A Note From The President

Avil Beckford, President

Welcome to the premiere issue of Ambeck Edge. I struggled trying to decide what to include in the newsletter. I wanted it to be fresh and useful to my readers, while reflecting who I am. In each issue, you'll find A Note From The President, a Book Review, How Did They Do That?, Formula For Success, Results of a Survey, Featured Website, Ambeck's Strategy Play, a Poem, Quotation(s) and Games. For the How Did They Do That and Formula for Success sections business leaders were asked, “Describe a business challenge you've had and how you resolved it” and “What's the formula for success?” The newsletter will always include something for you to seriously think about. Sit back and enjoy!

Recently, I attended a network and learn event on the looming depression that will result because “54% of baby boomers will retire by 2010”. The presentation was informative, but the presenter was promoted as a demographics expert, yet there wasn't much demographics information in the presentation. It turns out that the presenter's job function is financial planning and hence the slant.

The presenter reasoned that about 30 percent of the population would have to support the 54% of the baby boomers who retire, and arrived at this figure by estimating how many people in the 46% were not able to work – those already retired and children.

After the event, I started to think about what was said, and I had many questions. These are some of the questions that you should be asking as well. Are most baby boomers going to retire at the age of 65 years? And, if they retire at 65 years, will there be a looming labour crisis as well? Is my organization an employer of choice? Have we conducted any workforce planning? What retention strategies do we have in place to retain our best employees in case of a crisis? Do we have a succession plan in place, and are we building bench strength? How financially literate are our employees? How many of our employees are contributing the maximum amounts to their 401 (K) and RRSP? What financial implications will a labor and financial crisis have on our organization?

The point I am illustrating is that one piece of information should not be taken in isolation and used to make important decisions. Investigate and always question what you hear, and get more information for a more balanced view. If you need information to make better decisions, call us.

Book Review

Same Words Different Language: How Men and Women Misunderstand Each Other at Work, and What to do About it, by Barbara Annis

Same Words Different Language by gender specialist Barbara Annis is an excellent research based, practical guide on gender communications. The book is suitable for anyone who lives and works with the opposite sex, and who is interested in improving communication with them.

The book talks about how men and women differ in the way they think, communicate, and assimilate information, which in turn leads to misunderstandings in the workplace. The author explains that no one gender is at fault for the misunderstanding, both men and women play an equal role in the misunderstandings.

The book explains the four levels of gender awareness – denial, recognition/awareness, confusion/frustration and partnership/congruence. As you might expect, these stages look very different in men and women. The book includes two questionnaires, one tailored for men and the other for women to help readers identify and understand which stage of awareness they are in.

Same Words Different Language also identifies the five top challenges that men and women experience with the opposite sex; explains blind spots and the different types of behaviour that men and women exhibit; provides many examples on how the same words have different meanings for men and women; and provides strategies and techniques to turn communication breakdowns in the workplace into win-win relationships. The book discusses how misunderstandings help to create conflict and harassment in the workplace.

I recommend this book because it's practical, research based, written clearly and provides solutions that are doable.

What Do Women Executives Value?

According to the results of the 2004 Global Corporate Values Barometer, women executives value:

• Good Health (94%)
• Having Good Friends (93%)
• A Job that Is Interesting (88%)
• A Home You Own (85%)
• Flexible Work Hours (81%)
• Free Time (79%)
• Children (71%)
• A College Education for My Children (69%)
• A College Education for Myself (65%)
• A Car (65%)
• Travel Abroad (65%)
• Job Security (64%)
• Spiritual Enrichment (57%)
• A Yard and Lawn (52%)
• A Job that Pays Much More than Average (50%)

Note: Based on an online survey of 1049 working women from eight of the countries (including Canada, China, India, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and the United States ) who participated in MainEvent TMS

Source: PRNewswire, May 10, 2004

How Did They Do That?

Jim Rohn – Business Philosopher

Challenge: "In the early `80's I had thirteen satellite offices, all filled with people working hard, but we were losing money. A number of advisors said that we should open more offices and the result would be that we would then make money. I disagreed. I figured that if we opened more offices, we would just be compounding the losses. At this point I was faced with a difficult decision, but difficult decisions are one of the skills necessary and often what leadership is about.”

Solution: “Strong leadership is required, at times, to make hard decisions. So I pulled the plug. We were already doing all that we could, yet it wasn't enough to make a profit using the strategy of satellite offices. We finally took our number of satellite offices down to only two -- the groups that were the strongest and most profitable. Then we went back to the basics and worked to become profitable again. I still remember the pain of that hard decision, because it affected so many people. By some, it could be perceived as failure. But for us it was a strategic decision that had to be made in order to make our company viable and successful for the long-term. And here we are decades later, more profitable than ever. Challenges like those that I faced are hard, but when you face them head on with courage, integrity and faith, you will be ahead of the game in the long run.”

Formula For Success

Chris Widener

“Know who you are, what you are good at and what you want to accomplish. Then play to your strengths and never give up.”

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