40 ways to relax
Note from Jim: Boost your long-term productivity, creativity, and effectiveness. Read "40 Ways To Relax"
Read article here: http://health.asiaone.com/Health/Wellness+@+Work/Story/A1Story20090227-124965.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Bernanke: U.S. Action Could End Recession in 2009 - - CFO.com
Bernanke: U.S. Action Could End Recession in 2009 - - CFO.com
CFO.Com
Today in Finance for February 25, 2009
Bernanke: U.S. Action Could End Recession in 2009
Despite severe economic contraction, he tells Senate Banking Committee, there's "a reasonable prospect" of recovery beginning next year if the president, Congress, and Fed succeed in restoring stability.
Roy Harris - CFO.com US
February 24, 2009
Read full article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13173988/c_2984347
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
CFO.Com
Today in Finance for February 25, 2009
Bernanke: U.S. Action Could End Recession in 2009
Despite severe economic contraction, he tells Senate Banking Committee, there's "a reasonable prospect" of recovery beginning next year if the president, Congress, and Fed succeed in restoring stability.
Roy Harris - CFO.com US
February 24, 2009
Read full article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13173988/c_2984347
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Self-regulation failure (Part 2): Willpower is like a muscle | Psychology Today Blogs
Self-regulation failure (Part 2): Willpower is like a muscle Psychology Today Blogs
Psychology Today
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 23, 2009 - 8:00pm in Don't Delay
Self-regulation failure (Part 2):
Willpower is like a muscle
Excerpts:
Willpower is like a muscleBased on these studies, Baumeister and colleagues have concluded that willpower is like a muscle. It can be fatigued with use, so that it can not perform indefinitely.
Implications: Self-regulation comes with a cost, and we can only self-regulate so much at any one time. Although willpower is one of those "invisible" sorts of concepts (unlike muscles which seem to reveal strength more visibly by size), it still has limits.
Of course, drawing on this metaphor that willpower is like a muscle, it would make sense that we should be able to develop this muscle's strength. There are a number of studies that indicate just that. For example, as Matthew Gailloit has summarized (see reference below), there is evidence that even 2-weeks of self-regulation through continuously maintaining good posture improved performance in the kind of experiments discussed above. This little bit of self-regulatory exercise seems to strengthen the willpower muscle.
Read Full Article: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/dont-delay/200902/self-regulation-failure-part-2-willpower-is-muscle
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Psychology Today
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 23, 2009 - 8:00pm in Don't Delay
Self-regulation failure (Part 2):
Willpower is like a muscle
Excerpts:
Willpower is like a muscleBased on these studies, Baumeister and colleagues have concluded that willpower is like a muscle. It can be fatigued with use, so that it can not perform indefinitely.
Implications: Self-regulation comes with a cost, and we can only self-regulate so much at any one time. Although willpower is one of those "invisible" sorts of concepts (unlike muscles which seem to reveal strength more visibly by size), it still has limits.
Of course, drawing on this metaphor that willpower is like a muscle, it would make sense that we should be able to develop this muscle's strength. There are a number of studies that indicate just that. For example, as Matthew Gailloit has summarized (see reference below), there is evidence that even 2-weeks of self-regulation through continuously maintaining good posture improved performance in the kind of experiments discussed above. This little bit of self-regulatory exercise seems to strengthen the willpower muscle.
Read Full Article: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/dont-delay/200902/self-regulation-failure-part-2-willpower-is-muscle
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
World At Work
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
Feb. 12, 2009 — One-quarter of U.S. companies surveyed has instituted a salary freeze, a number that may rise to one-third by the time 2009 budgets are finalized.
Read Full Article: http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimComment?id=31191
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
World At Work
Number of Companies Freezing Salaries May Continue to Rise
Feb. 12, 2009 — One-quarter of U.S. companies surveyed has instituted a salary freeze, a number that may rise to one-third by the time 2009 budgets are finalized.
Read Full Article: http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimComment?id=31191
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Swiss Re's New Sigma Study Explores Scenario Planning for Insurers
Insurance Broadcasting Home pages
Insurance Broadcasting
Wednesday, 02/25/09
Swiss Re's New Sigma Study Explores Scenario Planning for Insurers
ZURICH, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
Excerpts:
Scenario analysis helps insurers make business decisions by considering a number of potential future developments, allowing them to manage a broad range of often interrelated risks. Scenario analysis is used in areas such as strategic planning, risk management and underwriting.
"Events like the financial crisis will accelerate the adoption of these approaches and encourage insurers to use state-of-the-art scenario analysis to evaluate risks," said Swiss Re economist Kurt Karl.
Common uses of scenarios in insurance
Insurers face a number of risks, such as natural catastrophes, mortality risks and investment volatility. These risks often interact in complex ways.
State-of-the-art scenario analysis
A state-of-the-art approach would see insurers excelling in the following types of scenario analysis:
-- A global model of assets and liabilities that can be stress tested with insurance, economic and financial market shocks.
-- A regular programme of internal scenario tests related to shocks such as natural catastrophes and pandemics, as well as economic and financial market shocks.
-- Models that capture how these shocks affect each major asset class and business line.
Read Full Article: http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-022509-7.htm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Insurance Broadcasting
Wednesday, 02/25/09
Swiss Re's New Sigma Study Explores Scenario Planning for Insurers
ZURICH, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
Excerpts:
Scenario analysis helps insurers make business decisions by considering a number of potential future developments, allowing them to manage a broad range of often interrelated risks. Scenario analysis is used in areas such as strategic planning, risk management and underwriting.
"Events like the financial crisis will accelerate the adoption of these approaches and encourage insurers to use state-of-the-art scenario analysis to evaluate risks," said Swiss Re economist Kurt Karl.
Common uses of scenarios in insurance
Insurers face a number of risks, such as natural catastrophes, mortality risks and investment volatility. These risks often interact in complex ways.
State-of-the-art scenario analysis
A state-of-the-art approach would see insurers excelling in the following types of scenario analysis:
-- A global model of assets and liabilities that can be stress tested with insurance, economic and financial market shocks.
-- A regular programme of internal scenario tests related to shocks such as natural catastrophes and pandemics, as well as economic and financial market shocks.
-- Models that capture how these shocks affect each major asset class and business line.
Read Full Article: http://www.insurancebroadcasting.com/insurance-news-022509-7.htm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns | Business Insurance News, Analysis & Articles
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns Business Insurance News, Analysis & Articles
Business Insurance
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns
Posted On: Feb. 23, 2009 6:13 AM CST
Stuart Collins
LONDON—As the financial downturn shows no sign of abating, insurers polled by PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. have identified investment performance as their chief concern.
While investment returns failed to even feature in the top 10 when PwC last surveyed insurers in its “Insurance Banana Skins” survey 18 months ago, investment performance, equity markets and capital availability were the top three risks in the 2009 report.
Read full article: http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15493
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Business Insurance
Investment returns top insurers' list of concerns
Posted On: Feb. 23, 2009 6:13 AM CST
Stuart Collins
LONDON—As the financial downturn shows no sign of abating, insurers polled by PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. have identified investment performance as their chief concern.
While investment returns failed to even feature in the top 10 when PwC last surveyed insurers in its “Insurance Banana Skins” survey 18 months ago, investment performance, equity markets and capital availability were the top three risks in the 2009 report.
Read full article: http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15493
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business - BusinessWeek
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business - BusinessWeek
February 12 2009
Business Week
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business
In tough times, entrepreneurs try the so-called science of happiness to build thriving companies
By Jill Hamburg Coplan
Note from Jim: Great article about the science and psychology of happiness, a serious area of academic study launched in 1999 by the President of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman. Learn how adoption of these principles can enhance your personal and business performance.
Full article here: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_62/s0902044518985.htm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
February 12 2009
Business Week
How Positive Psychology Can Boost Your Business
In tough times, entrepreneurs try the so-called science of happiness to build thriving companies
By Jill Hamburg Coplan
Note from Jim: Great article about the science and psychology of happiness, a serious area of academic study launched in 1999 by the President of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman. Learn how adoption of these principles can enhance your personal and business performance.
Full article here: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_62/s0902044518985.htm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients- The Law Firm of Faegre & Benson LLP
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients- The Law Firm of Faegre & Benson LLP
Note from Jim: An important read for candidates and clients alike.... Details you may not know.
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients
18-February-2009
AuthorsBarbara-Ann Gustaferro David B. Miller
Read Full Article: http://www.faegre.com/showarticle.aspx?Show=8965
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Note from Jim: An important read for candidates and clients alike.... Details you may not know.
Economic Stimulus Package Imposes New Executive Pay Restrictions on TARP Recipients
18-February-2009
AuthorsBarbara-Ann Gustaferro David B. Miller
Read Full Article: http://www.faegre.com/showarticle.aspx?Show=8965
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
How to Be Happy at Work Today - The Inside Job (usnews.com)
How to Be Happy at Work Today - The Inside Job (usnews.com)
U.S. News & World Reports
How to Be Happy at Work Today
February 20, 2009 10:20 AM ET
Read Full Article Here: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/the-inside-job/2009/2/20/how-to-be-happy-at-work.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
U.S. News & World Reports
How to Be Happy at Work Today
February 20, 2009 10:20 AM ET
Read Full Article Here: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/the-inside-job/2009/2/20/how-to-be-happy-at-work.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Friday, February 20, 2009
ET Guest Column By Andrea Bonime-Blanc | Governance, Risk, Ethics and Compliance: Time for a Seat at the Executive Table
ET Guest Column By Andrea Bonime-Blanc Governance, Risk, Ethics and Compliance: Time for a Seat at the Executive Table
ERC - Ethics Resource Center
Published: February 18, 2009
Guest Column By Andrea Bonime-Blanc
Governance, Risk, Ethics and Compliance: Time for a Seat at the Executive Table
The meltdown of the global financial markets over the past weeks and months and the implosion of the largely unregulated risk-taking of the past few years, point to the urgent need for a fundamentally new way of doing business: one that places an effective internal governor on business in a way that simultaneously helps profitability and lessens liability. Governance, risk management, ethics and compliance need to get a permanent seat at the executive table, and senior business leaders must finally put real support behind the fashionable mantra of doing business responsibly.
Read full article: http://www.ethics.org/ethics-today/0209/guest-column.asp
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
ERC - Ethics Resource Center
Published: February 18, 2009
Guest Column By Andrea Bonime-Blanc
Governance, Risk, Ethics and Compliance: Time for a Seat at the Executive Table
The meltdown of the global financial markets over the past weeks and months and the implosion of the largely unregulated risk-taking of the past few years, point to the urgent need for a fundamentally new way of doing business: one that places an effective internal governor on business in a way that simultaneously helps profitability and lessens liability. Governance, risk management, ethics and compliance need to get a permanent seat at the executive table, and senior business leaders must finally put real support behind the fashionable mantra of doing business responsibly.
Read full article: http://www.ethics.org/ethics-today/0209/guest-column.asp
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises? - Careers - CFO.com
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises? - Careers - CFO.com
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises?
Ever so slightly, shareholders are starting to work up some concern over board compensation, which has risen annually in the double digits in recent years, a new study shows.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 10, 2009
Excerpts:
With executive compensation being thoroughly vetted — and not just at companies that take federal bailout money — will closer scrutiny of directors' pay be far behind?
Maybe not, though until recently, few shareholders have objected to board compensation, despite the fact that it has risen steadily in recent years. That comfort came mostly out of a desire to attract and retain directors who are motivated and committed to their oversight roles.
Now one corporate governance research firm is seeing a slight shift in that attitude. "Just in this past year, I've started to notice a few people saying, about some companies at least, that the directors are being paid a lot of money, but are they really doing that good of a job?" said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate with The Corporate Library.
Still, Hodgson isn't sold on the idea that a revolution is at hand, at least not yet. "I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think it will be particularly widespread," he added.
According to the report [The Corporate Library's Director Pay 2008 study] , it was the third straight year of double-digit increases for both individual directors and entire boards. Individuals earned a median of almost 12 percent more than the previous year, but because the average board shrunk in size, the median total board pay climbed only 11 percent.
Hodgson attributed the steady climb of director compensation to the tightened regulatory environment spurred by the big corporate scandals earlier in the decade and the resulting passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Read Full Article:
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13095180/c_2984338
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Is It the End for Big Director Pay Raises?
Ever so slightly, shareholders are starting to work up some concern over board compensation, which has risen annually in the double digits in recent years, a new study shows.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 10, 2009
Excerpts:
With executive compensation being thoroughly vetted — and not just at companies that take federal bailout money — will closer scrutiny of directors' pay be far behind?
Maybe not, though until recently, few shareholders have objected to board compensation, despite the fact that it has risen steadily in recent years. That comfort came mostly out of a desire to attract and retain directors who are motivated and committed to their oversight roles.
Now one corporate governance research firm is seeing a slight shift in that attitude. "Just in this past year, I've started to notice a few people saying, about some companies at least, that the directors are being paid a lot of money, but are they really doing that good of a job?" said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate with The Corporate Library.
Still, Hodgson isn't sold on the idea that a revolution is at hand, at least not yet. "I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think it will be particularly widespread," he added.
According to the report [The Corporate Library's Director Pay 2008 study] , it was the third straight year of double-digit increases for both individual directors and entire boards. Individuals earned a median of almost 12 percent more than the previous year, but because the average board shrunk in size, the median total board pay climbed only 11 percent.
Hodgson attributed the steady climb of director compensation to the tightened regulatory environment spurred by the big corporate scandals earlier in the decade and the resulting passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Read Full Article:
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13095180/c_2984338
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO? - Careers - CFO.com
To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO? - Careers - CFO.com:
"To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO?
New research suggests that certain actions by companies create more shareholder value when a woman, not a man, is at the finance helm.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 9, 2009"
Read full Article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13056001/c_2984411
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
"To Make Investors Happy, Hire a Woman as CFO?
New research suggests that certain actions by companies create more shareholder value when a woman, not a man, is at the finance helm.
David McCann - CFO.com US
February 9, 2009"
Read full Article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13056001/c_2984411
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter? | Psychology Today Blogs
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter? Psychology Today Blogs
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter?
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 08, 2009 in Don't Delay
Approach Goals vs. Avoidance Goals
Approach-oriented goals involve reaching or maintaining desired outcomes. Avoidance goals focus on avoiding or eliminating undesired outcomes. Although both types of goals are common in our lives and both are functional, one goal-type is associated with more happiness than the other. I also think that there's something to learn about procrastination here.
Read Full Article Here: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/approaching-success-avoiding-the-undesired-does-goal-type-matter
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter?
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 08, 2009 in Don't Delay
Approach Goals vs. Avoidance Goals
Approach-oriented goals involve reaching or maintaining desired outcomes. Avoidance goals focus on avoiding or eliminating undesired outcomes. Although both types of goals are common in our lives and both are functional, one goal-type is associated with more happiness than the other. I also think that there's something to learn about procrastination here.
Read Full Article Here: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/approaching-success-avoiding-the-undesired-does-goal-type-matter
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
An interview with the CEO of a leading Italian design firm - The McKinsey Quarterly - interview CEO Italian design firm - Strategy - Innovation
An interview with the CEO of a leading Italian design firm - The McKinsey Quarterly - interview CEO Italian design firm - Strategy - Innovation
Alberto Alessi, head of his family’s iconic design factory, talks about how to sustain innovation over decades—and why companies should take more risk.
FEBRUARY 2009 • Marla M. Capozzi and Josselyn Simpson
Read full article: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Cultivating_innovation_an_interview_with_the_CEO_of_a_leading_Italian_design_firm_2299
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Alberto Alessi, head of his family’s iconic design factory, talks about how to sustain innovation over decades—and why companies should take more risk.
FEBRUARY 2009 • Marla M. Capozzi and Josselyn Simpson
Read full article: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Cultivating_innovation_an_interview_with_the_CEO_of_a_leading_Italian_design_firm_2299
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Procrastination, The Fear of Failure, And The Factor of Feeling Competent
Fear of Failure Psychology Today Blogs
Psychology Today
Fear of FailureBy Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 13, 2009http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/dont-delay>
What Would You Attempt To Do If You Knew You COuld Not Fail?>
Abstract: Procrastination, The Fear of Failure, And The The Factor of Feeling Competent "(the ability to learn new skills, feeling capable)" >
Excerpts:>
Adam's research, and I'm only touching on our early look at these data, indicates that developing and maintaining our sense of competence plays an essential role in our ability to pursue our goals effectively. In fact, to the extent that we feel competent, our fears of the potential for failure are not related to our procrastination.>
Concluding commentsThe question now is how do we foster that sense of competence in our lives that is so essential to our well-being? Competence, sometimes known as self-efficacy or our confidence in our ability, is built on earlier success. It is an upward spiral of confidence in our ability based on previous experience. It's also partly perception. When we recall the past, what do we recall? Where do we put our focus? Are we feeding our fears by remembering times when we did fail (because we all do at times), or are we optimistically and strategically focusing on our many successes to bolster our sense of competence? The choice is ours (ok, there are personality differences here, and we may discuss those at another time, but it is ultimately up to us).>
As the image of the sign for this blog post said so clearly, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" The attempt is the "courage to be", and our well-being depends on our moving forward with this courage in our lives. >
Read Full Article: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/fear-failure
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Psychology Today
Fear of FailureBy Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 13, 2009http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/dont-delay>
What Would You Attempt To Do If You Knew You COuld Not Fail?>
Abstract: Procrastination, The Fear of Failure, And The The Factor of Feeling Competent "(the ability to learn new skills, feeling capable)" >
Excerpts:>
Adam's research, and I'm only touching on our early look at these data, indicates that developing and maintaining our sense of competence plays an essential role in our ability to pursue our goals effectively. In fact, to the extent that we feel competent, our fears of the potential for failure are not related to our procrastination.>
Concluding commentsThe question now is how do we foster that sense of competence in our lives that is so essential to our well-being? Competence, sometimes known as self-efficacy or our confidence in our ability, is built on earlier success. It is an upward spiral of confidence in our ability based on previous experience. It's also partly perception. When we recall the past, what do we recall? Where do we put our focus? Are we feeding our fears by remembering times when we did fail (because we all do at times), or are we optimistically and strategically focusing on our many successes to bolster our sense of competence? The choice is ours (ok, there are personality differences here, and we may discuss those at another time, but it is ultimately up to us).>
As the image of the sign for this blog post said so clearly, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" The attempt is the "courage to be", and our well-being depends on our moving forward with this courage in our lives. >
Read Full Article: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/fear-failure
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Self-regulation failure (Part 1): Goal setting and monitoring | Psychology Today Blogs
Self-regulation failure (Part 1): Goal setting and monitoring Psychology Today Blogs
Self-regulation failure (Part 1): Goal setting and monitoring
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 16, 2009 in Don't Delay
The simplest way to think about a self-regulating system is how your thermostat functions with your furnace. As simple as this may be, this model does speak to our own ability for self-regulation, and it's a good place to start this discussion about when self-regulation fails.
To understand procrastination, we must understand self-regulation failure. And, of course, to understand self-regulation failure, we must begin with a little about self-regulation.
Read Full Article: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/self-regulation-failure-part-1-goal-setting-and-monitoring
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Self-regulation failure (Part 1): Goal setting and monitoring
By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on February 16, 2009 in Don't Delay
The simplest way to think about a self-regulating system is how your thermostat functions with your furnace. As simple as this may be, this model does speak to our own ability for self-regulation, and it's a good place to start this discussion about when self-regulation fails.
To understand procrastination, we must understand self-regulation failure. And, of course, to understand self-regulation failure, we must begin with a little about self-regulation.
Read Full Article: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/don039t-delay/200902/self-regulation-failure-part-1-goal-setting-and-monitoring
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Ed Batista: Awareness Vs. Spontaneity
Ed Batista: Awareness and Spontaneity
http://www.edbatista.com/2009/01/awareness.html
Two (of many) dimensions that describe our actions are 1) our level of awareness (or mindfulness, or consciousness) and 2) our degree of spontaneity at a given moment. Mapping these dimensions across each other results in four distinct ways of being, four "modes," although the boundaries are arbitrary and highly fluid. There's no implied hierarchy—no one mode is "best"—but a given mode may be best suited to our needs at a given moment. What characterizes each mode for you? Are certain modes easy or difficult? Are you able to identify and use the mode that best fits the moment?
This is obviously a highly reductive way of characterizing all our potential "ways of being," and I offer it cautiously. But it occurred to me today as I was wrestling with some strong emotions stirred up by a troubling experience, and it helped me make some sense of what had happened.
I realized that I'd been operating instinctively--reacting very quickly, with a low level of self-awareness--when that mode really wasn't called for, and it gave my actions a driven, robotic quality (which got me into trouble.) I needed to slow down, take a breath, be more reflective--to be deliberate.
See Full Article And Chart, Awarness Vs. Spontaneity, http://www.edbatista.com/2009/01/awareness.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
http://www.edbatista.com/2009/01/awareness.html
Two (of many) dimensions that describe our actions are 1) our level of awareness (or mindfulness, or consciousness) and 2) our degree of spontaneity at a given moment. Mapping these dimensions across each other results in four distinct ways of being, four "modes," although the boundaries are arbitrary and highly fluid. There's no implied hierarchy—no one mode is "best"—but a given mode may be best suited to our needs at a given moment. What characterizes each mode for you? Are certain modes easy or difficult? Are you able to identify and use the mode that best fits the moment?
This is obviously a highly reductive way of characterizing all our potential "ways of being," and I offer it cautiously. But it occurred to me today as I was wrestling with some strong emotions stirred up by a troubling experience, and it helped me make some sense of what had happened.
I realized that I'd been operating instinctively--reacting very quickly, with a low level of self-awareness--when that mode really wasn't called for, and it gave my actions a driven, robotic quality (which got me into trouble.) I needed to slow down, take a breath, be more reflective--to be deliberate.
See Full Article And Chart, Awarness Vs. Spontaneity, http://www.edbatista.com/2009/01/awareness.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Reducing Stress Key to Saving Love, Marriage - Testosterone And Oxytocin
VOA News - Reducing Stress Key to Saving Love, Marriage
Voice Of America News
Reducing Stress Key to Saving Love, Marriage
By Faiza Elmasry Washington, D.C.13 February 2009
"Gray says that under stress, women need to be listened to and men need to be left alone. Gray says a stressed-out woman needs to talk about what's bothering her. That stimulates the release of the brain hormone oxytocin."
Note from Jim: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, relationship expert John Gray speaks of the differing effects of testosterone on stress in men and women and the role of oxytocin in reducing stress.
Excerpts:
Gray again uses the planets to represent the two sexes - Mars for men, Venus for women. In Why Mars and Venus Collide, he explains it all comes down to hormones, especially testosterone. The human body releases testosterone to cope with stressful situations. Yet, the hormone affects men and women very differently."
In a man, it's been shown when testosterone goes up, stress levels go down," he says."In a woman, when testosterone goes up, it doesn't lower her stress level. And this is a very significant difference between men and women. It was only four or five years ago that this was discovered on a physiological basis. So during the workday, women are experiencing emergency stress, but they are not able to talk about the things that are bothering her because that's not part of the workplace. And so the stress levels don't get reduced."
And after the workday, Gray says, men and women have opposite ways of relieving stress."For a man, [the best way] to cope with stress is to rest and relax and forget about the problems of the day," he says."When men sit, for example, and watch a football game on TV, literally their body is rebuilding testosterone levels. A woman, on the other hand, when she gets home, anticipating what she has to do, her stress levels shoot up even higher than at work."
Gray says that under stress, women need to be listened to and men need to be left alone. Gray says a stressed-out woman needs to talk about what's bothering her. That stimulates the release of the brain hormone oxytocin.
Knowing that oxytocin helps women feel better, Gray says men have to do more of what gets it produced."
That means more acts of love," he explains."Men have to learn, it is doing lots of little things - not big things - that will help their wives cope with stress so much better. So little things could be holding her hand, putting your arms around her occasionally, giving her a hug several times a day, noticing how beautiful she is, and making compliments."
All these little things - and they are little things, but they add up. They are the most important things to lower stress for a woman. Otherwise, she won't have enough oxytocin to cope with all the emergencies in her life."
Read full article: http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2009-02-13-voa17.cfm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Voice Of America News
Reducing Stress Key to Saving Love, Marriage
By Faiza Elmasry Washington, D.C.13 February 2009
"Gray says that under stress, women need to be listened to and men need to be left alone. Gray says a stressed-out woman needs to talk about what's bothering her. That stimulates the release of the brain hormone oxytocin."
Note from Jim: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, relationship expert John Gray speaks of the differing effects of testosterone on stress in men and women and the role of oxytocin in reducing stress.
Excerpts:
Gray again uses the planets to represent the two sexes - Mars for men, Venus for women. In Why Mars and Venus Collide, he explains it all comes down to hormones, especially testosterone. The human body releases testosterone to cope with stressful situations. Yet, the hormone affects men and women very differently."
In a man, it's been shown when testosterone goes up, stress levels go down," he says."In a woman, when testosterone goes up, it doesn't lower her stress level. And this is a very significant difference between men and women. It was only four or five years ago that this was discovered on a physiological basis. So during the workday, women are experiencing emergency stress, but they are not able to talk about the things that are bothering her because that's not part of the workplace. And so the stress levels don't get reduced."
And after the workday, Gray says, men and women have opposite ways of relieving stress."For a man, [the best way] to cope with stress is to rest and relax and forget about the problems of the day," he says."When men sit, for example, and watch a football game on TV, literally their body is rebuilding testosterone levels. A woman, on the other hand, when she gets home, anticipating what she has to do, her stress levels shoot up even higher than at work."
Gray says that under stress, women need to be listened to and men need to be left alone. Gray says a stressed-out woman needs to talk about what's bothering her. That stimulates the release of the brain hormone oxytocin.
Knowing that oxytocin helps women feel better, Gray says men have to do more of what gets it produced."
That means more acts of love," he explains."Men have to learn, it is doing lots of little things - not big things - that will help their wives cope with stress so much better. So little things could be holding her hand, putting your arms around her occasionally, giving her a hug several times a day, noticing how beautiful she is, and making compliments."
All these little things - and they are little things, but they add up. They are the most important things to lower stress for a woman. Otherwise, she won't have enough oxytocin to cope with all the emergencies in her life."
Read full article: http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2009-02-13-voa17.cfm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Directors Experience Double-Digit Pay Increases
Directors Experience Double-Digit Pay Increases
Directors See Double-Digit Pay Increases
This is the third year of double-digit increases in compensation to both individual directors and full boards according to “The Corporate Library’s Annual Director Pay Survey: Director Pay 2008,” released today.
The median increase in total board compensation was just under 11 percent, while the median increase in compensation for individual directors was slightly higher, almost 12 percent. The survey is based on compensation data from more than 3,000 public companies and 23,000 directors, making it the most comprehensive analysis of director pay available.
See Full Article: http://www.directorship.com/directors-experience-double-di
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Directors See Double-Digit Pay Increases
This is the third year of double-digit increases in compensation to both individual directors and full boards according to “The Corporate Library’s Annual Director Pay Survey: Director Pay 2008,” released today.
The median increase in total board compensation was just under 11 percent, while the median increase in compensation for individual directors was slightly higher, almost 12 percent. The survey is based on compensation data from more than 3,000 public companies and 23,000 directors, making it the most comprehensive analysis of director pay available.
See Full Article: http://www.directorship.com/directors-experience-double-di
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Control Your Hunger? Study Shows Men Can, Women Can't
Control Your Hunger? Study Shows Men Can, Women Can't
Findings may help explain gender differences in rates of obesity and binge eating
January 19, 2009
Excerpts:
UPTON, NY — A ground-breaking brain-imaging study at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory shows that men, but not women, are able to control their brain’s response to their own favorite foods. The study, which will be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of January 19, 2009, may help explain why rates of obesity and eating disorders are higher among women than men, and why women typically have more difficulty losing weight.
The researchers believe this is the first study to document such a gender-specific disconnect between subjective reports of an emotional or motivational state and the associated pattern of brain activity.
“The finding of a lack of response to inhibition in women is consistent with behavioral studies showing that women have a higher tendency than men to overeat when presented with palatable food or under emotional distress,” Wang said. “This decreased inhibitory control in women could be a major factor contributing to the observed differences in the prevalence rates of obesity and eating disorders such as binge eating between the genders, and may also underlie women’s lower success in losing weight while dieting when compared with men.”
Read Full Article: http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=876
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Findings may help explain gender differences in rates of obesity and binge eating
January 19, 2009
Excerpts:
UPTON, NY — A ground-breaking brain-imaging study at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory shows that men, but not women, are able to control their brain’s response to their own favorite foods. The study, which will be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of January 19, 2009, may help explain why rates of obesity and eating disorders are higher among women than men, and why women typically have more difficulty losing weight.
The researchers believe this is the first study to document such a gender-specific disconnect between subjective reports of an emotional or motivational state and the associated pattern of brain activity.
“The finding of a lack of response to inhibition in women is consistent with behavioral studies showing that women have a higher tendency than men to overeat when presented with palatable food or under emotional distress,” Wang said. “This decreased inhibitory control in women could be a major factor contributing to the observed differences in the prevalence rates of obesity and eating disorders such as binge eating between the genders, and may also underlie women’s lower success in losing weight while dieting when compared with men.”
Read Full Article: http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=876
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
The Cost of Auditor Independence - - CFO.com
The Cost of Auditor Independence - - CFO.com
The Cost of Auditor Independence
The line Sarbanes-Oxley drew between audit firms and their clients may have been a good idea overall, but it increased accounting risk, a new study indicates.
Sarah Johnson - CFO.com US
February 12, 2009
Excerpts:
The knowledge of a company that an external auditor gained from internal auditing lowered the chances of publishing misleading or fraudulent financial results, according to preliminary findings by professors at Brigham Young and Texas A&M universities.
"This evidence supports the prediction associated with the knowledge spillover hypothesis — the idea that external auditors are more effective when performing both internal and external audit services," concluded a paper written by Douglas Prawitt, accounting professor at Brigham Young University, Nathan Sharp, assistant accounting professor at Texas A&M University, and David Wood, a visiting instructor at Brigham Young.
Until now, there's been lots of talk about how much Sarbox — in particular, its internal-control provision — has cost companies, but little analysis of what benefits the law truly achieved, says Prawitt.
"Of all the services external auditors provided before the SOX prohibition, we believe internal audit outsourcing represents the greatest possibility for creating knowledge spillover effects," the academics said in their paper.
Their conclusion doesn't sit well with IIA president Richard Chambers, who cautions that the researchers' scope was very narrow and doesn't delve into the many responsibilities of internal auditors. "They're also looking at operational risks, compliance risks, business and strategic risks," Chambers says.
While external auditors are independent of a company and primarily focused on reviewing financial statements and attesting to internal controls, internal auditors are — in the views of the IIA — ideally working in-house, as part of the business, and their work in helping management test and document internal controls is just one of their many tasks. Internal auditors have the best understanding of any function in a company to know where a company's risks lie, Chambers contends.
Another outcome the researchers are hoping for is that communication between internal and external auditors will improve, which in turn, as their paper implies, could lead to better financial reporting by knowledge sharing. Chambers says the two groups' anxiety over being open with each other in the beginning of Sarbox has waned. "It's important for both parties to be open and receptive to each other," he says. External auditors can gain from internal auditors' knowledge by talking more regularly and informally than some do now, he adds.
Read Full Article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13111528/c_2984347
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
The Cost of Auditor Independence
The line Sarbanes-Oxley drew between audit firms and their clients may have been a good idea overall, but it increased accounting risk, a new study indicates.
Sarah Johnson - CFO.com US
February 12, 2009
Excerpts:
The knowledge of a company that an external auditor gained from internal auditing lowered the chances of publishing misleading or fraudulent financial results, according to preliminary findings by professors at Brigham Young and Texas A&M universities.
"This evidence supports the prediction associated with the knowledge spillover hypothesis — the idea that external auditors are more effective when performing both internal and external audit services," concluded a paper written by Douglas Prawitt, accounting professor at Brigham Young University, Nathan Sharp, assistant accounting professor at Texas A&M University, and David Wood, a visiting instructor at Brigham Young.
Until now, there's been lots of talk about how much Sarbox — in particular, its internal-control provision — has cost companies, but little analysis of what benefits the law truly achieved, says Prawitt.
"Of all the services external auditors provided before the SOX prohibition, we believe internal audit outsourcing represents the greatest possibility for creating knowledge spillover effects," the academics said in their paper.
Their conclusion doesn't sit well with IIA president Richard Chambers, who cautions that the researchers' scope was very narrow and doesn't delve into the many responsibilities of internal auditors. "They're also looking at operational risks, compliance risks, business and strategic risks," Chambers says.
While external auditors are independent of a company and primarily focused on reviewing financial statements and attesting to internal controls, internal auditors are — in the views of the IIA — ideally working in-house, as part of the business, and their work in helping management test and document internal controls is just one of their many tasks. Internal auditors have the best understanding of any function in a company to know where a company's risks lie, Chambers contends.
Another outcome the researchers are hoping for is that communication between internal and external auditors will improve, which in turn, as their paper implies, could lead to better financial reporting by knowledge sharing. Chambers says the two groups' anxiety over being open with each other in the beginning of Sarbox has waned. "It's important for both parties to be open and receptive to each other," he says. External auditors can gain from internal auditors' knowledge by talking more regularly and informally than some do now, he adds.
Read Full Article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13111528/c_2984347
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
FORA.tv - Nassim Taleb & Daniel Kahneman: Reflect on Crisis
FORA.tv - Nassim Taleb & Daniel Kahneman: Reflect on Crisis
Note from Jim: If you're an insurance leader, you should find this 59 minute video rather insightful. You might want to prepare yourself for answering far reaching questions from your stakeholders as prompted by the ideas conveyed here.
Two prominent academics discuss the causes for the financial crises and ways of averting future recurrence. These discussions prompt subsequent questions about regulation including regulation of the insurance industry. Topics discussed include:
- The role of rare events.
- The difficulty of modeling rare events. "Rare events are not computable".
- Financial models abet irrational and foolish risk taking.
- Why people (and companies) should not be willing to take "massive risk" around rare events.
- Human irrationality about the improbability of massive risk.
- The blind folds worn by human minds. (Heuristics)
- How and why people are fooled by risk.
- The systemic absence of alignment between the long-term interests of public corporations and the short-terms interests of their "massive risk taking"" decision makers.
- "Domain Conflict" and "Moral Hazards" related to risk taking.
"Author Nassim Taleb and Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman discuss the intricacies of the financial crisis and its far-reaching influence. Looking forward, they offer proposals to remedy the situation and prevent it from ever recurring."
Bio On Kahneman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
Bio on Taleb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Taleb
Find video here: http://fora.tv/2009/01/27/Nassim_Taleb_and_Daniel_Kahneman_Reflection_on_a_Crisis#chapter_05
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Note from Jim: If you're an insurance leader, you should find this 59 minute video rather insightful. You might want to prepare yourself for answering far reaching questions from your stakeholders as prompted by the ideas conveyed here.
Two prominent academics discuss the causes for the financial crises and ways of averting future recurrence. These discussions prompt subsequent questions about regulation including regulation of the insurance industry. Topics discussed include:
- The role of rare events.
- The difficulty of modeling rare events. "Rare events are not computable".
- Financial models abet irrational and foolish risk taking.
- Why people (and companies) should not be willing to take "massive risk" around rare events.
- Human irrationality about the improbability of massive risk.
- The blind folds worn by human minds. (Heuristics)
- How and why people are fooled by risk.
- The systemic absence of alignment between the long-term interests of public corporations and the short-terms interests of their "massive risk taking"" decision makers.
- "Domain Conflict" and "Moral Hazards" related to risk taking.
"Author Nassim Taleb and Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman discuss the intricacies of the financial crisis and its far-reaching influence. Looking forward, they offer proposals to remedy the situation and prevent it from ever recurring."
Bio On Kahneman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman
Bio on Taleb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Taleb
Find video here: http://fora.tv/2009/01/27/Nassim_Taleb_and_Daniel_Kahneman_Reflection_on_a_Crisis#chapter_05
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times — HBS Working Knowledge
Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times — HBS Working Knowledge
Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times
Q&A with:
Michael Beer
Published:
February 9, 2009
Author:
Martha Lagace
Excerpts:
Economic difficulties need not mean that we lower our standards for leadership. If anything, we should raise our sights.
New work by HBS professor Michael Beer and colleagues shows that there is still a place for what they term uncompromising leadership. Due out this summer, the book High Commitment, High Performance: How to Build a Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage describes organizations that, Beer says, "are diametrically opposite to the firms we saw fail on Wall Street. The book's perspective also leads to answers to the question of how to manage in tough times in a way that avoids liquidation of human and cultural assets."
The book looks broadly at what it takes to build a high commitment, high performance (HCHP) system inside companies. It asks and answers questions such as: What outcomes must such an organization achieve in order to sustain commitment and performance? What are principled choices its leaders must make if they are serious about building such a firm? What are the means for changing an average company into a HCHP company? What are the key design features of such a firm?
In our email Q&A, Beer reflected on what he is learning from a long-term study of successful CEOs, some of them outlined in the August 2008 Harvard Business Review article, "The Uncompromising Leader," cowritten with Russell A. Eisenstat, Nathaniel Foote, Tobias Fredberg, and Flemming Norrgren. He also offers HBS Working Knowledge readers a preview of the ideas in High Commitment, High Performance: How to Build a Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage. Says Beer, "CEOs of HCHP companies think very differently about their employees. They see them as an asset and care about them as people." As a result they manage downturns differently from the norm, too.
read full article: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6108.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times
Q&A with:
Michael Beer
Published:
February 9, 2009
Author:
Martha Lagace
Excerpts:
Economic difficulties need not mean that we lower our standards for leadership. If anything, we should raise our sights.
New work by HBS professor Michael Beer and colleagues shows that there is still a place for what they term uncompromising leadership. Due out this summer, the book High Commitment, High Performance: How to Build a Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage describes organizations that, Beer says, "are diametrically opposite to the firms we saw fail on Wall Street. The book's perspective also leads to answers to the question of how to manage in tough times in a way that avoids liquidation of human and cultural assets."
The book looks broadly at what it takes to build a high commitment, high performance (HCHP) system inside companies. It asks and answers questions such as: What outcomes must such an organization achieve in order to sustain commitment and performance? What are principled choices its leaders must make if they are serious about building such a firm? What are the means for changing an average company into a HCHP company? What are the key design features of such a firm?
In our email Q&A, Beer reflected on what he is learning from a long-term study of successful CEOs, some of them outlined in the August 2008 Harvard Business Review article, "The Uncompromising Leader," cowritten with Russell A. Eisenstat, Nathaniel Foote, Tobias Fredberg, and Flemming Norrgren. He also offers HBS Working Knowledge readers a preview of the ideas in High Commitment, High Performance: How to Build a Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage. Says Beer, "CEOs of HCHP companies think very differently about their employees. They see them as an asset and care about them as people." As a result they manage downturns differently from the norm, too.
read full article: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6108.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
John Maxwell And Leadership: "The Boomerang Effect", From Slot Machine to Stock Market: Investment Strategies for Relationships
From Slot Machine to Stock Market: Investment Strategies for Relationships GiANT Impact
From Slot Machine to Stock Market: Investment Strategies for Relationships
By Dr. John C. Maxwell
Excerpts:
As I matured, I begin to place a higher value on people. As I made this transition, I noticed a fascinating development: the more I gave to relationships, the more I seemed to gain from relationships. In my book, Winning With People, I named this phenomenon The Boomerang Principle. What you put into relationships has a way of coming back to you.
During my time in leadership, I've noticed that people fall into three broad categories with regards to how they view relationships.
Instead of viewing relationships as a slot machine, picture them like the stock market. To get rich, make regular deposits in people over an extended period of time. At first, you may feel like the value of what you're putting in isn't worth the investment. However, like the stock market, in the long run, you'll reap dividends and earn rewards.
Read full article: http://www.giantimpact.com/articles/read/article_from_slot_machine_to_stock_market_investment_strategies_for_relatio/?utm_source=leadershipwired&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article&utm_campaign=lw-20090210
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
From Slot Machine to Stock Market: Investment Strategies for Relationships
By Dr. John C. Maxwell
Excerpts:
As I matured, I begin to place a higher value on people. As I made this transition, I noticed a fascinating development: the more I gave to relationships, the more I seemed to gain from relationships. In my book, Winning With People, I named this phenomenon The Boomerang Principle. What you put into relationships has a way of coming back to you.
During my time in leadership, I've noticed that people fall into three broad categories with regards to how they view relationships.
Instead of viewing relationships as a slot machine, picture them like the stock market. To get rich, make regular deposits in people over an extended period of time. At first, you may feel like the value of what you're putting in isn't worth the investment. However, like the stock market, in the long run, you'll reap dividends and earn rewards.
Read full article: http://www.giantimpact.com/articles/read/article_from_slot_machine_to_stock_market_investment_strategies_for_relatio/?utm_source=leadershipwired&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article&utm_campaign=lw-20090210
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
A Leader's Job - Bill George (former CEO of Medtronic) at the Stanford Faculty Club
Ed Batista: Bill George on Leadership at the Stanford Faculty Club
A Leader's Job
Note from Jim: Brought to you by Ed Batista, a consultant in executive coaching and change management. A must read.... The vision and experience of Bill George, retired Medtronic CEO, concerning leadership. Bill's presentation was made at the Stanford Faculty Club. Ed Batista's summary of Bill's comments are short, inspiring and powerful! It's so good it's worthy of a permanent link in my Blog under the catagory of leadership (left column).
Read full article: http://www.edbatista.com/2009/02/bill-george.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
A Leader's Job
Note from Jim: Brought to you by Ed Batista, a consultant in executive coaching and change management. A must read.... The vision and experience of Bill George, retired Medtronic CEO, concerning leadership. Bill's presentation was made at the Stanford Faculty Club. Ed Batista's summary of Bill's comments are short, inspiring and powerful! It's so good it's worthy of a permanent link in my Blog under the catagory of leadership (left column).
Read full article: http://www.edbatista.com/2009/02/bill-george.html
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Common Resume Blunders | Monster
Common Resume Blunders Monster
Is your resume sufficently compelling? A must read for any professional.
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Is your resume sufficently compelling? A must read for any professional.
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
A.M. Best Report: U.S. Insurers Poised for Turnaround
A.M. Best Report: U.S. P/C Industry's Profits Plunge; Insurers Poised for Turnaround
Excerpts:
Insurers Poised for Turnaround
Declining underwriting results and weak investment markets have brought property/casualty insurers to a critical point where future profitability depends on strict adherence to underwriting and reserving discipline"even at the expense of market share.
Read Full Article: http://www.pr-inside.com/a-m-best-report-u-s-p-c-industry-s-r1049814.htm
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Excerpts:
Insurers Poised for Turnaround
Declining underwriting results and weak investment markets have brought property/casualty insurers to a critical point where future profitability depends on strict adherence to underwriting and reserving discipline"even at the expense of market share.
Read Full Article: http://www.pr-inside.com/a-m-best-report-u-s-p-c-industry-s-r1049814.htm
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Yes, Most People Cheat Doing A Variety Of Things. Why People Cheat And To What Degree. Ways to Mitigate This. - Dan Ariely - Professor at Duke & MIT
TED: Dan Ariely on Why We Cheat Epicenter from Wired.com
Yes Most People CheatWhile Doing A Variety Of Things... Why People Cheat And To What Degree. Ways to Mitigate This. - Dan Ariely - Professor at Duke & MIT
Read full article: http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-1.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Yes Most People CheatWhile Doing A Variety Of Things... Why People Cheat And To What Degree. Ways to Mitigate This. - Dan Ariely - Professor at Duke & MIT
Read full article: http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-1.html
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Relationship & Marital Apocalypse:John Gottman's Research:"The Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse" (Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, & Stonewalling) .
ACT Professional Marriage Counseling Blog: Predictable Patterns of Marriage Breakdown
Relationship & Marital Apocalypse : John Gottman's Research:"The Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse" (Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, & Stonewalling).
"The Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse".
Predictable Patterns of Marriage Breakdown
Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.Friday, February 06, 2009
Excerpts:
Predictable patterns of marriage breakdownThere is no single reason why a relationship begins to break down. However, once a relationship does start to break down, there is a predictable sequence of events that tends to occur. Highly regarded psychologist and researcher John Gottman, Ph.D. suggests that there are four stages to this sequence which he has labeled, "The Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse".
The first stage of the breakdown process involves intractable conflict and complaints [and criticism]. They haven't learned to agree to diagree. [They havn't learned how to fight fairly]
In the second stage of the breakdown process, one or both spouses starts to feel contempt for the other, and each spouse's attitudes about their partner change for the worse.
The third stage of breakdown, characterized by partner's increasingly defensive behavior.
The forth and final stage of breakdown, characterized by a breakdown of basic trust between the partners, and increasing disengagement in the name of self-protection. Gottman labels this "Stonewalling".
Read full Article: http://www.counselingonlinesite.com/blog/2009/02/predictable-patterns-of-marriage.html
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Relationship & Marital Apocalypse : John Gottman's Research:"The Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse" (Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, & Stonewalling).
"The Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse".
Predictable Patterns of Marriage Breakdown
Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.Friday, February 06, 2009
Excerpts:
Predictable patterns of marriage breakdownThere is no single reason why a relationship begins to break down. However, once a relationship does start to break down, there is a predictable sequence of events that tends to occur. Highly regarded psychologist and researcher John Gottman, Ph.D. suggests that there are four stages to this sequence which he has labeled, "The Four Horsemen Of the Apocalypse".
The first stage of the breakdown process involves intractable conflict and complaints [and criticism]. They haven't learned to agree to diagree. [They havn't learned how to fight fairly]
In the second stage of the breakdown process, one or both spouses starts to feel contempt for the other, and each spouse's attitudes about their partner change for the worse.
The third stage of breakdown, characterized by partner's increasingly defensive behavior.
The forth and final stage of breakdown, characterized by a breakdown of basic trust between the partners, and increasing disengagement in the name of self-protection. Gottman labels this "Stonewalling".
Read full Article: http://www.counselingonlinesite.com/blog/2009/02/predictable-patterns-of-marriage.html
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment [A "Must Read"]
Psychology Today: The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment
Note from Jim: This article is a "must read"
-------------------------------------
Mindfulness
We need to live more in the moment. Living in the moment—also called mindfulness—is a state of active, open, intentional attention on the present. When you become mindful, you realize that you are not your thoughts; you become an observer of your thoughts from moment to moment without judging them.
Mindfulness involves being with your thoughts as they are, neither grasping at them nor pushing them away. Instead of letting your life go by without living it, you awaken to experience.
Cultivating a nonjudgmental awareness of the present bestows a host of benefits. Mindfulness reduces stress, boosts immune functioning, reduces chronic pain, lowers blood pressure, and helps patients cope with cancer. By alleviating stress, spending a few minutes a day actively focusing on living in the moment reduces the risk of heart disease. Mindfulness may even slow the progression of HIV.
Mindful people are happier, more exuberant, more empathetic, and more secure. They have higher self-esteem and are more accepting of their own weaknesses. Anchoring awareness in the here and now reduces the kinds of impulsivity and reactivity that underlie depression, binge eating, and attention problems. Mindful people can hear negative feedback without feeling threatened. They fight less with their romantic partners and are more accommodating and less defensive. As a result, mindful couples have more satisfying relationships.
"Everyone agrees it's important to live in the moment, but the problem is how," says Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Mindfulness. "When people are not in the moment, they're not there to know that they're not there." Overriding the distraction reflex and awakening to the present takes intentionality and practice.
1: To improve your performance, stop thinking about it (unselfconsciousness).
2: To avoid worrying about the future, focus on the present (savoring).
3: If you want a future with your significant other, inhabit the present (breathe).
4: To make the most of time, lose track of it (flow).
5: If something is bothering you, move toward it rather than away from it (acceptance).
6: Know that you don't know (engagement).
Read full article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20081027-000001.html
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Note from Jim: This article is a "must read"
-------------------------------------
Mindfulness
Psychology Today Magazine, Nov/Dec 2008
Article ID: 4696
The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment
We live in the age of distraction. Yet one of life's sharpest paradoxes is that your brightest future hinges on your ability to pay attention to the present.
By: Jay Dixit
Excerpts:
Life unfolds in the present. But so often, we let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized, and squandering the precious seconds of our lives as we worry about the future and ruminate about what's past. "We're living in a world that contributes in a major way to mental fragmentation, disintegration, distraction, decoherence," ...
We need to live more in the moment. Living in the moment—also called mindfulness—is a state of active, open, intentional attention on the present. When you become mindful, you realize that you are not your thoughts; you become an observer of your thoughts from moment to moment without judging them.
Mindfulness involves being with your thoughts as they are, neither grasping at them nor pushing them away. Instead of letting your life go by without living it, you awaken to experience.
Cultivating a nonjudgmental awareness of the present bestows a host of benefits. Mindfulness reduces stress, boosts immune functioning, reduces chronic pain, lowers blood pressure, and helps patients cope with cancer. By alleviating stress, spending a few minutes a day actively focusing on living in the moment reduces the risk of heart disease. Mindfulness may even slow the progression of HIV.
Mindful people are happier, more exuberant, more empathetic, and more secure. They have higher self-esteem and are more accepting of their own weaknesses. Anchoring awareness in the here and now reduces the kinds of impulsivity and reactivity that underlie depression, binge eating, and attention problems. Mindful people can hear negative feedback without feeling threatened. They fight less with their romantic partners and are more accommodating and less defensive. As a result, mindful couples have more satisfying relationships.
"Everyone agrees it's important to live in the moment, but the problem is how," says Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Mindfulness. "When people are not in the moment, they're not there to know that they're not there." Overriding the distraction reflex and awakening to the present takes intentionality and practice.
1: To improve your performance, stop thinking about it (unselfconsciousness).
2: To avoid worrying about the future, focus on the present (savoring).
3: If you want a future with your significant other, inhabit the present (breathe).
4: To make the most of time, lose track of it (flow).
5: If something is bothering you, move toward it rather than away from it (acceptance).
6: Know that you don't know (engagement).
Read full article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20081027-000001.html
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Don't Let Top Talent Get Away - BusinessWeek
Don't Let Top Talent Get Away - BusinessWeek
Business Week Insight
January 30, 2009, 12:13PM EST
Don't Let Top Talent Get Away
Dissatisfaction may be on the rise among your best performers, according to research from the Corporate Executive Board. You can get them to stay—if you pay
By Patricia O'Connell
Excerpts:
... research from the Corporate Executive Board (CEB).
Only 13% of senior executives at the vice-presidential level or higher say they are "willing to go above and beyond what is expected of them"—a decline from 29% two years ago. In the December survey of the CEB's 79,000 member employees worldwide at 123 organizations, 20% of all respondents said they were disengaged, vs. 10% two years ago. (Employees are classified as either engaged, neutral, or disengaged.)
"Most companies think that in the downturn employees, especially senior leaders, are just grateful to have a job," says Jean Martin, executive director of the CEB's Corporate Leadership Council. In fact, valued players are increasingly likely to be looking around. Among high-potential employees (identified as such by their employers) one out of four plans on quitting in the next 12 months. The best way to motivate the top group? Money.
CEB says compensation-based incentives are three times as likely to improve engagement among senior executives as among the workforce as a whole. To keep high-potential employees from defecting, companies should be investing in rewarding them and have a rigorous performance-management process in place to ensure a genuine meritocracy, says the CEB.
Read full article: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jan2009/ca20090130_941108.htm?campaign_id=managing_related
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Business Week Insight
January 30, 2009, 12:13PM EST
Don't Let Top Talent Get Away
Dissatisfaction may be on the rise among your best performers, according to research from the Corporate Executive Board. You can get them to stay—if you pay
By Patricia O'Connell
Excerpts:
... research from the Corporate Executive Board (CEB).
Only 13% of senior executives at the vice-presidential level or higher say they are "willing to go above and beyond what is expected of them"—a decline from 29% two years ago. In the December survey of the CEB's 79,000 member employees worldwide at 123 organizations, 20% of all respondents said they were disengaged, vs. 10% two years ago. (Employees are classified as either engaged, neutral, or disengaged.)
"Most companies think that in the downturn employees, especially senior leaders, are just grateful to have a job," says Jean Martin, executive director of the CEB's Corporate Leadership Council. In fact, valued players are increasingly likely to be looking around. Among high-potential employees (identified as such by their employers) one out of four plans on quitting in the next 12 months. The best way to motivate the top group? Money.
CEB says compensation-based incentives are three times as likely to improve engagement among senior executives as among the workforce as a whole. To keep high-potential employees from defecting, companies should be investing in rewarding them and have a rigorous performance-management process in place to ensure a genuine meritocracy, says the CEB.
Read full article: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jan2009/ca20090130_941108.htm?campaign_id=managing_related
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Fixing Executive Compensation Excesses - BusinessWeek
Fixing Executive Compensation Excesses - BusinessWeek
Business Week, Viewpoint
February 5, 2009, 6:02PM EST
Fixing Executive Compensation Excesses
The board members who decide a CEO's pay have a fundamental conflict of interest, and shareholders need to have more of a say
By Edward E. Lawler III
Excerpts:
Many boards are not in a position to say no to the CEO. In the U.S., the CEO is usually the chair of an organization's board and also selects its board members. In addition, continued tenure on the board often depends on the willingness of the CEO to support the reappointment of board members. As a result, it is the one place where pay is determined by people who report to the person whose pay is being set.
How do board members feel about the level of the executive compensation in the U.S.? We have been focusing on this issue as part of an ongoing survey of board members, conducted by my Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California and Heidrick & Struggles. Board members do acknowledge that CEO compensation is frequently too high. For the last 10 years more than 25% of board members have said it is generally too high, and 50% agree that it is too rich in some high-profile cases.
Given this attitude, one might wonder why board members have not been more active in controlling CEO pay. Part of the answer lies in their opinions about the compensation of their own company's CEO. In our recent survey of 115 boards, 85% of board members report that their CEO's compensation program is effective. Board members tend to feel, "We're okay; it's the other guys who are the problem." Given this and that they work for the CEO, it is not surprising that boards continue to support high levels of CEO compensation.
There are a number of pros and cons associated with shareholder votes, but that is the change most likely to leave companies with the opportunity to design effective compensation plans without government intervention—and at the same time satisfy shareholders with respect to the level of CEO compensation. If it fails to have its intended affect then and only then should we consider government mandated restrictions on executive compensation payments.
Read Full Article: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2009/ca2009025_072667.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_top+stories
------------------------------------------------
Edward E. Lawler III (http://www.edwardlawler.com/) is the author of Talent: Making People Your Competitive Advantage (Jossey-Bass, April, 2008) and Distinguished Professor of Business at Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. A leader in the fields of organization development and HR management, he is also director of the Center for Effective Organizations at USC.
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Business Week, Viewpoint
February 5, 2009, 6:02PM EST
Fixing Executive Compensation Excesses
The board members who decide a CEO's pay have a fundamental conflict of interest, and shareholders need to have more of a say
By Edward E. Lawler III
Excerpts:
Many boards are not in a position to say no to the CEO. In the U.S., the CEO is usually the chair of an organization's board and also selects its board members. In addition, continued tenure on the board often depends on the willingness of the CEO to support the reappointment of board members. As a result, it is the one place where pay is determined by people who report to the person whose pay is being set.
How do board members feel about the level of the executive compensation in the U.S.? We have been focusing on this issue as part of an ongoing survey of board members, conducted by my Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California and Heidrick & Struggles. Board members do acknowledge that CEO compensation is frequently too high. For the last 10 years more than 25% of board members have said it is generally too high, and 50% agree that it is too rich in some high-profile cases.
Given this attitude, one might wonder why board members have not been more active in controlling CEO pay. Part of the answer lies in their opinions about the compensation of their own company's CEO. In our recent survey of 115 boards, 85% of board members report that their CEO's compensation program is effective. Board members tend to feel, "We're okay; it's the other guys who are the problem." Given this and that they work for the CEO, it is not surprising that boards continue to support high levels of CEO compensation.
There are a number of pros and cons associated with shareholder votes, but that is the change most likely to leave companies with the opportunity to design effective compensation plans without government intervention—and at the same time satisfy shareholders with respect to the level of CEO compensation. If it fails to have its intended affect then and only then should we consider government mandated restrictions on executive compensation payments.
Read Full Article: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2009/ca2009025_072667.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_top+stories
------------------------------------------------
Edward E. Lawler III (http://www.edwardlawler.com/) is the author of Talent: Making People Your Competitive Advantage (Jossey-Bass, April, 2008) and Distinguished Professor of Business at Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. A leader in the fields of organization development and HR management, he is also director of the Center for Effective Organizations at USC.
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Friday, February 6, 2009
The crisis: Mobilizing boards for change - The McKinsey Quarterly - Mobilizing boards for change - Governance - Boards
The crisis: Mobilizing boards for change - The McKinsey Quarterly - Mobilizing boards for change - Governance - Boards
The crisis: Mobilizing boards for change
To meet the challenges of the economic crisis, corporate boards must change the way they work.
FEBRUARY 2009 • Andrew Campbell and Stuart Sinclair
Excerpts:
As companies grapple with uncertainty of a magnitude that few have experienced before, their boards should begin by questioning fundamental strategic assumptions: Is our view of the market realistic? Does our financing strategy take into account the new conditions? Should we reset the incentive scheme or abandon any approach based on share prices? Can we exploit the current glut of talent? How can we take advantage of the pain our competitors are experiencing?
Unfortunately, most corporate directors are likely to assume that radical change is unnecessary and that “normal service” will soon resume. Their experiences during less severe crises—such as those in 1990, 1997, or 2001—will lull them into a false sense of complacency; few will adjust their strategies and policies sufficiently. This behavior is the result of a clinically observed human trait of being overly influenced by past experiences and judgments. Experts on decision making call it anchoring. The problem is made worse by the natural rhythms that characterize how many boards are used to working—rhythms that tend to reinforce rather than challenge anchored thinking. We therefore argue that board chairmen need to play a special role in the coming months by challenging their boards to think things through afresh.
Read full article: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Governance/Boards/the_crisis_Mobilizing_boards_for_change_2300
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
The crisis: Mobilizing boards for change
To meet the challenges of the economic crisis, corporate boards must change the way they work.
FEBRUARY 2009 • Andrew Campbell and Stuart Sinclair
Excerpts:
As companies grapple with uncertainty of a magnitude that few have experienced before, their boards should begin by questioning fundamental strategic assumptions: Is our view of the market realistic? Does our financing strategy take into account the new conditions? Should we reset the incentive scheme or abandon any approach based on share prices? Can we exploit the current glut of talent? How can we take advantage of the pain our competitors are experiencing?
Unfortunately, most corporate directors are likely to assume that radical change is unnecessary and that “normal service” will soon resume. Their experiences during less severe crises—such as those in 1990, 1997, or 2001—will lull them into a false sense of complacency; few will adjust their strategies and policies sufficiently. This behavior is the result of a clinically observed human trait of being overly influenced by past experiences and judgments. Experts on decision making call it anchoring. The problem is made worse by the natural rhythms that characterize how many boards are used to working—rhythms that tend to reinforce rather than challenge anchored thinking. We therefore argue that board chairmen need to play a special role in the coming months by challenging their boards to think things through afresh.
Read full article: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Governance/Boards/the_crisis_Mobilizing_boards_for_change_2300
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
SEC Pushes Back IFRS Roadmap - - CFO.com
SEC Pushes Back IFRS Roadmap - - CFO.com
SEC Pushes Back IFRS Roadmap
By extending the comment period, the SEC could impede large U.S. companies from getting a head start on adopting the global rules.
Sarah Johnson - CFO.com US
February 4, 2009
Excerpts:
The Securities and Exchange Commission has given businesses two more months to respond to its proposed timeline for moving all U.S. public companies to international financial reporting standards. The extension of its public-comment period could hinder the hopes of the few companies that had wanted to get the go-ahead to apply IFRS to their U.S. filings later this year.
Still, even those companies eager to eliminate their U.S. GAAP-based books asked the SEC in their comment letters to give finance executives — currently busy finishing up their quarterly filings — more time to think about the commission's 165-page proposal. "The transition from U.S. GAAP to IFRS is not an accounting standard adoption exercise but rather a global project, impacting every facet of a company's operations," warned Margaret Smyth, controller of United Technologies Corp. However, she has been publicly encouraging the regulator to give companies the option of using the global rules even before rule-makers finish melding their standards.
Going against Smyth's wishes are the many factors slowing last year's momentum toward IFRS eventually replacing U.S. GAAP as Corporate America's main accounting language. Since former SEC chairman Christopher Cox presented the timeline in late August, the commission has become enmeshed in responding to the financial crisis, the effect on its own reputation from the Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme, and a change in leadership. "The change in administration and in political viewpoints is having an impact on the appetite for IFRS," says Brian Minnihan, assurance partner with the technology practice at BDO Seidman.
... According to James Barlow, corporate controller for health-care company Allergan, audit firms have estimated that a GAAP-to-IFRS switch will cost between 0.5 percent and 1 percent of a company's annual revenue in addition to two to three years of hard work. He figures his own company will spend at least four times the amount of money to implement IFRS as it spent on implementing the internal-control provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — a prospect that surely won't sit well with the many CFOs still shaking their heads over the headaches caused by Section 404.
Read full article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13056185/c_2984368
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
SEC Pushes Back IFRS Roadmap
By extending the comment period, the SEC could impede large U.S. companies from getting a head start on adopting the global rules.
Sarah Johnson - CFO.com US
February 4, 2009
Excerpts:
The Securities and Exchange Commission has given businesses two more months to respond to its proposed timeline for moving all U.S. public companies to international financial reporting standards. The extension of its public-comment period could hinder the hopes of the few companies that had wanted to get the go-ahead to apply IFRS to their U.S. filings later this year.
Still, even those companies eager to eliminate their U.S. GAAP-based books asked the SEC in their comment letters to give finance executives — currently busy finishing up their quarterly filings — more time to think about the commission's 165-page proposal. "The transition from U.S. GAAP to IFRS is not an accounting standard adoption exercise but rather a global project, impacting every facet of a company's operations," warned Margaret Smyth, controller of United Technologies Corp. However, she has been publicly encouraging the regulator to give companies the option of using the global rules even before rule-makers finish melding their standards.
Going against Smyth's wishes are the many factors slowing last year's momentum toward IFRS eventually replacing U.S. GAAP as Corporate America's main accounting language. Since former SEC chairman Christopher Cox presented the timeline in late August, the commission has become enmeshed in responding to the financial crisis, the effect on its own reputation from the Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme, and a change in leadership. "The change in administration and in political viewpoints is having an impact on the appetite for IFRS," says Brian Minnihan, assurance partner with the technology practice at BDO Seidman.
... According to James Barlow, corporate controller for health-care company Allergan, audit firms have estimated that a GAAP-to-IFRS switch will cost between 0.5 percent and 1 percent of a company's annual revenue in addition to two to three years of hard work. He figures his own company will spend at least four times the amount of money to implement IFRS as it spent on implementing the internal-control provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — a prospect that surely won't sit well with the many CFOs still shaking their heads over the headaches caused by Section 404.
Read full article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13056185/c_2984368
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Huge Changes in Store for Financial Statements - - CFO.com
Huge Changes in Store for Financial Statements - - CFO.com
Huge Changes in Store for Financial Statements
Thought the economy wreaked havoc on your financial statements? Wait until FASB gets through with them.
Tim Reason and Marie Leone - CFO.com US
January 30, 2009
A balance sheet that doesn't balance?
Financing and operating classifications that depend on your company type?
A (gulp) cash-basis income statement?
Excerpts:
... preparers of financial statements might be surprised to find that the above descriptions do accurately describe the look and feel that financial statements might have just two years from now.
"This particular project will change the face of financial statements in a very, very significant way," said Financial Accounting Standards Board member Thomas Linsmeier at a January 22 conference sponsored by the New York State Society of CPAs.
Among the notable features: all three statements — balance sheet, income statement, and cash-flow statement — will be divided into two major sections: business and financing.
"Users of financial statements analyze how a company creates value separately from how it funds that value creation," said FASB senior project manager Kim Petrone in a Webcast on Tuesday. "So we want to separate the creating activities from the financing activities."
The "business" section — which is subdivided into operating and investing categories — will focus on what a company does to produce goods and provide services. The operating category will include its primary or "core" revenue and expense-generating activities, and the investing category will include activities that generate a return but are not "core."
The "financing" section will include those activities that fund a company's business activities. For nonfinancial institutions, that would primarily include cash, bank loans, bonds, and other items that arise from general capital-raising activities.
Read full article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13048671/c_2984368
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Huge Changes in Store for Financial Statements
Thought the economy wreaked havoc on your financial statements? Wait until FASB gets through with them.
Tim Reason and Marie Leone - CFO.com US
January 30, 2009
A balance sheet that doesn't balance?
Financing and operating classifications that depend on your company type?
A (gulp) cash-basis income statement?
Excerpts:
... preparers of financial statements might be surprised to find that the above descriptions do accurately describe the look and feel that financial statements might have just two years from now.
"This particular project will change the face of financial statements in a very, very significant way," said Financial Accounting Standards Board member Thomas Linsmeier at a January 22 conference sponsored by the New York State Society of CPAs.
Among the notable features: all three statements — balance sheet, income statement, and cash-flow statement — will be divided into two major sections: business and financing.
"Users of financial statements analyze how a company creates value separately from how it funds that value creation," said FASB senior project manager Kim Petrone in a Webcast on Tuesday. "So we want to separate the creating activities from the financing activities."
The "business" section — which is subdivided into operating and investing categories — will focus on what a company does to produce goods and provide services. The operating category will include its primary or "core" revenue and expense-generating activities, and the investing category will include activities that generate a return but are not "core."
The "financing" section will include those activities that fund a company's business activities. For nonfinancial institutions, that would primarily include cash, bank loans, bonds, and other items that arise from general capital-raising activities.
Read full article: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13048671/c_2984368
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
New Salary Caps - Some analysts said the new rules wouldn’t have much effect
Bloomberg.com: Politics
2/5/2009
Some analysts said the new rules wouldn’t have much effect.
Excerpts:
Executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and hundreds of financial institutions receiving federal aid aren’t likely to be affected by pay restrictions announced yesterday by President Barack Obama.
The rules, created in response to growing public anger about the record bonuses the financial industry doled out last year, will apply only to top executives at companies that need “exceptional” assistance in the future. The limits aren’t retroactive, meaning firms that have already taken government money won’t be subject to the restrictions unless they have to come back for more.
Some analysts said the new rules wouldn’t have much effect.
In addition, some executives may be compensated for the potential reduced salaries with restricted stock grants, which may result in huge paydays after the bank repays the government assistance with interest.
“They’re just allowing companies to defer compensation,” said Graef Crystal, a former compensation consultant and author of “The Crystal Report on Executive Compensation.”
According to the new guidelines, announced at the White House yesterday by Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, senior executives at banks that negotiate “exceptional assistance” deals with Treasury, such as the targeted relief provided to Citigroup Inc. last November or to Bank of America Corp. in January, would be limited to annual compensation -- salary plus bonus -- of $500,000.
Read full article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=azVLk.22AkLI&refer=home
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
2/5/2009
Some analysts said the new rules wouldn’t have much effect.
Excerpts:
Executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and hundreds of financial institutions receiving federal aid aren’t likely to be affected by pay restrictions announced yesterday by President Barack Obama.
The rules, created in response to growing public anger about the record bonuses the financial industry doled out last year, will apply only to top executives at companies that need “exceptional” assistance in the future. The limits aren’t retroactive, meaning firms that have already taken government money won’t be subject to the restrictions unless they have to come back for more.
Some analysts said the new rules wouldn’t have much effect.
In addition, some executives may be compensated for the potential reduced salaries with restricted stock grants, which may result in huge paydays after the bank repays the government assistance with interest.
“They’re just allowing companies to defer compensation,” said Graef Crystal, a former compensation consultant and author of “The Crystal Report on Executive Compensation.”
According to the new guidelines, announced at the White House yesterday by Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, senior executives at banks that negotiate “exceptional assistance” deals with Treasury, such as the targeted relief provided to Citigroup Inc. last November or to Bank of America Corp. in January, would be limited to annual compensation -- salary plus bonus -- of $500,000.
Read full article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=azVLk.22AkLI&refer=home
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Confessions of a TED Addict
The Medium - Confessions of a TED Addict - NYTimes.com
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
Published: January 23, 2009
Confessions Of a TED Addict
Help. Here I go. My pulse is racing. I’m completely manic.
Excerpt:
Oh why oh why have I been bingeing on TED talks again? I promised myself I would quit watching the ecstatic series of head-rush disquisitions, available online, from violinists, political prisoners, brain scientists, novelists and Bill Clinton. But I can’t. Each hortatory TED talk starts with a bang and keeps banging till it explodes in fireworks. How can I shut it off? The speakers seem fevered, possessed, Pentecostal. No wonder I am, too, now.
A TED talk begins as an auditorium speech given at the multidisciplinary, invitation-only annual TED conference. (This year’s 25th-anniversary conference takes place next week in Long Beach, Calif.) TED then creates videos of the speeches and puts them online so they can find a broader audience — and usurp my life. There are around 370 speeches and counting on TED.com. A new one is added every weekday.
TED (which stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design”) was founded in 1984 by the architect Richard Saul Wurman and his partners. Their first conference included one of the first demonstrations of the Macintosh computer. In 2001, TED was acquired and is now run by Chris Anderson, the new-media entrepreneur who started Business 2.0, among other magazines and Web sites. Giving a TED talk has become an opportunity for name-in-lights speakers to throw down, set forth “ideas worth spreading” and prove their intellectual heroism.
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25wwln-medium-t.html?
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
Published: January 23, 2009
Confessions Of a TED Addict
Help. Here I go. My pulse is racing. I’m completely manic.
Excerpt:
Oh why oh why have I been bingeing on TED talks again? I promised myself I would quit watching the ecstatic series of head-rush disquisitions, available online, from violinists, political prisoners, brain scientists, novelists and Bill Clinton. But I can’t. Each hortatory TED talk starts with a bang and keeps banging till it explodes in fireworks. How can I shut it off? The speakers seem fevered, possessed, Pentecostal. No wonder I am, too, now.
A TED talk begins as an auditorium speech given at the multidisciplinary, invitation-only annual TED conference. (This year’s 25th-anniversary conference takes place next week in Long Beach, Calif.) TED then creates videos of the speeches and puts them online so they can find a broader audience — and usurp my life. There are around 370 speeches and counting on TED.com. A new one is added every weekday.
TED (which stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design”) was founded in 1984 by the architect Richard Saul Wurman and his partners. Their first conference included one of the first demonstrations of the Macintosh computer. In 2001, TED was acquired and is now run by Chris Anderson, the new-media entrepreneur who started Business 2.0, among other magazines and Web sites. Giving a TED talk has become an opportunity for name-in-lights speakers to throw down, set forth “ideas worth spreading” and prove their intellectual heroism.
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25wwln-medium-t.html?
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
What Do Women Want? - Discovering What Ignites Female Desire - NYTimes.com
What Do Women Want? - Discovering What Ignites Female Desire - NYTimes.com
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Jim Comment: Fascinating research about human sexuality and the influence of evolution in human behavior. Article speaks to the mysteries of male and female desire and how this research is conducted.
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Published: January 22, 2009
What Do Women Want?
By DANIEL BERGNER
Excerpt:
Published: January 22, 2009
Meredith Chivers is a creator of bonobo pornography. She is a 36-year-old psychology professor at Queen’s University in the small city of Kingston, Ontario, a highly regarded scientist and a member of the editorial board of the world’s leading journal of sexual research, Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
----------------------------------------------
Jim Comment: Fascinating research about human sexuality and the influence of evolution in human behavior. Article speaks to the mysteries of male and female desire and how this research is conducted.
----------------------------------------------
Published: January 22, 2009
What Do Women Want?
By DANIEL BERGNER
Excerpt:
Published: January 22, 2009
Meredith Chivers is a creator of bonobo pornography. She is a 36-year-old psychology professor at Queen’s University in the small city of Kingston, Ontario, a highly regarded scientist and a member of the editorial board of the world’s leading journal of sexual research, Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Surveys See Soft Market Bottoming Out Before Long
National Underwriter Property & Casualty
Surveys See Soft Market Bottoming Out Before Long
Investment losses, reinsurance hikes pressure carriers to start raising premiums
BY CAROLINE MCDONALD
2/2/2009
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Surveys See Soft Market Bottoming Out Before Long
Investment losses, reinsurance hikes pressure carriers to start raising premiums
BY CAROLINE MCDONALD
2/2/2009
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Work isn’t all that bad; it just takes a little time off to realise there is worse - Times Online
Work isn’t all that bad; it just takes a little time off to realise there is worse - Times Online
Work isn’t all that bad; it just takes a little time off to realise there is worse (Holiday/Vacation?; Watching Television?)
From The Time (Times Online UK)
February 3, 2009
Work isn’t all that bad; it just takes a little time off to realise there is worse
Sathnam Sanghera: Business life
Excerpts:
Americans survive because, ultimately, holidays aren’t that great and work is more fun than fun. And there are two factors behind my sudden belief in the meaningfulness of work, the first being that this column has suddenly become really quite hard to write.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, written by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
Elegantly written, Csikszentmihalyi merges research from the fields as diverse as consciousness, personal psychology and sociology in an original way and backs up his arguments with experiments he has conducted himself. And the experiment most relevant to the question of American workaholism involved Csikszentmihalyi asking more than a hundred men and women working full time in a variety of occupations to wear an electronic pager for one week and respond at random points to bleeps asking how they felt.
The results found that about half the time people were working they were confronting above-average challenges, using above-average skills and feeling happier, more cheerful, stronger, more creative and satisfied. In contrast, when engaged in leisure activities such as watching TV and “having friends over”, the corresponding figure was only 18 per cent and people typically reported feeling passive, weak, dull and dissatisfied. However, despite this, when these respondents were asked “Do you wish you had been doing something else?”, they said they wished they were doing something else to a much greater extent when working than when at leisure.
In other words, even though people generally find work rewarding and satisfying and leisure much less so, given the choice they would work less. Csikszentmihalyi calls this “the work paradox” and suggests the contradiction can be explained by a number of things, not least the fact that while people generally find work satisfying and rewarding, they “cannot stand a high level of challenge all the time”.
However, my preferred explanation is his assertion that when it comes to work, people do not heed the evidence of their senses. Basically, we are irrational on the topic of work and leisure. Why? Because we have been brainwashed into thinking of work as tedious and punishing, when it really isn’t.
Read full article: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5645005.ece
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Work isn’t all that bad; it just takes a little time off to realise there is worse (Holiday/Vacation?; Watching Television?)
From The Time (Times Online UK)
February 3, 2009
Work isn’t all that bad; it just takes a little time off to realise there is worse
Sathnam Sanghera: Business life
Excerpts:
Americans survive because, ultimately, holidays aren’t that great and work is more fun than fun. And there are two factors behind my sudden belief in the meaningfulness of work, the first being that this column has suddenly become really quite hard to write.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, written by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
Elegantly written, Csikszentmihalyi merges research from the fields as diverse as consciousness, personal psychology and sociology in an original way and backs up his arguments with experiments he has conducted himself. And the experiment most relevant to the question of American workaholism involved Csikszentmihalyi asking more than a hundred men and women working full time in a variety of occupations to wear an electronic pager for one week and respond at random points to bleeps asking how they felt.
The results found that about half the time people were working they were confronting above-average challenges, using above-average skills and feeling happier, more cheerful, stronger, more creative and satisfied. In contrast, when engaged in leisure activities such as watching TV and “having friends over”, the corresponding figure was only 18 per cent and people typically reported feeling passive, weak, dull and dissatisfied. However, despite this, when these respondents were asked “Do you wish you had been doing something else?”, they said they wished they were doing something else to a much greater extent when working than when at leisure.
In other words, even though people generally find work rewarding and satisfying and leisure much less so, given the choice they would work less. Csikszentmihalyi calls this “the work paradox” and suggests the contradiction can be explained by a number of things, not least the fact that while people generally find work satisfying and rewarding, they “cannot stand a high level of challenge all the time”.
However, my preferred explanation is his assertion that when it comes to work, people do not heed the evidence of their senses. Basically, we are irrational on the topic of work and leisure. Why? Because we have been brainwashed into thinking of work as tedious and punishing, when it really isn’t.
Read full article: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5645005.ece
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Seven ways to savor life: The Secret to Happiness
Health Bites thespectrum.com The Spectrum
Seven ways to savor life: The Secret to Happiness
Health Bites
The Secret to Happiness: Seven ways to savor life
by Morgan Lord • February 2, 2009
Science has proven you can get the smile-filled life you want anytime of the year. Lucky for us, it doesn’t require digging deep into your childhood, getting a bigger paycheck or finding your soul mate.“
Forty percent of your happiness is within your power to change,” says Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, and author of The How of Happiness. “Happiness doesn’t lie in our genetic makeup or in changing our circumstances, but in our daily intentional activities.”
Enjoying life is about taking the ups with the downs. “To have a full, rich life, you don’t just experience happiness,” says Dr. Russ Harris, MBBS, author of The Happiness Trap. “When people experience other feelings, like fear, sadness and anxiety, many struggle with them and sometimes fight them with food, drugs and alcohol, but you should instead recognize them, know that they’re completely normal and move on to the next feeling.”
Happy people have a higher income, more satisfying and longer marriages, more friends, stronger social support, richer social interactions, more activity and energy, a bolstered immune system, lowered stress levels, less pain and longer lives. In essence, happy individuals experience and react to events and circumstances in more positive, adaptive ways. Here are seven science-backed strategies you can do right away to boost your well-being:
Read full article: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20090202/STGEORGEMAGAZINE04/90120011
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This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Seven ways to savor life: The Secret to Happiness
Health Bites
The Secret to Happiness: Seven ways to savor life
by Morgan Lord • February 2, 2009
Science has proven you can get the smile-filled life you want anytime of the year. Lucky for us, it doesn’t require digging deep into your childhood, getting a bigger paycheck or finding your soul mate.“
Forty percent of your happiness is within your power to change,” says Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, and author of The How of Happiness. “Happiness doesn’t lie in our genetic makeup or in changing our circumstances, but in our daily intentional activities.”
Enjoying life is about taking the ups with the downs. “To have a full, rich life, you don’t just experience happiness,” says Dr. Russ Harris, MBBS, author of The Happiness Trap. “When people experience other feelings, like fear, sadness and anxiety, many struggle with them and sometimes fight them with food, drugs and alcohol, but you should instead recognize them, know that they’re completely normal and move on to the next feeling.”
Happy people have a higher income, more satisfying and longer marriages, more friends, stronger social support, richer social interactions, more activity and energy, a bolstered immune system, lowered stress levels, less pain and longer lives. In essence, happy individuals experience and react to events and circumstances in more positive, adaptive ways. Here are seven science-backed strategies you can do right away to boost your well-being:
Read full article: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20090202/STGEORGEMAGAZINE04/90120011
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Monday, February 2, 2009
At Home And At Work, ” Are You a “Love Cycler™” or a “Clicker™?” " on Positive Psychology News Daily
” Are You a “Love Cycler™” or a “Clicker™?” " on Positive Psychology News Daily
Are You a “Love Cycler™” or a “Clicker™?” By David J. Pollay
Positive Psychology News Daily, NY (David J. Pollay) - February 2, 2009, 9:00 am
Excerpts:
A Love Cycle happens when people in a relationship do not know who started doing what for whom; they only know that there is constant giving and receiving in the relationship. The love expressed and the good works done on each other’s behalf happen so often that there’s no purpose in keeping score. People in a Love Cycle are what I call “Love Cyclers™.” >
Many people in life walk around with their own clickers counting the number of things that people do for them. These people don’t want to give more than they get. They click because they do not trust. They spend valuable time clicking versus cycling the giving in a relationship. They are not “Love Cyclers” they are “Clickers.” >
University of Washington psychology researcher, John Gottman, discovered in his research that couples who keep score in their relationships are unhappy in their marriage. Gottman reports in his book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, “Happy spouses do not keep tabs on whether their mate is washing dishes as a payback because they cooked dinner. They do it because they generally feel positive about their spouse and their relationship.” >
Good leaders are Love Cyclers. They set the tone at work with their actions. They give, they offer, and they help. They tell stories of people helping them and supporting them. You see them volunteer. On the other hand, Clickers talk about who hasn’t helped them, who owes them, who’s giving them a hard time, and who they don’t like. The bottom line is that Clickers are so busy clicking that they are not loving. >
Jim Harter, Frank Schmidt, and Corey Keyes, three Positive Psychology researchers found that, “daily occurrences that bring about joy, interest, and love (or caring) lead to a bonding of individuals to each other, their work, and their organization.” When managers “pay attention and respond to each unique individual they manage, the daily experiences lead to higher frequency of joy, interest, and love (or caring) among their employees.” >
The bottom line is that Love Cyclers make better bosses and better spouses. So, when you go to work today, and when you go home tonight, think about leaving your clicker behind. Be a Love Cycler™. >
Do you choose to enhance your Love Cycle activities?
Read full article: http://pos-psych.com/news/david-j-pollay/200902021471
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Are You a “Love Cycler™” or a “Clicker™?” By David J. Pollay
Positive Psychology News Daily, NY (David J. Pollay) - February 2, 2009, 9:00 am
Excerpts:
A Love Cycle happens when people in a relationship do not know who started doing what for whom; they only know that there is constant giving and receiving in the relationship. The love expressed and the good works done on each other’s behalf happen so often that there’s no purpose in keeping score. People in a Love Cycle are what I call “Love Cyclers™.” >
Many people in life walk around with their own clickers counting the number of things that people do for them. These people don’t want to give more than they get. They click because they do not trust. They spend valuable time clicking versus cycling the giving in a relationship. They are not “Love Cyclers” they are “Clickers.” >
University of Washington psychology researcher, John Gottman, discovered in his research that couples who keep score in their relationships are unhappy in their marriage. Gottman reports in his book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, “Happy spouses do not keep tabs on whether their mate is washing dishes as a payback because they cooked dinner. They do it because they generally feel positive about their spouse and their relationship.” >
Good leaders are Love Cyclers. They set the tone at work with their actions. They give, they offer, and they help. They tell stories of people helping them and supporting them. You see them volunteer. On the other hand, Clickers talk about who hasn’t helped them, who owes them, who’s giving them a hard time, and who they don’t like. The bottom line is that Clickers are so busy clicking that they are not loving. >
Jim Harter, Frank Schmidt, and Corey Keyes, three Positive Psychology researchers found that, “daily occurrences that bring about joy, interest, and love (or caring) lead to a bonding of individuals to each other, their work, and their organization.” When managers “pay attention and respond to each unique individual they manage, the daily experiences lead to higher frequency of joy, interest, and love (or caring) among their employees.” >
The bottom line is that Love Cyclers make better bosses and better spouses. So, when you go to work today, and when you go home tonight, think about leaving your clicker behind. Be a Love Cycler™. >
Do you choose to enhance your Love Cycle activities?
Read full article: http://pos-psych.com/news/david-j-pollay/200902021471
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Success doesn't make you happy — happiness creates success
newsminer.com • Success doesn't make you happy — happiness creates success
Success doesn't make you happy — happiness creates success
By Judith Kleinfeld
Published Sunday, February 1, 2009
Excerpts:
Remember the saying, “Smile and the world smiles with you. Cry and you cry alone?” Research suggests the adage is true.
“Happy people are more likely to achieve favorable life circumstances,” finds psychologist Sonja Lyubomirski and her colleagues in a review of 225 studies, published in Psychological Bulletin.
It’s not that happiness comes from success. The insight of this research is that happiness also creates success; it’s a causal circle.
Read full article: http://newsminer.com/news/2009/feb/01/success-doesnt-make-you-happy-happiness-creates-su/
Postscript From Jim: Scientific research, in the field of "positive psychology" (American Psychological Association 1999) has found that happiness can be cultivated, learned and or enhanced. If you have an interest in learning how to cultivate or enhance your own happiness (and success) on my Blog, in the left-hand column, look under the category of the Psychology of Happiness. Happiness and learning how to achieve it are available here for your taking!!!!
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
Success doesn't make you happy — happiness creates success
By Judith Kleinfeld
Published Sunday, February 1, 2009
Excerpts:
Remember the saying, “Smile and the world smiles with you. Cry and you cry alone?” Research suggests the adage is true.
“Happy people are more likely to achieve favorable life circumstances,” finds psychologist Sonja Lyubomirski and her colleagues in a review of 225 studies, published in Psychological Bulletin.
It’s not that happiness comes from success. The insight of this research is that happiness also creates success; it’s a causal circle.
Read full article: http://newsminer.com/news/2009/feb/01/success-doesnt-make-you-happy-happiness-creates-su/
Postscript From Jim: Scientific research, in the field of "positive psychology" (American Psychological Association 1999) has found that happiness can be cultivated, learned and or enhanced. If you have an interest in learning how to cultivate or enhance your own happiness (and success) on my Blog, in the left-hand column, look under the category of the Psychology of Happiness. Happiness and learning how to achieve it are available here for your taking!!!!
***********************************************************************
This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.
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