The production and distribution costs of newspapers is and has been very expensive when compared to digital cost and distribution of information today.  The only reason newspapers have survived for so long was because local newspapers were a geographical monopoly that could demand a subscription fee in addition to receiving advertising funding.  However, there are no monopolies for long on the Internet.

Now that the Internet has created Craig's List as the rebirth of the local newspaper "want ads" and social media (blogs, networks, RSS, Twitter, etc) as the places to get the news and opinions you want to read, most newspapers across the world are dead or are counting the days on their death bed.     

Of course, a few quality and expensive newspapers and periodicals, like The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker, will survive in printed form delivered to your house, office or Post Office box.  And advertising-driven local newspapers will still appear at low-or-no cost on a weekly basis to encourage consumers to get out and buy something at their local shopping centers.  

But the future of news distribution will be digital via the Internet and mass-customized to fit the reading/viewing desires of individual consumers.  This newsworthy content will be read on the computer screen, book/newspaper replacements like Amazon's Kindle, or printed out on demand by the reader on their home or office Kodak or HP printer. 

A Life Line for Dying Newspapers?

Here in Ann Arbor, MI, USA, the local newspaper is ending daily printing and distribution by moving to a combination of a daily online presence (www.AnnArbor.com) and advertising-driven paper distribution on Thursdays and Sundays.  The biggest challenge is how to monetize their projected high employee overhead cost with only a semi-weekly paper publication that is advertising financed...since they no longer have a local news monopoly.  A number of free online local blogs are continuing to emerge, like www.AnnArborChronicle.com and www.BigHouseBlog.com, and are rapidly filling the gap of daily news distribution.

Why do premonitions exist?  What if all of our decisions were emotional and we only justified and rationalized them analytically in our brain?

 "Nothing happens unless first a dream." Carl Sandburg

"Premonition" comes from the Latin prae, "before," and monere, "warn."  A premonition is literally a forewarning, usually of something unpleasant, such as a looming natural disaster or an impending threat to our health.  Premonitions, therefore, help us survive, and survival is the great theme running through the premonitions that people experience.

Thomas L. Friedman wrote "The Inflection Is Near?" in the New York Times on March 8, 2009: "What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession?  What if it's telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last fifty years is simply unsustainable economically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall--when Mother Nature and the market both said: "No more."  But as environmentalists have pointed out: Mother Nature doesn't do bailouts...  We must grow in a different way.

When biologists want to understand why a trait has arisen, they always ask, "What is it good for?  What purpose does it serve?"  If a trait helps us to stay alive and reproduce, it is likely to become embedded in our genes and passed down through succeeding generations.

A premonition is not unusual. 

Surveys show that about three-fourths of Americans experience what the call ESP, or extrasensory perception.  Common among these events are premonitions, which often occur in dreams.  They also happen in waking hours as a hunch, an intuition, or a gut feeling that something is going to happen.

The actual premonition may be nothing more than a subtle feeling that something is not quite right, leading them to cancel a plane trip the day of its crash; or to anticipate a road hazard lying around a bend in time to avert it; to schedule a medical test that leads to the discovery of a problem that might have been fatal had it gone undetected; or to take innumerable other intervening actions.

Premonitions also reveal a "feeling side" to the world.

Studies reveal that premonitions frequently link people who love each other--parents and children, siblings, twins, lovers and very close friends.  Love, empathy, compassion, and a sense of connectedness are an integral part of the pattern of premonitions. 

Premonitions operate at an unconscious level and they may be present to some degree in everyone.  As such, they are not optional but are part of our natural endowment, as innate as our heartbeat.  As 14-year-old Lilly says in The Secret Life of Bees, "The body knows things...before the mind catches up to them."

Premonitions in general suggest a timeless, eternal dimension to the mind. 

The implications of this temporal infinitude for cherished concepts inn biology are profound.  As Nobel biologist George Wald says, "Mind, rather than emerging as a late outgrowth in the evolution of life, has existed always....the source and condition of physical reality."

By linking minds across space and time, premonitions suggest that in some sense we are infinite or nonlocal in space and time.  When we deeply sense this, we may become "transparent to the transcendent," as mythologist Joseph Campbell put it.  The profound spiritual contribution of premonitions often goes unnoticed by those who regard them only as a nifty tool to glimpse the future.

It is not important how we language the transcendent.  What matters is that we recognize our identity with it.  As physicist Freeman Dyson put it, "There is evidence...that the universe as a whole is hospitable to the growth of mind....therefore it is reasonable to believe in the existence of....a mental component of the universe.  If we believe in this mental component of the universe, then we can say that we are small pieces of God's mental apparatus."

Today, most scientists claim that our brain somehow produces consciousness, which, they say, is confined to our physical body and limited to the present moment.  Premonitions say otherwise; they suggest that our consciousness may work through our physical brain but that it is neither produced by the brain nor confined to it.  Like a fish that considers his watery environment to be the full extent of his world, we have come to believe that the here and now defines the limits of our existence.  The past, we say, has already happened and no longer exists; the future has yet to unfold.  The present is all there is.  To this, premonitions say, "Wake up.  The evidence for a larger world is staring you in the face."

Source:   Larry Dossey: The Power of Premonitions: How Knowing the Future Can Shape Our Lives

The depth of this recession, plus widespread expectations that unemployment will keep rising into 2010 and remain high thereafter, may exert a powerful drag on the recovery.

Shortly after the 1990-91 recession, consumers went out and bought houses, cars and other expensive goods on credit, noted Richard Curtin, director of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey.  That helped boost job growth in construction, manufacturing and other industries.

Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. gross domestic product.

However today, Americans have abruptly switched from living beyond their means to saving more and working down the debts they incurred during the bubble years.  This time around, because of the severe credit crunch, people won't be able to get financing as easily as they did in the 1990s--while many others who can borrow will be reluctant to do so, Curtin's survey's indicate.

Instead of leading the way to a more vigorous economy, consumers are saying they want to save and keep their personal debts low.  Americans socked away almost 7 percent of their after-tax income in May, the highest rate in 15 years.

That's what scares Howard Roth, chief economist at California's Department of Finance.  The nation's biggest state has been hit particularly hard by the housing meltdown, and its jobless rate is already hovering at 11.5 percent.

"If you look at the situation of consumers--home equity, it's gone away.   The stock market has wiped away retirement savings," Roth said.  "The consumers are not going to be able to spend as much as before."

Source: Ann Arbor News, July 2, 2009

The Supreme Court's recent landmark employment-discrimination ruling might prompt employers to use tests more in making hiring and promotion decisions.  But it has others scrutinizing their existing tests to ensure they are free of bias.

"There's going to be a re-evaluation of what additional tools are available to employers," says Maria Konev, human-resources manager at Liquid Transport Corp. of Avenel, NJ.  Ms. Konev says she sometimes uses personality tests to help choose between equally qualified candidates for jobs or promotions, and would like to use tests more frequently.  Following the court's ruling, Ms. Konev says she is considering using personality tests more and giving other exams to dispatchers and drivers.

"It is a tool," says Paul Nolan, owner of Cincinnati-based Personnel Profiles, which designs and administers aptitude tests.  He suggests clients follow five steps, including an introductory interview followed by a skills test, a second interview, a drug test and a background check.

Doug Reynolds, vice president for Development Dimensions International, a Pittsburgh human resources and leadership consulting firm that develops tests for employers, says tests for hiring and promotion are most commonly used by retailers, manufacturers, telecommunications companies and businesses with large sales forces.   Mr. Reynolds says the court's "very public statement of support for an objective and validated" test should ease concerns among private-sector employers about using tests.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2009

For more information, go to: www.SelfAssessmentCenter.com 

Learn about Gallup's new job candidate testing for team engagement

Every Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is "on the stage" the majority of his or her work life but needs pre-performance quiet and confidential time to be creative, bounce their ideas off someone in a safe environment, and explore the unintended consequences of their future actions.  Engaging in a personal coaching conversation is a refreshing opportunity where the CEO can be completely open and creative in a confidential and safe place.

When asked what was the best advice he ever received, Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, recognized it was from John Doerr, who in 2001 said, "My advice to you is to have a coach."  Schmidt initially resented the advice, because after all, he was a CEO.  He was pretty experienced.  Why would he need a coach? 

CEO Schmidt asked himself, "Am I doing something wrong?"  His argument was, "How could a coach advise me if I'm the best person in the world at this?  But that's not what a coach does.  The coach doesn't have to play the sport as well as I do.  They have to watch you and get you to be your best.  In the business context a coach is not a repetitious coach.  A coach is somebody who looks at something with another set of eyes, describes it to you in [his] words, and discusses how to approach the problem."

Schmidt said, "Once I realized I could trust him and that he could help me with perspective, I decided this was a great idea.  When there is  [a] business conflict you tend to get rat-holed into it.  [The coach's] general advice has been to rise one step higher, above the person on the other side of the table, and to take the long view.  He'll say, 'You're letting it bother you.  Don't.'"

When a person faces a challenge and becomes stuck, he or she may seek the services of a personal coach.  Once this commitment is made, the person begins to experience a different, more hopeful, world as his or her perceptions evolve in meeting the personal challenge.  Professional coaches understand that the success of a coaching engagement depends on the willingness of the person-being-coached to commit to his or her personal development process. 

Here is what Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland, CEO, International Coach Academy (ICA)  www.icoachacademy.com  [m] +86 15800874784 had to say about her coaching experience over the last 12 months:

Source: FORTUNE, July 6, 2009

The recession has forced companies to be more competitive than ever; employees and managers have to be extremely customer-oriented and at the top of their game.

What this means is that all new hires have to be star players.  The have to be able to hit the ground running and get up-to-speed almost immediately, because the company doesn't have the luxury of waiting. 

They have to be ready, willing and able to play their position well and know how to play on an All Star Team...putting in the extra effort required in practicing their intercommunication skills to allow the team to win.  And they need to be employees and managers who appreciate and apply the team training and personal coaching the company invests in them.

Because new employees are unlikely to go far if there's a disconnect with the company culture, many self assessments ask questions to see whether there will be a good match.  Does the job candidate prefer to work on teams, or alone?  Would he or she feel comfortable being empowered to make decisions?  Is the person rule-oriented, or does he or she work better with looser boundaries?

Cultural fit is a key element of overall employee engagement, says Julie Gebauer, a managing director at Stamford, CT-based Towers, Perrin, and co-author of Closing the Engagement Gap.  Some elements of engagement, she says, come from the employee--such as a person's openness to challenge, optimism and inclination to set high personal and professional standards.

At many companies, cutbacks have led to fewer people doing the same amount of work--so employees are increasingly working in teams to collaborate and share resources.  Gallup, the Washington-based polling and consulting firm, recently studied thousands of teams at 10 companies and found that certain job applicants, once hired, can raise the engagement levels of their team members.

According to Jim Harter, Gallup's chief scientist for workplace management, those job applicants had these four traits:

"Mobilization:" The ability to moblize people with decisiveness and genuine inclusiveness.  "They're forceful but not pushy," says Harter.  "Their approach is, 'Let's do this together.'"

"Clarity:" They reduce team members' uncertainty by helping make clear the goal of the team and of each team member.  Both managers and co-workers can achieve this on a team.

"Relationship:" They are more likely to help team members get things done, because their relationship with them is important.  "When people feel they won't be let down, and other people have their back, they are more likely to become engaged," says Harter.

"Affirmation:" These are people who have an optimism and enthusiasm that give others a positive attitude.

Gallup identified these traits by first examining the individual employee-engagement scores of each team member and figuring the average for each team.  The next step was to see how that average went up or down when various team members were removed from the equation.  Finally, Gallup looked at the pre-employment assessments of those who had the most positive impact on their teams, to see what they had in common.  The four abilities listed above were embedded in the assessment questions, and the Gallup study was able to pull them out, says Harter.

Source: Human Resource Executive, June 16, 2009

The nation's monetary base--consisting of bills and coins in circulation plus banks' deposits at the Fed--has climbed 114% over the past year through May.  For comparison, the biggest annual increase before this crisis, going back as far as 1960, was a little under 16%.

Whether it's voluntary frugality or under the coercion of creditors, Americans have abruptly switched from living beyond their means to saving more and working down the debts they incurred during the bubble years.  Normally, consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. gross domestic product...and...when you're saving, you are not spending as much as you did before.

The dramatic pullback in consumer spending means money that otherwise would have gone into raising prices is going into propping up the faltering economy.  Banks have drastically increased their reserves at the Fed rather than making new loans.  That's the biggest cause for the increase in the monetary base.  "At every level of the economy and every level of society, the demand for cash is unprecedented," says David A. Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist for Gluskin Sheff & Associates, a Toronto money manager.  Says Rosenberg: ""If the Fed didn't meet that demand for cash, we'd have a destabilizing deflation on our hands."

As a matter of fact, the economy is making ends meet, creating a deflationary spiral...where cash is king.

Excluding food and energy, consumer prices rose a modest 1.8% in the 12 months through May--and including food and energy, they fell 1.3%, the most since 1950.  Cutbacks by consumers are bringing about deflation in business, with unemployment in May at 9.4% and manufacturing using only 65% of their capacity, the lowest since recordkeeping began in 1948.  Small businesses that were aggressively raising prices a year ago are now "worried about weak demand, the fact that they don't have many customers," says William C. Dunkelberg, chief economist of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Source: BUSINESSWEEK, June 29, 2009

For information on how not to invest your funds:  5 Fatal Flaws of Trading
By Jeffrey Kennedy

EWI Senior Analyst Jeffrey Kennedy discusses why most traders lose, the five flaws associated with losing, and how to overcome these five flaws to become successful. Read More.

Positive stories are extremely important for inspiring interest that can create a desire to buy into what you propose to others. If you want your team to do something different, present stories and clear examples of how successful innovators are making a difference.

To 'sell' your concept, product or service, you must pass the ACID test: 

A. Gain favorable Attention,

  C. Inspire Confidence,

  I. Build Interest to where

  D. Desire surfaces.

When 'desire' surfaces, the other person takes the lead in the conversation while you begin to provide the evidence necessary to justify your proposal.

Appeal to both heart and mind to gain an enthusiastic buy-in.  Effective leaders establish an emotional connection.

The task isn’t to impose your will on an audience; it’s to enable participants to see the possibilities and come to their own conclusions, based on the evidence presented in your positive stories. These stories allow audience members to see the world for themselves, view their relationships in a new way and make progress in implementing organizational goals.

Reinforcing with Reasons

The desire for change will wane unless it’s supported and reinforced by compelling reasons. Remember to share the story of:

·         What the change is, as seen through the eyes of those who will be affected by it

·         How the change will be implemented, with a delineation of the simple steps for getting from “here” to “there”

·         Why the change will work, with an explanation of the underlying mechanisms that make change virtually inevitable

For more on passing the ACID test go to: www.SalesTip.info

 Successful leaders follow a unique, almost hidden communication pattern to pass the "A" of the ACID test. 

Grab the audience’s attention ► Stimulate desire ► Reinforce with reasons

To 'sell' your idea, product or service, you must pass the ACID test: 

A. Gain favorable Attention,

  C. Inspire Confidence,

  I. Build Interest to where

  D. Desire surfaces.

When 'desire' surfaces, the other person takes the lead in the conversation while you begin to provide the evidence necessary to justify your proposal.

Step 1: Getting the Audience’s Attention

In an experiment with 60 executives, researchers found the most important factors in grabbing their attention were:

1.    A personalized message

2.    Evoking an emotional response

3.    A trustworthy source

4.    Concise language

In fact, personalized messages that evoked emotion were more than twice as likely to resonate with the group.

Social scientists have shown that negative messages are more attention-getting than positive ones. To get an audience’s attention, share:

·         Stories about the audience’s problems

·         Stories about the problems’ worsening trajectory

·         A relevant story about how you dealt with adversity

·         A surprising question or challenge that will interest the audience--like "How well is _____ working for you?"

The traditional communication approach follows this sequence:

Define the problem ► Analyze it ►Recommend a solution

This approach appeals to reason and has been a revered intellectual tradition in organizations since the ancient Greeks.  It works well when the aim is to pass on information to people who want to hear it, or who are obliged to comply and follow without question.

But if your aim is to get people to change their behavior and act in some fundamentally new ways with sustained energy and enthusiasm, old-school communication has two flaws:

1.    It doesn’t work.

2.    It often makes the situation worse (negative impact).

People who disagree with you or have other ideas and habits won’t respond well to your list of reasons to change. In fact, lecturing them on your beliefs will often lead to greater entrenchment in their long-held approaches and behaviors.

Confirmation Biases

A significant body of research shows that asking people to change often drives them more deeply into opposition. In study after study, people display a phenomenon called confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions and to irrationally avoid information and interpretations that contradict existing beliefs. All of this happens instantaneously in the part of the brain that’s responsible for emotional reactions.

This explains why traditional persuasion techniques fail, especially when delivered too early in a presentation.  You risk speaking to a skeptical, cynical and/or hostile audience whose confirmation bias has been activated.

 Stephen Denning: The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)