How Do I Implement The Lease Purchase Plan?
Well, as we have discussed in previous newsletters first you have to set up goals for yourself, both long term and short term. Don’t forget these goals define how your business is run. They will determine what you do on a daily, weekly and monthly...

Public Relations: Toast?
Could be, when unit managers in businesses, non-profits and associations don’t get the really important external audience behaviors they need to achieve their department, division or subsidiary objectives. They’re entitled to wonder where their...

Getting Your Employees' Attention Back to Work
It is 9:00 am on a Monday morning. Do you know where your employees’ attention is? Is it on work? Picture this. You are at work. The phone rings. It is your aging father’s neighbor calling to say that Dad is walking around outside in his pajamas and...

Team Effort Pays Off for Entrepreneurs
Business owners should not be running the day-to-day activities within their companies. In order to bring small and medium size companies to newer and stronger levels, systems should be running companies. Owners must be in a position to step back...

Economics - Psychology's Neglected Branch
'It is impossible to describe any human action if one does not refer to the meaning the actor sees in the stimulus as well as in the end his response is aiming at.' Ludwig von Mises Economics - to the great dismay of economists - is merely a...

Corruption and Transparency
I. The Facts Just days before a much-awaited donor conference, the influential International Crisis Group (ICG) recommended to place all funds pledged to Macedonia under the oversight of a "corruption advisor" appointed by the European Commission....

Narcissism in the Boardroom
The perpetrators of the recent spate of financial frauds in the USA acted with callous disregard for both their employees and shareholders - not to mention other stakeholders. Psychologists have often remote-diagnosed them as "malignant,...

The Wages of Science
In the United States, Congress approved, last month, increases in the 2003 budgets of both the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. America is not alone in - vainly - trying to compensate for imploding capital markets and...

The Morality of Child Labor
From the comfort of their plush offices and five to six figure salaries, self-appointed NGO's often denounce child labor as their employees rush from one five star hotel to another, $3000 subnotebooks and PDA's in hand. The hairsplitting distinction...

OPEC's Swan Song?
Indonesia's Energy Minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, is unhappy with the modest production cut, from June 1, of 2 million barrels per day, adopted by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last week. He intends to demand further reductions...

Begging Your Trust in Africa
The syntax is tortured, the grammar mutilated, but the message - sent by snail mail, telex, fax, or e-mail - is coherent: an African bigwig or his heirs wish to transfer funds amassed in years of graft and venality to a safe bank account in the...

The Self-Appointed Altruists
Their arrival portends rising local prices and a culture shock. Many of them live in plush apartments, or five star hotels, drive SUV's, sport $3000 laptops and PDA's. They earn a two figure multiple of the local average wage. They are busybodies,...

The Ecology of Environmentalism
The concept of "nature" is a romantic invention. It was spun by the likes of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century as a confabulated utopian contrast to the dystopia of urbanization and materialism. The traces of this dewy-eyed conception of the...

Bankers in Denial
Denial is a ubiquitous psychological defense mechanism. It involves the repression of bad news, unpleasant information, and anxiety-inducing experiences. Judging by the German press, the country is in a state of denial regarding the waning health of...

The Narcissist in the Workplace
To a narcissist-employer, the members of his "staff" are Secondary Sources of Narcissistic Supply. Their role is to accumulate the supply (in human speak, remember events that support the grandiose self-image of the narcissist) and to regulate the...

Give Yourself a Boss’ Day Gift
Become a better boss and reap the benefits Another interesting study was done. One that should really catch our attention. It reveals that employees who are happier and treated well, produce better results than those who are unhappy. And most...

Give yourself a Boss' Day Gift, Part 2: Are you the position or the..
Are you the position or the person? Bosses can lose their own identity sometimes. It’s easy. It happens a lot. The results are devastating to both the workers and to the supervisor. When we are the boss, there are many dangers in becoming you the...

Truth or Consequences: How to Give Employee Feedback
In the bestseller, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered that, "the good-to-great companies continually refined the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality." And, in his recent autobiography, Jack Welch reports that he spent about half of...

Smart Choices: How to Hire the Best
Your organization’s continued growth and success depend on making smart choices and hiring the best. Today’s economy is exploding with talent, allowing you to be selective about the staff you hire. Yet, the crucial step to filling a position is...

Tips for Launching Your Own Business
This November marks my two-year anniversary of starting my own human resources consulting business. As I look back on the years, I am amazed at what I accomplished and learned. If you are thinking about starting a business, read on! I always dreamed...

Make the Most of Your Mentoring Relationships
Mentoring is one of the best ways to learn, to get feedback, and to take your career to the next level. Here are ten tips for making the most of your mentoring relationships. Tip #1 Self-assess. Ask yourself, "What skills do I need to get where I...

Why All Managers Are Alike
Because, like you I suspect, they have key target audiences whose behaviors help or hinder them in achieving their organizational objectives. But even in their own best interests, too few involve themselves in their public relations effort to the...

Buy and Hold: How to Perpetuate Your Investment Losses
A recent cartoon in my daily newspaper showed two guys sitting in a bar. One is saying to the other: “I did learn something from my broker...how to diversify my investment losses.” While this struck me as funny, there is certainly an element of...

How To Prevent Your New Manager From Becoming A Statistic
According to a study by the Manchester Group, 4 out of 10 new managers fail in the first 18 months! The top 5 reasons cited: Not building partnerships or teams with colleagues and peers Unclear expectations Not enough political savvy Takes too...

The Benefits of Catalog Sales For Your Business:
Things to watch out for when selling your product in catalogs. Giving away the farm. Many catalogs will ask for a multitude of discounts and concessions before they even place one order. You give them a set price for your product. But they insist...