Survival strategies

Expert Life Underwriter Opinion – Create Jobs…Hire Somebody

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The Yawning of a New Era | workforce.com

America’s workforce is weary. Employees of all ages report feeling fatigued, stressed, burned out or depressed, brought down by a heavier workload, layoffs and an assortment of other adverse conditions workers feel they have little or no power to control.

The hamsters are starting to fall off their wheels.

All kidding aside, this is a serious management issue.  So what’s a little fatigue.  A plane crash here, a truck crash there right?

All we do is put risk on the books.

So what’s a little higher error ratio?

Think Brand Strategy NOT Social Media Strategy

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Sanders Says – You don’t need a social media strategy

Sanders Says – Brand strategy first, social media tactics second

You don’t need a social media strategy – You need a brand strategy that leverages social media.  Don’t get off the brand strategy just because there’s a new communications channel, that’s how you lose the plot as a brand.  Technology is the tail, not the dog.

Here are two links to two blog posts by Tim Sanders.  If your company is struggling with social media these articles will help.

Scary Chart of the Day – 10/29/10

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Calculated Risk: Housing Bust impacting Manager Mobility

One of the strengths of the U.S. labor market has been the flexibility associated with labor mobility at all levels of employment – households could easily move from one region to another for better employment. The sharp decline in house prices, leaving homeowners with significant negative equity, appears to be limiting this flexibility.

Bad times for moving companies

It’s Saturday morning and I’m not sufficiently caffeinated, sitting in my office catching up on the news when I come across this chart.  So I get up and get another cup of Joe, sip and think a little more about just what this chart is telling me.

A lot.

Welcome to My World – Contingent Staffing Update 10.26.10

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Special Report on Contingent Staffing: Contingency Plan | workforce.com

Staffing company officials say the pace of contingent job growth suggests a shift toward more use of temporary labor at the expense of permanent jobs. Companies had to fire thousands of workers during this downturn and are leery of ramping up permanent employment too quickly. They can more easily downsize again if they hire mainly temporary employees. 

Train Your Brain

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Underwriters love stuff like this!

How Your Brain Connects the Future to the Past – Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske – Your Health at Work – Harvard Business Review

In the business world, it’s a distinct advantage to have a brain that anticipates future demands and negotiates them well. Accurate predictions typically translate to success. Being able to envision future scenarios helps foster strategic planning and resist immediate rewards in favor of longer-term gains. The proactive brain flexibly recombines details from past experiences that, by analogy with your current surroundings, help you make sense of where you are, anticipate what will come next, and successfully navigate the transition.

Lower T2DM Risk With Veggies

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Medical News: Green Veggies Cut Diabetes Risk – in Endocrinology, Diabetes from MedPage Today

Increasing the daily intake of green leafy vegetables could significantly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, a British meta-analysis found.

Consuming 1.35 servings of these vegetables per day was associated with a 14% reduction in risk compared with consuming only 0.2 servings (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.96, P=0.01), according to Patrice Carter, a PhD student at the University of Leicester, and colleagues.

Mind Shift

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The hidden trend in the monthly jobs report — and what it means for you | paulacaligiuri.com

There is a big change on the horizon in the way we should conceive of the concept of jobs – and it is dramatically changing how job security will be created in the future. For many, jobs of the future may be more like multiple income generating activities (or gigs) where we leverage our talents and skills. Job security will no longer be derived from being employed 40 hours/week. Rather, it will be something we create for ourselves when our talents and skills are in demand.

This is a mind shift.

The emphasis of the future will be on the skills you bring, rather than the job you occupy. There will be a far greater focus on self-management of both our skills and our network, two critical components of career success. Possessing more sought-out skills and having a strong network will be related to more income opportunities, whether working for a single organization or as an independent contractor.

Perhaps we need to take a collective deep breath and realize that, while change is afoot, this free agent mentality may also come with some upsides:

  • You will now have tremendous flexibility to plan and grow your own career, no longer relinquishing career management to an employer.
  • You will now have the ability to craft your sources of income across multiple opportunities if this is what you chose to do.
  • You will now have the opportunity to engage in a career that fits with your life – and not vice versa.

Thanks Paula.  I could not have said this better myself.

Less is More

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For Real Productivity, Less is Truly More – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review

The way we’re working isn’t working — for employees or for their employers. There is a better way to fuel productivity and high performance. The first key to changing the way we work is recognizing that the value of those you manage isn’t generated by the number of hours they work, but rather by how much value they produce during the hours we are working. Working longer hours, juggling more tasks and answering more emails isn’t the solution.