Employers who want to know which employees could be on their way out the door should look for certain signals, new research suggests.
Even if would-be quitters think they are keeping their plans secret, those who are thinking about jumping ship and leaving their jobs often give off cues that others can pick up on, reveals a study by Tim Gardner, a Utah State University associate professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.
Edward Snowden — the ex-government contractor who exposed the NSA’s efforts to spy on the web’s most popular services — offers a simple answer to this sweeping online surveillance campaign. The way to combat NSA eavesdropping, he says, is to encrypt data as it moves across the wire.
That’s what he told the tech heads at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas last week, appearing by way of a video feed streamed across the net from Russia, where he’s been granted temporary asylum from the U.S. government. Properly implemented, he explained, today’s encryption techniques work: The NSA has no way of cracking them. The onus is on the tech world to actually use them. “You guys who are in the room now are all the firefighters,” he said. “And we need you to help fix this.”
The good news is that the giants of the net — including Google and Microsoft — are already working to encrypt data, not only as it moves across the public internet but as it travels through private lines that run between the massive data centers that underpin their many web services. According to leaked government documents, the NSA has ways of tapping these lines, opening a backdoor to the internet that even those at the heart of the tech world hadn’t thought about. If the Googles and the Microsofts encrypt the data moving between their computing facilities, they can go a long way towards answering Snowden’s call to arms.
So what differentiates your product from that of your competitors? It’s critical to your business success that you take the time to define what makes you different, and that you clearly communicate this message to customers to ensure that your product stands out from the crowd!
In this episode of “The Little Big Show,” small business expert Denise O’Berry shares how most companies get lost in a “sea of sameness” and the two little words you can use to make sure your business isn’t one of them.
You own a small business. You have always done things the same way from day one. You try to do most things yourself. It’s all in your head. You’ve probably asked yourself, “Written business procedures, do I really need any?” What’s wrong with this picture?
ARLINGTON, Va. — Only 1 minicar out of 11 tested achieves an acceptable rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s small overlap front crash test, making these tiny vehicles the worst performing group of any evaluated so far.
The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control.
If you’ve followed my work, you’ve read some startling research summaries that explore the havoc stress can wreak on one’s physical and mental health (such as the Yale study, which found that prolonged stress causes degeneration in the area of the brain responsible for self-control). The tricky thing about stress (and the anxiety that comes with it) is that it’s an absolutely necessary emotion. Our brains are wired such that it’s difficult to take action until we feel at least some level of this emotional state. In fact, performance peaks under the heightened activation that comes with moderate levels of stress. As long as the stress isn’t prolonged, it’s harmless.
Precious metals have been toted as a solution to some of this volatility. These metals are generally viewed as “liquid” and don’t bear many obvious risks. So why aren’t more financial analysts telling you to invest in precious metals?
Apparently cows are terrorists too. Last month, journalists reported—in what can only be described as a “chicken-run” scenario of cows plotting their big escape—that a herd of dairy cows in central Germany caused an explosion in their housing facility.
Tax season is a stressful time for everyone, but for business owners, the pressure can be especially high. From January to April, it’s a whirlwind of sorting receipts and pay stubs, reviewing ledgers and completing IRS forms to ensure that everything is properly prepared and filed. Even though most businesses use an accountant, digging up all the necessary documentation and information needed for tax filing can still be a hassle.
Being unaware of important tax filing changes can add to the stress of this season. Mark Faggiano, CEO of tax automation software company TaxJar, noted several changes from last year that will affect small business owners:
For the first time in five years, intrepid visitors to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore can make the icy trek along the frozen waters of Lake Superior to glimpse the millions of icicles — some several stories tall — that embellish the region’s incredible ice caves.
