The habits of highly successful bosses.

Some things you may not think about when you think of a great manager:

Great bosses get the small picture.

Great bosses never forget that employees experience things locally, from the trenches of IT or accounting or sales. In words and action, great bosses take account of those perspectives.

Great bosses make people feel smart.

Great bosses, when presented in a meeting or in private conversation with some enthusiastic but misguided bit of twaddle, listen carefully for the tiniest germ of potential. Seizing that germ, they talk it through--teasing it, tweezing it, rearranging it--until they produce something workable and smart.

Great bosses know who does what.

There is no i in team, but there is an i in underappreciated, which is how people feel when their individual contributions disappear into the common collaborative slurry

Great bosses know when they're not wanted.

Good bosses delegate. Great ones don't hang around in the background monitoring how that delegation is going.

Great bosses remember.

Employees' hobbies. Their families' names. Who plays what position on the company softball team. Who is terrified of flying. Who has expressed interest in a leadership role. And employees, in return, remember them.

Income-Inequality Gap Widens

The gap between rich and poor is growing.

• Widening Gap: The wealthiest Americans' share of national income has hit a postwar record, surpassing the highs reached in the 1990s bull market, and highlighting the divergence of economic fortunes blamed for fueling anxiety among American workers.

• Behind the Numbers: Scholars attribute rising inequality to several factors, including technological change that favors those with more skills, and globalization and advances in communications that enlarge the rewards available to "superstar" performers whether in business, sports or entertainment.

Changing the tax structure to improve this situation is not enough. Pay attention to this as the Democrats discuss it in the coming election.

To know that one person breathed easier...

"...to know that one life has breathed easier because I have lived. This is to have succeeded."

I think we all tend to think of things in large often overwhelming terms. This quote makes the idea of helping others a little simpler for me...

WHAT IS GOING ON??? Getting sued for music piracy.

WHAT IS GOING ON? A woman just got sued by the The Recording Industry Association of America, representing six record labels, for music sharing and guess what? She lost. How much was the verdict for her illegally shared 24 songs over file-sharing site Kazaa? $220,000.

I don't know how to respond to this. A service comes out that allows you to share music but actually doing it is illegal. I know this is like the pipe and grass (marijuana) argument but come on! Millions of people did/do this. Are all going to be procesecuted? This just defies common sense. Unfortunately much of what goes on in the legal and political world around us doesn't either.

NOTE: Many of the 30,000 people sued by the RIAA have settled, for an average of $4,000.

Mall Rats?

Question of the day: If moving into the mall is considered "art," what does that say about our culture?

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for setting up a secret apartment inside a shopping mall's parking garage as part of a project on mall life.

Michael Townsend, 36, said he and seven other artists built the 750-square-foot apartment beginning in 2003 and lived there for up to three weeks at a time.
The artists built a cinderblock wall and nondescript utility door to keep the loft hidden from the outside world.

But inside, the apartment was fully furnished, down to a hutch filled with china and a Sony Playstation 2 -- although a burglar broke in and stole the Playstation last spring, Townsend said.
There was no running water -- instead they used the mall bathrooms. Tour the hidden apartment »

On his Web site, Townsend said he was inspired by a Christmastime ad for the mall which featured a "an enthusiastic female voice talking about how great it would be if you (we) could live at the mall."

He built the dwelling "out of a compassion to understand the mall more and life as a shopper."
Townsend said plans to make the apartment "super-sweet" with laminated wood flooring and other perks fell apart last week after he and a visiting artist from Hong Kong walked into the room and were greeted by three security guards. He pleaded no contest to a trespassing charge.
Providence Place Mall spokesman Dante Bellini Jr. described the living space as little more than "an area with stuff in it."

But Providence Police Maj. Stephen Campbell said he and other detectives were so intrigued they visited the apartment to see for themselves.
"I was surprised at what he was able to accomplish," Campbell said. "But what he did was clearly criminal. The mall is private."

Metabolism Management

People are always counting their calories and fighting themselves tooth and nail to avoid that one indulgence only to see little benefit as a result. Why? Much of reason is that their metabolisms adjust making their slightly-adjusted diets have little effect. Little do people know that they can actually get in better shape by eating more. By doing all of the following advice in this article (listed below) and sustaining these changes you can actually change your metabolism forever. It takes time and hard work but I never thought that working out hard and eating a lot was that unpleasant. Not to mention that there are countless other benefits to you physical and mental health that will come as a result of these changes.

• Engage in aerobic exercise 4 to 5 days a week: Several studies show that aerobic activities cause your metabolism to stay increased for a period of time after exercising.
  
• Work your muscles:Lifting weights and/or other strengthening activities like push-ups and crunches on a regular basis (at least 2 to 3 times each week) will boost your resting metabolism 24/7.
  
• Eat enough food - at least 1,000 calories: Your body and metabolism thrive on food, so when you fast, crash-diet, or restrict calories below 1,000, your metabolism will slow down in a response to conserve energy.
  
• Eat every 4 to 5 hours: Because our bodies work hard to digest and absorb the foods we eat, your metabolism revs in response. This is called the thermic effect of food. Take full advantage and schedule meals and snacks every 4 to 5 hours.
  
• Incorporate lean protein with every meal: Eating any food creates a thermic effect and boosts metabolism after consumption. However, the consumption of protein has the absolute greatest metabolic boost when compared to carbohydrate and fat. Plus, eating the appropriate amount of protein will ensure you're able to maintain and build muscle mass (the more muscle mass you have, the greater your metabolism).

Use your time wisely; by slacking off

A recent survey found that the typical American worker wastes slightly more than two hours a day, not including lunch and scheduled breaks. The No. 1 time-wasting activity is surfing the Internet and sending personal e-mails, followed by socializing with co-workers, conducting personal business and just plain "spacing out." All of this loafing is supposedly costing employers $759 billion a year in lost productivity. But guess what, American workers, it turns out, are wasting less time than they did just a couple of years ago - 19% less. And the U.N.'s International Labor Organization recently issued a report that found that the U.S. leads the world in worker productivity - and by a wide margin.

So here is the paradox. "We are a nation of doers, hard workers, yet we are also a nation of ideas, big ideas." It has long been known that idea generation requires idleness, but idleness makes us uncomfortable. These two aspects of the American personality constantly rub against each other. This leads our minds to constantly shift from guilt (for using work time on personal matters) to resentment (for having to work so-damn-much) to boredom. This cycle causes us to misuse a lot of energy when in fact we can accept that there is a healthy balance between work, idleness (and whatever else you do on the job) that each of us can find for ourselves if we look for it.

Maybe the Vegetarians Have It Right?

"Eating beef ' is less green than driving' "

Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours, it was claimed yesterday.

Japanese scientists used a range of data to calculate the environmental impact of a single purchase of beef. Taking into account all the processes involved, they said, four average sized steaks generated greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 80.25lb of carbon dioxide.

This also consumed 169 megajoules of energy. That means that 2.2lb of beef is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions which have the same effect as the carbon dioxide released by an ordinary car travelling at 50 miles per hour for 155 miles, a journey lasting three hours. The amount of energy consumed would light a 100-watt bulb for 20 days.

Most of the greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of methane released from the animals' digestive systems, New Scientist magazine reported. But more than two thirds of the energy used goes towards producing and transporting cattle feed, said the study, which was led by Akifumi Ogino from the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan.

Sue Taylor, the press officer for the Vegetarian Society, told New Scientist: "Everybody is trying to come up with different ways to reduce carbon footprints, but one of the easiest things you can do is to stop eating meat."

Yet another way we can make small changes to improve our quality of life in the long run...

Shopping Is NOT a Solution

This website is in response to campaigns such as Gap's RED campaign, which attempted to raise money for Africa, but ended up being a HUGE failure... (After spending $100 million, the campaign only raised about $20 million)...

The truth is, if you want to help, the best thing to do is to be proactive. Get out there and effect change. However, if you are going to donate, do your research and donate to a legitimate organization that will properly handle your donation.

Buying a T-Shirt from the GAP may be the more glitzy thing to do, but a direct donation goes a lot further.

To make a difference, give. Give of yourself, your time, your efforts, your funds. Giving goes further than shopping.

The Power of Mindfulness

"Mindfulness" is the practice of focusing one's self in the present. Things like paying attention to your mood, heart rate, temperature, stress level, etc. By focusing like this you recognize things that may have escaped you previously or feelings you may be ignoring. Many people practice mindfulness as part of meditation.

Recently researchers at UCLA compared those who were more "mindful" to those who were not by monitoring their brain activity. Their finding was that those were more mindful experienced less negative emotions and showed greater calmness in their brain activity.

So based on this research we know that mindfulness works, but what it doesn't tell you is that it is not easy. It takes discipline and focus. When we are busy with deadlines, errands, and are bombarded by the information that surrounds us every day, it becomes quite difficult to focus on the present and on one's self. As a result some of us neglect ourselves to a point of extreme emotional discomfort that goes beyond the point that a little mindfulness each day can clear up. That is why we need to remember to be mindful everyday, even if just for a few minutes. You may already do this and not even know it. Possibly when you walking, cooking, or taking a shower part of your mind wanders into thinking about your current state. Remember the importance of these times especially when the more stressful moments arise.

Fat Tax

"LONDON (Reuters) - A "fat tax" on salty, sugary and fatty foods could save thousands of lives each year, according to a study published on Thursday. Researchers at Oxford University say that charging Value Added Tax (VAT) at 17.5 percent on foods deemed to be unhealthy would cut consumer demand and reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes."

A fat tax? Funny idea, maybe a good one though. I am usually against the government interfering with people's freedoms. I'm the first to say that people need to take personal responsibility for what they eat. However, as this article points out, this tax would hit the poorest groups the hardest. They try to use this as a point against the fat tax when in actuality it is the most important reason we need it. Lower socioeconomic groups also suffer the most from poor diets. The truth is that most inexpensive foods (i.e. fast foods) are also the most unhealthy, while healthy, fresh foods are significantly more expensive (been to Whole Foods lately?) making them inaccessible to the poor.

The point is that everyones got to eat but the poor have far less healthy options (ever seen a Whole Foods in Watts, or Compton?). Couldn't a tax like this be used to tilt the scales the other way? Possibly, tax unhealthy food and subsidize wholesome options???

Oh, and if you were wondering about why this matters to people like you and I, I can tell you that the increased health care costs of the poor come out of our tax dollars, which are directly related to diet and other lifestyle differences.

Models Banned for Being Too Skinny

"I absolutely don't want models who are too skinny... They are a bad example for young generations." Explained designer Raffaella Curiel who fired 15 models from her show in Rome because they were too skinny, complying with a fashion code signed by the Italian industry last year to combat anorexia.

I had never heard about this ban that came in the wake of a 21-year-old Brazilian model's death from anorexia a month earlier. At the time of her death the 5-foot-8 inch model weighed 88 pounds.

We all obviously understand the reasoning behind these new regulations but I am curious to know about the weight and height of the 15 models banned form the show. I mean where do you draw the line? I think anorexia and other eating disorders have a lot more to do with self-confidence and satisfaction than creating a certain appearance. Maybe this is the first step to make improvements or possibly a inane stab at addressing a problem that is more complex than we perceive it to be from the outside in.

Real Estate Reset

I know that most readers are aware that we are in a housing downturn after years of record setting home sales. Soon we will see how far this downturn will go.

Many, many people who purchased homes over the past 6 years did so through the use of an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM). As I'm sure you know, the interest rates on ARMs are based on the established interest rates at the times meaning they fluctuate. Well, now many of these loans are set to reset to much higher interest rates in the coming months; more than 2 million of them to be more precise. This means that the interest rates on these loans could jump by 35% or more, undoubtedly putting far more financial strain on those who have them. It will be interesting to see what happens...

Why discuss this on this blog? Because people in the US, especially those on the coasts and large cities appear to be short sited. They take ARMs on homes that are beyond their means and give little thought to the consequences 5 or 10 years down the line. This issue does not just concern matters of money. Americans consistently look for quick fixes to lifetime problems. Whether it's liposuction, or get rich quick schemes, we look for ways to avoid hard work and perseverance. The result is a rocky, up and down cycle that leaves us with less than we began with.

I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.
Steve Jobs(1955 - ), Interview, 1995

The Tattoo Issue

"Nearly 50% of Americans between 21 and 32 have at least one tattoo or a piercing other than in an ear, according to a 2006 study by the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Men and women alike say their tattoos make them feel sexy and rebellious, a 2003 Harris Poll found, while the unadorned of both genders see body art as unsightly and think those with tattoos and piercings are less intelligent and less attractive."

As I mentioned in my previous entry about emergence of Generation X & Y groups into working society, things are changing whether employers and institutions like it or not. Tattoos are becoming more and more popular especially with those who are thought to be creative or expressive types. Yet at the same time employers with "old school" values still find them unprofessional and even offensive.

It's interesting what people choose to judge as bad or no big deal. Simply think about what a tattoo is: A piece of art on someones body. Yet the stereotype that it carries is one that would be wholly unacceptable if it were geared toward something like race, gender or sexual preference. As the article explains, some of the world's largest organizations still have rules prohibit ting the employment of individuals who cannot cover all their tattoos. That is harsh, but I understand why they do it. They are scared that they will loose the business of their conservative customers, who have little else to do with there time then to be upset by someone elses appearance.

Now I know that tat's historically have certain affiliations with those from undesirous groups but when the statistics show that 50% of 21 to 32 year olds have at least one tattoo or a piercing other than in an ear, then perceptions have to change. It's now like all these people of gangsta's, or ex-cons.

Email: "Like bleeding to death from a thousand pinpricks"

http://www.slate.com/id/2165452/nav/tap1/

A great article about the role email plays in modern work and life. Is it true that email "eats away at people's time, a minute at a time... [like] bleeding to death from a thousand pinpricks?"

Or is the following description a little more accurate?

"Many people who are addicted to e-mail are more correctly described as addicted to work. Lots of e-mail makes you feel important. E-mail addicts (like me) fear the empty inbox and, strangely, the potential freedom that e-mail provides. A BlackBerry can make you feel accountable at night, but it also lets you say, play golf, while still monitoring any situation that might come up. When business is conducted through e-mail, it shifts the responsibility of actually working off of the physical setting of the office and back onto you. That lack of structure, or the need to provide your own structure, can be uncomfortable. Still, you often find confident people who are immune to e-mail addiction. They just don't understand what the fuss is about. They check e-mail when they need to; they turn it off when they've got stuff to do. It's a tool that serves them. "

Set yourself some boundaries and follow them. Soon email will serve you as it serves many others.