MSNBC - Homeland Security changes expected soon

MSNBC - Homeland Security changes expected soon: "
MSNBC.com
Homeland Security changes expected soon
Creation of �policy shop� among top considerations
By Brock N. Meeks
Chief Washington correspondent
MSNBC
Updated: 12:48 a.m. ET June 24, 2005
WASHINGTON - Major changes could be in store for the massive Department of Homeland Security when the results of a long awaited top-to-bottom review of the agency’s mission, procedures and personnel are unveiled as soon as next week.

Department Secretary Michael Chertoff ordered the 60-day review when he took over from Tom Ridge. Eighteen teams will report on their “observations about where we have achieved, what we need to achieve, where we have fallen short, what our gaps are and how we might think of solutions, outcomes that would address those gaps,” Chertoff said Thursday at a meeting with the Homeland Security Advisory Council.



WASHINGTON - Major changes could be in store for the massive Department of Homeland Security when the results of a long awaited top-to-bottom review of the agency�s mission, procedures and personnel are unveiled as soon as next week.
Department Secretary Michael Chertoff ordered the 60-day review when he took over from Tom Ridge. Eighteen teams will report on their �observations about where we have achieved, what we need to achieve, where we have fallen short, what our gaps are and how we might think of solutions, outcomes that would address those gaps,� Chertoff said Thursday at a meeting with the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
�I�ve now begun the process of meeting with the groups and talking through some of the solutions and starting to task out things we might do to report on this,� Chertoff said. �I anticipate that I will have completed this process basically by the end of this month. And then as we move forward, I think we�ll begin to see the fruits of this process.�
Although DHS is just 2 1/2 years old, it�s drawn its share of criticism, both from the private sector and from Congress, for everything from cumbersome airline passenger screening procedures to its inability to funnel money to state and local homeland security agencies to its color-coded terror threat alert system.
Chertoff made it clear from the beginning of the review than everything in the department, from how it purchases office supplies to procedures for screening cargo and passengers to the terror alert system were on the table for change.
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Lateral thinking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lateral thinking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Lateral thinking is a term invented by Edward de Bono. He defines it as a technique of problem solving by approaching problems indirectly at diverse angles instead of concentrating on one approach at length. For example:"

Failure Is Part of Success

Failure Is Part of Success: "Nicholas Hall, serial entrepreneur and founder of Startupfailures.com, says succeeding involves bouncing back and overcoming self-doubt"

For This Author, Writing Is Only the Beginning - New York Times

For This Author, Writing Is Only the Beginning - New York TimesETNA, N.H. - Slouched on a sofa in a faded T-shirt and jeans, a tousle of dyed-auburn hair trending gray at the roots, Janet Evanovich looks less like the chief of a budding media empire than a mother trying hard to be her daughter's best friend.

And there, next to her, is the daughter, Alexandra, whose dyed platinum-blond hair befits her stint as a freelance graphics designer for a heavy-metal band's fan site and her love for her red Ducati motorcycle, looking nothing like a corporate marketing guru.

Yet the two women are all of those things - best friends, metalheads and meticulous businesswomen. Together with Janet's son and husband, both named Peter, who handle everything from investments to the packing of signed books for shipment to stores, they make up the family enterprise known as Evanovich Inc.
And they have transformed Ms. Evanovich, 62, from a failing romance writer who once burned a box of rejection letters on her curb into a mini-industry whose success is beginning to emulate the sprawling domains of authorial heavyweights like James Patterson.

Last year, she sold an estimated one million books in hardcover and three million more paperbacks, earning more than $3 million in royalties from the paperbacks and several million more in advances and royalties on the hardcovers. The empire now includes two continuing mystery series: one featuring the sharp-elbowed bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, published by St. Martin's Press, whose latest installment, "Eleven on Top" went on sale June 21, and a second, published by HarperCollins, which began last fall with "Metro Girl."

While her success speaks to her tenacity and devotion to family, it owes as much to marketing prowess. When fans, impatient for her next novel, began asking her to recommend other writers like her, Ms. Evanovich hired one instead. Thus began a separate line of paperback romance-thrillers with Charlotte Hughes as co-author and St. Martin's as publisher. Four books in that series became best sellers.

And rather than risk having a previous publisher reissue her romance novels from more than a decade ago, Ms. Evanovich bought back the rights from Bantam, an imprint of Random House Inc., and resold them to HarperCollins, which has begun publishing them in a revised and updated format.

Ms. Evanovich acknowledges that her strategy is little different than it might be for selling toothpaste. "When you're trying to expand your business, it's about real estate in the stores," she said in an interview at her hilltop home in rural western New Hampshire, and more products in more categories mean more shelf space.

But while her relentless self-promotion has attracted more fans, it has also created some tensions. Michael Morrison, the president of HarperMorrow, the HarperCollins division that published "Metro Girl," said the interplay of multiple publishers and product lines is not ideal. "I'm a believer that a publisher and an author should have one primary relationship," he said. The sales of "Metro Girl" did not match Ms. Evanovich's previous best sellers, but Mr. Morrison said that over all he was pleased with her work.

"It's much easier to work with an author and orchestrate a publishing career if you have all of the books under one house," he said.

But Ms. Evanovich does not apologize for flooding the market with a new book every two to three months, nor for her calculated efforts to send her new novels straight to the top of the best-seller lists.

It has now become a rite of summer: each of the last five books in the numerical series featuring Stephanie Plum - from "Hot Six" in 2000 through "Ten Big Ones" last year - was No. 1 on The New York Times's hardcover best-seller list its first week on sale. Last fall, "Metro Girl" also had its debut at No. 1.

To put that feat in perspective, long-running series by James Patterson and Sue Grafton cannot match that current streak of immediate No. 1's.

Ms. Evanovich plots her first week of promotion to include book signings at big stores that report their sales to publications that publish best-seller lists. As in past years, the publication of the new Stephanie Plum novel will include a Stephanie Plum Daze festival in Trenton, the setting for the novels. Featuring live music, food, a character dress-up contest and historical-society tours of Trenton sites mentioned in the series, a festival on June 25 is expected to attract several thousand fans. Barnes & Noble will be there selling books.

She does not simply plan an event and expect people to show up, however. Evanovich Inc. constantly reminds its audience of a coming book, using its Internet site and a snail-mail newsletter, television commercials and radio spots. Ms. Evanovich oversees the design of book covers and the production of advertisements; she recently fired the agency that was devising commercials for "Eleven on Top" and enlisted her family and publisher to come up with a new pitch.

Behind the marketing machinations is Alexandra, 32, who writes the newsletter and illustrates both it and the Web site, www.evanovich.com. Until recently, she also managed the online store that sells hats, mugs and other paraphernalia, but its growth forced the family to outsource the job to a company in Florida.

The task of running Evanovich Inc. has grown so rapidly that last year the family decided it needed office space away from their hilltop home, where all four family members live at least some of the time.

Ms. Evanovich's son, Peter, 35, who manages the finances, oversaw the purchase of a $480,000 fixer-upper ranch-style house in Hanover near the Dartmouth campus for office space. Other recent family acquisitions include a $6.2 million waterside estate in Naples, Fla., and twin $1.6 million Boston condominiums - one for Mom, one for daughter - overlooking Boston Common.

Ms. Evanovich's husband of 40 years, the elder Peter, applies his Ph.D. in mathematics to the study of her contracts and the sales and distribution information generated by publishers and bookstores.

"I feel like I never would have been a success and gotten published without my family," Ms. Evanovich said. Throughout the years collecting rejection slips, and even as she began to earn a few thousand dollars per book for her early romances, "they never said, 'Why don't we go on vacation like other families?' " She added, "They just told me, 'You take your time and write.' "

The fans clearly love it. According to Nielsen BookScan, they bought nearly 300,000 copies of "Ten Big Ones" and 175,000 copies of "Metro Girl" from traditional book outlets. Ms. Evanovich's publishers say the numbers are far higher, perhaps twice as much, because a large portion her fans buy their books at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and other stores that are not counted by BookScan. Clearly, her sales are big, though still well short of the levels reached by the likes of Nora Roberts, Mr. Patterson and John Grisham.

The critics have sometimes been less than enthusiastic. Writing in The New York Times, Janet Maslin said Ms. Evanovich's works were "the mystery-novel equivalent of comfort food." And more than once, her writing has been called formulaic.

Ms. Evanovich does not deny that; she simply wonders what is wrong with it.

"I'm a writer, but this is a business," she said. "You have to look at it in the way you would look at any business. You have to have honesty to the product. You have to meet consumer expectations. You give them value for their money and give them a product that they need. I don't see anything wrong with all these things. And I don't think it's a bad thing to meet consumers' expectations."

Take Up a New Career at 50? In Syracuse, Life After Layoffs - New York Times

Take Up a New Career at 50? In Syracuse, Life After Layoffs - New York TimesIf this were 10-plus years ago, a majority of these people would have simply hit the interstate and headed south and gotten a job there," Mr. Davis said. "The interesting thing is some 500 of these workers have returned to school, and that shows they think there is opportunity here."

Roger A. Evans, an economist with the state Labor Department, was bearish about this city's prospects. "This area is doing very well outside the manufacturing sector," he said, noting that the number of nonmanufacturing jobs in the area had risen by 8,700 to 287,400 in the last three years, while factory jobs fell by 5,200 to 33,000.

Some workers have scoured the Internet to find industries that are hiring. A Web search convinced Chris Fiacchi, 34, that he should study respiratory therapy.

"A lot of us chose medical fields," he said. "With all the aging baby boomers, there's going to be a large increase in medical staffing. You don't have to worry about layoffs there."

Thirty years ago, Barbara Ann Goss left Syracuse University after her freshman year and went to work at Carrier. Now she has returned to college to study health information technology.

Example Mission Statement - Free online personal mission statement builders

Example Mission Statement - Free online mission statement builder

A wizard will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a unique, personalized Mission Statement to guide your life.
http://www.franklincovey.com/missionbuilder/

"People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It's as simple as that." - Earl Nightingale

http://www.nightingale.com/tMission_ExampleStatement.asp?Source=INTGOOGAD03

Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment Tool: Content: How to Develop a Mission Statement

Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment Tool: Content: How to Develop a Mission Statementhanging the mission -- or creating an organization's first mission statement -- is a process of gathering ideas and suggestions for the mission and honing them into a short, sharply focused phrase that meets specific criteria. Peter Drucker says the mission should "fit on a T-shirt," yet a mission statement is not a slogan. It is a precise statement of purpose. Words should be chosen for their meaning rather than beauty, for clarity over cleverness.

Ex-Tyco Execs Convicted in Second Trial

Ex-Tyco Execs Convicted in Second TrialNEW YORK (AP) -- L. Dennis Kozlowski, accused of looting hundreds of millions of dollars from Tyco International Ltd. to fund a lavish lifestyle of parties and extravagant purchases, was convicted Friday of grand larceny and other charges.

Sarbane-Oxley Resources: A Collection of Helpful Tools - Deloitte & Touche USA LLP

Sarbane-Oxley Resources: A Collection of Helpful Tools - Deloitte & Touche USA LLP: "The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 changed the way we conduct business in the United States for the better—but the law is complex and can be confusing. Find below articles, publications and tools to help you understand the law's requirements."

Ethics: The Next Generation

Ethics: The Next Generation Excerpts from a Sunday Address, October 3, 2004, Kate Lovelady

A Culture of Cheating.....
Now back to Generation Y, the youth of today. Some data say they’re taking fewer drugs than the previous generation and waiting longer to become sexually active. I suspect that, rather than being less interested in sex and drugs, they just don’t leave their computers long enough to indulge in nondigital vices.

Another book that’s come out recently is called The Culture of Cheating, and it details the context in which these kids are growing up: whatever you have to do to get rich you’d better do if you don’t want to be a “chump.” Everyone cheats: Martha Stewart, Ken Lay, the president lied about weapons in Iraq, priests are creepy, reporters make things up, executives fire people while giving themselves raises, and so on and so forth. Two million Americans now have offshore bank accounts to avoid paying taxes. So if ethics are contextual, and America has become a cheating culture, we are in trouble. If we want a more ethical culture, we have to take very seriously the challenge of creating a new context for the coming generations.

This cynical theme of Looking Out for Number One seems to run through the split between private and public ethics in our culture. We even sell our moral messages by appealing to enlightened self-interest: don’t do illegal drugs because they’ll hurt you and get you in trouble, practice moderation for your own good. What about other people’s good? What if I got up here and said, “Sure, taking care of your health has benefits for you, but the main reason you should take better care of yourselves is so that the community won’t have to spend its resources on your bypass surgeries and instead can wipe out poverty.” Would you be more motivated to eat your greens and take the stairs? That’s not how we think as Americans. We probably don’t even believe that any human beings think that way, since our individualism is so woven into the fabric of our personalities and our culture.

Three Factors that Lead to Ethical Behavior
There is a now famous study done in the 1980s by Samuel and Pearl Oliner. Samuel was a Polish Jew whose life was saved by a Christian who hid him from the Nazis. Samuel became a sociologist, and 40 years later, with his wife Pearl, he undertook the Altruistic Personality Project. Over 700 people who lived in Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy during the Nazi occupation were interviewed. The interviewees included those who did and those who did not rescue Jews during the Holocaust. The Oliners wanted to know what it was that had compelled some people to become rescuers—for no money (usually) and in the face of death if caught.

They found that those who became rescuers didn’t share any particular philosophy, religion, or belief or nonbelief in god or an afterlife. Rather, the Oliners found that most rescuers had been raised in a certain kind of family and community context. Part of the context included some basic values, primarily to care for and commit to actively protect and enhance the well-being of everyone, reaching far outside the individual’s family. The Oliners called these “extensive” values, and they contrasted them with what they called “constricted” values of detachment and exclusivity. Today we might say that these were not “family values,” but rather “humanity values.”

Learning to Empathize with Others
Based on their research of rescuers during the Holocaust, the Oliners described the social context that is likely to teach these humanity values and to create an altruistic person. I want to share three with you. The first is learning to empathize with others. There’s a nice summary of the Oliner rescuer study in the book Ethical People and How They Get To Be That Way by Ethical Leader Arthur Dobrin. Dobrin explains that ethical people were raised by caretakers who gave empathic reasons for rules. Their parents said don’t hit other people, not simply because it’s bad or because that’s the rule, but because hitting people causes pain and fear and unhappiness—and treating others kindly makes them happy. Several studies have shown that ethics are emotional before they are rational; that is, if the ability to empathize with others isn’t there, a million facts won’t make someone care. Ethical Societies are communities and not simply lecture series because ethics are more than words, ethics develop in a caring community that nurtures and feeds empathy as well as presenting information.

Children's Participation in Altruistic Activities
The second and perhaps most important context in creating altruistic people was participating as a child in altruistic activities with family and community. It was not specific beliefs that were taught, but actions by relatives, friends, and community groups that made the difference. Deeds above creeds. These deeds were not necessarily big. Simply watching out for neighbors, taking food to an elderly relative, pitching in with community projects, was enough to create in the children a habit of altruistic activity. It’s usually not enough to want to act ethically; humans are creatures of habit and it can be uncomfortable to try something new. At the Riverdale-Yonkers Society where I was the Leader Intern last year, they host homeless men overnight once a week. As the folks who run the shelter here know, it can be difficult to find volunteers; most people feel nervous or awkward around people who seem different, they don’t know what to expect. One of the families in Riverdale that cooks and stays over with the men once a month includes six-year-old Nicolas. And when you see Nick helping to inflate the mattresses and sitting down at the table to eat with the men, you just know how confident he’ll be as an adult in reaching out and making connections with people. He’s very inspiring. Sierra is also part of an ethically engaged family; she and her sisters take part in doing good deeds for neighbors. Sierra recently read her poetry at an antiwar rally in their hometown, and no doubt she’s going to help her dad with his next project, to build an Ethical Culture meetinghouse on their property.

Nick and Sierra have fun with their activities, but one of my favorite findings about altruistic people was that although they took part in ethical projects as children, they didn’t necessarily like it. We tend to think that requiring our kids to do things will make them hate those things, but in fact requiring altruistic behavior, as part of family and community projects, creates habits that resurface later. I emphasize family and community because children learn a lot more from watching than they do from listening. “Do as I say, not as I do” has never worked. Several Ethical Societies recently decided to accept kids into their Sunday ethics program only if the parents also agree to be an active part of the community. Of course, every once in a while there’s an emergency, and some parents work Sundays, but the point is that caretakers need to understand that children learn what we value from what we do. Some parents would rather be home reading the Times while the next generation supposedly learns to value ethical community. But kids aren’t stupid, they’ll know that to their parents ethical community isn’t really as valuable as staying home alone reading the Times. And more than likely that’s what they’ll value too when they grow up.

Values Education
The third and final context I want to mention in creating ethical people is values education. Although participation by caretakers and community in action is vital, rules and principles do have an effect, particularly if they are expressed in a variety of ways. Values are transmitted to the next generation if they’re a part of the varied fabric of a community, part of not only lessons and lectures, but also songs, plays, stories, traditions, and rituals. All the research says that if you want your values to be passed on, you have to do more than talk about them. You have to explore and celebrate them in as many ways as you can think of. And you have to act on them, visibly and continually, inside as well as outside... as a form of ethical action, building a context of a strong, vibrant, diverse ethical community.

Will the Next Generation Create an Ethical Culture?
Over the last few decades there’s been a move away from traditional religion, certainly in Europe, to a lesser extent in America. But many “unchurched” people eventually find that the lack of real community in their lives makes it harder to hang onto their ideals, and especially difficult to pass them on to their kids.

Is the Offshore Sun Setting?

Is the Offshore Sun Setting?: "According to a survey just out from consulting firm DiamondCluster International (Nasdaq: DTPI - News), several trends have begun to gain strength, merge, and push back at that famous 2004 election-year bugaboo: offshore outsourcing, or 'offshoring.' Collecting the results of interviews with more than 450 tech and outsourcing company executives, DiamondCluster's 2005 global IT outsourcing study arrives at some startling suggestions on where the offshoring trend may be heading."

Senate may be ready to help airlines on Yahoo! News

Print Story: Senate may be ready to help airlines on Yahoo! NewsA key Senate lawmaker said on Tuesday he was ready to help airlines close pension gaps, as chiefs of two carriers warned that legislative action is needed soon for their companies to avert possible bankruptcy.

Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record), the Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said he was willing to let airlines stretch out pension payments, but airlines should freeze plans so no more benefits are promised that they cannot pay.

Gerald Grinstein, chief executive of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - news), and Douglas Steenland, chief executive of Northwest Airlines, earlier told Grassley's committee that pensions covering more than 150,000 workers and retirees are unmanageable and could push each into court protection.

sbc's incredible marketing plan

sbc's incredible marketing planOf course, SBC announced in late January its intent to buy AT&T, but how that will affect SBC’s marketing remains to be seen. For the short term, that effort appears to be focused primarily on the business side.

other telecom articles

Uncovering a Company's Corporate Culture is a Critical Task for Job-Seekers

Uncovering a Company's Corporate Culture is a Critical Task for Job-Seekers

by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.

Why should job-seekers care about a potential employer's corporate culture? Aren't there more important factors to consider, such as the job itself, salary and bonuses, and fringe benefits? These factors are indeed important, but increasingly career experts are talking about the importance of employee-employer fit in terms of culture, with the idea that how well the employee "fits" the culture can make the difference between job-search success and failure.

One Company's Spin on Corporate Culture Would you like to work in a hostile, high-pressure, cubicle-laden dot-com labor camp with lousy benefits, bitter, talentless managers, and buzzing, green-tinted fluorescent lights? Oh wait. That's someplace else. Would you like to work in an open, airy, truly stylish converted warehouse with relaxed, competent coworkers and managers that not only care about your well-being and job satisfaction, but work continuously to improve it? Would you like to set your own hours, banish your suit and tie in the deepest corner of your closet, and bask in the creativity of well-humored individuals who actually come to work (and leave) in a good mood? Do you want to work for a company that encourages Nerf launcher fights, a llows total freedom in decorating your workspace, and provides solid health, dental, and financial benefits? Would you like to never, ever see another cubicle again? From Auragen Communications, Inc.

What is corporate culture? At its most basic, it's described as the personality of an organization, or simply as "how things are done around here." It guides how employees think, act, and feel. Corporate culture is a broad term used to define the unique personality or character of a particular company or organization, and includes such elements as core values and beliefs, corporate ethics, and rules of behavior. Corporate culture can be expressed in the company's mission statement and other communications, in the architectural style or interior décor of offices, by what people wear to work, by how people address each other, and in the titles given to various employees.

How does a company's culture affect you? In many, many ways. For instance:

• The hours you work per day, per week, including options such as flextime and telecommuting.
• The work environment, including how employees interact, the degree of competition, and whether it's a fun or hostile environment - or something in between.
• The dress code, including the accepted styles of attire and things such as casual days.
• The office space you get, including things such as cubicles, window offices, and rules regarding display of personal items.
• The training and skills development you receive, which you need both on the job and to keep yourself marketable for future jobs and employers.
• Onsite perks, such as break rooms, gyms and play rooms, daycare facilities, and more.
• The amount of time outside the office you're expected to spend with co-workers.
• Interaction with other employees, including managers and top management.

How do you uncover the corporate culture of a potential employer? The truth is that you will never really know the corporate culture until you have worked at the company for a number of months, but you can get close to it through research and observation. Understanding culture is a two-step process, starting with research before the interview and ending with observation at the interview.

Before the Interview
Before you've even been invited for an interview, you might consider doing an informational interview with the company. Informational interviewing is a great research and networking tool. Read more about this tool in our Informational Interviewing Tutorial.

Once you've been invited for an interview, while you are researching the company for the interview, spend some time searching for clues about the company's culture. Review the company's annual report, Website, and other materials. Some companies even discuss their corporate culture on their Website -- and we list a few of them at the end of this article.

Other Websites, such as WetFeet.com, provide key information and feedback from company employees. WetFeet offers “expanded coverage” for certain companies, which describes the company's culture and lifestyle. Find other sources of company research in our Guide to Researching Companies.

At the Interview
Experts suggest arriving early to the interview -- unannounced if possible -- and spend the time observing how current employees interact with each other, how they are dressed, and their level of courtesy and professionalism.

During the interview, you should consider asking one or more of these questions to get a feel for the corporate culture -- as well as gain key information you'll need to make a decision if a job offer is made to you:

• How are decisions made - and how are those decisions communicated to the staff?
• What role does the person who gets this position play in decision-making?
• Does the organization emphasize working in teams?
• What are the organization's priorities for the next few years?
• Are there established career paths for employees in this position?

If you get a chance to meet with other employees (or make your own chances by finding out where they hang out), you can ask one or more of these questions to try and get a handle on an organization's corporate culture:

• What 10 words would you use to describe your company?
• What's it really like to work here? Do you like it here?
• Around here what's is really important?
• How are employees valued around here?
• What skills and characteristics does the company value?
• Do you feel as though you know what is expected of you?
• How do people from different departments interact?
• Are there opportunities for further training and education?
• How do people get promoted around here?
• Around here what behaviors get rewarded?
• Do you feel as though you know what's going on?
• How effectively does the company communicate to its employees?

Concluding Thoughts
The bottom line is that you are going to spend a lot of time in the work environment -- and to be happy, successful, and productive, you'll want to be in a place where you fit the culture. A place where you can have a voice, be respected, and have opportunities for growth.

Examples of Company Statements about Corporate Culture

Amherst, a computer sales and technology solutions company.

Microsoft, a technology and software development company.

Synaptics, a worldwide developer of custom-designed user interface solutions.

Time, Inc., a division of Time Warner, Inc., and a leading magazine publisher, book publisher and leader in new media ventures.

W.L. Gore & Associates, a fluoropolymer technology company.

Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.

Dr. Randall Hansen is currently Webmaster of Quintessential Careers, as well as publisher of its electronic newsletter, QuintZine. He writes a biweekly career advice column under the name, The Career Doctor. He is also a tenured, associate professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. He is a published career expert -- and has been for the last ten years. He is co-author, with Katharine Hansen, of Dynamic Cover Letters. And he has been an employer and consultant dealing with hiring and firing decisions for the past fifteen years. He can be reached at randall@quintcareers.com.

Innovation Network

Innovation Network: "Mindmapping is one of the simplest, yet most powerful, tools a person can have in her creativity toolbox.It is a non-linear way of organizing information and a technique that allows you to capture the natural flow of your ideas. Here's a five minute workshop on how to use this flexible tool. Try it the next time you need to write a memo, prepare a meeting agenda or are trying to get a bird's eye view of a complex project."

Sun Microsystems: Blog Heaven

Sun Microsystems: Blog Heaven"Markets are conversations," announced the famous New Economy screed The Cluetrain Manifesto, published in 2000. The manifesto’s theme is that the Internet allows many more such conversations—but that they are only valuable if they are conducted in an authentic human voice. "In just a few more years," the mani-festo warns, "the current homogenized ‘voice’ of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th-century French court."

Verdict Weakens Ignorance Defense (washingtonpost.com)

Verdict Weakens Ignorance Defense (washingtonpost.com)Former Executives Of Enron, HealthSouth Also Blame Underlings

By Brooke A. Masters and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 16, 2005; Page E01


NEW YORK, March 16 -- Former WorldCom Inc. chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers found out Tuesday what it feels like to take the ultimate gamble and lose.

Facing a criminal case in which prosecutors had no documents clearly linking him to the multibillion-dollar central fraud, Ebbers, 63, took the stand, admitted he had no clue about what was happening in his own company and endured a humiliating cross-examination. On Tuesday, 12 New Yorkers convicted him anyway.

As a result, the other corporate titans on trial and awaiting trial for equally large financial crimes -- HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard M. Scrushy and Enron Corp. leaders Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling -- should be sleeping uneasily, outside legal analysts said.

"This is a fatal blow to the 'the CEO is above it all and out of the loop' defense," said defense attorney Jacob S. Frenkel. "This goes to show that CEOs can be held accountable for false filings" to the Securities and Exchange Commission even when they do not get personally involved in the preparation. Ebbers was convicted of seven false-filing counts, even though he personally signed only two of filings.

The Ebbers verdict could serve as a bellwether for the current crop of corporate scandals because his defense -- that he was misled by trusted underlings -- is echoed in claims from the leaders of Enron and HealthSouth.

"He is one of the most prominent CEO defendants, and, in deciding whether to settle criminal cases, lawyers are going to be looking to see what happens in other cases," said Robert J. Giuffra Jr., a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York.

Earlier high-profile defendants such as Martha Stewart and Frank P. Quattrone were tried for personal misdeeds, and the heads of Tyco International Ltd. and Adelphia Communications Corp. simply argued that their actions were not criminal.

By contrast, Ebbers's defense lawyers conceded fraud had occurred but sought to distance their client from it.

Lead attorney Reid H. Weingarten argued that the government's star witness -- former finance chief Scott D. Sullivan -- was falsely accusing Ebbers of crimes to cut his own prison time.

But that strategy set the case up as a "he said-he said" case and put strong pressure on Ebbers to testify and contradict Sullivan's assertion that he repeatedly told Ebbers in private meetings that he was making improper expense and revenue adjustments.

Once on the stand, Ebbers was put into the position of repeatedly having to explain how he could have missed $800 million swings in a key expense area at a time he was canceling the company coffee service to save $4 million.

In the end, according to one of the jurors, some panel members decided not to believe either Ebbers or Sullivan, preferring instead to seek corroborating evidence from documents and witnesses they perceived to be honest.

After the verdict, Weingarten defended his decision to put Ebbers on the stand. "I thought it was an easy decision, and I thought he did fine. . . . I would do it again today," Weingarten said.

Outside lawyers agreed the decision made sense, but they noted that the defense team was fighting a difficult battle. "It wasn't as if Ebbers was testifying against a very appealing witness" in Sullivan, said Angela C. Agrusa, a litigator who specializes in complex financial fraud cases. "What you can't overcome is that the company lost a lot of money, and he is the boss."

Still, the analysts cautioned, every jury is independent, and there are enough differences between Ebbers's case and those of the Enron and HealthSouth bigwigs that Tuesday's win for the government does not automatically translate into a defeat for the other defendants.

Lay, like Ebbers, claims to have been kept in the dark by subordinates, but he may do better because of the role he played at Enron and the complexity of the fraudulent partnerships that ultimately brought it down, they said.

Lay served as the outside face of the company for years, dealing with investors and hobnobbing with politicians and international leaders, rather than running day-to-day operations. Unlike Ebbers, who was convicted of participating in WorldCom's fraud from its beginning, Lay is charged mainly for optimistic statements he made to investors and employees in the weeks before Enron filed for bankruptcy protection.

"Lay will have to consider that the Ebbers jury didn't buy the out-of-the-loop defense, but what else can he do? He can't argue there wasn't a fraud," said former federal prosecutor David M. Rosenfield. A spokeswoman for Lay declined to comment.

For his part, Scrushy's attorney Donald V. Watkins took pains to distinguish his client's case from that of Ebbers. For one thing, Watkins said, Scrushy, 52, is on trial in Birmingham, a city he has lavished with charitable contributions. For another, HealthSouth never filed for bankruptcy protection, unlike Enron and WorldCom.

"As we have consistently stated throughout the course of the trial . . . unlike Enron and WorldCom, HealthSouth was, and continues to be, a solid and real company," Watkins said. "This fine company was inspired and developed by Richard Scrushy, and we expect full vindication at the conclusion of the trial."

Lay, 62, may also think pleading guilty is not an option, the outside lawyers said.

"I don't know that a conviction is going to put pressure on people to plead guilty, particularly if you're 60 years old and looking at a guideline sentence of 15 or 20 years," said Lawrence Byrne, a partner at White & Case LLP. "That's effectively a life sentence, so what choice do you have but to go to trial?"

Still, Ebbers's conviction sends a strong warning that jurors will be skeptical of business executives who pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars yet claim they were simply functioning as a "coach" rather than running the show.

"The message to others awaiting like trials as well as those running other corporate giants is clear: If you play in big leagues, but only intend to coach, expect to get benched to the nearest federal prison," said Charna E. Sherman, a defense attorney.

Masters reported from New York. Johnson reported from Washington. Staff writer Ben White also contributed to this report.

Vertex - The Online Journal of Adult and Workforce Education

Vertex - The Online Journal of Adult and Workforce EducationEthical Choices Today
by Dr. Marlene Caroselli It's easy to influence. It's much harder to influence with integrity. Adult education professionals, in particular, face difficult integrity-choices, for their sphere of influence extends so far beyond the immediate. Their choices affect more than those whom they teach. The choices involve both the content and the context of the knowledge they share.

In the simplest sense, "integrity" means living according to specified values. But, of course, simplicity is usually deceptively complex. Living by specified values involves complex ramifications and interpretations. The definition of integrity that we endorse has ever-widening circles. The more integrity you demonstrate, the more widespread the benefits to others. And thus, adult education professionals hold a special place in the hierarchy of influencers: their opportunities to benefits others are both immediately intensive and indirectly extensive.

When you act with integrity, you are widening the sphere of influence, you are using power tools to achieve powerful benefits for those who "buy" your concepts or your commodities. And, like it or not, you are indeed "selling" your beliefs. First, by your choice regarding which concepts to include in your curriculum, and second, by your choice to share your views or biases regarding those concepts. (It was Soren Kierkegaard who noted that "education without bias is like love without passion.")

The New York Times > A Different Kind of Chief Executive at Walt Disney

The New York Times > Business > Media & Advertising > A Different Kind of Chief Executive at Walt DisneyOne contrast between Mr. Eisner and Mr. Iger is clear: Where Mr. Eisner's remarks were often off the cuff, Mr. Iger is cool and circumspect, a deft politician who deflects potentially uncomfortable questions.

But while Mr. Iger seemed almost casual in an interview on Monday, the day after getting the top job at Disney - which he has coveted for years - it is apparent he has been thinking for a long time about what he would do if he took over the corporate suite. "In this world you have to provide leadership and direction in some form," Mr. Iger said. His goal, he said, is "creating transformation from within."

The New York Times > Business > Ex-Chief of WorldCom Convicted of Fraud Charges

The New York Times > Business > Ex-Chief of WorldCom Convicted of Fraud ChargesBernard J. Ebbers, the former chief executive of WorldCom, was found guilty today on all nine counts of orchestrating a record $11 billion fraud that bankrupted his company.

Mr. Ebbers, 63, was convicted of securities fraud, conspiracy and seven counts of filing false reports with regulators. He now faces up to life in prison, with the convictions collectively carrying a maximum penalty of 85 years in prison. Sentencing was set for June 13. He remains free on bail.