Eight Great Lessons From Working Dads

MSN Careers - Eight Great Lessons From Working Dads - Career Advice Article

Women aren't the only ones who find juggling work and family a challenge. Men, too,
are striving to find a balance between bringing home the bacon and spending
quality time with their families. Here are some lessons from working dads who
are successfully managing their work and home lives:



Lesson 1: Flexibility may be the key to happiness.

If it's possible in your occupation, adopt a flexible schedule. Today, flex
schedules are very common and range from compressed work weeks to telecommuting.
Propose a flex schedule that starts and ends early so you can attend school
functions or sporting events. Investigate opportunities to put in a four-day
work week, four 10-hour days, to free up a whole day for field trips or to be
home with the kids for an occasional in-service day or school holiday.



In his book "Working Fathers: New Strategies for Balancing Work and
Family," Jim Levine suggests coming up with "win-win" solutions
to present to your boss and asking for your boss' ideas to help you reach a
workable balance once your discussion is under way.



Lesson 2: Develop a strong relationship with your boss.

There's no question that having a solid and trusting relationship with your boss
has its benefits. A boss who recognizes your loyalty to the company, your
dedication to doing your best on the job, and your level of commitment to your
family is likely to become your greatest advocate when it comes to allowing you
time for family. Building a strong relationship takes time and is best
accomplished through openness, honesty and loyalty.



Lesson 3: Know when to say no.

There will be times in your work life when it may be necessary to turn down or
delay special projects or out-of-town trips in order to be present at an
important family event.



Alan Weber, a marketing manager for a medium-sized manufacturing firm, was asked
to attend a grand opening celebration for a new company warehouse on the same
weekend as his daughter's volleyball championship game. He told his boss about
the conflict and was excused from the grand opening. Had he not spoken up, he
would have likely missed this important event in his daughter's life.



Lesson 4: Do your homework at home.

Many men find themselves staying late at the office to catch up on paperwork or
e-mails. Instead, pack up your briefcase and laptop and plug in at home. Terry,
who works at an office in the city, shares his home office with his kids a few
nights a week -- they work on their school projects; he works on his sales
projections. Not only does this give them more time together, it reinforces that
everyone has to do their "homework."



Lesson 5: Take paternity leave.

While a fairly new option, a handful of progressive companies offer fathers paid
time off, ranging from a few days to a few weeks, following the birth of a
child. In July 2004, California lawmakers adopted a statewide family leave act
that allows workers to receive up to six weeks of partially paid leave per year
to care for a new child or seriously ill family member. There are some
restrictions, but the benefit will replace up to 55 percent of wages, up to a
capped amount per week.





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You may also consider taking advantage of the national Family and Medical Leave
Act (FMLA). Though unpaid, it does allow you to take up to 12 weeks off. Check
with your human resource or benefits representative to understand how the FMLA
applies to your situation.



Lesson 6: Take all of your vacation.

Many American workers fail to take all of the vacation time they earn, and some
who do often feel guilty about being away from work. But savvy working dads
recognize the value of time off from the office and time well-spent with their
families.



Jeff, who works at a metal fabrication shop, uses part of his vacation time to
attend summer Boy Scout camp with his 12-year-old. "It's a great way for me
to share a special time with my son, and I have a chance to relax in the
outdoors. I come back to work rejuvenated and feel a closer bond with my
boy."



Lesson 7: Fast forward 30 years.

Are you happy with the decisions you made? Take a moment and ask yourself,
"Is my work consuming me?" If the answer is yes, you may need to take
a closer look at your life to get things in better balance. Upon reflection,
rarely will a retired executive say he wished he had spent more time at the
office. Most often, you'll hear him say he would give anything to have spent
more time with his kids as they grew up. The lesson here is to take the time now
to figure out what's important and act on it to avoid regrets later on.



Lesson 8: Seize the day.

It's unlikely that whatever led to your out-of-balance life will change without
some personal intervention. After more than 15 years in sales, Jim Cozzi got
tired of the travel, long hours alone in his car, and missing all of his sons'
ball games. He recently decided to go back to school to get his teaching degree.
Not only will teaching provide him with a better quality of life, when he
graduates his kids will still be young enough to appreciate his involvement in
their activities. If your current job demands aren't likely to change, perhaps
it's time to change jobs.





Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com. She
researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring
trends and workplace issues.

An HR Pro Learns to Handle Potentially Violent Employees

What does protection against violence mean in the real world, for a real, live
HR person? This case study of Jewell Ayella may hit home.

By Lynne McClure

---

Jewell
Ayella* works for a large manufacturing firm in Phoenix, Arizona. Like many HR
professionals, she didn't think about how to protect herself from potentially
violent employees until she found herself in the middle of an extremely
threatening situation. Perhaps her experience and the lessons she learned will
help other HR professionals take preventive measures before a situation gets out
of hand. Here is how the situation unfolded:

Ayella had been working in HR for seven years when employees in a department
that was unfamiliar to her started complaining about a co-worker named Don
Thompson. She asked them to tell their manager, Paul Lorenzo, about the
situation and said she would talk to Thompson as well.

In meeting with Lorenzo, Ayella explained: "The employees tell me that
some days Don is okay, but most of the time, he looks wild-eyed and acts angry.
His moods seem to go up and down and his co-workers are afraid of him."

Shaking his head, Lorenzo responded: "Look, I didn't want him here in
the first place, but his former manager and your predecessor put a lot of
pressure on me to keep him. He should have been fired a long time ago. No one
feels safe around him."

"Why wasn't he fired?" Ayella asked. "No documentation about
the behavioral problems?"

"You got it," Lorenzo said. "And now you're going to ask me to
start documenting, right? Well, forget it. He does his work and he meets his
deadlines. The problem is that no one, including me, wants to be around him. I'm
not documenting any of that—it wouldn't do any good anyway. Because behavioral
problems aren't included in the corporate policy, there's nothing to back me
up."

Frustrated, Ayella asked the threatening employee to come see her.

"Your co-workers are having a problem with you," she told him.
"It seems that your moods are, well, they vary widely."

"That's THEIR problem," Thompson yelled, hitting the top of her
desk. "You think I'm supposed to entertain my co-workers? Look, I have my
rights. Check my personnel file—you won't see a single complaint. In fact,
this new job came with a raise. I must be doing something right! The problem is
YOU folks in HR, always trying to get in good with management."

After her meeting with Thompson, Ayella starting getting voicemail messages
at home, threatening: "Don't mess with me."

When she started talking with Thompson's previous managers about his
behavior, the voicemail messages continued: "Keep digging, and you'll be
digging your grave." Scared, Ayella erased them all. Furthermore, one night
in the middle of this situation Ayella thought she heard someone moving around
outside her house.

The next morning, Bridget DeMaio, Ayella's manager, showed up in her office.
Noticing how upset Ayella was, DeMaio asked her to sit down and explain what was
happening. Through this conversation, it became clear to Ayella that she should
start looking out for herself. Giving DeMaio all her notes on the case, Ayella
made an appointment with the company EAP for some personal counseling, she
arranged for some vacation time, and she signed up for a self- development
workshop.

While Ayella was gone, Thompson hit a co-worker. DeMaio required him to take
a number of fitness-for-work tests, including a drug test indicating he used
cocaine. Although the company's policy didn’t address behavioral problems, it
did specify that failing a drug test would be grounds for termination. Thompson
was gone before Ayella returned.

Ayella came back to work with a new perspective. "I've spent a lot of
time thinking about the situation with Don and here's what I've learned,"
she told DeMaio. "First, when employees complain about a co-worker I should
go directly to the manager. Instead of alerting Paul to the problem with Don, I
let his employees catch him by surprise. By the time I did talk with Paul, he
refused to cooperate with me.

"Second, Paul's refusal to document was a symptom of a deeper HR
problem. There's nothing in our policies that states disruptive or inappropriate
behavior is a performance issue. No wonder managers won't
document—they don't have any backing.

"Third," Ayella went on, "I was pretty naive about Don. I
assumed he'd be reasonable, even though Paul and his co-workers said otherwise.
I need to pay more attention to what's really happening, instead of how I think
it should be.

"And the fourth lesson is embarrassing," Ayella said. "I
ignored the obvious clues that I was in danger. I kept showing up at work as if
nothing was wrong without admitting how scared I felt or how much at risk I was.
Then, when direct threats were made on my voicemail, I erased the
evidence!"

DeMaio smiled supportively. "How would you handle a situation like this
next time?" she asked.

"Well," Ayella said, "First, I need to build a support team
than includes my peers in HR, people in security, the managers I'm working with
and others. If we share information on a regular basis, I won't feel as if I
have to solve all behavioral problems by myself. Also, I need to document
everything problem-employees say and do. I have to save threatening messages and
ask the police to investigate them. And I need to call the police whenever I
hear someone lurking about my property."

DeMaio nodded her head. "Sounds good," she said. "Anything
else?"

"Yes," Ayella said, "First, the team I put together has to get
top management to support early identification of high-risk employees so problem
behaviors can be dealt with early before these employees do anything violent.
Working with top management, we must establish a policy that allows us to
address behavioral problems while they’re still manageable.

"Second," Ayella said, "I have to make it easier for everyone
to see the distinction between me and as an agent of the company in the HR role
by showing more concern about what employees tell me. For example, I could have
been more interested in hearing Don's perception of the situation with his
co-workers. I could have shown understanding about the problems he was
experiencing, and explained how the EAP could be used as a resource. Assuming
behavioral guidelines are in place, I could also have made it clear that even
though Don has to follow the same guidelines as everyone else, it was a
business—not a personal—issue."

DeMaio smiled. "Sounds like you're got a good handle on this issue.
Let’s move forward and implement what you’ve learned," she said.

* All names have been changed to maintain confidentiality.

*The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful
information on the topic covered, but shouldn’t be construed as legal advice
or a legal opinion.

---

Lynne McClure is a management consultant and an expert on workplace violence
with McClure Associates Management
Consultants Inc. in Mesa, Arizona.

Measure Your Soft Skills Smarts

Measure Your Soft Skills Smarts: "What are employers looking for?
It depends -- every employer seeks a different mix of skills and experience from a prospective employee. But one thing they look for consistently: Soft skills.
Remember the phrase from your report card -- 'works and plays well with others'? That's a critical soft skill, and there are many more, all of them important for any job in any industry.
Are you soft skills savvy? Take this short quiz and find out. "

DailyOM - Changing Careers

DailyOM - Changing Careers

August 19,
2005

Embarking On A New Path

Changing Careers

What we do for a living can be intimately intertwined with who
we are. Often, people expect to grow and thrive in one career over a period of
decades. For others, however, that expectation is unrealistic. As they
themselves change, they become dissatisfied with the profession that once
brought them joy. This is not unusual in modern times, where more and more
people are changing careers not just once, but many times over the course of
their lives. Because your career is a part of who you are, switching to another
can be a long and involved process that requires courage and determination. The
challenges, which can include stepping into unfamiliar territory, going back to
school, or learning to live on less income, are very real, but the rewards can
trump them. Changing careers, if done thoughtfully, can be one of the most
richly satisfying and exciting experiences of your life.



If for years your soul has been telling you that you would make a skilled
lawyer, a talented sculptor, or a brilliant electrical engineer, it's worth
investigating the possibilities. Or, you may be desirous of a more soulful and
fulfilling career but haven't figured out what it is yet. In either case,
explore. If you have identified a passion, research it. Talk to people in that
field and find out how they got there. Ask about the ups and the downs. If
you're unsure of a career path you might like to pursue, look toward your
passions, abilities, hobbies, and values. Determine what your ideal work hours,
income, commute time, and working situation would be. If you love the idea of
flexible hours or working from home, decide whether you would be willing to earn
less as a trade off. Look for careers that offer the type of work environment
and benefits you are looking for. Creating a new future takes time and effort,
and a willingness to delve deep into the positives and nega! tives of a variety
of careers.



Focus on your strengths, rather than skills you may be lacking. Seeking skill
training or the help of a career counselor can be helpful. It's normal to be
nervous when seeking out a new career, particularly if you are established in
your current profession. But the payoff can be true satisfaction in finding work
that you can love, and, it's never too late for change.

WorldCom's Ebbers Gets 25 Years, Weeps

WorldCom's Ebbers Gets 25 Years, Weeps: "Weeping in court as he learned his fate, former WorldCom boss Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday for leading the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history.
It was the toughest sentence imposed on an executive since the fall of Enron in 2001 touched off a record-breaking wave of business scandals."

The Lincoln Tribune - News

The Lincoln Tribune - News: "National News : Homeland Security Operations Net Over 400 Criminal Aliens
Posted by JimKouri on 2005/7/2 13:05:41
by Jim Kouri, CPP

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested eight known gang members in four cities and removed nine others in recent days. These arrests are the latest under Operation Community Shield, a national initiative aimed at disrupting and dismantling violent gangs of illegal immigrants. These arrests bring the total to more than 400 since March 2005.

Arrests occurred in San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta and Detroit. The removals occurred from the Buffalo, NY Federal Detention Facility. All eight of the individuals arrested have been charged with being illegally present in the United States and are being detained pending their immigration court hearings.

The eight gang members deported from Buffalo were arrested around the country and staged at the facility as ICE completed the repatriation process. Suspected criminal activity includes manslaughter, criminal weapons possession, robbery, assault and attempted robbery.

William Cleary, Buffalo Detention and Deportation Field Office Director, said that the nine individuals removed were gang members from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. They belonged to organized crime organizations such as MS-13, the 'Mexican Boys' of the La Gran Familia, the 'Big Kings'of SUR-13, 'Esquadron,' La Gran Raza,' and 'Trinitarios.'

In Oakland, California, feds nabbed Antonio Garcia-Becerra, a Mexican national and Southside Locos 13 gang member. Garcia was previously deported from the United States and reentered in violation of federal law. He has a criminal history that includes a weapons violation.

e-Business Plan Tutorial: Mission Statement

e-Business Plan Tutorial: Mission StatementMission statement characteristics: A mission statement has the following key characteristics:

Visionary: Above all else a mission statement offers a vision of what a business aspires to be. A visionary mission statement helps people understand what the business is about and how they can contribute to the achievement of the vision. So mission statements frequently contain wording such as "to be the best", "the highest quality", and "in the world".

Broad: A company cannot be all things to all people, but a mission statement should not limit a company's area of service or expertise too narrowly. Especially in the fast-paced world of electronic commerce, customer needs, and customers, can change rapidly. A mission statement should be broad enough to allow the company to meet those needs without annual revisions of the statement.

For example, the original mission of classmates.com was to reunite classmates in American high schools. However, the business quickly found a market in colleges and universities as well, and then the military and the workplace. Soon classmates.com found it was not in the classmates business, it was in the personal networking business. CEO Michael Schutzer acknowledges that he would choose another name, and a broader mission, had he started the business today. "Our business is more than high school reunions," he says. "It is a personal network for reconnecting people." (Dot-com Content that Works?)

Realistic: The broad vision needs to be tempered with realism, to be both practical and workable. Mission statements that include everything or over promise will not give a clear indication of what the business is about. A lofty, unrealistic mission statement will not have great credibility. Instead the best statements are direct and powerful.

For example, in October 2002 Microsoft changed its mission statement from "To empower people through great software -- any time, any place, and on any device" to "To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential". The new mission statement is certainly broad enough, but is it realistic? Does it overpromise? Does it give any indication what Microsoft is about? Most mission statement writers would think the new mission statement is a step backward, using the criteria listed here.

Motivational: The statement should be written in such a way that it inspires commitment among employees, customers, partners, and funding agencies about what this company will do or produce. Some organizations emphasize the inspirational value of their mission statement above all else, using it to express the company's philosophy and values.

Short and concise: The mission statement should be no longer than 25 words. Some consultants recommend that the mission statement be short enough that an employee can easily remember it and readily repeat it. Similarly, management guru Peter Drucker suggests it should be able to fit on a t-shirt.

Easily understood: The statement should use plain language that is convincing and easy to understand. For example, a technology company's mission statement should not include jargon or technology concepts that are unfamiliar to people outside the area. Consider using the "grandmother test" on your mission statement -- would your grandmother understand what your company is about if she read your mission statement?

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

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

Creating Customer Evangelists: Meg Whitman of eBay

Creating Customer Evangelists: Meg Whitman of eBayIn seven years, eBay has gone from zero customers to nearly 50 million. Seven years! That's about seven million new customers per year.

In seven years, eBay has gone from zilch to more than $700 million in revenue per year. Seven years!

[print version] Week in review: Judging tech | CNET News.com

[print version] Week in review: Judging tech | CNET News.com

Some of the most important technology decisions this week were made not in
the boardroom but by nine men and women wearing black robes.

The Supreme Court handed movie studios and record labels a sweeping victory
against file swapping, ruling that peer-to-peer companies such as Grokster could
be

held responsible for the copyright piracy on their networks. In a unanimous
decision, the nine justices said companies that build businesses with the active
intent of encouraging copyright infringement should be held liable for their
customers' illegal actions.

The decision comes as a surprisingly strong victory for copyright companies
and stands to reshape an Internet landscape in which file swapping has become
commonplace.

The ruling will give the recording industry and Hollywood immediate
ammunition to file lawsuits against file-trading companies. It could also be a
boon for legal music services such as Apple Computer's iTunes, which could see
their strongest competitors--freely downloadable songs--driven further
underground.

Continue reading...

CBS News | Staying At Home | October 11, 2004�06:17:17

CBS News | Staying At Home | October 11, 2004�06:17:17: " 'I think that women like us, who have choices � hopefully, we'll be able to make changes. Hopefully, employers will see that this is happening and that we don't want to lose these great women. Let's make some changes so that women can work differently.' "

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.
Tw"

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

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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

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