Archive for March 2013

Chris Brown and Rihanna no longer together?

Chris Brown was a guest on a radio station yesterday and here's what they are claiming he said when asked if he was still with Rihanna...

They've not been photographed together for weeks now so o possible...but I hope not....

The Forbes Five: Hip-Hop's Wealthiest Artists 2013

1. Diddy - $580 million: The bulk of the Bad Boy Records founder’s wealth comes from non-musical ventures, namely his deal with Diageo’s Ciroc. The agreement entitles him to eight-figure annual payouts and a nine-figure windfall if the brand is ever sold—and Ciroc’s value has never been higher

2. Jay Z - $475 million: He’s still rolling in cash from megadeals like his $204 million Rocawear sale in 2007 and his $150 million pact with Live Nation the following year. He continues to hold stakes in Roc Nation, Carol’s Daughter, the Brooklyn Nets and, more significantly, the Barclays Center itself, while adding new partnerships with the likes of Duracell, Budweiser and Bacardi’s D’ussé Cognac

See the last three after the cut...

3. Dr Dre - $350 million: It's thanks mostly to his Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. A year after selling 51% of the company to handset maker HTC for $300 million in August 2011, Dre and his partners bought back half of the half they sold in 2012—and their investment continues to soar in value due to Beats’ whopping 65% market share of the premium ($99 and up) headphone market.

4. Bryan “Birdman” Williams - $150 million: Riding from his Cash Money/Young Money empire. His roster includes Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne (the latter crossed the $100 million threshold for the first time this year, by our estimates, but remains just outside the top five). Birdman also recently launched a YMCMB clothing line and a spirit called GT Vodka.

5. 50 Cent - $125 million: The bulk of his fortune came from heavy sales of his music, merchandise, video games and books in the wake of his smash debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’- and particularly from his payout for the sale of his stake in VitaminWater parent Glacéau to Coca-Cola in 2007.

Why You Need to Be Nice to People

Being nice to employees and co-workers isn't just good karma, it's good for business. Here's why.
Happy woman closeup

shimrit/Flickr

Ever since Bob Sutton wrote The No Asshole Rule, there's been a pretty broad movement underway to eradicate dysfunctional jerks from the workplace. I've got a problem with that for a number of reasons.
1. Judging character is entirely subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So are most human attributes. And different business cultures accept different types of behavior.
2. Everyone's a jerk sometimes. Even you.
3. Jerks have a right to work too. And they can be great workers. Bosses, too.
All that said, there are lots of very good reasons why, all things being equal, you should at least try to be nice to people, especially in this era of social media and political correctness.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you should be a pushover, a doormat, weak, or any other negative quality that people often associate with being nice. You can be a fierce competitor, a strong leader who fights to win and takes no prisoners, and still be nice. Fair. Professional.
And you should, because it's good for your career and your business. Not only that, but it'll probably make you happier, too. Here's why.

Everybody's watching and it lasts a lifetime. Let's face it; when you act like a jerk, you look and sound like a jerk. In the past, folks had to personally see or hear you behaving that way. Now, your behavior can be captured and immortalized for all the world to see forever and ever on video, email, text messages, whatever. Once it's posted on the Internet, it never goes away.
It motivates, empowers, and inspires people. If you're an abusive, egotistical, controlling maniac, it really turns people off. That can't be good for team effectiveness and productivity. On the flipside, positive qualities like being fair and respectful aren't just endearing, they're good leadership qualities, as well.
Business is all about relationships. Business is about transactions, and every transaction has a buyer and a seller. That's a relationship. And relationships are impacted by behavior. Good behavior means good relationships. Bad behavior, well, you get the idea.
Every company exists in a cooperative ecosystem. We work in a complex business world where every company relies on infrastructure, distribution, outsourcing, marketing channels--all sorts of partnerships. And every company has choices of who to work with. If you're a jerk, someone you need may choose to partner with one of your many competitors instead of you.

Networking spells opportunity. Networking and schmoozing have always been critical for recruiting, partnerships, relationships, and gaining exposure to new opportunities. But in the era of social networks, they're even more important than ever. It helps if you've got a genuine sense of humor, humility, and perhaps some other attractive traits.

Karma: It's not just for the afterlife. When we see someone behaving badly, we often ask, "How can he do that? How can he live with himself?" Well, we're not always aware of how we appear to others. We all compartmentalize things we really don't want to be consciously aware of. But here's the thing. On some subconscious level, we usually are aware of what we do. And it sticks with us. Bad behavior doesn't just come back to haunt us. It haunts us in real time, as well. You're just not aware of it.

You're better off finding out sooner rather than later. We're not all as self-aware as we'd like to be. Some of us see ourselves very differently from how others see us. If you're not sure how others perceive your behavior, you're better off finding out now while you still have time to do something about it, don't you think?

By:
Steve Tobak

4 Reasons Business Goals Must be set!

Here are four reasons why you should be setting goals for your organization.

My only goal when I first launched a petty business was to ensure that I made enough money to survive the subsequent month, with little to no forward thinking or planning. Unfortunately, I think that many business owners still think that way regardless of their size, revenue or business offering. When I finally made the commitment to do some future business planning, it included many short and long-term benefits, including ensuring that my senior executives understood what we were trying to accomplish and the roles they would play in helping us get there.
Business owners should not fear setting goals or projections because there is absolutely no downside to doing so. Also, it is important to remember that goal setting doesn't have to be only about revenue. It could relate to innovation, employee retention, service offerings, or anything that is important to enhancing your business. Here are four reasons why you should be setting goals for your organization: See these reasons after the cut.....

1. Measure Success

Good organizations should always be trying to improve, grow, and become more profitable. Setting goals provides the clearest way to measure the success of the company. When you are looking at your company from a three- or five-year perspective, you are looking beyond the tactical side of your business and instead taking a much more macro view, which allows you to see the company from a competitive, business vertical or economic perspective.

2. Leadership Team Cohesion

Setting goals ensures that everyone understands what the prize is and what they are working towards. When your leadership team clearly understands what you are trying to accomplish it provides greater rationale for the decisions you might make regarding hiring, acquisitions, incentives, sales programs, or any other financially-driven decision. This will eliminate a lot of the uncertainty that goes with not understanding the goals of the company.

3. Knowledge Is Power

When your goals have been defined, you can develop a deeper understanding of the effects of tactical decisions and how they play against the strategic goals. For example, when you have a budget that considers revenue to expenses, you will better understand the implications of a major purchase or winning a large new client. I have long believed that information is power and the more you know, the better decisions you can make.

4. Reassess Goals Mid-Year

When you set goals early and continually monitor your business against those goals, you can change course mid-year or when necessary. For example, say you have set your growth revenue goal at 20 percent from the previous year, but midway through the second quarter you find that your financial projections are not tracking like you had expected. You can modify your revenue and expense targets to reflect how your business is trending. If you hadn't set the goals, this type of information is not as apparent and decisive action is more difficult.
It is incredibly important to remember that setting business goals will not ensure success for any organization. However, there's also a lot to be said for not flying by the seat of your pants. Taking the time to look at your organization from a broader perspective will give you greater confidence in what lies ahead and how your organization will be able to optimize it. We can't predict the future, but we can certainly plan for it.

By Seyi Ilubanwo

The Secret to Getting More (and Better) Sleep

What if you could make better decisions, remember more, and get more done? It's possible, but you need more sleep. Here's how to get it.

jf-sebastian/Flickr

You constantly work to be more productive and more efficient.
You buy apps to save a couple minutes. You buy software to save a few more. You streamline your processes and rethink your workflow and do everything possible to maximize the hours you spend working.
But you pay no attention to improving the effectiveness of a major chunk of every day: the five to eight hours you spend sleeping.

And that's a shame, because when you improve the quality of your sleep you can increase your productivity and improve your ability to learn and make good decisions. When you think about it that way, putting zero effort into getting a better night sleep sounds, well, pretty dumb.
"I've been tracking my sleep for the last few months and have used the results to dramatically improve my sleep quality and energy levels," says Chris Hollindale, co-founder and CTO of Hasty, a seed-funded startup whose stated mission is to improve the health of humanity. "It's a genuinely effective way of feeling better and being more productive."
Here's Chris in his own words, with five reasons why you should track your sleep:

1. Sleep is important for learning--and we regularly abuse it.
Sleep is not just needed for rest and recuperation. In fact, your brain is just as active when you're asleep as it is during your waking hours. The overnight work the brain does is vital for learning and retention of knowledge; how many times have you gone to sleep struggling with an issue and woken up the next day with an idea that puts it into perfect clarity?
Sleep is important: By undermining sleep quality, you learn less, remember less, make worse decisions, and reduce your productivity.
Yet you abuse our sleep all the time: You use alarm clocks to wake up, you stay up late to get work finished, you travel around the world and try to ignore the effects of jet lag, and you drink caffeine and alcohol before trying to sleep.
Each has an impact on your sleep quality and if you knew exactly what effect it had you could make better decisions. Would you stay up past midnight to finish a task if you could just as easily finish it the next morning--and then have a more productive and energetic day overall?

2. Everyone is different.

The fundamental reason why tracking makes sense is that different factors affect people in different ways. Everyone has different sleep environments, from the light and noise levels to the type of mattress and the room temperature. Some share a bed with a partner and some do so much traveling they rarely sleep in the same environment for more than a few days.
Take me: I'm able to go to sleep in relatively noisy environments, but I really struggle if the room isn't almost pitch black.
By measuring how you sleep it's much easier to see how different factors affect you, and then you can use that knowledge to help optimize your sleep quality.

3. Tracking is easy
Here's the good news about sleep tracking: It's easy and it's free. Free apps like Sleep101 or SleepBot track your movements during the night to objectively evaluate how well you slept.
All you do is to place your smartphone on your mattress and tap a button. The app figures out when you fell asleep and woke up, tracks your movements, grades how well you slept, and graphs and charts the data to make it really easy to evaluate.
The one caveat is that if you share your bed with a partner, this method of tracking may not be the most accurate gauge, so using an individual device like the Jawbone UP may be a better if more expensive solution.

4. You can test your assumptions
By tracking your sleep you can easily test changes to your routine or environment.
My bedroom has terrible blinds that barely keep out any light at all, so I tried purchasing a basic sleep mask to see whether it would make a difference. The results were excellent--within a week I'd reduced the average time I spent trying to get to sleep by 10 minutes and my overall sleep quality (as calculated by the apps I'm using) went up by over 5 percent.
Everyone has simple things they can do to sleep better. The best way to find yours is to try some ideas and measure the results.
(Note from Jeff: For me the simplest thing is to follow a routine. I always read before I turn out the light but I stay away from page-turners because that defeats the purpose. The greats of Russian literature--Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky in particular--are not just fine novelists but outstanding sleep producers.)

5. You'll find out what you didn't know
Having tracked my sleep for some time I've built up a huge amount of data about how I sleep. The great thing about the data is that it helps me see patterns I wouldn't have noticed.
By looking at the individual graphs of particular nights I saw there were spikes in activity starting around 7 a.m. on weekdays. That's probably due to the fact my bedroom lies adjacent to the communal corridor of our apartment block, right next to the lifts; as people left for work each morning they made enough noise to disturb me.
So I bought earplugs to see if they would help. After a few nights of getting used to wearing them I started to see an improvement, and now those early morning spikes are a thing of the past.
But while I know they help me sleep better, I know they don't make any difference at all to how quickly I fall asleep.
Try finding that out without tracking your sleep.

What's Your True Definition of Success?

Don't let other people determine how you think about success. Define it for yourself.

Susan McMullen wrote a children's book years ago about bullying. She shopped it to several publishers--but no one bought. When she lamented the fact that no publishing house would take it, her sister provided some sage advice about how Susan should define the book's success.
Success, Susan's sister insisted, can come in many forms. Instead of being published by a big publishing house, imagine the reward from printing out a few dozen copies and taking it to the local children's hospital to cheer up the patients. That's success
.
This simple advice is a lesson that all entrepreneurs should take to heart when building our companies: Success comes in many forms. We need to recognize that and define what success means for us.
Here are some ways I have heard entrepreneurs define success:

Jobs Created--Lives Touched
You may define success in the number of jobs your company has created. Think of all the lives an individual job touches beyond the person who is receiving a paycheck. If you pay anyone, you should view that as a success and be proud of the fact that you are contributing to the economy. Small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures are the engine for new job creation--you play an important economic role.

Money Made
Of course every entrepreneur wants to make money at their venture, but I've found for the vast majority of them, it's not about wealth. Revenue, and by extension income, serves as a measuring stick and the ultimate validation that your idea is worth something to someone else. A true entrepreneur sees money as a way to further fund their next big idea--a resource to be capitalized on. If you are focused on watching your bank account grow, you may not truly be an entrepreneur.

World Changed
Entrepreneurs start companies or launch an idea typically to fix something they have identified as a problem in their own world. Some of the greatest ideas (Facebook, for example) came from an entrepreneur's own personal experience. While Zuckerberg wanted to find dates, the desire to "change the world" is especially true for company founders that start ventures in categories in which they know the monetary reward will never equal the level of effort required. I have interviewed entrepreneurs with a heart for making sure the world has clean water or that underserved children gain equal access to education. These entrepreneurs see a problem and they figure out how to fix it.

Opportunities Afforded
Entrepreneurs tend to get bored easily. We look for the opportunity (sometimes defined by entrepreneurs as "freedom") to get to do things that others usually don't. We relish the opportunity to meet someone we admire, attend a special event or tell others our story. And it's not about the recognition, it's about the experience.
One of my favorite quotes that sums this up is, "Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't."
Which brings me to my most important point determining success:

It's About the Journey
Entrepreneurs really don't like to make it to the goal, because once we do we are looking for the next climb. All too often we focus too much on "making it" and don't take the time to enjoy the journey. It's in the journey and the creation that an entrepreneur is truly the happiest. This we must all be reminded of often.

Why Carlos Slim Is The Richest Man In The World

Carlos-Slim-Richest-man-In-The-World-420x470

Read on to see how the worlds richest man has come to be.

Carlos Slim is currently the world’s richest man. Carlos has been an entrepreneur since the age of 12, when he first decided to purchase shares in a Mexican bank. Now Carlos Slim is worth billions upon billions ($75.5 Billion to be exact).

Carlos Slim – The World’s Richest Man

Carlos Slim Helu’s father, Julian, was a Lebanese immigrant to Mexico where he operated a dry goods store and invested in commercial real estate in Mexico City, which made him wealthy.
A Young & Ambitious Carlos Slim

Julian seemed to have been aware that Carlos was going to be good at commerce and would educate him on business dealings. Although he was only 12 years old when his father died, Carlos inherited his fathers business talents, whose work ethic and business acumen was extraordinary.
Carlos first worked at the family company before studying civil engineering and eventually becoming a stock broker in his own brokerage firm. He invested wisely in a variety of businesses so that by the time he was 26 he was already worth forty million dollars. However, Carlos never wanted to be a stock trader, preferring to be a good businessman. Carlos Slim’s mastery of numbers is legendary. In the 1960s, his studies of linear programming gave him a formidable edge in the business world. Using this amazing talent, In 1981, Carlos did his homework and decided to buy into the second largest tobacco company in Mexico, Cigatam, who made Marlboro cigarettes. With the money he made, he was able to begin buying companies.
As oil prices declined in 1982, the Mexican economy started to go downhill . That’s when Carlos wisely invested the Cigatam profits in the Mexican divisions of American businesses such as Reynolds Aluminum and Hershey Corporation, as well as Mexican financial services. Basically, Carlos Slim earned his fortune and his power by putting monopolies together, especially in communications. He is a ruthless businessman, buying companies cheaply, organizing them and quickly driving competition out of business. Gathering many businesses with interests in construction, mining, printing, tobacco, food, and retail, he formed a conglomerate.
Carlos Slim Telmex

In the late Eighties Carlos Slim added other companies that traded in copper, aluminum and chemicals, after which he sold shares in his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, as a public company. He also bought Telmex, the telecommunications company. Along with Telcel, his mobile phone company, they handle most of Mexico’s phone and mobile lines.
In the Nineties, after buying the Mexican division of Sears Roebuck, Carlos began expanding his business empire out of Latin America by setting up Telmex USA and by joining Microsoft to begin a portal called ProdigyMSN.
One of the few business mistakes Carlos made was buying a stake in CompUSA in 1999 for $800 million. Unfortunately, the sales of personal computers were slowing down at the time because they were more and more obsolete as new technology became available. Carlos tried everything to keep them afloat, including changing CEO’s and other various strategies, but eventually the chain closed more than half its stores and sold the rest.
Carlos says that he has lost count of the “more than two hundred companies” he now controls. If he dines out in a restaurant, chances are that he owns it. Believe it or not, he does not even use a computer himself, preferring the old skool way, “a pen and paper!”
Carlos Slims Mansion

Carlos Slim has a mansion in Mexico City where he has hosted American presidents and famous Mexican novelists. He claims to live a rather rustic life, not traveling much and enjoying baseball as he roots for the New York Yankees. Rather, he enjoys staying at home and reading about the military strategies of Genghis Khan.
Although Carlos Slim is the largest private employer in Mexico and the world’s richest man, he is thrifty and not at all flamboyant as many businessmen of his social status tend to become. Described by his business associates and competitors as being very aggressive, he is a power to be reckoned with. That power extends to the Mexican legislature. His lawyers have successfully blocked any legislation that threatens his companies.

Carlos Slim’s 10 Keys To Business Success

1. Have a simple organizational structure
2. Maintain austerity
3. Focus on growth
4. Minimize non-productive things
5. Work together
6. Reinvest profits
7. Be charitable
8. Keep optimistic
9. Work hard
10. Create wealth

In one of his latest newspaper interviews, Mr. Slim states that he believes the retirement age should be expanded to 70 years old since originally the retirement age was based more on physical work but now it should be based on services provided rather than hard physical labor.
Having had a heart attack in the late Nineties, Carlos has slowed things down, allowing his six children and their spouses to take more responsibility, although he remains “Honorary Lifetime Chairman” of his businesses.
Focusing now on Mexican and Latin American education, health and employment, Carlos is Chairman of five Boards involving this work.

Carlos Slim’s Net Worth is now $75.5 billion dollars, making him the world’s richest man.

Carlos Slim Quotes

“All times are good time for those who know how to work and have the tools to do so.” – Carlos Slim
“Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves.” - Carlos Slim
“Live the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the future be an incentive. Each person forges his or her own destiny.” – Carlos Slim
“When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.” - Carlos Slim
“When we decide to do something, we do it quickly.” - Carlos Slim
“I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the “bricks” are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important.” - Carlos Slim
“When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.” - Carlos Slim

If your pocket seems leaking… watch it, you are over spending?

You may not know it, but you may have already started to live beyond your means. You always have that notion that you are earning something relative, that should be able to pay for the bills, buy food and purchase the things that you want. But you may already be living beyond your means and already walking towards bankruptcy.

But if you are really not sure you are overspending, here are indications by experts that could tell you that you are not spending your money wisely.

Experts say there are tendencies you are over spending when at month end you have maxed out all your credit cards and your salary is all busted on those goodies you have been buying on credit prior to month end. Now, it’s time to borrow from close friends and family members for some extra cash- you know you have been “sucked” low once you’ve reached this level. On the other hand if friends and family members have either cut off the purse strings or refuse to take your calls, then they’re tired of lending you money. You’re probably just as tired of asking and guilty of over spending.

Experts also predict that if on a regular basis you observe that when you withdraw money intending to use it for a specific purpose and before the due date you notice the money has either “evaporated” from your wallet or reduced, unless you are being beset by a persistent pickpocket, it is likely you have lost a grip on your spending. Whenever you are in a position where you do not know where your money is going, whether it is a bank balance that seems to drastically drop over a matter of days, or cash you withdraw that seems to evaporate, you need to take a long, hard look on your spending.

If you are spending all your salary every month, it is a sign that you are living beyond your means, experts say. It could even be possible that you are spending part of your savings. Check your budget and calculate how much you spare for your savings account. If you realize it is less than five percent, better cut costs on different things especially on luxurious spending. You are equally expected to set aside at least 10-15 percent of your gross pay for retirement.

Equally, experts say you may soon run into financial crisis if you spend 25 percent your salary on outstanding debts. Spending more than 25 percent of your salary on debt means you are either cutting costs in other things or just spending more money. Unfortunately, the latter always happens.

Recognizing the difference between spending on needs and wants is equally vital in taking control of your spending. Experts say spending money on something you do not get any use out of, is the same as throwing money in the bin, but in fact most people do this on a regular basis without even knowing it. Most people have set up direct debits or standing orders long ago with good intentions, for example a gym membership, health plan, or cinema membership, but have never got to utilize these amenities to the full benefit. For example you might have gone to the gym for the first few months but then let it go by the wayside – but there’s still a regular amount coming out of your account every month to pay for these amenities you do not utilize, then evidently you are over spending.

By Seyi Ilubanwo

5 Tips for Finding the Perfect Co-founder

To head off problems down the road, any prospective partner must bring a lot more than talent to the table. Here's what else to look for.

With artists for parents, Maida Fortune is intimately aware of the trials and tribulations creative types go through to sell their work. So her idea, Cureeo--an online marketplace for original art--made a lot of sense to her.
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business MBA candidate is smart, though, and knew better than to set off on her own. For one thing, while dreaming up Cureeo Fortune worked as a venture capital associate for Hyde Park Angels and OCA Ventures and saw firsthand that investors are skeptical of solo acts.

"You have to have serious traction or present a very, very good case for yourself and even then the next question they ask is 'Who are you adding to your team and when?'" she says.
So she started looking for a partner. She considered peers from her MBA program, but they were too much like her. She interviewed people she found at tech meet-ups, but with no luck. Finally, she tried Founder2be, an online service that helps entrepreneurs find co-founders. There, she met Abid Ali, who now shares the Cureeo helm and is the company's CTO.
The partnership is going swimmingly, Fortune says, although if you want to emulate her successful matchmaking, there are several things you should consider.

Don't waste your time interviewing people until you vet their proven track records.
Fortune says she interviewed all too many programmers who claimed to be able to build a platform, but when it really came down to it, many of them hadn't coded in years. Before even talking to Ali, she scoped out his recent work and found it to be rock solid.

Be brutally honest with yourself.
When Fortune worked in venture capital she saw it all the time--arrogant entrepreneurs who think they have all the skills they need to hit a home run, yet nothing could be further from the truth. "Successful business owners are really good at recognizing what their own weaknesses are and building up a team around those weaknesses. And they're also humble enough to bring on people that are better than they are," she says.

Put expectations down on paper in the beginning.
How long are team members going to work on a start-up before giving up? What kinds of things might pull people away from focusing on the business? At what point will people quit their full-time jobs? These kinds of questions need to be asked right away, and their answers put to paper. While nothing is set in stone, and it's not a legally binding document, Fortune says it's helpful to know a year into it if everybody is doing what they said they would. (On her bookshelf: The Partnership Charter, by David Gage.)

Understand one another's risk profiles.
Everyone has a different sense of risk that they're willing to absorb, she says. For example, if one person can go without a salary for six months and the other person can go a year without pay, the first person might get distracted about four months in, thinking about how he or she is going to pay the bills.
"Or, say there is one path for the business with a higher probability for making money in the short run, but less payout overall," Fortune says. "Say the other path is less certain, but the potential payout in the end is higher. The company can't execute both strategies. The person with the higher tolerance for risk may be more inclined to try for the second option, while the person with lower tolerance would prefer the first option. This can ultimately lead to conflict.

Understand personality types.
Through their Chicago incubator Fortune and Ali took a personality test thanks to research the Kauffman Foundation was funding. While the duo knew they were polar opposites, the formal assessment gave them a starting point for discussing their differences. "You don't want a team of people who are all similar to one another because then you have groupthink problems and affirmation bias and all that junk," she says. "You want people who are different. You've got to learn how to work together and you can't work together unless A) you respect one another and B) you have to have a vernacular to talk about things."

Christina DesMarais

7 Things That Set Real Entrepreneurs Apart

Just because you wear a black turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers doesn't make you Steve Jobs. This is what makes an entrepreneur.

Lou Dematteis/Corbis

A VC whose name escapes me once said, "There are entrepreneurs and there are Entrepreneurs!"
I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that, but I'll tell you what I think. I think the term "entrepreneur" has become more than a little overused, watered down, diluted.
That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. This is supposed to be the era of the entrepreneur. Practically everyone has a business, a brand, a blog. Everybody's a CEO of one. And yet, relatively few actually embody the true meaning of the word "entrepreneur." So what does it mean?

To me, it means assuming significant personal risk in forming and running a business.
And of those real entrepreneurs, few manage to create a profitable, growing enterprise that delivers unique products, meaningful employment, and shareholder value. What makes those Entrepreneurs unique? What sets them apart from the pack? That's a very challenging question. And the answer may surprise you.
They defy characterization. You really have to get to know these people, work with them for years, maybe even get inside their heads a bit, to understand what they're really all about. Here's one thing I know for sure. They're each one of a kind. The real deal. They don't try to be unique. They just are. And they don't try to be like someone else, either. They know that wearing a black mock turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers doesn't make you Steve Jobs.
Money means little to them. It's sort of ironic how little money matters to those who are true entrepreneurs at heart. After all, the really successful ones end up with so much of it. For them, money is just a means to an end. And since money's not a distraction or a temptation, they can truly focus on what really counts: doing what drives them, what they're passionate about. Challenging themselves, proving it can be done. Building a company, wealth and all that are secondary.
They're on a mission from God. No, they're not really. But when they speak about their vision or idea, you'd swear they've been possessed by some sort of demon that, instead of inciting chaos and mischief, inspires innovation and creation. There's definitely an aspect of fanaticism in their zeal for whatever has captured their imagination. That could be because they truly think they're special or need to prove something. Interestingly, that aspect can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
They don't take risks for the sake of taking risks. Just as they don't set out to make money, true entrepreneurs don't usually set out to take risks, either. They just don't let anything stand in the way of whatever it is they're driven to do. They'll pursue it come hell or high water. Risk just comes with the territory. Despite being driven to do what's never been done, I just think that motivation is stronger than their fear of what might go wrong. Or maybe they just don't think about it.
They weren't born that way. Most of the successful entrepreneurs I've known started with nothing or at least from modest beginnings. Some had parents who did their own thing, but most didn't. They usually had mentors or people who inspired them to trust their gut and have confidence in themselves. That, to me, is a key ingredient in the making of an entrepreneur: the motivation to go for it despite the odds and conventional wisdom.

They're not iconic leaders. Our society loves to create heroes. We hoist them up on impossibly high pedestals. But in my experience, the entrepreneur as iconic leader is a myth. Successful founders usually have partners. Bill Gates had Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer. Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak. Larry Page had Sergey Brin. Also, entrepreneurs are often better at founding and creating than they are at running and sustaining companies.

They're not very patient. Whoever said patience is a virtue was definitely not a VC or anyone in the startup business, for that matter. Successful entrepreneurs don't usually care much for social convention. They have little patience for convention. They don't want to hear how things are done, have been done, or should be done. They do things their way. But here's a twist. While they will fight you tooth and nail over a key decision, as soon as they realize they're wrong, they'll turn around in a heartbeat.
To me, it all boils down to this: If you want to become an entrepreneur for the sake of becoming an entrepreneur, that's probably not going to work out so well. If, on the other hand, you're driven to accomplish something cool and unique without a safety net, then I think you should go for it.

Why 'Win-Win' Negotiating Is the Surest Way You'll Lose

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Everybody loves a win-win answer to a problem. It's great when a potentially-contentious situation ends up with everybody coming out ahead. And isn't that the way most business deals should go, too? Let's all sit down and find a way for everyone to win. What could be better?
But when I surveyed people for my new book, Business Brilliant, one group overwhelmingly disagreed with the the idea that "win-win solutions are best." That group was self-made multi-millionaires, people whose net worth exceeds $30 million.

What do these super-successful people know about win-win deal-making that nobody else does?
It turns out that if you look at the very best in negotiation thinking, the notion of "win-win" is widely regarded as a dangerous trap. Even the late Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and hardly an advocate of cut-throat business practices, was wary of win-win. He cautioned that the win-win ideal often tempts good-hearted people to buy into bad deals that they later come to regret, sometimes for years.
Here's why. Let's say, for example that you adopt a "win-win" attitude with someone who has an "I-must-win" outlook. Covey and others would say that your "win-win" perspective almost guarantees you'll be the only one offering concessions in order to reach agreement. Then you're not playing win-win at all. You're playing wimp-win. You're the wimp and the other guy wins.
So what should you do? Almost all guides to negotiating more or less recommend the same three-step alternative to win-win: First, write down your wished-for goals. Second, study what the opposition wants. Third, write down the number and conditions at which you will walk away. Negotiation guru Michael C. Donaldson calls these three steps "wish, want, walk."
Simple enough? Not really. Research shows that executing on each of these steps makes most people feel awful. For instance, setting high goals means you'll almost always miss those goals, but you'll achieve more than if you had set lower, more realistic goals. Most set low goals because of that enjoyable feeling you get when you succeed. People actually feel better when they ask for $50 and get $50 than when they ask for $100 and get $60, even though you're obviously better off with $60 than you are with $50.
Researching the other side's position and probing for weaknesses to exploit doesn't feel very good, either. The survey research I did showed that about 75 percent of middle-class people don't agree with exploiting weaknesses during negotiations. Among the multi-millionaires, though, 100 percent agreed! Exploiting weakness is the name of the game.
And as far as walking away from a deal? Just 22 percent of middle-class people say they have an easy time abandoning a business deal "if it's not just right." But for multi-millionaires, it's unanimous. Take a walk if you can't get what you want: 100 percent agreement.
Of course, negotiating is a psychological game, but to be successful at it, it's important to know the obstacles inside your own head that make each step of wish, want, walk so difficult to execute. If you're like most people, you'll avoid setting a very high goal at the start of a prospective deal because you feel better about yourself if you're reasonable and realistic. You're also likely to feel reluctant to investigate and exploit the other side’s vulnerabilities because that’s not something that a nice person does. And, walking away because you haven't gotten what you want? That makes the whole process feel like a waste of time. Who wants to go home empty-handed after all that work?
If you're dealing with an experienced negotiator, that negotiator is trying to use all these psychological biases and social norms against you. He'll thank you for being reasonable (hoping to cow you into abandoning your highest goals). He'll remind you of your own weaknesses, having thoroughly studied your position. And he'll dare you to be rude enough to walk away. He'll exploit what's known as "the norm of reciprocity," by telling you how smart and considerate you are--and then he'll make a ridiculous low-ball offer. His flattery creates inside you a natural psychological urge to reciprocate by accepting the offer, when the thing you really need to do is tell him that you're ready to walk away if that's the best he can offer.
Self-made multi-millionaires know this. It's how they got where they are. Now that you know it, too, will you make use of it? Stephen Covey used to say that negotiation is all a matter of courage. When you settle for a "win-win" deal that you really don't care for, Covey said you're basically choosing to sell yourself out. You're telling your negotiating opposite, Covey wrote: "I'll be so considerate of your convictions and desires that I won't have the courage to express and actualize my own."

Nokia appoints Nick Imudia MD for West, Central Africa

Nokia has appointed Nick Imudia as managing director for its West and Central Africa operations.
Covering a territory that includes Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Liberia, Chad, Niger, Benin and Togo, Imudia will be based in the Nokia office in Lagos.

Nick Imudia joined Nokia in 1998 and has held several senior positions within the organisation over the past 15 years, including senior manager for retail IT products and systems, based out of Singapore; director of consumer and marketing solutions and head of sales and marketing solutions.

Prior to his move to West Africa, Imudia was based in Finland as director for the sales and marketing capability unit, a role in which he held global responsibility for all of the processes, tools and systems for the Nokia sales and marketing function.

The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time

How Apple, Ford, IBM, Zappos, and Others Made Radical Choices That Changed the Course of Business

By Verne Harnish & The Editors of Fortune

The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time

INSIDE THE WORLD'S BEST BUSINESS DECISIONS
Given the thousands of business decisions made every day by company executives and business owners around the world, selecting the 18 greatest business decisions of all time is no small feat. In The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, nine Fortune magazine editors have compiled such a list, including modern and historic decisions from companies around the globe.
Verne Harnish, the Fortune magazine contributor who launched the idea of the book and whose succinct summaries precede the case study on every decision, explains: "In the end, the 18 management decisions that made our final list stood out from others because they were counterintuitive — they went against the grain of popular practice." For example, Harnish continues, "What executive in his right mind would give his employees time to daydream — but that’s exactly what 3M CEO William McKnight did in 1948."
New Takes on Familiar Tales
Many business book readers will be familiar with McKnight’s decision to give employees a certain percentage of free time to work on the project of their own choosing. Other familiar stories include Johnson & Johnson’s decision in 1982 to take action in the wake of the Tylenol poisonings that caused the deaths of seven people in the Chicago area; Jack Welch’s revitalization of GE’s corporate university at Crotonville, NY; and Nordstrom’s focus on boundaryless customer service.
In the knowledgeable hands of the Fortune editors, the short chapters of even these well-known cases make for interesting reading, thanks to unexpected details. For example, Geoff Colvin, the Fortune senior editor-at-large who writes the 3M chapter, debunks the idea that the Post-it note came entirely from the company’s free-time endeavor. It was 3M’s culture that was truly responsible for one of its most famous products.

Beating the Giants
Some of the most inspirational examples are in the book’s less-familiar stories. How the company that invented liquid soap was able to fend off the behemoths of the industry is a noteworthy anecdote. The brainchild of Robert Taylor, the CEO of a small Minnesota company called Minnetonka Corp., liquid soap was the kind of small-enterprise innovation that is usually immediately copied by the corporate giants on the block. And, indeed, when Taylor’s liquid soap started flying off the shelves, Unilever, Colgate and Procter & Gamble started testing their own versions. Taylor, however, devised a little-known strategy to keep control of the market: He found a way to block his giant competitors from accessing the plastic pumps used in the liquid soap bottles. At the time, only one company made the pumps. Taylor met with the CEO of the company and took the financial risk of ordering 100 million pumps, effectively ensuring a monopoly of the pumps for a full year. The strategy, which had never been attempted by such a small company, worked. By the time his competitors had access to the pumps, Taylor’s Softsoap brand was well established.
The 18 great management decisions in this book are not ranked in any particular order. They stand as inspirational examples of the power of bucking conventional wisdom and making bold and innovative decisions.

4 Places to Find Big Ideas

Need to stop fighting fires and find time to think deeply? Here are four activities that can help even the busiest people make space in their schedule for big ideas.

Business owners face a conundrum: The day-to-day functioning of your company keeps you super busy, so busy in fact that you generally have little time for the type of deep, strategic thinking on which the long-term success of your business depends.
You have to fight fires now, but saving your business from the current flames can leave it vulnerable to a slow death by stagnation over the long term.

So what can you do to find time in your hectic day to clear you brain and think deep deeply about the future of your business? Author and entrepreneur Ben Casnocha has a few suggestions based on the psychological truth that we often get our best ideas when our brains are engaged in minimally taxing activities. A reality many of us experience in real life as the shower inspiration effect.
A steaming bathroom is just relaxing enough, and remembering to put the conditioner on after the shampoo just mentally engaging enough, that the rest of your brain is free of tension and self-policing chatter and can range widely to come up with your most creative ideas. (If you want the details of the neuroscience, this post is for you.) It worked for Archimedes and no doubt it's worked for you. Plus, even the busiest entrepreneur definitely finds time to squeeze a shower into their schedule now and then.
So what are some other ways to get into that chilled out but slightly engaged mindset? Casnocha seconds the usual suggestion of the extra long shower ("You’re free from distraction, you’re engaged in a monotonous activity that doesn’t require active focus, and you’re in a different environment. Sounds like the perfect place for a creative thought," he writes) and then offers four more activities that actually fit into your schedule and which you can re-imagine not as chores or lost time but as opportunities for inspiration:

Drive to and from the office. Driving a familiar route = good thinking time. “When Joan Didion moved from California to New York, she realized that she had done much of her thinking and mental writing during the long drives endogenous to the Californian lifestyle,” Steve Dodson once noted. I’m the same. I can’t tell you how many decent thoughts I’ve concocted in my head while driving on the 101 or 280 freeways in the Bay Area.

Take your dog for a walk. Same as driving, but safer.

Stare out of airplane windows. Travel journeys of any sort are the midwives of thought. “Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than moving planes, ships, or trains…Introspective reflections that might otherwise be liable to stall are helped along by the flow of the landscape,” says Alain de Botton.

Organize your office/room/house. Tidy up documents, pick up around the floor, rearrange books. It’s an excellent foil to serious thinking.

What a 14-Year-Old Can Teach You About Management

By Margaret Heffernan

My daughter Lily is fourteen. Over the holidays, she had her her first job. She was employed as a Christmas elf in Santa's grotto at our local farm shop. She is studying business at school but she learned a lot more on the job.
So I asked what she'd learned after three weekends of solid elfing:

1. People need to know what you offer.
Her grotto was a little hidden and even I, looking for it, thought it was hard to find. She told her boss they needed a bigger sign, which they got the next weekend. Children piled in.

2. It's more fun being busy.
No matter how thrilling or dull a job, it is always more fun being busy than sitting around. If you have employees who aren't busy, find something for them to do. Down time breeds discontent.

3. Colleagues make or break the experience.
Her last day, Lily had a bad cold and didn't feel like working. I did not suggest she stay home; I just asked if she was up to it. She bridled, insisting that, however she felt, she couldn't let Ross--the Santa Claus--down. She'd instantly absorbed the fact that people in a business aren't loyal to the company but to each other.

4. It's more fun doing a great job.
Over time, my daughter got better at her job and, as she did, she said she enjoyed it more. "Now I think about ways to keep the kids entertained," she said. "They can't spend more--it's a fixed price--but it's more fun when the customers are happy."

5. Money you earn is different from the money you're given.
Receiving her first pay packet was a great moment for Lily. She's about to go on a school trip to Russia. Is she planning to spend all her earnings there? "No!" she insisted. "I'm saving that money; I earned it."
Lily's first job has been a lot more positive than mine was. I worked, at the age of 16, as a receptionist for a psychotherapist who could never explain what he wanted. He fired me after two weekends. Lily's been lucky to have a great boss and good co-workers.
Watching her also reminded me that most people do want to do a great job. If they aren't excellent, it might not be their fault.

Stop Selling Me Porn

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Ladies, there’s a new genre of porn, just for you.
Don’t worry: It’s highbrow, headlined by big-company executives and prominent academics. It’s alluring. Like all effective porn, its message is at once empowering and degrading. Maybe, you think, you can achieve the same pleasure and satisfaction as the star. But that little voice remains in your head, reminding you that you’re no porn star: you’re not nearly that attractive, capable or carefree.
It’s career porn, and it’s slinking its way into bookstores, blog posts and cocktail party conversations from Silicon Valley to Wall Street.

The latest star of this genre is Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, whose book and countless media appearances instruct career-minded women to simply “lean in” and do more at work. Worried about balancing a high-pressure job with the demands of family? Lean in. Unsure about whether you’re qualified for a promotion? Just lean in.
Sandberg’s new book, titled, of course, “Lean In,” was released this week and is already perched comfortably at the top of the Amazon bestseller list. In the last few weeks, she has been pretty much everywhere, pitching her philosophy and the corresponding social movement she hopes to spawn. The media, ever hungry for new fodder in the Great Mommy Debates, has gamely complied, granting interview after interview. (Sandberg’s press people reportedly ran out of advance book copies to distribute to reporters and columnists.) At the conclusion of a breathless 60 Minutes interview last week, the interviewer asked Sandberg if she would consider running for President. It was, as best I could tell, a serious question. Sandberg demurred, but not all that forcefully.
Sheryl Sandberg is whip-smart, fiercely driven, and deserves her success. Same goes for Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, who’s been taken to task for her parenting choices as well as her decision to eliminate telecommuting at Yahoo. Whatever tactics these executives chose when they were building their careers, they clearly worked. Good for them. I don’t know too many people who wouldn’t welcome more highly-qualified women in executive, decision-making positions.
The conversation that has swirled around them, reaching a fever pitch in recent weeks, isn’t really about either of these women. It’s about our reliance on porn--on some kind of fantasy-land solution that appeals to many but applies to very few. In many ways, Sheryl Sandberg’s book is no different than Cosmopolitan magazine. It assumes that women need to be told how to run their lives--and that some sort of prescription will work. It assumes that whether you’re a single parent or married, attended Harvard or community college, work on Wall Street or are starting your own business, all you need to do is follow a certain set of rules. Just lean in. Then we will achieve orgasm, we will take leadership roles at work, and we will read a story to our children every night.
Rest assured: Like all porn, this is fantasy. Single moms can’t urge their husbands to “lean in” to their families, as Sandberg suggests. Women who are starting businesses can’t just sign off at a certain time every day. I would venture that if you gathered a few super-powerful American women in a room--let’s say Sandberg, Mayer, Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey--they all would say something different about how they got to the top of their respective professions. They would all have different approaches to the roles they negotiated, the hours they put in, and how they handled family obligations. And that’s the way it should be. Just like some men swear by a four-hour workweek and others say you can’t make it to the top without sleeping at the office, there’s no single, prescriptive solution for success--for either gender.
Instead of being told that I need to raise my hand for every assignment but somehow still leave every night at 5:30 (seriously, Sheryl, how is this logistically possible?), I’d rather we acknowledge that there’s no single solution that works for all of us. Some of us will find we’d rather work a few more in-office hours but be more present when we’re home with our families. Others will take the opposite approach. Some of us will push for more assignments every single day. Others just won’t have the energy.
We’re lucky--these are our choices to make. So, please, everyone, stop telling us how to make them.

By Simona Covel

Lagos, Abuja among top 4 most expensive cities in Africa – EIU

Lagos and Abuja have been listed among the top four cities in Africa with high cost of living, according to an index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on 25 African cities.

The key results of cost of living per city by the EIU reveal that Abuja is the second most expensive city with total expenditure score of 107.4, next to Luanda with a score of 131.8, while Lagos comes fourth with 100.8 total expenditure, as Addis Ababa came last with a score of 60.8.

A breakdown of the index shows that Abuja emerged number 12 out of 25 cities, in terms of consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics, scoring 78.3, while Lagos scored 63.8 to emerge number 21 of the cities that consume same.

Meanwhile, Khartoum in Sudan comes tops on the list of cities with highest consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics, scoring 121.3. On the other hand, Douala in Cameroon ranked last of the 25 cities sampled with 46.9 consumption rate.

In terms of transport, Lagos and Abuja emerged 15 and 22 out of the 25 cities, scoring 107.5 and 91.7, respectively. Top in the list is Abidjan with 172.0 score spent on transportation, while Alexandra in Egypt came last with a score of 71.7.

According to the EIU, per capita expenditure is higher in each of the sampled cities, as the index indicates that citizens in cities spend 94.4 percent more, per capita, than their counterparts in the countryside.

“Africa is urbanising fast and cities are attracting more and more migrants. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of “super cities”- each bringing considerable opportunities. The demographic profile of these cities can be much different than the national level picture,” the EIU notes in the survey.

Africa’s growth is becoming more diverse as a result, companies are more interested than ever in expanding into Africa, it says further.

A recent survey conducted by The Economist Group of 217 global companies based in 45 countries reveals that expansion in Africa is a priority for two thirds of them within the next decade.

EIU’s key result of expenditure per capita differs markedly across cities. For instance, US$/per capita expenditure of Abuja and Lagos are 2,185 and 2,159, respectively, in terms of total expenditure on all items.

Johannesburg in South Africa emerged number one of the cities with highest US$/per capita expenditure, scoring 7,436, while Dar es Salam in Tanzania spend is lowest, scoring 572 US$/per capita expenditure.

A breakdown of the US$/per capital expenditure indicates that Lagos and Abuja scored 4 and 3, respectively, in terms of spend on alcoholic beverages and tobacco.

In the area of transport, US$/per capita expenditure of Abuja and Lagos stood at 157 and 147, respectively. Tripoli in Libya emerged the top most city with 1,780 US$/per capita expenditure on transport, while Lusaka in Zambia is at the bottom of the list with 31.

Even though, it says challenges remain, which include corruption, poor roads, inefficient border posts, inadequate railway networks, poor skill base, congested ports, and unwitting airports, among others.

To the EIU, to expand, companies need Africa city-level data and analysis, as “companies looking to expand into Africa want to concentrate their strategy where growth and demographics are most favourable – in major cities. It is not enough to plan a strategy around nationally-forecasted growth, but rather to have critical forecasting and business information on a particular city.”

The Economist Intelligence Unit also notes that 25 African cities present best opportunities for growth - based on key economic drivers, client feedback and a survey of economists.

In Corporate Network members, the EIU identifies 25 African cities (across 19 countries) that are of particular interest. The EIU collects and analyses the data needed to support the case and strategy for market entry.

10 Reasons to Pick Up the Phone Now

Today fewer people get on the phone, preferring to text, chat, and e-mail. Here are 10 scenarios where a live voice is still the best option.

By Kevin Daum

I've noticed recently that the Millennial generation's trend of phone avoidance is quickly spreading to people of all ages. It started with smartphones. Texting replaced leaving voicemails and whole conversations now take place with our thumbs. Calling someone has now become low on the communication priority list and even frequently disparaged.
Certainly written communication has its advantages.

You can get your message out whether or not the other person is available.
You can respond without concern for time zones or sleep patterns.
You don't have to waste time with unwanted chatty gossip.

But the phone has benefits that text and e-mail will never overcome. It's still an important tool for business etiquette and should be considered equally in today's communication environment. Here are 10 scenarios where a phone call does the job best.

1. When You Need Immediate Response

The problem with text or e-mail is you never know when someone will get back to you. You like to think the other person is sitting there waiting for your message, but it's not always true. These days when someone sees your name on the ringing phone, they know you are making an extra effort to speak to them. Of course if they are truly busy, in a meeting, sleeping, or hiding from you, the caller ID will tip them off and you go to voicemail, which they rarely check anyway. At least now you can express yourself with heartfelt emotion.

2. When You Have Complexity with Multiple People

My wife Van was recently coordinating an overseas engagement for me and there were six different people in multiple time zones involved in the logistics. After five cryptic e-mail conversations that created more confusion, she was literally screaming at the computer. Finally I suggested a conference call. In 30 minutes, all questions were answered, everyone was aligned, and Van went from frustrated to relieved. She is now a newly recruited phone advocate.

3. When You Don't Want a Written Record Due to Sensitivity

You never know who will see an e-mail or a text. True, phone calls can be recorded...but not legally in most states without prior notification or a judge's order. Unless you are absolutely comfortable with your message getting into anyone's hands, best to use the phone for conversations that require discretion.

4. When the Emotional Tone is Ambiguous, But Shouldn't Be

Sometimes a smiley face is not enough to convey real emotion. Emoticons help broadly frame emotional context, but when people's feelings are at stake it's best to let them hear exactly where you are coming from. Otherwise they will naturally assume the worst.

5. When There is Consistent Confusion

Most people don't like to write long e-mails and most don't like to read them. So when there are lots of details that create confusion, phone calls work efficiently to bring clarity. First of all, you can speak about 150 words per minute, and most people don't type that fast. Second, questions can be answered in context so you don't end up with an endless trail of back and forth question and answers.

6. When There is Bad News

This should be obvious, but sadly many people will take a cowardly approach to sharing difficult news. Don't be one of those callous people. Make it about the other person and not you. Humanize the situation with empathy they can hear.

7. When There is Very Important News

Good or bad, if there is significance to information, the receiver needs to understand the importance beyond a double exclamation point. Most likely they will have immediate questions and you should be ready to provide context to prevent unwanted conclusions.

8. When Scheduling is Difficult

After going back and forth multiple times with a colleague's assistant trying to find an available date and time, I finally just called her. Now I didn't have to worry that the time slot would be filled by the time she read my e-mail. We just spoke with calendars in hand and completed in five minutes what had exasperated us over three days. Later that day I watched one of my foodie friends spend 20 frustrated minutes using Open Table and finally suggested he simply call the restaurant. In three minutes he had a reservation and a slightly embarrassed smile.

9. When There is a Hint of Anger, Offense, or Conflict in the Exchange

Written messages can often be taken the wrong way. If you see a message that suggests any kind of problem, don't let it fester--or worse try and repair it--with more unemotional communication. Pick up the phone and resolve the issue before it spirals out of control.

10. When a Personal Touch Will Benefit

Anytime you want to connect emotionally with someone and face-to-face is not possible, use the phone. Let them hear the care in your voice and the appreciation in your heart.