site that secretly downloads malware to your [Link] other words, one click and you're [Link] danger is getting worse now that hackers have targeted
Facebook and Twitter. Fortunately, with a little knowledge and precaution, you can protect yourself from drive-by downloads and other social-network
[Link] offers eight tips on avoiding Malware on Facebook and Twitter. Step 1:

Don't assume a link is "safe" because it's from a friend: Your friend's account may be infected. You should never assume that a link is safe
just because a friend tweeted it or posted it to your wall. Use your common sense. If it doesn't sound like something they would say, be wary, don't click. If
you're unsure, try to contact them through another channel and see if the link is legit.

The advice here applies not just to Facebook and Twitter, but also to any blog, social network, or everyday Web page. The takeaway: When in doubt, don't
click.I'm also a strong advocate of step 4: use an updated browser. If your company is forcing you to stick with, say, Internet Explorer 6, warn your bosses of
its inherently weak security. A free upgrade to Firefox 3.5 or IE8 can go a looong way toward keeping you safe.

A Fast Way to Find Royalty-Free Images

A couple weeks ago Dave steered you to the Open Clip Art Library, a nice collection of royalty-free clip [Link], but what if you need actual photos rather
than cutesy line drawings? Head to [Link], a search engine for stock photo [Link] you do is enter a search term, then choose one or more of the eight
supported sites -- including Flickr, [Link], and [Link] -- to [Link] you end up using [Link] a lot, you may want to sign up for a free account.
Doing so entitles you to saved searches, photo tagging, and thumbnail [Link] as I like the idea behind [Link], I've actually had better luck
with [Link], which is what I use to find Creative Commons and other free-to-use images for Business Hacks. What about you? Do you have a
go-to site for images? [via Lifehacker]

Turn Any Windows 7 Computer into a HotSpot, Extend Wi-Fi to Other PCs and
Devices for Free
Here's the scenario: You're at a coffee shop, paying through the nose for Wi-Fi access for your laptop. You'd like to use your iPod's Wi-Fi, but that would
mean paying the coffee shop twice. Or maybe your corporate network has secure wireless for your laptop, but doesn't support your iPhone. Wouldn't it be
great if you could turn your connected laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot? Now you [Link] appears that Microsoft built a lot of the low-level plumbing to allow for these
impromptu Wi-Fi hotspots into Windows 7 (I am avoiding calling it an ad-hoc hotspot, because Windows already supports ad-hoc networks, and that would
just be confusing), but didn't complete the [Link] the job is Connectify, a program that allows any Windows 7 computer to leverage its existing wired or
wireless connection to become a [Link] is quite amazing; just assign your computer an SSID and password, and moments later it is a full-fledged
hotspot that any Wi-Fi device (computer, iPhone, media player, wireless printer) can connect [Link] is currently in beta, and probably an early beta, at
that. One of my laptops failed to work with Connectify for some arcane networking configuration reason I didn't quite understand. Another laptop worked like a
charm. The developer seems committed to this project, talking about a 2-tier pricing plan (free with advertising and a premium subscription plan) after the
program leaves beta. For now, it's free, and worth trying out if you ever have more devices than Wi-Fi connections. [via PC World]

10 Aspects of Executive Presence

The first time I was considered for a CEO position I actually got the job, which surprised the heck out of me. When I asked the executive recruiter why I was
chosen over what I thought were more experienced candidates, one of the things he said was that I had "CEO presence."Admittedly, I'm not 100 percent sure
what that means. But I have worked with hundreds of CEOs and other executives, so I thought I'd take a stab at what constitutes "executive presence."
Whenever I attempt this sort of thing, the results are often counterintuitive, if not downright surprising. This is no [Link] conclusion is that executive
presence has nothing to do with polish, poise, sophistication, or even use of body language and gestures. In my opinion, executives with presence are just as
likely to not posses those qualities. In this day and age, executive presence comes in lots of shapes and sizes, including some you wouldn't intuitively
recognize. 30 years ago, who would have thought a nerd like Bill Gates could have executive presence? But he [Link] conclusion some may have a
tough time swallowing: I don't think any of these qualities are easy to learn or practice. I'm sure you can cognitively develop and improve some of them, but
not by much. Not that anyone's born with them; they develop over time with experience and maturity. One caveat: don't confuse this with speaking or
presentation skills. Sure, they're part of the total package, but this is entirely about presence you project wherever you are and whatever you're doing. 10
Aspects of Executive Presence
1. Genuine. Open, straightforward, comfortable in your skin; no BS or sugarcoating.
2. Passion. You love and feel strongly about what you do and how you do it.
3. Clarity. Communicate thoughts, feelings, and insights in crystal clarity and simplicity.
4. Intelligence. No way around this one, and yes, it shows through.
5. Insight. Ability to boil complex factors and mounds of data down to rare conclusions.
6. Determination. Driven and full of purpose, determined to achieve and succeed.
7. Confidence. Not overconfident, but with enough self-doubt to be objective.
8. Humility. Willingness to admit mistakes, misjudgment, fear, and uncertainty is endearing.
9. Courage. Willingness to take risks and take a position against considerable odds.
10. Humor. Not over-the-top, but in the right measure, brings down other's defenses.
Keep in mind; nobody possesses all of these qualities in abundance. For example, lots of successful CEOs with strong presence lack one or more of the
likeability factors like humor and humility. Larry Ellison and a few others you wouldn't know come to mind. But if you've got 7 or 8 of them, you're probably in
pretty good [Link] do you know if you've got executive presence? You don't. Few people possess that level of self-awareness and objectivity. But if
you've got it, you'll eventually figure it out, albeit after the fact. That's just the way it is.

Mint Founder Aaron Patzer: How Gen Yers Can Sell Big Ideas
When software giant Intuit agreed to buy plucky [Link] for $170 million this September, the business press lapped up the acquisition as
a David and Goliath story, with the speedy, simple, youth-oriented Mint running energetic circles around its staid competitor. But hidden behind the usual
headlines is another tale of giant-slaying that shows how the some of the youngest members of the workforce are using their drive, tech savvy, and unique
perspective to shake up how the old guard does business (and making a bundle of money for themselves in the process).

This is the story of Mint founder Aaron Patzer who was all of 25 when he founded the company and decided to take on the big guys. Today he shares his
views on the different perspective of Gen Y entrepreneurs, the challenges of pitching to older decision makers and how to overcome them, and his secret
weapon for success -- Frank Sinatra.

There were lots of financial-planning products out there when you started Mint, but you must have spotted something that
was missing from the existing offerings. What was it and how did you go about filling the gap?

Before [Link], I was a long-time user of MS Money and Intuit's Quicken. Both were powerful and loaded with features and functionality around taxes,
investment, budgeting -- too feature-laden, in fact. They took hours to setup, forever to learn, and an hour a week to maintain. I wanted a personal-finance tool
for people who didn't want to be accountants, something you could setup in ten minutes and spend less than five minutes a week on. Mint is now that tool.

The other issue I saw with desktop products is that they only update when the program is open -- meaning if you get busy and forget to open them for months,
you can miss your bill due dates, exceed your budget, and not know where your money is going. Mint is designed to put your finances on auto-pilot. Whether
you log in or not, it will send you a weekly summary of your balances and biggest purchases, and how your investments and budgets are doing, along with
sending you alerts on unusual spending and low balances.
You were just 25 when you started the company. Do you think your relative youth gave you a different perspective on the
market?

Definitely. Most of the financial industry, and many financial tools, are geared towards men age 40 to 60 with a high net worth. I wanted to build a tool for my
generation, people 20 to 40 who recognize that you don't need to spend time balancing a checkbook or checking your banks' math -- you need quick visibility
to your finances from home, from work, and from your mobile phone. Mint's average user is 30, and 40 percent of our new users are women, a demographic
our banking partners are shocked by. They simply can't believe we got young people interested in managing their money.

Was it hard to get people to take your idea seriously and, if so, how did you convince people to put their faith in what you
were building?

It was. Since I was a 25 year old with an engineering background and no MBA, potential investors would always suggest that perhaps I shouldn't be CEO. I
would always reply, "If it's best for the company, I can always be CTO." Eventually I proved myself as CEO, and within three months of our seed investment it
was never questioned again. After another year, the compliment went from "You're doing a great job for a young CEO" to simply "You're doing a great job as
a CEO" with no qualifier.

Simply executing and having a reason for every decision you make goes a long way. The other thing that convinced my board was that I hired well. All of my
executives were in their mid-30s or older, with at least a decade of relevant experience more than me.

Do you have any advice for young people pitching new ideas to older decision makers?

I pitch Mint to everyone from investors to engineers, young and old, and I do it pretty much the same way: Here's the problem in the market place, here's how
we solve it, and here's how we make money.

Perhaps the only difference when speaking to older decision makers is that I use a few more customer testimonials from people in the target demographic.
This helps them understand the importance of Mint's iPhone application, for example, even though they themselves may not be heavy mobile users.

There is a bit of a generational divide about whether people feel comfortable doing financial tasks online, and I have to
admit that even I, a blogger who's pretty comfortable with the Internet, paused a second before I entered all my bank
details into Mint. Did you face any resistance due to these sort of security concerns and how did you combat it?

Initially, every single investor I went to said, "No one will ever trust a start-up with their finances." I went through about 50 of these rejections before my first
'yes.' Part of it was simply showing that with the right security mechanisms -- not requiring a name or address to sign up for Mint, making the system read-only
with no account numbers, and implementing bank-level data security and audit procedures -- consumers would trust [Link].

The second part of the solution was to turn a perceived risk into an asset. Because Mint has access to all of your bank accounts and credit cards, we can
detect fraud or unusual spending patterns faster than your bank, then send an email or text message alert to users.

For those who are contemplating starting their own company, what do you think are the most important qualities for a
young entrepreneur to have?

At the Silicon Valley 40 under 40 awards event, we were asked to answer what factor most contributed to our business success. Many people cited their
teams, others a divine entity. My answer as a little different: "Stone cold, iron-willed determination."

When I started [Link], I worked seven months alone in a room, 14 hours a day, seven days a week. It's natural to doubt yourself: "Who am I to do this?" "If
it was a good idea, someone would have already done it." "How can I possible compete with Microsoft and Intuit, two of the largest software companies in the
world?" Whenever I felt that doubt, I listened to "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra, or read my favorite Shakespeare quote: "Our doubts are traitors, and make
us lose the good we might oft win, by fearing to attempt." It's okay to doubt yourself, it's okay to feel down; just never give up.

How to Write a Sticky Cover Letter

According to nearly every source of career advice (excepting a few contrarians), sending a well-composed cover letter is key to an effective job search. But
that's like saying a good script is key to a good movie: true, but not exactly helpful as it leaves unanswered the question of how to actually write one. For
many job seekers with less than decades of experience writing cover letters, it's a struggle to avoid sounding like you're just restating your resume, while
touting your skills aggressively without undermining your credibility with too much trumpeting is a difficult balance to strike. In response to the standard "how
do I make my resume stand out" question, a Fast Company staffer offers some great advice for confused cover letter authors. The post starts off with some
fairly uninspired resume tips -- tailor it to the employer, make it keyword heavy to ease scanning, etc. -- but when the writer gets to the cover letter things get
more interesting (the emphasis below is mine):

The cover letter is the hero of our story. It's the place where you can make yourself memorable. Ideas stick because they are full of concrete
details, emotion, surprises, etc. All of these traits are impossible to deliver in the bulleted resume format, where you'll find yourself unwittingly writing
captions for Dilbert cartoons: "Managed 17% increased in administrative responsiveness while actionalizing key strategic initiatives."

Make it your goal, in the cover letter, to do two things: (1) Give headlines; and (2)Defend the headlines with stories. For instance, if you're
applying for a job in retail consulting, a headline might be: I'm the right guy because I have experience mining data to find useful insights. But don't stop there.
Support the claim by telling a story from one of your past clients.

There are two things I love about this advice. First, it's useful. Holding the idea of headlines supported by stories in your mind is bound to guide and sharpen
your writing process and keep you from drifting into irrelevant abstractions. By keeping things focused on real accomplishment, you're likely to avoid sounding
like a gassy [Link], it acknowledges that business writing is not an alien world that exists apart from other types of writing. Writing well for work
actually relies on much the same techniques that make popular writing sing -- the apt detail, the twist ending, that one little detail that gives you credibility.

Game On: How Long Will You Live?

After playing around with some online calculators that spit out a personalized estimate of how long I can expect to live, I face this conundrum: If I don't build
up my retirement stash to support me through the very ripe old age of at least 95, my next best option might be to take up recreational drugs and increase my
alcohol [Link] that's not the intended message ofNorthwestern Mutual Life's Lifespan Calculator, but after honestly answering the calc's 12
questions and being told I have a good shot at being around at 95, I was a tad curious how living it up a bit (more) might changes things. Voila, my life
expectancy drops to a mere 80 years if I decide to go the alcoholic-druggie [Link] now I think I'll just try and put a little more aside in my SEP-
[Link] Numb(er) After a wholly unscientific survey of these calculators (methodology: Google Longevity Calculatorand test a few) my favorite
is the Northwestern Mutual Longevity Game even though I scored a longer life when I plugged my stats into the AARP Vitality Compass (96.3 years old, with
a promise/threat that I could add two more years to that if I "optimize my lifestyle") andMoneyCentral's calculator. (102 years old. Yikes!).It's just that
the Northwestern Mutual calc has the added allure of a wonderfully cheesy graphic of a person whose attire and accoutrement undergo a Colorforms-esque
evolution depending on your answers. My moderate drinking scored my avatar a water bottle in my hand; when I changed it to drinking five or more drinks in
one sitting (reclining?) my water bottle was replaced with a wine bottle and bloodshot eyes. The bright red sedan bearing down on me when asked about my
driving record was a bit off-putting, but hey it is a life-insurance company we're dealing with [Link] a more studious estimate, take a spin through the Life
Calculator ginned up by two Whartonacademics and an assistant prof at Singapore Management [Link] your number gives you retirement pause, be
sure to check out these tips for maximizing your 401(k).

Lower Your Taxes: 10 Moves to Make Now

No one wants to think about taxes now (or anytime, for that matter). But doing so well before year-end can put some money back in your
pocket. That's because some key moves that could slash your 2009 (and 2010) taxes can take weeks to pull off. And one tax break will
expire in December. So get out the aspirin, a sharp pencil, and a calculator and begin taking these 10 tax-saving steps. (To rough out your
2009 tax bill, use the online tax-estimator calculator at the H&R Block site.)
1. Add Up Your Miscellaneous Deductions
You want to see if they’ll add up to more than 2 percent of your 2009 adjusted gross income (AGI), the threshold to claim any of
them. These deductions include job-search expenses, unreimbursed employee business expenses, and fees for tax and investment
advice. If you’re close to or over 2 percent, hunt for more expenses to pay before the year is up. Or if you’re borderline, try lowering your
AGI to reach the threshold by accelerating deductions from 2010 into 2009 or postponing receiving some 2009 income until January.

2. Dump Losers to Offset Winners

It’s never wise to sell an investment purely for a short-term tax benefit. But if you’re holding depressed stocks, bonds, or funds that you
were planning to unload, sell the losers by December 31. Use the losses first to offset any realized 2009 investment gains. You can take a
further deduction, of up to $3,000, against your income. Any additional losses can be carried over to 2010. Just remember that you can’t
recognize the loss if you buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale. MoneyWatch blogger
Charlie Farrell has written about this in detail. In some cases, you might also sell a stock or mutual fund you own and like if it’s showing a
big loss. You won’t need to wait 30 days to replace it, as long as you replace it with one that’s not exactly the same — such as swapping a
large-cap fund with an S&P 500 index fund. “In the process of doing this, you’ll reduce your cost of owning the asset,” says MoneyWatch
editor-at-large Jill Schlesinger, a certified financial planner. If you’ve already taken losses this year, you might sell winners with an equal
amount of unrealized gains (up to $3,000) and then escape taxes on those gains. And, in this case, you can then buy similar securities
after the sale without needing to wait 30 days, so your only cost is a brokerage commission.
3. Buy a New Car

If you’re thinking about getting new wheels, it pays to pay for them by December 31 before a special tax break expires. Normally,
itemizers can deduct their state and local income taxes or sales taxes, not both. Buy a new vehicle between February 17, 2009 and
December 31, 2009, however, and you can write off the amount of the state and local sales taxes and excise taxes on up to $49,500 of
the purchase price. New motorcycles and light trucks qualify, too. This deduction isn’t available if your modified adjusted gross income
exceeds $260,000 and you file jointly or $135,000 and you’re single, however. As with miscellaneous deductions, if your income is on the
cusp for this break, try lowering your 2009 income by accelerating 2010 deductions into this year or pushing 2009 income into next year.
The IRS actually has a useful video about car taxes, along with other tax videos, on its YouTube channel.
4. Make Your (Job-Related) Move
You can claim 2009 write-offs for your unreimbursed expenses to move for a new job if you incur them before year’s end, even if you
haven’t found employment by January 1. Deductible costs include hiring a mover and the cost of driving to the new location. You’ll need to
pass the “distance” test and the “time” test. This means you’ll have to work full-time in your new location for at least 39 weeks in the 12-
month period after the move (or at least 78 weeks in the 24 months after the move if you’re self-employed). And the new job must be at
least 50 miles farther from your old home than your previous job location was. If you take the write-off and later find you didn’t meet the
thresholds, amend the return.

5. Hunt for Job-Hunting Deductions

If you meet the rule to claim miscellaneous deductions and are looking for work, rev up spending on the effort. Just remember that the
expenses must be for a new job in your previous line of work. They include: job-agency and career-counselor fees; resumes; postage for
mailing applications; ads in newspapers and magazines and on Web sites; and unreimbursed travel and hotel costs for interviews. You can
take these write-offs even if you’re still working full-time and don’t leave that job.

6. Get Points for Closing on a House

By finalizing a home purchase by year’s end, you’ll be able to take a 2009 itemized deduction for any points you pay. They’re considered
interest and each point equals 1 percent of your loan amount. You’ll also get this break if you pay points before January to build or
improve your primary home. Schlesinger says paying points can make sense if you plan to keep the house at least beyond the “break-
even point” — what you get by dividing the cost of the point by the monthly payment savings for paying it. If one point equals $1,000 and
reduces your payment by $15, the breakeven point is just over 66 months ($1,000 divided by 15). So it’s worth it to pay a point if you’ll
stay more than five and a half years or so. “To compensate for lost interest on your money from paying the point, however, I’d
recommend adding another year onto the breakeven,” says Schlesinger.

7. Refinance
Here, too, you’ll lower your 2009 taxes by writing off the points — as long as you’re taking out the cash from the refinanced loan to
improve your home. Just watch your debt load and don’t pull out more money than you really need. (The last time lots of people mistook
houses for ATMs it didn’t work out so well.) If you refinance just for a lower rate, you must claim the points over the loan’s full term.

Look out for this common mistake: If you refinanced your mortgage previously to benefit from lower rates and paid points then,
refinancing now for any reason means you can claim on your 2009 return whatever’s left of those remaining points. Many borrowers
forget to deduct these points because they don’t show up on the closing papers at a new refinancing. Typically, several thousand dollars
fall right through the cracks.

8. Watch That Rental Income

You’re allowed to rent out your vacation home and pocket the rent checks without declaring the rental income if — an that’s a big if — you
had a tenant for fewer than 15 days. Exceed the limit and all the rental income becomes taxable. So check the calendar before you collect
any more rent on your second home. (The IRS’s Publication 527 lays out the complete rules about vacation-home rental income and
taxes.)
 9. Pay Your Kids to Work for Your Family Business
Hiring them, rather than paying allowances, shifts income out of your higher tax bracket and into their lower bracket. Have them perform
legitimate clerical duties or make deliveries, for example. Make sure you pay reasonable wages — not more than the going rate for
unrelated employees.

10. Take Advantage of Income Splitting

You may be able to lower taxes on your family’s investment income for 2009 and beyond by transferring ownership of appreciated mutual
fund shares or stocks to your kid before January. If your child has taxable income under $33,950, he’ll be in the zero-percent tax bracket
for capital gains and dividends as long as his 2009 investment income is under $1,900. You might make a similar transfer to your elderly
parents. Joint filers with taxable income under $67,900 are in the zero bracket for investment income.

Gen Xers Face Retirement Trouble

Baby Boomers get all the attention when it comes to the retirement-savings crunch (okay, when don't Boomers get all the attention, period?), but it turns out
that Gen Xers are actually in worse shape. Fifty-six percent of Gen X households will lack adequate savings and assets to be able to maintain their current
standard of living if they retire at age 65, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. It's not as if Boomers are really
in better shape -- let's just call it less worse: Between 41 percent and 48 percent of Boomer households aren't on pace to have sufficient assets at age 65 to
maintain their standard of living once they stop [Link] Xers have always scored lowest in the National Retirement Security Index, but 2009 marks the
first time that more than half of them lack the necessary assets to maintain their lifestyle once they retire. Back in the good old days of 2004, a still anemic 49
percent of Gen X households were at risk of not being able to maintain their standard of living in retirement. Boomers ranged between 35 percent at risk
(Early Boomers) and 44 percent (Late Boomers.)The main culprit in declining security is the erosion of home equity; according to CRR calculations, 75
percent of the change in the Retirement Security Index is attributable to home values [Link] that relying on homes to generate plump retirement nest
eggs was never really a viable strategy -- bubble burster Robert Shiller pegs the long-term inflation-adjusted annualized gain for homes values at less than 1
percent -- Gen Xers (and, yes, Boomers too) would be wise to double down on what gets saved from their paychecks. Think you've got time to play catch up
down the line? T. Rowe Price CFP Stuart Ritter says un-uh. "It's popular to think that it will be easier to save more later on when you are making more, but
the reality is that there will be more demands on your money down the line, too," Ritter says. "It just doesn't get any easier."Two somewhat painless ways to
push yourself to save more:

1. Increase your 401(k) contribution rate by one percentage point a year until you're saving at least 10 percent of pre-tax income. You'll
likely need to do this by contacting your plan each year; sadly, very few 401(k) sponsors offer auto-escalation rates, despite the obvious
need to automate higher 401(k) contributions.
2. When that raise finally materializes, earmark half of it for your retirement savings, by either boosting your 401(k) contributions or
bumping up your IRA for the coming year. Making that savings commitment before you've gotten into the habit of spending the raise
makes it an easier move to stick with.

5 Ways to Stay Comfortable On the Go with Laptop Ergonomics

hat laptop of yours is mighty convenient, but it's slowly killing you. Well, maybe not killing you, but it could be nudging you towards repetitive stress injury, eye
strain, and back problems. Thankfully, it's all preventable. Check out these five ways to use your laptop [Link] your keyboard at a comfortable
angle. Laptops used to come with little pop-out legs in the back to set the keyboard at an angle (I'm really dating myself). These days, to position the
keyboard at an angle, you can prop the back of the laptop on a small book or other [Link] the screen brighter. Dim screens are better for battery life,
but you'll get a headache staring at a low contrast screen for hours on end. Bring a power cable so you can plug in and crank the brightness until it's
comfortable to [Link] a separate mouse. Integrated touchpads or pointing sticks are clumsy to use for extended periods. Invest in a small portable
Bluetooth mouse. Likewise, many ergo experts advise using a separate keyboard so you can position the laptop for optimum display position. This isn't
practical on the road, but you might consider it if you use the laptop as your primary PC in the [Link] the laptop for the task at hand. If you're doing
a lot of typing, your wrists should be straight and elbows at a 90 degree angle, as if you were typing on a keyboard in the office. For many people, that might
mean putting the laptop in your lap. But if you're mainly reading, that's a bad place for the screen -- elevate it to near eye level (you can put it on a stack of
magazines or books).Carry it in comfort. Your laptop, mouse, power supply, and other accessories probably weigh anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds. Be sure
to carry it all in a bag that has a wide, padded strap to distribute all that weight comfortably across your shoulder. Even better -- consider a rolling case so you
don't have to carry it at all.

Does Having More Information Change Consumer Behavior?

When New York City mandated last year that chain restaurants had to label the calorie content of items on the menu, many assumed that restaurants would
lose business as customers saw how many calories were in their burgers and fries and opted to stay home and eat a lighter meal instead. At the very least, it
seemed that lower calorie options would gain [Link], a study from the Yale School of Managementfound that this hasn't necessarily been the
[Link] Brescoll, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management, and Brian Elbel, Rogan Kersh and L. Beth
Dixon, all from New York University, studied the fast food purchases of participants before and after the calorie labeling mandate. They focused the study
on low income and minority neighborhoods in which residents face a greater risk of [Link]'s what they found:

 After calorie labeling, 54 percent of New York City participants reported noticing the new information.
 27.7 percent said the calorie labels influenced their food choices; 88 percent of that group reported buying fewer calories.
 But here's where things get interesting: When researchers looked at food receipts, they found that participants did not purchase fewer
calories. In fact, the calorie average went up slightly, from 825 pre-labeling to 846 post-labeling.
According to Brescoll, this doesn't mean that posting calories won't have an effect: "The take-away isn't that menu labeling doesn't work, it's that it might not
be effective in isolation. There needs to be other concurrent interventions, such as educating people about daily caloric intake."However, I'm guessing that
some of these consumers are already educated about how many calories they're supposed to eat, and that's why they told researchers they purchased foods
with fewer calories even when they did not. Most consumers today know what they're supposed to buy, be it the hybrid car or the salad with light dressing on
the side. But if this study is any indication, the Big Macs of the world will continue to have their place in the gap between consumer knowledge and consumer
desire.

Forget Being One of the Boys: How Women Succeed in Today's Workplace
Last week, I posted excerpts from my recent conversation with Tuck School of Business atDartmouth professor Ella Edmondson Bell, author of the
forthcoming book Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape, about some of the challenges women face in
today's workplace, such as continued exclusion from business networks and new pressures brought on by factors such as technology and
[Link], Bell says that despite these issues, now is a great time for women in the workforce:

We are needed to be competitive: if you look at the marketplace, the marketplace is more female. For a whole host of reasons, this is one of the best
opportunities for women to advance, particularly in a time of crisis, when they can really show what they can bring to the table to make a difference.

In order to take advantage of these conditions, Bell advises women to make sure they're taking a few key actions:
 Building relationships: "Women should be managing relationships not just upward, but sideways and downward in their organization.
They should be building authentic relationships with their manager and with their manager's manager," says Bell.
 Showing off talents: Societal expectations make women less likely than men to boast of their talents, but success may mean getting
over being demure. "Now is the time to show off special skills you've been sitting on and afraid to use. Show how you can add to the
bottom line," says Bell, who adds this doesn't mean being egotistical, but being genuine and unafraid to share your talents with your
organization.
 Developing others: "Women should be able to do that because their emotional intelligence should be just a tad higher in terms of
building relationships, nurturing and caring," says Bell. "Those are important skills in the workplace. It's not about trying to take on a hard
edge and being one of the boys. Now is the time to use those feminine attributes to develop your team."
Though women in business were once told these types of soft skills didn't matter, they are critically important now. "I'm not saying you don't have to do the
analytical and perform and have vision to move a company forward, but when you add that to the emotional attributes, you have a very powerful package,"
says [Link] week, in my last installment with Bell, I'll share her response to the question that a lot of BNET readers have been weighing in on: why are
women so unhappy at work?

FBI Wants Businesses to Rat on Their Customers

If you demand identity privacy or insist on paying with cash when patronizing a local business, then you could be a suspected terrorist. That's according to FBI
flyers which have been sent to tattoo shops as part of its "Communities Against Terrorism" [Link] government now wants local businesses to keep an eye
on their customers and report any suspicious activity. Apparently, getting a group tattoo or radically changing your hairstyle is a cause for [Link] me
if I'm wrong, but aren't most potential terrorists religious fanatics from the Islamic world who sneak into America hellbent on wreaking havoc? Kind of like
those 9/11 highjackers? So why target tattoo shops, then, FBI? Muslims can't get tattoos per their religious traditions. And who would bother getting a tattoo if
they were about to blow themselves up?I have to doubt whether this initiative is really about the terrorist bogeyman. What's more likely: Selling a million dollar
lottery ticket or selling to a terrorist? It seems just as, if not more, plausible that this is about quashing political [Link] neighbors to rat on their
neighbors is a page straight out of the Soviet Union playbook. When there is that kind of distrust at the local level, it's a lot more difficult to rally around a
petition against the [Link] business owners care more about the principles for which this government stands than for whatever officials happen to
have the power that day, then they have a responsibility to reject these types of FBI-community "partnerships."

Eight Insights That Make Selling Easier

I've been rereading Jeff Thull's book "Exceptional Selling". He's peppered the book with interesting observations and insight about selling, many of which
have sparked me to think about key sales [Link] are some of his gems, with my own interpretation of their deeper meaning:

 INSIGHT #1: Salespeople are guilty until proven innocent. While you and I know that selling is the soul of business and a good way to
help people, most folk (even in business) tend to look upon the profession with suspicion. The minute you walk into an office, you need to
prove that you can add value and that you're not trying to pull a fast one. Sad but true.
 INSIGHT #2: When you're feeling pressure, you're doing something wrong. If you're constantly end the quarter with a flurry of activity,
trying desperately to make your numbers, you haven't managed your time, or you're not thinking your sales process through. Selling is
not an "unnatural act." It's supposed to be easy, not a struggle against time and fate.
 INSIGHT #3: Never answer an unasked question. It's all too easy to scuttle a sale by raising issues that haven't yet entered a prospect's
head. Such behavior usually occurs when the sales professional is so afraid of losing the sale that he begins surfacing (and answering)
objections that exist only in his own paranoia. Remember, you can't read minds, so don't try.
 INSIGHT #4: One opinion does not make a consensus. It's human nature to take one opinion (usually the last you just heard) and turn it
into a final judgment. However, one opinion is meaningless. Just because the last prospect thought your offering was a waste of time,
doesn't mean that the next prospect will feel the same way.
 INSIGHT #5: Always protect the customer's self-esteem. It's absolutely true that EXACTLY half of all the customer you meet will be of
below average intelligence within their demographic. Even so, it's your job to help them make good decisions and advance their careers.
And you have to do this gently, without making them feel foolish.
 INSIGHT #7: The purpose of a proposal is to reinforce already-made decisions. While proposals can sometimes help to develop an
opportunity, in most cases, the proposal requesting (and writing) process happens after the prospect has already defined the problem and
(probably) defined the solution as well.
 INSIGHT #8: Remain professionally involved and emotionally detached. This is perhaps the best advice that anyone ever gave a sales
professional. Taking things personally is the surest way to make yourself miserable. You can care about the customer, your career and
your own firm, but it's crazy to use any of those as a proof point for your self worth.
READERS: Got any additional insights to share?

How to Win Loyalty and Alienate People

"There's only one thing worse than being talked about, and that's not being talked about," said Oscar [Link] Wilde knew was that to stand out means
running the risk of offending people. Finding ways to polarise public opinion has long been a tool for celebrity -- look at Lord Sugar's anti-small business
outburst the other [Link] do it through controversy, others by being unique, opinionated, and unflinching. Either way, polarisation generates publicity, a
loyal fan base and, ultimately, [Link] as long as a brand retains its vitality, freshness and integrity, and as long as the number of people it attracts is
sufficient, its future is [Link] the heart of Apple's success is a loyal group of brand evangelists. Indeed, it appears twice in the top 10 of the 2009 Brand
Keys loyalty leaders list, for the iPhone (Number 1), and Apple itself (Number 9).Apple and other businesses with fiercely loyal customers have a clear,
consistent, and uncompromising position. That means not everyone's a [Link] of Brand Keys's top 10 loyal brands are "middle of the road". They may not
be loved by all -- see WalMart (#5) and McDonald's (#16) -- but the people that like them, love them. As Jim Hightower, the Texas populist, once said, "The
only things in the middle of the road are yellow stripes and dead armadillos."In practice, many of the businesses I talk to, particularly in the retail and leisure
industries, feel a need to be all things to all [Link] fear of alienating potential customers leaves them bland, meaningless and, in a recession, playing the
value game just to [Link] are some of the key factors in developing a polarising proposition. Please feel free to add more:

1. Create an identity: stand for something different.

2. Work with others that share your passion.
3. Never compromise: stick to your values.
4. Invest time and energy in customers that share your values.
5. Listen to your lovers, not your detractors.
6. Be happy to alienate people -- if they don't care enough to love or hate you, they haven't properly understood you.
Does your proposition clearly stand for something? Does it create strong feelings, both for and against? If not, you're just another armadillo in the middle of
the road.

When in Doubt, Do the Opposite

was recently looking through Jeff Thull's new book "Exceptional Selling" and came across this little nugget of wisdom:

When in doubt, do the opposite of what a salesperson would do.

That's good advice, because in most cases acting like a "salesperson" is a great way to annoy a prospect. In fact, you should check your entire shtick to
ensure that you don't sound and look like somebody that's in [Link] that I'm against Sales!However, like all professions, Sales has acquired a particular
"voice" that's supposed to be "how a sales pro sounds." If you're not careful, you'll find yourself talking in the overly-glib, fakey-flakey "sales" voice, because
you unconsciously consider it part of the identity as a sales [Link] thing with your appearance. There's a dressed-too-much-for-success look that
screams "sales pro" and which, frankly, turns off many [Link] I saying you should mumble all the time and dress like a clown? Of course not. But I do
believe that you should distance yourself from the stereotypes, because those stereotypes work against you. They put the prospect on guard and create
barriers to closing the [Link] is that more true than when you're at a loss for what to do next. The big danger is that, when you're in doubt of what to do
next, you'll trap to some "salesy" behavior, like giving a sales pitch or attempting some kind of rapport [Link] such cases, you're probably better off doing
the opposite -- like ending the meeting prematurely or even openly questioning whether the prospect really needs your product. I know that sounds crazy, but
if you TRULY don't know what to do, you're better off doing something completely off the wall than simply continuing to sell.

Send Large File Attachments Right From Outlook

As a general rule, mail servers don't like large file attachments. While some can accommodate files as large as 20MB, others balk if they exceed just 5MB. In
these days of mammoth videos, photo libraries, PDFs, and the like, that just doesn't cut [Link], one of our favorite file-sharing services, [Link], just
announced an Outlook plug-inthat lets you send attachments as large as 100MB -- without ever leaving the program. Take a look:Awesome, no? If this
sounds a bit familiar, it's because [Link] recently added similar integration to Yahoo [Link] what it's worth, file-sharing competitor YouSendIt has had its
own Outlook plug-in for well over a [Link] course, non-Outlook users can tap either service (and countless others) directly to share big files.

Global Warming Laws Could Make Al Gore First "Carbon Billionaire"

Al Gore has made quite the comeback since losing to George W. Bush. Back in 2000, the former Vice President couldn't even pull off a proper kiss with his
wife. But now he's a rockstar among environmentalists and other policy elites for his crusade against climate [Link]'s been three years since an
"Inconvenient Truth" changed the debate. But Gore is still all over the news. This week, he's on the cover of Newsweek. He's also got a new book out called
"Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis."And there's going to be even more Gore stories in the media as we approach next month's UN summit in
Copenhagen on climate change. Gore recently sat down with CBS' Katie Couric to make the case that America needs to act quickly to solve what he calls the
"climate crisis." But many are growing skeptical over Gore's fast push for laws that could fundementally alter our economy. Perhaps that's because Gore
stands to profit off of legislation that regulates carbon emissions. Gore's green-tech investments could make him the planet's first "carbon billionaire,"
according to an estimate in the UK's Daily [Link] April, Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn gave Gore the chance "to clear the air about
[his] motives, to which Gore replied, "Congresswoman, if you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you
don't know me."Do you take him for his word? Is it ok for Gore to make money from climate change legislation? Please discuss below.

The Problem With Diversification

If you've never won a big contract or huge piece of business, you don't know what you're missing. It's an incredible feeling; like a burst of adrenaline that lasts
for as long as the business lasts. But that's sort of the problem with adrenaline, isn't it? When it's gone, you feel like you're dead inside. And when a company
loses that one big deal, that's exactly what can [Link] 4:05 pm EST on Monday, solid state drive maker STEC announced its third quarter results.
Revenues and earnings were up considerably, beating the company's previous guidance. All good, right? Not [Link] way down in the fifth paragraph
of the earnings press release, came a whopper:

"One of our customers entered into a $120 million supply agreement with us for shipments covering the second half of 2009. We recently received preliminary
indications that our customer might carry inventory of our ZeusIOPS at the end of 2009 which they will use in 2010."

The next day, STEC's stock was down a whopping 39 percent on volume of 32 million shares. Turns out the customer referenced in the quote, EMC,
accounted for 15 percent of STEC's revenues last year. Sure, STEC had 329 customers in 2008, but just two of them - Smart Modular and EMC - accounted
for 50 percent of the company's total sales. It's incredibly risky for a big, public company to have so few customers control so much of its business. But that
problem isn't limited to big business. When the biggest employer in the city where I live - Seagate in Scotts Valley, California - moved thousands of jobs
elsewhere, it had a devastating effect on some local businesses, most notably restaurants and hotels. The same thing is happening all over the country as a
result of the financial [Link] that case, the action of a single entity can have the same effect as that of a single, big customer. So what's a company
supposed to do to reduce its risk when one decision by one company can devastate its business? Well, some folks like to throw around "diversification" like
it's a foolproof antidote to risk. But as a risk aversion strategy, diversification is no panacea. It carries its own risks. Plus there are tradeoffs and hurdles that
can be insurmountable. STEC, for example, has a relatively specialized product-line that serves a relatively narrow market. Sure, there are lots of other
customers, but few as big as EMC and Smart Modular. Besides, there are competitors, [Link] while there are a number of potential products and markets
the company might consider, doing so risks losing focus on its core business and customers. Combine that with additional expense, maybe some debt, lower
earnings, risk of failure, and well, diversification doesn't look so great [Link], we're going to have to stop here for today. But don't worry; I'll do
a follow up post that gets into some of the ways to navigate the tricky waters of diversification in the not-too-distant future. So stay tuned, okay?

Translate a Restaurant Menu Using Your iPhone the Next Time You're in Paris
While in Paris 10 years ago, I had to randomly choose items off the menu because my traveling companions -- which included fellow Biz Hacker Rick --
sadistically refused to translate anything for me. If I'd only had my iPhone back then, it would not have been a [Link] is an iPhone app that
translates certain sorts of text from any one of 16 different languages. Just take a picture of the text, crop the frame to the text you want translated, and then,
after a short wait, you get the English equivalent. A small number of the languages (including French, German, and Spanish) will even pronounce the text for
you in the original language, so you can sound like a tourist who is making some small attempt to respect the local culture.I tried this out in a snooty
restaurant that prints its menu in French, and the results were almost supernaturally impressive. You get one language for the app's $1 initial cost, and
additional languages are likewise $1 each. Want to see PicTranslator in action? Check out the video.

Be Productive When Working From Home

ot everyone is cut out for working from home. The pantry, the television, and YouTube are incredibly persuasive distractions if you have no boss or co-
workers nearby. Personally, I've found that I thrive at home -- I can be quite productive for 10 hours at a stretch, and in fact knowing when and how to "shut
down" and relax after business hours is actually my bigger [Link] I saw jkOnTheRun's How to be a Productive Home Worker, I found myself nodding
my head a lot in agreement. This is a great overview of how to be an effective worker at home, whether you're doing it to escape the cubicle part time or as a
self-employed entrepreneur. Here's a summary with my take on the list:Set up a comfortable home office. This is essential -- you can't work effectively if
your home office is the kitchen table or a desk in the corner of the bedroom. Approach work-from-home professionally, with a quiet workspace, ergonomic
seating and computer equipment, and decent lighting. Remember: I recently told you how to optimize your office [Link] about music. At home, you
have control over the sound in your "office" in ways that would be impossible at work. Music can make you more productive or can be a distraction.
Personally, I like to play White Stripes, Decemberists, and Kristin Hersh while I work, but my wife finds music with vocals distracting. When she works at
home, she plays instrumental music. The bottom line: Figure out what works for you; it might not be the same music you choose to listen to when
[Link] to a schedule. When I work from home, I don't take the opportunity to sleep in late. I get up at the same time as when I go into the office. I
exercise, same as I would when commuting into the office. And I take the same lunch, snack, and dinner breaks. I think this is incredibly important -- discipline
keeps me on track, productive, and mentally [Link] out of the house. On the other hand, spending the whole day, from rise-and-shine to Conan-and-
bedtime would drive me insane. When I work from home, I go out for lunch, and possibly even dinner. It's important to get out, see some sights, and possibly
talk to other human [Link] to wear. The jkOnTheRun article recommends dressing up to work from home, because it conveys a sense of seriousness
about working from home. This is one area that I vehemently disagree with their advice. I barely get out of my PJs all day when I work from home -- I put on
sweats and I look like a hobo (you know, the way Rick looks when he actually does leave the house). I do that because getting to wear comfortable clothing is
one of the benefits of working from home. If I was going to dress up, I might as well go into the office. Personally, I don't find that what I wear affects my
productivity. What about you?

Wish Windows Would Reload Your Apps After a Reboot? There's an App for That
Pesky Windows -- always wanting to reboot after installing new updates and patches. You'd think the OS would be courteous enough to restore your currently
running programs (much like Firefox restores tabs after a crash or restart), but, alas, [Link] Cache My Work, which reopens your apps after a reboot. It's
especially handy for those times when you step away from your PC for awhile, only to discover upon your return that Windows has restarted without even
asking [Link] utility builds a checklist of "cacheable" programs that are currently running. Tick off the ones you want to restore, click Save, and you're done.
(You also have the option of restoring Explorer windows, a nice touch.)Of course, you can force any program to run at startup by dragging it to your Windows
Startup folder, but that's a hassle. Cache My Work offers a quick and easy way to auto-run selected apps whenever you start -- or reboot -- your [Link]
of all, it's free. [via Download Squa

Productivity Rises...But So Does Unemployment

n an ideal world, increases in productivity (or, the measure of employee output per hour) will lead to higher corporate profits. Some of that extra money can
then be used to hire more workers. When more people are employed, there are more people that can spend money. And everyone lives happily ever [Link]
these days, productivity has surged, jumping up at a 9.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, according to Labor Department statistics released
yesterday. That's the best clip in six years. However, that positive data has been immediately followed by bad news from the Department. Today, it was
announced that October's unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest rate in 26 [Link]'s Peter Coy suggests recent productivity
gains could be somewhat artificial since lay-off survivors have had to work harder than ever. In other words, productivity has risen becauseunemployment has
also gone up and there are fewer employees left to handle all the [Link] your own experience working through this recession, do you agree with Coy's
assessment? And do you think your company's productivity gains could be undermined by employee burnout? Please share your thoughts below.

Don't Make Your Customers Deal With Your Problems

There's an astounding spectrum of professionalism in small business. Some almost effortlessly put customer's needs and problems first, while others let their
drama and dysfunctions dictate how they do business. Like it or not, customers get dragged along for the [Link] matter how good you are, making customers
jump through hoops dealing with your issues is no way to get repeat business in a competitive [Link] dentist spent countless weeks getting a new bridge
done just right. We had all kinds of problems with temporaries coming lose and cracking and the lab messing up. It took way more of her time than it should
have, including working through lunch and coming in on her day off. But you know what? She never once complained or put herself first. She just kept
thanking me for being so [Link] wife and I are regulars at a local - some would call it boutique - supermarket. The prices may be a bit higher
than Safeway, but the head of the meat and seafood department will only recommend the freshest fish to us because he knows my wife's picky about that
sort of thing. And it's not just a relationship thing. He treats everyone that way because that's how the store does [Link]'s because they make
business with me - the customer - about solving my problems, instead of making me - the customer - deal with theirs. And that makes it very easy to overlook
the minor inconveniences of doing business with them. The same goes for B2B. I've stuck with quite a few vendors for many, many years for that same
reason. A PR agency, a Web development company, an executive coaching firm, a production company, even a small business insurance agent. Sure,
they're all competent; you've got to be just to make the cut. And one or two may even be among the best at what they do. But I'd stick with them even if they
weren'[Link] the flip side, I've worked with vendors and contractors that were so dysfunctional, so finicky, so difficult to work with, that I would inevitably find
myself jumping through one hoop after another to support them. They could be the absolute best at what they do and I still wouldn't hire them again or send
referrals their way. I'm sure they get repeat business from some customers, but frankly, I don't know who would put up with that crap when there's plenty of
[Link] that's really what it comes down to. These days, customers are busier and more stressed than they used to be. And there are way more
choices and competitors than there used to be. B2C, B2B, it really doesn't matter. If you've got a small business, getting the job done at a reasonable price is
no longer a competitive advantage; it just gets you in the game. If you want repeat business, if you want to outpace the competition, you need to focus on
solving customer problems while making sure they never have to deal with yours.

Capitalism Also Falling on Berlin Wall Anniversary

20 years ago today, the Berlin Wall came crashing down, taking with it the communist regimes that haunted Eastern Europe during the 20th century. World
leaders are gathering in Germany's capital to commemorate the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War. Of course, the fall of the Wall has
come to symbolize more than a political and military win for the West. It also represents the idea that free markets work better than planned socialist
economies. However, a new global poll has found that today's recession has many doubting pure [Link] to pollster Doug Miller, "It appears that
the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 may not have been the crushing victory for free-market capitalism that it seemed at the time -- particularly after the events of
the last 12 months."Here are the poll's key findings:

Only 11 percent of people surveyed across 27 countries thought free market capitalism is working well, while 51 percent believed its problems can be solved
with more regulation and reform, the poll [Link] only the United States (25 percent) and Pakistan (21 percent), did more than one in five people agree that
capitalism works well in its current form, the poll conducted for the BBC World Service said.
A majority now believe free-market capitalism doesn't really work. Were the eulogies over socialism's demise premature? Share your predictions below.

Don't Overpromise and Under-Deliver

Some executive staff meetings can get pretty heated. I'll never forget one where we fought over a multimillion dollar promotional budget centered on the
prelaunch of a major product line. In the middle of the mayhem, one executive asked a very good question."Why do we even need all this PR stuff? Why not
just deliver the goods?""Because," I replied, "The only thing more powerful than delivering a great product is saying you're going to deliver a great product and
then doing it."That was 12 years ago and I don't mind admitting that today, my answer would be different. Indeed, telegraphing the introduction of a potentially
breakthrough product in advance is a powerful PR strategy I've employed many times before and since. But the risk of overpromising and under-delivering
can, at times, dwarf the potential reward. First, a pro example: Apple telegraphed the coming iPhone 6 months in advance of its launch, creating media frenzy
in anticipation of the device. Of course, the iPhone actually delivered on its promise, and then some. After the fact, it was certainly worth the [Link] for
some con examples:Microsoft's Vista operating system had a long development cycle made longer by changes in strategy and several beta releases. The
anticipation caused by all the delays did nothing but raise the product's visibility and fuel media hype. Unfortunately, it was negative hype over Vista's
compatibility issues. The result was a disastrous launch. It may not have been entirely intentional, but the way the product rollout was handled probably did
increase the backlash.

There's a company named Tessera that develops technology that makes cell
phones and other devices smaller and thinner. Several times in its relatively short 5-year stint as a public company, Tessera's share price fell off a cliff, not
due to operating performance, but because investor's expectations got ahead of the company's guidance. Tessera might be better off not giving any guidance
at all. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has a characteristic history of setting high expectations for his company's performance. For example, this quarter's
earnings call included a statement about the company's prospects in China:

"On a recent trip just this past quarter, I saw firsthand the ongoing emotional connection we've already created with customers. I visited Shanghai, Shenzhen
and Hangzhou and was reminded of our early days of growth and development in the US. In each of these very diverse major cities, Starbucks has become
part of the daily Chinese ritual."
 Anecdotal data tells me that last sentence may indeed be an overstatement. Still, while I have chided Schultz for his overly optimistic spin in the past, the
market does appear to be happy with the status of the company's [Link] [Link] that little cautionary statement highlights a peculiar attribute of
people - whether they're investors, customers, or your boss. When it comes to promises and expectations, they can have very, very long memories. Longer
than yours.

Find a Replacement for Discontinued Microsoft Accounting Software

Do you use Microsoft Office Accounting or its free sibling, Office Accounting Express? Well, then, take note: Microsoft is discontinuing both of those programs
one week from today, on Monday, November [Link] will you do? Well, for starters, you can look for a replacement. We have a few [Link],
online accounting packages have proliferated like unicorn posters on a teenage girl's wall in recent times. We've told you about Outright, WorkingPoint,
andNolaPro, for example. And there are a number of Open Source options at click2try as well. So why is Office Accounting going away? According to
Microsoft's Office Accounting Website, the company has "determined that existing free templates within Office used with Excel was a better option for small
businesses, and the Microsoft Dynamics ERP products were appropriate for mid-range organizations."Of course, you can keep using Office Accounting if you
want to. Microsoft will offer support for the product for another five years, and, most of the app will still work just fine. On the other hand, online sales from
eBay and credit profile from Equifax won't be available after December 15, 2009, so if you relied on that, you should start looking for an alternative now.

The Netbook Diaries 2009 (Part 1): Getting Ready for the Road
Last year I wrote a series of posts called The Netbook Diaries, in which I chronicled my experiences with a then-uncommon Acer Aspire [Link] a
difference a year makes. Netbooks have become as commonplace as, well, notebooks, and the latest models offer more features at even lower [Link], as
I prepare to jet off to San Francisco for three days, I'm packing a three-pound netbook instead of a seven-pound [Link] travel companion this time out:
the MSI Wind U115 Hybrid. Its noteworthy features include a 10.1-inch screen, 9-cell battery, and dual hard drives: one SSD, one SATA. The former houses
Windows XP; the latter is intended for your apps and [Link] get myself road-ready, I needed three essential tools:

 ThinkFree Mobile Netbook Edition Some kind of office suite is essential for most travelers. I like Office 2007, but no way am I paying
for another license. OpenOffice would work, but I consider it overkill for a netbook. ThinkFree Mobile Netbook Edition is a slim but full-
featured office suite that's just about ideal, and it's currently on sale for a very reasonable $24.95 (after applying coupon
code THINKFREE).
 Windows Live Sync I've used this for years to keep my documents in sync between PCs. It runs on my desktop and whatever portable I
happen to be using. No messing around with copying files back and forth; Live Sync automatically keeps everything up to date on two or
more machines.
 Xmarks Formerly Foxmarks, this indispensable Firefox plug-in (which is now available for Internet Explorer as well) syncs my bookmarks
and passwords.
That's it for this entry. Stay tuned to find out what's great about traveling with a netbook, what's not so great, and critical features to look for if you're shopping
for one.

Gadget Lust: An 18-Button Mouse Optimized for OpenOffice

Well, "lust" might be too strong a word; I'm trying to decide whether this is something I'd like to try, or if my eyes are permanently damaged from just having
looked at it.I've seen input devices in the past which were optimized for specific applications -- like drawing tablets for photo editing programs -- but the

OpenOfficeMouse might be the most extreme example I've ever see. Come on... let's look at it together. As
the name implies, the OpenOfficeMouse is designed specifically for OpenOffice. It has 18 programmable buttons, each of which can be single- or double-
clicked. That's unique 36 functions accessible via buttons. Plus, it has a scroll wheel and 512MB of RAM (the system requirements for Windows XP
recommended 128MB). And [Link] mouse comes with button customizations for OpenOffice because "the usage tracking feature of [Link] 3.1
permitted the assignment of application commands to mouse buttons based on the data gathered from more than 600 million actual mouse and keystroke
commands enacted by users."But in addition to OpenOffice, the OpenOfficeMouse is compatible with a dozen applications including Office 2007, Photoshop,
AutoCAD, and Firefox. You might imagine that it would come in handy with games as well, and indeed, it comes with profiles for World of Warcraft, Unreal
Tournament, The Sims 3, and a half-dozen [Link] manufacturer, Warmouse, claims that you can get used to using the mouse and its keyboard-like
button array in just two days. And the company is working to release additional profiles for "everything from major mainstream applications to obscure DOS
abandonware."I'm dying to know -- would you consider using a mouse like this, or is the complexity level/ugly factor way too high? Sound off in the comments.

Which Do Customers Really Prefer: Cut Prices or More Brands?

Price cuts are a good way to build sales and destroy the business. London's Evening Standard newspaper has been giving a masterclass in this suicidal art
[Link] the last two years it has responded to the free sheets by halving its price, giving it away free on some days, charging full price but giving away free
umbrellas, charging less after 9pm at some locations; offering discounts for loyalty card holders and many other pricing [Link] short-term fix gave a
short-term boost to sales. It was following the 'birdie strategy' -- birds go "cheep cheep", and the Standard went cheap, [Link] call this "blue ocean
strategy", which sounds fancier. But each short-term fix was as effective as another hit of heroin for an addict: the immediate relief simply creates long-term
problems. The Standard was educating its buyers into believing that it was not worth full [Link] month, the birdie strategy reached its logical
conclusion: the Standard is now free, and circulation has gone up. Its only rival free paper, the London Lite, is going bust and laying off all 36 employees (36
employees for a newspaper?)That is the problem with free: it can be crap -- 36 employees can do no more than clip together press releases, buy a few
freelance photos of celebrities and print some opinions. Opinions are cheap, facts are expensive. It was hardly a [Link], inevitably, is the fate of
the Standard. It will not be able to afford news, so it will resort to opinions, celebs, and games. The paper has already got much thinner since going free, and it
will continue to cut its product. First cut the price, then cut the product. Like the Cheshire Cat, it will slowly disappear until all that is left is its [Link] is an
alternative. Stuart Rose, chairman, CEO, big banana and el generalissimo of M&S, finally announced that it would sell leading brands in M&S. "Customers
are saying to us that I like my favourite brand... and you, Marks and Spencer, don't sell it so I have to go somewhere else to buy it," Duh. Only 20 years too
late. For genius insights like that, he must be worth every penny of his outsize [Link] the alternative to the birdie strategy is to build your brand. Tabasco,
Mars, Fairy Liquid, Marlboro all have built up unique customer franchises over decades. They have educated their customers to buy the brand and buy
[Link] of them could double sales tomorrow by slashing their prices. But no brand manager outside of an asylum would follow that route. As the tale of
 the Standard shows, cutting prices destroys your brand values. Temporary price reductions have a nasty habit of becoming permanent. Invest in your brand
and you will not have to destroy your business with price [Link] do you think: as a customer, do price cuts influence your perception of a brand's value?

Quiz: Can You Handle Last-Minute Demands?

ew customer behaviors are more irritating than surfacing new demands at the end of a sales cycle. Do you know how to deal with them?This post contains
two very common selling scenarios, with multiple choice answers. Answer both scenarios correctly, and you've earned bragging rights for the rest of the day!
SCENARIO #1: You're meeting with a prospect to close on a first-time opportunity that will involve years of follow-on business. You've discussed terms and
conditions in detail and you've gotten firm verbal agreement. At this final meeting, though, the customer confronts you with a new list of demands, saying: "If
you can't meet these conditions, the deal is off." You examine the list. None of demands are, by themselves, deal breakers, although they would reduce your
[Link] HERE for the correct answer » The correct answer is Refuse to Consider Them. Here's [Link] minute demands - the ones that
magically appear after a negotiation has been largely completed - aren't always what they seem. Most of the time the customer is merely testing you to
ensure that the negotiated deal is the best possible [Link] in to such demands undermines your credibility and will probably result in further
demands. If you give in to this last-minute stuff, you're simultaneously telling the customer that you can't be trusted, and that you're a push-over. And that's
going to cause problems in a long-term [Link], the correct response is to hold firm to your position. In most cases, the customer will be relieved at
this confirmation of your legitimacy and will take the demands off the [Link] HERE for the second scenario » SCENARIO #2: You're meeting
with a prospect to close on a major B2B opportunity. You've discussed terms and conditions in detail and you've gotten firm verbal agreement. At this final
meeting, the customer confronts you with a new list of demands, saying: "If you can't meet these conditions, we'll go with your competitor." In your opinion, the
threat is viable and the competitor could indeed address the prospect's problems at a lower [Link] HERE for the correct answer » The correct
answer is Stall For Time. The truth is that you're not really ready to close. The discussion of terms of conditions was premature and you're fooling
[Link] process of moving a sale towards negotiation is the process of eliminating the customer's options. At the beginning of a sales cycle, the
customer is open to multiple solutions from multiple providers. By the end of the sales cycle, you need to convince the customer that your product or service is
the only one that can adequately fulfill the customer's [Link], you don't go into a negotiation until after you've eliminated the competition from the
picture,. You haven't done that, so you need to take a few steps back in the sales process and make what's unique about your offering something that the
customer can't do [Link] that sounds too difficult, you can agree to the demands, but you're definitely building a dysfunctional customer relationship and
you'll end up regretting it [Link], the above information is roughly based upon a conversation with Randall Murphy, the president of Acclivus R3, a
performance consulting and professional development company that specializes in sales negotiations.

Movitate Yourself to Sell! In 45 Seconds!

Getting motivated to sell isn't difficult. All you need do is connect the dots between what you need to do and what you want to accomplish with yourself and
your life. Here's a quick way to get yourself seriously pumped up to sell:

 STEP #1: Remember why you're in sales. Focus for a moment what makes you happy and how that's tied to making a living in sales.
 STEP #2: Remember why you chose this firm. Remind yourself that whatever you're selling is a vehicle to help fulfill that purpose.
 STEP #3: Quickly Review your manager's objectives. Visualize your manager's objectives as being in line with your purpose and how
your achievement will make your manager happy.
 STEP #4: Quickly review your company's strategy. Helping your firm fulfill its strategic goals not only helps fulfill your purpose, but
helps your friends, colleagues and customers, too.
 STEP #5: Quickly review your most ambitious goals. Review the goals that, if achieved, will create success for yourself, your
manager and your company. Don't have goals? Get some!
 STEP #6: Review your plan for achieving those goals. Having a specific plan builds confidence, commitment and puts you in control
of your destiny. Don't have a plan? Get one!
 STEP #7: Decide what you can do, NOW, to move that plan forward. Start executing your plan. Right now. It will build momentum
that will carry you forward.
With practice, you can easily complete this mental review in 45 seconds or less. I recommend making this a daily habit, right up there with the morning cup of
[Link], the above is based on a conversation I had a couple of years ago with the motivation speaker Omar Periu. It was truly one of the most motivating
hours I ever spent!

10 Dimensions Of Great Customer Service

Most executives talk about the importance of customer service, but far fewer are able to succinctly describe what they mean. It can easily
become an empty cliché rather than a strategy for growth.
Yet customer service can be as important for product businesses as it is for service organisations. I recently worked with a group of
manufacturing executives who made the point that customer service has been as important as pricing in helping them retain customers
through the recession.
You are likely to turn your customer service proposition into a real competitive advantage when
 It is focused on the few dimensions that your target customers really value.
 You can create a service offering that is truly distinctive.
 You can deliver it consistently to the required standards.
Here are 10 dimensions of great customer service. Which should you be focusing on to drive loyalty, profitability and growth for your
business?
1. Convenience and accessibility. Dell doesn't sell through retail stores, but you can buy custom-made computers online or over the
phone 24-hours a day, which are then delivered direct to your door.
2. Environment. As a result of their selective distribution agreements, premium cosmetic and fragrance companies such
as Clinique and Estee Lauder only supply retailers that deliver a high-quality retail environment to support their products.
3. Self-help tools and support. Supermarkets provide shoppers with a range of trolleys and baskets, and Nike has developed online
support tools for runners to set themselves training goals and track times and distances.
4. Product and service availability. One retailer I spoke with recently believes that improving the availability of key product lines has
contributed over three per cent to its sales growth in the past year.
5. Attitude and friendliness. A key aspect of Southwest Airline's success in the US has been its ability to deliver a friendly service
alongside its low fares.
6. Competence and expertise. NetJets (pictured), the fractional aircraft-ownership service, is currently advertising how it spends more on
training and safety than the major airlines.
7. Speed and responsiveness. Tesco stole a march on competitors when it introduced its "one in front" policy, where it opens a new till
when shoppers, queuing to pay, have more than one other shopper in front of them.
8. Personal(ised) attention. Nordstrom, the US department store, places customer service as its #1 strategic objective. As part of this
objective, the store provides all its sales people with access to a "Personal Book", allowing them to record and refer to individual customer
preferences through their till systems.
9. Community. When a balding, middle-aged banker buys a Harley-Davidson, he is buying into a concept of youth and vigour. Harley
supports this relationship with its brand by establishing communities of Harley bikers, known as the Harley Owners Group.
10. Links to related suppliers. Apple has created a whole new industry of apps providers for their iPhones. Apple hasn't sought to provide
the applications themselves, but, through its App Store has created the links for application developers and users to do business.

Don't Make Your Customers Deal With Your Problems

There's an astounding spectrum of professionalism in small business. Some almost effortlessly put customer's needs and problems first, while others let their
drama and dysfunctions dictate how they do business. Like it or not, customers get dragged along for the [Link] matter how good you are, making customers
jump through hoops dealing with your issues is no way to get repeat business in a competitive [Link] dentist spent countless weeks getting a new bridge
done just right. We had all kinds of problems with temporaries coming lose and cracking and the lab messing up. It took way more of her time than it should
have, including working through lunch and coming in on her day off. But you know what? She never once complained or put herself first. She just kept
thanking me for being so [Link] wife and I are regulars at a local - some would call it boutique - supermarket. The prices may be a bit higher
than Safeway, but the head of the meat and seafood department will only recommend the freshest fish to us because he knows my wife's picky about that
sort of thing. And it's not just a relationship thing. He treats everyone that way because that's how the store does [Link]'s because they make
business with me - the customer - about solving my problems, instead of making me - the customer - deal with theirs. And that makes it very easy to overlook
the minor inconveniences of doing business with them. The same goes for B2B. I've stuck with quite a few vendors for many, many years for that same
reason. A PR agency, a Web development company, an executive coaching firm, a production company, even a small business insurance agent. Sure,
they're all competent; you've got to be just to make the cut. And one or two may even be among the best at what they do. But I'd stick with them even if they
weren'[Link] the flip side, I've worked with vendors and contractors that were so dysfunctional, so finicky, so difficult to work with, that I would inevitably find
myself jumping through one hoop after another to support them. They could be the absolute best at what they do and I still wouldn't hire them again or send
referrals their way. I'm sure they get repeat business from some customers, but frankly, I don't know who would put up with that crap when there's plenty of
[Link] that's really what it comes down to. These days, customers are busier and more stressed than they used to be. And there are way more
choices and competitors than there used to be. B2C, B2B, it really doesn't matter. If you've got a small business, getting the job done at a reasonable price is
no longer a competitive advantage; it just gets you in the game. If you want repeat business, if you want to outpace the competition, you need to focus on
solving customer problems while making sure they never have to deal with yours.

Whose Recovery Is This?

If a genie were to pop out of a bottle and offer to grant three (reasonable) wishes, you might ask him for a good job, or a promotion. You might gently inquire if
he could end the freefall in your home's value.
Here’s another option: Just ask him to turn you into an over-55 female health care worker in Minneapolis. The latest statistics show that those women are
gainfully employed and see lots of career opportunities ahead, and their houses ― get this ― are actually rising in value.
On the other hand, it’s not such a great time to be an under-25 guy working in manufacturing in Vegas. They can only hope they’ve still got jobs, so they can
make mortgage payments on houses that just lost 30 percent of their value.
Yes, green shoots are popping up here and there on the economic landscape, but some people are only seeing weeds. It’s been a patchy comeback, creating
jobs in some regions and certain sectors while continuing to punish others. This recession was so deep, says Tom Runiewicz, an economist at forecasting
firm IHS Global Insight, that “it will be a long road back to where we were a few years ago.”
Here’s a look at some of the recovery’s big winners and losers.

Help! My Peer Isn't Pulling His Weight

Dear Ron, One of my colleague's skills are really just not up to snuff, and furthermore, he doesn't even work that hard, causing our overall group's
results to suffer. My company really values group solidarity and loyalty so I don't want to call him out to my boss, but I'm starting to get really
frustrated. What should I do? The best way to handle this is to subtly lay things out for your boss so that she comes to the conclusion herself about whose
work needs to improve or be bypassed, without you having to point it out directly. You might go to her and say that you've been reviewing how to get better
results, and so you've identified some areas where things are going well and some where they could be improved. To show you're sincere about trying to
make things better and not simply targeting this person, you should also highlight some areas where you yourself would like to improve your work. And this
should allow your boss to probe a little further and figure out what's going [Link] you've painted this picture for your boss, you should consider your job
done. If you're asked directly if so-and-so is a problem, try to give a strictly objective and results-oriented response, as opposed to revealing any kind of
personal like or dislike. As you mentioned, your company values solidarity and so for your own career prospects there, you don't want to be seen as someone
who can't work with all different types of [Link] of my clients was a director at an energy company who had a peer whose skills were not up to the
demanding re-organization that was taking place at their company. But this colleague was a long-time employee of the firm and it was a fairly tight work
group, so my client couldn't do much to get rid of him directly. So he discussed with his boss how the group was doing and asked for some additional
resources in a few areas. When my boss's client asked why they were needed, my client told him that these were areas where they'd been getting slowed
down--these were, of course, the areas his colleague was responsible [Link], my client's boss redirected this colleague to work on other tasks, and
my client was allowed to pick a new and stronger player to add to his team. For my client's boss, his desire to get better results ultimately outweighed the
value of maintaining harmony and continuing to support this weak performer. So he redirected that person's efforts, and gave my client the additional
resources to go in and dramatically improve the group's performance. That's a good strategy for you to try to follow as well.

Productivity Rises...But So Does Unemployment

In an ideal world, increases in productivity (or, the measure of employee output per hour) will lead to higher corporate profits. Some of that extra money can
then be used to hire more workers. When more people are employed, there are more people that can spend money. And everyone lives happily ever [Link]
these days, productivity has surged, jumping up at a 9.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, according to Labor Department statistics released
yesterday. That's the best clip in six years. However, that positive data has been immediately followed by bad news from the Department. Today, it was
announced that October's unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest rate in 26 [Link]'s Peter Coy suggests recent productivity
gains could be somewhat artificial since lay-off survivors have had to work harder than ever. In other words, productivity has risen becauseunemployment has
also gone up and there are fewer employees left to handle all the [Link] your own experience working through this recession, do you agree with Coy's
assessment? And do you think your company's productivity gains could be undermined by employee burnout? Please share your thoughts below.

A (Mis)Match for Tough Times

The idea began as a joke: a fewfriends amusing themselves one night in 2003 by dreaming up ever more hopelessstartup strategies. But something about the
crazy notion stuck with Jonah Stawlong after the chuckles had subsided. Lying awake a few nights later, Staw sawmore than a lonely sock in search of a
mate. He saw a character — “LittleMissMatched” — who granted girls permission to expressthemselves.
Fortunately, Staw had learned totrust his own instincts on branding. He had tested those instincts as directorof corporate development at Frog Design, an
innovative Web shop in SanFrancisco, while working on creative strategies for companies such as Targetand DaimlerChrysler. Now, as Staw contemplated
his own vision of mismatchedsocks, his gut kind of took over.
“I knew it was a goodidea because you can’t not smile when you hear about it,”says Staw, now 34, the co-founder and CEO of LittleMissMatched Inc. “Iknew
that if there’s an emotional reaction, it’s a goodconcept.”
That was back in 2003. A yearlater, the first LittleMissMatched merchandise appeared at Linens ‘nThings and Nordstroms across the country: a pack of six
mismatched socks foreight dollars. The company’s Web site, href="[Link] launched afew months after the
socks. The next year, LittleMissMatched was offeringpajamas, pencil pouches, books, bedding, flip-flops, furniture — and, of course, socks — in boutiques
and specialty stores, among themFAO Schwartz. By Christmas 2008, the products were in more than 80 Macy’sstores nationwide, and retail sales hit $32
million for the year, a 30 percentincrease over the year before. Never mind the Great Recession.
The first of four permanentLittleMissMatched stores opened in May 2009, in New York’s GrandCentral Terminal. That was followed a month later by outlets in
Downtown Disneyin Anaheim and Myrtle Beach, S.C. When thecompany opened its store on New York’s Fifth Avenue, in August ofthis year, some 500 fans
— medianage 10 going on 11 — paradeddown America’s favorite shopping street in gloriously mismatchedattire.
So what can you learn from anoffbeat retailer born in a late-night bull session?
Staw says a lot depended onfaith in the fundamental concept. He encouraged potential partners to dreamwith him. “We’ve always pretended we’re biggerthan
we are,” says Staw. “We were always trying to presentthe brand in the best possible light and allow future partners to imagine whereLittleMissMatched could
go, rather than where it was at the moment.”
The brand vision was Staw’sguiding light. As the mismatched socks caught on, the company forged ahead withnew products emphasizing a kind of measured
individuality, allowing each girlto stand out, but not too much. All the company’s products — from the stocks to the flip-flops to thebedding — are designed to
befun but not aggressively different. The patterns don’t match, butthey kind of do, too. And they provide nearly endless opportunity tocustomize. There are
384 possible design combinations associated with oneLittleMissMatched bed, so a girl can redecorate her room every day, withoutrepeating, for more than a
year.
 Staw stuck with the vision, evenwhen outside marketing experts questioned whether it could really be pushed asfar as he wanted. They wondered whether
LittleMissMatched wouldn’tbe better off concentrating on socks. They wondered whether the customer couldbe defined a bit more conventionally. After all, the
nonconformist might be apretty tough customer to target. “I said no,” Staw recalls.“We’re about inspiring emotion. We’re sellingcreativity, fun. And we are
reinventing categories.”
The next challenge was the moredaunting. How to get the message — andthe merchandise — to themasses?
Where Staw had favoredsimplicity and daring in the branding scheme, he leaned toward complexity inmarketing and distribution. The result is that
LittleMissMatched today has apresence in five different markets: e-commerce; independent retailers (morethan 2,000 nationwide), established chains (Macy’s
and JCPenney),licensing, and the LittleMissMatched retail stores. “All of ourrevenue channels are equal,” says Staw.
The varied distribution effortsbenefit from a cohesive marketing program, with heavy emphasis on word ofmouth, or word of Web, or both. LittleMissMatched
is active on href="[Link] href="[Link] and href="http://
[Link]/LittleMissMatched">Facebook, but supplementsthose networking efforts with real live promotional stunts, notably ice creamcarts
festooned with socks and banners that read “matching isoverrated.” When a new store opens, the company distributes"Lost Sock" posters. The posters direct
customers to a Web site, href="[Link] they get a coupon for free socks that can be
redeemed only at the newLittleMissMatched store.
Staw’s marketingstrategy gets an A-plus from href="[Link] Bell, anassociate professor of marketing at
Wharton. “First and foremost, it’sa cute brand that flips the conventional on its head, he says. “It’squirky and unconventional in a fun way, and it’s
highlydifferentiating.”
Bell applauds the distributionstrategy, as well. He believes that a variety of distribution channels cancomplement each other, and that companies are unwise
to rely heavily on justone. “The way people buy products on the Internet interacts withtheir physical location,” Bell suggests. Stores work great in cities,where
the sheer variety of retail outlets ensures that the target customer willhave access to the merchandise. “But if you live in Bakersfield,California, where you
have fewer offline options, then a Web site is morevaluable.”
Bell believes thatbrick-and-mortar stores help communicate cultural values, as well. “It’swhy href="[Link]
is-apple-so-successful/">Applehas stores; they’re selling a whole experience and lifestyle, andhaving a physical retail presence is a big deal.”
LittleMissMatched was a startupthat did a lot of things right, from Bell’s point of view:
 Be true to your brand. Differentiate your product, then stick with thebrand.
 Know your customer. Knowexactly what the customer wants to buy (in the case of LittleMissMatched,different but not too different),
and make sure your marketing anddesign efforts connect with those values.
 When it comes to distribution, be careful about putting all your eggs in one [Link] that you mayneed to reach Customer
A with strategy A and Customer B with strategy B.
And finally, never getcomplacent. “Customers love our brand, but in this economy, mom willonly spend so much,” Staw says. “Major retailers aremarking
down their prices. Our biggest challenge is figuring out the rightproduct mix.”
Of course, that’s achallenge for anyone these days. Judging by his track record, though, Stawshould be more than a match for it.

The Intelligent Way to Ask Stupid Questions

When the SEC released thousand of pages of evidence from its investigation into epic fraudster Bernie Madoff,The NY Times sifted through the documents
and drew several conclusions, including: "the paperwork... also tells a tale of unseasoned people uncertain about what to do and unwilling to ask for help."
The finding is an important reminder for the relatively young and inexperienced among us. Ignorance is embarrassing and, frankly, not likely to endear you to
your organization, but not asking for help when you need it is [Link] how can a smart, young but clueless employee use asking for help as an opportunity
to impress? None other than Harvard Business School comes to the rescue with a post by communications consultant Jodi Glickman Brown on its
Conversation Starter blog. She offersthree concrete steps to help you overcome your jitters, get the information you need and win points for your smart
approach to your own lack of knowledge:
 Start your question with what you know. Do your homework first. Get enough background information to put your issue or problem in
context. Give the other person an idea of what you've completed to date or what you know already and then proceed to explain what's
outstanding, where or how you're struggling, or what you need help with.
 Then, state the direction you want to take and ask for feedback, thoughts or clarification. Form an opinion on what you think
the answer should be. Don't just ask, "How should I reach out to the brokers?" Instead propose a course of action and get your boss's
feedback: "I'm thinking of sending out a mass email to the brokers but I'm not sure if that's the most effective format...what do you think
of that approach?"
 If you don't know the direction to take, ask for tangible guidance. Instead of asking "What should I do?" ask specifically for the
tools you'll need to make that decision yourself, such as a recent example of a similar analysis or a template for a given task. Or, ask for a
referral to someone who has worked on a similar initiative or project in the past.
For more on the art of sounding smart by asking the dumb questions, check out this post which considers: is dumb the new smart?

Unusual Origins of 15 Innovative Companies

Entrepreneurs worry too much about what they're going to develop, make, or market. What's more important is that they make, develop or market something.
The odds that they end up making it big doing something different are apparently pretty [Link] are 15 companies that became famous, not for what they
started doing, but for something that came later. Sure, they may be related, but the point is still valid: better to get started on something; innovative people find
a way.
 Backed by French venture capital, DuPont began making gunpowder in 1802.
 McDonald's. In 1927, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened a hot dog stand called "The Airdrome" at the Monrovia airport in
California. 21 years later, the company began focusing on hamburgers.
 Nokia was originally a paper mill in Finland.
 Sony started as a radio repair shop named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo in post-war Tokyo. Its first original product was a tape recorder, but its
breakthrough was the first "commercially successful" transistor radio, the Sony TR-55.
 3M was originally formed in 1902 to mine corundum for making grinding wheels. The "corundum," however turned out to be anorthosite,
which the company tried to use to make sandpaper. That didn't work either.
 IBM, formed as Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) when three companies merged in 1911, made weight scales,
automatic meat slicers, coffee grinders, time-keeping systems, and computer punch card equipment.
 Kraft Foods. James L. Kraft started a wholesale door-to-door cheese business in Chicago in 1903.
 Founded by Konosuke Matsushita in 1918, the company now known as Panasonic began producing duplex lamp sockets and bicycle
lamps. Matsushita's brother-in-law later foundedSanyo.
 Toyota. In 1926, Sakichi Toyoda - the inventor of a line of highly efficient manual and machine-powered looms - founded Toyoda
Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. Seven years later, the company ventured into automobiles.
 In 1919, Cornelius Vander Starr opened AIG as an insurance agency in Shanghai, China.
 Xerox was founded in 1906 as The Haloid Photographic Company making photographic paper and equipment.
 Motorola began life as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in 1928. Its first product - a "battery eliminator" for battery-powered radios to
run on household electricity - was sold to Sears, Roebuck and Co.
 American Express was the first "FedEx." It started in 1850 as an express mail company, formed by Henry Wells, William Fargo, and John
Warren Butterfield. The same folks foundedWells Fargo two years later to handle California.
 Texas Instruments began life as Geophysical Survey Inc. doing seismic exploration for the petroleum industry. GSI is now part
of Halliburton.
 In 1899, a limited partnership between Japanese investors and America's Western Electric Company created Nippon Electric Company,
or NEC, to make telephones and switching systems for the Japanese market.
[Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the research data. Yes, I confirmed everything, but Wikipedia's a fabulous initial source. Image of Sony TR-
55 [Link]]

Guy Vs. Guy: Making a Living in the New Economy

Welcome to Guy Vs. Guy! In this recurring feature, Rick and Dave square off on the business and technology issues of the day. This week's topic: The race
to the bottom. Is technology making it harder for creative professionals to survive in today's economy? Or is it just a matter of learning to adapt and, well,
working harder?Dave: Last month, Conde Nast Publications shut down Gourmet Magazine, which has been on newsstands since 1941. It's getting a lot
harder to be a writer these days -- the magazines that remain typically pay a fraction of what they did just 10 years ago. And writers aren't alone:
photographers, videographers, and graphic artists also see their paychecks shrinking. Technology is making it harder for creative professionals to earn a
living. Should we be freaking out that tech really is taking away our jobs?Rick: I'm of two minds about this. As a longtime magazine writer, I am indeed
freaked out by the rapid disappearance of so many tech journals. I mean, I cut my teeth writing for the likes of Computer Shopper and PC Magazine, and both
are now newsstand memories (though PC Mag lives on as an electronic publication). On the other hand, consider the old saying: When a door closes, a
window opens. I've been lucky enough to shift my writing career to the online world, and while the pay might not be quite as good, the jobs are still there. And
I think that's the lesson here: creative types need to learn to to adapt, [Link]: No argument there -- adapt or die. Magazines became blogs. Stock
photography services morphed into microstock. But there's a disturbing trend: Professionals are being replaced by casual hobbyists. Writers that once
commanded a dollar a word are being replaced by folks who will blog for free just for the joy of seeing their name in print. Companies that once paid
thousand-dollar-an-hour videographers now go to $50/hour semi-pros who bought camera gear for a tiny fraction of the cost of last decade's pro gear.
Technology is eliminating the barrier to entry, and that is killing entire creative [Link]: I agree, but the pendulum swings both ways. Professionals
can buy the same affordable gear as semi-pros, and thereby lower their rates to be more competitive. Writers accustomed to spending days on a single
magazine piece can churn out half a dozen blog posts per day. (Any blogger who writes for free won't do it for long, because free don't pay the bills.) The work
is still out there if you know where to look. That said, there's no question we're now living in a value economy. Creative professionals may have to work longer
and harder for less money than before, but the costs of doing business have decreased as well. Anyone "killed" by technology just failed to adapt to [Link]:
Despite being dropped on your head as a child, you've hit the nail on the head. For many creative professionals, the way to adapt is by adopting the Taco Bell
strategy: Profit through volume. In an age when rates for all kinds of creative gigs are shrinking, you have to look for ways to do more. A lot more. Thanks to
microstock sites, you now have to make an average of 25 photography sales to equal just one decent sale from 5 years ago. Which means you have to take a
lot more photos than you used to. As chronicled in the latest Wired, some videographers now generate dozens of short how-to videos a week for $20 a pop
for online video mills like Demand Media. I posit that cheaper gear isn't the problem. Professionals are running up against the hard limitations of the clock to
do enough work to maintain their standard of living. There just isn't enough time in the day, and it's going to get worse before it gets [Link]: Whoa, don't
let the sky bonk you on the head, Chicken Little. You said at the beginning that tech is taking away our job, but what you really meant is people. The reality is
that specialized creativity -- such as photography and videography -- becomes less "special" when more people practice it, and cheap gear has made that
possible. By your reasoning, musicians are in jeopardy, too, because more people are learning the guitar. I still say excellence will out; if you're good at what
you do and know how to market yourself, you can make it. Of course, luckily for folks like us, most people can't write worth a damn -- and no amount of tech
will change [Link]: Your logic doesn't hold up. It truly is technology that's lowering the bar. Well, tech, combined with the rise of a new "talent economy."
Follow me here: In the past, only skilled writers could get published, because it was expensive to publish a magazine. So publishers only worked with the best
talent they could find. Today, publishing a blog is virtually free, so publishers can risk working with less talented folks. Publishers can throw a huge volume of
content online, hoping that customers will be happy with a smorgasbord of all-you-can-eat fish heads instead of a modest taste of caviar. And it's win-win,
since these writers are often happy to work for a tiny fraction of the old rate."Excellence" is clearly not winning out; even old guard print magazines are using
microstock photos. Not because those photos are good, but because they are good enough, and they are virtually free compared to the more professional
stuff. Don't think I'm focusing on writing and photography because that's what I do for a living. To bring it back to your music example, musicians aren't in
trouble because more people are playing guitar. Musicians are in trouble because anyone can publish anything on the Internet, which has eliminated the
barrier to entry that once separated the professional from the hobbyist. Which is admittedly great for the [Link]: Wow, you're like the cranky old guy
shaking a rake at kids playing on the lawn. "Get outta my yard, ya gul-durn technology!" I can only speak from experience: I've been a technology writer for
the better part of 20 years, and buried countless magazines and newspapers along the way. But these days I'm busier than I've ever been, and I'm definitely
making a living. Am I incredibly lucky? Absolutely. But what you call a race to the bottom, I call nothing more than a paradigm shift. (Yes, I used the P-word.)
Time will tell.

Create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

Putting the finishing touches on a long Word document? Make sure you include a table of contents. A TOC makes it easy for your readers to skip right to the
part that interests them, and it's easy to do, too -- once you figure out Word's not-exactly-obvious way of doing it. Check out this exclusive Business Hacks
video tutorial. In less than two minutes, I'll teach you everything you need to know to create and update a table of contents in your own Word documents.
Now that you're all jazzed up on the power of TOCs, check out our library of other video tutorials, guaranteed to improve your office productivity. Or Rick will
go to your office and wash your car.

How to Sell Like a Top Gun

This morning I introduced you to Lt. Col. Rob "Waldo" Waldman, author of the newly published book "Never Fly Solo." About three years ago, I spent an hour
with Waldo, being "trained" to fly on "sales missions." Here's how to use the lessons of successful fighter pilots (i.e. Top Guns) in your sales process:
 Step 1. Achieve the right attitude. In combat, "The Right Stuff" is the attitude of confidence that a jet pilot needs to strap himself or
herself into a vehicle that moves faster than the speed of sound and then start dodging missiles. In sales, "The Right Stuff" comes from
knowing your objective for the call, relentlessly preparing for the call, and getting focused on the primary mission objective, which is
helping the customer.
 Step 2. Gather intelligence. Before any flight mission, pilots gather every bit of information they can about the environment into which
their jets will be flying - not just enemy positions, but every aspect of the situation that might have an effect on the mission. In sales, you
gather intelligence by studying the customer's website, press releases, current vendors, and your competition.
 Step 3. Devise contingency plans. The "fog of war" means that the real world and combat conditions are likely to change, sometimes
radically, from moment to moment. In sales, you build a contingency plan by asking yourself "what-if" questions: What if they challenge
me with price? What if they are currently engaged with another vendor? What if they ask for as referral? Have answers to these objections
ready and waiting.
 Step 4. Mentally rehearse the call. Jet pilots always "chair fly" a mission, multiple times, envisioning the entire mission, including the
effective handling of unexpected events and the final outcome. Thisacclimatizes the mind to successful execution in the real world. In
sales, this means envisioning the call in your mind - delivering your value proposal, asking the right questions, and rebutting her concerns.
 Step 5. Brief the mission. Immediately prior to a mission, jet pilots always review and confirm their mission objectives, roles and
responsibilities, latest intelligence, and contingencies. In sales, spend at least fifteen minutes prior to any sales call going over everything
you know about the customer, your overall plan for the sales call, your responses to objections and (this is important) the condition of
your equipment.
 Step 6. Build Situational Awareness. Jet pilots know that the success of a mission depends upon their Situational Awareness (SA),
which is their ability to perceive such as weather, enemy threat, airspeed, location of wingmen, fuel state, and terrain. In sales, SA means
listening to the customer. Ask questions based questions upon research, listen to the responses and adapt your approach accordingly.
 Step 7. Document what happens. Jet fighters always have flight recorders that track exactly what happened at every moment of the
mission. This allows a pilot to more easily replicate success, and avoid future problems. In a sales call, your "flight recorder" is your record
every important detail of the call. You'll need this intelligence to refer to next time you contact that customer for a follow-up.
 Step 8. Make your go/no-go decision. There comes a point in every flight mission where the fighter pilot needs to decide whether the
mission, if pursued, will succeed or fail. Same is true in Sales. When your objective is met or when you feel the prospect is no longer
willing to listen, end the call. But be sure you come up with a follow-on objective/plan for what to do after the call.
 Step 9. Debrief the mission. Fighter pilots always debrief a mission, in order to determine what can be learned and how the team can
improve. After every sales call, take off your 'rank' so that everyone is on an even playing field. This facilitates open communication and
allows you (and your support team) to admit their mistakes. Review the positive and negative events that took place and draw lessons
from them.
 Step 10. Execute the Follow-Through. Fighter pilots complete their mission by filing a report, requesting service on the aircraft,
expanding their training commitments, and so forth, to make each mission part of a process of constant improvement. In sales, the follow-
through is doing whatever it takes to develop the ongoing customer relationship. Most of all, it means delivering on your promises!
Powerful stuff, eh? And good advice.

Are You a Closer? I Mean, Really?

There are few things more valued in a sales professional than being a "closer." If you know how to close, then you end up making as many sales as possible;
if you lack that skill, you're probably [Link], then, how do you know if you're a closer? Looking at the number of sales you make -- even compared to
your peers -- doesn't tell you much, because you can still make big sales (but not fulfill your potential) if you're strong in other areas.A better way is to ask
yourself these five questions:

 #1: How would I rate myself as a closer? In fact, you probably know, in your gut, whether you're good a closing business. A little self-
honesty goes a long way when it comes to self-assessment.
 #2: Am I cultivating the right attitude to close business on a daily basis? Closing business is about laying the groundwork from the get-go.
If you're not getting ready to close, you're not a closer.
 #3: Am I dependent upon high pressure sales techniques? If you're using trick closes and high pressure to try to get business, you're not
a closer, you're a peddler. Different thing entirely.
 # 4: Have I ever delayed closing because I wanted to enjoy the fantasy of getting the business? This is probably the most common
debilitating behavior in sales. If you're doing it, stop. Right now.
 #5: What would it be worth to me if I could easily and simply close more business? If you can still visualize making more money and
creating more success, you're probably not at your peak. Not yet.
The above is based on a conversation I had a few years ago with the amazing and perceptive sales guru Linda Richardson, founder of the eponymous sales
training [Link] are some posts to help you hone your closing skills:

Read a Customer's Mind to Win This Game!

Want to sell more quickly? Then you've got to be able to read your customer's mind. Fortunately for you, your customers are all thinking the exact same
thing... in the exact same order. The big questions is: do you know that order? Here's a little game that assesses how well you can read the customer's mind
when it comes to this all-important decision-making [Link] you first contact a prospect, which of the following questions is uppermost in
the prospect's mind?
 Does the value and price of this product meet my expectations?
 Is this the right time to make a decision to buy this product?
 Do I want to do business with the firm this sales professional represents?
 Do I want to do business with this particular sales professional?
 Do I want and need the product this sales professional is offering?
INCORRECT! That's not what the prospect is thinking at this point. If your sales approach is trying to address that issue, you're either delaying the sale or
(worst case) scuttling it [Link] HERE to try again
CORRECT! The very first decision that every prospect makes is whether they want to do business with you personally. Even if the prospect is dying to buy
something, even if the prospect knows and trusts your firm, if you come off as irritating or obnoxious, you'll be fighting an uphill battle through the entire sales
cycle. That's why sales trainers keep driving home that first impressions count!You've gotten through the first hurdle. So here's the second:Once the
prospect has decided that he or she can do business with you, which of the following questions is uppermost in the prospect's mind?
 Does the value and price of this product meet my expectations?
 Do I want and need the product this sales professional is offering?
 Is this the right time to make a decision to buy this product?
 Do I want to do business with the firm this sales professional represents?
INCORRECT! That's not what the prospect is thinking at this point. If your sales approach is trying to address that issue, you're either delaying the sale or
(worst case) scuttling it [Link] HERE to try again
CORRECT! Whatever you're offering the prospect, it's your firm who will be ultimately responsible for delivering. The prospect wants to make sure that he or
she is not taking a risk by hiring you to handle that aspect of their business. If you're fortunate, the prospect may have already heard of your firm, ideally from
a colleague. But if not, it's contingent upon you to sell your firm -- not by bragging or making vague claims -- but by showing an example of how you've helped
customers similar to this [Link]'ve passed two hurdles, so here's the [Link] the prospect has decided that he or she can do business with
your firm, which of the following questions is uppermost in the prospect's mind?
 Is this the right time to make a decision to buy this product?
 Do I want and need the product this sales professional is offering?
 Does the value and price of this product meet my expectations?
INCORRECT! That's not what the prospect is thinking at this point. If your sales approach is trying to address that issue, you're either delaying the sale or
(worst case) scuttling it [Link] HERE to try again
CORRECT! Once the prospect has decided that it's OK to work with you (as a general issue), the specifics of the situation become more important. The
prospect will want to know whether or not what you're selling will truly be of use. This is the part of the sales cycle where you identify needs, diagnose
problems, and map your offerings into solutions that address the prospect's needs and goals. Standard sales stuff, of course, but then...Once the prospect
has decided that you've got something that he or she needs, which of the following questions is uppermost in the prospect's mind?
 Does the value and price of this product meet my expectations?
 Is this the right time to make a decision to buy this product?
INCORRECT! That's not what the prospect is thinking at this point. If your sales approach is trying to address that issue, you're either delaying the sale or
(worst case) scuttling it [Link] HERE to try again
CORRECT! Congratulations! you've completed the quiz!The prospect looks at value, and then timing, not the other way around. If the value isn't there, then
the timing is irrelevant. That's why you need, through the sales cycle, to constantly position your product as being worth the investment. It's only after that
point that you need to address the timing, which is the very last element that is of interest to the [Link], then, for the record, here is the order of how
most customers make a buying decision, when they are contacted by the sales professional:#1: Do I want to do business with this particular sales
professional?
 #2: Do I want to do business with the firm this sales professional represents?
 #3: Do I want and need the product this sales professional is offering?
 #4: Does the value and price of this product meet my expectations?
 #5: Is this the right time to make a decision to buy this product?
Sales happen quickly when these decisions are made in the correct order and sales are delayed when a sales rep allows the decisions to be made in the
wrong order. So your job is to address those decision-making points -- in that order.
The Art of Picking Someone's Brain
For both the young and the young at heart, continued learning is key to keeping your skills sharp and your career on track. Your organization probably offers
some form of formal training and, of course, there's a whole world of resources out there for self-study, but one of the most powerful ways to learn is simply
picking the brains of talented colleagues. Unfortunately though, simply asking someone to tell you everything they know rarely reaps rewards. So how can a
knowledge-hungry employee successfully suck as much skill and wisdom as possible from the brains of colleagues? Harvard Business blogger Steven
DeMaio recently shared a story of a brain picking session that worked well for him in the hopes it might guide others:
I have a colleague in publishing who works has a different but overlapping area of editorial expertise. Recently, instead of doing a bit of freelance work for her
independently and having her interpret it later, I suggested that, as an experiment, I do it live with her on the [Link] the call, I started to ask myself the
same questions aloud that I would have asked alone in silence, commenting explicitly on each choice I made. She simply recorded my work quietly at first, but
as she quickly became comfortable with the process, she began querying me as I went along and thereby refining my work in real time, rather than after the
fact as she normally does. We eventually came to anticipate each other's approaches so well that the process sped up as we progressed. Instead of my
spending two hours and her spending a subsequent two, we spent a total of two together, each having gained insights that will improve my performance and
hers in the future.
Besides saving themselves duplicate work and therefore time, DeMaio also benefited from seeing how his colleague's mind works. "The real a-ha moments,"
he says comes from those times when he can "witness a colleague's thought processes in the raw, when she's not in 'collaboration mode' but in her own
mode." So how can you put DeMaio's insight to work for you? Presentations and group projects have value, he says, but to get an inside track on a smart
mind in action, DeMaio suggests you "identify a task of moderate length that your colleague can comfortably observe while you think aloud." It's a simple idea,
but could also be a powerful one. Has anyone out there tried anything similar?

Why Subway's $5 Footlong Dominates Fast-Food Market

Tired of seeing his business evaporate every weekend, Stuart Frankel - the owner of two Subway franchises in Miami - came up with an idea. He decided to
offer all foot-longs for $5, about a buck less than regular prices, on [Link] thing he knew, Frankel had lines out the door and double-digit sales
[Link] thing Subway knew, it had one of the biggest hits in fast-food [Link] $5 footlong promotion alone generated $3.8 billion over the past year -
more than Arby's andDomino's entire U.S. business. At a time when everyone's business is down, Subway's sales grew 17 percent in 2008, making it the
number two fast-food company, worldwide, behind behemothMcDonald's. Actually, Subway should surpass McDonald's in total number of franchises in
2010, an amazing [Link] big question is this: Is the $5 footlong just a flash-in-the-pan, a round number that resonates with fast-food customers? Or is it a
function of consumer price-points and price elasticity that affect virtually all markets? It doesn't surprise me one bit that Frankel came up with the $5 footlong
seemingly at random. Finding the price-point where product flows readily, like water through a frictionless pipe, is often far less scientific than some marketers
would like to think. Sometimes, it's just trial and error. Other times it's born of necessity or even [Link] example, at a microprocessor chip company
(Cyrix) in 1996, a unique situation caused sales to stall and inventories to grow to dangerous levels. With our worldwide distributors sitting on almost a million
units (the chips sold for $50 - $80 apiece) and our company close to bankruptcy, something drastic had to be [Link] a week or two of analysis, I became
convinced that there were certain price-points that would cause product to flow readily and relieve our inventory bottleneck by enabling PC resellers to sell
systems at certain lower price-points. I wasn't exactly sure what those price-points were, but there was no time to test a theory, so I took a stab and presented
my plan at a heated board meeting. Our CEO angrily exclaimed, "Is that all you marketing &#*$s know how to do, lower prices?!"Nevertheless, he approved
the plan. It worked, of course (or I wouldn't be writing about it). Within two quarters, inventory levels were back to normal and we had a new strategy for
driving low-cost PCs. The following February Compaq launched the world's first $999 multimedia PC - with a Cyrix processor - and we were off to the
[Link] a prior post, I extolled the virtues of product positioning as a means to gain market share, even chiding marketers who think of price as their only
lever. But as you can see, there are times when price is still the best lever. And recognizing those times is often more a function of desperation than marketing
[Link] still doesn't answer the question: Is the $5 footlong phenomenon a fast-food prime number, or is it a function of "magic" price-points and price
elasticity that affect virtually all markets? I think it's the latter, but that's just me. What do you think? Can it work in your business?

The Dog Whisperer Way of Dealing with Problem Co-Workers

Problem co-workers, everyone's got 'em. Whether they're too chatty, too moody or too interested in your personal life, one of the biggest shocks new entrants
to office life experience and struggle with is how to manage the great, strange, annoying diversity of humanity you encounter at work. One such baffled
cubicle warrior writes in to outspoken HR expert and blogger Laurie Ruettimann at her site Punk Rock HR and asks for some guidance on what to do about
a problem colleague:
This person I work with has no friends, has a weird view of the world, is constantly talking about topics as if he's the authority on everything, is constantly
wanting to talk to me about personal things that are happening to me, goes on and on about his kids and financial problems, wants to hang out with me -- and
has started to touch me -- like hands on shoulders, etc. like he's my buddy or something. I see this person -- I cringe.... From an HR perspective, what's a
good way of dealing with this sort of person in the workplace?
Does Laurie suggest a visit to HR? A chat with the supervisor? A regular routine of deep breathing and yoga? No, she has a different model for how to handle
a cringe-worthy colleague: TV's dog whisperer Cesar Milan. She advises her correspondent to be assertive and "clear and direct with your coworker. Look
at his behavior, determine what's inappropriate, and tell him to stop. No discussion. No negotiation. Be kind, be clear, and be timely."Sounds simple and
sensible -- do you think it would work?

A Car Guy's Electric Moment

If GM gets it right, the forthcoming Chevy Volt could end up making the whole idea of "miles per gallon" obsolete. The long-used mpg
metric is useful, says Jon Lauckner, who as vice president of global product planning has overseen the development of the Volt. But, he
says, it can "also lock you into a paradigm that tends to lead to a similar set of solutions to the problem." In other words, something like
the Volt can only happen when people completely rethink the way a car is made. The Volt is intended to be a breakout.
It is also, in a way, restitution for GM's missing the boat on hybrids. In the early 1990s, GM showed a concept car that was remarkably
similar to what became the Prius. But it decided the economics didn't make sense and killed the project. "The expression, 'We could have
done it,' certainly applies," Lauckner says ruefully. "In retrospect, we undervalued the fact that having a vehicle like the hybrid meant
being able to claim fuel economy leadership for the whole passenger car industry." GM is determined not to make the same mistake
again.
In August, GM opened a 160,000-square-foot factory in Brownstown Township, Michigan, to make lithium-ion battery packs. It's the first
such plant operated by a major carmaker, and the idea is for GM eventually to control the development and entire production of future
batteries, which it sees as a way to carve out a competitive advantage in an oil-constrained world.
The entire Volt effort — a $1 billion investment and growing — is the sort of gamble Lauckner loves. "Risk is my friend," Lauckner told
the Atlantic Monthly last year. "I like risk. You either go big or go home." And Lauckner is determined to go big. As a third-generation
GMer, he is fiercely committed to restoring a sense of greatness to America's biggest car company. The following is his description of why
and how GM decided to make the Volt.
We Began by Talking
In late 2006, Bob Lutz [the former president of Chrysler who came to GM in 2001 to oversee product development] wanted to unveil a
game-changing concept car for the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. He enlisted me to develop the propulsion concept that would be the
centerpiece of this show car.
If you are going to do a concept car that lives up to the description of "game-changing," you need to do something that tests the
technological limits. But you can't go out there with something laughable, either.
So Bob and I picked each other's brains about various concepts. He admired the work Tesla Motors [a Silicon Valley car company] had
done to develop a battery-electric roadster — a small, light two-seat car. Bob thought we ought to take a look at a pure battery-electric
car. We kicked that around, but for the kind of car we were thinking of — one that average families would use — the battery would have to
be enormous to have a decent amount of range.
I said, 'OK, how about taking a different approach?' My idea was to have just enough battery on board for most people to drive their daily
commute; for longer distances, there would be a small internal combustion engine, to create more electricity. The beauty of this concept
is people can plug in where they work or play, and when electricity isn't available, the car can still function.
In retrospect, these conversations were the decisive moment for the whole project. At the time, we didn't see it as a billion-dollar decision;
it was about striking out in a bold new direction and showing that GM could be a technological leader again. There's a lesson in there —
sometimes decisions that wind up having the largest consequences start with something relatively modest.
Once we decided on the broad concept behind the Volt, we approached things very methodically.
We Changed the Rules
When we first started talking about what became the Volt, we were thinking in terms of the existing paradigm — miles per gallon — that
was the traditional measure of how to measure a vehicle's efficiency. Another key moment was when we turned that idea on its head and
began to think in terms of how much fuel we could not use — that is, about how to avoid the use of liquid fuel altogether. By not making
miles per gallon our focus, we opened our minds to thinking differently about what cars do.
Even the best batteries in the world don't have close to the energy density of gasoline or diesel fuel; the difference, in fact is about two
orders of magnitude (100 times). The Volt's state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery pack can go about 40 miles. It is T-shaped with the longer
side six feet, the shorter one, three feet; it weighs about 400 pounds. Now think about the amount of gasoline it takes to move a car like
the Volt 40 miles — no more than a gallon. I can easily hold that much in one hand. That's why gas or diesel has been the fuel of choice
for more than 100 years.
We Started with a Small Team of Experts
Just a few dozen people working part-time refined the rough calculations to make sure we could deliver a vehicle that would meet a
typical customer's expectations. Since there wasn't time to build an actual working prototype, we did a lot of computer simulations of how
the vehicle would perform: acceleration, top speed, energy consumption, and range. During the spring of 2006, the team further detailed
the idea pretty quickly. We met weekly to discuss various technical questions and define the vehicle as concretely as possible. At about
the same time, Vice President of Global Design Ed Welburn had our design studios start a "sketch blitz" to develop the interior and
exterior styling for the concept car.
We Went Virtual
My role was to prove that technology was feasible, then take the first steps to move the project toward production. There are two ways to
do this. One is to build a full-fledged vehicle; that is very expensive and time-consuming because you have to create every single part.
The second way, which we chose, was to create a vehicle that doesn't exist physically, but only as a series of simulations.
For example, we were able to validate our assumptions about the power and size of a battery without actually having the exact propulsion
system components on hand and inside a vehicle. In fact, the vehicle itself could be represented virtually. In the simulations, the battery
pack is just a "black box" with defined inputs and outputs. Later, when you do all the detailed engineering, the exact design and
performance of the battery has to be developed and tested.
We wouldn't necessarily do it this way for something like a new mid-sized car. In that case, we could take a current model, add ballast to
create a new weight, change the aerodynamics by fiddling around with sheet metal, and modify an existing power train.
But for a car like the Volt that was breaking new ground, there wasn't an existing vehicle to work from, so virtual simulation was the only
way. We can do a lot of rapid iterations and get a basic understanding, for example, of how big the battery or electric motor needs to be
for a car of a given mass and aerodynamic qualities. Of course, if the concept car is later taken to production, it's necessary to build
prototype vehicles to run physical tests on the car and its components. But for a concept car, it's really only necessary to make sure the
concept is solid.
There was another thing we did differently with the Volt. Typically, GM develops new technology such as a new propulsion system and
then applies it to one or more vehicle programs. But because we wanted to get the Volt to market fast, we decided to develop the
propulsion system at the same time the vehicle engineering was taking place. Then we would marry the two down the line.
We Looked at Our Customers' Habits
Cars today can go hundreds of miles on a single fill-up. About 80 percent of Americans and Europeans drive 40 miles or less a day. And
from our EV1 experience [an electric car experiment that was discontinued in 2002], we knew that one of the biggest turnoffs of pure
electric cars was that people fear running out of juice. We call it "range anxiety."
But if you could create a car with a battery that most people could drive during their normal daily commute, and you could guarantee that
folks would never be stranded could that concept of an electric vehicle work and be affordable? We believed the answer was yes.
We Built the Concept Car
By early summer in 2006, we had a clay model; by the fall, we had refined the concept, defined the vehicle completely, and kicked off the
work to create the concept car we unveiled in 2007.
Throughout the development of the vehicle, having someone involved who was influential in the company and as respected in the
industry as Bob Lutz was very helpful. There was naturally some degree of internal skepticism about developing this vehicle, particularly
about the lithium-ion battery pack because it had never been done for a high-volume vehicle. Bob Lutz had the influence and ability to
make sure we didn't get stalled. When he said he wanted a game-changing concept car for the Detroit Auto Show, the reaction was, "OK,
let me know what you need."
We Went to the Product Board
In late 2006, we went to the GM Automotive Product Board for a final review. We had made a couple of progress reports, but this was the
first time we reviewed the concept in detail. We were able to show that the concept was sound and that the idea was in tune with the
times. More important, we made the case that it broke the miles-per-gallon paradigm, which intrigued a lot of people. Yes, we
acknowledged there was risk involved because the technology was not proven and the market reaction was difficult to gauge because it
required customers to interact with their vehicles differently (plug it in nightly). But we convinced them that this was something we
needed to try. On that basis, they told us to go ahead and make a concept car for the Detroit Auto Show, where it met with huge
enthusiasm.
We Went to the Board of Directors
Then the question became, should we take it to production? This is a much larger investment, in both money and time. Because we
already thought through so many of the big issues, it was not difficult to get the go-ahead. But it required the approval of the GM Board of
Directors.
The meeting happened the night before the regular board meeting in early February 2007 in the Design Dome at the GM Tech Center. In
the dome, we presented the Volt concept car as well as the chassis cutaway models. We also reviewed eight other hybrid and alternative
propulsion vehicles.
I showed perhaps 10 charts on the Volt that described the concept and the technical challenges to bring it to market. Due to the critical
acclaim that the Volt received at the Detroit Auto Show, the board encouraged us to take the next step and create an actual production
car.
Many months later, after we developed the production car, we went back to the Board and received approval to invest in the machinery
and equipment to build the Volt, a battery lab, and a battery pack assembly facility.
This was not the typical process to develop a car. Normally, a portfolio of models is developed several years ahead, and the plan gets
adjusted as required. The Volt was completely different: It started as a concept and became a full-fledged production project in record
time.
The Road Ahead
Notably, the Volt will be the first high-volume production vehicle that doesn't use petroleum as its primary "fuel" ? an idea that looks more
and more attractive whether the topic is the environment, sustainability, foreign policy, or even energy security.
In addition, the Volt is part of a bigger picture toward electrification of the automobile. The underlying technology will be applicable to
other types of electrically powered vehicles. So for us, this is not just about getting the Volt on the road; it is the first step in a strategic
drive toward a number of electric-based propulsion architectures.
There has never been any looking back. Even at the end of 2008, when the economy suffered a meltdown and GM was in bad financial
shape, and throughout 2009, there was never a serious discussion to put the Volt on ice. It was and still is one of GM's highest priorities.
Setting the Price
We haven't established the retail price for the Volt, but it will likely be more than $30,000, making it more expensive than a typical mid-
market car. Over time, though, the higher initial price will be offset by lower running costs, due to the relatively low cost of electricity per
mile driven compared to gasoline. And federal, state, and local governments have also created incentives to stimulate demand for
electric-powered vehicles.
Frankly, the cost of the new propulsion technology is much higher than a normal car because it is still in its infancy. But the cost of critical
components, including the battery pack, power electronics, and electric motor, will come down as we build economies of scale and
develop more innovative ways to deliver the same function at a lower cost. The gasoline engine has a 100-year head start. That will take
some time to overcome. But you have to start somewhere.
The Volt, by itself, is not going to change the financial fortunes of companies in the near term, and it will be a small part of GM's financial
picture for some time to come. But let's see where it goes. Every big tree starts with a little seed. Whether you are a supporter of the Volt
or not, you have to acknowledge that it has changed the conversation.

Can the Chevy Volt Recharge GM?

GM is publicly confident that its $1 billion investment in the Volt will pay off. The automotive press, though, is not so sure.
Alex Taylor, Fortune magazine's longtime carwriter, href="[Link]
[Link]">callsthe Volt "misguided, even foolhardy." He questionswhether it gives enough value, in either environmental or
performance terms, tomake it a strong alternative to the Prius or other hybrids. Those cars may notbe as interesting technologically, but
they also cost a lot less than the Voltwill. And GM will not have the electric field for itself for long: Nissan hasannounced that its own
electric car, href="[Link] Leaf,will also go on the market next year.
Yet some are more optimistic: "So far," saysRick Newman of href="[Link]
[Link]">[Link] and World Report, "the Volt is standing up to scrutiny."An analyst
at href="[Link]
Driver liked driving an early, electric-only version. The generalview might be described as intrigued but skeptical. For GM's part,says Jon
Lauckner, who as vice president of global product planning has overseen the development of the Volt, the company istotally committed:
"We are prepared to go the distance with thisthing."
Richard Piellisch, editor and publisher of the SanFrancisco-based Fleets and Fuels newsletter, has been following the car industry's efforts
toreplace the internal combustion engine for years. Here is what he thinks of theVolt:
Is the Chevy Volt any good?
It looks very good. A large team of experienced people istaking its time to make this happen — a car that you rarely, andmaybe never,
have to buy gasoline for. Yet the Volt looks and has the size of anice modern car.
Historically, a lot of start-ups, going back to DeLorean inthe early 1970s, have failed. It takes a car company to design a new kind of car.
The Volt, with two propulsion systems and the battery being the more important one, really is a new kind of car.
Outside estimates are that the first-generation Volt will cost about$40,000. Is that too high?
That is the $64,000 question.
But if the Volt does come in it at something like $40,000,it is going to hurt. Even with current tax incentives, the price won’tcome below
$30,000; whereas if you went for a conventional gasoline-poweredcar, you could spend about $20,000 for similar performance and styling.
Whyspend so much more unless you are trying to make some kind of statement?
In San Francisco, where there are a lot of doctors andlawyers and green-oriented people with money, it may do well. But I don’tthink there
are enough of those people around to make it a commercial successat such a high price. And remember, too, these kinds of people have
not beenbuying GM cars for a while. A $40,000 Chevy — that is a difficultstigma to overcome.
GM uses the term “paradigm shift” to describe the Volt. Is it?
Yes, I think it is. Drive a car into garage and plug it in,that’s a big difference. If you drive less than 40 miles a day, youcould conceivably
never buy gasoline.
I do think GM is committed to this, but I am also remindedthat not so long ago, it was very bullish on hydrogen. In the late ’90sand early
2000s, hydrogen was the clean fuel du jour. Now no one at GM talksabout it. That said, I think battery-driven vehicles are more likely to
succeedthan hydrogen. You don’t need a lot of new infrastructure forsomething like the Volt: There are electrical outlets in every garage.
That’sa lot different from having to develop a “hydrogen economy.”
Is GM haunted by its history with the hybrids?
Absolutely. All the American automakers missed the boat onhybrids. They could have done it before Honda and Toyota but decided not
[Link] the Clinton era, the Big Three took federal money to develop hybridprototypes —
the href="[Link] a New Generation of Vehicles. While
some of those vehicles made it toauto shows, none made it to showrooms.
How important is the Volt to GM?
It’s important, but let’s keep it incontext. For one thing, GM is going to eat some losses before the Volt becomesprofitable; and it seems
willing to do that. Remember, too, even if the Volt isvery successful, it will not be more than 5 percent to 10 percent of GM’sbottom line
for years. If you think of six million unit sales a year as aconservative baseline (GM sold 8.3 million vehicles in 2008), 5 percent would
mean selling 300,000Volts—and that is certainly a long way off. For the first generationVolt, GM is estimating production of 60,000. U.S.
consumers bought a total of314,000 hybrids in 2008, for a 2.4 percent market share.
But if the Volt works, it will change the perception of GMas an innovative company. And if the Volt really does prove to be a paradigmshift,
GM could find itself in the driver’s seat. Twenty years downthe road, every vehicle is going to be some kind of hybrid. And if oil pricesrise,
that could happen faster.
That’s a lot of “ifs” —and every “if” is a big one.

New Jobs: 8 Lessons from Real-Life Career Switchers

When Lisa Eaves decided to make a mid-career switch from working as a tech specialist for Fannie Mae to opening her own acupuncture
practice five years ago, it was a risky move, but not a rash one.
During treatment for melanoma several years earlier, Eaves, 51, had become fascinated with Chinese medicine. And she also began
realizing that technology work, while financially rewarding, was not something she was passionate about. “I felt it was time to explore
other lines of work, and my health scare gave me that push,” Eaves says. So she enrolled in night and weekend classes while she worked
and eventually got a Master's degree in acupuncture before starting her practice part-time.
Eaves had time on her side, and ideally, so will you. But if a layoff or a shrinking industry has left you little choice but to find another line
of work, there’s still plenty you can do to prepare and make that transition as smooth and successful as possible. According to a recent
[Link] survey, one-third of American workers are interested in changing careers right now. Here are eight rules for doing it
right.
1. Dig Inside for an Honest Appraisal
While it’s obviously crucial to match your next job or career to your interests, that can be easier said than done. You may have been
working in the same field for years — or even decades — making it hard to get a good idea of what else you’re suited for.
To help you get started, check out free self-assessment quizzes at [Link] [Link]. You can find more detailed
personality tests — such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Strong Interest Inventory, and the Work-Personality Index — for a fee
at What’s Next.
Beverly Jones, a 53-year-old corporate lawyer and vice president of external affairs and policy at Consolidated Natural Gas, accepted a
modest early-retirement package. Her second-act plan was to get involved in landscape design, since gardening was one of her passions.
But she soon found that it didn’t make sense as a career choice. As a hobby, gardening was the perfect antidote to a busy career, but the
solitary nature of the work made it a lousy full-time gig. She thrived on social contact. The good news: Jones had another skill —
mentoring — that met all her requirements for a rewarding second career.
While remaining loosely associated with a law firm and lobbying for a nonprofit, she studied and obtained a Leadership Coaching
Certificate from Georgetown University. She also attended career workshops, hired her own career coach, and read extensively about the
field. Roughly six months later, she launched her own coaching/consulting practice in Washington. “In time, I began to find my own voice
as a coach and felt confident I was doing what I was meant to do,” Jones says.
2. Get the Skills You Need Before You Leave Your Job
If at all possible, keep your current job while you add the education you need for your new pursuit so that you can reduce your financial
burden. Under federal law, employers can offer up to $5,250 a year in tax-free education-assistance benefits for undergraduate or
graduate courses. You don’t even need to be working toward a degree. Your employer, however, may require you to receive a minimum
grade or to complete a program to be eligible for reimbursement. You may also need to stay employed by your company for a period of
time after completing the course of study. And some employers even offer these benefits to laid-off former employees.
When mortgage banker Cliff Stevenson, 55, decided to become a high-school social-studies teacher a few years ago, he took night
courses for two years to get a master’s degree in education before he resigned from his firm. Since he had an undergraduate degree in
history, all he needed were seven additional courses in education to be certified as a social-studies teacher in Pennsylvania. “I started
planning years before I switched careers,” Stevenson says. “My wife and I thought carefully about the financial aspects, and I set a target
date that I would leave the mortgage-banking business, which allowed me to go to school and stuff away as much money as I could.”
Unplanned bonus: He got out of mortgage banking just before the industry fell off a cliff.
3. Take Advantage of Education Tax Breaks
If you need to ramp up your skills with a degree or additional classwork, the tuition tab can be onerous. Stevenson’s total cost for a
master’s degree in education, for instance, was $35,000. Depending on your income, though, you might qualify for various tax credits,
such as the lifetime learning credit, worth up to $2,000 each year for an unlimited number of years that can be used for tuition and fees.
The credit has an income phaseout for 2009 incomes from $50,000 to $60,000 (single filer) or $100,000 to $120,000 (married filing
jointly). These phaseouts are indexed for inflation.
4. Apply for Student Aid
Financial aid isn’t just for undergrads — anyone can get low-cost student loans from the government, even if you’re only attending part-
time. Acupuncturist Eaves was able to borrow $10,500 to help with her $26,000 tuition using low-interest Stafford loans, the main federal
loan for students. Graduate Stafford loans currently charge a fixed rate of 6.8 percent, compared with about 8 percent for a home-equity
loan.
The good news is that the federal aid formulas that determine how much you can borrow don’t take into account your home-equity or
retirement accounts. Also, a certain amount of your savings — about $20,000 to over $60,000, depending on your age and marital status
— are not calculated into your aid formula. And your student-loan interest may even be tax deductible, depending on your income level.
You can get more information on what’s deductible from IRS Publication 970, as well as from the National Association of Student Financial
Aid Administrators’ Tax Benefits Guide.
In addition, there are a number of research scholarships and grants available specifically for older students that are offered by different
associations and foundations. Check out sites such asFastWeb and FinAid to find what’s available.
5. Consider Moving to Reduce Costs
The reality is that you will probably have to take a salary cut when you move into a new career, so it might make sense to look for work in
an area where the cost of living is lower. Tim Sheerer, 48, moved from an expensive northern New Jersey suburb, where he had
commuted to work on Wall Street as an investment banker, to Pittsburgh, when he decided to enter the restaurant business and open an
Italian bistro. The cost of living there — about one-third lower — allowed him the cushion to get his restaurant up and running without
undue financial pressure. Of course, that sort of uprooting is a little more complicated if you have a family to consider. For Sheerer, he
couldn’t have done it without getting the green light from his wife, Colleen, and four children, who all pitch in at the restaurant.
6. Train While You Work
When Seattle human resources pro Arlene Carter lost her job, a friend told her about an executive fundraising job at a local assisted-living
community. The job duties combined fundraising, public relations, and marketing. Carter figured she didn’t have quite the right skills for
the job, but she went for the interview anyway. As it turned out, the hiring manager for the nonprofit foundation liked her and offered to
shell out a few grand to help her to earn a certificate in fundraising from Indiana University-Purdue University.
It may be hard to believe, but there are some fields, particularly in the health care sector, where there’s a shortage of workers, so
employers are willing to help train employees who have the overall skill set and personality to do a job but need to bone up on the nuts
and bolts. “The kind of work I did in human resources and what you do in public relations is actually pretty close,” says Carter. “And
because it was a hybrid job, it was a little easier to make the stretch.”
Fields such as nursing, eldercare, and home health services are particularly amenable to on-the-job training, says Ellen Freudenheim,
author of The Boomers’ Guide to Good Work.
7. Downsize Your Lifestyle
When you’re new to a profession, you usually can’t expect to pull in the big bucks until you ramp up your skills and gain experience. So
get a clear handle on your finances, and start to look for places to cut spending. Ask what luxuries you can do without, from dining out to
dry cleaning. And set aside a cushion of up to six months of living expenses to ease transition costs, as well as for unexpected
emergencies. Before she left Fannie Mae, Eaves, for instance, refinanced her condo to lower her monthly mortgage payment and paid off
her car loan.
Arlene Carter had to take a 15 percent pay cut for her new position, but she’s taken it in stride. For starters, she now commutes just one
mile to work as opposed to 30 minutes to her ex-employer’s office, which helps her save on gas and wear and tear on her car. She and her
husband also found ways to trim monthly expenses by cutting channel options for their cable-TV service and reducing the number of
minutes available on their cell phones. They make a habit of opting for home-cooked meals, and her new work environment’s casual dress
policy means lower wardrobe bills. “I don’t even notice the pay cut,” Carter says.
8. Get Your Foot in the Door
It’s critical to soak up as much as you can about the businesses that appeal to you before you make the plunge. So do informational
interviews with people who work in those fields, apply for internships or fellowships, and consider volunteering or moonlighting to get a
sense of what the job entails. A potential employer can get a chance to see what you have to offer, and you get a peek inside to see if the
job suits you.
 Before Steve Brooks, a veteran TV producer based in Atlanta, opened his boutique winery in Walla Walla, Wash., he worked as an
apprentice to top-drawer winemakers in the region, in addition to taking classes. “I made a lot of contacts in the business and connected
with winemakers who were willing to mentor me,” Brooks says. “I was a cellar rat for three years, and it was the best education I could
imagine.”

Make Money From Your Hobbies

What are you into? Are you an expert at something? Do you have a hobby that you absolutely love? If so, you just might be able to turn that hobby into a few
extra bucks every [Link]'ve all been told that "it's not work if you love what you do," but the problem is most of us are stuck in jobs we don't love, working
for people we don't respect, and are worried about paying off credit card bills and making the rent [Link]'t it be great if you could turn what you love
-- what you gladly spend your other 8 hours doing -- and make money at the same time? Here's how you can do just [Link] out eduFire. They are a
"live video learning" website where folks like you -- people with a passion and an expertise -- can teach others (or learn from others). eduFire provides the
teaching platform; you provide the [Link] are the two things you need to consider:1. What can you teach? Before you say there's nothing you can
teach, take a step back. If you're like me, whenever you hear "instructor," you probably immediately get this vision of a leisure-suit-wearing stuffy college
professor yapping about electrons and nuclei? Well that's not an eduFire instructor, and it doesn't have to be you either. Also, a single hour-long course is just
fine -- you don't need to 12 courses over a [Link] some time to brainstorm your interests. Do you speak another language? Are you a marketing
whiz? Have you mastered Twitter or Facebook? Check out eduFire's website to spark some ideas.2. How much can you make? According to Jon
Bischke, founder and president of eduFire, top teachers make between $100 to $150 an hour (85% of the revenue goes to the instructor and 15% goes to
eduFire). If you taught the same course a couple of times a month, you might pull in an extra $200 or $300. Not bad for doing something you [Link] more
students you get, the more you make. Tap into the 40,000+ students who have already registered for eduFire courses AND be sure to market your course to
your own network for maximum [Link] Tips
 Brand building. Maybe you want to build your brand, platform, or reach. Instead of charging for your class, offer it for free. Once you
build a following and are in demand, you could then charge for classes.
 Up-sell. You could offer free classes but then introduce your own services/products. For example, if you are a PR guru, you could teach a
class on how to write a killer press release for free. For those students who are interested, you could help them build their media list for a
fee. Warning: you must provide good, solid content. eduFire is not your personal infomercial network.
 Differentiate. Check out the list of courses currently offered on the site. If there are other classes similar to yours (e.g., how to learn
Chinese), review the course titles, descriptions, and instructor profiles and offer something different. For example, instead of titling your
class, "Learn Chinese," how about "The 10 Business Phrases in Chinese You Must Know," or "Don't Visit China without First Taking this
Class."
 Prime time. Per founder, Jon Bischke, the majority of classes are taken from 5:00pm to 6:00pm. Try to fit your class around this hotspot.
 Meritocracy. Classes are not reviewed first by eduFire. The community (your students) determines your success (can you imagine if
College worked this way?). Provide good content and you'll get better rankings. The better your rankings the more eduFire will market
your class and the more students you'll get.
If you're not quite ready to teach a class, but are interested in taking a class, most are between $5 and $20 per session. eduFire also offers a SuperPass
program that allows you to take unlimited classes for $29 a month. And because I kicked, screamed, and begged, they are giving me 10, one month
SuperPasses to give away!The first five who post a comment below will win a pass and the first 5 people who link to this post from their website/blog will win
-- just email me the URL by clicking on "Contact Robert Pagliarini" to the left under my [Link] luck and happy teaching . . .

Chart of the Week: Do Government Programs Encourage Poverty?

If you're a single parent in Virginia, you're probably going to take home a little less than $40,000 per year. But oddly, due to various tax breaks and
welfare benefits, your haul will be roughly the same, regardless of whether you've made $20,000 or $40,000 from actually [Link]'s according
to an analysis of the "working poors'" implicit marginal tax rate from the Mises Institute, a libertarian think tank. The chart below has been popping
up on other economics blogs this week, so I figured readers on BNET would be interested to see it as well.

This chart's creator, Clifford F. Thies, is

convinced slicing welfare/income data in other ways would still show the same result: for many, there is a disincentive to work for more
money. Here a few of the consequences of such government hand-out programs, in Thies' view, even if they are well-intentioned:

For many of the working poor, the implicit marginal tax rate is greater than 100 percent. The long-run consequence of undermining the positive
incentive to work is, of course, the creation of an underclass acclimated to not working; the supplement of cash and noncash benefits with income
from crime and the underground economy; and the government resorting to negative incentives such as mandatory work programs.

Use Mobile Bing to Get Real-Time Flight Status and Local Movie Listings
Bing keeps getting more interesting all the time. Sure, Google is still king of the search roost, but a recent update to Microsoft's search engine
makes it a strong choice for your search needs while on the [Link]'s mobile page -- [Link] -- has travel-optimized links across the top of the
page for driving directions, traffic, weather, and move listing. If you tell Bing what zip code you're in, tapping any of those links zeros you into
location-aware results, such as local movie listing, a traffic flow map, and local weather. The movie listings also include video trailers and movie
info -- very [Link] you're flying, just enter the airline and flight number into the search box, and you'll be offered links to real-time flight status and
the ability to track the flight in real time. (Unfortunately, this is a US-only feature right now.)Bing is optimized for touch devices with a bigger search
box and finger targets on devices like the iPhone, G1, and Zune [Link] can add all this mobile stuff to my six reasons for searching with [Link]
 you don't mind spending a buck, there's also a Bing iPhone app that is location aware via GPS, so you don't need to enter a zip code. It also
displays the Bing photo of the day, if you're into that sort of thing.

Get $100 Off a BlackBerry Purchase Next Week Only

What time is it when Walmart offers $100 off on the purchase of a BlackBerry? Time to buy a new phone, of [Link] you're in the market for a new
smartphone, this could be your lucky day. From November 14 - 20, if you buy a BlackBerry along with a two-year contract to AT&T, Sprint, T-
Mobile or Verizon, Walmart will give you a $100 Walmart gift card that you can use on anything in the store, from phone accessories to a new Rock
Band guitar controller. You can even buy a holiday gift for me or Rick. Here's a list of the eligible devices:
 AT&T Curve 8310
 AT&T Bold 9000
 Sprint Curve 8330 (Red & Titanium colors)
 T-Mobile 8520 (Black, White, and Frost)
 T-Mobile Pearl 8120 (Emerald)
 Verizon Storm
 Verizon Storm II
You can take advantage of the deal at a Walmart location in the real world or via Walmart's online store. Read all the details in the official Walmart
press release.

Three Windows 7 Features That'll Boost Your Productivity

Sure, Windows 7 has some nice new eye candy, an overhauled taskbar, and those nifty Jump List thingies. But where are the features that'll
actually improve your productivity?According to TechRepublic, Windows 7's secret efficiency benefits can be found in its window-management
tools: Aero Peek, Shake, and Snap. Here's an excerpt from the author's take on Snap, the tool that lets you rearrange windows just by dragging
them to the edges of the screen:For example, when you need to copy files from one folder to another, you can use Snap to position two Windows
Explorer windows side by side and easily drag files from one to the next. If you're reading a long document in one window and want to keep an eye
on a Desktop Gadget, you can use snap to stretch the document window from the top to the bottom of the screen. If you're using multiple monitors,
you'll discover that Snap allows you to drag a maximized window from one monitor to the next.

I have to agree: Snap is one of Windows 7's unsung heroes. I'm also a fan of Shake, which minimizes all windows (except the selected one) with a
few click-and-drag flicks of the mouse.I don't, however, see much value in Peek, which makes all your windows temporarily transparent (or
minimizes them when you click the the Peek button). I relied heavily on the Show Desktop icon in XP and Vista, and I hate having to mouse to the
opposite corner of the screen in [Link], the author makes a valid point: Spend a little time mastering these new tools and you should find yourself
working faster and more efficiently in Windows [Link] on the new OS:

It's a Jungle Out There

I work in a jungle. Not metaphorically. I'm talking about a real [Link] now I'm watching a 75 pound Rottweiler squirm around on his back,
making funny noises, trying to bait a Boxer into playing. The Boxer just sits there and yawns. I have no idea what that means, unless maybe he's
bored. As I recline in the office La-Z-Boy - where I do much of my writing - my head rests lightly on a fluffy black pillow named Clyde. He likes to
just lay there while I work. Once in a while I reach back and pet him and he purrs. That I [Link] you think this is bizarre, I don't blame you. I think it's
bizarre too. But still, I'd bet my office environment is tame compared to the jungle you work [Link] people ask me why I gave up working in
corporate America at such a young age (I don't think I was young - I was 46 - but that's what they ask). Well, I have a few canned answers, like:
"The workplace has become too PC for a dysfunctional control freak like me." "I burned out on the endless travel,
meetings, and political crap.""I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in corporate America.""'Been there, done that'
working in other people's companies; now it's time for Tobak Inc.""Nobody would hire me. I mean,
would you? Seriously, would you?"
And while all those answers are true (except maybe the last one), the real answer is more likely this:It's a jungle out there - a crazy, random,
stressful, risky environment for an executive. I much prefer my safe little controlled cocoon where I get to call the shots, the only metric is revenue,
and I have no boss and only one peer whose moves I know pretty well after 20 [Link] this sounds at all like I'm being smug about my position, I
assure you, I'm not. I spent 23 years working my tail off in the jungle. Not the dogs and cats one, the other jungle. I paid my [Link], believe me
when I say I've sacrificed a great deal to do what I'm doing now: the excitement of innovation, the challenge of developing great products, the
camaraderie of being part of a management team, the customer relationships, the regular paycheck, the recognition, and of course, the perks. But
now I get to pass along all I've learned and experienced to those of you out there in the jungle, just as others did for me on my journey. Hope it
helps to light your path, throw you a line, or maybe even get you out of quicksand once in a while. That, for me, makes the sacrifice worthwhile.

Feeling Overwhelmed by Social Media? You're Not Alone

When I was a fulltime executive, I never would have found time for social media and all the communications gadgets everyone's eyes, ears, and
thumbs seem to be glued to these days. I used to work like 50-60 hour weeks, not to mention all the travel. The rare times I was home and not
working or sleeping, I had things to do, fun to have, and relationships to maintain -- like my [Link] I work a lot less but my time is still
somehow consumed - with what, I don't know - and the lure of social media and communications gadgets loom like an ever-growing mountain of
unmet expectations. So I wonder: how the heck does anyone have time for all this stuff and is your business life "more" or "less" fulfilling and
productive now than it was pre-social media?For me, the answers are "I don't" and "less" and "less." Bigtime. The other day, a good friend - sort of
a geeky gadget guy - gave me a hard time because I didn't respond to his text message. When I finally did reply, the dialog went like this:
Him: Do you know how to read text messages on your free crappy phone?Me: Hey, I paid a ton for this crappy phone!
Him: Wow am I your first text?Me: Don't be an idiot.
I must be the only guy in Silicon Valley who doesn't have a smartphone. What's weird is I want one, but I'm afraid that it'll just eat up more of my
time and, even more weird, leave me feeling guilty that I'm not getting more out of it. And that's really the story of my whole social networking life
these days.I originally got on Twitter to post my blog. People retweet my stuff all the time, which is great, and when I get a minute I engage in a
little dialog, which is also fun, but that's all I have time for, which leaves me feeling like I'm letting my followers down. Not to mention how many
hundreds of followers I lost because I'm a boring tweeter.I'm on LinkedIn, like everyone else, but it's never done me any good. People want to link
to me, but I have no idea why. They probably imagine I have this huge network, but nothing could be further from the truth. I've joined a group or
two, but the discussions are more like fishing expeditions than anything really [Link] Facebook for business? Come on now. My Facebook
page is entirely populated by friends and business associates talking about anything but business. Again, it's fun but time consuming. So I dip my
toe in the water once in a while and see all these great conversations going on and it just leaves me feeling guilty and left [Link] it me? It can't be
just me. Are you feeling overwhelmed by social media, or do you actually find the time for all this stuff? And is business "more" or "less" fulfilling
and productive now than before? Better still, take this poll:

When Nonprofits Compete with Businesses

Two Seattle-based organizations illustrate how the distinction is blurring between charities and businesses. Grist is a popular news
blog and Groundwire is a consulting shop that helpsorganizations build up their online capabilities. Grist competes with every other new media site
for eyeballs and advertising dollars while Groundwire has to battle with every other ad agency for new website [Link] both have an inherent
advantage over other service providers in the field.* Because they have an environmental component to their missions, they are both classified as
nonprofits. That means they avoid paying many federal income taxes and can supplement their operating budgets with tax-exempt [Link]
off, it is worth noting that there are disadvantages with establishing an organization as a nonprofit. The group's founders cannot sell or cash out, for
example. And it's not necessarily easier to rely on donors rather than just [Link] finally, I am not accusing either of these groups of doing
anything illegal or unethical. Both have to make their cases to the IRS that they should qualify as tax-exempt charities working solely in the public's
 interest and they've both been [Link], I'm not convinced that nonprofits with this level of commercial activity deserve the exact same
tax breaks as pure charities. Perhaps it's time for Congress to clarify the rules.*Disclosures: I've helped an environmental group with a media
buy on Grist before. I also own a for-profit online news site as well as a consulting practice that helps environmental groups, among others,
develop websites.

The Netbook Diaries 2009 (Part 3): Buying Advice

If you're like most business users I know, you're giving serious thought to making your next PC a netbook. And why not? They're compact,
lightweight, inexpensive, and, let's face it, [Link], so maybe cute isn't a deciding factor, but you probably do have questions about what to
look for in a [Link] traveled quite a bit with an early-generation Acer Aspire One and a newer MSI Wind U115 Hybrid, I can tell
you exactly what features are important -- and what you should avoid at all [Link] starters, I've yet to see a netbook you could customize at the
time of purchase -- most vendors sell specific configurations. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it could prevent you from getting exactly the
setup you want. Here's what to consider:
 Processor Virtually all netbooks rely on an Intel Atom processor. They're notoriously pokey, even the newer Z520 and Z530
(which are starting to replace the ubiquitous N270). But they're fast enough for basic computing, so don't sweat the processor
decision. Not much you can do about it anyway.
 Screen The sweet spot for netbook screens seems to be 10 inches, and that's the size you'll see on many of this year's models.
However, more and more newcomers are sporting 11.6-inch screens, which obviously makes for a larger, heavier, and less
battery-friendly netbook. It also gives you a higher resolution for running Windows, and that can help boost your productivity. If
you don't mind the a little more heft, a bigger screen is almost always better.
 Hard drive My MSI Wind U115 Hybrid sports an 8GB solid-state drive (SSD), which accommodates Windows XP, and a 120GB
standard hard drive for apps and data. Interesting idea, bad execution: XP needs more than 8GB, so the system is constantly
telling me I'm low on space. I recommend avoiding SSDs altogether, as they're a lot pricier than regular drives and offer few
performance or power-saving benefits.
 Battery My old Aspire One has a three-cell battery, and I'm lucky to get two hours of runtime from it. The U115 rolls with a nine-
cell, which adds weight, bulk, and cost -- but the system runsall day. My advice: Opt for at least a six-cell battery, and get it at
the time of purchase (as it'll cost you even more if purchased separately). This is not the place to cut corners.
 Operating System Windows XP has long been the netbook OS of choice, but Windows 7 is finally available. Should you choose
the latter? Based on what I've seen, absolutely. It's significantly more secure than XP, and my test-runs proved it to be a decent
enough performer. Of course, Linux is always an option (check out 3 free Linux alternatives for your netbook), but I suspect most
business users will want some form of Windows.
What more would you like to know about netbooks? Give me a shout in the comments and I'll answer any questions you might have.

Get 3GB of Free Online Backup, File Synchronization, Sharing, Sausages

The cloud is the new floppy disk. Unfortunately, it's hard to find a cloud with the right mix of features, capacity, and price. I love the
way DropBox integrates itself into Windows, for example, but you only get 2GB for free. SkyDrive gives you 25GB, but there's no desktop
integration (aside from the nice-try-but-kinda-clumsy SkyDrive Explorer).Now I've got a new option that has DropBox's integration, a little more
capacity, and a few other conveniences as [Link] has released a free version of its cloud-based backup service. You can now take
advantage of 3GB of MemoPal's online backup service at no [Link]'s great news, because you can specify watch folders, which MemoPal
keeps continuously in sync with an online server. You can use it to literally back up critical data, or just to synchronize certain files with other
[Link] because there's no file limit size (like SkyDrive imposes), you can use your MemoPal service as a way to share large files with co-
workers. Just right-click a file in a MemoPal watched folder and share it -- you'll have the option to make it available for whatever period of time you
specify (including forever).If 3GB proves too small, you can upgrade to 200GB for $49/year. Personally, I'm thinking that I like MemoPal a lot -- it
might even replace DropBox as my favorite way to share and sync files online. Anyone disagree with me? Sound off in the comments.

Get Free Wi-Fi from Bing, Google, or Yahoo

Traveling this holiday season? Well, it seems that pretty much all of the major search engines have conspired to bring you free Wi-Fi. Mind you,

they're not working together to make this happen; it just seems to have turned out this way. First up: Google.
Google is offering free Wi-Fi to travelers at 47 airports, starting now and running through January 15, 2010. Google is also giving away the Wi-Fi on
Virgin America flights that occur within the continental US. You can find the complete list of participating airports at [Link]. Thankfully,

Sea-Tac is on the list; now I just have to find a reason to fly somewhere. Bing is also giving away Wi-Fi these days
as part of a national campaign to get people to break habits and try the search engine. In exchange for free Wi-Fi at a large number of airports and

hotels across the country, all you need to do is perform a search with Bing. Finally, Yahoo is offering free Wi-Fi at
Times Square (you know -- the one in New York City) for a full year. The service kicked off on November 10, so I haven't been able to determine if
the year of service ends on Nov 10, 2010, or if it'll go all the way through Jan 1, 2011. Either way, you can tap into it by looking for the SSID "Times
Sq Free Wifi." You can read more about it at the official Times Square Web site.

Why Sales Quotas Can Hurt Your Profitability

What would happen if you got rid of your sales staff's quotas? Would they slack off and make your profitability plummet?According to new research
from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the opposite very well may happen: eliminating quotas can provide a means of boosting your
[Link] are generally seen as a way to encourage and pay off employees who work the hardest, but researchers Harikesh Nair, a Stanford
GSB associate marketing professor, and Sanjog Misra of the University of Rochester found that quotas can actually encourage employees to
make fewer sales. Nair explained how in a Stanford press release:
Those who have already made the quota in a current compensation cycle may have an incentive to postpone additional
sales. Alternatively, those who perceive they have no chance of making the quota in the current cycle have a perverse
incentive to postpone their effort to the next cycle.
In their research, Nair and Misra worked with a Fortune 500 company developing an alternative compensation system, which eliminated quotas.
The result of the new system was an approximate increase of $1 million a month in incremental [Link] course, one company's success with
eliminating quotas shouldn't be taken as a condemnation of the entire system, which may work very well for some companies."What managers
need to do is evaluate more carefully how the [quota] system is functioning for their own organization," Nair suggests. He advises managers to
analyze employees' behavioral patterns regarding the compensation system, and to look at sales data over time to see how employee output
changed when different quotas or incentives were introduced. This can give managers an idea of whether quotas are helping or doing more harm
than good.
 Apple's Really Dumb Idea: Nazi-SPAM
Apple computer just invented the planet's dumbest marketing idea. It's a patented form of online advertising that FORCES you to pay attention. It
locks up your computer or phone until you take some action (like correctly answering a question about the ad) that proves you're paying mental
attention to the [Link]'s not just SPAM. It's Nazi-SPAM. Achtung! You vill read zis ad or else! The New York Times article decribing the method says
that Apple thinks this marketing technique would "enable computers and other consumer products to be offered to customers free or at a reduced
price."Here's why this is a seriously dumb [Link], the free-if-you'll-accept-intrusive-ads concept has bombed every time it's been attempted.
(E.g. the "Free PC" in the U.S., the "Henphone" in China.)Second, Nazi-SPAM is a great way to make prospects and customers hate your guts.
When ads go beyond what's normal on broadcast TV or radio, I think that most people start to actively avoid the product being advertised.I'll say
this much: if an ad EVER hung my device until I asked answered some jackass question, I would NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER
buy whatever was being advertised. NEVER. And I would badmouth that product and that company every chance I got, to anyone who'd be willing
to listen to me.I don't care if I got the device for "free." I would deeply resent ANY advertiser who interrupted what I was doing in order to FORCE
me to pay attention the [Link] I believe that would be true for any product sold in any environment. Take B2B for [Link] doing sales for
a company that was creating "brand awareness" using Nazi-SPAM. The only way you'd get a prospect to talk with you would be to claim you
worked for somebody else. You'd have to a fake a coughing fit every time the customer asked for your firm's [Link] maybe I'm wrong. Maybe
Nazi-SPAM is the greatest idea since the Ipod.

How to Sell by Word of Mouth

If you want to build business by word of mouth, you've got to have the kind of story that customers and prospects tell each other. You need to give
them something called a "useful, compelling narrative." Let me explain.A narrative is a simple story (i.e. something with a plot, a protagonist, and
an antagonist) that's easy to for one person to tell another. A compelling narrative is one that has an emotional component that inspires people to
tell that story to others, thereby creating word of mouth. Auseful compelling narrative is one that drives desirable behavior -- like convincing
prospects to give you a [Link] successful word of mouth campaign has a useful compelling narrative. Here are two classic examples:
 Basic Narrative: Apple computer (the protagonist) wins hearts and minds (the plot) from IBM (the antagonist).
 Why It Was Compelling: It's a classic underdog story that makes the "little people" feel powerful.
 Why It Was Useful: It established Apple Computers as a niche product category.
 Basic Narrative: Media outsider Matt Drudge (the protagonist) reveals secrets (the plot) missed by mainstream media (the
antagonist).
 Why It Was Compelling: Some people distrust mainstream journalism.
 Why It Was Useful: It established Drudge as a marketable alternative, creating a site with ad revenue.
Although the two examples are very different, in both cases, the narrative was easy to tell, with easily grasped emotions, and drove towards a clear
business [Link] sales, your narrative almost always has the same plot: how the customer (the protagonist) worked with you (the plot) to
overcome a problem (the antagonist.) Note that you are NOT the protagonist, but part of the plot [Link]: the word of mouth that builds your
business is the story that your CUSTOMER tells about himself. It's not about how wonderful you were at helping them, but how smart the customer
was to work with you in order to solve the [Link] reason that the recipient of the story calls you (creating the all-important referral) is because
the recipient wants to be able to tell the same narrative (i.e. success story) to his or her chums. And that's what builds word of [Link]'s
another way of looking at it. Which of the following customer remarks do you think are likely to go viral?
1. Joe is a great guy and easy to work with. You should call him if you've got inventory problems.
2. We just saved $10 million by getting rid of excess inventory. How? I worked with Joe.
Obviously, it's the second message that's going to resonate (i.e. is compelling) and, more importantly, is more likely to be useful and drive some
business your [Link] you understand your "useful, compelling narrative," you can create word-of-mouth sales by helping your existing
customers to tell that story, either by asking them to act as reference accounts, asking that they call potential prospects, setting them up with
speaking opportunities, and so forth.

Most Important Social Media Trends for 2010

With a nod to Malcolm Gladwell, social networking hit aTipping Point this year. In Gladwell's words, "Ideas and behavior and messages and
products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics." By his definition, social networks and associated
technologies have hit epidemic proportions. So David Armano's look at social media trends in 2010 comes at just the right moment. Armano is
founder of Dachis Group, an Austin based consultancy delivering social business design services, and I thought his observations quite
[Link]'s a summary of his six predictions:
1. Corporations look to scale. Big companies have experimented with social network marketing and support one-offs, but the
prediction here is that corporate efforts will become much more programmatic and strategic in 2010.
2. Social business becomes serious play?€?. Social networking companies move much more heavily into entertainment.
3. Your company will have a social media policy (and it might actually be enforced. ) ?€?Expect your company to
formalize its views on social media and rules of engagement for employees.
4. Mobile becomes a social media lifeline. Forget the cigarette break at work. In 2010 you will be taking social media breaks.
5. Sharing no longer means e-mail?€?. What we used to forward to friends and colleagues on e-mail we will now share across
networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
6. Social media begins to look less social?€?. I discussed this in a recent post. The general idea: We will become much more
exclusive in our social networking practices.
How do you think social networking will evolve in the coming year?

The 10 Rules of Great Groups

The other day I was listening to Soul Sacrifice from Santana's remarkable first album, c. 1969. I've probably listened to it a thousand times, but I
was still blown away by how tight the band was. All I could think of was what it must feel like when a band jams together for the first time and
everyone realizes there's magic in the [Link] the concept of "Great Groups" - where the whole is infinitely greater than the sum of the parts -
goes way beyond Santana, The Allman Brothers, or The Beatles, for that matter. This rare, once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon can occur wherever
there's challenge, opportunity, and creative talent. Like its topic, there's an exceptional, one-of-a-kind book that describes - in dramatic and
insightful fashion - the conditions under which great groups occur. It's called Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration ,
by Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward [Link] premise is straightforward enough. "In our society, leadership is too often seen as
an inherently individual phenomenon." We hoist Apple's Steve Jobs up on a superstar-CEO pedestal, but the book reveals a relatively unexplored
talent of Jobs - his ability to inspire groups of developers to great heights. For example, he told the first Macintosh design team that they were there
to "make a dent in the universe." And they did. The book chronicles such diverse groups as the Disney team that developed the first full-length
animated film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Xerox PARC Palo Alto Research Center's development of the first personal
computer, Lockheed's "Skunk Works" group that built the first U.S. jet fighter in 180 days, and the Manhattan [Link] first chapter provides
an inspiring challenge for business leaders and corporate managers everywhere:
What lessons do Great Groups have for our workplaces, where so many people feel stifled, not stimulated? Look how hard people in great groups
work, without anyone hovering over them. Look how morale soars when intelligent people are asked to do a demanding but worthy task and given
the freedom and tools to do it. Imagine how much richer and happier our organizations would be if, like great groups they were filled with people
working as hard and as intelligently as they can, too caught up for pettiness, their sense of self grounded in the bedrock of talent and achievement.
Here are 10 Rules of Great Groups (from the book's original 15):
1. Great groups and great leaders create each other
2. Every great group has a strong leader
3. The leaders of great groups love talent and know where to find it
4. Great groups think they are on a mission from God
5. Great groups see themselves as winning underdogs
6. Great groups always have an enemy
7. People in great groups have blinders on
8. Great groups are optimistic not realistic
9. In great groups, the right person has the right job
10. The leaders of great groups give them what they need and free them from the rest
I've had one experience with a great group. It met all the above criteria and it changed my life. How about you? Share your story and an insight or
two.

Quick and Easy Ways to Boost Returns

When prospective financial planning clients stop in, I can nearly always find a few simple things they can do
quickly to earn more money. It's not that I'm a genius. It's just that a powerful force has paralyzed them — and
probably you, too: inertia.
Many of us have a tendency to keep our savings and investments in the same places for years, even if better
alternatives now pay more or cost less. By picking some low-hanging fruit, you’ll amass thousands of dollars
more regardless of which way the stock market is traveling. And once you take these four smart steps, you
can harness the power of inertia to let the moves you’ve made keep building wealth for you, year after year.
1. Make Your Cash Work Harder
 Time needed: 20 minutes to open the account
It’s critically important to have easy access to cash for emergencies; setting aside the equivalent of three to six
months of living expenses is a good rule of thumb. Where you park that emergency savings is important as well,
especially these days, when the largest money market mutual funds are paying a puny 0.21 percent or less. Yet
plenty of federally insured bank money market and savings accounts payseven times that rate. For example, Ally
Bank of Philadelphia (formerly known as GMAC Bank) has a 1.55 percent money market account with no
minimum investment and Zion’s Bank of Salt Lake City has one paying 1.35 percent ($1,000 minimum).
The differences between the lower- and higher-yield moneymarket account rates might not seem like much. But
moving $100,000 from a 0.2 percent money fund to Ally Bank would pay you $1,350 in a year. That’s $112 a
month for 20 minutes of work.
You can also use short-term federally insured bank CDs to pick up even higher rates, though you’ll pay an early
withdrawal penalty if you cash in before they mature. Look for high-paying accounts online at Bank Deals; the
site recently listed six-month to two-year CDs yielding 2.25 percent to 2.60 percent.
2. Swap Your Index Fund
 Time needed: 15 minutes, once you’ve identified the right fund
Why do high-cost index funds and their exchange-traded fund (ETF) cousins even exist?
The whole point of owning an index fund or ETF is to replicate the market (or a piece of it), without paying a
steep fee for a fund manager. Yet some index funds charge far more than others for essentially the same service.
Replacing a pricey fund or ETF with a less-expensive one will let you keep more of what you earn —
maybe much more. Cutting a fund’s expenses by 1 percent will save you $1,000 a year for each $100,000 you
invest.
If you invested in the Rydex S&P 500 fund (RYSYX), with its 2.28 percent expense ratio, for example, you’d be
practically guaranteed a lower return than if you bought a low-cost S&P 500 fund such as Fidelity’s Spartan 500
Index Fund Investor (FSMKX), with its 0.10 percent expense ratio. It’s like making a left turn into the gas station
with $6-a-gallon gas, when the one on the right has the same gas for two bucks.
Stick with broad index funds and ETFs from the lowest-cost families such asVanguard, Fidelity, iShares,
and State Street. The broadest U.S. stock fund is a total stock index fund; look for one with an expense ratio of
0.10 percent or less. You won’t owe capital gains taxes if you switch from one index fund or ETF to another
inside a tax-sheltered account such as a 401(k) or [Link], if you’ll trigger capital gains after selling one
index fund and buying a cheaper one, talk with your tax adviser before making the switch. On the other hand, if
you have a loss, so much the better, because the change might let you harvest the tax loss —meaning you sell
the position, realize the loss, and buy the new fund. You can also lower your investment costs by replacing your
expensive actively managed fund with a low-cost index fund, although there is no guarantee that the index will
outperform the manager.
3. Pay Off Expensive Debt
 Time needed: 20 minutes
With today’s meager interest rates on savings, it makes no sense mathematically to pay rates of 6 percent or
more on interest that you can’t deduct on your taxes. So, pay off non-deductible, high-cost debt, such as credit
card balances and car loans, as soon as possible. Then, run the numbers to see if paying off your mortgage
earlymakes sense. Don’t try convincing yourself that you’ll be earning enough in the stock market to cover the
high-cost interest. Instead, compare your debts with your lower-risk fixed-income investments.
4. Cut Your Taxes
 Time needed: About an hour
You know the importance of asset allocation, of course, but you might not know that managing the location of
your assets to lower your taxes is nearly as important. Some types of investments are better off in taxable
accounts, whereas others belong in tax-deferred IRAs and 401(k)s. Finding the right tax homes guarantees you a
greater return, regardless of the market’s gyrations. Here’s how to do it:
First, set your overall risk level — perhaps an asset allocation of 60 percent in stocks and 40 percent in fixed-
income investments.
Then, because interest and dividends are taxed at higher rates than capital gains, hold your fixed-income
investments (bonds and CDs) in your tax-deferred accounts and your tax-efficient equities (stocks and low-
turnover equity funds) in your taxable accounts. Funds with high turnover and, therefore, frequent distributions
also belong in tax-deferred accounts.
Here’s an example of why this strategy can pay off handsomely: Say you’re in the 28 percent tax bracket and
want to invest $200,000, half in bonds and CDs and half in stock. (For argument’s sake, we’ll assume your
equities return 8 percent annually and fixed income 6 percent.) If you put the bonds and CDs in taxable accounts
and equities in your IRA, after 20 years you’d have $568,000 after taxes. But if you flipped those locations (as
you should), you’d have $609,000, or $51,000 more.
Yet many people — even the CPAs I teach — tend to get it backward: They put their stocks in IRAs and 401(k)s
and their bonds and CDs in taxable accounts. That’s because investors often think of tax-deferred accounts as
the place for their long-term money (stocks) and taxable accounts as homes for short-term holdings (bonds and
CDs). But remember: the IRS taxes us based on our asset location. So, once you’ve amassed enough cash for
emergencies, arrange the rest of your assets to lower your taxes.

The New Retirement Risk: Decisionmaking Skills Peak at 53

That's right, it's all downhill after 53 -- at least for your financial decision-making super powers. A new Brookings Papers study (penned by two
Fed Reserve guys and two academics) took a look at 10 different financial moves -- from credit card balance transfers to home equity loans and
lines of credit -- and how age plays into the decision-making process. The sweet spot for minimizing fees and interest rates was smack dab in the
heart of old-school middle age: 53. After that milestone, our financial cognitive skills start to [Link] much for 63 (or 73) being the new 53. When it
comes to making optimal financial decisions, there's no longevity bonus. The Risk of Older but not WiserDial back 25 or 30 years and older
Americans were less likely to be making big-ticket financial decisions. A defined-benefit pension and Social Security often formed the core of their
retirement income, and neither required any hands-on management. Fast forward, and retirees now are in charge of a large part of their retirement
security; from deciding the proper allocation for 401(k)s and IRAs and setting a sustainable withdrawal rate of those assets, to riding herd over
RMDs for all those disparate accounts. Given our anemic savings rates for the past few decades, we're also more likely to need to tap home equity
to produce retirement income. While reverse mortgages are a viable retirement income source, it's also an area where costs and confusion can run
high. The National Consumer Law Center recently released a study of reverse mortgage lending with the subtle title "Subprime Revisited," and
the General Accountability Office has chimed in saying the reverse mortgage lending industry could use better consumer protection oversight.
(Check out Marlys Harris' spot-on take that ruffled a few reverse lender feathers.) And let's not forget the later-in-life challenge of deciding
whether to purchase Long Term Care [Link] bottom line is that while our cognitive skills may peak at 53, the need to keep making smart
financial decisions doesn't recede with age. If anything, it continues to grow. To be sure, full-bore dementia creates the most severe risk for
retirees, but there's also concern that even more moderate declines in cognitive skills is creating a mismatch for coming generations of retirees who
will be tasked with managing their assets and ensuring their retirement security.

Perspective: Yahoo's Turnaround Efforts Are Straight from Steve Jobs' Playbook
We were at a cocktail party, and [former Apple CEO] Gil Ameliowas explaining Apple's predicament to us, and he
said: "Appleis a boat. There's a hole in the boat, and it's taking onwater. But there's also a treasure on board. And
the problem is,everyone on board is rowing in different directions, so the boat is juststanding still. My job is to get
everyone rowing in the same direction so wecan save the treasure."After he turned away, I looked at the
personnext to me and asked, "But what about the hole?"
— Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle, describing anencounter in 1997

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz

Carol Bartz, the still new CEO of Yahoo, convened her first meetingfor Wall Street analysts a few weeks ago.
Forget the specifics for a moment. Shecould have been talking about another iconic Silicon Valley company that
hadgone astray under experienced but ineffectual leaders who had been brought infrom other industries to
shore up damage done by the company’sprecocious founders.
When Steve Jobs returned as interim CEO in 1998, Apple was perilouslyclose to financial collapse. Jobs acted
decisively in his first few months, killingthe Newton PDA,rescinding the company’s nascent “Mac Clone”strategy,
paring a gangly product portfolio down to two basic machines, andsealing a controversial deal with archenemy
Microsoft that gave Gates &Co. a chunk of Apple stock in exchange for an investment of more than $100million
and the commitment to keep developing software for the Mac.
Bartz, who has occupied Yahoo’s corner office for barely10 months, has had to move quickly to repair a
hemorrhaging brand and restoremorale to a company that was a pioneer of Internet cool. She wasn’t areturning
founder, but she had street cred as the successful href="[Link] of
Autodesk, theleading maker of 3-D design software. In Jobs fashion, Bartz shut down dead-endservices such
as onlinevideo site Jumpcut and Web 1.0 darling GeoCities, and she is expected tokill plenty more. She has
eliminated layers of management, cut 5 percent of theworkforce, and wasted no time hammering out a
search/advertising deal with big,bad Microsoft — the suitor that her predecessors, led by former CEO andco-
founder Jerry Yang, had spurned more out of emotion than as an expression ofshrewd business strategy.
The nettlesome shareholder activist Carl Icahn was sopleased that in October he stepped down from Yahoo’s
board. In href="[Link]
cloned/">hisresignation letter, he told Bartz: “I wish you could be clonedbecause so many of the companies in
the country could use a Carol Bartz as [Link] resignation in a way is a compliment to you in that I do not
believe thatYahoo any longer needs an activist shareholder.” In its most recentquarter, Yahoo surprised Wall
Street by tripling profits and projecting areturn to revenue growth.
In short, Bartz has made Yahoo’s business coherentagain, not just to Wall Street but to her own 13,500
employees. And like Appleafter the return of Jobs, Yahoo again has a reason for being.
Her presentation to the analysts was a brilliant realitycheck for all who had written off Yahoo as a hopeless has-
been. “Herewe are, a 14-year-old Internet company that somehow got boring,” shesaid. “But we’re the largest
communications engine in thewhole world. When we can serve up impressions of 9 billion ads a day throughour
networks, that’s innovation, and that’s scale. You don’tjust start up an Internet company and do that. We know
how to do these things.”She was just getting warmed up: “We’re not a searchcompany; we’re not a display
 company. We’re a broad-basedInternet company that serves up content to millions of people. We’renot here to
wow you today; we’re here to intrigue you and impressyou.”
Jobs went on to build Appleback up into a multidimensional business that has grown right through thislousy
economy. But early on, he knew better than to try to fix everything atonce. Apple’s most important asset at that
time was its brand —it was, after all, the creative force that had unleashed the personal computerindustry. That
strong brand identity helped Apple retain top-notch engineeringtalent despite meandering leadership. So when
Jobs scaled back the number ofproducts, Apple’s engineers were able to move faster yet also crankout better
products. Each success bred more confidence and built a strongerbase from which the company could
methodically broaden its product reach.
Yahoo isn’t all that different. More than anyother first-generation Internet company, Yahoo took the intimidation
out ofexploring the Web and demonstrated that the user really could find his wayaround. The company also was
the first to recognize the value of thedemographic data it could glean from tracking what surfers were looking
at. Despite thedrama of the past couple of years, Yahoo continues to rank up there with Googleand Facebook as
one of the most trafficked sites in the world. It possesses brandrecognition that money can’t buy.
Yahoo will have to prune back even more to blossom and growagain. And the deal with Microsoft, not unlike
Apple’s deal withRedmond, buys Yahoo time and gives it a partner that lends it stability andcredibility.
Of course, Yahoo is not Apple, and Carol Bartz is not SteveJobs coming back to rescue his baby. But Microsoft’s
role in thecomeback strategies of each (once its deal with Yahoo wins regulatoryclearance) is key: For Yahoo,
just like for Apple, the deal serves to remove adegree of strategic uncertainty at the very core of the
company’sbusiness. The lesson here is that when you are called on to bail out a sinkingship, it helps to lighten
the load and fix the holes first, and only thenfigure out where you really want to go. Do that, and your crew will
fall inwith you.
Perspectiveaims to take a long-term view of the technology business, analyzing where ithas been and where it’s
going. Brent Schlender has covered theindustry for 30 years at the Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine.

Most Managers Failing Their Duty During Crisis

I never would have believed the bold statement in the headline above -- that is, until I read John Baldoni's
provocative blog post,What It Takes to Lead [Link] I'm convinced, as is Baldoni, that coming through the economic meltdown
most managers saw their job much too narrowly. Instead of leading their people and organizations through a time of great change, managers put
more emphasis on simply getting things done. If true, that's a sad commentary about where our companies and "leaders" are [Link] to
a McKinsey and Company survey of executives, only 48% believed that they need to inspire and only 46% believed it was their responsibility to
provide direction during this crisis. (BTW, McKinsey doesn't put the same spin on these results.)The problem, says Baldoni, is that execution
without adequate leadership is short-sighted.
"It will carry a company through a quarter or a year, but it will not provide a foundation for what organizations really need to do, and that is to grow.
Leadership requires foresight as well as the ability to execute. Foresight points you in the right direction so that your execution can serve customer
needs now and lay the foundation for continued service."
As a manager, do you consider inspiration and direction as key components of your job?

Want to Move Up? Learn to Manage Like a CEO

f you really want to learn how to move up in the business world, you've got relatively few sources of expert information. And when you're done with
all the MBA BS, the business self-help books, and God help us - the life coaches - ask somebody who's done it, and he'll tell [Link] to think of
it, if you think you can learn what works in the real world from anyone but someone who actually succeeded in the real world, well, let's just say you
might want to rethink your management [Link] the past we've talked about all kinds of management tools and leadership qualities, but this
time, we're going to cut right to the chase. You won't find these five tips anywhere else, since you're the first ones to read them. Moreover, these
are indeed CEO best practices that I've observed in few middle managers - those with CEO potential. 5 Ways to Manage Like a CEO
1. Focus on critical, trouble areas and leave everything else alone. Successful CEOs have learned to rapidly determine
when a direct report or functional area is in trouble. Then, with laser-like precision, they go to work on determining what's wrong
and resolving the issue with all due haste. Because of the focus required, too many problem areas can spell trouble, which leads
us to the next point.
2. Hire functional experts who are also solid, upcoming managers. The order and choice of words is critical here. You can
mentor capable, upcoming managers, but you probably can't teach them a functional expertise, nor should you or will you have
the time. If they're not eminently capable, you can end up with multiple critical simultaneous problems, which could be job or
even career-ending.
3. Business comes first. Business and customers always, always, always comes first. Now, that doesn't mean you let morale get
out of control or internal processes fall apart, but you must recognize that the primary function of the business is business, and
that means customers and sales. Any manager who doesn't get that is doomed to mediocrity and stagnation.
4. Manage up. A critical function of any manager is to provide his boss with what she needs to succeed, and in a manner that
fosters a compatible and mutually beneficial relationship. And frankly, that goes for peers, too. If you sense your boss and peers
are not getting what they need from you, meet one-on-one and ask. Successful CEOs work with their boards and other key
stakeholders the same way.
5. Help to "manage the company." This is a critical mindset that can make all the difference in your career. If you have a strong
silo mentality - my group is all that matters - you will never move up. But if you always remember that one of your priorities is to
help "manage the company," then your chances are great increased. Why? That mindset gives you a broader perspective that
will indeed help the company and be positively perceived by peers and executive management.
Okay, so what do all you up-and-comers out there think I missed?

The Woman Driving Ford's Big Bet on Electric

Ford Motor Co. (F) has an ambitious planthat could mean the difference between auto irrelevance and a
Detroitrenaissance: Within the next 10 years, it wants electric vehicles to make up 25percent of its production.
The exec charged with pulling it off: Nancy Gioia, a 26-yearveteran who in October was named Ford's first
director of globalelectrification. Gioia comes to the job from another high-profile post: Sheoversaw the
development of Ford's hybrids, including the popular FordFusion. Ford's hybrid sales climbed 73 percent in the
first ninemonths of this year, to more than 26,000 vehicles. That's not a hugenumber, for sure, but the increase
bucked the rest of the industry. Ford also posted a surprising $1 billion profit in its most recent quarter.

The move away from gas-powered cars is just beginning, ofcourse. And as Gioia carries out the vision of
Chairman Bill Ford Jr., long aproponent of the auto industry going green, she certainly has a daunting to-dolist.
Among her challenges: making electric vehicles desirable and affordable,and persuading fuel-conscious drivers
to think of Ford instead of, say, Toyota,Honda, Volkswagen or GM, which is hoping its upcoming Chevy Volt is an
industrygame changer.
BNET spoke with Gioia about Ford's goals, her new job,and her management style.
You’ve climbed the ranks as an engineer, and in past roles you’vebeen very
hands-on with technology and R&D. What are you focusing onnow?
Now it’s really looking at what we can do globallywith our product plan and how we can work with
governments, utilities andpartners to bring electrification forward, to deliver affordable,fuel-efficient vehicles.
There are lots of parts to this plan, including convertingfactories, bringing new vehicles to the U.S., increasing
hybrid production,introducing our EcoBoost technology (the company’s most advancedengine), and continuing
our work on developing electric and plug-in vehicles.
How do you get your team to deliver? What’s your approach?
It’s a lot of coaching and participation. It’snot like I sit in a room and say, “here’s our vision.”It’s a collaborative
process. I try very hard to continuously learn,be open to new ideas, step back, and reflect. I know I am not the
expert onjust about anything — but my people are, so I bring in the rightpeople.
The other trait that people often tell me I have istremendous courage. I refer to it as stupidity half the time,
because it doesn’teven occur to me to think I’m being brave. It’s as simpleas just challenging assumptions:
We’ve always done it this way. Wellwhy? Is that going to work in this part of the business? Are we sure? How do
weknow? Being an effective leader means taking on what others may see aspolitical or hierarchical issues. We
all run into barriers or boundaries. Thequestion is how to raise the issue in a way that gets us focused on the
problem,and not on attacking individuals.
What’s an example of when you took on a contentious issue?
I had to fight for SmartGuage with EcoGuide (an instrumentpanel that graphs fuel use in real time). When we
saw it, I said, “Oh,my God. Can I have that on the hybrid? As a matter of fact, why don’twe pilot that on the Ford
Fusion hybrid, and in the process we’lllearn a lot that will help the rest of the company.” I thought that,from a
customer viewpoint, it would be one of the “I love my car, Ilove my car, I love my car” elements. It was going to
add a fewmillion dollars to the cost of the program, and,at the time, marketing wasn’t sure it would add any
revenue, or thatthe customer would really value it.
So how did you get the green light?
We took senior leadership through it, and I said: “We’renot asking for you to approve it; just don’t kill it. Give us
thismuch time to come back with a reasonable business case and value proposition.”Sometimes making
something work is not getting everyone to agree. It’sbreaking it down to the salami slice of life; If you try to eat
the wholesalami at once, you get sick.

So we worked and worked at it. We found ways to reduce thememory size, the microprocessor speeds, all sorts
of things to get the costdown. Every Friday at 7:30 a.m. I met with the team to ask, ‘Whereare you on delivering
the function? The cost? What barriers do you have? Whathelp do you need?’ It was just a touch point every
week, to assure itdidn’t get caught up in something that would kill it.

You’ve been at Ford almost three decades. How has the culturechanged?
It has changed enormously. When I joined 26 years ago it wasfar more hierarchical, very much divisions doing
the best they could to run thebusiness. To me, the most significant change in the last five to eight yearshas been
what I would call far more collaborative, cross-functional delivery.

Please explain
Ford, from its original history, was a group of companies,created around the world, that were all part of Ford
Motor Company, but theywere regional businesses. Today one part of the company is leading
electrifiedtransportation. [The business] needs a leader and everybody else supports that,compared to 10-15
years ago when each region would have its own strategy.
The biggest example of this [new collaboration] is ourglobal manufacturing platform. The C-platform happens to
work with the TransitConnect Van, the Focus and the C-Max (mini-van). Others in the future will comeoff of the
same platform. It’s very much a recognition of what Iwould call “who has the baton?” We’re supportingthe relay
by making sure everybody is prepared for the race.

Should I Take Sides in a Boss-on-Boss Turf War?

Dear Stanley, I've recently become aware of a turf war going on between my current manager and another manager. The two really don't
like each other. I really believe the other manager wants to muscle my boss out of the picture, and I want to align myself with the right
person. Do I go for loyalty and defend my boss? Should I try to get in good with the other guy? Or should I just keep my head down and
wait to see how it plays out? Signed, Mini-Machiavelli Dear Mini,It's a delicate situation. If you're stupidly loyal to the point of idiocy, you could
end up on the short end of the stick. If you're not loyal enough, you will be unmasked for the callow, shallow, manipulative, scheming corporate
stooge that you seem to be just a little bit. Keeping your head down entirely could put it in the perfect position for it to be severed from your body
one of these days. Some combination of the three seems to be in order. I would suggest this:
 In this construct, you demonstrate
good, solid loyalty to your boss. This is the right thing to do and will be appreciated, even by his foe. You will feel good about yourself, because you
should, and not show yourself to be a lousy loser who would sell out his mother for a pot of lentils. This is a personality trait that will serve you well
over time, better even that being a backstabbing [Link], you are also spending some time being polite and cordial to the other guy. It
shouldn't be ostentatious, but now and then you can simply be a human being to the other manager, so that the thought may cross his/her mind,
"When I win, I may save Larry. He's not a total bozo, and at the same time he's not a disloyal jerk to the idiot I'm going to crush." Again, this is very
delicate. You want to demonstrate the potential to serve if necessary, without actually doing anything that could hurt your current [Link], it's
never a bad idea to stay out of the line of fire when bullets are flying. That's just smart. Smart people do well, even in business.

Is Gen X Feeling the Squeeze?

When we spoke with author Donna Fenn about Gen Y entrepreneurs and the relationships between the generations, one of her statements
generated the most comments by far: "the most obvious generational conflict I've observed is between Gen Y and Gen X." Readers offered a host
of possible explanations for Fenn's observation, but now a one blog is seconding her impression. The Huffington Post is claiming that the recession
is intensifying Gen X's discontent at work and leading to more conflict between those in their 30s and 40s and the two larger demographic bubbles
that sandwich them:
They're antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just
waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they
want work-life balance, too.
Sounds like Gen Y, the so-called "entitlement generation," right?
Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they're also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X.
The article goes on to describe how Gen X is growing increasingly fed up with perpetually playing second fiddle to the Boomers on the one hand
and competing with brash (and generally cheaper to hire) members of Gen Y on the other. As a result, surveys find Gen X employees are generally
less loyal, more likely to complain of lack of career progress and more likely to be looking to change jobs. They may be the cause of a "resume
tsunami" once hiring picks up again, concludes the article. So much for that stereotype of the Gen Y job [Link] this grim portrait of Gen X
middle child syndrome mesh with you

Harvard MBAs Show This Isn't the Time to Buy or Sell

This year, fewer new Harvard Business Schoolgraduates took jobs on Wall Street, which may seem on the surface like a bad market
indicator. But this is actually a positive signal, according to Ray [Link] case you missed it, The New York Times reported that Soifer, a Harvard
MBA and founder ofSoifer Consulting, released his 2009 Harvard MBA Indicator, which draws its conclusions from looking at the jobs taken by
each year's Harvard MBA graduates. When too many end up with Wall Street jobs, Soifer says, this indicates that the market could be getting too
hot and is therefore heading for a [Link] Times explains:
If more than 30 percent of Harvard MBAs end up in what [Soifer] defines as "market-sensitive jobs" -- a subset of the financial services category
that includes investment banking, private equity and hedge funds -- it's a long-term sell signal. If that number is below 10 percent, it is a long-term
buy signal.
This year's graduates sent out a neutral signal, with 28 percent taking market-sensitive employment. Last year, the number was 41 percent, a
strong sell [Link] might this indicator be a sign to buy? Don't hold your breath. The Times reports that not since the early 1980s has the
number of Harvard MBAs taking market jobs dipped to 10 percent. The indicator has more often shown sell [Link] for now, if newly-minted
Harvard MBAs are any indication, you can hold on to what you've got.

Strip All the Clutter From Your Gmail Page

 If you're a Gmail user and you routinely access your account via browser,
you're probably a little sick of all the clutter. There's that chat thing you never use, those annoying banner ads that appear at the top of each
message, and so [Link] Gmail is a Firefox extension that lets you selectively hide or remove Gmail elements you don't want to [Link] how
"minimalist" can Gmail get? Here's how your page would look with virtually everything turned off:

As you can see, the extension

can really pare Gmail down to just the basics, even going so far as to remove the Google search [Link]'s probably overkill for most users -- after
all, search is part of what makes Gmail great -- but I really did like getting rid of chat, invite a friend, and the banner [Link]'s nice is that MG
doesn't actually disable any of the features it hides, so if you're fluent inGmail keyboard shortcuts, you can continue to use options like Select All,
Report Spam, etc. -- all while keeping their cluttersome buttons [Link] all Firefox extensions, Minimalist Gmail is free.

Throw Your Name in the Hat to Beta Test Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition
Microsoft Office 2010 is about to hit public beta (which I'm keenly interested in since I'm tech reviewing a new book on Office 2010). One of the
more interesting developments is that Microsoft Works -- that program that seemed to ship on every computer on the planet but no human being
was ever known to have used -- is discontinued. In its place will be a free, ad-supported version of Office, called Office Starter Edition. And
Microsoft is looking for beta testers. Want to sign up?If you want to get in the best testing action, you can apply for a slot in the queue by filling out
theMicrosoft Office 2010 Starter Program Nomination Form. It's less than 10 questions long and takes just a few moments to complete. After that,
you might be selected to beta test Office Starter. Good luck!

Easily Reconcile Versions of a Document Edited By Different People

Getting feedback is important, which is why we often share Word documents with co-workers. Unfortunately, it's rarely smooth sailing. Half the
time, people edit your document directly without using revision marks, and even if they do, it doesn't matter anyway, because you end up getting
four different copies of the doc, each revised by different people. Making sense of it all and properly incorporating feedback into your original
version can be a [Link] those annoying days of meticulously comparing various versions of your documents are gone. I've got the bead on a free
online service that makes comparing and reconciling your copies of Word documents as easy as [Link] shows you the differences
between various versions of a document. You can upload p to seven different files in DOC, DOCX, or RTF format, and the site shows you a
consolidated view of the document, with color-coded highlights representing insertions, deletions, and changes.
 As you mouse-over revised
sections of the doc, you can click to keep or remove the change, similar to incorporating changes in Word. There are also some rudimentary editing
commands available, like cut/copy/paste, and bold/italic/[Link] never edits your original files. When you're done, you can save
the completed document back to your PC. Unfortunately, I found that the site does blow away formatting in DOCX files, so you might need to spend
some time fixing your document when you're done. But if your documents are formatted fairly simply, then it's well worth your time to collaborate so
easily.

Free Wi-Fi? Great! Here's How to Keep Your Data Safe

Yesterday, Dave told you about free Wi-Fi offerings from Bing, Google, and Yahoo. Gotta love free, right? Just one problem: public hotspots like
these can pose a serious security [Link] thieves and other miscreants may be lurking around, waiting for their chance to sneak into
unprotected PCs -- like yours! So don't give them the chance. PC World lists five ways to protect yourself at public hotspots like Google's. Here's
one example:
If you're conducting business or sharing sensitive information, it's best to use a virtual private network (VPN), which creates an encrypted, private
link across a public network.
Good advice, but the author explains only what to do, not how to do it. Fear not: Business Hacks has your back. To learn more about VPNs, check
out Consumerist's Idiot-Proof Way to Securely Use Public Wi-Fi and Web Worker Daily's Free VPN Solutions.

Big Food's Hunger Myth

According to a new report by the US Department of Agriculture, more than one in seven American families suffered from "food insecurity"
sometime in 2008 and we should all be concerned that that figure is rising. Many media outlets have eaten this report up at face value,
blasting similar headlines about how more Americans are "going hungry." This hunger awareness drive is not new, though. Feeding America, a
nonprofit funded in large part by the food industry, and its partner, the Ad Council, have been running an Ogilvy-powered ad campaign for a year
now which claims one in eight Americans "live with hunger." Feeding America even connected with Matt Damon to pitch its hunger talking
points on the season finale of HBO's Entourage. Obviously, everyone is against hunger. And whenever someone in a country as rich as America
can't afford food, it's a disgrace. We clearly have the resources to keep everyone [Link] here's my problem: these hunger numbers just don't
seem to add up when you realize how many people in America are over-fed. Just look at Feeding America's own website. Do their "faces of
hunger" from across Americalook like they're starving to you? We don't have a serious hunger problem in the land of the absurdly cheap one dollar
double cheeseburger. We have an obesity [Link]'s check the government's own data. In 2008, only one state (Colorado) had an obesity
ratethat was less than 20 percent. According to the latest CDC stats, 32.7 percent of American adults are now overweight, 34.3 percent are obese
and 5.9 percent are are extremely obese. I'm supposed to believe that roughly 14 percent of American families are "food insecure" when only 27
percent of American adults are not overweight or obese?Many will counter that it must be poor people and the nation's children who are "going
hungry." But again, according to the government's own data, around 17 percent of children are now obese. And paradoxically, many studies have
confirmed a correlation between poverty and obesity. While the USDA claims that one in seven American families are "food insecure," the CDC's
data shows that one of seven low-income, preschool-aged children is obese. So why is Big Food trying to convince us that there is a huge hunger
problem? My theory is that Feeding America and its backers, which include Kraft, the Campbell Soup Company, Wal-Mart and ConAgra
Foods, want to hype hunger so that no new regulations try to tackle obesity. What politician would dare propose a new tax on fatty or empty calorie
foods when the public thinks one in seven families can't put enough food on the table? And who is now going to try and stop the redistribution
of tens of billions of our tax dollars to King Corn and his Frankenfood court each year?One thing is certain. President Obama's controversial pick
to lead the USDA, Iowa's former Governor Tom Vilsack, and his friends at Monsanto, won't be going hungry any time soon.

The 10 Rules of Great Groups

The other day I was listening to Soul Sacrifice from Santana's remarkable first album, c. 1969. I've probably listened to it a thousand times, but I
was still blown away by how tight the band was. All I could think of was what it must feel like when a band jams together for the first time and
everyone realizes there's magic in the [Link] the concept of "Great Groups" - where the whole is infinitely greater than the sum of the parts -
goes way beyond Santana, The Allman Brothers, or The Beatles, for that matter. This rare, once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon can occur wherever
there's challenge, opportunity, and creative talent. Like its topic, there's an exceptional, one-of-a-kind book that describes - in dramatic and
 insightful fashion - the conditions under which great groups occur. It's called Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration ,
by Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward [Link] premise is straightforward enough. "In our society, leadership is too often seen as
an inherently individual phenomenon." We hoist Apple's Steve Jobs up on a superstar-CEO pedestal, but the book reveals a relatively unexplored
talent of Jobs - his ability to inspire groups of developers to great heights. For example, he told the first Macintosh design team that they were there
to "make a dent in the universe." And they did. The book chronicles such diverse groups as the Disney team that developed the first full-length
animated film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Xerox PARC Palo Alto Research Center's development of the first personal
computer, Lockheed's "Skunk Works" group that built the first U.S. jet fighter in 180 days, and the Manhattan [Link] first chapter provides
an inspiring challenge for business leaders and corporate managers everywhere:
What lessons do Great Groups have for our workplaces, where so many people feel stifled, not stimulated? Look how hard people in great groups
work, without anyone hovering over them. Look how morale soars when intelligent people are asked to do a demanding but worthy task and given
the freedom and tools to do it. Imagine how much richer and happier our organizations would be if, like great groups they were filled with people
working as hard and as intelligently as they can, too caught up for pettiness, their sense of self grounded in the bedrock of talent and achievement.
Here are 10 Rules of Great Groups (from the book's original 15):
1. Great groups and great leaders create each other
2. Every great group has a strong leader
3. The leaders of great groups love talent and know where to find it
4. Great groups think they are on a mission from God
5. Great groups see themselves as winning underdogs
6. Great groups always have an enemy
7. People in great groups have blinders on
8. Great groups are optimistic not realistic
9. In great groups, the right person has the right job
10. The leaders of great groups give them what they need and free them from the rest
I've had one experience with a great group. It met all the above criteria and it changed my life. How about you? Share your story and an insight or
two.

What the Unemployed Can Learn from Sarah Palin

A year ago, the people made a decision about who they wanted to run America. And Sarah Palin did not get the job of Vice President of the United
[Link], many have continued to admire Palin's fighting spirit since the campaign ended and she became an international celebrity.
Employment gurus like Penelope Trunk have even argued that there were "inspiring" career management takeaways from Palin's unorthodox decision
to quit her job as Governor of [Link] new campaign tell-all, "Going Rogue" has made her a millionaire. But it looks like this ghost-written memoir
has failed to help her make the case that she deserves America's top job in 2012.I haven't read "Going Rogue" but from the reviews I've
seen, "Conscience of a Conservative"it is not. Rather than offering a bold, alternative vision for America, Palin takes up too many pages settling old
scores. Everyone -- from Katie Couric to John McCain's campaign manager Steve Schmidt -- is to blame. Except Sarah Palin herself. And I suppose, the
"real Americans" who support her no matter how ignorant she [Link] can't argue that there's simply some grand "liberal
media" conspiracy against Palin anymore. Even conservative newspapers like the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal are lamenting (or
lampooning) Palin's decision to cast herself as a [Link] America, there are millions of people who won't get paid millions to write about why
they've lost their jobs. It's easy to get discouraged and blame one's prediciment on the clowns that ran the company into the ground, President
Obama's policies or the banks likeGoldman Sachs which seem to get all the breaks.I'm all for standing up for oneself during these tough times and
speaking out against the injustices of the past. But ultimately, it's one's future that's worth fighting [Link] no one wants to hire a whiner.

Give Your Small Business a Single Phone Number with Extensions Like the Big
Guys
Do you have a small business that operates out of your basement -- and maybe a few other people's basements? Wish you could have a single
cohesive phone number, like 800-SOMETHING, with a slew of extensions? Well, you can, and it won't cost very much (or anything at all).If you're
happy with a local toll number and don't need extensions, you can deploy a single phone number for the low, low cost of free using Google Voice.
I've lauded Google Voice before, and it's one way to have one number for multiple phones. The downside is that Google Voice will ring all those
phones simultaneously, every time. And you can't have different extensions for Bob, Sue, and [Link] option: Grasshopper is a virtual
switchboard for your small business. You can use Grasshopper to get a local or toll-free number, add extensions, and then have the calls
forwarded to the phones of your choice, to different desks, different homes, even different [Link] offers a veritable laundry list of
features. You get custom greetings, on-hold music, voicemail to text, call screening, and more. Alas, it's not free, but it's close. You can get started
with 100 minutes/month for a $25 activation fee and $10/month. You can upgrade to 2000 minutes for $50/month. I don't think you're going to find a
better telephony deal than [Link] you use any sort of virtual phone system? Google Voice? How does it work for you?

Read E-Books on Your Android Phone

I can honestly say I wouldn't buy a smartphone if it didn't offer at least one good e-book app. And by "good" I mean one that lets me read
mainstream books purchased [Link], Android owners now have such an app: eReader. Available free from the eponymous
bookseller, eReader for Android lets you read books right on your [Link]'t knock it till you've tried it. Many people suspect reading on a small,
electronic screen will be unpleasant, but I'm here to tell you: Once you get used to it, you'll love [Link], there's nothing better than having a book
to read everywhere you go. (Kindle owners know what I mean, but who wants to tote a Kindle everywhere? Your phone is always with you.)Like
other versions of the eReader app, the Android edition lets you read books purchased from eReader and Fictionwise. (Tip: Here's how you can get
a 100-percent rebate on New York Times bestsellers.) Just buy them on the site, then fire up the app to download them from your library.

Top 5 Best Practices for Writing Effective E-mail

Writing e-mail isn't exactly Shakespeare, but there's an art to it nonetheless. Indeed, if Shakespeare were alive today, he'd probably have
committed the occasional e-mail faux pas, like YELLING AT Christopher Marlowe or sending typos by forgetting the U in [Link] on for the top
5 e-mail dos and the top 5 e-mail don'[Link] 5 Dos 5. Put important information in bold, so it's easier to see. Likewise, if you've addressed an e-
mail to several people and there's an action for a certain person, bold his or her name when you address the issue. Use bold sparingly, though.4. If
action is required, say so at the start of the e-mail. Don't tell a long story with the requested action at the bottom. This is called the BLUF method,
but I also tend to call it "getting to the verb."3. Keep your signature short and professional. Lose the pithy quote and just include your title and
phone [Link] the subject line relevant. If the topic changes over the course of a long thread, update the subject so it's relevant.1. Proof
your e-mail before you send it. And make sure your spell checker is running. Top 5 Don'ts 5. Don't ever type anything in ALL CAPS, even to get
someone's attention. If you need to catch someone's eye with something important, put it in bold.4. Don't include your entire team or your boss on
every e-mail you send. Be selective.3. Don't send large attachments unless absolutely necessary, especially to a mailing list or distribution list. If
possible, upload your files to the cloud, such as DropBox or MemoPal and provide a link.2. Don't send e-mail when you're emotional. If you're
responding to someone that has made you angry, save the message in your drafts folder until you can proof-read it more objectively, and then
send the e-mail.1. Don't try to be funny, especially to a mixed audience. The chances of being misunderstood are [Link] are some
more ways to write better e-mail and spend less time in your inbox:
The Sad State of CEO Replacement: Scapegoating and Savior Chasing
On November 9, the CEO of the Innovation Group, a $200 million U.K. insurance software company, was unexpectedly fired by his board, who also
announced they'd retained an executive search firm to find his outside successor. The company had consistently increased sales, cash, its average
deal size, and its reputation in the marketplace even during the economic meltdown, but the lure of finding an outside superstar proved irresistible.
The company's stock price had languished, and naturally the CEO got the blame. Just like managers of sports teams, CEOs are hired to be fired.
As reported in the annual surveys by consulting firm Booz, Allen, over the past decade CEO turnover is up 59 percent, while involuntary dismissals
have [Link] truth is, outside successors seldom succeed, and blaming people for things over which they have little control, which includes
stock price, isn't helpful. Harvard Business School professor Rakesh Khurana's book Searching for a Corporate Savior details the faulty rationale and the
dismal record of hiring outside CEOs. Yet it's easy to see how and why so many boards do the wrong [Link] have affairs for the same
reason that boards love outsiders: the person you know extremely well seldom looks as good as the ones you don't know as closely. The inside
candidates seem more available-and the social psychology of scarcity shows that we mostly want what we can't have (case in point: Stanford
Business School. If everyone could get in, no one would want to go; because almost no one can get in, everyone wants to go). Second, we know
less about the outsiders, only their image and reputation. Insiders' flaws are evident from our close contact with them, so they look less like
[Link] executive search firms-whose economic interests, let's be clear, are in getting and completing searches, not necessarily in
completing searches where the person hired actually is successful and stays for a long time-have little ability or interest in piercing the outsider's
mystique. Doing adequate due diligence on an outside senior management candidate is almost impossible. It's in nobody's interest to say bad
things about someone who can then learn about the negative comments and possibly be in a position to retaliate. And learning about people's real
abilities requires spending way more time with them than is possible. Decades of research show that interviews are notoriously unreliable as
selection devices. In any event, by the time someone reaches senior management, the one skill that person has definitely mastered is being able to
present a good public image in an [Link]'s one more problem. Filling senior-level positions from outside sends a clear message to the
current executive team-sorry, you're just not good enough. And since outside CEO succession almost invariably results in turnover in top
management as the new person brings in his or her own team, the current senior-level managers get disheartened. They naturally begin thinking
about how to find a new job instead of concentrating on improving results at their current [Link] course there are outside successions that
work, and there may be times when going outside is the only way to improve performance in a place where there is insufficient senior management
talent. But companies need to recognize the very real risks and temptations in searching outside for the miracle worker who will turn things around.
After all, if the incoming CEO is so great, why would that person join a company having difficulty? Boards need to recognize the very real risks and
cognitive biases that bedevil the outside [Link], outside CEO succession creates great opportunities to poach talent from inside the
company and even to profit through the performance difficulties created by the transition. So pay attention to the announcement of the outside
search-even if the company doing it may lose out, you and your organization could benefit from the turmoil.

Eight Ways to Ruin Your Social-Media Strategy

So you've set up a company fan page on Facebook andyou're letting your employees fire off messages to the
world viaTwitter — or you're at least thinking about it. Well, congratulations! You'repart of the social-media
revolution, which can offer unparalleled access toword-of-mouth buzz among those you most want to reach: your
customers, currentand future.
Hold on, though. While social media might sound simple, thereare as many ways to screw up in this new world
as in the old. More, in fact,because technology and online norms are both new and rapidly evolving, often
inways that are particularly challenging to deal with in a corporate setting. Here are eight mistakes to avoid as
you make your way in the buzzing cauldronof grass-roots chat.

Mistake 1: Pretend you can do without it.

You may have already run into the Graying Skeptics, executiveswho can’t understand why they should devote
employee time and companyresources to social media, and who dismiss Facebook and Twitter as fads that
amountto little more than a waste of time and money.

Well, social media is here to stay, and therocketing growth of some outlets makes it foolish to ignore them.
Facebook, thelargest, recently reached 300 million users worldwide — roughly thepopulation of the United
States. And the largest demographic is the35 to 49 set that most businesses are eager to reach. So listen to
SebastianGard of social marketing firm Context Optional when hesays bluntly: “You’re going to have a social-
media strategywhether you do it or not. It’s not up to you.”
"You're going to have a social-media strategy whether you do it or not. It's not up to you," says Sebastian Gard of social
marketing firmContext Optional.
Mistake 2: Play down the costs.
Sure, Twitter accounts, Facebook fan pages and YouTubechannels don’t cost a thing. But don’t think for a
secondthat you can do your social-media effort on the cheap. Getting the most out ofthese tools requires time,
attention and skill — none of which arefree.

Over time, however, social media does save you some money,since you can use these outlets for efforts you
might otherwise contract out toPR firms, ad agencies or market researchers. Don’t expect to replacethem all.
Instead, think of social media as a necessary and powerful complementto your existing outreach.

Mistake 3: Act like you own the conversation

Social media is a conversation, and conversations —more so than ads — require tact. “It all begins
withlistening,” says Paul Chaney, an Internet marketing director whobills himself as The Social Media
[Link] as you wouldn’t walk into a cocktail party and start braggingabout yourself, Chaney says, you
shouldn’t “just jump intothe conversation” in social-media channels, either.
So if your customers are talking about your stores online,don’t just start blasting them with canned sale
promotions —unless, of course, you want to lose customers. Instead, get a feel for the vibeof the conversation,
then ease your way into it, for instance, by answeringgeneral user questions, even if they don’t pertain directly
to yourcompany or its brands. Let your social-media mavens become resources for thesecustomer micro-
communities. Once your folks have earned some trust, they’llhave the leeway to advance your business goals.

Dunkin’ Donuts did this well when it set up a social-media presence last year on Facebook andelsewhere. “We
wanted to have conversations with our consumers, whowere already having these conversations themselves,”
says DavidPuner, a communications manager at the Canton, Mass.-based company. “Oncewe got out there,
people found us.” A year later, one million peopleare fans of the official Dunkin’ Facebook page. The brand has
its ownYouTube channel, and its Twitter feed, @dunkindonuts —which Puner runs — has more than 35,000
followers.
Mistake 4: Fear empowering your employees
“A client once told me they were nervous aboutletting customer-service employees speak to the public through
Twitter,”says David Griner, social-media strategist for Birmingham, Alabama-based adagency Luckie& Co. “I
asked, 'Would you trust these people totalk to customers on the phone or face to face?' Of course they would.
The keyis to think of social media more like a call center than a press release.”
The href="[Link] shoe store Zappos, now part
ofAmazon, has a reputation for personalized customer service and communication —and social media played a
big role. Dozens of employees maintain blogs on thecompany Web site; hundreds have Twitter accounts. It’s not
just Web-onlycompanies that offer such empowerment, Dell, IBM, Sun Microsystems andSouthwest Airlines do
as well. The common thread: All have corporate culturesthat value transparent relationships with customers.
Mistake 5: Assume you have little to learn
href="[Link]
however, joined the social mediarevolution the hard way. When Jeff Jarvis, a prominent media blogger, did a
seriesof 2005 posts on his horrible customer-service experience with Dell —posts that came to be known as
“DellHell” —the company suddenly realized how powerful, and damaging, the voice of theconsumer could be.
Spurred by the public relations disaster, CEO Michael Dellblessed an effort to work his company into its
customers’ [Link] to a case study on Dell in the book
“href="[Link]
1422125009">Groundswell: Winning in a WorldTransformed by Social Technologies,”the listening effort helped
Dell figure out, for instance, that it needed tobetter coordinate technical support and customer service to
quickly resolvecustomer problems.

Mistake 6: Take negative feedback personally

Look, this is the Internet, where there are always going tobe trolls and other nastyindividuals who delight in
saying unpleasant things about your company. Don’tlet it bug you. On the other hand, don’t overlook the
opportunity toaddress real concerns head-on.
Comcast began to repair its dismalcustomer-service reputation several years ago by using Twitter to reach out
tocomplaining customers, offering to troubleshoot problems or sometimes offeringrefunds. Frank Eliason, the
director of digital care, originally manned theaccount, @comcastcares; it’s now staffed bya small platoon of
Comcast employees. According to the href="[Link] Satisfaction Index,
Comcast’s score is inching upward. “It’s still not where we wouldlike to see it, but we are happy it is heading in
the right direction,”Eliason says.
Mistake 7: Fret about return on investment
Solid return on investment in social media is tough tomeasure. You can, however, evaluate your outreach efforts
the same way youmight a PR or advertising campaign.

You can start by looking at simple tallies such as yournumber of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, or how
often people visit yourcompany’s blog. Other metrics, such as the number of blog commentsand the number of
times consumers shared a link to your content, can show howengaged users are with your brand.

That said, many companies still take the value of socialmedia largely on faith. Context Optional’s Sebastian
Gard, who untilJune was a social-media manager at Microsoft, admits, “The only way Ican tell you it’s effective
[at Microsoft] is that they continue todo more of it.”
Mistake 8: Underestimate the power of seemingly small efforts
Embracing social media isn’t about achievingspecific goals so much as it is establishing a real bond with your
customers. RickKarp, president and “keeper of the karma” for the SanFrancisco-based Cole Hardware chain,
recently announced viaTwitter (@colehardware) that the company wouldexchange a particular water bottle
suspected of chemical contamination —no questions asked. Within two weeks, consumers returned about 1,000
of thebottles. “We lost money, but we gained so much [for our brand] byvirtue of our doing it,” he says. “I will do
a lot to buildour brand, regardless of whether it pays off immediately economically or not.”

Japan's Just-in-Time Clothes

On a recent fall day in Manhattan's Soho district, fashionable New Yorkers mobbed the racks throughout
Uniqlo's 36,000-square-foot, four-story flagship store. The must-have item for many of these shoppers: long
underwear.
These aren't your typical lumberjack- and skier-style long johns. For one, they come in unexpected shades of
raspberry, orange, turquoise, gold and chartreuse. The big draw, however, isn't what they look like but what
they're made of: a fabric called HeatTech, which, according to Uniqlo, generates and retains heat, minimizes
body odor, won't pick up static cling, and won't stretch out of shape. Oh, and prices start at $10.50.
Uniqlo, which is Japan's largest clothing retailer, is on a tear — and HeatTech is a great example of why. With
the company's bold innovative efforts, meticulous inventory control and flexible manufacturing model, Uniqlo
operates more like Toyota than it does a fashion emporium. So in true Japanese manufacturing tradition, Uniqlo
doesn't just make affordable clothes — it makes them better.
"We approach clothes as an industrial product," says Shin Odake, chief operating officer and acting CEO of
Uniqlo USA. "We figured that since Japan is good at making things like cars and electronics, we should we use
that knowledge."Sure, the formula of style and budget-prices resonates with the cost-conscious shoppers visiting
its 862 stores the world over. But lots of competitors, including The Gap, H&M, and Zara, also go after cheap
chic, yet aren't doing as well during this rough economy. Uniqlo's parent company, Fast Retailing, which gets
about 80 percent of its revenue from the chain, saw sales rise 17 percent over the past year to $7.1 billion.
Innovate with Outsiders
When Odake began working at Fast Retailing’s Tokyo headquarters in 2001, he was surprised to find that many
of the executives there didn’t actually work for the company — or even in the retail industry. They came from
technology, chemical, consulting and finance firms. Fast Retailing CEO Tadashi Yanai, who took over the
business from his father in 1984, regularly brings in outside advisers to help shape product ideas.
Uniqlo CEO Tadashi Yanai
It was just such an approach that, in 2002, led to a brainstorming session about reinventing basic thermal
underwear. Yanai brought in execs from the Japanese chemical giant, Toray Industries. Together, they tossed
out ideas about how to differentiate long underwear, eventually deciding to develop a chemically treated
“smart” fabric. The result was HeatTech, a fabric that uses air pockets to retain body warmth, milk protein for
softness, and an antibacterial agent to minimize sweat odors.
The response has been strong. The company expects unit sales to climb more than 75 percent this year to 50
million. Such demand probably helps explain why Yanai has hinted at more partnerships to spur innovation. At
an October press conference at which Yanai announced that Fast Retailing’s annual profits had climbed 24
percent to $1.2 billion, he remarked, “It is a real shame, but Japan’s leading fiber technology, the envy of the
world, is not used in the making of clothes.” He said future projects might include making clothes with carbon
fiber and liquid crystal.
Waste Not, Want Not
Of course, these strategic partnerships rarely come without friction. Working with Toray was an eye-opener on
the production end of the chain, says Odake. As a manufacturer, Toray aims to keep its factories operating all
year. That conflicts with the retail manufacturing model, in which companies cut orders if an item isn’t moving
so that they’re not stuck with inventory they can’t sell.
The Uniqlo store in Soho.
So Fast Retailing modified its production schedule to accommodate manufacturers like Toray, and it’s paid off.
By making year-round, not just seasonal, commitments with its suppliers and its production facilities, Fast
Retailing can change its production plans on a dime. And it does. It often changes colors or cuts with just a few
weeks’ warning — something it couldn’t do if it didn’t reserve a manufacturing plant for a year in advance.
To make this all work smoothly, Fast Retailing essentially uses Toyota-style, just-in-time inventory procurement.
It monitors sales patterns weekly and orders garments just before the stores are likely to need them. This way,
Uniqlo rarely has excess inventory. And if Uniqlo were to see a sharp dip in sales, it wouldn’t halt work. Instead,
it would use the same fabric to make an entirely different product. So if sales of cashmere sweaters suddenly
dip, it might turn that goat’s wool into scarves.
Even the tightest production system isn’t foolproof, of course, because it relies on forecasting, which no
company gets right all the time. Demand for HeatTech was so high last year, for example, that Uniqlo stores ran
out. To prevent that from occurring again, Toray built a new factory to accommodate Uniqlo orders.
The Try-Anything Approach to Product Launches
As with all the clothes it makes, Uniqlo did zero market research before launching HeatTech. Instead, it brings a
product to market quickly, monitors sales closely, listens to customers’ reactions, and modifies production plans
as needed. Some new products will sell well, while others will quickly disappear from the stores’ shelves.
HeatTech was launched in 2003 on a small scale — just in Japan in a handful of styles and colors. Store
managers quickly realized some of the design wasn’t right; the men’s underwear was bulky, like traditional long
johns. “We studied our customer comments and started making thin tights you can wear under jeans,” says
Odake. Now the men’s and women’s lines of undershirts and leggings are cut to cling to the body. This year, the
company added new high-tech flourishes: The fabric won’t lose shape or conduct static electricity.
Uniqlo isn’t the only retail chain that operates on a fast retailing model, but the company does it better than
most, says Jon Wright, a retail analyst at Euromonitor in London. “Most retailers use a different business
strategy,” he says. “Look at how most have Christmas merchandise out now, but they ordered it nine months
ago.”
At Uniqlo, where production responds to demand in a matter of days, nine months amounts to years, at least on
Yanai’s watch.

The Sad State of CEO Replacement: Scapegoating and Savior Chasing

On November 9, the CEO of the Innovation Group, a $200 million U.K. insurance software company, was unexpectedly fired by his board, who also
announced they'd retained an executive search firm to find his outside successor. The company had consistently increased sales, cash, its average
deal size, and its reputation in the marketplace even during the economic meltdown, but the lure of finding an outside superstar proved irresistible.
The company's stock price had languished, and naturally the CEO got the blame. Just like managers of sports teams, CEOs are hired to be fired.
As reported in the annual surveys by consulting firm Booz, Allen, over the past decade CEO turnover is up 59 percent, while involuntary dismissals
have [Link] truth is, outside successors seldom succeed, and blaming people for things over which they have little control, which includes
stock price, isn't helpful. Harvard Business School professor Rakesh Khurana's book Searching for a Corporate Savior details the faulty rationale
and the dismal record of hiring outside CEOs. Yet it's easy to see how and why so many boards do the wrong [Link] have affairs for the
same reason that boards love outsiders: the person you know extremely well seldom looks as good as the ones you don't know as closely. The
inside candidates seem more available-and the social psychology of scarcity shows that we mostly want what we can't have (case in point:
Stanford Business School. If everyone could get in, no one would want to go; because almost no one can get in, everyone wants to go). Second,
we know less about the outsiders, only their image and reputation. Insiders' flaws are evident from our close contact with them, so they look less
like [Link] executive search firms-whose economic interests, let's be clear, are in getting and completing searches, not necessarily in
completing searches where the person hired actually is successful and stays for a long time-have little ability or interest in piercing the outsider's
mystique. Doing adequate due diligence on an outside senior management candidate is almost impossible. It's in nobody's interest to say bad
things about someone who can then learn about the negative comments and possibly be in a position to retaliate. And learning about people's real
abilities requires spending way more time with them than is possible. Decades of research show that interviews are notoriously unreliable as
selection devices. In any event, by the time someone reaches senior management, the one skill that person has definitely mastered is being able to
present a good public image in an [Link]'s one more problem. Filling senior-level positions from outside sends a clear message to the
current executive team-sorry, you're just not good enough. And since outside CEO succession almost invariably results in turnover in top
management as the new person brings in his or her own team, the current senior-level managers get disheartened. They naturally begin thinking
about how to find a new job instead of concentrating on improving results at their current [Link] course there are outside successions that
work, and there may be times when going outside is the only way to improve performance in a place where there is insufficient senior management
talent. But companies need to recognize the very real risks and temptations in searching outside for the miracle worker who will turn things around.
After all, if the incoming CEO is so great, why would that person join a company having difficulty? Boards need to recognize the very real risks and
cognitive biases that bedevil the outside [Link], outside CEO succession creates great opportunities to poach talent from inside the
company and even to profit through the performance difficulties created by the transition. So pay attention to the announcement of the outside
search-even if the company doing it may lose out, you and your organization could benefit from the turmoil.

Bet on Santa to Defeat the Recession

A pair of experts on consumer psychology from Harvard Business School believe shoppers will spend more this holiday season than a year ago,
giving retailers a chance to reassess the consumer [Link] Nancy Koehn and Rajiv Lal offer somewhat different predictions, although
they agree that consumer spending is not going to return to pre-recession levels anytime soon, if [Link] forsees sales that will be "flat or
marginally better" than last year's 3.7% drop in spending. She writes:
"After the shock and awe of last year's financial crisis, households are taking stock, abandoning the 'next new thing' in favor of more enduring

."
priorities, and establishing distinct notions of value from those that have prevailed during the last decade. All of this adds up to the New Normal
Lal believes consumers will spend more than expected.
"I am still betting on the power of Santa Claus. While consumer spending may never reach pre-recession levels, I think it will be much better than
expected for a number of reasons."
One reason: consumers have exited that free-fall psychology of last year. We've also been saving more over the last year, providing a little war
chest for [Link] agree that shoppers will be hunting for the basics, not extravagances (unless you are a Wall Street Bonus Baby), and that
we will snap up promotions offered by Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and other discounters.

Top 5 Best Practices for Writing Effective E-mail

Writing e-mail isn't exactly Shakespeare, but there's an art to it nonetheless. Indeed, if Shakespeare were alive today, he'd probably have
committed the occasional e-mail faux pas, like YELLING AT Christopher Marlowe or sending typos by forgetting the U in [Link] on for the top
5 e-mail dos and the top 5 e-mail don'[Link] 5 Dos 5. Put important information in bold, so it's easier to see. Likewise, if you've addressed an e-
mail to several people and there's an action for a certain person, bold his or her name when you address the issue. Use bold sparingly, though.4. If
action is required, say so at the start of the e-mail. Don't tell a long story with the requested action at the bottom. This is called the BLUF method,
but I also tend to call it "getting to the verb."3. Keep your signature short and professional. Lose the pithy quote and just include your title and
phone number.2. Keep the subject line relevant. If the topic changes over the course of a long thread, update the subject so it's relevant.1. Proof
your e-mail before you send it. And make sure your spell checker is [Link] 5 Don'ts 5. Don't ever type anything in ALL CAPS, even to get
someone's attention. If you need to catch someone's eye with something important, put it in bold.4. Don't include your entire team or your boss on
every e-mail you send. Be selective.3. Don't send large attachments unless absolutely necessary, especially to a mailing list or distribution list. If
possible, upload your files to the cloud, such as DropBox or MemoPal and provide a link.2. Don't send e-mail when you're emotional. If you're
responding to someone that has made you angry, save the message in your drafts folder until you can proof-read it more objectively, and then
send the e-mail.1. Don't try to be funny, especially to a mixed audience. The chances of being misunderstood are astronomical.

The Old Boys' Club Alive, Well and Terrifying?

s the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, it's time to pause for a moment and appreciate -- a few stumbling blocks aside -- the
progress we've made towards a more inclusive, diverse business environment, right? That old boys' club may still be alive and well but it's on the
wane, isn't it? Not if a fascinating exchange from an in-depth interview by legendary journalist Lesley Stahl with Andrew Ross Sorkin, NY
Times business reporter and author of the new book Too Big to Fail, on the topic of last year's world rattling financial crisis, is to be believed.
LESLEY: What one really gets out of your book is what a closed little fraternity those guys at the top were.
ANDREW: It's remarkable. It's really 10, 20, 30 people who were involved in all of this. I mean -- 30 people running the world, and they are all
mostly men, with very few exceptions.
LESLEY: And even though they had competed, it's almost as if they were on a football team together, or something. They're in close with each
other. They can pick up the phone and call each other at home. They can get in a car and go to each other's houses. I had no [Link]: I
have to tell you, I found the intimacy among them very surprising. The idea that they were going to each other's homes and calling each other
every ten seconds, and that they all had past histories and relationships.
But the near collapse of the world banking system was the wake-up call we needed, you argue? Not so fast, asserts Stahl:
It's a year and a half after the fall of Lehman, and a year after the big bailouts. So I guess the inevitable question is, what's really changed? And
one gets the impression that the answer is nothing. Am I right?
ANDREW: I'm afraid to say you are, Lesley.
Am I naive to be surprised by this? Probably, but I do take comfort in the fact that someone as plugged-in as Sorkin was also surprised by what his
reporting turned up. Does this description shock you? To read a transcript of the complete, fascinating interview, or to check out an audio version,
visit [Link].

How Google Drives Loyalty with Corporate Philanthropy

Michael Norton, a marketing professor at the Harvard Business School, specializes in consumer psychology and social enterprise. Last week,
he shared his research on what he calls "The Ikea Effect," which explains how getting customers more involved in a product or service -- often with
their own labor -- can make them value it more. Today, he talks about how companies like Google use corporate giving to encourage customer and
employee satisfaction and loyalty.
BNET: How did you get started looking into the effects of corporate philanthropy?
Norton: With collaborators from the University of British Columbia, I looked into the idea that money doesn't make people that much
happier. People believe that increasing their income over time will make them much happier, and that is not necessarily the case. Money makes
you happier--but only a little bit. We had the idea that maybe when people got their money, they didn't spend it in the right ways to make them
happy. In our study, we made them spend money in different ways to judge which of those made them happy. As it turns out -- and it's a nice
message -- the way to use money to make you the most happy is to spend it on other people. We've shown in a bunch of contexts that it makes
you demonstrably happier.
Then we said, "If that works at the level of the individual, how can corporations use this knowledge to change the way they interact with their
employees or customers?" Usually firms give money in a lump sum to charity hoping for some PR effect. But those metrics are difficult to
evaluate. If a company gives its employees vouchers to give to charity, we can look to see if the employees are happier and have higher
satisfaction and loyalty to the company. Our studies show that, in fact, is the case. So, companies can look at both the impact their contributions
had on the world and also how good it was from a business point of view.
BNET: What companies have a great strategic approach in their corporate giving?
Norton: Google has been an innovator here. A few years ago, they gave their [advertising] clients vouchers for the nonprofit [Link],
where teachers in the public school system post projects that their school systems can't afford. A teacher might post that she wants to provide her
class certain books that aren't in her school's budget, and givers can choose to back that. Google's customers got to choose where the money
went. It's a great example of a company engaging their customers in charitable giving in an effort to make their customers appreciate them even
more.
BNET: So this covers writing checks, but how do companies encourage corporate volunteer efforts within their ranks? Do these programs also
increase loyalty?
Norton: There are companies doing amazing things with [Link] is a strong predictor of how happy people are in general with
their lives. I think the trick is that volunteering in general is hard. So, with many people, if their company gives them a day off to go build houses, it's
not necessarily a positive thing. The nice thing about giving away money is that it's quick, people enjoy it a lot, and the company can get a lot of
benefit from it.
Next week, we'll hear more from Professor Norton about corporate philanthropy, including his assessment of the well-known and sometimes
criticized Product Red Campaign.

Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money

Brad Klontz knows all about the dumb things that smart people do with their money: He's a smart guy (with a
doctorate in psychology) who lost half of his assets in the technology stock bubble.
A financial psychologist, Klontz says that when it comes to money smarts, size matters: The logical part of your
brain is so much smaller than the emotional side that it’s like “a circus performer riding an elephant.” To make
smart decisions about your finances, you need the logical side to dominate. But once you get tweaked by greed
or fear, that elephantine emotional brain is likely to run amok.
That’s why otherwise intelligent people chase get-rich fantasies. Or cling to stocks that are long past their
expiration dates. Or find other ways to let fear and superstition keep them from smarter financial moves. Here
are nine of these common, emotionally driven money mistakes — plus some tricks from experts for getting that
elephant in line.
1. Falling in Love ... With Your Investments
It can be great to fall in love with a person, but stocks can get you into deep trouble. Newport Beach, Calif.,
financial planner Laura Tarbox says she sees this all the time: Some clients keep concentrated stock holdings
because they inherited them and “Mom just loved IBM,” or because they work for the company and feel that
selling would be disloyal.
Then there’s the couple who came to her asking for help investing $12 million. “That sounded really great until
we found out that this couple used to have more than $1 billion,” Tarbox says. “All their money had been
invested in a company that the husband helped launch — and he couldn’t convince himself to diversify when he
walked away.”
Sorry, but that relationship just won’t work, says Tarbox. No one should have more than 10 percent of his or her
wealth locked in one stock. Just ask the former employees of Enron, who lost both their jobs and their
retirement savings when the company filed for bankruptcy 10 years ago.
2. Chasing a Fantasy
You’ve read it 100 times: “Past performance is not an indication of future returns.” But no one appears to
believe it. Purveyors of investment data can trot out tons of statistics showing that when a mutual fund or asset
class (such as gold, emerging markets stocks, or junk bonds) gets singled out for great quarterly or annual
returns, investors start to pour money into that investment like it was going out of style.
And, of course, it is. One extensive study that looked at 19 years of market data found that investors consistently
poured money into “hot” investments just as they were about to turn cold. That left the average investor with
returns that fell way below the market as a whole and didn’t even keep up with inflation. (For more on this, see
our recent story “The Biggest Mistake Investors Make.”)
Klontz admits that this is why he lost his shirt in technology stocks. It’s a natural inclination to “run with the
herd,” he says with a shrug. Maybe so, but if you don’t want to get trampled, you have to devise an investment
strategy that suits your goals and then stick to it, even as your neighbor gets (temporarily) rich on the
investment du jour.
3. Equating “On Sale” With “Good Deal”
Consider two television sets: Both are $500, but one is marked down from $800. Which one do you buy? If
you’re being reasonable, you buy the one that got the better rating in Consumer Reports. But most people buy
the one that’s on sale, says Matt Wallaert, a consultant for LendingTree, which owns the money management
Web site Thrive. In fact, even people who would never have spent $500 on a television often will when it’s
discounted — simply because it’s so cheap!
In reality, $500 is $500. If you wouldn’t normally spend that much on a television (or any product, for that
matter), you shouldn’t do it now. We’ve been fooled by “anchoring”: the illogical, but nearly inescapable,
tendency to base our estimates of value on the nearest number we see, rather than an independent assessment.
Just because the tag has $800 crossed out and replaced by $500, that doesn’t mean $800 was a meaningful
price. Indeed, an MIT experiment revealed that students who wrote down the last two digits of their Social
Security numbers based their estimates of a wine bottle’s worth on those two random numbers. The higher their
numbers, the more the students were willing to bid for the wine.
Before you pull out your checkbook to splurge at a sale, evaluate whether the product, be it a television or a
bread machine, is worth that price in enjoyment. Consider how often you’ll use it, for instance, and whether you
can get something of similar quality for less.
4. Retaliatory Spending
You don’t need it. You don’t want it. But, dang it, no one is going to tell you that you can’t have it. New York
psychologist Bonnie Eaker Weil calls it “POP” spending — for “pissed-off purchases.” She did a survey before
publishing her latest book, Financial Infidelity, and estimated from the results that POP spending accounts for
about $424 billion in purchases each year.
One of Weil’s Brooklyn-based clients, for example, went on a retaliatory $500 shopping spree when her husband
gave one of her beat-up old jackets to charity without asking her first. When she got home, she informed him
that since he didn’t like her old jacket, she had gotten a new one from Saks Fifth Avenue. Such purchases can
also result from a fight with your boss, mother, or best friend, according to Weil.
But as good as retaliatory spending may feel, it can do real damage to your financial health. Tarbox says a better
approach is to talk out the anger, hurt, or disappointment — or just your bad day — with a friend, or even a
professional counselor. If you have to spend money on a psychologist, it’s probably still cheaper than the golf
clubs or designer shoes you put on your credit card after that last argument with the boss.
5. Hanging On to Debt
The number of people who have money in savings accounts, earning less than 2 percent, while carrying debt on
credit cards that charge more than 14 percent is “shocking,” Wallaert says. Of Thrive’s customers who have
more than $500 in credit card debt, almost 40 percent have more than enough in savings to pay it off, he says.
Wallaert connects this mistake to “mental accounting” that separates our money into different stacks that we
think ought to stay separate. But illogical separations can create mathematical mayhem.
Consider a person with $5,000 in credit card debt and $10,000 in savings. The debt costs him 14 percent per
year, or $700, but the $10,000 in savings earns just 2 percent annually, or $200. He could pay off the debt,
saving the $700, and still earn $100 annually on the remaining $5,000 in savings. Net result: He’s immediately
$600 richer and can start saving faster.
You might argue that you need those savings for emergencies. And you do need some emergency savings, allows
Frank C. Presson III, a financial planner in Tucson, Ariz. But if you’ve got considerably more savings than debt,
there’s no excuse. Keep one month’s worth of living expenses in the bank, even at those sorry returns, Presson
advises. Use the rest to pay off the high-cost debt. Then rebuild the emergency savings, not the debt. Worst-case
scenario: You still have the credit cards (now with zero balances), and you can tap them in an emergency.
6. Parental Martyrdom
An emerging problem involves parents who spend themselves to the edge of insolvency bailing out their
children. “It starts from a good place, basically from wanting to be a good parent,” Klontz says. “They’ll say that
Johnny is going through a rough patch and needs some help. But it becomes financial enabling.”
 Worse, it often causes the parents to suffer money woes that keep them from retiring or living comfortably
because they’re constantly paying Johnny’s bills.
Any time you help an adult child, you should have a clear idea of how much help is necessary, how long it will be
required, how it will help the child get back on his or her feet, and when (or whether) the child will have to pay
you back. When there’s no plan — just an open checkbook or couch — you turn the child into a dependent who
becomes increasingly incapable of taking care of himself, Klontz says.
“I talk to the parents about how their attempts to help are like giving a drink to an alcoholic because his hand is
shaking. This kind of helping is hurting,” he says. “Then we talk about what kind of help would really help.”
(Hint: That kind generally doesn’t involve cash.)
7. Cyber Insecurity
Roughly half the world has signed on for free online banking, which makes money management easier and saves
the typical consumer about $50 annually in postage stamps. Among the people who don’t use online banking, 41
percent say they’ve held back because of security concerns, according to a recent survey by Gartner Research.
What do banks typically do to secure online customer accounts? They put up multiple firewalls, which are the
equivalent of brick enclosures around your house, and they have techno-security teams attempting to find the
weak spots and shore them up. They also patrol the firewalls 24/7, looking for climbers.
Now, let’s look at your mailbox. It’s probably unlocked and unguarded — just what a thief needs to steal your
credit cards. In reality, the chance of becoming a victim of identity theft or financial fraud as the result of low-
tech crime — whether it’s somebody stealing cards or “spoofing” you into providing private information via e-
mail — is a lot greater than the chance that somebody will breach your bank’s online vault.
So sign up already and save the stamps. And if you’re worried about security, check your account regularly to
make sure there’s no suspicious activity.
8. State of Denial
Remember when you were 2 years old and you thought you could hide by closing your eyes? When the stock
market plunged last winter and spring, that’s just what investors did, leaving their quarterly statements sitting
unopened on the counter.
If watching too closely would make you abandon a reasoned investment strategy, go ahead and ignore a
statement or two. But losses don’t go away just because you don’t look at them, Tarbox points out. At some
point, particularly if you’re nearing retirement or need the dough for some other reason, you need to take a
look, assess where you are, and figure out what to do about it.
9. Hoarding Money
Children of the Depression did a lot of this — stuffing $20 bills in their bibles or balling up tinfoil and rubber
bands so they wouldn’t have to buy more. But planners say that this is often a problem with wealthy and
responsible older folks today: They’re so afraid of running out of money that they don’t enjoy the money that
they have.
“When people deny themselves things that they could clearly afford, you have to ask them what they’re saving
that money for,” Tarbox says. “We have to tell them that they’re not spending enough.”
If you’re worried about running out of money, sit down with a financial planner and work out the math. Make
sure you consider worst-case investment scenarios, not just the averages. That will make you more comfortable
about weathering a bad patch like the one we just muddled through. Then, if you still have more than enough,
make a plan that will allow you to enjoy your wealth by either spending the excess or giving it away.
Money, after all, is a means to an end — not the end itself. You save it to make you, and the people you love,
calm and comfortable. And it’s a lot more fun to take the kids and grandkids on vacation — or provide them with
college money or other gifts while you’re around to get the hugs and kisses — than to know that they’ll inherit a
fortune after you die.

How To Kill an Objection -- For Good!

When you're selling, it's not enough to simply answer an objection. If you don't want to see the objection pop up later, you need to kill it for good.
Here's a typical selling conversation:
 Prospect: We don't have the money in this year's budget.
 You: That's O.K. We can finance it so part falls into next year's budget. Does that work for you?
 Prospect: I guess so.
Many sales reps would happily (but wrongly) believe they'd killed the objection. However, that objection will very likely to pop up later, because the
commitment is weak. An objection is not truly dead until until you've help the prospect bury it for good. Here's how:
 Prospect: We don't have the money in this year's budget.
 You: That's O.K. We can finance it so part falls into next year's budget. Does that work for you?
 Prospect: I guess so.
 You: ...and so that's all taken care of, right?
 Prospect: Right.
 You: Great! Did you notice that our reference accounts...
Getting prospects to publicly agree that the objection is dead puts them in the position of seeming inconsistent or wishy-washy if they bring it up
again. Most people will not do this because it conflicts with their image of themselves as [Link] do not pretend that this is NOT
manipulative. It's [Link] your prospects don't believe you've answered the objection, they'll say so. What this prevents is the emotional off-again/on-
again waffling that wastes your time, and keeps the prospect from making a decision quickly and [Link]! Once you've gotten the
customer to agree, change the subject by asking a question on an unrelated matter. Why? If you continue to focus on the objection past the point of
commitment, the prospect may start waffling about the commitment, in which case you're back to square one.

Quiz: What's the Best Opening Question?

SCENARIO: You're tasked with selling CRM solutions to large enterprises. On a puddle-jump flight, you end up sitting next to the Sales VP for a
big company. He asks what you do for a living and you tell him. He says that they "have one of those", but he makes a wry face, so sense that he's
not satisfied with it. Your challenge: turn the situation into a sales opportunity.
The correct answer is: "What do your sales people do on a day-to-day basis?" "What CRM system are you currently using?" will result in a
short answer that isn't going to tell you much. Even if you're familiar with the competitive product, the only way to proceed at this point is to rubbish
the other product, which is going to make you look bad. This is not to say that this question couldn't work, only that it's not the best choice."What
could your current system be doing better?" might produce some useful information, but you're asking the prospect to diagnose the problem
and come up with the solution. Isn't that your job? And, once again, you're starting out by rubbishing the competition. And you really don't know
enough about the situation to strongly position your own [Link] contrast, "What do your sales people do on a day-to-day basis?" opens a
dialog that allows you to better understand the situation and gradually uncover challenges that you can address better than the competition. As the
 conversation progresses, the competitive stuff will emerge, but you've put the focus where it belongs -- on the larger issues of the customer's real
[Link]'s not that the other two questions are "bad." They're actually useful, but this is not quite the right time to bring them up. The competitive
questions will be more meaningful once you know something about the environment in which the products are being used.

Going Rogue: Three Times to Ignore 'Best Practice'

Despite what they are called, best practices are not always so. Many managers have encountered occasions when their organization's prescribed
rules would cause more harm than [Link]. Your personnel department spells out a procedure for resolving a personal dispute between two
co-workers. Great, except the process takes two meetings and four hours of administrivia, while you know from your own experience with these
people that what will reallywork is an off-the-record airing of grievances over a couple of beers down at Duck's Tavern. (The Beer Gambit was used
to famous effect by President Obama to cool a dispute between a Harvard professor and a local police officer.)Your personnel department may
not agree, but I say trust your gut and head down to Duck's and see what [Link] can you tell when its OK not to follow the 'best' path?
Harvard Business blogger Susan Cramm offers this three-step filter.
1. Consider the context. Best practices work for a particular organization in a particular market at a particular time. Always adapt
best practices to fit your company's unique culture and situation.
2. Assess feasibility. The "best" may be expensive and time-consuming. Determine whether being the best is worth it. Will the
customer pay for it? Will you have the time or energy to achieve it?
3. Use common sense. Sometimes best practices just don't make sense. Just because someone labeled it "best" doesn't mean it
is. Think critically and strategically before using any best practice.
For more excellent insight, read Cramm's full post, How Are Your Defying "Best Practice".If you do choose to alter, modify or ignore a best practice,
I think it's important to share that information with the organization. Best practices remain best only if they are [Link] do you employ (or not)
best practices at work?

Perspective: Yahoo's Turnaround Efforts Are Straight from Steve Jobs' Playbook
We were at a cocktail party, and [former Apple CEO] Gil Ameliowas explaining Apple's predicament to us, and he
said: "Appleis a boat. There's a hole in the boat, and it's taking onwater. But there's also a treasure on board. And
the problem is,everyone on board is rowing in different directions, so the boat is juststanding still. My job is to get
everyone rowing in the same direction so wecan save the treasure."After he turned away, I looked at the
personnext to me and asked, "But what about the hole?"
— Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle, describing anencounter in 1997
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz
Carol Bartz, the still new CEO of Yahoo, convened her first meetingfor Wall Street analysts a few weeks ago.
Forget the specifics for a moment. Shecould have been talking about another iconic Silicon Valley company that
hadgone astray under experienced but ineffectual leaders who had been brought infrom other industries to
shore up damage done by the company’sprecocious founders.
When Steve Jobs returned as interim CEO in 1998, Apple was perilouslyclose to financial collapse. Jobs acted
decisively in his first few months, killingthe Newton PDA,rescinding the company’s nascent “Mac Clone”strategy,
paring a gangly product portfolio down to two basic machines, andsealing a controversial deal with archenemy
Microsoft that gave Gates &Co. a chunk of Apple stock in exchange for an investment of more than $100million
and the commitment to keep developing software for the Mac.
Bartz, who has occupied Yahoo’s corner office for barely10 months, has had to move quickly to repair a
hemorrhaging brand and restoremorale to a company that was a pioneer of Internet cool. She wasn’t areturning
founder, but she had street cred as the successful href="[Link] of
Autodesk, theleading maker of 3-D design software. In Jobs fashion, Bartz shut down dead-endservices such
as onlinevideo site Jumpcut and Web 1.0 darling GeoCities, and she is expected tokill plenty more. She has
eliminated layers of management, cut 5 percent of theworkforce, and wasted no time hammering out a
search/advertising deal with big,bad Microsoft — the suitor that her predecessors, led by former CEO andco-
founder Jerry Yang, had spurned more out of emotion than as an expression ofshrewd business strategy.
The nettlesome shareholder activist Carl Icahn was sopleased that in October he stepped down from Yahoo’s
board. In href="[Link]
cloned/">hisresignation letter, he told Bartz: “I wish you could be clonedbecause so many of the companies in
the country could use a Carol Bartz as [Link] resignation in a way is a compliment to you in that I do not
believe thatYahoo any longer needs an activist shareholder.” In its most recentquarter, Yahoo surprised Wall
Street by tripling profits and projecting areturn to revenue growth.
In short, Bartz has made Yahoo’s business coherentagain, not just to Wall Street but to her own 13,500
employees. And like Appleafter the return of Jobs, Yahoo again has a reason for being.
Her presentation to the analysts was a brilliant realitycheck for all who had written off Yahoo as a hopeless has-
been. “Herewe are, a 14-year-old Internet company that somehow got boring,” shesaid. “But we’re the largest
communications engine in thewhole world. When we can serve up impressions of 9 billion ads a day throughour
networks, that’s innovation, and that’s scale. You don’tjust start up an Internet company and do that. We know
how to do these things.”She was just getting warmed up: “We’re not a searchcompany; we’re not a display
company. We’re a broad-basedInternet company that serves up content to millions of people. We’renot here to
wow you today; we’re here to intrigue you and impressyou.”
Jobs went on to build Appleback up into a multidimensional business that has grown right through thislousy
economy. But early on, he knew better than to try to fix everything atonce. Apple’s most important asset at that
time was its brand —it was, after all, the creative force that had unleashed the personal computerindustry. That
strong brand identity helped Apple retain top-notch engineeringtalent despite meandering leadership. So when
Jobs scaled back the number ofproducts, Apple’s engineers were able to move faster yet also crankout better
products. Each success bred more confidence and built a strongerbase from which the company could
methodically broaden its product reach.
Yahoo isn’t all that different. More than anyother first-generation Internet company, Yahoo took the intimidation
out ofexploring the Web and demonstrated that the user really could find his wayaround. The company also was
the first to recognize the value of thedemographic data it could glean from tracking what surfers were looking
at. Despite thedrama of the past couple of years, Yahoo continues to rank up there with Googleand Facebook as
one of the most trafficked sites in the world. It possesses brandrecognition that money can’t buy.
Yahoo will have to prune back even more to blossom and growagain. And the deal with Microsoft, not unlike
Apple’s deal withRedmond, buys Yahoo time and gives it a partner that lends it stability andcredibility.
Of course, Yahoo is not Apple, and Carol Bartz is not SteveJobs coming back to rescue his baby. But Microsoft’s
role in thecomeback strategies of each (once its deal with Yahoo wins regulatoryclearance) is key: For Yahoo,
just like for Apple, the deal serves to remove adegree of strategic uncertainty at the very core of the
company’sbusiness. The lesson here is that when you are called on to bail out a sinkingship, it helps to lighten
the load and fix the holes first, and only thenfigure out where you really want to go. Do that, and your crew will
fall inwith you.
Perspectiveaims to take a long-term view of the technology business, analyzing where ithas been and where it’s
going. Brent Schlender has covered theindustry for 30 years at the Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine.

Find Commands Easily in Word 2007's Ribbon

The Word 2007 ribbon: You either love it or hate it. There's apparently no middle ground. But even if you like the way the ribbon exposes Word
features that were previously very hard to find, the fact remains that it's sometimes frustratingly difficult to track down something that you used to
know exactly how to find in Word 2003. Well, fret no more. You can now have the best of both [Link] Office Labs offers a free Word add-
in called Search Commands that puts a search box in the ribbon. Just type what you're looking for, and the ribbon displays only those commands
that match your search [Link] Commands is pretty awesome. You can ignore it and use the ribbon normally when you know how to find
what you need. But when you can't remember how to change text to Sentence Case, just type "case" and the ribbon will look like this:
And you don't have to know the exact text to search for, either. In the example above, for example, I could also have typed "caps." This is a feature
that should have come built into Word. You should absolutely install it today.

Getting the Most Out of Multiple Monitors

Occasionally, debate will rage over the question of using two or more monitors. In my judgment, there's no debate: No other single change to your
desktop can have so profound an effect on your productivity. When I tell this to people that have never tried multiple displays, though, I get the
same question every time: "What's it good for?" Well, here are four ways to make that second monitor pay for itself.1. Compare documents side-
by-side. Sure, you can sort of do this by tiling two documents on the same monitor, but it's horribly inefficient. With two displays, you can maximize
both docs and see the full width of the page without constantly scrolling from side to side or shrinking things beyond recognition.2. Keep e-mail in
one display and your work document in another. This is my default configuration; I always keep Outlook on the right monitor and Word or Excel
on the left. This way I can keep an eye on mission-critical e-mail and still get my work done. (Yes, I know that is a violation of my rule
about scheduling e-mail sessions, but it's the way I like to work.)3. Learn Windows 7's keyboard shortcuts for multiple monitor users. Like to
"snap" windows to the sides of the screen to automatically set them to half the width of the display? So do I. At first, it appears that doesn't work on
the edges of the monitors that face each other, but it does. Select a window and press Win+left arrow or Win+right arrow, as appropriate. You can
end up with four evenly tiled windows with no fuss!4. Don't forget that there are tools you can use to do even more with dual monitors. Check
out Rick's post on multiple monitors for the full scoop.

Turn an Extra PC Into a Second Monitor

I don't often agree with Dave, but he's right about one thing: multiple monitors rock. Nothing, but nothing, beats having Outlook open on one screen
and your browser on another. Or your browser and Excel. Or Excel and iTunes. You get the [Link] one problem: What if your desktop or laptop
doesn't support a second monitor? Or there's no room in the budget to buy one?Enter MaxiVista, which lets you use any PC on your network as a
second monitor. That may sound a little kooky -- until you remember that old laptop that's collecting dust [Link] new v4 version of
MaxiVista adds long-awaited support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 (including 64-bit versions) -- something open-source fave Synergy still
[Link] most likely configuration is a desktop paired with a laptop, though any combination is fair game: two laptops, a laptop and a netbook, and
so on. You can also bring a third or even fourth PC into the mix if you really want to spread out.I tested MaxiVista on a desktop system running
Windows 7 and a laptop running Vista. It worked flawlessly. Even Windows 7 features like Aero Snap worked on the secondary system, which I
found very [Link] costs $39.95. There's a 14-day trial version available, which you should definitely install first (just to make sure
your configuration works properly). It's a terrific solution for anyone looking to put an old or unused PC to genuinely good use.
I don't often agree with Dave, but he's right about one thing: multiple monitors rock. Nothing, but nothing, beats having Outlook open on one screen
and your browser on another. Or your browser and Excel. Or Excel and iTunes. You get the [Link] one problem: What if your desktop or laptop
doesn't support a second monitor? Or there's no room in the budget to buy one?Enter MaxiVista, which lets you use any PC on your network as a
second monitor. That may sound a little kooky -- until you remember that old laptop that's collecting dust [Link] new v4 version of
MaxiVista adds long-awaited support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 (including 64-bit versions) -- something open-source fave Synergy still
[Link] most likely configuration is a desktop paired with a laptop, though any combination is fair game: two laptops, a laptop and a netbook, and
so on. You can also bring a third or even fourth PC into the mix if you really want to spread out.I tested MaxiVista on a desktop system running
Windows 7 and a laptop running Vista. It worked flawlessly. Even Windows 7 features like Aero Snap worked on the secondary system, which I
found very [Link] costs $39.95. There's a 14-day trial version available, which you should definitely install first (just to make sure
your configuration works properly). It's a terrific solution for anyone looking to put an old or unused PC to genuinely good use.

How to Balance the Federal Budget

It was the end of a long work day, but back then, the days seemed to go a lot quicker than they do now. It was 1998 and the stock market's
unprecedented bull run - fueled by the dot-com boom - seemed like it would never [Link] the tail end of a phone interview with USA Today's Silicon
Valley bureau chief, Julie Schmitasked if I would be a source for another reporter's story on how unbudgeted tax income from the stock market
surge was responsible for the nation's first budget surplus in almost 30 years. For those who were too young or have short memories, at that time,
the market had indeed seen an impressive bull run. But as they say, "they ain't seen nothin' yet." Over the next 3 years the NASDAQ would
skyrocket 250 percent, only to plummet right back down to where it started. Maybe we'd all just as soon forget that ever [Link] yet, there
was a remarkable benefit that, for the most part, slipped under most of our radar screens. But when you read this excerpt from the USA Today
archives, the lesson we, in the deficit and budget-challenged present, can learn from history comes into focus:
U.S. Budget Bonus: Thank Bull Market for Deficit's End Sep 30, 1998, Paul WisemanPoliticians here like to claim credit for balancing the federal
[Link] Jeff Osborn should take a bow, too.A one-time sales executive with the high-flying Internet company UUNet Technologies, Osborn's
personal wealth soared with UUNet's stock price. As a result, he has paid about $1 million in federal taxes each of the past two years."I feel
personally responsible" for balancing the budget, he jokes. "I keep waiting for an invitation to the Lincoln bedroom."Of course, Osborn's impressive
tax contributions probably won't get him any recognition from the White House. His payments aren't even a ripple in the $1.6 trillion-a-year federal
[Link] he's onto [Link] stock market surge that made him rich and gave him huge tax bills has dumped so much unbudgeted revenue
into the Treasury that the federal government this year will report its first budget surplus in almost three decades. President Clinton is expected to
announce today the surplus will approach $70 billion for fiscal 1998, which ends today. That snaps a run of annual deficits dating back to
1969."Most of it's coming from the stock market," says David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's DRI. "That's been the big surprise of the
last two years."Explaining why the Treasury took in so much more tax revenue than expected this past year, forecasters at the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) cited "unusually high realizations of capital gains." They also noted that "a growing share of income was earned by people at
the top of the income ladder..."
Fast-forward to the present: we're clearly entering uncharted deficit waters. And while I'm not a fan of super-high tax rates or bubble and bust-
fueled economic cycles, throwing the capitalism baby out with the boom-bust bathwater isn't the answer either. Like it or not, economic expansion -
big and small business growth - is indeed the only way out of our current predicament -- and the only way to prosperity.

The 5-Step Career Turnaround

Everybody I know - myself included - has hit at least one snag in their career. After all, nobody's life, business, or career goes straight up and to the
right. You may think you're on the right path, then something changes and you're suddenly thrown off course.A couple of weeks ago a good friend -
a senior-level manager at a big company - found out he's getting laid off after 20 years there. Time for a new [Link] last four jobs another senior
executive friend has taken have been with companies that, for whatever reason, get acquired a year or two later. Poof, he's back on the street
again. He's getting on in years; can't keep doing that [Link] you know what? Highly accomplished professionals take their careers very
personally. People who pride themselves on their ability to grow businesses and companies sometimes have a hard time seeking advice from
others when it comes to their own [Link], successful career change requires a certain level of objectivity that most people simply
aren't equipped with. After all, we're only human and we inevitably see ourselves through a subjective [Link] at it this way: would you attempt
a corporate turnaround or restructuring without an objective analysis of the situation or without getting input and feedback from a variety of sources
 - board of directors, employees, customers, analysts? Of course not. Well, the same goes for your [Link] fact, thinking of career change as a
sort of turnaround or at least a strategic planning process is absolutely the way to go. Think about it; the methodology works:The 5-Step Career
Turnaround
1. Assess your situation. SWOT analysis works particularly well here. It's also critical that you discover your risk profile and what
you really want to do, going forward. Get external input from trusted sources.
2. Determine your value proposition (what uniquely sets you apart from the competition). Contrast that with your risk profile
and goals. Make sure what you want to do is reasonably doable and not a pipe dream.
3. Develop your plan. How you're going to go about achieving your goals. If you're changing careers or targeting a big step up,
there will likely be interim stages and goals.
4. Restructure financials, as necessary. Most turnarounds require a restructuring - it wouldn't be a turnaround if something
hasn't gone wrong. The same goes for you and your career, i.e. you may need to cut expenses to weather the transition.
5. Execute. All the best laid plans fail without solid execution.
As with all turnarounds and planning processes, pay particular attention to these five caveats or you'll certainly end up scratching your head and
wondering what went wrong:
 Be brutally honest
 Always seek external perspective
 Remember there are no absolutes - everything is relative to your competition
 A multistep, iterative process is more effective than an all-or-nothing, swing for the fences one
 As legendary oil man and entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens says, "A fool with a plan is better than a genius with no plan." He also
says not to analyze things to death. Come up with a plan and act. Smart guy.

The Boss From Hell

Early in my career, I mean decades ago, I had a boss from hell. Oh sure, I've had lots of dysfunctional bosses. I was a pretty dysfunctional boss
myself. But this guy was different. I'm talking serious lunatic stuff here. It was so traumatic that I sort of blocked it out of my memory. But as is often
the case with tragedy, there was also a comic aspect and maybe even a lesson to be learned. Let me set the stage here. John - we'll call him John
- ran a regional office for a huge multinational technology company based in Asia. That's where our products and services were developed. These
folks in Asia had no idea what they were doing in the U.S. market. I mean [Link]'s boss and the rest of the company's U.S. management and
headquarters were in another state - California. John's boss was a savvy executive who made it big down the road, but the rest of the U.S. folks
were, well, they were idiots. And they were our principal interface to the folks in Asia who were clueless about the U.S. market. There was also a
regional sales office down the hall from us. These were the guys who were supposed to sell the products we supported technically. They were an
assorted grab-bag of fun-loving sales people. And they loved to get John riled up.I was John's first employee in this new satellite office. It was sort
of an experiment for the company. When I got there, the experiment wasn't going so [Link] was constantly under pressure to support our local
customers, and the folks in California and Asia were always screwing us up. Whenever that happened, which was pretty much daily, John would
throw whopping temper tantrums. He'd run around the office ranting and screaming like a raving lunatic. Then he'd storm into the sales offices, rant
and rave some more, and storm right back out again. The sales guys just loved [Link] occasion, he'd punch or kick holes in the walls of our
offices.I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. It was crazy growing up there. I thought I'd seen it all. Racial violence, gang violence, I had a friend who
was shot over a gambling debt. But this guy - John - scared the crap out of [Link] had frequent conference calls with the folks in California and
Asia. It would typically be John, me, and a sales guy in John's office. While whoever was on the other end of the line was talking, John would unzip
his pants and, well, make some seriously lewd gestures at the speaker phone. Oftentimes he'd mute the phone and let out a string of curses that
would make a rapper [Link] customers, John was a pro. But when he was back in his office, he acted out like a lunatic Satan child whose
parents had left town for [Link] a year, I got the heck out of there. But John and I have crossed paths a few times over the years. Believe it or
not, he's a senior executive, so I can only assume he's mellowed out some. I guess people can change. But if you looked at him today, you'd think
he was 20 years older than he is. He looks [Link] take-away? Promoting people before their time is a bad idea. Giving them too much
authority before they're ready is bad for the company, bad for employees, and bad for them. And some people should never be managers. Never.

New Pogoplug Adds Up to Four Hard Drives to Your Network

Remember Pogoplug, the little gizmo that turns a USB hard drive into network-attached storage? Well, it's back, and it's...[Link] second-
generation 'plug offers some intriguing new features, including support for up tofour external drives, but we're having a hard time getting past
the...[Link], the Pogoplug was never expressly intended for business users (despite it having myriad small-business applications), but the
new design will almost certainly keep non-consumer buyers away in droves. Men, [Link] you're not as small-minded as I am and think you'd buy the
$129 Pogoplug despite its DayGlo appearance (or even because of it), here's a rundown of what's new in this version:
 Automatic synching with your music, movies, and files
 Vastly increased storage and sharing capacity (the aforementioned four drives)
 Drag and drop slide show creation
 Easy video and music streaming from your Pogoplug anywhere in the world -- even your iPhone
 Global search across multiple drives and Pogoplugs
Of course, business users would likely tap it for dirt-cheap network storage and easy remote access to files. If it wasn't pink, that [Link] can
preorder the Pogoplug 2 now; shipping is expected to commence by the end of the year. Laughter is expected to taper off shortly thereafter.

Preserve a Web Page as a PDF

Round these parts, I frequently need to share Web pages with co-workers. Sometimes it's fine just to send a link, but occasionally it's critical to
freeze a moment in time. Sending a link is dicey, because the page could change before anyone sees what I had intended to show. Sure, I could
take a screenshot, but that only captures part of the page at a time. What I need is a way to make a PDF out of the entire page.Web2PDF
Converter is an add-on for Firefox that converts a Web page into a PDF file. To use it, just open the page you want to save and then click the
Web2PDF toolbar button. The page is converted and saved online. Then click a link provided in your browser to download the PDF to your
[Link]'t use Firefox? No problem. You can go directly to the Web2PDF Web site and enter the URL of the page you want to [Link], if you're
a Windows Vista or Windows 7 user, you have an even easier option: You can save a Web page as an XPS document instead. XPS, of course, is
Microsoft's PDF-like document format, and you can print to an XPS document from any program, including your Web browser. As long as everyone
else can read your XPS doc, it's faster and easier than installing an add-on or visiting an extra Web site.

Top Four iPhone Apps To Watch Video On Your Way to Work

Almost every day, I board a bus and relax for the 30 minutes it takes me to get to work. Along the way, I use my iPod to monitor the route using
GPS (to make sure the bus driver doesn't get lost), check e-mail, listen to podcasts, and watch the occasional video. On this lazy Friday morning, I
thought I'd recommend four free apps you can use to get video on your own iPhone or iPod [Link]. I'm a big fan of the Discovery
Channel thanks to awesome shows like Mythbusters, and this Discovery app lets you watch clips from all your favorite shows. Here you'll find stuff
like Storm Chasers, Man Vs. Wild, Dirty Jobs, and yes, even Mythbusters. NFB. The National Film Board of Canada (no, not the National
Federation of the Blind) offers this cool app with a thousand films in its coffers -- documentaries, movie trailers, cartoons, and more. Showtime. If
you subscribe to Showtime, you'll dig this iPhone app, which includes clips and extended scenes, plus behind-the-scenes videos for shows like
Dexter, Californication, and Weeds. [Link]. This is a very cool app that beams full episodes and clips of some popular TV shows through your
iPhone. Indeed, [Link] aggregates all sorts of interesting video content from sources as diverse as CNET, CBS, The CW, and Showtime.

Why Are Some Nations Rich While Others Are Poor?

Today on Esquire's website, Daron Acemoglu, a professor at MIT, tackles an age-old question: Why are some nations wealthy while others are
poor?There have been plenty of sweeping theories to choose from, as Acemoglu notes. In the 18th century, the French political
philosopher Montesquieu was proposing that people in hotter places are just lazier. Today, in a similar way, Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia
University's Earth Institute says a lot of it boils down to geography and the [Link] according to Acemoglu, while these theories may help
explain aspects of poverty, they ignore the incentives that truly drive prosperity. In Acemoglu's view, if countries create sound institutions and
improve their governments, then their citizens can expect that their hard work will be protected by the rule of law and poverty can be fixed. While
rich nations may not be able to totally force their institutions onto other countries, according to Acemoglu, they can push for government reforms
and even help the citizens of poorer nations by providing them with educational opportunities and [Link]'s connection between
economic incentives and the rule of law is appealing but it ultimately fails to answer the initial question. Certainly there is a correlation between
good government and economic prosperity. But why do some nations develop sound, transparent institutions while others settle for warlords or
corrupt puppet governments?And it can't all come down to education. Russia, for example, has excellent universities and aliteracy rate close to 100
percent. Yet the International Finance Corporation ranks Nigeria and Pakistan as better places to do business. Social scientists will keep on
trying to isolate that single causal factor that explains wealth and poverty. But what if there simply isn't one to be found? After all, even Iraq was
once home to the center of civilization.

World Taking Free Ride On America's Healthcare Innovations

If you've been following the healthcare debate, then you've probably heard of this WHO finding,which forms the basis of so many arguments for
reform: "The U.S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries
according to its performance."But scholars at the CATO Institute counter that those stats do not provide an accurate diagnosis of the health of
America's healthcare system. When one factors in innovation (basic science, diagnostics and therapeutics), they argue, then the American system
does not look so bad. America has fewer people than the EU but we've recently won more Nobel Prizes in medicine and physiology and produced
more pharmaceutical wonder drugs over the last few [Link] an ambitious doctor is looking for fertile ground to find a better cure, America looks
like it's the best place to set up shop. It follows then, that attempts to exert government control over the healthcare system could thwart innovation
and also weaken one of the American economy's strongest [Link], the report's authors mention an odd side effect of our system which I
think weakens, rather than helps, their case:
Consider, for example, the frequent claim that European health systems achieve similar health outcomes to those of the United States at a much
lower cost. That claim fails to consider that higher U.S. spending levels could be generating innovations that improve health outcomes in Europe
and around the world.
As the CATO scholars go on to point out, the rest of the world is essentially getting a free ride off of our investments in medical innovations. When
these innovations can be controlled and patented, as is often the case with new drugs, then American companies and our broader economy both
benefit overall. But many investments in innovation, such as long-term health studies, end up as global public goods. We pay the price to figure out
a new procedure and everyone else gets to adopt it, free of [Link] there is a better way for the world to share the costs of all these
healthcare advances since the benefits don't necessarily trickle down to Americans who can't afford insurance.

Hollywood's Napster Moment

That ubiquitous teenybopper vampire flick "New Moon" racked in over $140 million during its opening weekend. Not a bad take,
considering fans also had the unofficial option of streaming the video for free online, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-
Times. The Napster moment has arrived for the television and movie [Link] the time it once took to download a three minute tune during
Napster's heyday back in 2001, fans can download an entire movie these days. Last April, a pirated version of "Wolverine II"was downloaded over
one million times before the flick even got to the [Link] there's no real need to even bother downloading a song, television program or movie
anymore. Videos can be quickly uploaded anywhere on the planet and streamed on any browser. And since most data lives in the cloud and not on
desktops, the Motion Picture Association of America would be wasting its time going after illegal end-user libraries like the recording industry
once [Link] will face its toughest test with the online networks that host streamable versions of its content. Predictably, none of these sites
claim to ever knowingly host illegal content and they will ultimately cooperate with copyright holders. But as an article on Forbes notes, sites
likeMegavideo, which is conveniently registered in Hong Kong, pays its users to upload [Link], whenever Hollywood cites a copyright
infringement and illegal content is deleted, there's still an incentive (and it would be naive to think that most digital pirates care about the money) for
some other fan to upload another version of the file. There are now hundreds of illegal copies of every popular television show and movie available
on the web for free [Link]-party sites also provide user-generated indexes that help fans find out where specific content can be streamed
online. Even with those helpful directories, all the lawyers in the world couldn't track and cite every [Link] should Hollywood deal with its
Napster moment? Please share your thoughts and bold predictions below.

How to Back Up Your Smartphone

As we all learned from the recent Sidekick debacle, it's up to you -- yes, you -- to back up the data on your smartphone. Otherwise you're risking
disaster, whether from a spastic server or simply loss, theft, or [Link] at Gizmodo there's a simple, straightforward guide to backing up
smartphones. The author covers the basics for all six major platforms: Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Here's
an excerpt:
Cellphone backup isn't just a matter of keeping copies of data that you consciously archive every day, like contacts, photos and notes -- it's about
keeping copies of information that you didn't even know you wanted. How many times have you needed to dig through an old text message
conversation? Referred back to your received call list to recover a number you didn't save? In a lot of ways, your smartphone is more closely tied to
your personal identity than your computer is.
So true, so true. Having recently suffered through some iPhone backup shenanigans of my own, I can attest to the importance of keeping your data
archived (and to the crummy way iTunes makes this happen).In some respects, your smartphone is itself a backup of the data that resides on your
PC. But as more and more devices take the PC out of the equation (I'm looking at you, Palm Pre), it's increasingly crucial that you make the effort
to make backups. Of all your data. End of sermon.

Get Your Copy of Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Today

We've been hearing about Office 2010 for a while now, going all the way back to a post I made on my birthday earlier this year with a movie trailer-
style tease about the new version of [Link], Microsoft has come a long way in the last 6 months, and you can now install the public beta on
your own work or home [Link] get the Office 2010 Beta, visit the Office Web site, where you will need to log in with your Windows Live ID (or sign
up for one) and copy a product key. Then download the 700MB installer and run. The whole process took me about 20 [Link] can upgrade
your current installation of Office to 2010, which is what I did (so I didn't have to reconfigure all my POP account information in Outlook) or you can
do a clean install of Office if you [Link] you planning to try out Office 2010? I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments.

Get $10 Cash Back with a Purchase Through Bing

Bing is no stranger to giving stuff away in order to spread the word about search alternatives to Google. Earlier this year I told you how to get cash
back from purchases using Live Search (Bing's predecessor) and more recently, there's the whole get-free-Wi-Fi using Bing thing. Now I've got
news of more cash savings via [Link], the old Live Search cash back program is alive and well with the new Bing moniker, and until
November 25, you can get $10 back for any purchase of $25 or more at participating [Link] make this work, you'll need a PayPal account and
to be new to Bing's cash back program. After you make a $25 (or more) purchase, Bing will put a Hamilton in your PayPal account. There are
 literally hundreds of participating retailers, including eBay, Walmart, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Dell, just to name a (very) [Link] if you're
looking for a holiday gift for your admin or playing Secret Santa with your team, don't forget that Microsoft has a $10 bill waiting for you... as long as
you act fast.

Make the Holidays Work for You

I heard it twice last week: "Well, next week's Thanksgiving, and then comes Christmas and all those holiday parties so nothing's really going to
happen until January."Bah! Humbug! Okay, I'm not much of an Ebenezer Scrooge. But let's face it; if your business is party planning, the holidays
are a boom time. Otherwise, you may as well roll up the carpet and hang a "Gone Fishing" sign on the door, right? [Link] you're resigned to lost
productivity and plummeting effectiveness during the holidays, it's just like handing market share to your competitor. Why? Because, if they're
smart - and I'm sure they are - they'll be planning new programs for the new year. That's right, the holidays are actually the best time to initiate
change programs, strategic planning, or brainstorm innovative ideas. Anything out of the [Link]? Well, I'm not entirely sure. This is empirical
observation - it just works. Still, I can take a stab at [Link], this time of year the days are cold, the nights are long, and people don't hibernate, so
they become bored and antsy. Second, the holidays are inspiring - people tend to become animated and optimistic. Third, folks start getting into a
freewheeling party spirit, so if you can get them out of their daily doldrums and into a brainstorm or planning session, they'll be up for [Link],
trust me; it works. In fact, whether you're looking for a new career, a small business owner, department manager, division VP, or CEO of a Fortune
100 company, here are ... 5 Ways to Make the Holidays Work For You:
1. Initiate your annual strategic planning process or just an annual review of your company's or group's overarching mission,
objectives, strategies, whatever. If you hold weekly meetings starting in November, you should be able to finish and be ready to
hit the ground running the first week of January.
2. Initiate development on a new program or SOP. Maybe the timing's not right for your strategic plan. Instead, review your
company's SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and plan to upgrade or fill in the gaps. Or initiate development of a new
website, CRM program, whatever you need.
3. Brainstorm new business ideas or opportunities with your staff. Kick it off with a motivational pitch, team-building exercise,
or just dinner and drinks. Then assign each person to bring an idea to the table, analyze a competitor, whatever. Coalesce on
one or two changes and you're there.
4. Conduct a 360 review. Sure, the holidays are a great time for reflection. But don't reflect on your own subjective and tainted
memories; get an objective perspective from your employees, peers, and boss. Conduct a 360 review of your management style
and ability and have your staff to do the same.
5. Initiate a 5-Step Career Turnaround. Conduct your own personal SWOT analysis, develop your value proposition, or
brainstorm ideas for starting your own business or making changes to your existing one. Hey, that's what I'll be doing.
In any case, doing this stuff during the holidays means you're not doing some other time of the year when you and your folks should be hitting the
streets working, right? Right.

Taming a Type-A Culture Gone Wild

San Francisco-based Method is one of those quirky companies wherethe halls bustle with smart, opinionated hipsters who, compared to most of
us,actually love their jobs. Employees conduct meetings while knitting in the "craftpod," playing ping pong in the Astroturf room, or just sitting in
themiddle of an open, office-less floor plan and writing their many ideas onwhiteboards that span entire walls. The vibrant atmosphere has helped
propelthe nine-year-old company to more than $100 million insales and put its laundry detergent, hand soap, and other products onto theshelves of
stores like Target, Lowe's, and Safeway.
Method founders Adam Lowry (left) and Eric Ryanat their San Francisco office.
But several years ago, after a period of rapid sales growth and frantic hiring, the free flow of ideas started to get a little too free. Arguments were
breakingout in the middle of the very public encampment of cubicles. Employees who should have been talking withone another weren't. For a
cleaning products company composed of "peopleagainst dirty," things were getting messy.
Itwas a moment many growing companies face, when the old ways of doing things nolonger scale and the problems point toward more adult
supervision and some kindof formalized structure. Method's thirty-something co-founders, EricRyan and Adam Lowry, realized that the company's
"anybodycan say anything anytime" environment had to evolve. The challengewas to do it in a way that would preserve a sense of creativity and
fun. "Inthe early days of Method when we all sat in one room, our culture was rightthere for all to see," explains Ryan. "When we grew out ofthat
space, when you could no longer stand up and holler to any other employee,we knew it was time to specify what was important to us."
The Rules of the Office
So Ryan and Lowry spent several weeks passing a notebookback and forth, jotting down ideas. They spelled out, in a set of five principles,how
employees should conduct themselves. Each of the five was then printed onbrightly colored laminated cards and handed out to every employee at
thecompany’s kickoff meeting in early 2006. When new employees join thecompany, they are given their own collection of cards.
Two of the cards addressed the restraint side of theequation:Collaborate instructs employees to “communicatedirectly” and “demonstrate
understanding” withcolleagues as well as to assume co-workers “want the best for you.”
Care asks that everyone “care for eachother, our customers, and our environment.” The card reads, “We’relike care bears, but cooler.”
The rest of the values work to preserve Method’sinventive culture:Innovate tells Method employees to “alwaysbe creating.”
Keep Method Weird assures employees that theyshould feel free to let their freak flag fly and “infect other peoplewith your passion.”The
rhetorical What Would MacGyver Do? attempts toharness some of the aggressive type A tendencies at Method by definingresourcefulness as “not
accepting no for an answer” and “lookingunder rocks for what other have missed.”
The big challenge in this kind of program, of course, liesin making sure those values survive the rah-rah stage and don’tsimply devolve into a bland
mission statement that no one pays attention [Link] Sulkowicz, founder of the Boswell Group, a consulting firm that focuseson the psychology of
business, says that it’s up to the company’sleaders to make the values stick, and they can only do that by example. “Leadershave to assume they
are under constant scrutiny,” says Sulkowicz.
Making the Rules Stick
In the spirit of leading by example, Keep Method Weird has been incorporated into the company’s hiring process. It’snow one of the questions
(“What would you do to keep Method weird?”)prospective employees must answer. “We want to know people are goingto bring their personality to
the company,” explains Katie Molinari,Method’s head of public relations. “A fun brand can onlycome from fun people.” One interviewee answered
the question byconducting a spontaneous yoga session for the team interviewing her. Anotherwho was learning to play the guitar led a roving
musical lesson in a marcharound the office. Both applicants were swiftly hired.
In addition, Lowry and Ryan created a Values Award for whichemployees can nominate each another. Every Monday after the company’sweekly
morning huddle, the winner, if there is one that week, spins a Wheel ofFortune-type wheel to determine their prize. Bounty has included
everythingfrom a dinner gift certificate to a holiday turkey and a trip to Las Vegas.
As part of the Collaborate principle, most employeesare uprooted twice a year to different work stations, where they findthemselves sitting next to
new cubicle-mates. Josh Handy, who heads up thedesign of Method’s stylish and shapely packaging, now sits next tothe left-brained chemists who
concoct the product formulas, something unusualat a consumer products company. Handy thinks this proximity has helped avoid arepeat of the
2007 catastrophe in which the formula inside a new line of bodywashes and lotions was too thick to be squeezed out of a pretty but inflexiblebottle.
Now all designers consult with the formulators before designing newproducts, avoiding future headaches.
 “Part of signing on to be a Method employee isagreeing to live the values, which provide a kind of ‘true north’for everyone’s behavior,” says Ryan.
“That’swhy it works.”

Decide Who to Hire Before They Even Walk in the Door

It might sound like just a crazy headline, but Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon, the authors of hit business book I Hate People!, contend
that you can tell a lot about potential employees just by looking at how they cross the street. In their tongue-in-cheek post on the American Express
Open Forum blog they suggest interviewers arrange to meet at a location where candidates will be forced to cross the street. How they do so
reveals a lot about how they'll perform once hired. All jokes aside, for interviewees there's a clear lesson here -- everything counts, even seemingly
trivial aspects of your presentation and [Link] what would your street crossing style say about you? Check out Littman and Hershon's five
types to find out:
1. Matador. Fearless, the Matador thinks nothing of daring the cars and taxis with his elegant dance through traffic. Crosswalks are
just paint to a Matador. Red lights are mere suggestions. Nor does the Matador care whether the oncoming traffic shows no sign
of stopping. After all, what's a little glancing blow? Best Positions: Entrepreneurs, super salesmen, and financial mavericks.
2. Wader. Bold but not fearless, the Wader is eager to cross, demonstrating ample initiative but a little more common sense.
Waders may phone and text while on the move--but not when venturing into traffic. They recognize that getting struck by any
part of a car is a bad thing. That's why they let the Matadors run interference. While the hotshots are busy tempting fate, the
Wader is getting to the other side first. Best Positions: Excellent CEOs, vice presidents, software designers, project leaders and
design heads.
3. TextWalker. Having mastered typing, talking and walking at once, the TextWalker tends to forget that crossing a car-clotted
street is real life while tapping keys on a little plastic box is not. TextWalkers may appear on the surface to be Waders or even
Matadors, but with one critical distinction--progress in their case is often an illusion. The Textwalker tends to meander, drift, and
even pause midway. They lack the presence of mind to stay on task. Best Positions: Creatives and lower-level programmers.
They exhibit flashes of talent but are ill-suited for management or higher-level responsibilities.
4. Light Jumper. Though a Light Jumper starts out determined to follow the letter of the law, when the crosswalk light turns yellow
he can't help but jump the curb. Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde. A Light Jumper is not above shouting and glaring at motorists who
narrowly miss him even though they still legally have the right of way. Best Positions: Dependable but ballsy attorneys,
independent CPAs and trusty managers with hidden tattoos.
5. CurbHuggers. No matter how empty the street, CurbHuggers would never dream of leaving the sidewalk for the crosswalk a
second earlier than the law (or the "Walk" sign) allows. Ironically, CurbHuggers rarely make it across before the light turns and,
by playing it safe, are often sitting ducks for signal-jumping taxis. Best Positions: Accountants, statisticians, or rules-based
occupations. Excellent at scheduling and attending meetings, especially when the purpose is to schedule new meetings.
For more provocative ideas from these authors, check out this post arguing that teamwork is for suckers.

Columbia Business School MBAs Glean Career Advice From Gates and Buffett
Over the weekend, I had a chance to check out the recent CNBC program Warren Buffett and Bill Gates: Keeping America Great, which
documented the pair's recent appearance atColumbia Business [Link] a town-hall style meeting, Gates and Buffett fielded questions from
Columbia MBA students. Not surprisingly, many of them asked two of planet's most successful people for career advice. Among Gates and
Buffett's responses:

 Buffett advised students to put passion ahead of perceived financial gain when considering a career path.
 Gates told them to stay inquisitive and keep up with research on their topics of interest.
 Gates also helped students identify sectors in the U.S. economy that are continuing to grow, including information technology,
health care and clean energy.
Buffett and Gates also shared their optimism about the future of the U.S. and our economic system. When moderator Becky Quick asked if there
was ever a time that the pair had doubts about capitalism or America's way of life, Buffett responded, "This country works, we've got 200 years of
proof, and it's going to continue to work."Gates added, "We have a complex financial system, and we've proven that we can make mistakes, but
more fundamental than that is the innovation, the fact that you can create new companies, that people are willing to take risks and invest."Even in
the fall of 2008 when the financial meltdown was at its peak, Gates said that there were "inventions that took place; even in our darkest hour,
people were working on new drugs, new chips, new robots and things that will make life better for everyone in the decades ahead."

How to Reduce Cell Phone Radiation Risks

Should you be concerned about the radiation produced by your cell phone? It's a question that resurfaces in the mainstream media at least once
every year, and with good reason: No one wants phone-fried [Link] course, the jury's still out on whether phones pose any kind of danger. Some
studies say yes, others say no. But if there's even a possibility of danger, aren't we better safe than sorry?I think so. Fortunately, there are three
easy and effective ways to virtually eliminate the risks posed by cell-phone radiation:
1. Use a corded headset.
2. Use a Bluetooth headset.
3. Use your phone's speakerphone.
My preference: #1. Corded headsets are dirt-cheap (meaning you can buy one for your car, another for your office, a third for your coat pocket, and
so on) but produce the best overall sound [Link] headsets are okay, but they're expensive, dorky-looking, and one more thing to keep
charged. As for speakerphones, in my experience they sound pretty crummy, especially if there's a lot of ambient noise (like in the car).PC
Magazine has more on the subject of avoiding cell-phone radiation, including summaries of the latest studies and a round-up of five phones that
are "great for hands-free use."What do you think? Is phone radiation a concern? If so, are you doing anything about it? Let us know your
thoughts. Photo by procsilas.

Black Friday: Your Big Chance to Win Back Customers

Small retailers are especially jumpy at the poker table this holiday season. They've managed to survive one of the bleakest recessions on record,
have hoarded a small amount of chips to play with, and they hear that shoppers may finally be willing to return to the [Link] is no time for small
bets and early folds. This coming weekend you better be all in with steep discounts, because your competitors will certainly be wowing and wooing
your customers with unheard of [Link] Mohammed, a pricing strategy consultant, writes on Harvard Business Publishing that this coming
Black Friday will be your best shot to reintroduce yourself to former customers who put away their wallets over the last year. Make an impression,
he says."In normal times, the right strategy would be to hold steady on margins and bank profits. Why start a margin-eroding price war? But this
season is different; the head-turning discount you offer shoppers today will pay off handsomely over the long run."I agree that retailers who don't
jump into significant discounting will disappoint shoppers. But it is a tricky play. If consumer malaise is still prevalent this coming weekend, you
might find yourself sold out of money-losing product without having rebuilt relations with the people you need to win [Link] what's your Black
Friday strategy? The National Retail Federation predicts prices will decline just 1%, to $437.6 billion. Is your bet that the recession is still on and
wait-and-see might be the play that wins the game this year? Or are you confident people might be in a buying mood?

Annoying Co-Workers: A Field Guide

To have a successful sales career, you need to deal effectively with co-workers. This is usually easy since sales pros are usually good with people.
However, there are some species of co-worker that require special handling. To help you deal with these problematic varieties, I've collected a list
of the most common irritating co-workers, along with advice on how to cope with them.
The Narcissist
 Characteristics: Considers everything from the viewpoint of how it affects her.
 Quote: "But enough about me; what do YOU think about me?"
 Plumage: The most expensive suit of anyone at her level.
 Warning: You do not really exist in her world.
 Cultural Archetype: Miranda Priestly
 Care and Feeding: Position anything you want and need her to do as something that will make her look good.
The Droner
 Characteristics: Has some kind of comment or anecdote on absolutely everything.
 Quote: "That reminds me of the time when we..."
 Plumage: A comfortable sport coat.
 Cultural Archetype: Peterman
 Warning: You will be bored out of your mind.
 Care and Feeding: Arrange to have somebody call you fifteen minutes after the meeting starts, so that you have an excuse to
leave.
The Toady
 Characteristics: Does everything possible to try to make the boss like him.
 Quote: "You really handled that well, big guy..."
 Plumage: Something that looks like it came from the boss's closet.
 Cultural Archetype: Toad
 Warning: Everything you say will be reported to the boss.
 Care and Feeding: Pretend to ask his advice and treat him like he's an actual human being. He may even help you manage the
big guy.
The Naysayer
 Characteristics: Establishes his importance by saying "NO" to every good idea.
 Quote: "Every time we've tried something like that in the past, it's failed..."
 Plumage: Dark suit, bland tie.
 Cultural Archetype: Tom Coburn
 Warning: You can waste all kinds of time and effort trying to get to "YES."
 Care and Feeding: Always state things as alternatives so that by saying "NO" he is actually saying "YES" to what you actually
want.
The Volcano
 Characteristics: Explodes whenever any of her decisions or actions are questioned.
 Quote: "!#%$#!!@$!..."
 Plumage: Asbestos.
 Cultural Archetype: Ursula
 Warning: If you react by keeping quiet, she'll just explode louder and longer.
 Care and Feeding: Without getting angry, raise your emotional intensity level so that she can hear your through her own mental
noise. Then demand civil behavior. If you don't get it, leave.
The Weasel
 Characteristics: Constantly takes credit for other people's work.
 Quote: "We worked together as a team, right? You bounced the idea off me and I helped, right?"
 Plumage: Comes in all sizes and shapes.
 Cultural Archetype: Grima Wormtongue
 Warning: Will pretend to be your friend as long as you keep feeding him ideas.
 Care and Feeding: Build an audit trail for everything that you do; make sure to send emails to your boss confirming every step.
The Drama Queen
 Characteristics: Automatically turns absolutely everything into a major crisis.
 Quote: "If we don't take care of this right away, it will be a complete and utter disaster!!!"
 Plumage: Either very bright colors or all black.
 Cultural Archetype: Tosca
 Warning: She will make it impossible to get any productive work done.
 Care and Feeding: Find excuses to send her on business trips and useless meetings. If possible, get her on interdepartmental
committees for projects that you want to fail.

Mr. Know-It-All
 Characteristic: Puts down everyone's ideas and promotes his own.
 Quote: "That's not the way to do it... let me show you how it is done"
 Plumage: Pocket protector
 Cultural Archetype: Tim Taylor
 Warning: Will take your good idea, butcher it, and use it to override your own.
 Care and Feeding: Present your idea so that it seems like it's something that he thought of on his own -- and told you about it.
 (Special thanks to Snukrd for this species!)
The Proud Parent
 Characteristic: Talks endlessly about his family.
 Quote: "Let me show you the pictures of her latest little league game."
 Plumage: "World's Greatest Parent" coffee mug.
 Cultural Archetype: Gil Buckman
 Warning: May badmouth you behind your back if you complain about the boredom.
 Care and Feeding: Express polite interest, then change the subject. If the kids pop back up in the conversation, find an excuse to
go somewhere else.
 (Special thanks to Josh Reeve for this species!)
The Busy Goldbricker
 Characteristic: Spends far more time complaining about how busy they are than actually doing work.
 Quote: "I'm so overloaded, I don't have time to help with that."
 Plumage: Always carrying a heavy load of (useless) folders.
 Cultural Archetype: Wally
 Warning: Will visit your office regularly to "escape the stress" -- and waste your time with gossip.
 Care and Feeding: Avoid his office visits by saying "as long as you're here, you can help me with my project."
 (Special thanks to Skatem a comment inspiring this species!)

What Causes Employment to Lag Output in Recoveries?

In a previous post, I showed that after a recession ends, the recovery of employment lags the recovery of output, and that the lag has increased
substantially in recent recessions. The delay in the recovery of employment has increased from about one quarter prior to 1990 to more than a year
in the past two [Link] explains the existence of a lag, and why has the time delay between the recovery of output and the recovery of
employment been increasing in recent recessions?There are (at least) three factors that come into play. First, when firms see the initial signs of an
upturn they ask themselves whether the change is permanent or transitory. If the upturn in the data is a false signal, a one or two month temporary
upward movement in the data only to be followed by a return to recession conditions, firms do not want to make a commitment to hiring new
workers. They aren't, in general, fully using the labor they already have, so they wait until they are fairly certain it's a true recovery and not a false
start before hiring. Thus, there is a delay between the point in time when output turns upward and the time period when firms begin hiring new
[Link] brings us to the second reason. Firms do not want to let their highest productivity workers, or workers that require a substantial
investment in training costs, go in a recession even if there's not enough work for them to do. These workers will be needed when things turn
around, you may want to retain a star in the sales department even if recent sales are relatively low. In addition, laying these workers off risks
losing them permanently, perhaps to a rival firm, and having your best workers end up being employed by a rival is an outcome firms would rather
avoid. In addition, when there are substantial training costs, it may be more costly to let workers go and then, once things turn around, to hire
someone new that requires retraining. When firms retain such workers -- we call this labor hoarding -- they will not need to hire new workers until
the workers they have are working to capacity, and given that these workers don't have enough to do during the recession, the rehiring won't begin
until well into the [Link], during downturns it's natural to reorganize production, particularly when some workers don't have enough to do.
Firms may lay some workers off and reassign work to those who are still there, and they will install labor saving equipment in an attempt to cut
costs which may require them to let long-time workers go, something they avoid in better times but are more motivated to do when conditions
deteriorate. After reorganizing, they may find that, with a new computer or piece of software, or some piece of equipment, or through the
reorganization itself, one worker can do quite a bit more than they realized. Thus, having discovered how to reorganize to increase productivity, the
demand for labor on the upside will be smaller than the amount lost on the downside thereby causing sluggishness in the recovery of [Link],
why has the lag between the upturn in output and the upturn in employment extended in recent years? One reason may come from increased labor
hoarding. As we have lost manufacturing jobs and turned to producing other types of goods and services, and as computers and other technology
has entered the workplace, the specialized training and expertise it takes to do many classes of jobs has increased substantially. Because of this,
the amount of labor hoarding has gone up (i.e. because the cost of letting workers go is higher, firms retain more workers who are not fully utilized
than before) and that has extended the time until firms need new workers once the economy has recovered.

How Should I Prepare for My Performance Review?

Dear Ron, I've been at my current job for two years, and this year my company began instituting annual performance reviews. I think my
work is good but I have no idea what to expect, so what, if anything, should I do to prepare? I've always believed that people should try to
take charge of their performance reviews, as opposed to just going into their boss's office and taking whatever he or she dishes out, which is what
most people do. There are several problems with this latter approach. One is that you could get blindsided by what your boss has to say, and not
have the time or wherewithal to respond adequately, at least initially. And two, from the perspective of your boss, who may have to write up and
deliver a dozen or more of these reviews, the chances of giving perfunctory feedback that's somewhat vague and thus not all that useful to you are
high. Why not help him or her with this problem, and increase the chances of getting more specific advice, by helping to frame some of the issues
in advance? Offering to do this also shows you're being pro-active about your own [Link] way to do this is to tell your boss you'd like to
offer a written self-assessment of your work prior to the review to set the stage for what will be discussed. Ask him to review it and let you know if
he thinks there are other items that should be on the agenda. In this assessment, you want to include specific things you think you've done well and
areas where you could improve, and you might even solicit feedback from clients and colleagues to help you prepare the report. If possible, try to
find out what categories and skills you'll be evaluated on in your review--maybe you've got a colleague whose review is before yours who can share
the basic form--and structure your own self-assessment along similar lines. One of your goals is to have your remarks and points used as much as
possible in your boss's final review, almost as though you're helping to write your own review for your boss. If there are any big differences in
opinion on your performance after your boss has reviewed your self-assessment, then at least you can start to try to address them now, and thus
increase the chances that they can be ironed out and ameliorated in the final [Link] of the most successful people I work with use this more
pro-active approach to their performance reviews. One client of mine, a marketing manager at a high-tech firm, was able to use his self-
assessment to call attention to his unique strength of getting buy-in from many different corners of his sprawling company to get things done-he
called it "system knowledge." His boss said he would never have even thought to include this ability in the review because it was so hard to define,
but it really summed up well what he was good at. And "system knowledge" has since become a trait that my client has become well-known for at
his company, and that was an impression that he was able to drive himself by taking charge of his performance review. You should try to do the
same.

Is Sales Forecasting Worth the Effort?

Many companies struggle with forecasting, big time and many sales forecasts are consistently dead wrong. They spend a lot of time and energy
and don't get all much out of [Link] is the six (6) step process that sales forecasts generally take:
 Step #1: The sales reps provide a forecast. Each sales rep guesses what he or she thinks she might be able to sell, and
then predicts they'll make about 5% less. That way, if a deal falls through, the rep can still make the number, but if not the rep
will look like an over-achiever.
 Step #2: The sales managers adjust the forecast. Because each sales manager knows that his sales reps are padding, he
adds and subtracts from whatever numbers he gets from the sales reps, reflecting his best judgment of what he thinks will really
happen.
 Step #3: The sales VP re-adjusts the forecast. Because the sales VP knows that the sales managers are changing the
numbers, he figures that the numbers aren't accurate, so he plays around with them some more, adding and subtracting as
necessary.
 Step #4: The marketing VP does his own forecast. Because the marketing group doesn't trust the sales group, they make
their own forecast, usually based upon the numbers they would like to make combined with some BS market research.
 Step #5: The head of manufacturing does his own forecast. This long-suffering individual actually has to worry about
inventory and other issues, so he makes his own forecast of what he's going to build, hoping that whatever he builds will actually
be sold.
 Step #6: The CEO makes up a new forecast. The CEO wants to make sure that the stock price keeps going up (thereby
increasing the value of his options). So he tells the investors that the company will make big numbers. He then tell the rest of the
company to go back and change their forecasts match his promises.
Frankly, most of this activity isn't all that useful. It only creates an illusion of predictability, when in fact there is very little predictability when it comes
to selling.I wonder sometimes whether it makes sense to spend all that time and energy on what's really just an internal political [Link]'t
it just be easier to look at what was sold over the past few months and assume that the next few months will follow about the same pattern?
Honestly, in most cases, I think you'd probably end up with a forecast about as accurate as the one that emerges from all the organizational
[Link] do you think?

The 7 Laws For Buying B2B

 Here's a post you can share with your customers... if you're brave enough.I recently had a conversation with a professional buyer who deals with
millions of dollars of B2B contracts. I asked him what advice he'd give to other buyers. He answered, providing I'd keep his name a secret. I
[Link]'s are the seven (7) laws that he gave me:
 LAW #1: DON'T hire a vendor just because they give good presentations. It's a myth that a vendor's ability to help you
can be gauged by how well the firm can sell. Unless you're planning to learn from their style, a vendor's ability to sell is
completely irrelevant.
 LAW #2. DON'T hire a vendor just because they've helped you in the past. It's a mistake to choose based purely upon a
positive experience in the past. While the vendor's products may have been useful once, they're not necessarily the products
that will serve you best today.
 LAW #3. DON'T hire a vendor just because you're impressed by their CEO. CEOs are often dynamic, charismatic
individuals that can wow a crowd at a conference or webinar. However, that doesn't mean that the vendor has a product that's
useful for your company.
 LAW #4. DON'T hire a vendor because they've worked with your competition. If the vendor is responsible for your
competitor being successful, then there's a good chance they'll try to clone what they did before. Imitating competitors is a go-
out-of-business strategy.
 LAW #5. DON'T hire a vendor because they've got "best practices." "Best practices" inside one industry may be
nonsensical inside another. Even within one industry, the "best practices" that work for one firm may not work for a firm with a
different strategy.
 LAW #6. DON'T hire a vendor just because they've got a good brand name. Going with a top vendor just because of
their reputation is like buying a car just because it has a familiar name. Common sense says to decide what you really need
before you pull out your checkbook.
 LAW #7. DON'T EVER hire a vendor who exaggerates or misrepresents. If your drill-down reveals that the vendor is not
being entirely straightforward, remove that vendor from the short list. This is one case where "zero-tolerance" must always be
the rule.
READERS: Do you think he's right? Or are these laws getting in the way of buying the right products and services?

Can an Introvert Succeed in Sales?

The archetype of sales professional is an outgoing, extroverted, "people-person." Therefore, it's not surprising that some people wonder whether
that personality type is required in order to be successful in sales. A reader from Australia writes:
I have been reading your blog recently and find it quite insightful. I really love the psychology of sales ( I enjoy trying to pick people's brains ). My
biggest fear about the jump is my introverted personality. I am not a natural networker but realize this is an essential skill. Just curious of your
opinion.
Interesting question. Rather than just give my opinion, I think I'll ask the Sales Machine readership.
The correct answer, IMHO, is definitely: YES! In part, it depends a great deal upon the type of product you're selling and industry into which you're
selling. Book agents, for example, tend to be, well..., rather bookish, but that doesn't keep some of them from making millions of dollars. Similarly,
sales reps in the semiconductor business often hold degrees in Electrical Engineering and could pass for your typical [Link] in
industries supposedly dominated by fast-talkers, there are introverts who are successful. Many introverted customers prefer working with
somewhat introverted sales reps. And being introverted can work to your advantage. It can make you more aware of your own behavior and its
impact on your customers and [Link] I say, if you're interested in a career in sales, don't let an introverted personality keep you from giving it
a go. Your success will be more dependent upon your business acumen, ability to research, and your willingness to hone your sales skills than
whether you're a natural at networking.

How to Reduce Cell Phone Radiation Risks

Should you be concerned about the radiation produced by your cell phone? It's a question that resurfaces in the mainstream media at least once
every year, and with good reason: No one wants phone-fried [Link] course, the jury's still out on whether phones pose any kind of danger. Some
studies say yes, others say no. But if there's even a possibility of danger, aren't we better safe than sorry?I think so. Fortunately, there are three
easy and effective ways to virtually eliminate the risks posed by cell-phone radiation:
1. Use a corded headset.
2. Use a Bluetooth headset.
3. Use your phone's speakerphone.
My preference: #1. Corded headsets are dirt-cheap (meaning you can buy one for your car, another for your office, a third for your coat pocket, and
so on) but produce the best overall sound [Link] headsets are okay, but they're expensive, dorky-looking, and one more thing to keep
charged. As for speakerphones, in my experience they sound pretty crummy, especially if there's a lot of ambient noise (like in the car).PC
Magazine has more on the subject of avoiding cell-phone radiation, including summaries of the latest studies and a round-up of five phones that
are "great for hands-free use."What do you think? Is phone radiation a concern? If so, are you doing anything about it? Let us know your
thoughts. Photo by procsilas.

What Causes Employment to Lag Output in Recoveries?

In a previous post, I showed that after a recession ends, the recovery of employment lags the recovery of output, and that the lag has increased
substantially in recent recessions. The delay in the recovery of employment has increased from about one quarter prior to 1990 to more than a year
in the past two [Link] explains the existence of a lag, and why has the time delay between the recovery of output and the recovery of
employment been increasing in recent recessions?There are (at least) three factors that come into play. First, when firms see the initial signs of an
upturn they ask themselves whether the change is permanent or transitory. If the upturn in the data is a false signal, a one or two month temporary
upward movement in the data only to be followed by a return to recession conditions, firms do not want to make a commitment to hiring new
workers. They aren't, in general, fully using the labor they already have, so they wait until they are fairly certain it's a true recovery and not a false
start before hiring. Thus, there is a delay between the point in time when output turns upward and the time period when firms begin hiring new
[Link] brings us to the second reason. Firms do not want to let their highest productivity workers, or workers that require a substantial
investment in training costs, go in a recession even if there's not enough work for them to do. These workers will be needed when things turn
around, you may want to retain a star in the sales department even if recent sales are relatively low. In addition, laying these workers off risks
losing them permanently, perhaps to a rival firm, and having your best workers end up being employed by a rival is an outcome firms would rather
avoid. In addition, when there are substantial training costs, it may be more costly to let workers go and then, once things turn around, to hire
someone new that requires retraining. When firms retain such workers -- we call this labor hoarding -- they will not need to hire new workers until
the workers they have are working to capacity, and given that these workers don't have enough to do during the recession, the rehiring won't begin
until well into the [Link], during downturns it's natural to reorganize production, particularly when some workers don't have enough to do.
Firms may lay some workers off and reassign work to those who are still there, and they will install labor saving equipment in an attempt to cut
costs which may require them to let long-time workers go, something they avoid in better times but are more motivated to do when conditions
deteriorate. After reorganizing, they may find that, with a new computer or piece of software, or some piece of equipment, or through the
reorganization itself, one worker can do quite a bit more than they realized. Thus, having discovered how to reorganize to increase productivity, the
demand for labor on the upside will be smaller than the amount lost on the downside thereby causing sluggishness in the recovery of [Link],
why has the lag between the upturn in output and the upturn in employment extended in recent years? One reason may come from increased labor
hoarding. As we have lost manufacturing jobs and turned to producing other types of goods and services, and as computers and other technology
has entered the workplace, the specialized training and expertise it takes to do many classes of jobs has increased substantially. Because of this,
the amount of labor hoarding has gone up (i.e. because the cost of letting workers go is higher, firms retain more workers who are not fully utilized
than before) and that has extended the time until firms need new workers once the economy has recovered.

Are You a "Cyber Monday" or "Black Friday" Type?

 Last Thanksgiving, after an autumn of total market chaos, no one knew up from down. This Thanksgiving, well, at the very least, let's be thankful
that we've learned to live with the [Link] leads us to this holiday season's 437.6 Billion Dollar Question: Will American shoppers still
bust down the doors this weekend for all those ridiculous deals?As my BNET colleague Sean Silverthorne reports, consumers are expecting big
discounts during the start of the holiday shopping season and retailers will have to compete for every customer. Luckily for the nation's
shopkeepers, the National Retail Federation is forecasting that 57 million Americans will shop on "Black Friday," eight million more than last
year. But "Black Friday," that infamous day after Thanksgiving, isn't the only major shopping day in the coming week anymore. 87.1 percent of
retailers will also run promotions on "Cyber Monday" for all those bargain hunters who shop around online right after the Thanksgiving weekend.I'll
be away on Wednesday and Thursday of this week but I'll be back to check your comments on "Black Friday." Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Don't Risk Your Career and Your Business

If your career or business is untouched by significant legal matters, then you probably don't have much of a career or business. We are a nation of
laws, and any senior executive or business leader who's been around will tell you: turn a blind eye to the legal system and you risk everything. Like
it or not, that's the way it [Link], our great nation was designed in such a way that each of you actually has a say in how the legal system
operates. I mean, you know who makes the laws, don't you? Federal and state governments do. More specifically, the folks who make the laws are
variously called legislators, lawmakers, or, that's right, politicians. [Link], I'm no lawyer, and yet here are 12 classes of law that I have been
involved in at one time or another during my career:
 Intellectual property: Patents, trademarks, copyrights
 General corporate: Corporation (C-type, S-type), LLC, LLP, bylaws
 Shareholder litigation: What happens when your stock falls off a cliff
 Employment: Wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination
 Workplace safety: Self explanatory
 Antitrust: Anticompetitive practices, The Sherman Act
 Environmental: Dumping chemicals in the ocean, for example
 Product liability: When products have unintended consequences
 Corporate governance: Sarbanes Oxley, accounting fraud
 Securities litigation: Insider trading, stock option backdating
 Libel and defamation: When you harm a reputation and it isn't true
 Investment banking / capital: IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, venture funding
Granted, I have had a relatively extensive and interesting career. And speaking from experience, the proverb, "May you live in interesting times," is
indeed a curse when it comes to legal matters. Still, in this life - and that includes business life - you have to accept reality, and that means taking
the good with the bad. And that includes legal and political [Link] am I telling you this? Because. Among other things, I write this blog to help
officers and directors, managers, small business owners, shareholders, and employees. And since the banner at the top of the page reads, "The
Corner Office: Taking on the big questions facing CEOs, boards, and shareholders," I will sometimes provide commentary on important legal and
political matters that intersect with business, management, and leadership. For example, I have at times written posts about the federal
government's governance of banks,Big-3 automaker bailouts, who's responsible for the financial meltdown, the stimulus bill, limits on executive
pay, the cap and trade bill, proposed health care legislation, proposals to overhaul our banking system and prevent future "too big to fail" scenarios,
and even how bloggers can avoid committing [Link] do I do it? Because, like it or not, these topics can have a significant effect on many, if not
most of you. And the last thing I want is for you - my faithful readers - to work your tails off to make something of your career or business, only to
get blindsided or taken down because you weren't savvy to perhaps the biggest risks you take - the legal [Link] a business-related run-in with
the legal system or "interesting" experience with our political system?

Four Killer Reasons to Switch to Outlook 2010

Now that Office 2010 is in public beta and you have an opportunity to take it for a spin on your own PC, you might be wondering if there's any
reason to make the switch. After all, an Office suite is an investment -- not just in money, but also in training time and learning/unlearning various
muscle memory [Link] on my time with various preview and beta versions of Office 2010, I've compiled a short list of goodies in Outlook
2010 that might be enough to woo you away from Office 2007, Office 2003, or whatever version you happen to be using. I'll give you some great
reasons to move to other members of the Office suite later, but Outlook has had such a significant upgrade, I figured I'd start [Link], with no
further ado, here are my picks for the four best reasons to upgrade to Outlook 2010: Outlook gets a ribbon. If you're a fan of the ribbon in Word,
Excel, and PowerPoint (and admittedly, I know that not everyone is), then you'll dig the fact that Outlook now gets the full ribbon treatment. I like
the fact that Outlook's features are better organized and you can add frequently used tools to the quick launch bar. E-mail in Outlook just feel more
efficient.

Reply with a meeting. Good grief, this should have been in Outlook 10 years ago, but it's so sweet to finally have it now. Click on an e-mail, click
the Meeting button in the ribbon, and Outlook creates a meeting with all the folks in the message (and puts the guts of the email thread in the
meeting notes for you) [Link] your schedule when accepting a meeting. When you get a meeting invite, Outlook now displays your
schedule right in the inbox, so you can not only see if you're available, but what meetings you might have on either side of the invite. You can deal
with the meeting request without ever leaving the inbox. Quick Steps. Speaking of efficient, Quick Steps is a cool feature that lets you build macros
in Outlook to automate e-mail handling. Do you frequently bulk move messages to a particular folder? Forward e-mail to your manager or team
members? Delete or archive message? You can now build those steps in a simple "Quick Steps" editor and trigger the action with a click in the
ribbon.
 Kindle Not Business-Friendly Enough for You? How About PDF Support?
Been eyeballing an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, thinking it might be nice for long flights and such, but couldn't really justify it as a business
expense?Maybe this will help: The Kindle 2 now offers native support for PDF documents. This long-awaited (and long-overdue) addition comes
courtesy of a firmware update, which existing Kindle 2 owners will get automatically via Amazon's [Link] are two ways to access PDFs
on your Kindle. First, you can e-mail them as attachments to your Kindle address. They'll arrive in native PDF format, though you can get them
converted the the Kindle format by putting Convert in the subject line. Second, you can copy PDFs over via USB, in which case they'll stay
"native."But wait, there's [Link] new update promises to improve battery life by a whopping 85 percent. Specifically, the Kindle will now run for a
full seven days when wireless is turned on (or the same-as-before two weeks with wireless off).Yo, Apple: Can I get a firmware update like that for
my iPhone?Does the PDF support (and/or battery improvement) make you any more likely to purchase a Kindle? I tend to think any business user
needing to read PDFs is probably traveling with a laptop anyway. Indeed, perhaps a laptop with the new Kindle for PC software installed.

Three Programs I'm Thankful For

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, so to those of you who celebrate it, happy Turkey Day! (Or Tofurkey Day, if that's how you roll.)This year I'm giving
thanks not just for my wonderful friends and family, but also for the apps that make life easier. Here are three --all free -- that have really made a
difference for me in 2009:Fences (pictured) So simple, so elegant, so indispensable. Fences corrals your desktop icons into window-like groups.
That's it. That's all it does. But once you start using it, you'll wonder how you worked without it for so long -- and why Microsoft didn't build it into
Windows [Link] Though not a new program, LogMeIn has seen many improvements this year, and the free version's as handy as ever.
Whether I'm working at a coffee shop or halfway around the world, I can quickly and easily connect to my desktop [Link] Not to put too
fine a point on it, but I can no longer use a Windows PC that doesn't have WizMouse installed. It's purpose: to make your mouse wheel work
wherever your mouse is pointed. Windows should do that automatically, but until it does, this utility works [Link] apps are you thankful for
this year? Tell us all about 'em in the comments

Password Protect Programs Running on Your PC

Need to protect programs and documents from prying eyes? There are a lot of ways to keep guests (both invited and uninvited) from seeing data
on your PC, but one simple method is to password protect the program itself. If someone wants to see your Word file, for example, make them
enter a [Link] that a reality is simple. LockThis! Is a free utility that password protects select programs and documents. Want to protect
Word, for example? When you minimize it, hold the Ctrl key. LockThis! Will ask you for a password, and then require that password to restore the
program from the [Link] can use the same password for any program you want to protect, or create a unique password for each one. It's fast
and flexible, and, of course, free. Looking for other ways to protect yourself? Don't forget about My Lockbox, which not only password protects your
files and folders, but renders them invisible as well, which makes them really hard to steal.

Make Fast and Easy Flowcharts

Sometimes you need to make a detailed, intricate flowchart. For times like those, you'll whip out Visio or PowerPoint, or some other flowcharting
tool. When you just need to make a quick and dirty flowchart, though, I've got a free online tool -- and a video tutorial -- you can use to whip up an
attractive diagram in [Link] is a simple Web-based flowcharting tool. You'll need to create a free user account to save and export your
chart, but you can actually make a chart without registering. When you've completed a chart, you can export it as either HTML or [Link] can add
any number of nodes to the page and create as many nested levels as you like. You can rename nodes and rearrange them to your heart's
content. But that's about the extent of it -- you can't change fonts, colors, or node shapes. And because the tool is really designed to make site
maps for Web pages, you're always stuck with a node called "Home" at the top of your [Link] those shortcomings, I like SlickPlan. It's a fast
and easy alternative to flowcharting tools, and the results look clean and attractive. Check out the video for a look at how the site works.

Why Facebook and Twitter Should Delay Their IPOs

Every time a Facebook or Twitter executive burps within earshot of the media, the question of a public offering seems to emerge. On a conference
call in May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg threw a wet blanket on a near-term IPO, saying, "It's something we'll do when we're ready for it. It's
something we don't see on the immediate horizon." Good for [Link], at a recent event at Oxford University, Twitter cofounder Biz
Stone seemed open to the idea: "The point is, we want to build our own company that will last for a long time. If an IPO's the way to do that, then
sure. We don't have it checked off on the calendar yet." Tweet that.I guess a lot of folks long for tech's bubble days, when "concept IPOs" raised
$100 million and investors got rich and poor in the same tax year. Not me. Sure, there are significant benefits to going public, primarily as a source
of capital and currency for acquisitions. That said, there are a lot of reasons to avoid it as long as a company can:
 The Sarbanes Oxley tax. There's nothing like a few dozen accountants, lawyers and SOX consultants running up multimillion
dollar bills so a couple of senators can feel good about themselves post-Enron.
 SEC and investor scrutiny. Well, there's the S-1 prospectus followed by the Def-14a proxy statements, 10-Q quarterly reports,
10-K annual reports, 8-Ks, 4s, 3s, it's a nightmare for everyone -- except the lawyers. Not to mention all the Wall Street banking
analysis and a few thousand investors breathing down your neck.
 Management team distraction. Nothing distracts a young and inexperienced management team - that should be doing other
things like figuring out how to make money - like all the scrutiny, transparency, and expectations.
Did I forget to mention the cost, the scrutiny, and the distraction? I'm not kidding - being a public company's a royal PITA these days. Bottom
line: the public markets are no place for a young company that's trying to figure out its business model. Google's IPO was successful because its
business model was set and minting cash like nobody's business. Facebook's on its way, but Twitter hasn't made a dime [Link], Biz, Evan
Williams (Twitter CEO), a word to the wise, if I may: Guys, wait as long as you can, until you can't stand being poor and having to beg for cash any
longer. I guarantee, it'll be worth the wait.