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Are You a Manager or a Leader?
SandraPatterson
08/09/2010 - 20:49

During my first couple of years in the corporate world, I was always looking to the next step on the career ladder. After several years of moving into different levels of Manager positions, I began to realize I wanted to be more than a manager. I wanted to truly inspire. I needed to transition from a Manager to a Leader.

This was no easy task. Like most managers, I thought I was a leader by default – I have followers, so I must be a Leader. Nothing could be further from the truth. Managers Manage, Leaders Lead. It took me a while to change my mentality and figure out that what truly inspires followers are signs that they are being led, not managed.

How do you make this happen? Always back-up your staff – no matter what. Never lie or misrepresent what is really going on. Don’t tell them the answer; show them how to find the answer. Set goals that are just ahead of what they think they can do. Be prompt with praise as well as objective criticism. Acknowledge successes as well as failures. Make every individual a part of the team or help them find the team they should be on. Lead by example – never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do.

Managers are everywhere – Leaders are nearly extinct. Leaders are not born, they are developed. Which do you want to be?
 
Do you have a plan for disaster?
RichardMarino
07/26/2010 - 23:21

Imagine you arrive to work tomorrow and all of your computers are gone. All the hardware and all the backups. OK, maybe that’s not too likely, after all you do have security and alarms at your facility, but what if you arrive at work and there’s been an accident ─ a truck carrying hazardous materials has spilled its contents on your street and you can’t get into your building. Or what if you find you'll be without power for days, or, in the case of other disasters, for weeks. Can your business survive without its computers and its data for this length of time?

Seriously, think about this for a minute. Do you have a plan in place to deal with this scenario? When did you last update it? When did you last verify that all the elements were in place and worked?

If you haven’t thought about this much, ask your employees to put together the key applications necessary every day to run your business. Email is probably one of them. If you stop answering email from your customers, what will happen? If you can’t answer phone calls, email would allow you to at least notify customers and keep in contact.

After you understand what applications are essential to run your business, value them in terms of importance and cost/risk if you lose them. The key is not the expense, but the risk you are willing to take. As a CEO you should be asking your staff, your CIO or IT Manager, or whoever you look to for IT support, some serious questions, like "What would we do if….?" It will likely be up to you as to what you are willing to spend, but the risk is real and should be evaluated.

That’s a starting point for building a disaster recovery (DR) plan. Most large companies have multiple offices and can shift the burden from one to another, but even that requires a plan. They probably also have duplicate computer/server/co-location installations. If you are a mid-size company, you may not have this luxury. However, even a small company can build a simple DR plan, even if it consists of backup tapes being taken home once a week.

 
Healthcare Reform - How Preventative Services are Determined
JerryStephens
07/20/2010 - 17:33

The Affordable Care Act requires that insurers, and therefore employers, cover certain screening and preventative services at 100%. But who determines which services are covered? The answer is the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF).

What Congress overlooked was that the USPSTF is made up of primary care physicians, not specialists. Primary care physicians tend to be a bit more conservative, while specialists are more proactive. The result could be that the USPSTF's make-up will help control costs for preventative services at least when compared to specialist groups. For more on this subject see http://industry.bnet.com/healthcare/10003056/healthcare-reform-how-an-obscure-federal-panel-limits-preventive-care/?tag=landing-pad;today.

 
Some Popular Business-Related Apps
CraigKaplan
07/14/2010 - 21:11

Many free or for-purchase apps can help businesses reduce expenses. Among them:

Skype Mobile. Allows users to make Skype calls without using phone minutes

Xora Mobile Workforce Manager. A combination GPS and time clock that lets workers punch in, punch out, keep track of overtime, and know when to turn left or right

Telenav Track. Lets employers actually see workers, vehicles, and other equipment in the field; automates field-data capture and integrates with back-office systems

iTerminal. Enables mobile personnel to accept credit-card payments

mbPointer. Lets an iPhone double as a presentation pointer

iXpenseIt. Offers mobile expense recording and budget tracking; users enter data and take a picture of the receipt

 
Don't blink or you'll miss the change
ReneFord
07/14/2010 - 20:45

The Printing Industry is undergoing tremendous change in its effort to remain competitive in an ever increasingly digital market place. Printing press manufacturers are developing and introducing vastly more efficient printing presses that dramatically reduce prepress, printing, finishing times and ink consumption while improving quality reproduction. Press manufacturers are also partnering with printers to provide their customers with innovative training to assist their clients in reducing their internal processes associated with the delivery of their print content.

The changes are continual and exciting. If you blink you can miss significant changes that can improve your operation.