Gonzalez: The Ethnic Angle

Unlike many Democrats, I have not been following the Gonzalez saga in any detail. I don't remember clicking on any headlines while he was being pilloried. I have only read a few stories now that he has resigned.

I like it that Bush put Colin Powell, Condi Rice and Alberto Gonzalez in top positions. Democrats should have done it before him but didn't.

When you come from where Gonzalez came from, it is a big deal to become Attorney General. It is like being President of the United States. You have arrived in the big leagues. I relate to the feeling fundamentally. When I quote my scant conversations with Howard Dean from having met him at events in the city, people in the Nepali community are all ears, and Dean never even appointed me to anything. I am still the same guy, before and after, but I need some big shot white guy to elevate me even with my own people. I am a huge, diehard fan of Howard Dean, don't get me wrong, for me Obama picked up where Dean left, but at some level I find the symbolism of it all a little amusing and offensive. Look at me for me, I seem to want to say.

Bush messed up big time. He lied to a country to take it to a trillion dollar war. That is what impeachment is for. But so far noone has tried to impeach Bush, noone in a position to do so. So Gonzalez was the fall guy. Not even his own conservatives liked him. He was not white. He was incompetent, so to speak. He gets accused of being a crony appointment. When white people nominate white people like that, it is not crony appointment. Give me a break.

Bush messed up. So if Gonzalez worked for Bush, he must have messed up as well.

Gonzalez provided some symbolism for the Hispanics, but what did he actually do for them besides the symbolism?

I am more interested in an elected symbol like Bill Richardson than an appointed one like Gonzalez. Richardson is for real.

Gonzalez has been a victim to the progressive tide sweeping the country. That tide will also sweep about 10 white guys in the Senate next year. I am glad.

Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, we belong in the Democratic Party. That is my message to my fellow Indians. Go Barack. The right wing of the Republican Party has too much history, if you get the gist of what I am getting at.

In The News

Bihar police beating is broadcast BBC News the beating highlights the widespread problem of police brutality in India. .... the paper-thin suspect is seen wearing only tattered trousers. .... His hands are bound behind his back, and he is repeatedly punched in the face and kicked in the stomach, chest and back by a mob on Monday in the eastern city of Bhagalpur. ..... "He was dragged for some time and the police constable stopped his bike only when he lost consciousness ...... the victim, Salim .... in many cases, the victims are low caste and poor. ..... not the first time that police in Bhagalpur have been accused of abuses. .... In 1979 they were accused of blinding 31 alleged criminals by pouring acid into their eyes. .... Bihar is considered to be one of India's most lawless states.
Number of Uninsured Americans Hits Record High Washington Post
Clinton picks up first big union endorsement Boston Globe
Clinton scores transportation union endorsement Politics on the Hudson
Castro Essay Criticizes 2008 Candidates Washington Post Castro accused U.S. presidential candidates of "submission" to his exiled foes in Florida and offered a favorable assessment of only one of the 10 presidents he has known: Jimmy Carter. ...... Castro said that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "feel the sacred duty to demand 'a democratic government in Cuba'" _ something Cuban officials insist already exists. ...... Castro has not been seen in public in the 13 months ....... Castro said Bill Clinton was "really friendly" during a brief encounter at a U.N. summit and said he was "intelligent in demanding that rule of law be followed" in the case of castaway boy Elian Gonzalez ......... Clinton apparently tried to stop flights by exile pilots who had enraged the communist government by repeatedly scattering anti-communist literature over Havana. ...... Cuban jet fighters shot down the civilian planes off the island's coast during a repeat visit in February 1996.
Seek cover; Hillary hailstorm ahead UT The Daily Texan The same week thousands stood in the rain to watch Barack Obama speak in Austin last spring, Hillary Clinton made an appearance at a closed-door fundraiser thrown by some of Austin's elite. ....... Hillary Clinton, for all her incredible political gifts, has become Public Enemy No. 2 for a disturbingly large number of Americans. ...... She was for the Iraq war before she was against it. ...... the last 27 years under administrations that contained either a Bush or a Clinton. ..... party-machine-made candidates like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
Indian student found dead in Nepal Hindustan Times Two tablets of an anti-depressant cum sedative drug were found near the body ..... had been depressed following the results of the final year examinations on Monday afternoon, which showed him to have flunked the test. .... it was Sinha's third attempt to pass the examination, having failed twice earlier.
Gonzales Kicked On His Way Out The Door U.S. News & World Report "For a man accused of lying to Congress, it was a fitting way to go out." ...... Overwhelmingly, opposition to Gonzales is being cast as deep and bipartisan and even unnamed sources in the Administration are said to be glad the embattled Attorney General decided to leave. ...... The announcement caught his top aides at the Justice Department by surprise ..... Gonzales' departure came "to the relief of many administration officials who have long considered him an embarrassment." ..... no one in the White House asked him to reconsider and change his mind ..... was actually "a firing ...... in one of those Washington, no-fingerprints ways." ..... Bush saying, "It is sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons." ..... would continue their investigations on Gonzales' actions. ...... "ineffectual or counterproductive" in his defense of the Administration's war-time powers. ...... conservatives have "questioned both Gonzales's legal acumen and his ability to manage the sprawling Justice Department." ....... "You can bring your politics to Agriculture. ... You can do that at Interior. But the Justice Department is supposed to be different. ...... One who was a very decent person but seemed incapable of handling the Justice Department. At best he was seen by Republicans as incompetent, he was seen by Democrats as not truthful ...... just how deep the political corruption went during his time at Justice." ....... "for all of his undeniable deficiencies, merely reflected the principles of this administration. His resignation is a necessary but hardly sufficient step in restoring the nation's commitment to the rule of law." ........ "inadequate and inept ..... he "lacked the political skill and leadership ability to survive in a high-profile post." ...... recalling his rise up from poverty ...... "dirt-poor Texas childhood." ..... "I have lived the American dream. Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days." ....... "to the bitter end, Gonzales remained the most self-involved attorney general in modern memory. ..... the grandchild of immigrants .... Solicitor General Paul Clement "will be acting attorney general ...... a solid conservative and "savvy" insider ...... hard-right conservative unwilling to consider the other side."
no rakhi in many Bihar homes Economic Times
Senate prospects seem brighter for Democrats MSNBC it now looks possible that in next year’s elections the Democrats just might attain the 60 seats they need to foil Republican filibusters ...... there are 22 Republican-held seats to be defended, and six of them appear in jeopardy ..... Senate Democrats have only two seats that appear to be at any risk .... The financial momentum also is with the Democrats. ...... 2002. .. Bush seemed at the peak of his post-9/11 powers and was a big draw on the campaign trail. ...... Idaho — a state which no Democratic presidential candidate has carried in 43 years and no Senate Democratic candidate has won in 33 years ...... the Mountain West, where the Republicans have been dominant for the past 40 years but which is turning more competitive ...... Democrats will keep the focus on the Mountain West next summer by holding their presidential convention in Denver.
India aiming for free trade accord with ASEAN by November: official Channel News Asia
In Hyderabad, a tale of two cities Rediff
In dodgy neighborhood, India easy prey for bombers Reuters India was second only to Iraq in terms of terrorist incidents and deaths between January 2004 and March this year, with 3,674 people killed, more than hotspots like Afghanistan and Colombia. ........ Shahid Bilal of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami (HuJI), a Bangladeshi group .... Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba works hand-in-glove with HuJI ..... "A huge problem the Indians face is that they don't have a functional relationship with their near neighbors... with the people who can help them ....... vast swathes of the rural hinterland virtually unpoliced. The criminal justice system is overwhelmed and outdated. ..... no central database of militant suspects and little time for the kind of meticulous, post-attack hunt for clues undertaken elsewhere. ...... Foot soldiers in India are given small, specific tasks without necessarily knowing the people they are dealing with, or the grand plot. ....... "Our country is so big, things are happening in such a manner that even if we have the information that something is likely to happen we do not know when and where it is likely to happen." ....... India's 140-million-strong Muslim population is beginning to provide recruits for militant groups, especially after communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 in which around 2,500 people died. ..... Militants' attacks in recent years have failed in what most presume is their aim -- to destabilize India by fomenting violence between Hindus and Muslims, and to destroy the peace process with Pakistan.
10 die in mosque bombing in Iraq Los Angeles Times
Germany's Merkel prods China on rights, women Guardian Unlimited
Angelina Jolie visits Iraq refugees Reuters
US Income and Poverty Rates Improved in 2006 New York Times
Google Germany slammed for Neo-Nazi YouTube clips Register
Google + CNN = Good for You Motley Fool
Google Cuts AdSense Deal with CNN.com Wired News
Samsung Will Roll Out WiMax In New York For Sprint InformationWeek Samsung has already been rolling out WiMax in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and Providence, R.I. ...... Sprint said it expects mobile Internet services to be available for New York area customers in late 2008. ..... Sprint's New York-area WiMax service will cover New York City; Nassau-Suffolk, Long Island; Jersey City, N.J; and some areas in northern and central New Jersey including the Newark, Bergen-Passaic, Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, and Monmouth-Ocean regions.
Google's Secret Society Forbes Orkut.com, with a redesign intended to prettify the site's Spartan look. ...... Orkut now draws 38.2 billion page views a month worldwide, 7.8 billion more than Facebook ...... In Brazil, where Facebook and MySpace are virtually unknown, Orkut has become a smash hit, with 15.6 billion page views monthly ...... 10 billion more monthly page views than Facebook draws from Americans. ...... Orkut's success in Brazil seems largely to be a fluke. The site hasn't made any special appeal to Brazilians, and only began to offer a Portuguese-language option in April of 2005, long after it had become the social network of choice in Brazil. One blogger argues that its name, which was taken from Turkish-born Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten, is catchy in Portuguese and reminds Brazilians of a popular yogurt drink for kids. ....... Facebook will earn more than $100 million this year ...... "If you've got the ad coverage, an international user is as valuable as anyone ...... brings the percentage of Google's foreign revenue to 60.8%, up from 46.7% last year. ..... MySpace still leads the social networking market by a large margin, and Facebook tripled its audience in the last year .. Orkut grew only 64%. ..... Socialstream, a prototype for a site that allows users to post text and multimedia content to a single page, then syndicate that content to any social network where they have a profile. ........ Combined with Orkut, Socialstream might be just the sort of Googlish innovation that breaks down the "walled-garden" approach to social networking favored by Facebook and MySpace and brings American eyeballs to Orkut. ...... If Google could provide Orkut with a competitive advantage, it could easily build a community from the audience that uses its services like Gmail, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Maps, Google Calendar and its photo-sharing site, Picasa ..... "Until now, Orkut has been an also-ran in the U.S. because it's been neglected by Google," Sterling says. "But with just a few tweaks and redesigns, and in combination with all of Google's services, it has the potential to really differentiate itself from MySpace and Facebook."
looking forward to RGV's Aag Rediff
US Obesity Rates Continue To Rise, Study Finds Kaiser network.org
Britney, Kevin under child abuse investigation? Xinhua the heated child custody battle between Spears and Kevin Federline

Fotolog and the French CNet hearty congratulations to Scott Heiferman and Adam Seifer, on selling Fotolog to France's Hi-Media Group for $90 million ....... Launched in May 2002 by Scott Heiferman and Adam Seifer as a small community project of 200 friends, Fotolog today generates more than 3.5 billion page views and receives more than 15 million unique visitors each month. Fotolog ranks among the top 25 in the Alexa list of the world's most trafficked websites (click here for today's ranking) and was recently named Site of the Week by PC Magazine.
Marc Andreessen: "Step 1: Go dark and execute... Money talks, hype walks -- when you're hitting your numbers, everyone thinks you're a genius and believes everything you say, no matter how silly. When you're not hitting your numbers, everyone thinks you're a moron and won't believe anything you say, no matter how true. So go dark, focus on the business.... Step 9: In six months, relaunch the company with a single, crisp, coherent message and strategy. Then go dark again and go right back to work."
Eleven lessons learned about blogging, so far It is crystal clear to me now that at least in industries where lots of people are online, blogging is the single best way to communicate and interact. ..... Blogging is clearly the second coming of high-quality Internet conversations ..... conversations on the Internet would eventually all revolve around every individual having a blog ....... and the communication would flow through the links. ..... I am also reading both Technorati and Google Blog Search results for my blog, multiple times per day. ...... writing a blog is way easier than writing a magazine article, a published paper, or a book -- but provides many of the same benefits. ..... how much more fun blogging is versus public speaking -- at least for me. ...... I'm not sure I'll ever speak in public again -- I'll be at home instead, blogging in my underwear. ..... a piece of original content that goes viral generates way more page views than a piece of content that does not. ...... we are definitely entering a world in which bloggers are taken super-seriously by political candidates, company PR departments, government officials, and book editors, among many others
The truth about venture capitalists, Part 1
The truth about venture capitalists, Part 2
The truth about venture capitalists, Part 3
Analyzing the Facebook Platform, three weeks in Facebook is promising economic freedom -- third-party applications can run ads and sell goods and services to their hearts' content. ..... The leadership that the Facebook team is showing here rivals anything that the large and established software and web companies have done in this decade.
Why there's no such thing as Web 2.0

Overheard In New York

Conductor: Due to a stalled train at Lorimer Street, there is no L service to Manhattan.
Hispanic lady: Why would someone stole a train? Where they gonna put it?
--M train

Mom: I need a size 'Small.'
Little girl, loudly: Mommy, aren't you a Large?
--H&M, 51st & 5th

Newspaper guy: Read all about it: girl passing me right now has holes in her jeans. Girl with holy jeans: They're made like that, asshole.
--Port Authority

Hipster dude: ... And she ended up renting some movie about Madame Curie. Hipster chick: That's the wax lady, right? Over at Times Square? I didn't know there was a movie about her.
Hipster dude: I hate you.
--Union Square

Drunk chick: Oh my god, you look like the last tsunami!
Guy with really short hair: What?
Drunk chick: I said you look like that last tsunami guy in the Tom Cruise movie! Guy with really short hair: You mean The Last Samurai?
Drunk chick: Oh, yeah. Him.
--Party, 46th & 8th

Tourist #1: Why is New York called 'The Village'?
Tourist #2: Huh? Oh, no. Greenwich Village. It's a section of New York.
Tourist #1: Why does it need sections?
Tourist #2: 'Cause it's huge. It's like the size of Chicago or something.
--13th & 4th

Bench chick #1: You know you can get, like, melanoma or skin cancer without suntan lotion.
Bench chick #2: So? At least I'll die tan.
--NYU

NYU boy, about man with cane and sunglasses: Why do all blind people have to wear sunglasses?
NYU girl: Isn't it all part of the persona?
NYU boy: What, like they don't want me to see their eyes?
NYU girl: I guess. And like how they wear baggy pants and FUBU shit.
NYU boy, slowly, after long pause: I said 'blind people.'
--F train, 14th St

Teacher: And Montana--
Asian girl, interrupting: --Wait, isn't Montana somewhere near Germany along with Maine?
--Bronx Science

Arson, Terrorism, Land Mafia Or Global Warming

Virginia's governor, Timothy Kaine, cut short a visit to Japan and said: "It is difficult to comprehend senseless violence on this scale."

Virginia Tech Shooting: Hunting Must Be Regulated

"So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence," he said in a nationally televised address Saturday.

It is possible the fires in Greece were entirely to do with climate conditions. The temperatures were high enough. The woods were dry. It had already been a summer of thousands of small fires.

But speculations run rife.

One, local arsonists did it. Some have even been arrested. Perhaps those with arson criminal records have been rounded up.

Two, criminal gangs are trying to develop forest land for profit. So they had to destroy the forest first.

Three, I have not head the terrorism angle yet. I guess Arabs are not in sight. But some might argue the whole thing looks too coordinated.

Or it is just plain old global warming.

Global warming is a bigger threat than terrorism and nuclear proliferation put together. And the low points are going to be visually spectacular. Katrina, this fire in Greece. There will be more to come.

We are not ready. We are not being far-sighted enough. We have not build the decision making mechanisms that will help us counter the tide of global warming.

Global challenges ask for a world government. Frankly put, that is what it boils down to. But the idea has so far been anathema to the very powers that preach democracy.

Global Warming
Iraq, Energy, Global Warming: All Interlinked


In The News

'Half of Greece' on fire as blazes rage NEWS.com.au, Australia "Fires are burning in more than half the country," fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said. ..... The blaze broke out on Friday afternoon and quickly engulfed villages .... On Saturday, new fronts had emerged as dozens of fresh fires broke out. ..... "So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence," he said in a nationally televised address Saturday. ...... A 65-year-old man was arrested and charged with arson and multiple counts of homicide in a fire that killed six people in Areopolis, a town in the southern Peloponnese. Two youths were arrested on suspicion of arson in the northern city of Kavala. Their parents are also likely to face charges.
Arsonists blamed as Greece burns BBC News, UK six planes, two helicopters, 15 fire engines and 45 firemen .... village after village succumbed to the flames ..... At one stage, the flames were racing at more than a mile every few minutes ..... The rapidly advancing fires caught many people unawares. Those who left the decision to flee too late were caught in their houses, cars, or as they stumbled through olive groves. .... Athens itself was shrouded in smoke that obscured the sun as several fires threatened the city's outskirts. ..... The front is 30km (19 miles) long
Greeks step up fire investigation Anti-terrorist squads have been questioning some of the 32 suspected arsonists arrested so far, as new fires continue to break out around Greece. ..... Greece has the feel of a country on a war footing. .... the country is awash with theories about who could have set fire to the land. .... fires could have been started as a way of getting around Greek laws forbidding development on areas designated as forest land. ...... 20 water-bombing planes and 19 helicopters. ..... "a tremendous solidarity" between EU member states. ..... Hot dry winds helped to spread the fires to the outskirts of Athens, shrouding the capital in smoke that obscured the sun.
Fires roar across Greece...Idaho fire grows...Mine search ... Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck, ND
Rewards offered in suspected Greek arson; seven arrested Nation Multimedia, Thailand individuals or members of a criminal ring suspected of setting the fires .... France, Italy, Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Romania, Norway and Slovenia were sending aid.
Fires tear through tinder-dry Greece International Herald Tribune, France the fires, Greece's worst in decades .... drought and three consecutive heat waves that sent temperatures soaring above 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). More than 3,000 forest fires have razed thousands of wooded hectares since June ...... Prayers were held in churches across the country for the blazes to relent. .... Greece's worst summer of wildfires. .... Among the victims in the area were a pair of French hikers who were trapped in a flaming ravine. Their charred bodies were found locked in an embrace
Greece fights fires across the country; Arson suspected in many ... Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck, ND wildfires burning in more than half the country are an "unprecedented disaster" for Greece. .... Crews are battling blazes on 42 major fronts, concentrated in the mountains of southern Greece and on an island north of Athens.

The Right Way to Use Web 2.0 BusinessWeek Technorati, Facebook, and Wetpaint
Innovative Corporate Cafeterias Bloomberg, the financial data business he founded in 1981 ....heavily subsidizing the salad bar in its cafeteria. ..... the success of the employee at work is related to a number of factors, [including] work/life balance, health, and connection to community
Which Way To The Future? The U.S. and the global economies are coming to a crossroads that no one could have anticipated just a few years ago. Globalization and technology together are creating the potential for startling changes in how we do our jobs and the offices we do them in. Offshoring, for one, means work can be broken into smaller tasks and redistributed around the world. And the rapid growth of broader, richer channels of communication—including virtual worlds—is transforming what it means to be "at work." ..... 34% of adult workers in the U.S. now have a bachelor's degree or better, up from 29% 10 years ago. .... the modern workplace no longer resembles the factory assembly line but rather the design studio, where the core values are collaboration and innovation, not mindless repetition. .... 82% of respondents said that self-fulfillment will be a more powerful motivator than fear if we look 10 years out. ....... Only 47% of workers were satisfied with their jobs in 2006, down from 59% in 1995. "The demands in the workplace have increased tremendously" ... especially as technology has made it ever harder to get away from the job. ....... wage stagnation, combined with the 60% rise in college tuitions since 2000 ...... the best way to manage a global virtual team .... how to avoid being "Bangalored" or "Shanghaied" ..... moving up the value chain to take advantage of new opportunities .... improved telecommuting .... In the future, advances in communication could enable new forms of workplace organization and mass collaboration of an unprecedented sort. ..... Will this be an invigorating "new world of empowered individuals encased in a bubble of time-saving technologies? Or will it be a brave new world of virtual sweatshops...?"
A Guide For Multinationals a flurry of online, BlackBerry, and cell-phone conversations across four continents. ...... weld these vast, globally dispersed workforces into superfast, efficient organizations ..... the swiftly shifting nature of competition brought about by the Internet .... getting workers to collaborate instantly—not tomorrow or next week, but now—requires nothing less than a management revolution. ..... something much more fluid ..... an ever-shifting network of suppliers and outsourcers ..... multinationals are hiring sociologists to unlock the secrets of teamwork among colleagues who have never met. .... an arsenal of new tech tools to keep them perpetually connected ..... software that helps engineers co-develop 3D prototypes in virtual worlds ..... thousands of online courses to develop pipelines of talent. ...... Age of Diffusion .... the era of standardized benefits and work requirements is vanishing ..... companies need to accommodate a wide range of cultural and generational idiosyncrasies ..... running these new operations requires much more effort than connecting staff by phone and e-mail ..... you lose the intimacy of talking things through at a local café ..... Members are encouraged to network online and share their photographs and personal biographies. ..... a spate of Web-based services that make it easier for its 360,000-member staff to "work as one virtual team" ..... an innovation portal, where any employee with a product idea can use online chat boxes to organize a team, line up resources, and gain access to market research ...... Developers in IBM labs around the world then can collaborate on prototypes and testing. ..... enterprising staff can build a global team in as little as half an hour and cut the time to start a business from at least six months to around 30 days. ..... Since IBM introduced the portal, in early 2006, 93,000 workers have logged on, leading to 70 businesses and 10 new products. ... Creating a seamless global workforce is hard. But certain multinationals are slowly figuring out how to do it.
The Five Faces Of The 21st Century Chief Citrin has watched CEOs of public companies fight a losing battle against the spiraling demands on their performance and time. "The job of the CEO has become so consuming and complex that if you actually list all the things a CEO is responsible for, no human being can do them all," he says. Add to that a tightening market for talent as more stars jump ship to private equity, and it's clear to him the model of the public-company CEO must change. .... CEOs with deep expertise in one or two crucial areas and enough knowhow in the rest to build a high-performing supporting cast. .... access to local governments, ruling families, and business tycoons .... Corporations' walls are only going to get more permeable, as companies form alliances with outsiders and turn to networks of innovators for ideas to put into practice. Meanwhile, the need for collaboration among corporate units will expand, since demand for new growth areas requires more creativity across divisions. Orchestra conductors will be skilled in getting everyone to play in the same key. ..... A.G. Lafley, who says half of all new Procter & Gamble (PG ) products should come from outside its R&D labs. ..... talent war is only expected to worsen ... emerging-markets managers remain scarce .... CEOs who can retain the best people and deploy them adeptly will be hot commodities. .... "She's been able to put the right people in the right jobs to spectacular effect."
Cog Or Co-worker? the future of work lies in creativity, flexibility, and individualism—broken molds and smashed time clocks .... organizations of the future will have to adapt to their employees, not the other way around .... hierarchy has persisted, in one form or another, to the present day. ..... Even in a creative economy, hierarchy will remain indispensable for getting the work done. That's because in many situations, a well-oiled corporate machine will beat a roomful of free thinkers. ...... "There's a veil of humanism," Leavitt says. "We call each other by our first names. But when the chips are down, the boss says: You're fired.'" ..... "system-centered thinking" will remain a potent rival to the "people-centered thinking" that imagines nearly unlimited freedom to work as you wish. ..... system thinking isn't the crude, man-as-ox discipline it was a century ago .... draws on the latest psychological research to break down barriers to collaboration and fresh thinking .....
aspires to improve hierarchy, not kill it.
No-Cubicle Culture the corporate paradise of the future. Workers organize themselves, coalescing around natural leaders and gravitating to the most exciting projects. There are no middle managers, no hierarchies, no fixed assignments. ..... transform the company's once-stodgy culture into a free marketplace of ideas. .... none of the 150 employees had a permanent desk or office, only filing cabinets on wheels that they pushed from project to project. Meeting areas had no tables or chairs. He called it the spaghetti organization, because the place had no fixed structure yet somehow held together. ..... Yet as the company grew and went public, many of the old structures crept back. .... A degree of freedom sparks creativity, but workers also crave leadership.
The Shape Of Perks To Come The workplace of the future will pay you to learn, move walls to fit projects, and replace pensions with perks. Oh, and did we mention on-site elder care? .... sculpting jobs to fit lives—instead of the other way around. ..... Google (GOOG ) gave new meaning to bringing the home into the workplace (three free meals a day and new T-shirts twice a week). .... offices at the likes of Procter & Gamble (PG ) and Microsoft (MSFT ) are beginning to resemble kitchens and living rooms. Nap stations, gaming rooms, and media lounges are also in the works. ...... more companies put a premium on what you achieve ..... variations of unlimited time off. ..... Wellness programs are the leading edge of a new kind of company paternalism. Companies will be interested in whether you are fat or thin, a fitness freak or a slug ...... If you are the picture of health, you'll get a break on health-care costs
How To Keep Your Job Onshore Young Chinese were intently studying English, science, and math. ........ First it was the software programmers, then call-center employees, then back-office personnel in accounting, banking, and insurance. .... Now it's financial analysts, pharmacists, lawyers, and research scientists. There's practically no limit to the types of white-collar jobs that can be shifted, as long as the work can be done via the Web and telephone. ....... The safest bet is having a job that absolutely requires your physical presence, such as being an electrician or brain surgeon. ..... those that involve deep relationships with customers and extensive knowledge of local market conditions ..... multidisciplinary skills that aren't yet common in many low-cost countries. (Think computer science plus biology, or law and international business.) ....... need to break down their jobs into the tasks that are easy to move and those that are not—and make sure they're excelling in the second category. ....... software programmers, data entry clerks, draftsmen, and computer research scientists ...... 8.2 million people's current jobs as highly offshorable and 20.7 million more as offshorable. ..... The bank's researchers "are moving up the value chain and providing more sophisticated pieces of research ...... LegalEase Solutions ..... The firm's 20 Indian lawyers handle everything from researching legal precedents to writing drafts of briefs. Clients submit requests by e-mail. A LegalEase lawyer in the U.S. reviews them and assigns them to lawyers in India. The Indians do the research, analysis, and writing but are supervised by the U.S. attorney...... legal grunt work. ..... It's the interpersonal and communication skills that will make them vital additions to a legal team in Detroit, New York, or London. ..... Accenture, the consulting giant, has a team of chemists, physicians, statisticians, and pharmacists in Bangalore helping Western pharmaceutical companies review and document the results of clinical trials. ...... craft a job that requires frequent interactions with customers or government labs—stuff that can't so easily be done by a brainiac in Bangalore.
Creating Brand You you should stand out as a well-defined brand the rest of us can sum up in 15 words or less. ...... reinventing yourself every few years while balancing a series of provocative, fascinating projects. ..... casts branding as 120 ways to promote yourself. Quietly doing a good job is cast as, well, pathetic. ...... "Most people aren't brands," Trump says, after noting that Trump Vodka is the hottest alcohol launch in years. ...... Smart brand-builders look around at the brands that work and adopt the best elements of them .... in the age of Google, MySpace, YouTube (GOOG ), and blogging, everyone is a brand. ..... how to market yourself internally without being "overly aggressive and perceived as a nonteam player." ...... self-branding will increasingly become the mantra of every ambitious individual. .... your co-workers aren't just your colleagues. They're your audience.
The End Of Work As You Know It Picture Apple's (AAPL ) slick iPhone shrunk down to the size of a credit card. Then imagine it can connect not only to your contacts on the latest social network but also to billions of pea-sized wireless sensors attached to buildings, streets, retail products, and your co-workers' and business partners' clothes—all sending data over the Net to you. .... You'll also be able to track events in the physical world, from production on a factory floor to colleagues' whereabouts to how customers are using products. All that information will be much easier to view and analyze, using hand and arm gestures to control commands and viewing results with special glasses that make it seem as if you're gazing at a life-size screen. And you will be able to produce detailed prototypes of your product or design ideas via a 3D printer that creates plastic models from computerized specs as easily as a paper printer spews out reports today. ....... the changes are coming fast and furious....... telepresence systems, which feature life-size, is-it-real-or-is-it-Memorex (IMN ) videoconferencing ..... a 65-inch high-definition plasma screen with full stereo sound ...... "The line between our customers and our staff continues to blur." .... an emerging dynamic variously dubbed mass collaboration, peer production, or crowdsourcing ..... "Google and Wikipedia are just scratching the surface of whole new kinds of economic organisms." ...... use game psychology in business applications: "Enterprises will steal sensibilities from games and virtual worlds and embed them into business." ...... Companies parcel out small pieces of jobs online, such as transcribing podcasts and labeling photos, to people around the world. ..... Amazon is creating an on-demand workforce for companies that can't afford to hire staff for such quick or ephemeral jobs. ...... "A job is a bundle of privileges and obligations ... "All of these technologies .... aren't going to be a substitute for face-to-face interaction."
How To Heal A Sick Office Chemicals in carpet glue, cleaning supplies, and printer cartridges can cause headaches, dizziness, lethargy, rashes, nausea, and respiratory irritation. .... the windows in most modern office buildings are sealed shut ..... Healing sick offices is generally a matter of replacing synthetic materials with natural alternatives, improving the flow of fresh air, and letting some natural light shine in.
How to Resolve Deep-Rooted Conflicts start by sitting down individually with your company's leaders and getting an understanding from them of the political and communication obstacles that they perceive to be holding the company back. ..... You'll need to have a sense of the political landscape and the relationships between your managers ..... the unaddressed rips in the company's cultural fabric. ..... "Can you help me understand your comment, Jack? You're saying you're not surprised that Shari hated your proposal?"