WINNING: 6 Critical Steps To A Winning Company Culture
Creating the right company culture must be a top priority of every entrepreneur and business leader. Simply speaking, culture-driven businesses put their people first, and people make the business, rather than the other way around. Today’s business mantra must be “Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.” Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done.
Most entrepreneurs start from a base of one or two co-founders, and their vision and focus is on developing an innovative solution, rather than developing people. When they need more team members, they tend to assume that these will come with the same passion and motivation that the founders feel. Moving these employees to first place, ahead of their solution focus, doesn’t happen automatically or easily.
Once a product-first, customer-second, and employee-last culture is set, it is extremely hard to change. Transforming an existing culture is even harder than setting it correctly at the start, as outlined in a new book, “Cultural Transformations,” by leadership experts John Mattone and Nick Vaidya. They do believe it can be accomplished, with the six specific steps paraphrased here:
- Culture starts by thinking different and thinking big at the top. In the midst of daily crises and information overload, it takes a strong leader to develop and communicate regularly to employees the “big picture” of where the company is going and why that is a good thing from an employee perspective, as well as for customers and for society.
- Accept the vulnerability of confronting leadership mistakes. The best, most able entrepreneurs, look first at themselves and acknowledge that they make mistakes. They practice one of the most important leadership tenets from an employee perspective – humility. This is necessary to solidify the trust between leaders and team members.
- Communicate what greatness looks like in the roles you need. Team members will never create your desired culture if they don’t know what you expect of them. They need to understand and be rewarded for the desired attributes, competencies, and results. You need to paint a compelling future for your company that they can all connect with.
USA:A white Chicago police officer who fatally shot a black teen is filing an unusal lawsuit, claiming he was traumatized.
A white Chicago police officer who fatally shot a black 19-year-old college student and accidently killed a neighbor has filed a lawsuit against the teenager's estate, arguing the shooting left him traumatized.
The unusual lawsuit was filed Friday amid city leaders' efforts to win back the public's trust after several cases of alleged police misconduct.
Robert Rialmo's lawsuit provides the officer's first public account of how he says the Dec. 26 shooting happened. It says Rialmo opened fire after Quintonio LeGrier swung a bat at his head at close range.
LeGrier's father, Antonio LeGrier, filed a wrongful death lawsuit saying his son wasn't a threat. His attorney, Basileios Foutris, did not return messages seeking comment on the countersuit.
SOURCE: BUSINESSINSIDER
FREE LIVE STREAM: Stream The Super Bowl Online For Free In 2016
CBS SPORTS
Rejoice, millions of NFL fans, bazillions of Beyoncé fans and five Coldplay fans! Super Bowl Sunday is almost upon us.
Last year, over 114 million of you tuned in to watch the New England Patriots break the hearts of Seattle fans everywhere, as a one-yard-line Russell Wilson throw spelled doom for the Seahawks.
And just about 1.3 million of you did so by streaming the game online, through NBC’s website.This year, it’ll be just as easy to watch Super Bowl 50 online for free. No matter if you hail from Carolina or Colorado, just follow this link to CBS Sports’ live streamon Feb. 7 to watch the Broncos and Panthers battle it out for the ultimate Gatorade bath in Santa Clara, California.
While the first down won't be played until 6:30 p.m. ET, pregame programming and coverage begins at 11 a.m. And if you’re one of the select few with Verizon Wireless as your carrier, you can stream the game on your phone, with the NFL mobile app.
For those of you tuning in on Feb. 7 just for the commercials, treat yourself and read up on how Carolina and Denver got to The Game. For those of you tuning in on Feb. 7 just for The Game, treat yourself and read up on the very best examples of commercialism in recent memory.
It's youth vs. experience, Cam Newton vs. Peyton Manning, Panthers vs. Broncos. Let the countdown begin.
SOURCE:HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
TECHNOLOGY: How This Camera Could Make Instant Replay Truly Instant In Super Bowl 50
Professional sports are underpinned by massive amounts of technology – from how we interact, view and connect with the game to the wearable and connected tech used on and by the players and officials. So it’s no surprise that Super Bowl 50, which airs Sunday, February 7, 2016, will be one of the most technologically advanced games in history.
Levi Stadium had more than 400 miles of fiber and copper installed to accommodate 1,200 Wi-fi access points. They created one Wi-fi router for every one hundred seats. This is the first Super Bowl to be shot in 5K resolution. For perspective, normal HD is two million pixels, 5K resolution is 4.7 million pixels.
Then, there’s connected tech. On-field tracking and improved safety and tactical heads ups displays (HUD) makes the NFL an early adopter when it comes to player wearables. In Super Bowl 50, players will be tracked using Zebra Technologies on-field player tracking which uses RFID tags embedded into the players shoulder pads. The RFID tags track player data like speed, distance, orientation and change of directions on the field while the sensors on the player track their vital stats.
How does this change the game? For the viewer, it might look like your favorite player is being rotated on or off the field, but the real-time insight from the data provides a snapshot of things that are happening on the field that you can’t see. The data also gives the coaching staff the ability to decide of a player needs to be rested based on that data.
Here’s some perspective: in 1967, the year of the first Super Bowl, there’s virtually no play-by-play footage of the game because most of it was lost. In 2016, Microsoft MSFT -3.52% offers a view of what the Super Bowl 50 experience could be like through HoloLens.
So, let’s look at the possibility of a future Super Bowl game where instant replay was truly instant.
What if game officials had on-the-field, real-time access to video streams from cameras that analyzed scenes just like the human eye does. Clearer, precise and faster processing video would result in faster, more accurate decisions on the field and prevent delays caused by the league’s introduction of replay reviews by game officials, some of them located upstairs in the press box and some of the video even being reviewed by folks back at NFL HQ in New York.
A French company, Chronocam, has a neuromorphic-based vision camera and sensors that could change the meaning of instant replay for the NFL. The camera and sensors are biologically inspired by how the brain and eye work in tandem to process images. Chronocam’s camera and sensors can adapt vast changes in brightness, detect edges, signal temporal change and detect motion, like the human eye. The company focuses its cameras and sensors on applications on self-driving vehicles, drones and IoT devices, but their technology can be applied to any face-paced dynamic scene viewing environment by sampling different parts of the scene at different rates which mimicks how the eye works. With this approach, the parts of the scene that contain fast motions (like a specific parts of the play in question) are sampled rapidly, while slow-changing parts (players that aren’t involved in the play) are sampled at lower rates, down to zero if nothing changes.
Take Super Bowl 50, there may only be nine officials on the field but adding eye-like cameras to the mix could multiply the number of eyes on the game so no one misses a trick – or a holding penalty.
SOURCE: FORBES.COM
OIL: 1 Big Oil Dividend To Buy And 3 To Avoid
At first glance this looks like a terrible time to buy energy stocks. Oil prices are at historic lows, demand has pulled back, inventories are climbing, and global manipulators like OPEC and Iran are doing little to help.
But contrarian investing is successful because we invest against the herd and simple “first-level” notions.
I warned you to stay away from big oil when the goo was trading 50% higher, and I hope you listened. But oil prices will eventually find a bottom – and it’s almost time to get our big oil shopping list ready.The S&P 500 pays just 2.3%, but the firms I’m talking about pay from 3.9% all the way up to 8.7%. And these management teams take their dividends seriously – they continue to reiterate their commitments to keeping their payouts. ConocoPhillips (COP) CFO Jeff Sheets recently said that “Our top priority is the dividend. A compelling dividend is a core element of our value proposition and we think it is still appropriate.”
Unfortunately for Mr. Sheets, bad economics trumped his top priority. Yesterday, Conoco announced it lost $3.5 billion in the fourth quarter – and it’ll be slashing its dividend by more than 60%.
Who will be next to drop the dividend? I’ve got a few likely candidates in the sector. But first, let’s talk about the safest payout even today…
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) reported brutal fourth quarter earnings this week. Revenues fell 31.5% and earnings plunged 58% lower. That’s an earnings decrease of $501 million versus the prior quarter.
In the fourth quarter of 2014 the company realized a price of $63.30 per barrel of crude and $3.72 per cubic foot of natural gas. But last quarter, Exxon only received $34.36 and $1.80 respectively for the same fuel. That’s a 45% lower for crude and a 51% lowered in natural gas.
SOURCE: FORBES.COM
TECHNOLOGY: Google Apparently Wants Its Driverless Electric Cars To Be Cordless.
According to IEEE Spectrum, documents filed to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission indicate that new efforts toward Google’s prototype autonomous cars include the testing of several wireless charging systems for the vehicles in California. The systems come from two companies that specialize in creating charging plates for vehicles, Hevo Power and Momentum Dynamics.
Documents show that in the first half of 2015, the FCC gave both companies permission to install experimental chargers at Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters. IEEE Spectrum reports that Google engineers now have multiple Momentum Dynamics chargers at both headquarters and the former U.S. Air Force base, the Castle Commerce Center, where Google tests the cars.
At their roots, the wireless charging systems will be a tool to help individuals charge vehicles in a more accessible fashion—particularly, it seems, those who will depend on the cars due to their inability to drive. An additional goal is for self-driving cars to be able to charge between rides, allowing for automakers to produce smaller, lighter batteries. From IEEE Spectrum:
“We’ve heard countless stories from people who need a fully self-driving car today,” [director of Google’s driverless car program, Chris Urmson]wrote in December. “We’ve heard from people with health conditions ranging from vision problems to multiple sclerosis to autism to epilepsy who are frustrated with their dependence on others for even simple errands.”
All Google cars currently testing on public roads retain their traditional charging cables, according to IEEE Spectrum. But there are more extensive plans for the technology, even if they are lofty—IEEE Spectrum added that “ultimately, the infrastructure would be put in place that would allow a car to continually recharge its batteries as it travels along the road.”
At least one company is on that same page. From The Verge:
... companies like Qualcomm have variously suggested over the years that wireless chargers could someday be embedded in public roadways, enabling cars to stay charged even as they drive.
And while roadway charging could be a future goal—for more than just Google cars—IEEE Spectrum reports that both charging companies declined to confirm their potential work on the Google-car project. Google dodged the question as well, adding that it tests a lot of technologies for its driverless cars.
Whatever the future may be, at least we can bet that it won’t be disappointing.
SOURCE: JALOPNIK.COM
Competing To End Labor Trafficking In Global Supply Chains: With Technology
Photo: Markus Schreiber: migrants 2015
An estimated 14.2 million people are victims of forced labor in private economic activities, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). That’s a lot of people, and those goods produced with forced labor make their way into the global economy through complex supply chains, while businesses too busy with other things either don’t pay attention – or look away (at their increasing peril).
But awareness has been rising, and now an innovative competition has looked to technology for solutions to help identify and address a major obstacle in the quest forbetter corporate governance in any business – with less risk.
The Partnership For Freedom, a public-private partnership led by Humanity United and “dedicated to promoting innovative solutions to end modern day slavery in the United States and around the world” had what seems to me to be a very clever idea. It launched a competition - Rethink Supply Chains: The Tech Challenge To Fight Labor Trafficking,offering each finalist $20,000 and a grand prize of $250,000.
Announcing the finalists last week, Catherine Chen, director of investments at Humanity United ( part of the Omidyar Group) said: “Forced labor in global supply chains is a systemic problem. The solutions surfaced by these finalists leverage technology to combat this problem by bringing transparency to global supply chains and elevating workers’ voices across industries.”
The finalists were selected by a panel of judges with expertise across corporate supply chains, human rights, philanthropy and investing – all areas covered here.
SOURCE: FORBES
FOOTBALL: I will not retire at Barcelona - Mascherano
Barcelona star Javier Mascherano revealed he cannot envisage ending his professional career at the club due to physical demands - but hinted at a return to Argentina.
The Argentina international has been with the Spanish giants since 2010 after a €24million move from Premier League outfit Liverpool.
Mascherano has lifted 13 trophies in his time with Barca, but said he will only continue with the club for as long as his body holds up.
"I don't think that will happen [retiring at Barca]," the 31-year-old told Clarin.
"There will come a moment that because of my age I will not be able to keep up with the demands of Barca, especially physically.
"To play between 60 and 70 games and season is not easy. I would have to play at a club that is more in line with that I can achieve physically.
"But I will see how long I can give my maximum."
The midfielder-turned-central defender began his career with River Plate, and the Argentine said returning to his home country remains a chance.
"Yes, of course. But not with contempt," he said.
"I watch Argentinean football and I know that you have to be at a good physical level to play in it.
"There are much less games during a season than in Spain, and that is an advantage when you are older.
"In my head it is always to return. I will not allow myself to return if I'm not right, just on a whim. I will know if I can still perform."
SOURCE: GOAL.COM
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