Madison Who’s Who Blog

If there is anything the internet is absolutely brimming over with, it is advice on both time management and how to enhance the time that you manage to, uhm, manage. Saving all of that time means little if the purpose of saving time is never realized.

Now that technology has given us global networking, time seems sliced even thinner while commitments and responsibilities accumulate. And, oddly enough, what has always eluded modern man continues to do so; contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment - something that all that saved time was to be invested in for the enrichment of self and family.

But everyone keeps trying to find the one paradigm that will bring all into focus, that one ticket to nirvana, the epiphany that will herald the way. Alas, your epiphany is my “whatever” and there is no universal code that guarantees peace of mind, productivity and progress.

There are, however, some brilliant methods and means and suppositions that may give you the one link, the one key, that may make things fall into place for you. For an associate, it was starting his day at 0430 in the gym, swearing that he never felt so empowered in his life. For some, it is the 15 minutes of Yoga, for others, it is innovative ways of multi-tasking. Business network tips are rife with methods to squeeze more out of your time without squeezing your soul dry.
LifeReMix is a site that puts out a banquet of the best of these musings…

“LifeRemix is basically a band of bloggers who enrich people’s lives through blogging. The blogs are hand-selected, and each one is incredible. They have excellent writers, and their content is quite unique.

With the constant swelling of the blogosphere, good writing can be hard to find. We’re trying to act as a filter so only the best writing is showcased, while at the same time learning a thing or two.”
(Source)

Who’s who in offering sound motivational advice? For a simple classic method to stay productive, Jerry Seinfield, wins the prize.

The mastery of any skill always requires perseverance and consistency and practice. We all know that and thousands of books have been written that cajole us to do it. We are admonished to do so in the business network tips we receive in seminars. It’s just that blasted first step that is the killer. But once the momentum builds and the results from dedicated effort materialize, the game is on. We want more of that delicious satisfaction that comes with accomplishment. Discipline is a sweet and sour thing - hard to inculcate but so sweet when self-mastery is achieved.

Software developer Brad Issacs tells of his chance encounter with Jerry Seinfeld and the advice he was given…

“One night I was in the club where Seinfeld was working, and before he went on stage, I saw my chance. I had to ask Seinfeld if he had any tips for a young comic. What he told me was something that would benefit me a lifetime…

He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself - even when you don’t feel like.” it.
H/T:Business Opportunities Weblog

But there is more. Go out to Staples, get yourself a huge wall calender displaying the entire year. If Jerry’s advice works for you, that calender will be a solid mass of red ‘X’s come this time next year.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” So saith Thomas Edison and it is a sentiment that is suggested as the appropriate words to put over the door of the anticipated
Dyson School of Design & Innovation. In case you do not recognize the name, Forbes.com lists Dyson as one of the who’s who of billionaire inventors.

“Idea: Invent upright device that sucks dirt off the floor.
Mastermind behind the super-fashionable and functional Dyson vacuum. Grew up studying English and playing the bassoon, went to art school to study design and engineering. Ran through 5,127 prototypes until he perfected G-Force in an upright vacuum that uses spinning technology to maintain constant suction.”

The number bolded above is what is striking. How many aspiring entrepreneurs throw in the towel after a handful of failures, let alone 5,127? Is it conviction that makes a man keep persevering against the odds? As you engage in selling your vision, how do you overcome the desire to throw in the towel?

Business network tips always beat the drum to never give up but few tell you what exactly is the thing that pushes a man to try the 5,128th time. When you think about it, putting a coffee shop on every corner(Starbucks), stuffing toys with beans(Beanie Babies),selling books online,(Amazon) or sticking a horse on a polo shirt (Ralph Lauren) are not earth shattering ideas in and of themselves. But put such ideas in the minds of certain men, and empires are born. Perhaps the inventor is coming who can isolate that “it” factor that distinguishes the men composing the Forbes roster of billionaires inventors from the rest of us.

In this age of terrorism and executive kidnapping, security is a critical factor in global networking - security online and security on the ground. Unfortunately, a survey of business travelers indicate a vote of no confidence for the security measures their respective companies have put in place - or failed to address at all.

“A survey of more than the 1,009 US and UK business travellers by risk consultancy, Control Risks, has found that almost half believe that the world will become a more dangerous place for them over the next five years.

Four out of 10 of Britons and a third of Americans employees also believe that business travellers are becoming more attractive targets for extremists or terrorists than other travelers.

But despite these fears, six out of 10 have little confidence that their firm would be in a position to help them in an emergency.

Almost two-thirds of UK firms and half of US firms that send staff abroad have no clear travel security policy, the survey revealed.

What’s more, half the American travellers surveyed said that they didn’t have a contact number in case of a crisis abroad, while almost a quarter said they wouldn’t know who to contact if they did.”
(Source)

Executive Protection is one site that can lead you to relevant information on security, providing basic business network tips regarding new security threats, new security services and links to sites that continually survey for the newest kidnappings and threats.

Business network tips in some social networks seem to approach wealth building as if it were a dirty and antiquated goal. There is much palaver circulating about economic inequalities and social justice, most of it far removed from reality, though it makes the writer look, well, “progressive”.

It is a breath of fresh air to read the rare piece that firmly refutes the popular sentiment that it is meritorious to penalize the wealthy for their success in order to achieve “economic equality” for all.

“Policies designed to lower economic inequality tend to change the incentives of both the haves and the have-nots in a way that particularly harms the have-nots. Reductions in the incentives to prosper mean fewer jobs created, less economic growth, less in tax revenues, and less charitable giving—all to the detriment of those left behind. And redistribution can, as the American welfare system has shown, turn beneficiaries into demoralized long-term dependents. As Irving Kristol put it three years before the federal welfare reform of 1996, “The problem with our current welfare programs is not that they are costly—which they are—but that they have such perverse consequences for people they are supposed to benefit.”

Further, policies to redress economic inequality hardly affect true inequality at all. Policymakers and economists rarely denounce the scandal of inequality in work effort, creativity, talent, or enthusiasm. We almost never hear about the outrage that is America’s inequality in leisure time, love, faith, or fun—even though these are things that most of us value more than money. To believe that we can redress inequality in our society by moving cash around is to have a materialistic, mechanistic, and totally unrealistic understanding of the resources that we truly care about.”
(City Journal)

Peer networking is, ultimately, about profit - or ought to be. Today’s business network strategies seem always to include some token shibboleth that it is better to give than receive. The posture is disingenuous. What is given determines the actual benevolence involved. Most people would prefer to be taught how to fish than be showered with platitudes and a few bite size morsels of fish. Crippling the fisherman by confiscating a portion of his catch will guarantee the day when he will have no catch at all.

Business network tips often reference security measures that safeguard your critical information. Yet, as one associate recently commented, too many otherwise savvy professionals allow for too many vulnerabilities online, be it the information supplied on social networking sites or the details in their online resume. The assumption that a particular site’s security is ‘top notch’ does not take into account the ingenuity of identity thefts.

“The Federal Trade Commission reported that about 10 million Americans, or 5% of all adults, fall prey to identity theft each year, with an average loss of $4,800.

The economics of cybercrime are simple, says Jay Foley, co-executive director at the Identity Theft Resource Center: The risks are low and the rewards high.

Few law enforcement officers specialize in identity theft crimes, and jurisdictional questions make tracking down and charging the criminals difficult. The Internet provides cover for the bad guys.

As Foley put it: “Criminals are now asking themselves, ‘Why should I rob someone, get maybe $200, and face 7 to 10 years in jail if I am convicted when I could commit identity theft, make $100,000 or more, and face at most one year in jail?’”
(Source)

Global networking has made everyone more vigilant on many levels. Hopefully, your online security solutions will present far fewer complications than those you deal with traveling.The link above offers simple, solid advice on passwords, encryptions and other precautions.

Business network tips may all start sounding like a course in pop psychology if the current trend of catering to the “Y” generation continues. The “Y” generation has been soaked with so much unmerited praise during the course of their lives that failure to supply adulation can damn near cause a mutiny.
So now we have “celebrations assistants” whose responsibility it is to…

” throw confetti — 25 pounds a week — at employees. She also passes out 100 to 500 celebratory helium balloons a week. The Container Store Inc. estimates that one of its 4,000 employees receives praise every 20 seconds, through such efforts as its “Celebration Voice Mailboxes.”

Motivational speakers have a new thread to add to their tapestry of incessant optimism with “thank you” gurus dispensing the current brand of wisdom, such as…

“If a young worker has been chronically late for work and then starts arriving on time, commend him. “You need to recognize improvement. That might seem silly to older generations, but today, you have to do these things to get the performances you want,” he says…”

How in the world does this translate in global networking? Are there now courses on “How to Coddle the New American Businessman” for those unsuspecting countries upon which they are inflicted? And exactly at what cost does this alternate reality tax the employer?

“America’s praise fixation has economic, labor and social ramifications. Adults who were overpraised as children are apt to be narcissistic at work and in personal relationships…Narcissists aren’t good at basking in other people’s glory, which makes for problematic marriages and work relationships, she says.
[..]
Her research suggests that young adults today are more self-centered than previous generations….”
(Source)
via Denialism Blog

Time will tell if maturity and a few hard knocks will assist generation “Y” with fine tuning reality. Narcissism hardly seems a charcteristic that will go very far in promoting careers, or the bottom line.

Business network tips that speak to interpreting body language are always intriguing. How much is betrayed by little facial tics and unconscious hand gestures? Do you study your body language? Have you made it a practice to always be vigilant for visual cues or are you so absorbed in your presentation that you make no peripheral observations during the course of it?

Effective global networking demands sensitivity to cultural nuance. Does body language translate the same universally?

“Are there any true universal nonverbal cues or just universal tendencies modified to suit cultural ideals and constraints? It is my proposal that of all forms of nonverbal communication the most universal is the communication of emotions through facial expression. Other channels of nonverbal communication are also of great importance in many cultures. However which channels are emphasized, what cues are considered acceptable and the symbolic meaning of the cues may vary from culture to culture.”

Does surprise, anger, fear, happiness and satisfaction register the same on all faces? An interesting revelation from studies conducted with villagers who had not been media conditioned found that they could easily identify emotions across cultures.

“In order to rule out the possibility that exposure to mass-media had taught the subjects to recognize Caucasian facial expressions Ekman and Friesen undertook a similar study among a visually isolated culture in New Guinea (Ekman, 1972). A different methodology was used; people were shown the photographs of posed Caucasian facial expressions and were asked to make up a story about the person and the moments leading up to that image. From these stories Ekman and Friesen concluded that these subjects were able to identify the emotions accurately.”
(Source)