management

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February 5, 2010

Better judgment, inductive reasoning, vocabulary – oh, must be a middle-aged manager

Posted by Mark under Business, Business management, management
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I recently read a book so interesting I read it twice. What Makes You Tick, the Brain in Plain English, reveals the stunning advances in our knowledge of how the brain works. So I was particularly interested in this article in Harvard Business Review about how the  40 to mid 60 year-old brains arrive at solutions faster, have better judgment and inductive reasoning than they did when they were younger.

Author Barbara Strauch recognizes the loss of some short term memory and slower processing speeds but says the offset is better seeing possibilities and quicker problem resolution due to focus and trained neural pathways.

She is a deputy science editor and health and medical science editor at The New York Times and author of The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind (Viking), coming out in April.

 

January 28, 2010

February Small Business development classes at UCC

Posted by Mark under Business, Business management, management
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Douglas County Business Workshop Calendar—January 31, 2010

by Penny Groth, UCC Small Business Development Center Assistant, 440-4669 or penny.groth@umpqua.edu. Pre-registration is required.

Workshop Title: Mission Possible-Job Search

Date: Feb. 1 – 5. Stop by the office to be scheduled.

Time: 8-10 am Mon.-Wed.; 3-5 pm Thurs; 8-10am Fri.

Cost: FREE

Location: UT&E, 760 NW Hill Ave., Roseburg

Sponsoring agency: Umpqua Training & Employment

Contact Phone #: (541) 672-7761

Workshop Title: Certified Flagger Training

Date: Feb. 2

Time: 4:30 – 10pm

Cost: $80

Location: UCC Campus, Technical Center #119

Sponsoring agency: UCC Community Education

Contact Phone#: (541) 440-7691

Workshop Title: Time Management

Date: Feb. 3

Time: 8am – noon

Cost: $49

Location: Holiday Inn Express

Sponsoring agency: DC Employer Council, Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce, UCC

Contact Phone#: Gail at (541) 672-2648 ext. 22

Workshop Title: First Steps in Starting a Business # 37549

Date: Feb. 8

Time: 4:00-5:30 pm

Cost: Free

Location: UCC Workforce Training Center, 2555 NE Diamond Lake Blvd.

Sponsoring agency: UCC SBDC

Contact Phone#: Please call to register (541) 440-4669

Workshop Title: Orientation to Services

Date: Feb. 9 & 10. Stop by the office to be scheduled.

Time: Tuesday 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 (must attend both days)

Cost: FREE

Location: UT&E, 760 NW Hill Ave., Roseburg

Sponsoring agency: Umpqua Training & Employment

Contact Phone #: (541) 672-7761

Workshop Title: Grant Writing from A to Z

Date: Feb. 10, 17, 24

Time: 9am – 1pm

Cost: $149

Location: UCC Campus, Technical Center #119

Sponsoring agency: UCC Community Education

Contact Phone#: (541) 440-7651

Workshop Title: Workplace Behavior Problems the Challenge of Substance Abusers

Date: Feb. 18

Time: 8-11:30 am

Cost: $50

Location: Mercy Medical Community Education Conference Rooms 2&3

Sponsoring agency: Umpqua Partners

Contact Phone#: Seating Limited. Call Sue Rifenbark (541) 677-7477

 

January 12, 2010

Walmart skips towns that protest new stores – any implications for Costco

Posted by Mark under Business, Business management, management, retail
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The biggest retail buzz in Roseburg the past year has been the disputes over whether Costco should build a new store north of town. The trucks hauling dirt from the were lined deeply this morning at the new location and Costco is expected to open this fall.

The question of how the protests may have altered the outcome might have an answer in this article about how Walmart does cheap research by taking out building permits in communities it is considering. According to the author of this Columbia Business School article, 65% of proposed stores that were protested were never built.

 

January 5, 2010

OMG, ten minutes sealed in a coffin – ‘motivating’!

Posted by Mark under Business, Business management, management
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From the bizarre motivational methods file comes this story of how South Korean’s are writing their own epitaphs, attending their own funerals and than willing lay, with hands folded over their chest, in a coffin while the lid is nailed shut. There are several hours of tension building ceremony and then ten minutes to consider life, death, right, wrong, love, hate, family, friends and eternity while shuttered in a dark and lonely place. They say it is refreshing, and for $25 it is a life experience.

While ten minutes is a lot shorter time than most will ultimately spend laid out that way, I don’t know how many takers might be calling one of our local funeral homes for a shot at this. Could be one of those profitable niche businesses, though.

Full story is in the Los Angeles Times.

 

January 4, 2010

Hiring commissioned salespeople – treat them like a partner

Posted by Mark under Business, Business management, management
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Some good advice about filling one of your toughest positions – commissioned salespeople. This Rehaul.com article nicely addresses the transfer of risk from the company to the employee as the author discusses his own successes and failures in hiring commissioned salespeople. His best advise is to treat them like a partner during the interview; discussing processes, failure rates, industry trends, leads and turnovers.

 

December 29, 2009

The road to Davy’s Bar – missing the future

Posted by Mark under Business, Business leadership, management
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I’ve run across a website I like, and if you are interested in organizational change and designing for the future I think you will like it, too.  As a way of introduction to Bret L Simmons, I’m including the link to this neat short story about The Road to Davy’s Bar. Enjoy.

 

December 28, 2009

Replacing old knowledge, prospering in 2010

Posted by Mark under Business, Business leadership, Business management, management, Media
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With the turn of the year it seems a good time to revisit knowledge which may be impeding good business decisions: discovering things that were once true that may no longer be true.

I recently read an article about innovation which included this marvelous quote from historian and author Daniel Boorstin, “The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

It is common to think the world is the same place in which we grew to adulthood – the world in which we learned our trade. For example, in the small town of my youth the majority of people regularly attended church. This year, not only President Obama missed Christmas service, so did 54% of the rest of the country. In fact, only 30.5% regularly attend church throughout the year and another 15.7% attend during holidays. (Source:AmericanPulse.bigresearch.com)

At the gym this morning I watched Fox TV trumpeting their news leadership (see post elsewhere in this site). That achievement pales, however, when you consider the erosion in program audiences compared to the days of only three networks. If I recall correctly,  the market share of today’s top television shows would not have placed them in the top 25  shows of the 1970s, excepting the Super Bowl.

Robert Cialdini, who authored one of my favorite business books, Influence, suggested that the complexity of our world does not allow us the luxury of often revisiting old decisions. His point was that we rely upon decisions once made until we are convinced they are no longer optimal; often happening only when we belatedly discover the environment has changed. The earlier we make that discovery the more likely we are to prosper.

Stephen Covey called this kind of learning sharpening the saw. Perhaps it could be called finally-learning-how-to-use-the-new-remote-control for your television. Either way, a little learning helps provide a greater return on your effort.

As you consider your business decisions for 2010 resolve to question everything, beginning with what you think you know about your market, your business, your customers and yourself.
Happy New Year,

Mark Raymond

 

November 4, 2009

Five ways to help a new hire fail

Posted by Mark under Business, Business management, management
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Even in tight times businesses hire new employees. Here is a great article to help you make the transition for a new employee a successful experience. From CareerBuilder.

 

October 27, 2009

New publisher at Oregonian – Chris Anderson

Posted by Mark under Business, Business leadership, management, Media
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The Oregonian, like most metro newspapers, has seen better days and  new publisher Chris Anderson has plenty of issues facing him in his new job. The Oregonian has been one of the nation’s premier newspapers, won several Pulitzer prizes, and has many exceptional journalists and business people in its employ.

The economic downturn and the classified business lost to the Internet is evident in the reduced number of pages of the publication.

I met Chris Anderson at an Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association meeting a few years ago when he was publishing the Orange County Register. I was a bit surprised to see the publisher of such a large out-of-state newspaper speaking to our group until I learned of his many years in Oregon (graduated Albany HS, Oregon State University, and worked at the Albany newspaper).

He is a man of solid accomplishment working for a newspaper which does very good work. Not good enough for the nay-saying commentators on the Oregonians website, however.

I wish him great success. Our state, like many others, will lose much more than a few newspaper jobs if our largest newspapers falter or fail.

 

October 19, 2009

How to Thrive During a Recession

Posted by Mark under Business, Business leadership, Business management, management, Selling Tips
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From:  Sammy Pappert

Wormhole, LLC

Recessions can be wonderful. Go ahead and toss in the fundamental secular upheaval all things digital and Internet are creating and we should be downright giddy with delight as we seize opportunity. However, I fear that might not be the case for everyone.

I have been very hopeful that THIS was the downturn which would really and truly and finally cause enough financial pain to catalyze extraordinary change. However, it is starting to look like we’re behaving in the same ways we did in the early 80′s, 90′s and ’00′s and manage most of the pain solely on the expense side of our equation. From my point of view, that won’t cut it…

So, with that preamble and a nod to Tom Peters (it was something he wrote which spurred much of this thinking) here are a handful of suggested notions on how to thrive during this 2008 – 2011 (?) recession:

• Acknowledge that times are bad; that they could even get worse, yet BELIEVE actions, attitudes and decisions made today will create a better tomorrow.

• Expect to work harder, longer and with more intensity and likely with less acknowledgement than ever. Do so willingly.

• For less pay, for now. Get over it.

• Which suggests the corollary that you should volunteer more to establish yourself as indispensable!

• If in sales, make one more call at the end of each day/week. The numbers will add up and eventually serve you well.

• LET’S BE CLEAR ON THIS POINT – sending an email is not a sales call!

• Write a letter.

• [BTW, is there anyone (any company) not in sales?]

• Therefore, these bullets apply to retention (advertisers and readers and viewers) and circulation, nursing, fine dining, manufacturing, hospitality, entertainment, professional services, you name it…any business that ever desires additional market share and to occasionally grow.

• Be nice. Mean it. Truly.

• Relentlessly focus on the details and then (more…)

 

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