The 2008 election season is upon us – whether we want it or not.

Every election is a marketplace of ideas with voters playing the role of the consumer.

Interestingly, consumer markets have changed dramatically since the last election with the advent of social media. Consumer opinion now drives many markets and buying decisions more than mass media or message control. For example, how many times have you bought a book from Amazon without reading other customers’ reviews?

Today’s consumer market demands authentic and transparent brands. Political campaigns are infamous for offering neither. That conflict could make this election season very interesting indeed.

Back to top

A BlackBerry is one way to stay connected to the world. A “BlackBerry Thumb” is one thing you never want to get.

The American Society of Hand Therapists coined the term several years ago as a catch-all phrase for cases of tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome caused by BlackBerries and other technology.

BlackBerry Thumb and related technology-related injuries have become more common in the workplace. Typing with the wrong hand position, using a mouse incorrectly, and holding a cell phone with your shoulder can cause a series of repetitive-stress injuries that result in insurance claims and missed days at work.

Here are some common problem situations that can be easily prevented:

• Elevating the back of the keyboard – The natural position of your hand is that your fingers should be lower than your wrists. If you lift the back of your keyboard up, you are forcing your wrists to bend upwards, unnaturally, and your fingers end up higher than your wrists. Typing like this over extended periods of time can cause painful wrist injuries.
• Using BlackBerry to respond to all emails – If you can, only respond to urgent emails on your BlackBerry. Leave non-urgent emails for when you are at your computer.
• Fingers above the wrist when using a mouse – Your wrist should be above your fingers to eliminate risks.
• Cradling your cell phone with your shoulder – Cervical radiculopathy is disk compression in the neck, often caused by repetitive cradling of a phone on the shoulder.

Read more about preventing injuries at work at about.com

Back to top

Next time you hold a brainstorming session, try emphasizing quantity over quality. Many creativity experts recommend setting a goal and a time limit for the session to stimulate the flow of ideas, e.g. 100 ideas in 20 minutes. Having a quantity goal also prevents you from judging ideas immediately, which is creativity killer.

Back to top

Three University of Chicago professors studied 225 CEOs to identify personal characteristics leading to company performance. The research found that hard skills (execution) are more important than soft skills (teamwork) when determining business success.

The researchers assessed CEOs on more than forty characteristics in seven general areas – leadership, personal, intellectual, motivational, interpersonal, technical and specific – and then compared that with company performance.

The skills showing the strongest correlation to performance were persistence, attention to detail, efficiency, analytical skills, and setting high standards.

The skills showing less correlation were strong oral communication, teamwork, flexibility/adaptability, enthusiasm, and listening skills.

The survey focused on CEOs being recruited by private equity and venture capital firms to run companies.

Read about the survey in the Wall Street Journal.

Download a copy of the survey report.

Back to top

www.bigthink.com

The Internet has always been a place for big ideas. Big Think is a place for consumers to interact with experts about some big ideas facing the world today. The website has recruited dozens of experts to comment on everything from the economy to faith to philanthropy. The experts provide a video commentary that users rate and comment upon. Users can even rate other users’ comments. The “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton” discussion, for example, has commentary by several presidential candidates and other scholars as well as numerous user comments.

Back to top

The Power of a Positive No by William Ury

William Ury builds a convincing case that the ability to say “no” is one of the biggest challenges facing individuals today given the stress and pace of our everyday lives. He wrote The Power of a Positive No as a way to help people take control in a way that respects all parties involved.

Ury identified what he calls the “Three-A Trap” that results from not saying no.

• Accommodate – We say yes when we want to say no.
• Attack – We say no poorly.
• Avoid – We say nothing at all.

Ury’s book proposes a formula for avoiding all three elements of the trap. The formula is Yes! No. Yes? The first step is knowing and saying “Yes!” to what is most important to you personally. That step allows you to execute the “No.” in a way that is a reflection of your values rather than an attack on the other person. The final step is an invitation to reach agreement by offering a solution that is represented by “Yes?”

Ury presents a step-by-step approach for each part of the Positive No formula and offers numerous examples from his consulting practice.

Back to top