Five Signs You Work For A Weak Manager | Forbes

March 3, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We are learning more and more about leadership all the time. One of the biggest “Ahas!” new and experienced managers (and the people who work for them) have experienced over the past few years is the realization that being a strong manager doesn’t mean being forceful or domineering.

It’s just the opposite — strong managers are strong enough to lead through trust, whereas weak managers have to use the force of their job titles to make people listen to them.

When we talk about fear-based management, it’s the weak managers we are referring to! You can spot a weak manager at a hundred paces or more, because weak managers are the ones who raise their voices, make threats and generally keep their teammates off-balance and worried about pleasing the manager when our customers need them to be happily focused on their work.

Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity, Science Says | Inc.com

March 2, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Why do people complain? Not to torture others with their negativity, surely. When most of us indulge in a bit of a moan, the idea is to “vent.” By getting our emotions out, we reason, we’ll feel better.

But science suggests there are a few serious flaws in that reasoning. One, not only does expressing negativity tend not to make us feel better, it’s also catching, making listeners feel worse. “People don’t break wind in elevators more than they have to. Venting anger is…similar to emotional farting in a closed area. It sounds like a good idea, but it’s dead wrong,” psychologist Jeffrey Lohr, who has studied venting, memorably explained.

Leap Day: The Story Behind This Quirky Calendar Event | Live Science

February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Monday is Feb. 29 — the bissextle or “leap day,” an artifact that dates back to the year 46 B.C.

Back then, Julius Caesar took the advice of the learned astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, who knew from Egyptian experience that the tropical year (also known as the solar year) was about 365.25 days in length. So to account for that residual quarter of a day, an extra day — a leap day — was added to the calendarevery four years.

5 Important Lessons New Female Leaders Need to Learn | Business News Daily

February 26, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Women have long been told that thinking and acting “like a man” in the workplace is the only way to get ahead and to be taken seriously. This mentality may have prevailed decades ago when women were just gaining a foothold in the professional world, but modern women have learned that career success is not about adjusting to the male-dominated status quo. It’s about changing that status quo by embracing what makes the female perspective unique, and overcoming the doubts that keep women from reaching their full potential.

This is especially true of young female professionals who are just beginning their careers and have aspirations of rising through the ranks in their industry. Women who want to lead may find themselves up against superiors who question their priorities or blame disagreements on them being too “emotional” or “aggressive.” Worse yet, these women may have trouble find the leadership opportunities they’re looking for in the first place.

Why Paying Fixed Bonuses is Hurting Your Business | Page19

February 26, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Hi there! My name is Sina. Among other things, my mission is to make Blinkist the best place to work in Berlin. Tasked with reviewing our incentive strategy, I realized something: we were doing it wrong—and everybody else is, too.

In many industries it’s common practice to award employees a contractual bonus in the form of an annual one-time payment, tethered to company KPIs. It’s actually so commonplace that many founders introduce these same old corporate procedures in their otherwise modern and progressive ventures.

Unfortunately, what’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gander. Oldschool incentives in a 21st-century business create an ideological discord that negatively impacts individuals and overall company culture. So what seems like a well-meant motivating measure is actually an expensive misunderstanding that hurts startups and other developing, aspiring companies.

30+ Ways for You To Use YouTube Effectively | Small Biz Trends

February 26, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

YouTube is one of the hidden gems in online marketing. It is a terrific way for small business owners to compete with the big brands. But creating effective (as in watchable) content and then promoting it can be intimidating.

Of particular interest to business owners who are wondering if the time creating and marketing with video is worth it is the YouTube Partner Program, created in 2007. It now has more than a million creators earning money from their videos. Thousands of channels are making six figures a year.

8 Low Cost and Creative Employee Loyalty Programs | BusinessTips.com

February 25, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you are reading this article then you are probably leading a team or running a business and are curious what I mean by this title. If you haven’t had to do any hiring lately – CONGRATULATIONS! If you have, then you know how very difficult it is to find great talent. This may be the wildest market I’ve seen – in some ways more active than the late 90s. This is due to the fact that, in order to beat the competition, businesses are utilizing all sorts of new tactics to attract talented individuals to their ranks. I actually saw a help wanted LED sign on the Boulder Valley YMCA – and they need a bunch of folks. When was the last time you saw help wanted at the YMCA?

5 Secret Questions Successful People Ask Daily| Getentrepreneurial.com

February 25, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

While studying Great Depression businesses created by successful entrepreneurs, I discovered five core practices that were daily habits for them. They asked themselves five questions daily that charted their course to success.

You become a successful business person, also, by asking yourself these same five questions daily. The five questions to ask so you become positively successful are:

Another Oil Crash Is Coming, and There May Be No Recovery | Bloomberg Business

February 24, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s time for oil investors to start taking electric cars seriously.

In the next two years, Tesla and Chevy plan to start selling electric cars with a range of more than 200 miles priced in the $30,000 range. Ford is investing billions, Volkswagen is investing billions, and Nissan and BMW are investing billions. Nearly every major carmaker—as well as Apple and Google—is working on the next generation of plug-in cars.

This is a problem for oil markets. OPEC still contends that electric vehicles will make up just 1 percent of global car sales in 2040. Exxon’s forecast is similarly dismissive.

Can a Vision Board Help Your Business? |All Business

February 24, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever heard of (or used) a vision board? A bulletin board or poster board with photos, magazine images and other visuals pasted on it, vision boards are used to help people focus on achieving their goals. While the idea might sound pretty “out there,” visualization techniques have helped many athletes improve performance, and lots of legendary salespeople swear by them.

Visualization and vision boards can work for you, too, according to a survey by TD Bank that polled over 500 small business owners. Nearly half (46 percent) of those surveyed say they started their own businesses in order to follow their vision—but they didn’t stop there.