Madison Who’s Who Blog

New Year celebrations are always good for business. The act of celebrating, even modestly, costs some money. And as sometimes you have to spend money to make money Chinese New Year is filled with superstitions that revolve around gaining wealth.

So if you want to join in, as good luck can go a long way, here are some guidelines as to what to do and what not to do during Chinese New Year which started January 23.

1. Clean Before the New Year Starts;

The Chinese New Year lasts technically 15 days in the country and 7 days in the city. So if you are a neat nut, hopefully you cleaned up before Monday.

2. Do Not Clean after New Year Has Begun:

Put your feet up and relax. Certainly the most enjoyable of the Chinese New Year superstitions, sweeping and cleaning is strictly forbidden. The Chinese believe cleaning means you’ll sweep all of your good luck out the front door.

3. Balance the Books

If you’re in debt, it’s time to dip into your pockets and pay people off. The Chinese believe that if you start the New Year in the red, you’ll finish it the same way.

4. Know your Chinese Homonyms.

Buying books and shoes are bad as their sound alike words are words for “lose” and “rough” respectively. Don’t say the number ‘four’ (Chinese homonym for death) or mention death. On the positive side, a whole fish is as good as gold as the word for fish “yu”, is a homophone of “surplus” and “abundance”. It must be whole to symbolize completeness and good fortune.

5. Don’t cut or wash your hair.

The not washing your hair applies to the first three days of the New Year, because the Chinese word for hair is a homonym for the Chinese word for wealth

6. Wear Brand New Clothes.

And wear red as it scares away evil spirits and bad fortune and ensures a bright future. Black and white should not be worn as black symbolizes bad luck, and white is a Chinese funeral color. People dress in all new clothes and shoes to symbolize a new beginning for the New Year.

7. Don’t Drop Your Chopsticks.

8. Eat Sweets and Round Things.

The tradition stemmed in the belief that eating the sweet stuff is said to deliver a sweeter year spans many cultures. Mandarins and Tangerines bring good luck. Almond cookies resemble coins, and since dumplings are rounded, they can symbolize a family reunion as well as wealth and prosperity.

9. Don’t Borrow or Lend Money.

10. Make Some Noise

The firecrackers and other loud goings on scare the bad luck demons away.

Now here is some general advice about how to go about the whole Dragon Year. Dragon years always encourage growth and change. This year is not the time to play it safe. It’s time to explore new frontiers in love, career and life. Coincidentally it is also a Leap Year.  This Dragon Year’s element is water and water years emphasize polite negotiation, so any adventures should be undertaken in a diplomatic and civil way.

Innovative leaders will reap great rewards during this Chinese New Year. Calculated risks are heavily favored. Dragons are often seen as hot tempered and those that won’t suffer fools gladly. Another way to see this is that dragons wish to encourage those not living up to their abilities to raise the bar. Sometimes this encouragement comes in the form of gentle consistent nudges and sometimes it is that of a shrill no-nonsense drill sergeant.  It’s good advice to parallel dragon behavior in a Dragon Year, so if you sense that an organization or relationship has grown stale, promote positive changes. Don’t let naysayers shoot you down. Remain upbeat and optimistic with your suggestions.

As water is a mutable element it’s effect on the dragon is to emphasize kindness, the more consideration extended during a Water Dragon year, the more rewards you will reap. Think in terms of what’s best for the group or most beneficial for a relationship. Anyone considering getting married or starting a business is in luck, beginnings in Dragon years are sudden, passionate, and dramatic. The Year of the Water Dragon favors new endeavors of all kinds!

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

There really is a most depressing day of the year, and it is known as Blue Monday. Although, this year there may be two as there is a split decision as to whether it was on January 16^th or is coming up on January 23^rd. The confusion comes as originally Blue Monday was the Monday of the last full week of January, but people now claim it falls on the third Monday in January. So I suppose it depends on whether you are a traditional purist or a modern revisionist. The reasoning behind these two choices is all the more confusing since Blue Monday began in 2005.

As of now the easiest way to beat the blues on Blue Monday 2012 is to choose to date it on the 16^th that way it is in the past and behind you. However if you see choose to see it looming on the horizon and arriving on this Monday I say counter the Blues with a celebration.

Here is a list of Mood Lifters (which come in handy on any Blue Day – officially declared so or not.)

1. Give – The good feeling the giver gets when giving goes back to the beginning of time. Some scientists say this is all biological, in that the generosity gene benefited society and those with it were more likely to thrive. On this philosophical side Buddha chimes in stating it “both acknowledges the interdependence we have for each other and is the active practice of letting go, which is where freedom from suffering lies.”  Coincidentally, charities have jumped on the Blue Monday bandwagon and use it as a vehicle to raise awareness and/or money.

2. Laugh – Laughter is the best medicine. It protects the heart, releases endorphins, boosts the immune system, and a good hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes afterward. So go forth and seek out comedy and funny folk.

3. Get Goaling – It doesn’t matter if the goal is long-term or short term. The former gives you a pot of gold to focus on which is a happy promise for the duration until it is reached. The latter gives you an uplift with the sense of accomplishment especially if the short term measures in around 24 hours or less.

4. Assault your senses – You’ve got five of them. Take them one by one and wow them. Zing your taste buds, awe strike your eyes, give your nose a whiff of something scent-acular, etc. Wow’s color scheme doesn’t come in the blues.

5. Party -  Blue Monday is a great excuse to gather friends and family. It’s hard to be down in the dumps if that is the theme for a party. The only bummer is it is a Weeknight.

6. Exercise or Meditate -  Heck why not do both?

7. Just Be Blue – If there is a problem, the quickest way to solve it is to face it.  If the blues are brought on by Seasonal Affective Disorder than see the six suggestions above. But if there is something that has been bringing you down what better time than Blue Monday to turn around and change your direction.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Have you ever noticed how the Wikipedia logo looks like the Deathstar in the first Star Wars trilogy? However, unlike the Deathstar they are all about freedom and bringing down the Empire. So, at Midnight tonight, in an effort to strike back at the powers-that-be that wish to regulate freedom on the web, Wikipedia will go to the dark side. Meaning they will go off air. This is to protest two Congressional bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act often called SOPA and the Protect IP Act also known as PIPA. Both these bills aim to curtail copyright violations on the Internet. Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, confirmed the site’s decision on Monday on Twitter, writing: “Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!” If you happen upon Wikipedia after pumpkin time you’ll be greeted with a message about anti-piracy bills that are topics of heated debate in the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Wales said that if passed, the bills could censor what information and links that sites like Wikipedia would be permitted to publish.“The government could tell us that we could write an entry about the history of the Pirate Bay but not allow us to link to it,” he said, referring to the popular file-sharing site. “That’s a First Amendment issue.”

Wikipedia is not alone. There are other members of this rebel alliance: Reddit, the social news site; BoingBoing, a technology and culture blog; video game news and review site Destuctroid.com; Red 5 Studios’ online shooter Firefall; Reddit; Tucows Inc’s Downloads site; xda-developers; and all sites owned by Cheezburger Inc., including I Can Has Cheezburger, Fail Blog, and Know Your Meme. The Mozilla Foundation, creators of the Firefox Web browser, may also be planning something for Wednesday, according to a tweet from Tom Lowenthal, a privacy and tech policy analyst for Mozilla. Some sites that are not planning to go offline are still finding ways to participate in the protest. For example, WordPress, a blogging platform, is supplying its users with a widget that will add a banner to their Web sites and blogs showing support for the protest.

It isn’t that these rebels’ rebellion is absolute in their attack on copyright regulations. “Within our community we’re very strong defenders of copyright. We have very strict rules about obeying copyright and we don’t link to materials that we know to be copyright infringement. That isn’t really the issue. The other side will try to paint this as anybody who’s opposed to this must be making money off of piracy or be in favor of piracy. That isn’t true. The issue here is that this law is very badly written, very broadly overreaching and, in at least the Senate version, would include the creation of a DNS (domain name system) blocking regime that’s technically identical to the one that’s used by China. I don’t think that’s the right way the U.S. needs to go in taking a leadership role on the Internet,” says Jimmy Wales.

There is yet another powerful ally this resistance has. The Force or rather the Obama administration on Saturday criticized SOPA and PIPA as currently written in response to two online petitions. The White House released a statement saying the administration would not support any legislation that allows for online censorship, inhibits innovation or disrupts the underlying architecture of the Internet.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Who would have thought it? Last year after Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards more commentators skewered than sugar coated him. Even his Hollywood audience seemed only to smile, laugh, and nod out of the desire to show that they were taking the high road of polite show biz politics. But whether you found Mr. Gervais’ performance funny or not he held his audience’s attention in the palm of his hand. It was not the run of the mill forgettable patter most hosts give out; it caused a stir. And the follow-up recap hubbub presaged this bad behaviour got him crossed off the list of future hosting gigs.

But then…as if by magic…Mr. Gervais was offered another hosting job … that’s right to host once again The Golden Globes. What? After all the tough talk and washing of hands by the Hollywood elite, they would invite this guy back? How? Well if memory serves Ricky Gervais predicted it. In more than one interview in the past year Mr. Gervais did not apologize. He flatly said those that hired him knew what he was about and he gave them just that. He also delivered one of the most memorable awards shows. So it really isn’t any surprise the Golden Globes asked him back… he is pretty much their golden goose.

This whole story is rather inspiring lesson for business. One is rewarded when one is true to oneself and is forgotten when trying to please everybody. There are many times when the customer isn’t always right, and there is a benefit for the tradesperson holds fast to their principles.

On Sunday the Golden Globes will once again be on view with Ricky at the helm. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Las Vegas odds makers are coming up with a second tally other than “who will win an award” that of “who will be a target”. Only Ricky Gervais knows the answer to this question as “No one knows what I’m going to say until I say it.”  This he tweeted early in the week as his only stipulation on agreeing to host again.

I’ll leave the speculation to the professionals like Scott Meslow from The Atlantic. I think they are prime candidates to be funny fodder – however I have included my reservations.

Katy Perry and Russell Brand

This is the odds on favorite subject for the first joke of the night. There is a lot of material here no doubt. But I think he might hold off and save them for later. Gervais is a comedy professional and a rule of comedy is to do the unexpected.

Ashton Kutcher

Another bunch of jokes that right themselves live in this man. And one of Ashton’s charms is that he has the ability to shine as the butt of a joke.

Johnny Depp

Maybe. He is on this list because he was a memorable target alumni of last year’s awards.

Alec Baldwin

Yep. 3 words: Words With Friends. Yep, yep, yep.

Hugh Hefner

Okay, possibly… he has been out of the news for a while… and Ricky may take pity.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé

Yep. They named their baby a primary color.

Ryan Reynolds

Not sure about this one, either. He’s been out of the limelight for a while. Which is the joke. I guess. And then you can’t have one Canadian Ryan without the other …

(which is another joke)

Ryan Gosling

Another poor Ryan…a great year, but a year of near misses…not getting nominated for Drive (although he still got nominated for The Ides of March and Crazy Stupid Love)and not wining People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man of the Year”.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

No more holiday gatherings, the lights and decorations have come down, and the Epiphany is 4 days behind us. To add to the dullness, we still have three quarters of Winter to get through. Is there a better time to become the brightest thing in the room? Especially, if you are the only one in the room. Plus since Corporations are people now too…these tips can be creatively applied to your business.

Here is a Forbes List from contributor Jessica Hagy.

10 Ways to Be More Interesting

1.Go exploring.
Explore ideas, places, and opinions. Nothing exists in a vacuum. One way streets can be a nuisance. Expand your parameters.

2. Share what you discover.
And be generous when you do. Not everybody went exploring with you. Let them live vicariously through your adventures.

3. Do something. Anything.
Dance. Talk. Build. Network. Play. Help. Create. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you’re doing it. Sitting around and complaining is not an acceptable form of ‘something,’ in case you were wondering.

4. Embrace your innate weirdness.
No one is normal. Everyone has quirks and insights unique to themselves. Don’t hide these things—they are what make you interesting.

5. Have a cause.
If you don’t give a damn about anything, no one will give a damn about you.

6. Minimize the swagger.
Egos get in the way of ideas. If your arrogance is more obvious than your expertise, you are someone other people avoid.

7. Give it a shot.
Try it out. Play around with a new idea. Do something strange. If you never leave your comfort zone, you won’t grow.

8. Hop off the bandwagon.
If everyone else is doing it, you’re already late to the party.  Do your own thing, and others will hop onto the spiffy wagon you built yourself. Besides, it’s more fun to drive than it is to get pulled around.

9. Grow a pair.
Bravery is needed to have contrary opinions and to take unexpected paths. If you’re not courageous, you’re going to be hanging around the water cooler, talking about the guy who actually is.

10. Ignore the scolds.
Boring is safe, and you will be told to behave yourself. The scolds could have, would have, should have. But they didn’t. And they resent you for your adventures.

Now that we are almost a week into the New Year how’s that resolution working for ya? If you are among the estimated 41% of Americans whose New Year’s resolution is to lose weight January is a battle zone. First off, it takes time to see the results of the regimented deprivation mixed with a disciplined exercise program. Not to mention the Fast Food chains are gunning for your buck (some literally as they have dollar deals). January is a bad month for Fast Food, due to the one two punch combination of Diet Resolutions and Limited Spending (trying to catch up on the overspending the holiday months encourage). The list of these deals will follow, but before that here are some tricks to build up your resolve so you will be less tempted to take Taco Bell (and etc.) up on their generous offers.

Some advise breaking the goals down into clear, concrete, and manageable steps and rewarding yourself for good progress. Counterbalance is a vital tool too. This means if you’ve made a resolution you look upon as a chore it probably won’t last so tag on an inspirational resolution to a dutiful one. Inspirational Resolutions are something you just want to do, something that helps you fulfill a dream, or that just will make you happy.

Here are ten things (culled from Caroline Adams Miller article in Psychology Today)  that will buck you up to see your Resolutions through, or any goal for that matter:

1. Get Happy: A landmark 2005 study by Lyubomirsky, King and Diener showed that success across every single life domain was preceded by being in a flourishing emotional state where positive emotions outweighed negative emotions by three to one. We do not get happy because we are successful; we become successful because we are happy.

2. Put Yourself in a Positive Mindset: Positive Psychology researchers have shown that half of our daily happiness flows from what we think about and what we do. Practiced behaviors that bring on a positive state for pretty much everyone include exercise, meditation, journaling, using one’s signature strengths, forgiveness, and expressing gratitude. However, even though the previous list works for everyone, pretty much everyone isn’t accessing that list as approximately 80% are considered to be languishing according to esteemed researcher, Barbara Fredrickson – as opposed to flourishing. So get busy and incorporate more of what has been shown to be effective, or come up with your own plan of known self-starters.

3. Take it Easy On Yourself: As Burt Bacharach wrote in an easy listening song. Don’t go in for a complete overhaul by setting too many self-regulation (willpower) goals at once. Roy Baumeister of Florida State University and his research colleagues have discovered that our storehouse of willpower is a finite resource that gets depleted throughout each day, depending on how often you call upon it to override temptation. That means that setting too many willpower goals at once – like losing weight, spending less, exercising more – is destined to fail. Australian research has found that if you pick just one willpower goal – like exercising in the morning – and focus for six to eight weeks on just that improvement, all other self-regulation behaviors will improve, too.

4.  De-friend/Distance Yourself from the Dead Wood in your Social and Professional Life: Christakis and Fowler have found that behavior is contagious, including gaining weight, quitting smoking, being happy, being lonely, and even having willpower. If your network is full of people whose behavior and values are contrary to what you are striving to accomplish, you stand a strong chance of failing, no matter how much effort you exert in the right direction. Don’t make it harder for yourself than you need it to be; Caller ID and email blocking exist for a reason, and you can limit time and energy that is currently going to “black holes” by simply having higher boundaries.

5. Load the Deck: Fill your environment with positive “primes” (cues) that set you up for success. There’s no debate that every moment of every day is filled with aromas, words, people, colors, music and other “primes” that make you happy, sad, tired, energized, focused, creative, and grateful, among other emotions. The problem is that most of us are asleep at the wheel to the primes in our lives, and we allow them to dictate what we do as opposed to seizing control of what we expose ourselves to. One unusual tip: change your computer passwords to reflect your goals, and consider getting a vanity license plate or an email address that does the same thing.

6. Cowboy Up and Embrace the Grunt Work: Do hard things. No one wants to go outside their comfort zone, but that is exactly what the research shows you must do to achieve worthwhile, life-changing goals. This is a challenge to the conventional advice on setting “reasonable and reachable” goals, because “challenging and specific goals” (goal setting theory) produces the best results, and it’s often by shooting for the stars that we get farther than we would with what is called “low” goals, which might also be defined as “reachable.” Research from the University of San Francisco, called the “No Pain, No Gain” research has also found that the things we are proudest of at the end of the day, and that produce the greatest self-esteem, are the things we probably didn’t enjoy, and that might have made us miserable while doing them.

7. Take more risks: The research shows that we regret what we don’t try, and not what we try that doesn’t work out. The happiest people among us have also been found to be risk-takers, who don’t quit when the going gets hard.

8. For women only: Get Selfish. Pursue some personal goals that pertain only to you and carve out more than 41 minutes a day when you put yourself first. For the first time in history, women are now more unhappy than men, with the disparity emerging at midlife. Researchers say it is because women only have around 41 minutes each day to pursue their own meaningful goals; everyone else, including parents, children, husband, friends and work colleagues, have come first for too long.

9. Use “if-then” scenarios: Peter Gollwitzer found that if you specify a certain cue that you will encounter during your day, and you decide what action will follow seeing that cue, you are three times more likely to be successful. Example: “When I encounter a stop sign, I will think of three blessings I have in my life.” If you create this agreement ahead of time, you will not have to make a fresh decision to initiate hard behaviors, which is exhausting. Make it a foregone conclusion and save your energy for other things.

10.  Get Goals if You Don’t Got ‘em: The happiest people wake up every day to clear-cut goals, short-term and long-term, that involve building relationships with others, making a difference in the lives of others, and making the space you inhabit a bit kinder and brighter.

Okay here as promised are what to beware of in Fast Food Land or to inspire marketing ideas for the leaner months:

Taco Bell - Back, for a limited time, is the 99-cent Beefy Crunch Burrito.

Wendy’s – is pushing its 99-cent Value Menu this month, including a 2.25-ounce Cheesy Cheddarburger — with 25% more beef.

KFC – Family Bargains: Saturday, starts it’s”$11 Weekend Buckets” promo. The deal, with 10 pieces of chicken, will be available Saturdays and Sundays in January. The buckets usually sell for $14.99.

Pizza Hut – This month has brought back its $10 “Any Pizza” deal.

Papa John’s – is selling any large pizza — including specialty pizzas — for $11.

Jack in the Box – is hyping a $4.29 meal that includes a Jumbo Jack hamburger, two tacos, a small order of fries and 20-ounce soft drink.

Burger King – mailed out coupon books this week with $40 of food and drink coupons.

Steak ‘n Shake – Price freeze. This is the most aggressive move of all: a “no price hike” pledge. “During 2012, we have no intentions of raising prices,” CEO Sardar Biglari says. “We are attempting to insulate our customers from inflation.”

And if you cave in? You won’t be alone. 35% of resolutions don’t make it out of January and after 6 months only 50% are still in effect.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

A few days before the clock struck the midnight that rang in 2012, Dow Jones released a release that was a crystal ball look into the past year which showed how 30 companies fared.

McDonald’s seems to be the big winner as it was up 31%. The golden arches had about a 10% lead on IBM, Pfizer, and Home Depot which clocked in up at more than 20%.  Showing at above a 19% up tick was Kraft Foods.

The Dow gained too. It rose 6.2% and as an index beat out the S&P 500’s .06% rise and the Nasdaq Comp’s 1.6% fall. However the Dow’s gain for 2011 stands in the shadow of the Dow’s 11% jump in 2010.

The popularity of fast food and home improvement gave McDonald’s and Home Depot top five placement for back to back years.

Then come the time to consider the downward slope of the mountain. Here we single out Bank of America, HP, Alcoa, JP Morgan Chase, and Caterpillar. Hewlett Packard was 2010’s worst performer ending that year down 18% and kept the downward momentum going as it plunged 39% in 2011. The largest fall on 2011’s the scale of disappointment belongs to Caterpillar who surged up 69% in 2010 but slid and finished 2011 down 2.3%. Alcoa down-hilled 43% in 2011 and J.P. Morgan Chase felt some agony of defeat as they skid into a fence that stopped their slip down at 22%. Last and doing the least good we have Bank of America as the worst performer of the year – down 59%.

Yet still there is hope as 19 of the Dow’s 30 components ended up. And the “Dogs of the Dow” are making a comeback. This fuels one of Wall Street’s classic strategies which advises investors to buy the 10 highest-yielding Dow components at the beginning of the year in an effort to benefit from stable, high-dividend paying stocks. This didn’t work in the years between 2001-2010, when the dogs were all whimper and no bark.

The 10 Dow stocks with the highest dividend yields at the beginning of 2011 are up 13% year-to-date, not including dividend income, according to Bespoke Investment Group. Nine of the 10 components are up; DuPont is the lone laggard. Meanwhile, the other 2/3rds of the Dow are down a combined 3.8%.

The above article contains data and information from by Steven Russolillo from his article in The Wall Street Journal.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Many a Top Ten/Twenty/Fifty etc. list gets rolled out this time of year to put an interesting cap on what the year 2011 meant in whatever context the list covers. So in the spirit of looking into the past in order to cast a light on the future here is a list from a magazine that covers a general range of subjects, whose average readers tend to be educated, affluent, influential, and in their mid forties. I wouldn’t be so bold as to provide an answer to the title question; that is for you to answer. Moreover I’ll dispense with the tension producing list structure of least read (of the most read) to most read and just start with Number 1.

1. If U.S. Cities Were Countries, How Would They Rank?, by Richard Florida

It is heartening to find out that “Even in crisis, our strongest cities perform the economic function of small (or sometimes, not so small) nations. If they were countries, U.S. metros would represent 37 of the world’s largest economies….” And that the New York Metro area is “equivalent to the 13th largest nation in the world, close in scale to Canada ($1.57 trillion). Its gross metropolitan product is bigger than Australia’s $1.23 trillion GDP and South Korea’s $1 trillion, and just under India’s.”

2. Can the Middle Class Be Saved?, by Don Peck

Pluto may have lost its status as a planet, but its gaining status as the prefixes of plutonomy and plutocracy.

3. The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants, by Megan McArdle

This just may have had more to do with airline deregulation than equal opportunity employment guidelines, or maybe not.

4. Picture of the Day: Shanghai in 1990 and 2010, by Derek Thompson

A picture is worth a thousand words or one quarter of the world’s cranes.

5. The Debt Crisis at American Colleges, by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus

“As this semester begins, college loans are nearing the $1 trillion mark, more than what all households owe on their credit cards. Fully two-thirds of our undergraduates have gone into debt, many from middle class families, who in the past paid for much of college from savings. The College Board likes to say that the average debt is “only” $27,650. What the Board doesn’t say is that when personal circumstances go wrong, as can happen in a recession, interest, late payment penalties, and other charges can bring the tab up to $100,000.”

6. I Was Wrong, and So Are You, by Daniel B. Klein

The author eats a bit of crow and shows that the My-Side Bias will unbiasedly cloud the answers from both sides.

7. Be a Jerk: The Worst Business Lesson From the Steve Jobs Biography, by Tom McNichol

Points out a significant trait of a misguided CEO: the major thing he takes away from Steve Jobs despite his other highly praised abilities it is his status as a world class asshole that got him where he was: thereby justifying all jerk-ish behavior from upper management.

8. Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?, by Edward Jay Epstein [Originally published in 1982]

Or How To Market Something as Elite that May after all Be A Little Less Common than Glass.

9. India: The World’s Secret Silicon Valley, by Nirmalya Kumar & Phanish Puranam

“With this efficient model and high-quality talent in place, India is positioned to be recognized not just for successful offshore services, but as the next global innovation hub.”

10. Obama’s Student Loan Order Saves the Average Grad Less Than $10 a Month, by Dan Indiviglio

“Student loans have grown by 511% since 1999. Meanwhile, disposable income has grown by just 73%. Most outstanding student loan debt (82%!) was accrued by students over just the past decade.”

11. Nearly 50% of the Young People in Greece and Spain Are Unemployed, by Derek Thompson

You need to go the charts for this one.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Who wants to think about taxes during the last week of the year? These thoughts have the potential to dampen that post Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza/Solstice celebratory glow, and with New Years is right around the corner, this is no time for wet blankets sapping that celebratory momentum. These are thoughts that don’t complement egg nog or champagne; it’s tempting to stuff them into the shoe box with all your receipts for this past year’s deductions. However there is still time to get in a tax break to make you more festive when the time comes to file your taxes.  So here’s a list to check twice to see if there is something you can do to lessen the tax bite come the New Year. This comes straight from the IRS Website.
Here are six tax-saving tips for you to consider before the calendar turns to 2012:

Make Charitable Contributions – If you itemize deductions, your donations must be made to qualified charities no later than Dec. 31 to be deductible for 2011. You must have a canceled check, a bank statement, credit card statement or a written statement from the charity, showing the name of the charity and the date and amount of the contribution for all cash donations. Donations charged to a credit card by Dec. 31 are deductible for 2011, even if the bill isn’t paid until 2012. If you donate clothing or household items, they must be in good used condition or better to be deductible.

Install Energy-Efficient Home Improvements – You still have time this year to make energy-saving and green-energy home improvements and qualify for either of two home energy credits. Installing energy efficient improvements such as insulation, new windows and water heaters to your main home can provide up to $500 in tax savings. Homeowners going green should also check out the Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit, designed to spur investment in alternative energy equipment. The credit equals 30 percent of the cost of qualifying solar, wind, geothermal, or heat pump property. For details see Special Edition Tax Tip 2011-08, Home Energy Credits Still Available for 2011 on the IRS.gov website.

Consider a Portfolio Adjustment – Check your investments for gains and losses and consider sales by Dec. 31. You may normally deduct capital losses up to the amount of capital gains, plus $3,000 from other income. If your net capital losses are more than $3,000, the excess can be carried forward and deducted in future years.

Contribute the Maximum to Retirement Accounts – Elective deferrals you make to employer-sponsored 401(k) plans or similar workplace retirement programs for 2011 must be made by Dec. 31. However, you have until April 17, 2012, to set up a new IRA or add money to an existing IRA and still have it count for 2011. You normally can contribute up to $5,000 to a traditional or Roth IRA, and up to $6,000 if age 50 or over. The Saver’s Credit, also known as the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit, is also available to low- and moderate-income workers who voluntarily contribute to an IRA or workplace retirement plan. The maximum Saver’s Credit is $1,000, and $2,000 for married couples, but the amount allowed could be reduced or eliminated for some taxpayers in part because of the impact of other deductions and credits.

Make a Qualified Charitable Distribution – If you are age 70½ or over, the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) allows you to make a distribution paid directly from your individual retirement account to a qualified charity, and exclude the amount from gross income. The maximum annual exclusion for QCDs is $100,000. The excluded amount can be used to satisfy any required minimum distributions that the individual must otherwise receive from their IRAs in 2011. This benefit is available even if you do not itemize deductions.

Don’t Overlook the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit – If you are a small employer who pays at least half of your employee health insurance premiums, you may qualify for a tax credit of up to 35 percent of the premiums paid. An employer with fewer than 25 full-time employees who pays an average wage of less than $50,000 a year may qualify. For more information see the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit page on IRS.gov.

Here is a General Tax Deduction Checklist:

* Penalties for early withdrawal of savings

* Alimony paid

* Student loan interest

* Prescription eyeglasses, contacts, and hearing aids

* Crutches, canes, and orthopedic shoes

* Medical transportation costs

* Cost of alcohol or drug abuse treatments

* Charitable contributions

* Local and state income taxes

* Personal property taxes or real estate taxes

* Points paid for a mortgage or refinancing your home

* Unreimbursed employee business expenses

* Mileage and other expenses associated with volunteer work

* Casualty and theft losses

* Tax preparation software and fees

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

It’s that time of year, when the new year is in sight…and we marvel or shudder at what may come. A productive plan is to set your goals, put in the work toward fulfilling them, push through the obstacles, and savor the victories without resting on your laurels. If you want a leg up you might want to look into a dependable crystal ball and see the future. Five years ago the “IBM 5 in 5 Initiative” started its annual pick of the 5 innovations that would hit the big time within 5 years. Today they came out with their 6^th list.

• The Power in/of the People: The movers, the shakers, the joggers, the walkers, the bikers. IBM looks at all of these players going place to place in their day to day, and they see an untapped resource of energy. Advances in technology will allow us to collect the kinetic energy generated from movement of any kind (even from water flowing through pipes).

• Pass on the Password: Oh the joy of not having to come up with some uncrackable personal code that you won’t forget and then have to reset. Passwords will riding off into the sunset according to Big Blue. “Each person has a unique biological identity and behind all that is data. Biometric data—facial definitions, retinal scans, and voice files—will be composited through software to build your DNA-unique online password.”  IBM says.

• Mind Melding with IT: Why waste your breath on voice command software when you can just ‘think’ and your will, will be done. Technology that has been developed for those with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities are being developed for the general public. Headsets will come with sensors that can read brain activity. “Within [five] years, we will begin to see early applications of this technology in the gaming and entertainment industry,” IBM attests.

• The digital divide will cease to exist. It has been an oft heard prediction that the PC is a thing of the past. With tablet computers and smart phones what’s the point of a having a desk cluttered with a monitor and keyboard. IBM predicts that 80% of the world’s population will have a mobile phone within five years. “As it becomes cheaper to own a mobile phone, people without a lot of spending power will be able to do much more than they can today,” IBM said.

• Junk mail will evolve to a higher being. “In five years, unsolicited advertisements may feel so personalized and relevant it may seem that spam is dead. At the same time, spam filters will be so precise you’ll never be bothered by unwanted sales pitches again,” thus speaks the soothsayers at IBM.  Can I get a Halleluiah chorus?

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.