The Sex Advisors

You have completed college and now youre standing by for your first genuine vacancy. You have sent out out resumes and have been called in for your elementary interview. How can you do well at the job interview so you end up being offered the vacancy? It is always worth considering going for a medical interview course

Make sure you are suave. Do not look as though you just rolled out of bed and could not trouble to take care of basic personal hygiene. Nothing will make the HR Manager bring the job interview to a close faster than unwashed hair, dirty fingernails or body odor. As an employee, you will be a reflection of the company and no customer wants to do business with an unkempt person.

There are countless other means in which you can get yourself better equipped for your upcoming interview. You could find out that you know how to get to the locale so that you wont be late. You could research the unit so that you can ask pertinent questions and try to appear keen and conversant. You could ask the current employees what they think of the unit. That way, you will not only be able to better assess whether the post is suitable for you, but also learn some valuable insights that could help you secure the post.

First impressions count up, and you need to let the interviewer know you yearn for the job, are willing to work hard and will do your best. You might not necessarily be the most qualified candidate, but still land the post since you were the most outstanding one. Good luck with your job interview!

It’s opinion in many companies that, since all of their employees have basic health & safety education, they are suitably equipped for a disaster. The reality is that, regardless your industry, staff should have more than instruction in health & safety regulatory affairs. You must provide your employees with a capable supervisor, not to mention provide the right safety gear and give them the opportunity to practice.

Someone in a supervisory capacity has a much larger function to fulfill than just managing the work environment. Your selection of supervisor needs to have good people skills and see health & safety training as great. On top of ensuring conformity with health & safety legislation, the employee supervising as well should check that employees perform all their tasks well. Of course it’s not easy to do all this at once. In depth industry knowledge is a must for a supervisory role not to mention a high level of knowledge of the latest regulations involving safety, risk assessment and CPR.

Simply offering health & safety training isn’t sufficient for your staff. To successfully spot a risk they need practise. Employees in addition need to acquire insights into the necessary safeguards that they must to put in place and knowing what to do if anything goes wrong. Only when these processes have developed into habitual are staff properly educated. Safety equipment is every bit as critical to the your staff’s well-being as any training. If they are missing gear that is essential, or even find out that gear is not functioning properly when they are required, then all the safety training they have completed is a waste of time and effort.

You need to examine each item on a regular basis to ensure that you possess all of the essential apparatus as well as checking that it is all in good repair. When you have a fault with your supplies, be sure to have it fixed ASAP and returned to the proper place. Your workforce must get appropriate health and safety instruction, but in addition they also require good quality supplies, the opportunity to practise, and a supervisor with the kind of enthusiasm that people find contagious. Only then will observing all the safety regulations become a natural part of life in the workplace not something troublesome everyone has to try to remember.

Lean manufacturing is not a system dependent only on machinery. System is mainly focused on human resource of the organization. All the machinery are tools used to achieve the objective of lean manufacturing.

Many think a system like lean manufacturing is a demanding system and people are always under pressure to perform. Yes it is true that people should perform continuously to create a lean system. But if I am to work, I will prefer a lean environment. I will tell you why.

A big aspect of lean manufacturing is the involvement of workers in the process of decision making. Workers in a lean environment are empowered to suggest and take action against wastes. Workers will be happier when their ideas in operation. They are motivated by the nature of their jobs.

Typically lean manufacturing relies on work cell concepts in achieving its goals. Work cells are not just a set of equipment arranged in to a different layout. In a work cell people operate different to the way they would operate in a line assembly system. Workers are multi skilled and they can perform at least two or three operations. This makes the system flexible. From the worker point of view the job has a bigger scope and they have freedom. Who will want to continuously perform the same task over and over again, especially when plenty of machinery available for the tasks of that nature.

Organizational structure of a lean manufacturing environment is organic in nature. There is no big hierarchy in the chain of command. Every worker has a part to perform as a leader. They will make day to day decisions. They are very important to the system. No body will really like when someone above him telling what to do every time. People love to be treated as important.

Lean manufacturing is a collective effort. No functionality is important than the other. It doesn’t matter where you work in the organization. You are a part of the very efficient lean system. People work at their best when they are appreciated for their results. Family like feeling across the organization can not be built with any other technique even by spending millions.

Maslow in his theory of motivation states the stages of motivation. People can not be motivated only with money. Lean manufacturing understands the importance of the human factor in success. People are loved to be appreciated. lean manufacturing techniques like Kaizen, Work cells, team building directly talk to the higher level motivational needs of people. Need for affiliation, self-esteem and self actualization are among them. A well organized and well disciplined workforce is essential to the success of lean manufacturing. With this kind of motivation it is not hard to create a family of workers who are loyal and disciplined.

Visit my blog to learn about lean manufacturing thinking, concepts and principles and find more information on lean manufacturing.

Buy-sell agreements exist in many, if not most, closely held businesses having substantial size and/or value. And they exist between corporate joint venture partners in many thousands of enterprises.

Buy-sell agreements are agreements by and between the shareholders (or equity partners of whatever legal description) of a privately owned business and, perhaps, the business itself. They establish the mechanism for the purchase of stock following the death (or other adverse changes) of one of the owners. In the case of corporate joint ventures, they also establish the value for break-ups or for circumstances calling for one corporate venture partner to buy out the other partner.

Buy-sell agreements (or put agreements in some cases) are more important than most business owners, shareholders and boards of directors realize. I’ve often said that buy-sell agreements are written under the assumption that the other partner is going to die first - and one of the partners is right!

Seeing two different buy-sell agreements recently put the topic at the top of my mind and triggered a couple of memories, as well.

Never Updated

The other day I reviewed a buy-sell agreement that was perfectly fine on the day it was signed by a company’s two major shareholders - more than ten years ago. The agreement states that the parties will reset the value each year.Since then, the company has more than tripled in size and value. However, the valuation in the buy-sell when it was signed remains in effect today because it was never updated.

This creates no significant problems - unless something adverse happens to one ofthe shareholders. In that case, one shareholder would benefit from a bargain purchase price and the other’s family would suffer a true economic loss. With this item now in the open, those shareholders are working to update the document as rapidly as possible.

Formula Pricing

Many business owners want to create a formula to establish the pricing if a buy-sell agreement is triggered. And quite a few buy-sell agreements have them, usually with disastrous long-term results. However, this is not uncommon because this is an inexpensive alternative to hiring a business appraiser. Almost anyone can put a few numbers into a formula, whether it calls for book value at the preceding fiscal year-end or 4.5 times a 3-4-5 year (pick one) average EBITDA - less debt, of course. (I’ve actually seen the exclusion of debt to determine equity value omitted as part of the formula!)

The questions is, will formula results be fair for both sides in all circumstances? I won’t prove it here by boring you with multiple examples, but no rigid formula can realistically determine the value of a business over time with changing company, industry, and economic conditions. That’s why many buy-sell agreements use an appraisal process.

Three Appraisers

As mentioned above, I reviewed two buy-sell agreements recently. The second agreement involved the use of what I call “one-two-three appraisers, rock!” The drafters of this type of agreement seem to believe that if it is good to retain one appraiser to value a business, it is better to retain two, or even three. As an appraiser, I suppose I should prefer this mechanism. After all, it increases the odds of our firm being hired.

While I don’t know the genesis of this, many buy-sell agreements are written where the valuation mechanism involves multiple appraisal firms. Variations go like this:

1. The buying party shall retain one independent appraiser, and the selling party another. They will both provide valuation opinions. If the values are within 10% or 15% or 20% (pick-a-percent), the price for the buy-sell agreement will be the average of the two. If they are more than pick-a-percent apart, the price will be determined by the average of the third appraiser’s value and that of the one closest to him or her.

2. The buying party shall retain one independent appraiser and the selling party a second. They do not provide appraisals. Rather, it is their job to mutually select a third appraiser. Having been one of the original two appraisers in several situations, I can tell you that this is not as easy as you might think! This third appraiser will provide a valuation of the business (or interest). The third appraiser’s conclusion is the agreed upon transaction value. If you are the third appraiser, that’s an awesome responsibility, one that I’ve undertaken on several occasions.

3. The buying party shall retain one independent appraiser and the selling party a second. Both will provide valuation conclusions which, if close enough together (pick-a-percent), will be averaged. If the conclusions are more than pick-a-percent apart, the original two appraisers shall select a third appraiser. Again, this is not as easy as one might think. The third appraiser must then pick one of the two appraisals as the more correct valuation, and that will be the transaction price. That’s pretty dicey, too, and I’ve done it.

And there are probably other variations on this theme.

A Single Appraiser

There are at least two versions of the single appraiser pricing mechanism.

1. The agreement states that the parties select an appraiser at the time of a trigger event. Some buy-sell agreements provide for the parties to agree on a single appraiser. If you think it is difficult for two appraisers to agree on a third appraiser, it can be even more difficult for two parties with adverse interests - and yes, the interests will be adverse at the moment of a trigger event.

There is a great deal of uncertainty in this process because neither party likely has any idea how the selected appraiser will work or what their work product will look like. So this process can feel something like a crap shoot to the parties involved.

Once selected, however, the appraiser provides an appraisal, and that’s the price for the transaction. Unless, of course, one party disagrees vehemently with that conclusion and litigation ensues.

2. The agreement states that the parties select an appraiser at the time of the signing of the buy-sell agreement. I have recommended this choice of pricing mechanism for years - with a twist. My suggestion is that the parties retain a mutually agreeable, independent appraiser at the time of the negotiation of the buy-sell agreement. The appraiser provides an appraisal, and the parties agree that this is the initial value for pricing if the agreement is triggered. All parties know the appraiser, see the methodologies they (the firm) have employed, and are comfortable, at the outset, that the valuation is reasonable and mutually agreeable.

The parties then agree that the selected appraisal firm will reappraise the business for purposes of the buy-sell agreement every (or every other) year or so, and that the reappraisal will re-establish the price for buy-sell transactions. If the appraisal is “stale” at a trigger event (say more than six months or a year or pick-a-period old), the appraiser will reappraise as of the date of the trigger event.

This form of pricing mechanism has the benefit of relatively greater consistency and certainty for all parties. Appraisal methodologies should be consistent from one appraisal to the next, or else the appraiser should make explicitly clear the reasons for any methodological changes that influence the appraisal conclusion.

More Comments on Structure

It should be clear that the pricing mechanism in a buy-sell agreement can be important to the outcome of a purchase event when it is triggered.

Before concluding this discussion of pricing mechanisms, let’s note some of the other important issues that need to be addressed when formulating your buy-sell agreement:

1. Standard of value. Will the value be based on “fair market value” or “fair value” or some other standard. These words can have dramatically different interpretations. Some agreements simply specify “the value” of the company or interest. What’s an appraiser to do then? Which value? The likelihood of a successful appraisal process diminishes greatly if this critical defining issue is not clear.

2. Level of value. Will the value pursuant to the buy-sell agreement be based on a pro rata share of the value of the business or will it be based on the value of an interest in the business? The differences bring minority interest and marketability discounts into potential play, and wide differences in interpretations of value. Two appraisers could agree regarding the value of a business, but if one applies a marketability discount, their conclusions can be significantly different, and confusion results. This is an issue that needs to be crystal clear in your agreement.

3. The “as of” date for the valuation. Believe it or not, some buy-sell agreements are not clear about the date as of which the valuation(s) should be determined by appraisers. This can be extremely important, particularly in corporate partnerships and joint ventures when the occurrence of events other than the death of a partner typically establishes a valuation date. We were involved in major litigation a couple of years back where it took two arbitrations and several nationally known appraisers to resolve what was a dispute over the appropriate valuation date. Fortunately for our client, the arbitration panel agreed with our interpretation of the buy-sell agreement from a
valuation viewpoint.

4. The funding mechanism. Many buy-sell agreements do not provide a specific funding mechanism, either through insurance, sinking funds, or pre-agreed payment terms. An agreement is no better than the ability of the parties and/or the company to fund any required purchases at the agreed upon price.

5. Qualifications of appraisers. Some buy-sell agreements provide a specific list of firms that the parties agree are mutually acceptable, either for a single appraiser option or for the multiple-appraiser options. In other cases, the specific, individual qualifications of appraisers are spelled out (e.g., credentials from a major credentialing organization, experience in appraisal, experience with the industry, etc.).

Credentials can be important. I reviewed a draft buy-sell agreement for an acquaintance a couple of years ago. His company was a $100 million, highly successful service organization. The draft buy-sell stated that the appraiser should be an “accredited general appraiser” in the state of
domicile. An accredited general appraiser is qualified to appraise residential or possibly small commercial real estate. This error was fixed in the next draft!

6. Appraisal standards to be followed. Some buy-sell agreements go so far as to name the specific business appraisal standards that must be followed by any selected appraisers. For example, I have seen agreements that state that the appraiser(s) must follow the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice and the Business Valuation Standards of the American Society of Appraisers.

What’s so hard about specifying these things? I’ve had clients tell me that they have a hard time talking about some of these issues with their fellow shareholders when they are creating their buy-sell agreements. It makes people think about things they don’t want to think about. But think about them you must.

The process of drafting a buy-sell agreement requires the parties to address important issues in balanced form at the outset. In doing so, they are forced to realize that each party could be a buyer - in the event of the death of a partner - or a seller. Actually, if one thinks about being a seller, it is actually his or her estate that will be the seller. This can be tough stuff to deal with.

As I’ve said in numerous speeches, if you think it is difficult to address these issues with your partner(s) in the here and now, just think how difficult it will be when one of you is in the hereafter!

Know this. If these defining elements, including the pricing mechanism, are unclear in your (or your clients’) buy-sell agreement(s), they will be the only thing you will be able to think about following a trigger event until the situation is resolved. Absent a clear agreement, this can take lots of money, lots of time, and create lots of hard feelings. And dealing with the issues under adverse circumstances will absolutely distract you from the business of running your business.

The Bottom Line

You probably don’t spend much time at night thinking about your (or your clients’) buy-sell agreement(s). Take my word for it, you shouldn’t. You should be thinking about your buy-sell agreement now, in the light of day, and working to get a clear agreement that works for you and your fellow shareholders or partners.

I never practice law, because to do so requires a license. So I don’t have any legal opinions. I prefer to think of them as business opinions.

1. If you are a business owner or shareholder and your buy-sell agreement has not been updated within the last year (or if you don’t understand it if it has), run, don’t walk, to your corporate attorney to talk through these issues.

If you or your attorneys don’t understand the valuation nuances of your buy-sell agreement, don’t hesitate to bring in a qualified business appraiser to read the agreement from a valuation perspective and to tell you what he or she thinks it means - or if there is legitimate room for misunderstanding between appraisers. Find out what needs to be done, make the necessary decisions, and fix the document. It will never be easier than right now.

2. If you are a trusted adviser to a business owner or significant shareholder, I would suggest making contact for the explicit purpose of discussing the buy-sell agreement and subjecting it to formal review and/or revision.

3. If you are an executive or director of a large company with multiple joint ventures involving substantial resources, you can bring great value to your company by requesting a review, from legal and valuation viewpoints, of all existing buy-sell and/or put agreements with appraisal-type pricing mechanisms.

Remember this about buy-sell agreements - someone will buy and someone will sell. You just don’t know who that will be when you sign the agreement. Your agreement needs to work for you and your family whether you are the buyer or seller. And it needs to work for your partner(s) and their families (or their shareholders) whether they are the buyers or sellers.

This is important. Send this article to any of your friends who own businesses. They will benefit greatly from taking time to review their buy-sell agreements. And send this article to attorneys, accountants, or other advisers of businesses. They can bring great value to their clients by suggesting a review of their buy-sell agreements from legal and valuation viewpoints.

Z. Christopher Mercer is the founder and CEO of Mercer Capital Management, Inc., one of the leading business valuation and investment banking firms in the nation.

Chris has prepared, overseen, or contributed to hundreds, if not thousands, of valuations for purposes related to M&A, litigation, and tax, among others. He is a prolific author on valuation-related topics and one of the most sought after speakers on business valuation issues for national professional associations and other business and professional groups.

Chris also authors a web log, or blog, called MERCER ON VALUE, which can be found at http://www.merceronvalue.com, and discusses what he observes in the world and business from the perspective of value, broadly defined.

Standardize your processes! You can save time, money and prevent errors. Things you do over and over should be done the same way every time, if indeed you do the task the best way. They say variety is the spice of life, but for healthcare processes it certainly isn’t most of the time. Consider this, if you would. Would you buy your favorite brand of soda if sometimes your 12 ounce can were 3/4 of the way full and sometimes almost overflowing. Certainly not. You expect there to consistently be nearly 12 ounces every time. How would a patient behave if the results of a healthcare visit varied wildly? The patient would probably find a new provider. The best healthcare providers deliver a consistently good service; it helps attract new patients and keeps the old ones coming back.

Standardization helps save time. As things become routine, a process is easier to do and is done more quickly. For instance, if a primary care physician makes sure that the necessary items for a patient visit are always in the examining room, the doctor won’t have to waste time going to look for supplies and waste time for the patient or the doctor. I recommend that primary care physicians along with staff sit down and list the things that should always be in examination rooms and make sure someone is responsible for these items every morning before patients arrive. If this is done, the doctor can save time, thereby enabling him or her to spend more quality time with the patient or see more patients.

Standardization saves money. Most doctors face rising malpractice costs, but for one group this has not been trueanesthesiologists. According to an article in the June 21, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal, this group over two decades ago began implementing procedures that ensured the safety of their patients. Certain processes have been standardized across the profession so instead of one death per 5000 cases, there is now only one per 200000 to 300000 cases. Because of this, their malpractice insurance premiums plummeted.

Standardization prevents errors, as in the above illustration. Another example is drawn form a local hospital. Recently the Chief Financial Officer of the institution and I were discussing the new facility they were building. Instead of building adjacent rooms so that the bathrooms would be back to back to save plumbing costs, each room was designed so that each room will be exactly the same with bathrooms all on the same side. Why? This will prevent errors and in the long run save money for the hospital.

It is best if you can measure standardization. The best tool to measure standardization in statistics is variance or standard deviation. I am sure many of you have encountered this measure, but probably cannot calculate it. The best way to calculate it is either in a spreadsheet or on a calculator. For example, the standard deviation for the numbers 8, 12, 1, 4 and 5 is 4.18. For the group 5, 5, 5, 5, and 5 the standard deviation is 0, since there is no variety. So, when you are trying to standardize a process, see if you cannot find some significant measure that reflects the process and try to reduce the standard deviation as much as possible. In fact, this is the heart of Six Sigmareduce the standard deviation as much as possible. The best manufacturers and service providers often use this tool.

Once you have standardized a process and have achieved a satisfactory standard deviation, then write down the process in a manual that is a collection of all best practices. This way, anyone who needs to reference how a process should be conducted can refer to the manual. Too, it is an excellent training source for new employees.

As you can see in these brief illustrations, standardization or the lack of variance provides safety for patients, a savings of time for the provider and patient, and contributes to an improved bottom line.

Donald Bryant helps healthcare providers meet their challenges. If you liked this article and want more free tips, visit www.bryantsstatisticalconsulting.com for a free article to help you start making improvements at your site immediately.

Whether you are a new manager or a master there is one rule you can’t disregard. You can not motivate someone. There is nothing you can do to motivate your associates. Either they are motivated or not. It is a stereotype but it’s true.

Motivation comes from inside, not outside. People are motivated as you. We all need food, clothes, benefits, good health care and security. Although you can’t do many things about benefits, you can provide to your employees performance standards clearly and honestly.

You can also give them freedom on how to do their job well and succeed at their work goals. Do not forget but it’s not only money people want in their job. They also want to feel appreciated, learn and master new skills and feeling that they contribute to the organization.

Your workers need some basic requirements in order to be
effective and produce results. They need proper equipment and tools, appropriate training and regular updates.

Be very clear about your expectations and objectives. Listen to your workers opinion and discuss every dicision has been made that affects their position and work. You must provide all the information to your workers and not hide anything.

Another extremely important issue is that you should fight, if necessary, with your seniors for your workers. Don’t let them on their own and fail. You will fail too as a result. Rewarding for their efforts is another way to gain their commitment and appreciation.

Actions are more effective than words. You should be the
paradigm to your workers. Your behavior is that counts most, not what you say. Whatever you give to them the same you will get in your environment.

Be a Leader instead of Boss. Leaders don’t push they pull. They don’t force, they persuade. The leader wins or loses with the team. The success of the leader is tied to the success of the team.

You authority will not come from your job title. It will come from people following you in the process by your example. You can’t claim yourself as a leader and ask to follow you. They decide to follow you because they want to go in the same direction you’re going.

Your goal is to create commitment not Obedience . Obedient
workers follow the rules work hard in front of you , do Only what it’s required to do and that’s it. When you leave, they stop working or do just the neccesary tasks and nothing more. Fear of yelling and rebuking is what leads their actions. You don’t want compliant subordinates.You want committed workers, who identify their self-interest with yours and with excellent
job performance. They’ll work just as hard and just as well when you’re not watching because they’re not working for you, they’re working with you.

You don’t want to control “subordinates.” You want to lead
workers. Subordinates require superiors. Workers require
commitment and effort to achieve shared goals which leaders
inspire.

Finally, You don’t give up your authority when you treat workers as equals and seek their commitment.You’re still in charge. You can’t evade your responsibilities as a manager even if you want to.

Christos Varsamis is a Business Marketer. Sign for your 15 day E-course at http://www.settinglifegoals.com. Get your other Free E-courses “How to Create Minisites That Make Money in Just 24 Hours Secrets of Internet Millionaires” at http://www.cbmallgr.com

Businesses of all types are now exploring the benefits of using Interim management. What was once seen as the exclusive territory of large multi-national companies may turn out to be the saviour of the UK manufacturing sector.

Paul Wilson, Managing Director of Aster Interim Solutions takes up the story, “Interim Managers were once exclusively used by the larger companies to aid in company turnaround or implement business re-structuring but are now being used by companies of all types and sizes from both the public and private sector.

Typical reasons why companies may use interim managers include:-

• Company turnaround and business restructuring e.g. ‘Company Doctor
• Introduction of change management
• To bridge a ‘gap’ to cover for maternity, secondment etc
• To provide additional resources when companies need it most such as through periods of dramatic growth or the building of company infrastructure
• As a ’safe pair of hands’ whilst the replacement of a permanent member of staff is sought following their sudden departure
• As a project manager to manage a transition e.g. introduction of new business systems etc.

The UK manufacturing sector has been ‘ravaged’ since the 1950s by cheap imports resulting in job losses and the gradual transition of our manufacturing base to lower cost geographical areas. Many of the UK manufacturing companies left are now ‘working smarter not harder’ in an attempt to outwit their competitors.

One of the ways this manifests itself is by the use of specialist interim managers. Whereas Finance and Human Resources have historically been disciplines where companies have used interim managers, businesses are now using interim manufacturing/operations managers to help them in their efforts to implement philosophies such as six sigma and lean manufacturing.

Many UK manufacturing companies are now using interim managers to provide their business with ‘manufacturing best practise’. By using the experience of the interim manager companies can become a leaner and fitter business in a shorter period of time than they would otherwise have been achieved.

In addition, the cost of hiring the interim manager is tangible and only temporary. This makes the ‘interim’ proposition very attractive for a number of our clients”.

This all goes to demonstrate, perhaps the strategic use of Interim Managers can provide our remaining UK manufacturers with a powerful weapon in their bid to stave off low cost offshore competition.

Paul Wilson
Managing Director
Aster Interim Solutions Ltd
http://www.aster-interim.co.uk

We all have goals that are important to us. They range from quitting smoking, to creating our own businesses, to raising great kids. Unfortunately, most of us also have the experience of being unable to reach our goals, of having them always seem just out of reach. We can see them. We want to complete them, but we never quite cross that finish line. Here are 10 steps that are almost like magic! They will help you reach your goals, every time!

1. Precisely define the objective. Exactly what do you want? Measure it, put a number on it. How many pounds do you want to lose? How many dollars do you want to earn? No one can achieve a fuzzy goal. Be precise.

2. Align the objective with your values. You won’t work toward a goal that conflicts with your values or sense of purpose. Make sure your goals are consistent with your religious and moral beliefs, and with other goals that you have. Internal conflict will undermine your performance, every time!

3. Develop appropriate affirmations. A series of positive, powerful, present-tense statements that describe the benefits of having your goal and how you’ll feel when you’ve reached it are essential. They should be short, active, exciting, and you will need to write them down and repeat them many times, every day!

4. Develop powerful reasons to achieve your goals. “If you have enough why’s, you’ll find a way.” We reach goals that excite us, that stimulate our imaginations. We reach goals that are vital to our health, our family and our future. Find lots of reasons! When it’s important enough, you’ll make it happen.

5. Write your goals and your reasons down! Write them on file cards every day! There is power, magic and mystery in writing your goals down. Put the cards where you’ll see them through the day. Put them on your mirror, or on your desk. Carry them with you and read them, over and over, through the day.

6. Set a deadline. Again, have the courage to be exact. Quit smoking by your birthday, double your income by the end of this year, get out of debt by September 1st. A goal without a deadline is just a pipe dream! Give yourself the discipline of a date.

7. Define intermediate targets. To lose 40 pounds in 4 months, determine to lose 10 pounds EACH month. Having smaller goals makes each one easier to achieve, and you can track your progress to your larger goal. A journey of a thousand miles is just a series of steps, one after another.

8. Make your goals public. Tell friends and family what you plan to do, and your target date. Ask them to hold you accountable and to help you along the way. Knowing your friends are rooting for you is a powerful motivator. Set yourself up for success by making a public commitment to reach your goals on time.

9. Get a partner. High achievers rarely do anything significant by themselves. Get a running partner, make a friendly bet with your spouse to quit smoking, make it a family project to get out of debt. Always have at least one person who totally supports you, and make sure they are part of your campaign. Hire a coach, if appropriate.

10. Celebrate every intermediate victory! Give yourself a reward for each day without a cigarette, have a family celebration for each bill that gets paid off. High achievers find reasons to celebrate every day! Like that journey of a thousand miles, you must celebrate - really celebrate! - each step along the way.

Remember, “if you can imagine it, you can achieve it.” Any goal that truly fires your imagination and fills your heart with joy, is reachable! Set targets, develop an adequate support system, break large goals into smaller steps, and go for it! You can do this!

Here’s to your success!

© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: “Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It’s all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com

As a hypnotherapist I specialise in helping people to develop confidence and self esteem.

Perhaps surprisingly, the people who ask for my help are not shrinking violets and their reasons for wanting to develop enhanced self confidence are not wholly selfish. Consider a few examples. The names have been changed.

John works for a large corporate. Diligent, startlingly intelligent and very ambitious, he found that his ideas were consistently overlooked. This wasn’t enough of a catalyst to bring him to my door, however. He eventually grew frustrated, and then angry, that dominant individuals in his company were able to put their own ideas forward with ease. Worst of all, some of these ideas, he felt, were positively damaging, but he just couldn’t make his opposition count. All his intelligence counted for little in his testosterone-fuelled working environment. It had reached the point where he felt that he should resign and start again with a fresh company; he simply didn’t feel that he was adding any real value. A man of great integrity, John would rather leave than tacitly support such a wrong-headed and unintelligent approach to business.

John stayed. We worked together to identify his confidence profile, which was very unusual — represented by less than 1% of the population. Through work on his stage presence and physical presence, we were able to significantly improve John’s effectiveness in being taken seriously, to the extent where he has recently broken through into senior management.

Jenny came to me because she was lonely. A brief marriage hadn’t worked out, and she was finding serial dating to be a frustrating activity. Jenny had come to realise that she wasn’t moving out of her ‘comfort zone’, either socially or at work. She feared becoming enclosed, locked into a safe routine which wouldn’t threaten her, but wouldn’t take her life forward either.

Jenny’s confidence profile was almost the inverse of John’s. Where he had masses of peer independence, Jenny had almost none, which meant that she was hugely dependent on the good opinion of others. She needed lots of reassurance, and had very little faith in her own ability or judgement.

The approach with Jenny was to strengthen her peer independence — her ability to trust in her own judgement, independent of the views of others — and to build up her self esteem. She has now met somebody, changed her job and moved house — all in the space of a year!

What these case studies illustrate is the complex nature of self confidence. It isn’t like height or weight; you can’t read off a single value which describes a person. Confidence is complex and to develop, we need to understand our confidence profile. I have subsequently made my confidence profile questionnaire available through the Confidence Club website http://www.confidenceclub.net

This has enabled me to build up an even larger database of confidence profiles, and allows people from all over the world to identify their particular areas for improvement.

Jim Sullivan is a hypnotherapist specialising in confidence and self esteem development. He works with individual clients, with companies looking to de-stress their staff and through his Confidence Club website.
http://www.confidenceclub.net

What’s everyone’s favorite topic around the water cooler? Bad bosses! You know, the ones who make life in the office unbearable? Here are some of the more common varieties you’ll find.

1. The Screamer. You can’t miss this guy. He never stops to consider his audience or who might be listening when he starts one of his rants. He’ll dress down a subordinate in the middle of the hall; he’ll scream at the supplier on the phone; he’ll holler to his secretary from inside his office instead of using the intercom. Nothing’s private and no one is exempt from his temper.

2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A variation on The Screamer, only without the consistency. With this boss, you never know whether you’re going to be praised for something or get your head handed to you. It’s hard to plan for both flowers and brickbats at the same time.

3. The Micro-Manager. A very common genus, the Micro-Manager is so unsure of herself that she can’t afford to trust other people’s work. She makes you explain reports line by line, then sends you back to re-do them. She demands twice-daily updates on your projects. She won’t let you make a single decision without her input. It’s like being in kindergarten but without nap-time.

4. The Invisible Woman. You never see her, which might be ok except when you need a question answered or someone to back you up on a sensitive project. This boss thinks that if she hides, nothing bad will ever happen. Of course, nothing good will ever happen either, but she thinks that the status quo is just fine.

5. The Gossiper. No one has more inside info than this guy does, and he isn’t shy about sharing it. He’ll tell you why the guy in shipping got fired and how the woman in payroll really messed up. He knows all the skeletons and where the bodies are buried. Conversations with him might be interesting, except for that little worry about what he might be telling people about you.

6. The Idiot. He just doesn’t get it. He either has the IQ of a turnip or he only sees things in black and white. He doesn’t understand complex ideas, nuances or more than two options. Make sure you spell things out completely, using only the facts (no assumptions), and use small words.

Do you recognize anyone? Probably - toxic bosses are everywhere and, unfortunately, we’ve all got a story to share.

If you have a toxic boss who’s making your life miserable, you may want to consider a new job. To get you started, check out my free mini-course, “Your Perfect Job - 3 Steps to Jump-start Your Search”. Sign up at http://www.achieve-momentum.com.

Looking for more career advice?

Joan Schramm is a career, executive and personal coach with twenty years experience in management, training and coaching. Joan can work with you to figure out exactly what you want from your life and your career, and how to get there without a lot of detours.

For more information about Joan, or to talk about what’s going on in your career, e-mail coach@achieve-momentum.com, or go to http://www.achieve-momentum.com.