Written by Michael Harris on January 27, 2011.
Achieving Credibility by James Kouzes focuses on some of the key aspects of what it takes to run a successful career and business. It helps you to understand what characteristics that people admire and how you can – as a professional business leader – achieve the credibility you want and need to thrive successfully in your career.
This book talks about the how to establish trust within your team. Leaders, managers, and other people in positions of authority who are not recognized for who they are and what they do end up getting treated like a doormat by all their fellow employees. It’s not uncommon to run across a company who is completely out of order because the individuals who are in upper management are unable to gain the credibility from others that they need.
Too often, work places are filled with chaos and disorganization. The work ethic is poor among the employees, and the entire team is filled with lazy, unfocused workers who could care less about their job. When you find a team like this, it is imperative to find out who is in charge of the operation because unfortunately, the problem is usually lies within their leadership skills.
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Written by Jeremy Martin on January 26, 2011.
Mobile telco Orange, hardware maker Apple and the UK division of fast food giant McDonalds are all throwing their weight behind contactless payment technology, it emerged this week.
Their support boosts the prospects of “mobile wallet” systems, in which consumers use their mobile phones for small transactions instead of cash.
Later this year, Orange will release SIM cards with near-field communications technology, which supports ‘wave and pay’ systems at shop tills as well as travelcard systems such as London’s Oyster, built in, the company announced yesterday.
“Our commitment to contactless services will benefit customers,” said CEO Stephane Richard, “giving them a seamless, convenient and secure way to validate transport or make payments.”
Apple, meanwhile, is reportedly building NFC technology into the next versions of its iPhone and iPad devices. Combining this with the payments infrastructure it has built around music download service iTunes could, according to technology blog TechCrunch “transform Apple from the biggest technology company in the world, to the biggest company in the world, period. By far.”
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Written by Michael Harris on January 22, 2011.
Whenever anyone has some rather large plant life in the garden, it is obvious that the homeowner may be inadequately prepared to chop off branches or tidy up the specimen so that it stays very healthy. The homeowner may be too shaky to do this work or too busy with outside activities to get the work done and it is at this time when the expert is needed to sort out the matter. Try looking up ‘tree trimming’ or ‘tree pruning’ to see which company is within the local area.
Of course, many people think it is just a matter of getting the ladder and axe out of the garage and have a go at the offending specimen. This may be true in some instances but in most, danger lurks around the corner. Many horror stories abound where the local handyman offers to do the work at a good price. Eventually he turns up to have a go and then is when the problem starts.
Specimens falling onto cars or houses, or trapping the family pet underneath, abound and clearing up the mess afterward is also not done to perfection. Indeed,
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Written by Jeremy Martin on January 20, 2011.
The two CEOs of Indian IT outsourcer Wipro are both to step down, the company has revealed.
The announcement came as Wipro reported its latest set of financial figures. They suggest that the company has been less succesful in capitalising on the economic recovery than its closest rivals.
Bangalore-based Wipro’s third quarter showed that in the three-month period up to 31 December 2010, its revenues increased 19.3% year-on-year to $1.34 billion. In the comparable quarters, fellow Indian IT giants Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys reported sales rises of 31.1% and 28.7% respectively. Wipro’s net income was up 10% to $294 million.
Following the results announcement, the vendor said that co-CEOs Girish Paranjbe and Suresh Vaswani, who have steered the company for the past three years, would be leaving the company altogether. They will be replaced by TK Kurien, president of Wipro’s telecoms and consulting unit, from 1 February.
“The joint CEO structure was one of the key factors that successfully helped us navigate the worst economic crisis of our times,” said Wipro chairman Azim Premji in a statement.
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Written by Jeremy Martin on January 20, 2011.
The government has announced plans for a standalone organisation to support and co-ordinate open data initiatives across the public sector.
As well as making the government’s open data programme more efficient, it said, the Public Data Corporation (PDC) will help address a dilemma that some public sector bodies face. Charging private organisations for access to data is an important source of revenue for many government divisions, but they are under increasing pressure to make data available for free.
“At present many state agencies face a conflict between maximising revenues from the sale of data and making the data freely available to be exploited for social and economic gain,” said Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude in a statement. “Creating the PDC will enable the conflicts at the least to be managed consistently with a view to opening up access, and at best to be eliminated.”
The announcement underlined the government’s intention to use open government data to create commercial opportunities for private businesses. According t Read more…
Written by Michael Harris on January 16, 2011.
The difference between aplumber and a contractor can be confusing to many people because they may perform similar task. However, contractors do things that the average plumber may not be able to do. Knowledge of these differences helps in making decisions concerning repairs that need to be done in the home.
A plumber is able to do everyday repairs like a faucet that leaks or a pipe that is broken. They deal with problems that come up very often. These are the type of jobs that do not take a long time to complete. These jobs do not affect the entire house and can be done by one person. The schedule of a plumber is usually full on a daily basis, as there are many people who have these problems all the time.
Plumbers are usually required to take an exam to prove that they have an extensive knowledge and experience in plumbing. They may have gone to school to learn this trade or they may have worked as an apprentice. They are usually hired by contractors who are more experienced.
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Written by Jeremy Martin on January 11, 2011.
Nearly 2,000 workers at Aberystwyth University received an email on Christmas Eve telling them their contracts were about to end.
The university says the erroneous message was the result of a technical fault.
“A software glitch which occurred on Friday, 24 December 2010 resulted in 1,991 members of staff receiving an automatically generated email informing them that their contracts were coming to an end and that access to email would cease on 31 December 2010,” a spokesperson for the university told BBC News.
A second email explaining the fault was sent three hours later, the spokesman said.
It is not the first software error to have such cruel consequences. In 2009, for example, a number of Visa prepaid credit card holders found that a $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge had been added to their bills, thanks to a “temporary programming error”.
More recently, it emerged that thousands of Delhi residents living below the poverty line were denied state rations due to a software error at the local Food and Supply department.
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