Making better decisions

As everyone diligently seeks ways to improve efficiencies to support the ever-increasing call to "do more for less," process re-engineering is a key activity. However, it is important to also look at the factors contributing to our current state, much of which is arguably due to collective poor decision-making.

Accordingly, this is a prime opportunity to take some time to look at the process through which we arrive at decisions. By looking critically at that process, we may better understand how decisions are made and how we can help ensure that they are made well.

In a recent edition of the Harvard Business Review, Thomas Davenport identified a framework for improving decisions which includes:

1. Identification: List your decisions and prioritize them


2. Inventory: List the factors that need to go into each decision


3. Intervention: Design roles, processes, and behaviors

Read more at Harvard Business Review

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Demystifying cloud computing

Cloud computing. It sounds ethereal and a bit mystical, but what is it, exactly?

If you've heard this term batted around recently, but haven't yet wrapped your mind around it, here's a quick overview that we hope will clear up the, well, the cloud around it.

The traditional model for web site hosting requires that your web site and server-side applications be hosted on a physical server that sits at a physical location – either rented or at your offices. If your web site goes down or experiences slow-downs or outages, you or your service provider are responsible for tending to your server and getting things up and running as quickly as possible.

In this scenario, you are still responsible for making sure that you are aware of and able to report performance issues as they arise. You are also responsible for initiating and paying for the latest versions of any server-side applications you use such as Windows Server, Linux/UNIX, etc.

In a cloud infrastructure (also know as cloud computing), you don't actually own a physical server. Rather, you purchase an allocation of resources from a huge conglomeration of servers that are spread out all over the country and even around the world. This resource allocation is referred to as an "instance." If you require an instance that provides 3 gigabytes of storage, for example, then you would pay not for a server or part of a server that provides that, but rather for the resource itself. And because that service isn't tied directly to a single machine, but is shared by a powerful system of machines from a variety of geographical locations, you enjoy the benefits of universal physical redundancy, optimum performance, and inherent disaster recovery.

Additionally, your cloud provider is responsible for keeping your server-side applications up to date. That means you no longer have to keep track of or pay for the latest upgrades to your operating systems – as they are often included in the price of your instance.

To learn more about cloud computing (which we hope is not such a mystery anymore), read this article at Cnet News.

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Successful leadership communications

You need to make a phone call. No doubt, you've thought about who you want to talk to, what you want to say, how you want to say it, and finally, you usually know the best time to call and the right number.

The point is that when you need to make a phone call, you plan - you would never just turn on your phone, hit some keys and then start randomly speaking. However, that's what you are in effect doing if you fail to think critically about all the ways in which you communicate.

Whether you're conducting a face-to-face executive meeting, a town hall, or an email, it's important to ask: What do I hope to accomplish? Am I communicating with the right person? Is my call to action clear? Am I presenting the information in a way that is appealing and memorable?

Effective leaders communicate effectively, and Jacqueline Moore believes that good communicators can take a lesson from journalists. If you think you have room to grow as communicator, you may be interested to read these tips from The CEO Refresher.

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Content: It's not someone else's problem

Practically since the PC boom in the mid 1990s, individuals and organizations have been consumed - and even obsessed - with learning how to use available technology to deliver content.

But what about the content itself? Are we giving content the time and attention it deserves? After all, what good does it do to have a slick web site and to hold accounts on all the latest social media sites if no one cares about what you have to say?

The time and attention of members is at a premium, and as demands grow, time and attention will become more and more precious. If you want to add value and protect your relevance, getting in touch with members online is only part of the challenge - making sure you have something of value to offer is what will make them come back.

Good content that provides value in the right way to the right people at the right time doesn't just happen. It requires a solid content strategy. Kristina Halvorson is the founder and president of Brain Traffic, and she says that at its best, a content strategy defines:

• key themes and messages,


• recommended topics,


• content purpose (i.e., how content will bridge the space between audience needs and business requirements),


• content gap analysis,


• metadata frameworks and related content attributes,


• search engine optimization (SEO), and


• implications of strategic recommendations on content creation, publication, and governance.aving a solid content strategy in place requires

Read her article at A List Apart.

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Technology supported adaptive learning

The key to technology supported education is effective engagement of the interest of the learner. You'll be interested to know... there's an app for that.

Smart.fm is an adpative learning application that helps people remember new information by presenting it at a frequency and schedule that is most likely to support learning.

According to TechnologyReview.com, Smart.fm's "algorithms determine how often to present a piece of information to the user and in what context. For example, a completely new word and its translation are shown frequently, and a user is asked relatively easy questions about them, designed to jog the memory. But once the user has demonstrated the ability to recall that word and its meaning, this information will appear less often.

'Efficiency is the main thing,' Lewis says. 'We want to optimize the sweet spot between the minimum number of times you have to see an item and the maximum effectiveness of that presentation.'"

Read the article here.

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Lead with the brain in mind

According to recent research at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the social pain that people experience when they feel rejected causes a response in the brain similar to that of a physical blow. So when people say that it hurts to be left out or devalued, that's because the brain doesn't differentiate between physical and social suffering.

Researchers Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman hypothesized that "human beings evolved this link between social connection and physical discomfort within the brain because, to a mammal, being socially connected to caregivers is necessary for survival."

Any number of situations may cause social pain - from being excluded from a discussion to getting reprimanded, to taking a pay cut. In some organizations, employees are expected to rationalize the way these events make them feel, but in the long run, it creates resentment and makes people reluctant to become engaged and committed in the workplace.

Leaders who want to create a collaborative environment that brings out the best in everyone and optimizes creativity and collaboration will do well to recognize this dynamic and take conscious steps to lead with the brain in mind.

Read more at Strategy+Business.

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FEI Financial Reporting Blog: FEI Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR), SEC Chairman, Others Write Congress On Standard-Setting View Resource

FEI Financial Reporting Blog: FEI Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR), SEC Chairman, Others Write Congress On Standard-Setting

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Four Styles of Leadership

Rich Karlgaard, Publisher at Forbes.com, recently wrote about his experience of watching a panel at the recent Forbes Global CEO Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Karlgaard said that the panel discussion revealed four leadership styles:

• Visionary: This includes leaders such as Steve Jobs of Apple and Whole Foods' John Mackey.


• Empathetic: Leaders who fall under this style include Bill Hewlett, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard and Admiral Bill Owens.


• The Humble Servitude leadership style is demonstrated by people like Wal-Mart Chairman S. Robson Walton.


• Moral/Ethical leaders like Francis Yeoh, head of Malaysia's YTL Corp. are engaged in a powerful style, but one that is subject to human frailty.

Ultimately, states Karlgaard, the leadership style must fit both the leader and the organization. Read the entire article at Karlgaard's blog, DigitalRules.

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Age of Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurs are obsessed with solutions as much as they are with execution. They have the ideas and they are dedicated to implementing them. These are the people who change the world. The platform for social entrepreneurship is the not-for-profit corporation.

Renowned management expert Peter Drucker estimates that more than 800,000 not-for-profit organizations have been established over the past 30 years.

Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public says, "We're in this wonderfully creative period where it is the time to build the intelligent institutions that will support a competitive social half of society. To my mind, the single major evolutionary task that our generation faces is developing the democratic revolution's institutions beyond business in the social arena. And people are getting the idea that they can have a career doing this."

Ashoka was founded in 1980 by Bill Drayton in Washington, DC. The organization started with an annual budget of $50,000, and by 2006, had grown to nearly $30 million. Ashoka has established programs in over 60 countries, employs 160 staff in 25 regional offices throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Read about the journey of Bill Drayton and Ashoka at TheAtlantic.com

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