#you don’t understand it’s imperative to their efficiency for the rest of the day

[theshadowrealmitself]

Vulcan partner meditating by their Human partner’s bed after waking up before them, doing this every morning because they like to be near their partner as much as possible before going into work even though the probability of their partner accidentally smacking their head while they wake up is high

[ananyasethsah]

CA Intermediate Registration 2025: Step by step guide

Set out to obtain the prestigious credential of Chartered Accountant (CA)! Registration for the CA Intermediate course for May 2025 is now available through the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). You'll be able to efficiently and clearly traverse the CA Intermediate Registration 2025 procedure with the aid of this detailed guide.

We will cover everything in this tutorial, from comprehending the qualifying requirements to easily completing your application. By offering clear guidance and insightful counsel, we make sure you are equipped to successfully navigate this pivotal phase of your accounting career. The procedure will be easy to follow and smooth if you follow the step-by-step instructions and useful transitions. Get ready to go forward with clarity and confidence on this crucial step.

Don’t Delay: CA Intermediate Registration 2025

September 1, 2024 is the deadline for registering for the CA Inter Registration For May 2025. If you miss this crucial deadline, your tests will be moved to the next cycle. Take aggressive steps to prevent this. Make sure you fulfill all the prerequisites well in advance to avoid any issues and ensure a seamless registration procedure. To keep your dreams of becoming a chartered accountant on track, early preparation and timely submission are essential. You can prevent last-minute anxiety and make sure everything is ready for your CA Intermediate registration 2025 experience by organizing ahead of time.

Simplified Online CA Intermediate Registration 2025

For the CA Intermediate Registration 2025, the ICAI offers a user-friendly online portal. Go to the official ICAI website and adhere to the comprehensive, illustrated instructions. Remember to pay the registration fees (₹18,000 for both groups and ₹13,000 for a single group) in order to guarantee your seat. An easy-to-use system guarantees a smooth registration procedure for the tests in May 2025. You may safely guarantee your participation in the tests and prevent last-minute problems by being proactive and completing your registration early.

Map Out Your Strategy

Registration must be completed at least eight months in advance in order to be eligible for the May 2025 examinations. Therefore, it is imperative that you register by September 1, 2024, the CA Intermediate deadline. In addition to offering peace of mind, early registration allows you plenty of time to develop a solid study schedule, which is crucial for test success. Anticipative planning reduces stress and improves performance and readiness. By reserving your seat for the May 2025 examinations as soon as possible, you will have more time to devote to your study and increase your chances of passing the CA exams. By acting now, you can rest assured that on exam day, you will be confident and well-prepared.

Understand CA Intermediate Options

There are two primary routes for CA Intermediate Registration 2025, each with its own eligibility requirements:

Direct Entry Route: No need to complete the CA Foundation test, this track is perfect for graduates and postgraduates who fulfill certain academic requirements. It allows them to register immediately for the CA Intermediate examinations in May 2025. Graduates in business are required to have at least 55%, while those in other fields must have at least 60%. Make sure you are eligible before selecting this option. You may benefit from this expedited procedure by meeting these requirements. Which gives you the confidence to concentrate on your Intermediate test preparation. As long as you are eligible, you may take full advantage of this approach and focus confidently on your studies.

Foundation Route: Those who have completed the ICAI-conducted CA Foundation test are eligible to use this route. In order to advance to the Intermediate level, passing the Foundation exam is a must. Make sure to schedule the Foundation exam, if you haven't already passed it, when you register for CA Inter Registration For May 2025. If you prepare ahead of time and meet this prerequisite. You will be able to timely register for the CA Intermediate examinations in May 2025. This planning guarantees that you stay on course and fulfill all requirements for your Intermediate registration.

With the help of this guide, you will be able to register for CA Intermediate Registration 2025 with confidence. Act immediately, grab this chance, and start along the path of becoming a chartered accountant. By taking these actions and preparing beforehand, you can ensure a seamless registration process and lay the groundwork for your future professional success in accounting.

[rizychaudhari]

The Client Conundrum:  Don’t let small clients go : Delegate to Your Team

A Seasoned CPA's Perspective on Client Management Strategies

As a seasoned CPA with years of experience in the field, I've observed a recurring trend among accounting firms: the advice to let go of low-paying clients. While this may seem like a logical step in the pursuit of growth and profitability, I believe there's more to the story than meets the eye.

In recent years, many accounting coaches have advocated for shedding low-paying clients in favor of focusing on higher-value accounts. The rationale behind this approach is clear: by reallocating resources towards more lucrative clients, firms can increase their profitability and streamline their operations.

However, I beg to differ.

From my vantage point, dismissing low-paying clients is akin to disregarding the very foundation upon which our practices were built. These clients, often categorized as "C category clients," may not generate substantial revenue individually, but collectively, they play a crucial role in sustaining our businesses, especially in their formative years.

Think back to the early days of your practice. Were it not for these clients entrusting us with their financial matters, would we have had the opportunity to grow and thrive? It's essential to recognize the invaluable role they've played in our journey and honor that relationship accordingly.

Moreover, the decision to part ways with low-paying clients reflects a narrow understanding of business dynamics. While profitability is undoubtedly important, it shouldn't come at the expense of integrity and loyalty. Turning our backs on clients who've supported us through thick and thin sends a message of opportunism rather than gratitude.

Instead of adopting a "cut and run" mentality, I advocate for a more nuanced approach to client management—one rooted in empathy, communication, and strategic delegation.

Transparent Dialogue

As our practices evolve and expand, it's imperative to engage in transparent dialogue with our clients. Rather than abruptly severing ties, we owe it to them to explain the changes taking place within our firms and reassure them of our continued commitment to their success. Here is how can message this

As we continue to grow and evolve as a firm, I wanted to take a moment to share some updates regarding our client service approach.

“First and foremost, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your ongoing trust and partnership. Your support has been instrumental in our journey, and we remain committed to delivering the highest standard of service to meet your needs.

In our efforts to continually improve and optimise our operations, we have made some adjustments to our client management structure. As part of this initiative, I am pleased to introduce Paula Chapman as your dedicated central point of contact and service manager here at [Your Firm Name].

While I will always be available to address any questions or concerns you may have, I recognize the importance of managing my time effectively, particularly as our client portfolio continues to expand to more than 1000 clients. Rest assured, I will still be actively involved in overseeing your accounts and reviewing your financial numbers.

With Paula's expertise and support, we are confident that we can enhance the level of service we provide to you. Paula will be working closely with me to ensure that your needs are met promptly and efficiently. His role is to provide dedicated attention and support, complementing the service you have come to expect from our firm.

By leveraging the collective expertise of our team, we aim to offer you a more comprehensive and personalised experience. Our commitment to your success remains unwavering, and we believe that this collaborative approach will enable us to better serve your evolving needs.

Should you have any questions or require further clarification, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or Paula directly. We are here to support you every step of the way and look forward to continuing our partnership for years to come.

Thank you once again for entrusting us with your financial affairs. We value your relationship immensely and are grateful for the opportunity to serve you.

Delegating Responsibilities

In practical terms, this may involve delegating client management responsibilities to capable team members while maintaining a supervisory role. By empowering our staff to take on more significant responsibilities, we not only lighten our own workload but also enhance the level of service we provide to our clients.

In essence, it's about working smarter, not harder.

In my practice, I've implemented a structured approach to client communication and delegation, ensuring that each client receives the attention and support they deserve. By appointing dedicated service managers and fostering a culture of collaboration, we've been able to maintain strong relationships with our clients while optimizing our operational efficiency.

Ultimately, the art of client management lies in striking a delicate balance between profitability and principle. While the temptation to prioritize the bottom line may be strong, it's essential to remain true to the values that define us as professionals.

So, the next time you're tempted to let go of a low-paying client, pause and reflect on the journey that brought you to where you are today. Remember the trust they placed in you when you were just starting out, and consider how you can repay that loyalty with integrity and grace.

After all, in the ever-changing landscape of accounting, it's not just about the numbers—it's about the relationships we build along the way.

By approaching a problem with a strategic mindset, you may discover solutions rather than resorting to mere elimination.

In my upcoming blog post, I'll discuss an alternative approach to extending retirement by working fewer than 1000 hours, diverging from conventional coaching methods.

[universalinfo]

BUSINESS BLUEPRINT: CRAFTING A PLAN FOR YOUR MEDICAL STAFFING AGENCY STARTUP

In the fast-paced world of startups, ensuring a solid foundation is essential for any aspiring entrepreneur. Among the various niches you might venture into, the medical sector holds promise, demand, and the noble cause of service. A medical staffing agency, which plays a pivotal role in this sector, can be a lucrative and rewarding endeavor. But, like any other business, success hinges on a well-structured plan. With an emphasis on sourcing top-tier professionals like sports physical therapists, a medical staffing agency startup requires meticulous planning and strategy. Let’s dive deep into the essentials of drafting an effective business plan for this unique venture.

Understand the Market Demand

To create a thriving medical staffing agency, it’s essential first to understand the pulse of the market. The healthcare industry, diverse and vast, has varied requirements. One must identify which medical professionals are consistently in demand, like sports physical therapists. Why are they sought after? Is it due to a surge in sports-related injuries, or perhaps a general increased awareness about physical therapy? By partnering or consulting with sports clinics, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals, you can gain firsthand insights into their staffing needs. These collaborations can be mutually beneficial. They can rely on you to fill their needs swiftly, and you can rely on them for steady business. The deeper your understanding of the market, the better positioned you’ll be to address specific shortages and stay ahead of the competition.

Define Your Niche

Broadening your horizons might seem like an appealing strategy initially. After all, casting a wide net can yield more catch, right? However, in the world of medical staffing, it might dilute your agency’s value proposition. By zeroing in on a niche, you provide clarity to potential clients and job seekers. With the increasing demand for sports physical therapists, this area seems ripe for specialization. 

The benefits of focusing on this niche are twofold. Firstly, your hiring process becomes more efficient. You know exactly what qualifications to look for, which schools produce the best therapists, and what skill sets are most valuable. Secondly, your agency’s name becomes synonymous with sports therapy staffing. Healthcare centers will think of you first when they have a vacancy, and sports physical therapists will flock to your agency for the best job opportunities with https://i4searchgroup.com/contact-us/.

Solidify Your Funding

Every dream needs a solid financial foundation to transform into reality. Venturing into the medical staffing domain is no exception. You need to get a clear picture of the capital required not just to launch the agency, but also to sustain it through its early days. Begin by detailing the startup costs. This would encompass office space, initial staffing, technology infrastructure, and more. Then, project your operating expenses for the first year. How much will it cost to recruit professionals, especially specialists like sports physical therapists? What will be your marketing expenses? 

Don’t forget to account for licensing and compliance costs. Having a clear, detailed, and robust financial plan will not only help you secure funding more easily but also guide your spending decisions to ensure longevity and profitability.

Build a Strong Recruitment Process

Your agency’s reputation will largely rest on the caliber of professionals you place. A focused and stringent recruitment process is imperative. Start by understanding the exact requirements of the role. For instance, a sports physical therapist would need specific qualifications and experience levels. Once this is clear, design a multi-step hiring process. This should encompass an initial screening, where you sift through applications to identify potential fits. Background checks are an essential next step, ensuring that all provided details are accurate and that there are no red flags. 

Given the specialized nature of roles like sports physical therapists, verifying certifications is crucial. Lastly, the interview process should be comprehensive. It’s not just about gauging the professional competence of the candidate, but also their interpersonal skills, dedication, and cultural fit. A rigorous recruitment process not only ensures quality hires but also builds trust with medical establishments.

Marketing Your Agency

In an age where there’s a deluge of information and options, standing out is paramount. Your agency needs a distinct identity, a unique selling proposition. By concentrating on a niche like sports physical therapists, you already have a compelling angle. Leverage it in your marketing campaigns. A well-thought-out marketing strategy will target both healthcare establishments and potential hires. 

Use social media to showcase success stories, share testimonials, and highlight the benefits of associating with your agency. Joining professional networks can be beneficial, allowing you to rub shoulders with decision-makers in the healthcare domain. Moreover, attending industry events not only broadens your horizons but also firmly establishes your agency as a committed player in the medical staffing field.

Compliance and Licensing

A successful business is not just about profits; it’s also about integrity and credibility. When dealing with crucial roles in the healthcare domain, like sports physical therapists, ensuring that every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ is crossed is non-negotiable. Begin by researching the licensing requirements in your region. Different states might have varying regulations, so it’s vital to be compliant with all relevant jurisdictions. 

Moreover, familiarize yourself with federal regulations that might apply to your agency. Regularly reviewing and updating these licenses and ensuring that your entire team is aware of compliance protocols will fortify your agency’s reputation and avoid potential legal pitfalls.

Technology and Infrastructure

We live in a digital-first world. An agency that doesn’t adapt to technological advancements risks obsolescence. Start with a sleek, intuitive website that effectively communicates your value proposition. Highlighting your expertise in specific areas, like sports physical therapists, can be a unique draw for visitors. But a website is just the tip of the iceberg. Given the volume of applications and placements your agency might handle, an advanced applicant tracking system is indispensable. 

Such a system can help you manage applications, schedule interviews, and even provide analytical insights. Furthermore, consider investing in CRM software to manage your relationships with both healthcare establishments and professionals effectively. Leveraging technology will not only enhance efficiency but also significantly improve the experience for your clients and candidates.

Building Relationships

Relationships are the cornerstone of any business, and in the medical staffing domain, they’re even more crucial. Engaging with medical establishments is not just about filling their current requirements but understanding their future needs as well. Regular interactions, whether through meetings, calls, or emails, can provide valuable insights. For instance, if a medical facility has an increasing number of sports-related injuries, they might foresee a rising demand for sports physical therapists. Being privy to such information can help you anticipate and prepare for future staffing needs. 

On the flip side, maintaining strong ties with the professionals you recruit is equally important. By ensuring a smooth hiring process, providing them with adequate support, and addressing their concerns, you can ensure they become ambassadors for your agency, advocating on your behalf and enhancing your reputation.

Continuous Learning

Complacency is a perilous pitfall in any industry, more so in a domain as dynamic as healthcare. New methodologies, treatments, and techniques are consistently emerging. For those focusing on specialized roles, like sports physical therapists, being aware of the latest rehabilitation techniques or new equipment can be invaluable. Therefore, invest in continuous learning. 

This could be in the form of workshops, courses, or seminars for your team. By doing so, you not only increase the competency of your staff but also position your agency as one that values quality and is committed to excellence. Periodically reviewing and recalibrating your business strategies in light of new industry trends will keep your agency agile and responsive.

Feedback and Improvement

Every step taken, every decision made, is an opportunity to learn and grow. But for growth to be meaningful, it must be in the right direction. And who better to guide you than those you serve? Engage regularly with medical establishments and professionals, like sports physical therapists, to solicit their feedback. Their insights, whether praise or critique, can be a treasure trove of information. 

By addressing areas of concern and continuously enhancing your services, you’ll be ensuring that your agency is always in step with the needs of the market. Remember, feedback isn’t just about identifying gaps; it’s about consistently bridging them to offer unparalleled service.

Conclusion

Starting a medical staffing agency can be a lucrative endeavor, particularly when there’s a clear emphasis on in-demand professionals like sports physical therapists. The key lies in understanding the market, building strong relationships, and continuous improvement. By crafting a comprehensive business plan that underscores these elements, you’re setting the stage for a successful and rewarding enterprise in the medical staffing domain. Here’s to your success and the countless medical establishments and professionals you’ll positively impact!

Read More:

[chicharonsecrets]

A Capricorn’s Tale

"Never study to be successful, study for self-efficiency. Don't run behind success. Follow behind excellence, success will come all the way behind you." - Rajkumar Hirani & Abhijat Joshi, 3 Idiots

Six-year journey but there’s only a sentence which can summarize my entire high school experience – It was worth the fight. In my final year, I remember spending the summer at public libraries, at the review center where I was admitted as a full scholar, at home, at my friend’s house or at any place that allowed me to review peacefully, for one ultimate goal – to pass all my Scholarships and College Entrance Tests. I was not born with a silver spoon so I always searched for ways to help my parents carry the financial burden of my education. I was poor so I have no choice but to work hard. While most of my schoolmates were busy playing games, going to other places to relax, for vacation, I was busy making my future. In the end, the universe favors the bold and I was able to pass every test that I took with flying colors.

University of the Philippines

Mindanao State University (Academic Scholar)

University of Immaculate Concepcion (Full Scholar)

De La Salle University

Ateneo de Davao University

Philippine National Police Academy

DOST-SEI S&T Undergraduate Scholarship

How did I make it?!

Allow me to share 15 things I've learned in high school that helped me achieve my goals:

1. Listen to your teachers. We have one mouth and two ears, which means that we have to listen first before we can talk. When somebody is speaking in front, that is an opportunity to learn. We should never stop listening and learning, because that’s the only thing that can keep us relevant.

2. When you do not understand something, you have all the rights to ask questions. So do not be afraid to ask. It is the imperative of students to stay curious, to ask questions, to challenge existing facts, and to gain new learning.

3. Keep a handwritten personal checklist and schedule so you are always guided in finishing your tasks. I will always be thankful to my high school adviser who has introduced me to this technique. This has helped me more than anything to complete requirements on time and to stay focused. We are busy people so we have to make sure that we can remember the details of our tasks. This will also help you keep things planned out. You do not want anything to mess with your personal timeline, right?

5. Kill the deadline before it kills you! Be wise in procrastinating. (Oops! Consider this a personal high school hack.) When a task is due next week, you have 6 days to rest or spend your time on other activities but always dedicate the last day to finish your task. Do not leave a task unattended. And unless it can be accomplished within a day, do it days in advance or at your own pace.

6. Do not mind the mountains that you have to climb and the rivers that you have to cross. Keep your eyes on the prize. Remember that rocky roads will still take you to your destination. Keep on going.

7. NEVER compare yourself to others. This is really challenging when you belong in a class surrounded by academically stellar students. But remember, it does not matter how slowly you go for as long as you do not stop. When you're focused on thinking how others are greater or lesser than you are, you would never learn to appreciate all the blessings that come in your life. So stop comparing. Tell yourself each time thoughts of comparison enter your mind, “I'm too busy working on my own grass to notice if yours is greener.”.

8. Look for a role model. It can be a friend, a senior, or a teacher who you look up to. They can be people who inspires you, who has achieved great things in life.  If they can do it, then why can't you?

9. Believe in yourself. As J.M. Barrie said, “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” Doubt is the enemy of our dreams. In realizing our vision, it only takes one person to believe – that’s you. Who will believe in you if you do not believe in yourself? Our thoughts can be very powerful. We eventually become what we think. So, think like a winner.

10. Select your friends well. Surround yourself with people you can grow and achieve your goals with. Be wise in choosing your company because at many times, no matter how seemingly far your goals are, with the right company, you’ll get there in time.

11. Failure shouldn't stop you to achieve more. You cannot win every time but you can stand again each time you lose. Have that solid fighting spirit. It is certainly not an option but a necessity to survive. Everyone goes through it. Learn from it and grow.

12. Opportunities come to everyone but only those who are brave enough to act on them can succeed. When an opportunity comes knocking at your door, have the courage to welcome it. A lot of people do not regret the things that they have done but those that they did not do. Seize the day!

13. Dream high. Set a standard for yourself. Aim for the moon. When you fall, you'll land among the stars. Get that MS, PhD, JD, MD, at the end of your name. No sky is unreachable for a stalwart soul.

14. Always give yourself time to reflect. When the time comes and you think you can’t do it anymore, it is okay to take a time off. Humans are like gadgets. Even the most powerful phone in the world needs time to recharge when it’s out of battery. Go to your happy place and recalibrate yourself. Start again.

15. Remember your reason why. When you’re tired and weary, go back to the main reason why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place. It can be for your family, for yourself, for the nation. Look for a motivation because it will be the fuel that will keep your fire burning.

 When you are poor, options are only for the rich. Giving up is only for the weak. Success, it’s for everyone.

[letsmustafa]

COMMUNICATION

I) Introduction :

“Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively”  - Theo Gold (Author of Positive Thinking)

The very vital ingredient of life is to share feelings, expressions, to be get heard and add meanings. In fact, the key to life is means to communicate. In other word, we can say, only through communication can human life hold meaning. The process of understanding each other, express ideas, sharing opinion and passing of information or facts. And therefore, it’s imperative to be potent with effective communication skills and techniques in order to enrich the communication process more meaningful and efficient, eventually to be successful in any desired aim or task. We all are bind in relationship whether at home, workplace or in social affairs. Base of successful relationship is communication, and to do it effectively we have to be master in the art of effective communication. To communicate effectively, one must understand the emotion behind the information being said. Understanding communication skills such as; listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, and managing stress can help better the relationships one has with others.

“Your ability to communicate is an important tool in your pursuit of your goals, whether it is with your family, your co-workers or your clients and customers”  - Lee Brown (American politician, criminologist and businessman)

For many, communication seems like a gift. In reality, it is a skill that can be learned through education and practice. Thus, I strongly believe that, each and every individual can grow and become successful in their respective filed and achieve their desired goal if they are championed in effective communication and eager to learn and adopt it as their essential skill set.    

II) About Me :  

Born and brought up in defense area, a town in India, my upbringing has great influenced of military culture. Being retried naval personnel, my father has always given utmost important to disciplined life be it in education, sports or workplace. My mother, a housemaker, truly believe in freedom of open thinking and expression. She has been source of inspiration for us as siblings to pursue our dreams and has her immense support in every manner to achieve it. I, being the youngest, had more privilege to be with her and get nurtured under the shadow as the wife of warrior, a tough warrior in real life. 

As a defense ward, I was fortunate for having had my schooling in military school throughout and chance of meeting and interacting with colleagues coming from different part of the country. Spending my early life with friends, each one with special personality may it be their language, culture, living style, faith etc., was actually the great learning. I must say, defense kids are breed apart. They can adjust everywhere and has ability to manage life with everyone because of their wide exposure in their initial days. They are really blessed with skills to express themselves quite effectively and bond easily to create value network in life.      

Post completing my graduation, I moved to metro city New Delhi. City with full of scope and hope. Opportunity in every field and avenue to fulfill our dreams. I did my post-graduation (PG) here with an ambition of successful career in corporate world, and hence PG in an MBA with finance and marketing as specialization. Since then I’m a working professional in different sectors namely IT/ITES, HR Consulting and Real Estate respectively. My work domain largely involved; business development, marketing communication (MarCom), client relationship (CRM) and event management. My key result area (KRAs) also involved the part of database management (DBMS), management information (MIS) and team handling. 

With having experience of 12 years in different sectors and domain altogether, I always find a scope of learning, improvement and areas to challenge myself to upscale a level ahead from where I was last standing. Upgrading the communication tactics and strategy is organization demand to align with sophisticated corporate purpose and achieving core objectives. Sometime rejection and disapproval are obvious outcome. However, answer to all is keep on brushing and strengthening the communication strategies, keep it effective and nurture leadership quality with dynamic approach simultaneously.

“When you give yourself permission to communicate what matters to you in every situation you will have peace despite rejection or disapproval. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of the negative energy of fear and regret”  - Shannon L. Alder (An inspirational author)

III) Communication strategy and leadership:

Taking role as senior executive level, it’s important to quickly establish or elevate communication skill sets or program. I understand that, the higher we go, more people within the organization would want to know about what we are going to do and how will we do it. We may have inherited hundreds of staff distributed across the world, to whom we may need to communicate regarding our renewed mission, strategy or brand objectives. Furthermore, there may be numerous other stakeholders outside the company that we have to communicate to, like investors, banks, customers etc. Disciplined communication strategy is essential to get across the critical message to key stakeholders without it being drowned by the noise or lost in translation.  

It is crucial to implement excellent communication strategy for success in business world. To encourage members of a company to work together effectively. How team and team members within a company interact determines whether projects will run smoothly or be fraught with challenges. This is where leadership comes in. Good leadership and effective communication go hand in hand. Leaders interact with every team and a large number of employees, how a leader communicates sets the tone for the rest of the organization. Good leader should able to motivate, persuade and encourage others to work towards a common goal.

“When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that ‘a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall” - Abraham Lincoln (Statesman, lawyer and former US president)

It’s essential to identify the leadership style for better understanding on how we must interact with, and perceived by, employees across the organization. Irrespective of the position, we need to develop our individual leadership style and cultivate the essential habit of self-awareness. Even before entering the managerial position, leadership qualities are required depending upon the context and situation. It may be goal oriented, action based, people centric, behavioral etc. Excellent communication skills are required to manage a team at workplace or to manage organization efficiently. And communication gets affected by different leadership styles. To conclude, effective communication and leadership together gives an effective leadership communication. Communication makes a leader effective who develops better understanding in teams. These understanding bring a sense of trust in employees on the leader and on each other, work together, which further reinforce congenial relations with team members and creates an excellent work atmosphere. This enhance the dedication towards work and eventually helps to achieve the desired targets. Conceptual model of effective leadership communication can be explained as below –

Strategic Narrative -

There has been a tangential shift in the way communication is being approached in organizations today. This tangential shift from a formal directive method of communication to a more engaging and inclusive conversational style. The distance between the sender and the receiver is getting shorter and the need for inclusivity and relationship building through communication is getting stronger. One of the major reasons for this shift is the evolution of the workforce and the relationships they hope to make in the workplace. Formality and hierarchy have made way for equality and a flatter organization structure. It’s a common refrain in executive suites these days: “We need a new narrative.” Therefore, story telling is very effective way to excite, attract customers, to engage and motivate. A story that is concise but comprehensive.

“Storytelling can be described as the art of communication using stories and narratives”

When a person needs to be motivated or action is desired out of him/her, communication in the form of stories will generate a stronger reaction when compared to passive data given to him/her.

Active Listening, Receiving and Implementing Feedback –

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen” - Ernest Hemingway (An American journalist, novelist, short-story writer, and sportsman)

Effective leaders know when they need to talk and, more importantly, when they need to listen. employees’ opinions, ideas, and feedback are valuable. And when they do share, actively engage in the conversation—pose questions, invite them to elaborate, and take notes. It’s important to stay in the moment and avoid interrupting. It’s critical, though, that you don’t just listen to the feedback. You also need to act on it, to build up the faith, trust and transparency. By letting your employees know they were heard and then apprising them of any progress you can, or do, make, they’ll feel as though you value their perspective and are serious about improving.

IV) Conclusion :

Communication is the core of effective leadership. To influence and inspire the team, we’ve to be championed in transparency and practicing empathy. Need to understand how other perceive one’s perspective basis on verbal and non-verbal cues. Figure out the scope of improvement and development process and align the plan to guide and track progress.

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

The Matchmaker: Sixteen

Sunlight made the dust motes shine like glitter, drifting lazily on the breeze as you curled up in your favorite chair with a book. It was summer break and with no classes to teach and Bucky away on a mission you found yourself with an abundance of free time. 

You spent time with Rebecca, having her as an overnight guest often. Steve, Sam, Nat and other Avengers dropped by. To eat. To chat. To pick your brain... whatever the reason, you appreciated the company. The house was too big without Bucky rattling around in the other rooms. 

He was always tinkering. Adjusting. Planning. Having a house and a wife had seemed like such an impossible thing for so long that now that he had them, he was ecstatic. Always quick to do whatever little home repairs. Always thrilled to pamper you within an inch of your life.

You supposed, laying aside your book with a stretch that you should probably get up. You haven’t been on a run in a few days. Perhaps it’s the weather. The warm spring air making you feel lazy. Fatigue from the frantic last week of classes. But you feel leaden and heavy. Simple things leave you tired or slightly confounded. Part of it, you acknowledge could be some depression. 

Bucky’s been away for a few weeks now. Almost Three full weeks. You’ve counted. Over and over. You miss him. 

You really did try and get up. But the soft breeze, the comfortable chair, and the snuggly blanket prove especially soporific. You were asleep before you could even grab on to the thought that you needed to start dinner.

_________

Bucky dropped his gear next to the door and sighed. It had been a long mission. Mostly dull. He’d been sniping HYDRA agents which. while satisfying, wasn’t anything close to being at home. 

“Y/N?” he called, “You home?” When there was no answer, he shrugged. You might be out and about. He wandered through the house, basking in the quiet and the smell. Fresh bread and coffee. A lingering smell of your perfume. Laundry detergent. It was so different from any place he ever lived before but it smelled so good. He dreamed about this smell while he was away. About as often as he dreamed about being between your thighs. 

He stopped in the door of the front room, the weight of the mission dropping from his shoulders as he watched you sleep. You were curled in the Bamboo swivel chair, snuggled into the thick cushion, fast asleep. “Oh, Sweetheart,” he murmured softly. He smiled tenderly and toed off his shoes to pad quietly across the floor. He knelt slowly and leaned down, kissing your nose. His hair tickling your cheeks made you stir.

“Bucky?” you say groggily, smiling up at him, “You’re home.”

“My very own sleeping Beauty,” he teases gently, “I’m a lucky man.” Your cheeks color and you struggle to sit up, “I’m sorry... I meant to make sure there was food for you. Like a pie and stuff... Nat or someone was supposed to text me.”

“It’s okay,” he soothes, kissing you again, “Shhh, you were sleeping real good when I came in, baby. You probably needed it... You look like you still need it.”

He cups your cheek softly and frowns, “You feel okay, Princess? You look a little pale.” 

You nod, “Just kinda... groggy,” you tell him, “The last couple weeks of the semester were stressful.” He brushes his thumb over your cheekbone and smiles, “Then how about if we just order pizza. We’ll eat a little bit and then I’ll run us a bath.” 

“I should be taking care of you,” you murmur, turning your head to kiss his hand, “You just got home.” 

“Bah,” he said, “I’m fine, Princess. Nothing exciting happened. I just got to snipe some Nazis and cover Clint’s ass while he tried to cover Scott’s.” He smiled and tucked the blanket around you sweetly, “It’s good to be home, even without apple pie.” He pets your hair and stand slowly, “I’m gonna go get comfortable,” he said softly, “after that I’ll order us some food okay?” 

You nod wordlessly and stretch, trying to get going. Trying to get up, be a good wife and go help him. But you were asleep again before he could get back downstairs. Not sleeping hard, but drifting. Stuck in a hazy twilight state. Bucky paused at the doorway and frowned. 

You never slept like this, struggling so hard to stay awake. He picked up his phone and ordered pizza. Making sure that he also ordered a nice dessert. Something sweet might make you feel better. At the very least, he would enjoy a sweet thing. Now that he knew he’d almost gotten apple pie. 

He also made you an appointment for a check-up. He knew you’d go if he made you but he also knew you’d never make one yourself. Not if you could avoid it. You had a weird aversion to doctors that seemed to stem from growing up without insurance. You didn’t go unless it was imperative. It could be cute if it wasn’t so frustrating. 

When the pizza got there, he got plates and quietly bustled around laying things on the table trying not to wake you up. He started a movie for you, a comfort film that you could watch without having to think. “Baby,” he hums, shaking you awake tenderly, “rise and shine. There’s food. You hungry?” 

You stir a little and struggle to sit up, rubbing your eyes. He helps you up gently and settles you on the sofa, putting a plate with a slice of pizza on it into your hands. 

He knows you and he knows better than to put more than a little on your plate at a time. You’re a picker. You eat. But it’s usually very slowly. With very few exceptions you just don’t eat much at one time. If you aren’t feeling well, you’ll eat even less.

It doesn’t take long for him to find out that he was right. You take a few bites of pizza and a few bites of a brownie before pushing it away with a soft noise, curling up again, putting your head on his lap. Bucky sighs, “Sweetheart,” he murmured, “We’re taking you to get checked out tomorrow. I don’t like this.”

“I’m fine,” you protest yawning, “I’m just a little run down.”

Bucky pets your hair, “Humor me,” he murmurs, “Please, Princess? It might be some anemia. Or some vitamin being low.” 

You nod, “Fine,” you murmur, “but you have to hold my hand if they draw blood.” The former Assassin chuckled and set his plate aside, finally full. “I can do that,” he murmured, “if it means it’ll get you into the doctor’s office.”

_____________

In the morning you look a little better. A little more alert after a night with Bucky. He’d groused about being a teddy bear. About how he was a grown man and you had a ton of stuffies you could cuddle to death, but you knew it was just bluster. He didn’t mind being your giant teddy bear. A husband shaped body pillow. In fact, he rather enjoyed it. He knew you were safe if you were asleep on his chest. 

But, in the harsh light of the exam room, you were still pale. Pale and moving slow. It was enough to worry him a little. Still, you were up. And dressed. Clean. That was something. 

The nurse took your vitals, quick, efficient hands and cheerful demeanor. Bucky liked her. She told you the doctor would be in to see you soon and let herself out. 

It was still early and didn’t take long for a woman with sharp hazel eyes and grey hair tied into a bun to let herself in. “Did you come in of your own accord or did someone force you, Y/N?” she asked fondly. 

“I was coerced,” you snort, “Bucky’s worried about my... I guess it’s fatigue... I’m fine once I get on my feet and get going but getting going is the tricky part.”

She nods and makes a note on your chart before going to feel along your neck. Bucky clears his throat, “I’m not sure how long she was asleep before I got home yesterday but... She fell asleep for the might around 7:30 and didn’t get up this morning until 8am.” 

The doctor nods and frowns a little, “How long have you had this level of fatigue?” she asks. You shrug, “Really just the last couple weeks... I figured it was just the school year wrapping up, you know?” 

She nods, “That could be it,” she acknowledged. She made a note and glanced at your chart again, “Your birth control prescription's run out, I can write you another while you’re here unless you need something changed.” 

“I haven’t been taking it,” you admit, cheeks coloring. She nods, “In that case, I do want blood work done,” she said, matter of factly, “Just to make sure we cover our bases. How long has it been since your last period?”

You pause for a second, thinking, “I’m not sure... Stress tends to throw them out of whack.” She nods, “Well,” she said noting that in your chart too, “the nurse will be in, in just a second. We’ll run some tests and get back to you.” 

She shakes your hand and then Bucky’s before picking up your chart and stepping into the hall and having a quiet word with a nurse.

Before long, Bucky is letting you hide your face in his neck, murmuring soothing things as you’re getting blood drawn. You’re dizzy and sick feeling, even if you can’t see the blood leaving your body. He kisses your head and helps you sit up straight again when they’ve got what they need and helps you into your jacket. 

“Come on, beautiful,” he says, “Let’s get you out and moving around a little... There’s a little book shop we haven’t visited yet.” 

You nod, “You know how to show a girl a good time, don’t you?” you tease.

He grins, “Just my best girl,” he answers, “Come on, ya nerd. Let’s find you something in a dead language to read.” 

“I never took a girl on a date to look at prototypes of flying cars,” you shoot back, “Pretty sure you’re the nerd.”

He gasps and pretends to be offended as he escorts you out, “Moi?” he says, “You got me all wrong, doll. I’m 100% pure American Beefcake. No nerdery here. I’m too badass.”

You snort, “Sure, baby.” You stand on your toes and kiss his jaw fondly. 

___________

Bucky is happy to ply you with books and treats. Happy to see you really do perk up just a little as the day goes on and you get moving a little. Even if you do still feel “like a sloth running through syrup.” Currently, he’s idly stroking the feet that are resting in his lap and watching Heathers.

He’s gotten tired of not understanding the pop culture references that fly between you and Natasha. It’s a decent movie. He likes it well enough. But it doesn’t quite distract him from the worry that’s burrowed in the back of his mind.

 What if you’re sick? Really sick. He doesn’t think he could handle having you snatched away. In his head, he saw terrible things. Watched you snatched out of his arms a thousand different ways. It hurt. You’ve dozed off again, cozy on the couch, book against your chest. 

In a way, that’s comforting. The doctor wasn’t worried. You were probably fine. It was probably just vitamins or hormones. He tucked you in and kissed your head tenderly. He took a deep breath to quell the anxiety and sighed. If you were sick he’d take care of you. You’d get the best medical care and it would all be fine, he decided. 

When your phone rang, he glanced down at it. It was the Doctors office. He didn’t want to wake you up but he wanted to know. 

He picked up the phone and answered it, “Hello?”

“Hi,” the cheerful nurse from early replied as Bucky walked into the kitchen so he could talk and let you sleep, “Is Mrs. Barnes available?”

“Oh, uh. This is her husband,” he said. “I see,” she said. He heard keys tapping and folded his arm across his chest, waiting. “Oh!” she said cheerfully, “She does have a release on file for you... Well just let her know, her vitamin D levels are a little low so we’ve got a prescription for her at the pharmacy. Also, Congratulations!” she said hitting keys, “It looks like Y/N’s pregnant.”

Bucky almost dropped the phone, “I- thank you,” he stammered, “I’ll let her know.” The nurse laughed gently, “As soon as you can think, make sure you tell her to get in touch with us. We’ll get her set up for appointments... I thought you knew already or I would have lead with that.”

Bucky thanked her, feeling a little light-headed as he put the phone down. He gripped the counter and fought the urge to laugh. 

“Was that the Doctor’s office?” your soft voice behind him makes him turn and he melts. You’re wrapped up in your blanket and rubbing your eyes, trying to get you’re bearings. “Yeah,” he said grinning.

“Am I dying?” you tease. 

He feels tears well up and he pulls you against him gently, kissing the top of your head, “No,” he laughed. He took a deep breath and tilted your chin up, “You’re having a baby,” he said a little breathless. 

Your arms around his neck and your lips against his are the only answer he needs. You’re both crying as he lifts you up to set you on the counter, cradling your face in his hands. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said. “Jesus Christ, Princess, I was so scared.”

He hugs you to him, chuckling as you wrap your legs around his waist. “I love you,” you tell him, “I’m not going anywhere.”

He kisses you slowly and smiles, “Promise?”

You nod and brush hair out of his eyes, “I promise,” you tell him, wiping tears off his cheeks. 

He scoops you up gently and carries you up the stairs, “Where are we going?” you ask. 

“Upstairs,” he answers, “If I don’t get to kiss every inch of you, now, I’m gonna lose it.” You giggle even as you blush and smudge a kiss against his cheek. “If you ask nicely,” he teased, “I might even run you a bath.” 

“Only if you join me,” you tell him, pouting. 

He laughed and laid you on the bed, pulling off his t-shirt before sprawling out next to you, “Anything you want, sweetheart.”

You card your fingers through his hair as he nuzzled into your belly and smudged soft hungry kisses against the skin he’s exposing. You lounge against the pillows and sigh, “Does this mean if I ask you’ll let me have a puppy?”

He pinches your hip making you giggle and smiles, “God, you’re such a brat... but if I say yes, do I get to name it?”

“They baby or the dog?” you snort.

“Either. Yes?” he answered.

“You can pick names for the dog but I reserve the right to veto them if I hate it,” he said. 

“That’s fair,” Bucky said, easing your leggings over your hips, “I’ve met me.”

Tags: @lancsnerd​ @stevieang​ @golddaggers​ @blameitonthecauseway @qxeen-of-hearts​ @process-pending​ @xmarveled​ @beautybyfire, @etherealwaifgoddess, @mschellehitt, @mistressoftorture @thorfanficwriter, @ctinadiva, @innerpaperexpertcloud @amalthea9  @cdwmtjb8 @notyourtypicalrose

[arthurhwalker]

Lenovo TechWorld 2019

Disclosure: I attended Lenovo TechWorld 2019 in Beijing as Lenovo’s Guest. I sat in a super fan / brand advocate seat, and attended in that capacity. Lenovo asks that, as part of my participation, I follow all FTC disclosure laws relative to sponsored content. All opinions are my own.

Disclosure: I consumed the majority of Lenovo TechWorld 2019 via an earbud, translators working hard to turn Chinese into English on the other end. Something may have gotten lost in the translation, and I’ve tried my best to get clarity in those cases where I suspect that happened.

Lenovo HQ Tour - Day Zero

The tour wasn’t what I was expecting. It was definitely a marketing experience, designed to influence influencers and the media. It was well produced, had something for everyone, and a little more.

I write extensively about identity and digital identity in my speculative science fiction series. I’ve read Derek Parfit’s work, and Christine M. Korsgaard’s “Self-Constitution”. The philosophical implications of identity are something I’ve explored in great depth. To that end, Lenovo may be one of a precious few tech companies looking to empower (as opposed to exploit) the user, via their identity.

In philosophy, whenever someone is merely a means in the process of your decision making, you’re probably a jerk, or in the process of acting like one. Lenovo sees a person’s identity as more than a means to create markets for themselves, and is looking through the eyes of the user for how they would relate to potential markets instead.

When I stepped into Lenovo’s unmanned employee store, using my face, it sort of hit home what they were wanting to do. The store had a curious assortment of snacks, food, and drinks. Were the contents curated based on the patronage? I wished I’d asked, but I suspect that’s the cases. Instead of a marketing edifice trying desperately to contrive demand, the store felt more like the corner market that served a neighborhood.

It was an odd sensation to have in a high tech store that didn’t have personnel, but still had personality. That of the folks that shopped there, perhaps? There was the quick bite to eat for lunch, necessities people might grab to avoid a trip to the market on the way home, and the afternoon snack. Nothing was arranged to market the goods in a specific way. It felt more like a community pantry that had contents aggregated over time, to suit the needs of the patrons.

I haven’t had that sensation since I was a young person, standing in the corner market of an old neighborhood where some of my extended family dwelled. That’s where the familiarity ended, though.

In China, commerce is just handled differently. On the outside, it feels a little impersonal to use WeChat or Alipay on your phone to make a transaction. However, I saw the flip side, while I was shopping at Lenovo’s pop up store at the TechWorld venue. They had a Lenovo Legion backpack I wanted (well, needed. It was red!), but I didn’t have WeChat set up to pay, or enough cash.

Nevertheless, the young woman helping me was determined to make the transaction happen. The other employees gathered around, and we talked it over. In the end, she became the handler in the exchange. I gave her the money using Alipay, and she used her WeChat to complete the transaction at the point of sale. This sort of economic decentralization happens at the user level in China.

Having based my book series around a global fiscal collapse, it was interesting to see how Lenovo (and to some degree, China) is making sure the future I’m somewhat afraid of, never happens. Where technology doesn’t reach all the way to the ground, to the common person, it will generally either fail at best, or at worst, exploit the common person.

There were other demonstrations of this notion in the home, and workplace, throughout the tour. The extreme care taken to make sure Lenovo’s products don’t interfere with the user, or their other devices shed light on why I keep buying from them. From a very high developmental level, Lenovo’s products put the user first.

TechWorld - Day 1: Commercial

During the commercial keynote, there was a lot of marketing babble, buzzwords, and hype. It was hard to pick out the gems, the bits that really will resonate in the industry. This is to be expected whenever a company goes large on the stage to sell themselves. This isn't criticism of Lenovo, it's a realization of all that is at stake.

Lenovo wants to change China, and by virtue of that, influence change in the rest of the world.

Lenovo has realized what many companies in the West have not. Decentralizing processes, beside transparent data acquisition, has tremendous potential. This is particularly true for countries with large populations. Each person represents an opportunity to create or serve particular markets.

The assumption is that automation will take jobs from humans, and give them to robots. That edge computing will make people in the field obsolete. I don’t think that is the case. Lenovo has seen that the optimization of processes is one of the last ways technology can improve the profits of companies, while helping preserve the environment. We don’t need less people and more robots, we need more efficient processes underlying the work done by both man and machine.

This is marketable both for companies that want to go greener by reducing waste, while saving money on power consumption. The sum of that vision rests with edge computing built on system agnostic, easy to produce hardware, with software to match. So that data acquisition isn't reliant on crafting new products for each industry.

During the first day I wondered if this approach would trickle down to the regular consumer, with edge computing coming to the home. People already struggle to trust that technology in their homes. Lenovo understands that anxiety; from toggles on webcams, to the hardware switches on microphone-equipped smart home devices.  

They intend to start building that trust by using block-chain to track the food supply in China. If they can make the delivery of necessities in China safer, people will learn to trust the technology. In the United States, there is deep distrust of anything resembling this kind of data acquisition. Worldwide, trust is often the barrier to reaching out to better industry practices and economic models.

If Lenovo pulls it off in China, a billion people on the planet will be closer to trusting the decentralization of data, and data acquisition, via edge computing. The counter argument is that it all requires data centers, something on the other side of the edge computing bridge from the Internet of Things. Something to manage that data acquisition, that isn’t necessarily transparent to end users, outside of the institutional control of said data centers.

I know the above paragraphs looks like a lot of buzzwords and technobabble, but decentralizing data will lead to the democratization of technology, economies, and greater control of one’s personal data. The reason underlying this is that Lenovo is using open source type hardware (ARM) and software (Linux) in their edge computing solutions.

I would be the first to point out that this is likely by necessity as opposed to genuinely held benevolent intent if not for a conversation with Lenovo’s Chief Communications Officer, Torod Neptune. I was, perhaps, a little more vocal during the round table than I should have been, but I wanted to know where Lenovo really stood. If their push for the democratization of technology would be inclusive to all people. Mister Neptune assured me that it was, and that the notion was at the top of their ethics hierarchy.

I’m very skeptical when it comes to the good intentions of corporations. If you’ve read my speculative science fiction series, I do not cast corporations, or the government entities responsible for regulating them, in a very good light. I designed the series during the Occupy Wall Street movement. I spent some of the trip looking for where Lenovo had deviated from what Torod Neptune was pitching at the meeting with him. I see problems in the industry, but Lenovo isn’t at the root of them, and they may even swing things the other way at the commercial and institutional level.

That said, Lenovo has some challenges where inclusive access to technology is concerned.

TechWorld - Day 2: Consumer, Small Business, Consultancy

The second day was full of epic wins, and some missteps. Lenovo seemed conflicted, sending a mixed message on stage. I’ll break it down as best as I can.

The Good: There was talk of making technology more democratic, edge computing in the residential consumer market, bespoke cloud services, and access to technology, artificial intelligence, and data privacy for people with special needs. The decentralization of the Internet is the next step, the next big thing, and Lenovo is keenly aware of this. They understand that the market for such is emerging, regardless, and that there is an opportunity for every single person in that market.

The narrative from day one, about leveraging AI, smart data center management, and edge computing data acquisition would trickle down to the average user of tech in the home, and on the street. Lenovo’s message wasn’t that they were creating that market, but that they were ready to provide products thereof, almost like it was an evolutionary imperative that they were merely ready for.

I didn’t think much of the Thinkbook and Thinkplus line until I understood it a little better and who it is being marketed to. If you want to start your own global tech consultancy with automated customer care, and a small office staff, Lenovo is trying to provide hardware, and language translation support to that end. They are making big things for the little guy, and I approve.

The Bad: The second day was sprinkled with casual sexism, with a decidedly male-focused keynote, then capped off with Lenovo announcing a very respectful sponsorship of the Chinese Women’s Volleyball Team. I clapped, I cringed, I wanted to cry, and for various reasons. I feel like a few product managers and executives hadn’t gotten Torod Neptune’s memo about inclusivity.

Others, thankfully, were on point.

Lenovo is far from the only tech company grappling with these issues. Stating that there are many attractive females employed in a particular division of the company shouldn’t be an acceptable means to sell product. The message delivered for Thinkbook, and Thinkplus, were that they were “The Young Man” of the workplace, looking to start his consultancy, or small business venture. That he’d have hardware options for himself, and his female assistant.

The appeal of the Thinkbook / Plus product lines transcends gender, and the marketing should have reflected that. That women were excluded as customers during the keynote was a mistake. Hopefully, when those products start reaching the US, Lenovo doesn’t continue the tragic narrative put forward at TechWorld.

The two women they put on the stage as product managers were there, as directed by the man leading the keynote. One was the product manager for the Yoga Book 2, or Yoga Book C930 as it is also called. I’d have really liked to see her up there by herself, pitching the product, without a guy as the conversational prompt.

It’s important to note that what I saw is not the trend at Lenovo. They released their 2nd annual Diversity and Inclusion report a few days after Techworld. Lenovo’s workforce is 36.2 percent female, up 1.2 percent from 2018.

Traditionally under-represented racial and ethnic groups are on the rise in the executive ranks in the U.S. workforce, at 27.4 percent. Lenovo wants to make it 28 percent by 2020.

When I attended CES earlier this year, I was able to sit in at a conference, hosted by Lenovo, for women in the tech industry to meet and discuss the challenges they face in the workforce. It is these things that stand in contrast to what I saw on stage at TechWorld in China. Definitely, I’ll be paying close attention to whether Lenovo pushes the needle toward inclusion, and equity.

In that, I am hopeful.

Conclusion: TechWorld 2019 Overview

Getting to see the connected narrative of days one and two between artificial intelligence, data acquisition, and edge computing was something I needed. I don’t think people in the consumer market understand the influence of these things in their daily lives, and as a result, are afraid of those influences.

Sadly, companies like Google and Amazon do an excellent job of making it worse by lacking transparency in their data acquisition in a residential setting.

Lenovo talked about GPU virtualization in the cloud during the Day 1 Keynote. I’m giddy at all the possible applications thereof. I hope one day to have an extremely thin and light drawing tablet in hand, 5G connected, that can handle commercial applications, rendering done quickly in the cloud. The primary barrier to that being a reality, is trust.  

Lenovo has a genuine opportunity to change the narrative at an industry level if they can make data collection via edge computing transparent, and democratic. Will Lenovo hold to that narrative? It starts with the people making decisions within, and there is every indication that Lenovo is struggling to move in that direction, in all markets.

That said, there is a genuine effort at high levels of the company to that end.

Thanks for reading.

For More TechWorld 2019 coverage, check out these other Lenovo Insiders, and the Hashtag #LenovoTechWorld #LenovoIN

Adam Fowler

https://twitter.com/AdamFowler_IT

https://www.adamfowlerit.com/

Onica Cupido

https://twitter.com/OnicaCupido

Vernon Chan

https://twitter.com/vernieman

https://vernonchan.com/

Lawrence Mann

https://twitter.com/LAWRENCEcanDRAW

https://www.youtube.com/LAWRENCEcanDRAW

And, our friends from the Lenovo Champions ;-D

https://www.instagram.com/tecnolaura/

https://www.youtube.com/technikfaultier

https://twitter.com/TecnoLocura

https://www.instagram.com/leotechmaker/

[shardclan]

A Moment in the Summerlands - Prelude

Lutia stands atop the vast Obsidian Disc and stares into the night beyond the safe walls of House Betelgeuse. Down in the valley, Noon Point and the Courtyard of Five Lights glow eternal, as they have every night for eons now.

Titi-tet was an Astral who could not bear the midnight hours, and so her thralls kept her favorite places lit in case she wanted to grace them. Nearly half their clan was out there and not all of them enthralled.

Some of the Arcanites who knew they would be immune had chosen to band together to keep the enthralled safe from Titi's careless and potentially fatal whims.

Saber, who couldn't leave Verbena because he and Galbana would not survive the loss of another child. Carnelian, who refused to leave Stellaria because he knew it would crush her when she came out of thralldom and realized what she had done to Arcanus. Rubedo had gone in, claiming ice dragons made poor thralls and their clanmates could not be left without medical attention. Copernicus had followed to assist him, and Lamium had followed both to keep them safe and guard their minds. Hitth had not been able to take him, it wasn't so unreasonable to think a light astral would find no purchase against moon-touched nature.

Safiri was also among them. The mother of their clan, who knew her way around spoiled children. Keeping Titi-tet away from House Betelgeuse was certainly her doing.

Lutia's fists curl. The energy of the Seat went into the barrier that kept them safe, but every day demanded vigilance. The eons had not softened the insult of Titi sending lazy, indolent Rieslingale to try and sabotage them from within. And occasionally, as if hearing a mandate in his dreams, Malu would rise up, singing before the closed portal in his broken voice until someone came to retrieve him.

Lutia knows she is doing something important, but that does not change that Betelgeuse has become a cage for her and all the others who fled the eastern part of their lands.

But it would not be much longer now.

A familiar scent is on the wind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carnelian smokes even though the astral hates it. Thrall-maker or no, Titi-tet is merely a child at heart. A cruel one, entirely without compassion or empathy, but with plenty of fear. And Carnelian has no hang-ups about showing his more violent natures just because she looks like a hatchling.

She had tried him once. Dared to believe he wouldn't actually hurt her. He had happily snapped off one of her glittery little horns and sent her crying to Pistis. It had come back on him sure, but Titi lacked imagination that her elders didn't.

There were four imperials in Titi's little court. Stellaria, Lamium, Verbena, and Carnelian himself. The rest might come and go around him, but he was never far away from Stellaria.

Could Titi-tet enthrall an emperor? Perhaps. Who could say? None of them, even under her thrall, were willing to find out.

He was bullied in whatever ways Titi could think up, but even her crueler acts don't mean anything to him. She relies too much on her 'friends' being important to him, but they aren't.  There is only one person in the astral's entire stolen entourage that he cares about enough to not punch in the throat on principle.

He also endures this pariah status because it keeps the others safe. Over the eons, the thralls have grown as petulant and jealous as their master. They fight each other for Titi's attention. Sometimes physically. Sometimes with viciousness that even he finds disturbing. Mother Safiri was able to cool their conflicts early on, but ever since the eon of Brighsthine began they have been near frenzy. He steps in for her not out of any loyalty or care or even the threat of Lutia. It is Hart’s wrath that he fears. Luckily, merely by being present and offering a word of blasphemy against the being that has dazzled them, he turns them on himself instead of each other.

It isn't a problem. A pressing lack of oxygen quickly becomes a deterrent even for a thrall.

And he's very practiced at the fine art of the choking others within an inch of their life.

He raises his eyes and regards the sky through the veil of his cigar smoke. Greenskeepers is past and light is rising, but there is something else on the air. Something that reminds him of the last eclipse.

Outside the everlasting carnival Titi demanded, Sornieth was changing again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lavi cannot feel his right arm. He has taken to wearing long sleeves to hade the winding cracks that have spread up and will soon begin creeping across his chest. He prays his head will be last.

He stands with Azricai far from Horizon's Landing, on the cliffs overlooking Windstar Bay. She is gazing at the Vortex with no trepidation at all.

These past eons he has become as awed by her will as he is of Arcanus' loyalty. The unholy day when Lavi found Rebis, Arcanus, and Rubranova near death just outside of the Pact Site, she took care of matters in Analemma.

The evacuation and quarantine of Noon Point and the Courtyard of Five Lights had been executed with swift and terrifying efficiency. Travelers were ushered out of territory. Citizens, long-term merchants, and those too ill or weak to make journeys back to safe land were packed into House Betelgeuse. The hospitals and nurseries were emptied, and the artisans’ guild was abandoned. She had a controlled fire set on the edge of the Summerlands to burn a physical boundary between them and the beastclans to let them know it was not safe to enter Analemma lands.

When Lavi sent for Coagulum on Rubranova's behalf, she came through alongside the blood mage and immediately ordered the Portal sealed to prevent any subterfuge.

With Rebis in the state she was in, it wouldn’t have been far-fetched for her to temporarily take the mantle of power. She had expertly crisis-controlled a situation where Lavi would not have known where to begin. Yet her very first action was to kneel before her queen and make her report.

Lavi knew the clan's history so well he could have recited it in his sleep, but seeing how neatly and quickly she worked with those who had made the Exodus so many cycles before left him astonished and Rebis infinitely grateful.

That moment was the first to truly make him understand why Arcanus had found it so difficult to trust Azricai when they were young. She has the experience and the social status to move the clan in any way she puts her mind to.

Lucky for them, she loves her clan with her whole soul.

She glances at him from the corner of her eyes. "You're worrying, Imperator."

"As is my nature, Lady Judge."

"Fretting does not provide solutions. Think clearly about the problem."

"Titi has been manifest too long. Rebis may no longer have a chance." He grips at his arm, but carefully. Experience has taught him that he can puncture his own skin and feel nothing. "I should have gone with her."

"Rebis has taken every pain to be ready for this. I can't say I agree with such an open confrontation, but she feels it is her duty as queen to make this right in the most straight forward way possible. We may not need that sort of proof, but our eyes are not the only ones on her."

He laughs gently. "You're talking about Rebis the Queen, but Rebis my Sister's motives are more personal."

"Yes, they are. And you must know that your queen- sister feels responsible for your condition. She would never allow you to repeat what you did with Katasomata after you confessed your affliction to her."

She deliberately moves to take his left hand. “Your life is one of many Rebis feels she owes this to.”

He closes his hand around hers. It's cold, but he is grateful just to feel anything at all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashlesha flutters down and lands before Lavi and Azricai.  Where once he may have been envious to find the Lady Judge holding Lavi’s hand, he now finds he wants to hold onto her as well. This is not new. Ever since Arcanus arrived in tatters, he has found he frets for those Lavi loves most.

It frustrates him, because it has reared its head in unexpected ways. It would be one thing if he merely didn’t want Lavi to be hurt, but with Arcanus in particular, he often caught himself passive-aggressively vying for the older guardian’s attention.

Arcanus told him once, when they were alone, that Ashlesha reminded him a little of Lavi when he was a fledgling. Ashlesha had brushed it off at the time, but the thought has never gone far from his mind.

Clutched close in his hands, he carries a scroll none of them have ever seen before: the fruit of an effort to provide a suitable back-up plan for the queen.

“This is dangerous,” he whispers.

Azricai nods. “It is. But the astrals will not be bound in common forms, or so you say. And so we need something extraordinary.”

Ashlesha presses his lips together, and curses Abankhit for the thousandth time. He hands the scroll to Azricai. “Good luck.”

Lavi lets go of her hand. “Winds be with your wings.”

She nods and casts off her shawl. Deep green wings spread from her back, and the glamour vanishes with a gust. She flies directly into the Vortex. They watch for what feels like hours until the howl of a gale wolf splits the clouds, and she shoots east like a living tailwind.

Lavi sighs and rests a hand on his head. “Did you find anything else?”

He looks up at Lavi, and for a moment he is as lost in him as the first time they met. If only he could close his eyes and melt into him. How perfect an end that could be, but he has business that not even Lavi can deter him from.

“I know where the Auditor is.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rebis bears little resemblance to the wide-eyed young kite she was only a few eons ago. The shame and frustration of being ousted from her own kingdom and prevented from returning have sharpened her into a weapon. She is an archmage in all but name now. The density of presence that she always envied in other older or larger dragons is finally hers, but the price was so much more than she ever wanted to pay.

Not a day has gone by that she has not thought of Telos and planned for the reclamation of what was passed to her. Her focus was and remains on how best to make herself worthy of the exalted queen's faith and the faith of the clan continues to place in her despite the disastrous conditions Titi’s presence has created.

They had to take the long way back to the Sunbeam Ruins. Walking a trail the clan had once walked before, after losing their homes. Keeping to shadows and taking long breaks to avoid detection. The Umbra Wolf, still under thrall, was looking for them. Looking for the Smoke Gyre who would be guiding their steps.

Now that they are finally back, Rebis stares up at the sky of the home she has not seen since Arcanus took her and fled through the Starwood Portal. The stars are dimmer than what she has grown used to, but her power swells with the coming rise of her element and her return to its native land. There is one place she must go before she reclaims her clan’s home: The Beacon.  

She swears on the light in her eyes and the proud crown on her head that they will not be driven out again.

[sitepointinfo-blog]

What to Look for Good IFTA Software?

The Trucking business may be there from ages and so is the associated complexity. Like every business, the trucking business traditionally employed the large number of people. Diverse individuals were handling different departments like managing truckloads, trip statement, truck costs, monitor income and IFTA trucking and reporting. Typically the manual approach was always time-consuming and prone to human being problems. Manual approach in order to the company also demanded the sizable chunk of profits to become given to the employees. As the competition grew bigger the same is true any popularity regarding manual approach proceeded to go reduce. There was any coming of the IFTA software to the trucking company. Are you searching about IFTA software online original site here, https://www.axonsoftware.com/IFTA-software/.

The company owners that had been created for many years gradually began transferring their accounting system to the truck bookkeeping software program. Understanding the fact that an employee can perform a massive quantity of work however IFTA software can certainly perform within seconds. The one-time expense seems so intriguing to the truck proprietors which they undoubtedly started shifting their accounting system. The actual best IFTA software is a boon to the trucking business. An individual may run vacation reports, manage expenses, paying drivers and document the Quarterly international fuel tax agreement (IFTA) using the application. Let's look into a few of the utilities in short of the actual IFTA software.

The IFTA software will automatically track all the shifting guidelines and will help to compute error-free IFTA. The Trucking accounting software can certainly bill the clients after the shipping. The trucking accounting software will assist in running mileage and reports when needed. The studies also include the repayment of their motorists as well as IFTA. The trucking accounting software will keep tabs on fuel, parking, tolls along with other expenditures in the group. The trucking accounting software is definitely developed in this way that it can easily integrate in to existing accounting software. The days of manual work is long gone. The business enterprise proprietors don't have to worry concerning the wait times and doubt.

Typically the adoption associated with transportation software program will help in the decrease in paperwork, extra time, administrative problems as well as repetitive data entry tasks. Looking at the above points it is clear that the trucking accounting software changed the fleet business. The changing rules, worrying about the penalties, a huge workforce aren't a concern anymore. You may remove all doubt by simply adopting proper IFTA software. You can be rest assure of the accounting needs and just concentrate on the business.

There is a range of trucking software available in the marketplace. It is imperative to do thorough research before implementing the one for your company. Seamless integration with your current accounting is the one quality you cannot compromise when choosing accounting software. The trucking company has to research closely and pick the best accounting software. Businesses From all around the world started valuing the trucking software. If You have not already used the software it is the high time to perform So. If you are not already using an efficient IFTA software or trucking accounting software then now is The best time to do this.

[vivianrcn944-blog]

Hair Loss Solution For Men

To find best consequences on Caproxen, you have to put it to use daily, two times every day. Make certain too you have time for your hair. You have to offer your body enough rest. 1 thing that you should keep in your mind is, you ought to divide the hair pretty much, because of the reason you should really have a sharp hook kind of spoonful to enter your hair to place it. You have to keep in mind through the processthat whitening is truly prone to cause damage to those extensions. No one wishes to deal with them nevertheless ordinary they're. Hair development formulas are usually available on the market nowadays. Identifying the most suitable organic hair development formula demands the identification of products that you're also comfortable with utilizing. By good fortune, many economical homemade hair development formulas are used productively for decades. You should start by looking for regarding the true hair transplant clinics that you should simply select from. Hair reduction surgery can bring astounding benefits in case it's done appropriately. Several those treatments on The best way to Needless Regrow Lost Hair may seem absurd initially, but when your hair starts to fill you may see they don't really seem ridiculous anymore. Hair development remedies may become your key to hair fast. Hair loss sufferers should also drink a whole lot of water and consume foods full of iron such as spinach. Hair-loss isn't entirely genetic, compared to popular belief. It can result from a lot of things. It is a frequent problem faced by lots of folks. Additionally, it may cause insecurity and a feeling of hopelessness. Lots of people experiencing hair thinning are utilizing hair loss shampoo, since it's the simplest way of treating hair loss. Additionally you will need to understand what the ideal burden your entire body needs by consulting your physician. The fat within the body can still be lost although not that way. With just a few short weeks and only fifteen minutes a day you are likely to be more in a place to acquire your entire head of hair in almost no time. A whole thoughts of healthy hair may make a huge impact on your self-perception, and it is going to certainly alter how other individuals look at you too. It will be likely to come to feel good about your whole body and you may possibly start today. Oily skin requires extra caution. As much as hair thinning is concerned, it's undoubtedly the most important vitamin. Other styles of hair extensions will likely crush when implemented colours or dyes. Clip in Hair-extension employed across the entire world. If you would like to begin to regrow your hair using a natural and efficient method, How to Naturally Regrow Lost Hair gets the ideas and suggestions which you require. Your own hair is comparable to your plant. With a couple of minutes every day, it is possible to quit thinning hair from its paths. Another tip you need to apply for receiving the perfect hair like a woman. In the article you're able to learn about saw palmetto and Mens Hair Restoration Products loss. There are quite a lot of reasons for your own baldness thinning plus it's imperative to seek advice from a health care provider before attempting any brand new treatments or techniques. An additional thing you may do is to guard your hair from damaging winds and sun. When you have got dry skin, you won't need to get worried. To utilize peanuts for dry hair, here's what you need to do. Hair grows from the pores and it's really mostly made up of this protein known as keratin. Regrowing hair is now easier. Trimming your hair once a little while can be highly recommended.

[developmentbydesignblog-blog]

The Battle Over Residential Maintenance and How to Win It

Top Residential Maintenance Choices

You don't think about maintenance until it's time to repair something. Property maintenance is imperative to protecting your landscape investment. When it is landscape maintenance, or renovation make your premises look great. Keeping up a comfortable and secure environment isn't only legally mandated, but it's first and foremost in regards to supplying excellent customer services. When you register for weekly residential lawn care solutions, we'll offer you your very first cut at no cost!   Development by Design

When it has to do with maintenance, our proactive employees are going to keep you informed of any problems that may come up. Preventative maintenance is the ideal approach to prevent expensive and frequently inconvenient difficulties with your heating and air-conditioning system. Routine maintenance will also decrease the chances of emergencies, which ironically tend to occur on the latest days of the year. Regular maintenance may also extend the life span of your heating and a system and can mean fewer repairs. It is essential if you want to extend the life of your heating and air conditioning equipment. It's well worth it to execute regular upkeep of your HVAC system.  https://www.wikihow.com/Maintain-a-Residential-Natural-Gas-Furnace

Residential Maintenance - the Conspiracy

Contracts do nothing to improve speed. If you're prepared to sign up for a maintenance contract today, Contact Us, and we are going to manage the rest. Purchasing a Residential Energy Savings Maintenance Agreement is among the best investments you may make for extending the life span of your equipment and yielding the lowest overall operating expenses while giving you the maximum probability of year-round comfort. You might want to enroll in a yearly maintenance agreement with BPI Environmental that contains a fall furnace service and a spring air-conditioning services.

All About Residential Maintenance

Our technicians will conduct a multi-point inspection and cleaning of your whole system. They will perform the regular maintenance and offer helpful tips for maintaining your unit in between our visits. Regardless of what brand air conditioner you've got, our experienced technicians are trained to discover and repair all issues with your AC and heating unit. Excel Heating and Cooling provide complete maintenance agreements with many levels of protection and continuing maintenance. Ferguson Heating and Air would like to build a very long term relationship of service using your family members. Standard heating and AC maintenance may be in a position to lower the demand for repairs, improve efficiency and extend the life span of your equipment. Most of us are unsure if there's a residential roof maintenance schedule that they need to follow.

The Residential Maintenance Pitfall

You must have systems in place to handle your equipment and facilities repairs, too. The heating and cooling process is similar to the car in your house. The orders are just taken for granted, till they fail. If your security process is defective, you might be putting your loved-ones and valuables in danger. Most people don't realize an HVAC process is similar to a carit needs proper upkeep and maintenance to operate appropriately. Irrespective of how old your HVAC system might be, a yearly preventive maintenance program will aid in improving performance and extend the life span of your heating and cooling equipment. Besides, a well-maintained HVAC system can decrease your electricity bills and enhance the air quality inside your dwelling.

Some programs enable students to create skills in both residential and business building maintenance. A maintenance program is not going to guarantee that a system or a part of equipment won't ever fail. Our commercial maintenance programs are customized to satisfy our customers' needs. You need to put up a suitable maintenance program. Second, you have to establish a preventive and routine maintenance program. A residential roof maintenance program is a little investment to make to keep the life span of your roof provided that possible, plus protect against big problems from occurring down the street. Our comprehensive residential roof maintenance programs may give you peace of mind about the state of your roof so that you won't need to be worried about any more significant problems coming up.

You don't have to be home to have work done in your region. Purchasing a house is among the most significant investments most individuals make in the course of their life. If in your initial 30 days, you are not happy with your home we'll help you locate an Equity apartment you do love. During the hot summer months and chilly winter days, you'll be lounging comfortably in your house or office and be pleased you did.

The one thing you must do is settle back and let's take care of it for you. It's understandable that when there's plenty of work, you get busier than predicted. If you're experiencing more than one maintenance related problem, they should be reported on separate requests.

SOCIAL LINKS

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin

[riigormortisss-blog]

Dear k,

             To be honest, i am not quite sure that saying anything would change anything but this is more of a save-your-time kind of letter than the typical informative ones. If i would say absolutely everything i have on my mind, it would take me years to complete it all. I shan’t delay it any longer my points in this letter are brief and concise, in a way. These things that i am about to say to you are straightforward in nature, but things are rarely as they seem don’t they? 

              My first and probably most important note that i would like to say to you is to not be afraid. Fear can be a heavy burden. Right now you are probably thinking about ghosts or monsters, but i am speaking of real tangible monsters that are a real threat to you and society. I know things will get rough and hard but i want you, nay, I NEED YOU to fight until you breathe your last. It is imperative that you know that the life granted to you is not for personal pleasure only, but to risk it to its very edge. The vigor that you have right now should burn eternally inside you even if you want to fall flat on your face. You will go through a series of different kinds of hardships like breakups, culture shocks, mental health problems and even death. Everyone is going through something and if you want to survive, you need to close your heart to the desperation, do not feel for them because they will certainly not feel for you.

               At the stage you are right now, you probably think that you should do this and that to secure your future and whatnot but, I am telling you right now that it is okay to let it go, just let go. There are things in life that you cannot control. Gravity, death, life and love, things like these are out of our control and that’s the way it is. Sometimes we think that if we receive something negative, we have failed ourselves, I am telling you right now that this statement is entirely false. I am not telling you to be hopeless, I’m trying to tell you that it is okay to fail and fall down because it is part of life and the journey that builds who we are as a person. IT IS OKAY TO LET GO, let go of that toy you lost, that girl that moved away, that snack you accidentally threw away, all these things happen in a certain mechanism that ultimately build up who we are right now.

               My third point is probably not new to you but eh, worth a shot. You should read more and I know what you’re thinking, yes those Geronimo stilton books you have right now are excellent starters book, but I do not want you to stop there, I want you to read more genres, more books with in depth plots and plot twists, explore romance and tragedy etc. I cannot emphasize how important knowledge is, knowledge truly is power. All your literary skills in reading and writing may seem boring and useless right now but trust me, people will pay you handsomely one day and envy your intellectual prowess. When I said read more, I meant in all aspects, not only on fictional books. The newspaper, autobiographies, memoirs and the like are all very informative and will help you in developing your cognitive skills in an efficient rate.

               I know I know, you being an 8 year old this 4th point probably does not make any sense, knowing you but I want you to genuinely love more. Love your family, your friend, your pets and your life more. Loving is the purest form of positivity in your life. Loving is not a crime and it won’t cost you a penny. Look into the mirror and tell yourself that life is going to be awesome because the amount of life you give to life will be given back to you and that is beautiful in itself. The burning desire in reforming society will soon come unto you, so until then, I want you to love everything you possibly can, because love is what keeps us warm when fear and darkness engulf the land.

               The road ahead is long and unforgiving. It is no place for a boy, only a warrior, which is why I do not want you to be sorry, but to be better. You are special and you will one day take up the mantle that I possess right now that will give you the power to change lives, to help those who need helping, feed those need feeding and kill those who need killing. Our dreams and aspiration is what will make us great. A lot of people will be smarter, stronger and faster but rest assured, none of them will have our character. Time is limited and you will understand all of this in ten years. Follow your heart boy. Farewell good hunter, may you find your worth in the waking world

@maamida

[unoreads]

Working Professionals' Strategy for Cracking the UPSC IAS Exam

The UPSC IAS strategy for working professionals attempts to understand the employment market scenario in the country, the recruitment patterns over the years, and match it with the IAS exam to help you crack it. It is a step by step guide which helps professionals to plan their education and career objectives, thus laying a strong foundation for cracking this exam. The UPSC IAS exam requires the aspirants to clear two stages. The Secondary exam includes prelims and mains. After clearing both of these, assessment of suitability for civil services takes place. However, the secondary paper took away the fear of failure by bringing in an objective type examination. This paper comes with 150 questions having four options each for a total of 600 marks.

There are two negative markings which implies that if one chooses to answer even 6 out of 150 questions incorrectly; one ends up losing 6 marks at the end of examination. Therefore it is imperative for the aspirants to go through the best strategies which.

A comprehensive guide to crack UPSC IAS exams. The book encompasses a practical, detailed and systematic approach to cracking the UPSC IAS exams. The book attempts to eliminate the need to simple prepare a detailed study plan for the examinations, thus it can be easily followed by any aspirant. Selected examples from the previous years' exam papers have been provided to illustrate problems that can come up in the prelims as well as mains examinations. The jobs offered by the Central Government and the State Government of the country including portfolios related to the SSC Multi-Tasking Staff Examination , Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Combined Graduate Level Examination , Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Banking Personnel Service PO and IBPS CLERK Examination.

Maximize the knowledge gained through work experienc

The theoretical learning session is the learning session you need to take place while at your workplace to get your hands dirty. By acquiring practical knowledge in the work environment you constantly improve yourself and constantly enhance yourself so that you can advance quickly. IAS UPSC Examination is the gateway to the Indian Administrative Service, the country's topmost civil services under the Government of India. The IAS officers are part of the pivotal governance machinery at both state and central levels. You should aim to be an IAS officer for a successful career at all times. That being said, continuous preparation for IAS UPSC Examination also requires some work experience. But don't forget that you should not give up your day job just to focus on IAS UPSC Examination alone. You can achieve your goals by working simultaneously for other organizations as well.

Optimize the Scarce Time Available

As you know that time is your most scarce resources and if it's not handled properly, you would forever feel the stress of the limited time available with you. A person must be an expert in utilizing the scarce time available to him/her so as to be able to cope up with things efficiently. Time is a scarce resource. But, if utilized judiciously and effectively, it is the most precious gift anyone can be given. If you can manage time, you can gain control over your life. The Unoreads helps you do just that. We know that there are some competitive examinations which you must sail through, in order to get a better foothold in your career goals. You diligently prepare for such examinations throughout the year, giving up on your leisure time and social life. However if you wish to make optimum utilization of this scarce resource, you need not sacrifice the rest of your important areas of responsibilities for this purpose.

Join online eLearning platform

This Website Unoreads will help you learn Civil Service examination at home and crack the exam in the upcoming year! Unoreads is the based on self-study best online learning platforms.

[newstfionline]

5 Ways You Should Treat Yourself Like a Business

By Ryan Warner, Early to Rise, Apr 5, 2018

Successful businesses are efficient, value-producing machines. They have missions, create detailed investment plans for how to spend their time and revenues, boast a robust network of relationships, and take action every single day to move closer to their end game--whatever their definition of success happens to be.

On a flight from Oakland to Chicago, while reading Richard Branson’s “Losing My Virginity,” I thought about what would happen if I treated myself as a business. What if I lived every day as the president and CEO of RyanWarner.net? How much more productive would I be?

I wrestled with the question for a few days, and ultimately decided to play out the possibility. I’m now three months into managing myself as a business, and have experienced a number of positive benefits:

I have shifted my focus, time, and energy to things that really “move the needle” in my life.

I have discovered (and constantly reiterate) a life mission--something that guides every action I take.

I’ve learned that I’m the only one who will succeed (or fail) in my own life. My butt is on the line, so I make every minute of every day count. I’m driven to make an impact on the world.

If you’re on board with what a business lens can do to your own life, then start implementing the steps below.

1. Define Your Business Philosophy. If someone were to navigate to Yourname.com and click on the About page, what would they find?

Tim Ferris shone a light on this self-definition recently. On his podcast, Ferriss hosted psychologist Michael Gervais, during which Gervais told a story about how he came to develop his personal philosophy, “Make every day a living masterpiece.”

Twenty years back, Gervais was asked by his mentor who he was. A simple question, right? But Gervais fumbled. He jumped into hokums about what he liked to do, what he did in the past, and what his goals were. The elderly mentor smiled and said, “Come back to me when you’re ready.”

Young Gervais--the now world-renowned performance psychologist--could not answer this seemingly simple question. But he endeavored to find an answer. What resulted was his personal philosophy.

You should do the same for yourself as a business. Why? Your business philosophy is what continually reminds you what you stand for. A well-crafted philosophy will not leave room for ambiguity or loopholes; it will hold your feet to the fire every day.

Before you move onto the steps below, then, take a few hours and sketch out your own philosophy. What do you stand for? What is your “business”? What are your end goals? These will need tweaking, of course, but it’s important to start now.

To get you started, here’s my “business” philosophy in a nutshell: Ryan Warner will always be grateful for obstacles. He will maintain the discipline needed to attack every task with absolute focus. He will spread love and laughter every day.

As you can see, philosophies are not all about stuff. In fact, the best ones tackle the most important questions of morality and purpose, leaving money to fall where it may. That said…

2. Capitalize on Investments. Investments are focused on how we spend our time and money. The former is the scarcest resource in the world; we should be mindful of this when we commit ourselves to daily tasks. We want to invest only in those things that move the needle in our “business” every day.

What would a business do with a hefty helping of time? They would invest labor and research in things that create value for shareholders. Likewise, we should put our time into activities that build us up as individuals and enable us to offer value to our family, friends, coworkers, and the world at large.

Here’s a good example: Spend a Sunday morning analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. Be ruthless about your weaknesses, and really drill into what you want to improve in your life. Do you want to learn how to be a better leader or public speaker? Do you want to be more present for your family? Do you wanted to be more invested in your job? What are your friends, family, and colleagues doing well in these areas that you could learn from?

The second piece of our daily investment is financial. How does a business look at finances? In simple terms, it’s about increasing top-line growth while maintaining a tight bottom line. Incoming dollars are viewed not as income, but as revenue, and revenues are re-invested in the company to increase growth.

Now think of yourself as a money-making business. What sort of revenues are you bringing in? And how will you get the best return on investment for the money you spend?

For example, if you--as a business--have $20 left over in the budget after a light month, would you reinvest in yourself or squander that money on meaningless stuff and empty activities? Would you buy a book or head to the bar and buy a round of beers?

By thinking of yourself as a business, always looking to increase value, your investments will start to align with your philosophy.

3. Nurture Relationships. How important are personal connections and relationships to a business? Very. They make or break a business’ success; without relationships, there are no customers, partners, board members, or staff.

You need relationships in your business. A lone wolf will not make it.

Former UFC champion Frank Shamrock has a strategy for building relationships that he calls “Plus, Minus, and Equal.”

For the Plus, he looks for someone who is more successful than he is (however one might define success). This person is at the level where Frank wants to be at some point. He or she would make a great mentor.

On the flipside, a Minus is someone whom Frank can teach. Teaching not only helps a Minus, but also helps you increase your understanding of the topic(s) you teach. After all, you can’t teach a subject effectively unless you know it inside and out.

An Equal is a peer--someone with whom you can share feedback as you move your “business” closer to success. These shared struggles and success stories build on mutual experiences and inform future decisions for even better outcomes--increasingly value exponentially.

It’s important that every business have a balance of Plus, Minus, and Equal relationships to keep them afloat. Each one encourages development, maturity, and social engagement.

4. Maintain Health. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle may seem like a given, but many people ignore it. I love focusing on health for my “business” because it often has the most immediate ROI. Don’t believe me? Hop on an elliptical for 30 minutes, then spend 15 minutes meditating. How do you feel? It’s amazing the amount of energy and focus we gain from working out.

But what’s the business angle here? Well, think of your mind like the CEO of the company and the rest of your body as employees. You want to spend time making sure each part of your body--or “employee”--is healthy so it can work properly, both on its own and in conjunction with other parts of the body.

To make that work, feed your body what it needs--lots of fresh vegetables, lean meats, and limited carbohydrates. Avoid refined sugars and processed foods. Then, keep a regular exercise regimen going.

The result: A healthy body--”collaborative workforce”--that is an unbeatable productivity machine.

But don’t neglect the mind. Dedicate time to meditation, reading, and journaling throughout your week. Challenge your mind with new types of learning, like language study, crossword puzzles, or trivia games. These activities keep your mind sharp, ready for whatever life throws at you.

5. Take Action Every Single Day. A CEO doesn’t take weeks off without working on his/her business, and neither should you. Every day is an opportunity to improve the state of your business and a chance to increase the value you deliver to your shareholders.

Entrepreneur Jesse Itzler takes this concept to a whole new level. He calculates the average life expectancy of a Caucasian male and subtracts his age from it. That leaves him with the number of years he likely has left in this world. Seeing that number in black and white makes only one thing matter: The mission to do the most with your life TODAY.

Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, takes a different approach. He focuses on the hours that comprise a day, and at the end of each hour asks, “What did I just accomplish in the past hour? Would my family be proud of how I lived in the last 60 minutes?”

In both cases, however, the idea is the same; as the old saying goes, “Live your life like there’s no tomorrow.”

There are two parts to this imperative action. The first is your “why”--which is derived from your mission statement. Don’t just act to act; act knowing what you’re doing is a real-life manifestation of your mission statement.

The second is your “how”--derived from your investment strategy. How do you act in relationships, at home, and at work to reflect your commitment of time and money? How are these an accurate reflection of what your mission statement demands?

Don’t let these questions derail you, however. Examine your actions--carefully, but not too long--and act with integrity, confidence, and purpose.

Treating yourself as a business has the potential to reframe your personal development and rebrand your identity with a crystal clear “why.” Be thoughtful about crafting your philosophy and mission statement to make this possible; bear these out in your investment decisions; nurture your relationships with these principles at your core; and act like there’s no tomorrow.

Be energized, be focused, be true to yourself and humbly inspired by the possibilities of your life. If you can manage this--as any good business would--you will find success, however you define it.

[architectnews]

MASS Design Group Architects, Boston, MA

MASS Design Group Boston, Massachusetts Architects, US Architectural Studio, United States

MASS Design Group : Massachusetts Architect Office

MDG: Contemporary American Architect Practice – Boston Studio, MA, USA

18 Nov 2020

MASS Design Group – Architecture Innovator of the Year

MASS Design Group Named WSJ Magazine’s Architecture Innovator of the Year

MASS was named WSJ Magazine Architecture Innovator of the Year for our origins in healthcare and designing architecture as a medium for healing, through our public-health expertise and ability to reimagine spaces for everyday life. Recognized for a range of initiatives, starting with our COVID-19 Response Team work, the award was based on work designing hospitals and clinics around the world with a focus on reducing the spread of infectious diseases.

COVID-19 support started with the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program and doctors at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, asking for advice on how to keep clients, patients, and healthcare workers safe from infection. “We are committed to the belief that architecture has the ability to provide healing, rejuvenation, and restoration for everyone,” said MASS Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer Alan Ricks.

“We are truly humbled to be recognized among such visionaries. Our collective believes in the power of architecture to improve lives, spread dignity, and advance justice. This award confirms that those aspirations are now shared by the public as well.” —MICHAEL MURPHY, MASS Co-Founder and Executive Director

Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture, Gashora, Bugesera District, Rwanda: photograph by Markn for WSJ magazines

African Leadership University, Kigali, Gasabo District, Rwanda photograph by Markn for WSJ magazines

“Everywhere we work, be in the U.S. or Rwanda or elsewhere, we look for local solutions that produce results and help society move forward.” —CHRISTIAN BENIMANA, MASS Senior Principal and Design Director

Leveraging its expertise from a dozen years of design of medical environments to reduce the spread of contagious disease, MASS applied the lessons to the development of guides for restaurants and foodservice, carceral environments, the construction industry, and housing in senior and Native communities. Work recognized included the Butaro District Hospital; Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice; The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund; African Leadership University; and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture.

“Helping build a climate positive future is imperative. Our projects move beyond just issues of energy use and efficiency, to holistically design the project ecosystem.” —SIERRA BAINBRIDGE, MASS Senior Principal and Managing Director

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama, USA image © MASS Design Group

Read more about MASS’s WSJ Architecture Innovator Award

Watch the 2020 WSJ Innovator Award Honors

Celebrating Our First Decade

JUSTICE IS BEAUTY

JUSTICE IS BEAUTY is a monograph of our work that celebrates the projects, people, and partnerships that have formed the backbone of our practice since the beginning. Click here to purchase.

An exhibit on MASS’s work will be on display at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., slated to open in 2021. The exhibit will also include the second iteration of a new national memorial to the victims of gun violence, developed by MASS in partnership with conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas; gun violence prevention organization Purpose Over Pain; and other nonprofits, survivor networks, and community allies.

The Gun Violence Memorial Project image © MASS Design Group

Previously on e-architect:

27 Mar 2020

Michael Sorkin of MASS Design Group Dies

Architect Michael Sorkin has died from COVID-19

COVID-19 takes the sage: Michael Sorkin rest in peace

Remember our elders:

In many traditions, the elders are not simply “the old people” – they are the culture bearers, the harbingers of language, the repository of rituals. They are our legacies – what binds our past to our future – in human form. When we lose our elders, our legacy too is threatened. The ligaments which bind their knowledge to the generations ahead of us is now no longer their responsibility. It is ours. And unless we record their legacy, culture, language, and wisdom, they are lost.

I fear about how much was lost yesterday with the passing of Michael Sorkin. He was many things to many people over his long career: a dedicated teacher, the last of the great practitioner critics, and a tireless advocate for a more environmentally and socially just architectural reckoning. To me, he was an elder, a beacon for what I hoped to one day practice and understand.

I first met Michael in 2011. It was my thesis presentation, and he was on the jury. My topic was about a progressive publication of architects from the 1970s led by Giancarlo De Carlo, who advocated for social and political responsibility in our profession. I had discovered it on my own, but Michael, the architectural critic of The Nation and then The Village Voice, was not surprisingly a frequent contributor to Space and Society.

I was nervous about his response. But instead of the familiar gutting and rejection common to architectural juries, Michael smiled wide, raised his right arm, fist clenched and said, “Right on comrade.” He was a hero of mine now, and he grabbed me by being himself: funny, righteous, and kind. He was building the army.

Memorial to Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama, USA, by MASS Design Group: image courtesy EJI / MASS Design Group

I saw the battlefield in full force a few years later in 2016, when I was invited to participate in a series called “Cocktails and Conversations” in New York City. This series invites a speaker to choose an interviewer for a public conversation. I was nervous to face a New York crowd of architects, so I invited Michael to prod me on stage and talk broadly about activism in architecture, hoping to focus more on his work and less on mine. But by the time of the event, November 18th, the world had turned upside-down. Only a week before, Donald Trump had been elected.

Never to be constrained by rules, Michael rejected the format of the polite conversation and invited other activists to join us on stage. He drafted a ten-point manifesto. And he turned a polite conversation into a chaotic, unbridled, therapeutic town hall to bring up the issues he cared about most: the carceral state, the destruction of the environment, the privatization of the public sphere against the public good, and the complicity of our profession in structures that reinforce inequity.

Michael’s life long message – often hidden behind the starchitecture and celebrity of our profession – was suddenly felt viscerally by the profession around us. “What will you do now?” He seemed to be asking. “Will you carry the torch? Will you link the wisdom of our years of work to the world you build tomorrow?”

Michael was a sage in our profession, a visionary, a teacher, but also a mensch. He often said that he’d love to make architecture “less evil, more kind.” He was able to hold both anger and compassion together like only a true elder can do.

—

We sat down recently in December, over tea. He was surviving another bout of cancer treatment, so martinis (our usual toast) were not on the menu. We talked about his legacy and what he would leave. He asked me who would fill the gaps in public discourse, in new practice models, in writing and criticism. He was asking: who would step up?

The coronavirus, like all epidemics, reveals the cracks in our systems. In this case, not just the medical system but the architectural system as well. Much as Michael signalled throughout his career: if architecture is tethered to a private marketplace, the building industry, left fragile, will collapse in the face of market corrections, and with it, the public rights it delivers.

Well collapse is upon us. On the horizon is global construction stoppage, supply chain interruption, and a massive abandonment of building and design labor. All the communities we serve will be abandoned too, as housing, hospitals, schools, public spaces, and green infrastructure plans get shelved once again, leaving behind a public asking: why, in the moment of our greatest need for public service, are industries so unprepared to serve the public?

Michael predicted this, too. And his hybrid non/for-profit practice offered a way of working, that could help us now. A practice that did not abandon the public in times of stress, as its hybridity remained somewhat insulated from mercurial market shifts we see around us.

All that is to say, Michael was one of the elders that would have guided our industry through its forthcoming restructuring. It is only too clear that we have lost an oracle and a soothsayer. Someone who exposed the cracks in the system, and sought to use the tools of our profession –- his experimental practice, his acerbic critical voice, his gregarious teaching –- to carry forward a movement.

What cruelty. What more sobering news can there be than the reality that Michael was one of the vulnerable he always fought for? Now a victim to the vicissitudes he sought to protect others from. We are not just compiling numbers of the dead, we are losing our stewards of cultural memory, languages, practices, life, and the kind of avuncular wisdom that can hold anger and love together so that we keep moving.

Michael Sorkin was that elder, for all of us in architecture. I don’t know what lies ahead, but we can be assured that Michael would want us to pick up the torch, with more vigor and determination, if not only for his legacy than for ours.

May you rest in peace, Michael Sorkin, and know that the generation that follows you will carry on what you’ve left behind. Right on, comrade.

Michael Murphy Founding Principal and Executive Director

For more information on how MASS is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit the website:

Role of Architecture in Fighting COVID-19

Copyright © 2020 MASS Design Group, All rights reserved.

Address: 334 Boylston St. Suite 400, Boston, MA 02116, USA

We at e-architect send our condolences to Michael’s family and to his colleagues at the MASS Design Group.

Sadly he is not the first architect to die in this global pandemic:

Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti dies of COVID 19 coronavirus

Gregotti Associati

Dec 30, 2017

MASS Design Group News

MASS Design Group News

MASS On Stage:

Christian Benimana’s TEDGlobal 2017 Talk Released

On Thursday, December 21st, 2017, TED released a talk by MASS’s own Christian Benimana, about his vision for training the next generation of African architects and designers at the African Design Centre. The 13-minute talk, which was recorded at the TEDGlobal 2017 conference in Arusha, Tanzania, highlights the challenges Mr. Benimana faced to become an architect, and his vision to train young African leaders who share his aspirations.

Mass Design Group TED Talk

Project Groundbreaking:

MASS Breaks Ground on New Redemption Hospital in Liberia

On Tuesday, December 19, 2017, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, hosted the groundbreaking ceremony for a new national hospital for Liberia, New Redemption Hospital, located in Caldwell, Montserrado County, just north of the capital city, Monrovia.

The ceremony included the participation of Dr. Bernice T. Dahn, Health Minister, Dr. Peter Coleman, Senator of Grand Kru County, Ms. Larisa Leshchenko, Liberia Country Manager for the World Bank, as well as delegations from MASS and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

The New Redemption Hospital is to be a state-of-the-art teaching and tertiary care facility with a mission to renew trust in Liberia’s post-Ebola healthcare system. The hospital will have a total of 155 beds with a primary focus on pediatric and maternal care.

MASS Design Group 2017 Review

MASS Year In Review:

Construction Begins On The University Of Global Health Equity

In January, site work for the future home of the Butaro, Rwanda campus of the University of Global Health Equity began. Construction is well underway and scheduled for completion in 2018.

MASS Publishes Report On The Impact Of Design On Clinical Care In Childbirth

In February, MASS completed a report with Ariadne Labs, a joint center between Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T. H Chan School of Public Health, on research and analysis of how design impacts clinical processes, decisions and outcomes during childbirth. The study earned some positive press including from Becker’s Hospital Review and Quartz.

New District Hospital In Rwanda Hits Milestone

In March, MASS completed construction documents for Nyarugenge District Hospital, a 120-bed facility located in the most densely populated district of Rwanda. The hospital will be our first hospital to use our design standards for the Rwanda Ministry of Health in an urban context.

MASS Co-founder Michael Murphy Headlines AIA National Conference

In April, MASS Co-founder and Executive Director, Michael Murphy, keynoted day one of the AIA annual conference, A’17, alongside design leaders Liz Diller, Alejandro Aravena, and Francis Kéré.

The ADC Hosts African Architecture & Pedagogy Symposium

In May, the ADC sponsored a first of its kind symposium gathering top architects, planners, and scholars from all over Africa to discuss the most pressing issues facing our cities. The symposium created a rare opportunity for these leaders to convene in Africa to discuss the severe shortage of skilled designers needed to produce a healthy and sustainable environment.

MASS Launches Hudson Valley Design Lab in Poughkeepsie, NY

In an effort to be proximate, MASS launched the Hudson Valley Design Lab in Poughkeepsie New York in June. This hybrid office is both a design think-tank and an outreach exhibition gallery that is working to be a local catalyst for changing the perception in our fringe cities and creating regional networks towards projects that aim to empower communities.

Phase One Of New One Acre Campus Opens

By July, the staff of One Acre Fund (OAF) had completely moved into phase one of the new Kakamega, Kenya campus. MASS is currently working with OAF on phase two, which is set to start construction in 2018.

MASS Finalist In International Design Competition

In September, MASS, with John McAslan + Partners, presented in the final round to the jury of the United Kindom National Memorial to the Holocaust. While the submission was not selected, MASS was pleased to be a finalist with such firms as Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, and Adjaye Associates, among others.

MASS Breaks Ground On Housing For Oncology Patients

In September, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Butaro, Rwanda, for a new block of housing for patients receiving cancer care at the Butaro Ambulatory Cancer Center.

MASS Awarded Cooper Hewitt National Design Award

In October, MASS was awarded the prestigious Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, National Design Award for Architecture. The Award was given by Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, Chelsea Clinton.

MASS Ranked #8 In US For Design

For the second year in a row, MASS was listed in the top 10 of the design category, in the annual Architect Magazine firm ranking that was released in November.

Maternity Waiting Village featured on CNN’s Inside Africa

In December, CNN published a piece on maternal health in Malawi that featured MASS’s work on the Maternity Waiting Village in Kasungu. The short film was originally broadcast on CNN networks across the African continent.

23 Aug 2016 Memorial to Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama, USA image courtesy EJI / MASS Design Group Memorial to Peace and Justice in Montgomery The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) unveiled plans this week for the Memorial to Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Designed in collaboration with Boston-based MASS Design Group, the new memorial is intended to acknowledge victims of lynching throughout American history.

Winners of the 2012 Curry Stone Design Prize for the Butaro Hospital in Rwanda:

Video, Nov 13, 2012:

MASS Design Group – Key Project

Key Projects by MASS Design Group, alphabetical:

Butaro Hospital, Burera District, Rwanda Date built: 2011 photo : Iwan Baan Butaro Hospital The architects studio was brought in by PIH in 2008 to help plan and design a first-rate facility that would help reverse these conditions. In the design of the hospital, MDG and PIH sought to create a more holistic model of architecture that included the design of an appropriate, state of the art hospital while also fully choreographing the process of construction to employ, educate and empower the local community.

More architecture projects by MASS Design Group online soon

Location: 46 Waltham Street, Boston, MA 02118, United States of America

Boston Architects Practice Information

Architect office based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Boston Architect Office

MASS DESIGN GROUP

FIRM BIO

MISSION

MASS creates well-built environments using appropriate design, local investment, and innovation to break the cycle of poverty. We collaborate with governments, NGOs, private sector firms, and health care experts to advocate for the most underserved and provide scalable models of community-based development and training.

MASS has shown that innovation, driven by interdisciplinary research and immersion in the field, can deliver well-built environments that are efficient, effective, and empowering. By addressing immediate infrastructural needs and simultaneously building systems to address the social determinants of failure, our work constructs agency, serves as an engine for economic growth, and assures long-term sustainability. We build capacity at all levels—from training unskilled laborers to assisting government ministries in writing policies that establish more holistic and appropriate project outcomes.

PRINCIPAL BIOS

Michael Murphy, Co-Founder and Executive Director

Michael co-founded MASS in 2008 to provide design services for underserved populations in the most resource-constrained environments. In addition to leading the design and construction of the Butaro Hospital in Rwanda, completed in January of 2011, Michael has been the recipient of the 2010 Design Futures Council Emerging Leader Scholarship, and has taught courses on design for infection control and design thinking for business entrepreneurs at Clark University and Harvard University’s School of Public Health.

Alan Ricks, Co-Founder and Creative Director

Alan received his Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and his Masters in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Alan manages the Boston office working on projects including the Butaro Hospital in Rwanda, GHESKIO Tuberculosis Hospital in Haiti, research on infection control and health facility design for the WHO, and policy development for the Liberian Ministry of Health. Alan is an adjunct faculty member at Clark University and has been a guest critic at Colorado College, Harvard, Northeastern, and the University of Texas.

Architecture in USA

Contemporary Architecture in USA

American Architects

Boston Buildings

Massachusetts Architecture

American Architecture

Architecture Studios

Buildings / photos for the MASS Design Group Architecture page welcome

Website: massdesigngroup.org

The post MASS Design Group Architects, Boston, MA appeared first on e-architect.