Governmentgirl1943lp

*Idea Log*

The greatest of all achievements, whether in literature, art, finance, industry, commerce, transportation, religion, politics, or scientific discoveries, are usually the results of ideas conceived in one person's brain- but actually transformed into reality by other people, through the combined use of the minds and bodies.- Napoleon Hill [178]

  [NOTICE:  I had been uploading one idea log per day since the 6th of August 2010 but effective Jan-Feb 2012 I expect the *Idea Logs* are going to be more sporadic in nature - until further notice - as I assume I might be working on my next project]

 a) For a summarized guide to all idea log topics until December 2011 go to: Idea Log Guide *they are in order of appearance

b)     For the current month just click on the date on the calendar to the right

c)      For a month by month go to ARCHIVES or see bottom right column

c)     To browse specific CATEGORIES or see bottom right column

*The number in front of each topic represents the date for that month and so, Idea Log 13-07-2011  ~ Idea Log date-month-year] 

Pretty much summarizes how my blog ideas keep increasing. If you don't see a citation then it has, WITHOUT a doubt, been taken from Wikipedia so just go there! [Thank you http://xkcd.com/214/]

Idea Log 20012012

 

Museum of Inuit Art (MIA) www.miamuseum.ca

The Museum of Inuit Art, southern Canada's only public museum devoted exclusively to the display of art made by Inuit.

Daily from 10 AM - 6 PM

Hours and Admission Location and Directions Contact us

Upcoming Events Please click to read History

I was here today!! Loved it ^__^ Had seen a small exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario a while ago which made me realize I actually LIKED Native American sculptures and art which got me interested and landed me here! Some of my favourite pieces are below:

Idea Log 16012012

 

<only decent pic of the original packaging; the news ones are UGLY>

Amrit Agro exits ethnic snacks biz

NEW DELHI, Dec. 20 2002 http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2002/12/21/stories/2002122101350600.htm

THE former parent of hugely successful Uncle Chipps potato chips, Amrit Agro Industries Ltd, (AAIL) has exited its traditional snacks business.

Following the sale of Uncle Chipps to Pepsico's snacks arm, Frito Lays - AAIL, the erstwhile Uncle Chipps Co. Ltd, has stopped production of its `Yumkeenz' brand of traditional namkeens, due to intense competition from the domestic unorganised snacks segment.

The decision to exit the traditional snacks business comes almost a year after AAIL, or the then Uncle Chipps Co, had sold its immensely popular chips brand to Pepsi's snacks division, Frito Lays, in late 2000.

Confirming the development Mr Ashwini Bajaj, Joint Managing Director, Amrit Banaspati Co. Ltd, told Business Line that Amrit Agro, an Amrit group company, had exited the traditional namkeens business earlier this year, due to the competitive unorganised sector.

The capital-intensive snacks business was not yielding returns due to the unorganised sector which accounts for 90 per cent of the chips segment and about 75 per cent of the traditional snacks segment, he pointed out.

"The snacks business was about Rs 3 crore, when we exited," he said.

`Yumkeenz' comprised seven variants of snacks including Pudina aloo bhujia, Bikaner aloo bhujia, Masala aloo bhujia, Khatta meetha mixture, Moong dal, roasted peanut and Mungfali masala mazedar.

Amrit Agro has its manufacturing unit for traditional snacks at Noida and Mr Bajaj pointed out that the company would sell its machinery and re-orient itself to get into the agro-procurement or processing business.

"The company and personnel will remain with us and we will continue to be in the agro sector, only, we will redefine our activity.

At present we are studying the prospects for the storage and transportation of fruits and vegetables and may be even simple processing."

According to food-processing industry estimates, up to 40 per cent of fruits and vegetables are wasted in the country due to bad storage and treatment facilities.

Was talking to my friend from India today and talking about how sad it is that 'Uncle Chips' no longer exists/in the form we remember. I remember going back to India after 4 years in 2008 and there was absolutely no trace of it! One of the biggest losses I've felt. Oddly, this snack held such a big portion of my childhood memories. Papri Chat was my favourite!

UNCLE CHIPPS – ‘BOLE MERE LIPS, I LOVE UNCLE CHIPPS’

Brand History

Launched in 1992, Uncle Chipps was a pioneer in branded potato chips in India.

The brand was acquired from Amrit Agro Ltd. in 2000 by Frito-Lay India. After the acquisition, the hugely popular brand has grown from strength to strength and has built a powerful connection with consumers. Uncle Chipps is warm, playful, lively, companionable and traditional at heart, just like the good-natured uncle everyone in the family relates to and no family gathering is complete without!

Brand Advantage

Quality Standards

The production process begins on farms in select regions across India where the best potatoes are grown specifically for Frito-Lay to make great-tasting chips. Upon the potatoes’ arrival at plants, it can take as little as 24 hours for the chips to be made. Lay’s Chips are made using the following simple process:

• Wash – the potatoes are thoroughly bathed in water.
• Peel – next, we gently peel the skin off the potatoes, even as the flavour remains intact.
• Slice – the potatoes are thinly sliced and rinsed again to remove any remaining starch.
• Cook – the slices are cooked to a crispy crunch in one of the healthiest oils one could have, rice bran oil.
• Season – finally, the chips are topped off with a mouthwatering sprinkle of salt or seasoning.

The potatoes have now become delicious chips and are packed and delivered to a store near you.

QUICK BRAND FACTS

• Uncle Chips was launched in 1992.
• Frito-Lay India took over Uncle Chipps in 2000.
• Pioneer in branded potato chips in India.

http://pepsicoindia.co.in/brands/uncle-chipps.html

Uncle Chips were India's first homegrown branded potato chips.In the 90s,it was the best munchies a mother could give to her child.
Uncle chips's relevance in a kid's life was that of a jolly uncle who makes parties,family functions and long car drives bearable,if not fun-filled.
It's popular jingle ‘BOLE MERE LIPS, I LOVE UNCLE CHIPPS’ (My lips say I love Uncle Chips) was taken to heart by kids

Uncle Chips was acquired in 2000 by the multinational Frito-Lay India.Since then,Uncle chips has kept a low profile.

Source: http://samosapedia.com/e/uncle+chips

 

 

Idea Log 15012012

Watched it on TCM the other day on TCM!

Brief Synopsis

A rebellious teacher moves to Rome and finds love.

Librarian Prudence Bell, reprimanded for allowing a student to read a classified book on love, quits her job to go to Italy in order to learn about love and romance herself. En route by ship, she meets Roberto Orlandi, a sophisticated Italian whose offers to teach her all she wants to know are rejected. Arriving in Rome, Prudence finds a job in a bookstore and moves into a boardinghouse where American architecture student Don Porter is also staying. Lyda, Don's wealthy and spoiled girl friend, returns to the States, and he consoles himself by dating Prudence. They spend the August holidays together on a tour of Italy, and Prudence falls in love with Don. When they return to Rome, however, the glamorous Lyda is waiting to reclaim her man. Heartsick because she is still too inexperienced to compete, Prudence puts on her most alluring dress and visits Roberto, who declines her advances and advises her not to imitate Lyda. Prudence decides to return to the United States, and when her ship docks in New York, Don is there waiting for her.

<http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/26642/Rome-Adventure/>

Idea Log 14012012

bob campeau

Idea Log 13012011

 

Scotia Plaza Toronto, Ontario

Scotia Plaza is a 69 storey, 275m high tower with a total area of 223,000 sq.m., a construction cost in excess of $200,000,000 and a structural cost of under $215.00 per sq.m.

Its structural component advanced Canadian design and construction technology by:

• Its unique structural system, incorporating the best of concrete and structural steel qualities.
  
• The use of ultra high strength concrete.
  
• The use of silica fume concrete.
  
• The use of self-elevating concrete forms, for all vertical components.
  
• The transportation of concrete by pumping, from a site across the street, a distance of 70 metres.
  
• The investigation and restraint of lateral rock relief movement in deep foundations.
  
• The use of liquid nitrogen as a cooling agent for high strength concrete.
  

The planning was an intensive process which extended over a number of years. One of the earlier schemes called for the demolition of the existing Bank of Nova Scotia Building and the building of a 64 storey tower in its place on the corner of this major intersection. Potential political delay, the cost of demolition, the pressure to maintain the existing Bank of Nova Scotia vaults in continuous operation and the square foot bonus for retention precluded this scheme.

With the acceptance that the new tower would be located in the confined space east of the existing Bank of Nova Scotia Building, the design team produced a 64 storey tower. The structural engineers concluded from studies, that while an outrigged arrangement would be practical but at its limit as the wind resisting system, a perimeter tube structure should be considered because it offered more flexibility in layout and the potential for extra floors. The architectural team decided to integrate a tube expression in the architectural solution.

Subsequently, a higher density was permitted and the tower increased in height to its final 69 storey configuration. The investigation narrowed to five basic structural systems, namely:
Scheme 1: All Concrete
Scheme 2: Concrete Tube/Concrete Core/Steel Framed Floor
Scheme 3: Steel Tube/Concrete Core/Steel Framed Floor
Scheme 4: All Steel
Scheme 5: Concrete Tube/Steel Core/Steel Framed Floor

In proposing the concrete schemes it was recognized that concrete strengths of 75 MPa would be required for practical column sizes. Strengths in the range of 85 MPa to 90 MPa were also considered but not pursued as they were too far beyond the current state of the art in Toronto. Maximum concrete strengths in the Toronto area were 55 MPa, and the industry was surveyed to ascertain their willingness and technical competence to produce such a high strength. The response was positive from both a technical and cost point of view and design continued using the higher strength concretes. Costs were estimated for the five basic schemes and the lowest in order were:
Scheme 1: All Concrete
Scheme 2: Concrete Tube/Concrete Core/Steel Framed Floor
Scheme 5: Concrete Tube/Steel Core/Steel Framed Floor

Preliminary schedules showed small differences in costs and construction times, and the final selection of Scheme 2 at under $200.00/sq.m. was based on owner and architect preferences. In construction, typical floors did achieve the predicated 3 day cycle.

The decision to employ the Concrete Tube and Concrete Core with Steel Framed Flores, meant introducing into Canada the high technology of self-elevating forms for the vertical components of the structure, and was a world first in two such operations on the same project. With the selection of the structural system, the maximum concrete strengths were set at 70 MPa which satisfied all structural and architectural requirements. After the award for the supply of concrete, an extensive testing and trial batching program was undertaken and the concrete supplier elected to proceed with silica fume mixes of his initial 100% slag based mix designs. The structure was constructed as designed and topped off at the end of 1987.

The benefits of high-technology concrete with its cost advantages in lateral stiffness and vertical load-carrying capacity, in conjunction with the lightness and spanning abilities of structural steel, provided a unique solution.

 

Idea Log 12012012

 
Consulting Structural Engineers
 
1246 Yonge Street, Suite # 300
Toronto, ON Canada M4T 1W5

email: [email protected]
 
Phone: 416-961-8294
Fax: 416-961-7434 

Quinn Dressel Associates has:

• Extensive experience with major developers, top architectural offices, and has an open, co-operative philosophy
• Successfully completed many projects of large scope, complexity, and have justified our designs through costs comparisons and peer reviews.
• State-of-the-art structural design software, hardware capacity to run the total design of a major structure, and the latest computer drafting technology and hardware.

And is...

• Extremely budget and time conscious, and considerate of the cost effects of structure on other disciplines.
  Creative and sensitive, with an alive, vital and energetic practice
 

They have one of the best portfolios ~ how come I never knew about them? Most of their projects were with WZMH Architects.

 PROJECT PORTFOLIO

Quinn Dressel Associates CORPORATE PROJECTS:

IBM 3600 Steeles, Markham> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Nortel St. Laurent Campus, Montreal> HOK Urbana Architects/Menkes Shooner Dagenais

Nortel St. Laurent Campus, Montreal> HOK Urbana Architects/Menkes Shooner Dagenais

Pratt & Witney, Montreal> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Prudential Assurance Centre, Kitchener > Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Quinn Dressel Associates ENTERTAINMENT:

Kravis Centre for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

CBC Broadcasting Centre, Toronto> Architects: Scott Associates Architects Inc./Bregman & Hamann

Quinn Dressel Associates HEALTH CARE

Princess Margaret Hospital,Toronto> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Quinn Dressel Associates Hotels

Stoffer Hotel, Harborplace, Baltimore> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Philadelphia> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Hilton Niagara, Niagara Falls> Architects: Darling & Downey Architects

Quinn Dressel Associates INSTITUTIONAL

City Hall. Calgary> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Gelber Law Library, McGill University, Montreal> Architects: Dan S. Hanganu Architects

Quinn Dressel Associates INTERNATIONAL

Elf Aquitaine, Paris> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Shanghai Securities Exchange, Shanghai> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Pudong Development Bank, Shanghai> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Peoples Insurance Company of China, Shanghai> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Peoples Insurance Company of China Shanghai Securities Exchange, Shanghai> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Quinn Dressel Associates OFFICE PROJECTS

Royal Bank Plaza, Toronto> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

World Trade Center, MInneapolis/St. Paul> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Liberty Place II, Philadelphia> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Canterra Headquarters, Calgary> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Maison de Cooperant, Montreal> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Petro Canada Headquarters, Calgary> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Scotia Plaza, Toronto> Architects Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Bank of Nova Scotia, Montreal

Quinn Dressel Associates RESIDENTIAL

Residence at the World Trade Center, Toronto> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Hazelton Lanes, Toronto> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

66 Avenue Road, Toronto>  Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Village by the Grange, Toronto>  Architect: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Renaissance Plaza, Toronto> Architects: Page & Steele Architect

Quinn Dressel Associates RETAIL

Shops at Liberty Place, Philadelphia> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Shops at Liberty Place, Philadelphia> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Pacific Center, Vancouver> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Zeidler Roberts Partnership Harbour Place, Baltimore> Architects:  Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Quinn Dressel Associates RENOVATION 

Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto> Architects: Zeidler Roberts Partnership

Exchange Place, Boston> Architects: Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

336 Bay Street, Toronto> Architects Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership

Idea Log 11012012

>>Homepage: http://learn.utoronto.ca/

2121 Principles of Operations Management
Course Details

By offering an overview of operations management, this introductory course will interest students wishing to embark on middle-management careers. Topics include: operations strategy, project management, process measurement and analysis, facility capacity and location decisions, forecasting quality control and operations planning.

Learner Outcomes

Explain the concept of "added value" in terms of the transformation process

Illustrate how effective operations strategy can translate into a competitive advantage

Learn the Critical Path Method in planning and controlling projects

Learn how organizations measure their performance

Identify critical factors that must be considered in determining plant location and its capacity

Understanding of the methods businesses use in forecasting product-service demand

Appreciation for the various dimensions of quality and how such dimensions can be used as a competitive advantage.

>> http://2learn.utoronto.ca/uoft/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&cms=true&courseId=1711790



Idea Log 10012012

Job skills aren’t everything when it comes to the right hire - Mark Murphy

Special to Globe and Mail; Published Friday, Jan. 06, 2012 7:00AM EST

The following book excerpt is from Hiring For Attitude by Mark Murphy.

If your organization is going to excel, it needs the right people. But virtually every one of the standard approaches to selecting those right people is dead wrong. And here’s why: whenever managers talk about hiring the right people, they usually mean “highly skilled people.” For lots of executives, the war for talent is a war for the most technically competent people. But that’s really the wrong war to be fighting.

Most new hires do not fail on the job due to a lack of skill. My company, Leadership IQ, tracked 20,000 new hires over a three-year period. Within their first 18 months, 46 per cent of them failed (got fired, received poor performance reviews, or were written up). And as bad as that sounds, it’s pretty consistent with other studies over the years and thus not too shocking.

What is shocking, though, is why those people failed. We categorized and distilled the top five reasons why new hires failed and found these results:

1. Coachability (26%): The ability to accept and implement feedback from bosses, colleagues, customers, and others.

2. Emotional Intelligence (23%): The ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions and accurately assess others’ emotions.

3. Motivation (17%): Sufficient drive to achieve one’s full potential and excel in the job.

4. Temperament (15%): Attitude and personality suited to the particular job and work environment.

5. Technical Competence (11%): Functional or technical skills required to do the job.

You’ll notice that a lack of skills or technical competence only accounted for 11 per cent of new-hire failures. When a new hire was wrong for a company it was due to attitude, not a lack of skills.

ATTITUDE IS A BIGGER ISSUE THAN SKILLS

Our study showed that somebody was a bad hire for attitudinal reasons 89 per cent of the time. In some cases, these new hires just weren’t coachable, or they didn’t have sufficient emotional intelligence or motivation, or they just didn’t sync with the organization. But whatever the particulars, having the wrong attitude is what defined the wrong person in the majority of cases.

If you want more proof, do this little exercise. Make a quick list of the characteristics that define the low performers who work for you. These are the people that you regret hiring, the ones who cost you time, energy, and emotional pain—the kind of people who make you happy to hit some morning rush hour traffic because it’s a welcome respite from them. Don’t think about it too hard; you’re going to be doing plenty of that in later chapters. Just jot down the first four, five, or six things that come into your mind when you think about what makes these folks low performers.

I happen to have just conducted this exercise with a client who was happy to have me share his results. Here’s the list of the low performer characteristics this CEO came up with:

Top Characteristics of Low Performers

Are negative

Blame others

Feel entitled

Don’t take initiative

Procrastinate

Resist change

Create drama for attention

I’ve done this exercise with countless clients, and while the low performer characteristics I hear tend to vary widely, one factor remains consistent: I rarely hear anything skill related. Overwhelmingly, the characteristics that define mishires (low performers) are attitudinal. In fact, whenever I’ve probed for more feedback, I’ve generally been told that a good number of those negative, entitled, blaming, change-resistant low performers have really good skills. That, of course, only makes the whole low performer situation even more painful. (Parenthetically, most companies are currently paying people they regret hiring because it’s usually harder to fire someone than it was to hire them, especially if they have decent skills but a lousy attitude. This is all the more reason to learn how to Hire for Attitude.)

The same exercise can be done with your high performers. And again, you’ll likely find that what makes these folks so great is all about their attitudes and not their skills. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that skills don’t matter—they do. But I’m also saying that the biggest challenge in hiring is not determining skill but rather determining whether or not someone has the right attitude to be a good fit in your organization. Besides, figuring out if someone has the right skills, or enough raw IQ points, is actually pretty easy. Virtually every profession has some kind of a test to assess skill. If you want to be a board certified neurosurgeon, you have to pass a test. If you want to be a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (considered perhaps the toughest networking certification), you have to pass a written and a lab test. If you want to be a nurse, pharmacist, engineer, nuclear physicist, car mechanic, or whatever, there’s a test to assess if you have the skills and horsepower to do so.

And even though I personally lack the skills to pass the tests for any of those jobs, I could easily proctor the exam. And if I buy the scoring key, guess what? I could grade those tests as well. And so could you. If you’re looking for a Java programmer, give her a page of code with bugs and have her debug and rewrite the code. Google holds a Code Jam that they describe as “a programming competition in which professional and student programmers are asked to solve increasingly complex algorithmic challenges in a limited amount of time.” Some hospitals hold competency fairs to test clinical knowledge. (“You say you know about infection control, chest tubes, and insulin protocols, so show me.”) There’s really no excuse for hiring somebody who lacks the skills to do the job, which no doubt is a contributing factor to why only 11 per cent of new hires fail because of skill.

So when you see your colleagues get fixated on hiring people who can “do the job” and who have the “right skills” and enough “talent,” you’ll want to explain to them that attitude, not skill, is the top predictor of a new hire’s success or failure. Because even the best skills don’t really matter if an employee isn’t open to improving or consistently alienates co-workers, lacks drive, or simply lacks the right personality to succeed in that culture. Skills still count, but the data overwhelmingly tell us that attitude is the hiring issue that should demand the most focus.

Reprinted with permission from The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Source :http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/job-skills-arent-everything-when-it-comes-to-the-right-hire/article2293527/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2293527

Idea Log 09012012

Want better employees? Ask better questions in job interviews

WALLACE IMMEN

Last updated Friday, Jan. 06, 2012 9:18AM EST

 

Tell me about … your biggest weakness ... your favourite colour ... the superhero you most admire.

At least 70 per cent of employers still ask lame, predictable questions such as these in job interviews. That’s why they often miss clues that a candidate is destined to be a flop as an employee, leadership coach Mark Murphy found in a study his company did, which became the basis for his new book, Hiring for Attitude. Click here to read an excerpt posted in the globe and mail or my next post tomorrow

The study tracked 20,000 newly hired employees in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and found that 46 per cent of them had either been dismissed or received poor performance reviews or written reprimands over the course of the past three years.

“Most new hires don’t fail for lack of skill. Rather, their underlying personalities and attitudes aren’t a good match for the job and the organization,” Mr. Murphy concluded.

Their employers didn’t probe enough into the attitude behind their skills and their well-rehearsed answers in the job interview, said Mr. Murphy, chief executive officer of Washington, D.C.-based Leadership IQ.

“I’m regularly told by employers that their low performers have really good job skills, but other factors such as being negative, feeling entitled, blaming or being change-resistant turned out to be the reason they didn’t work out,” he said in an interview.

The right attitude for a job is a blend of the candidate’s personality and how they will fit with the culture and values of the organization, he said. “You can have a great personal attitude that’s upbeat and positive, but if you are an individualist and like to work alone you may not fit in a collaborative work environment.”

Mr. Murphy found five main issues that led to failure:

Coachability: In 26 per cent of failures, the employees were unable to accept and use feedback from bosses, colleagues or customers.

Emotional intelligence: In 23 per cent, the issue was inability to manage their emotions and accurately assess others’ reactions or expectations.

Motivation: For 17 per cent, the issue was lack of sufficient drive to reach their potential and excel in the job.

Temperament: In 15 per cent of the cases, their personality didn’t suit their job or their team.

Technical competence: In only 11 per cent of cases, the person’s functional skills weren’t up to the job.

Given these findings, Mr. Murphy said employers have to know what attitudes they’re looking for in an employee and ask probing questions to make sure candidates are right for the organization,

A good example, he said, is the Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels chain. “In their interviews, they treat candidates like they treat their guests, and they expect that candidates will reciprocate,” he said. For example, “even when candidates are waiting for the interview, do they greet each other? Are they polite and make eye contact? And their interview questions are designed to reveal underlying personality and attitudes.”

Interviewing for attitude will become increasingly important as organizations realize they can’t hire as many people as they did in the past and they want to ensure they get people with the right fit, Mr. Murphy said.

“When you only have 60 minutes or so in an interview, it makes no sense to ask questions that people can prepare for in advance and don’t tell much about underlying attitudes.”

He said his suggested “coachability questions” for getting at underlying attitudes may sound somewhat stern, but they are effective. For example, he recommends that the interviewer start by asking about the applicant’s previous boss: “Make them believe you’re going to talk to the former boss, even if that’s not the case.”

Rather than asking what the applicant sees as strengths and achievements, questions should ask what he thinks the former boss or co-workers would say were his strengths and weaknesses. Even if you’re not planning to contact the former employer, simply giving the impression there’s going to be a full review will get people to open up, he said.

Also, “Avoid questions that lead toward hypothetical situations. You want to know how people actually responded in historic moments rather than wax philosophical.”

Another signal about good attitude is how people phrase their answers, so listen carefully. “It’s not so much specific words, but the way people use them that are tip-offs to potentially weak performers.” He has found that high performers tend to answer questions in the past tense, saying: “I did this and I made that happen.” By contrast, people who are low performers tend to use the present or future tense: “When something like that happens, I do this.”

Hearing someone use abstract descriptions could be a signal that he or she might not have the necessary experience or attitude you’re looking for, Mr. Murphy said.

Another finding from his study is that low performers tend to use more adverbs in describing themselves. “High-performing candidates are more comfortable talking about their performance without dressing it up with superlatives. Rather than talking about how exceptional their work was, they let their record speak for them.”

TIPS FOR INTERVIEWERS

Common questions to avoid:

“Tell me about yourself.” This usually elicits a recitation about how the person always works hard and is good at collaborating. It tells you very little.

“What are your weaknesses?” How many ways are there to say you work too hard and tend to be a perfectionist?

“Tell me about …” Asking for a specific example of how the person resolved a conflict won’t tell you about issues he or she has trouble resolving.

“What would you do if …” Hypothetical questions bring idealized answers that rarely reflect reality.

“What kind of animal would you be?” Not surprisingly, most people say lion rather than parrot. Does this give you any real insight?

Coachability questions that reveal underlying attitude:

“What was your boss’s name? Please spell the full name for me.”

“Tell me about your former boss.”

“What is something you could have done differently to enhance your working relationship with your former boss?”

“When I talk to your former boss, what will they tell me your strengths are? What will they say you would need to improve?”

Source: http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/management-advice/want-better-employees-ask-better-questions-in-job-interviews/article2293001/?service=mobile

Idea Log 08012012

 cnbc-tv18.com

CNBC-TV18 is a business news channel broadcast in India based in Mumbai. The channel was launched on December 7, 1999. It was the first business news channel launched in India and still leads that genre. The channel has been an integral part of the Indian economic story, spearheading and mirroring India's enterprising times.

The channel's benchmark coverage extends from corporate news, financial markets coverage, and expert perspective on investing and management to industry verticals and beyond. CNBC-TV18 has been constantly innovating with new genres of programming that helps make business more relevant to different constituencies across India. India’s most able business audience consumes CNBC-TV18 for their information and investing needs. This audience is highly diversified, at one level comprising key groups such as business leaders, professionals, retail investors, brokers and traders, intermediaries, self-employed professionals, high-net-worth individuals, students and even homemakers but shares a distinct commonality in terms of their spirit of enterprise. CNBC-TV18 is available in over 35 million households in India.

CNBC-TV18's Key Milestones

• CNBC-TV18 was the First 24 hr business news channel in the country – Launched in 1999 as CNBC India and was later re-christened CNBC-TV18
• CNBC-TV18 has maintained a dominant position in market share, despite the emergence of competition in recent years. The channel has consistently delivered more than 50% market share
• The channel has won Best Business News Channel awards at all major recognized industry events, apart from numerous other accolades across national & international platforms. These include the acclaimed Indian Telly Awards, Indian Television Academy & News Television Awards
• The Indian marketing & media decision makers have rated CNBC-TV18 India’s No.1 TV Brand in a market that has over 400 TV brands competing for eyeballs (Pitch Brandometer Survey 2009)
• CNBC-TV18 runs India's largest platform for recognizing & rewarding accomplishments of Indian SME's - The Emerging India Awards. The Awards are listed in the Limca book of records as they received the highest number of entries for any business awards in the country till date.
• CNBC-TV18 runs India’s most respected and sought after awards for recognizing business & entrepreneurial achievement, the CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards (IBLA). The IBLA re-inforces the prestige of CNBC Asia’s “Asia Business Leader Awards” (ABLA) in the country.
• CNBC-TV18 was the first channel to deliver beam live INTERNATIONAL business news programming into the country and show live opening of global exchanges, across the world
• CNBC-TV18’s Storyboard is the longest-running show focused on Advertising and Marketing
• CNBC-TV18 was the 1st channel to have a dedicated show on corporate law in India, The Firm
• CNBC-TV18’s Young Turks is one of India’s first dedicated & longest-running shows focusing on young entrepreneurs

I was just watching this epsiode of Young Turks- very good speakers who were inspiring. A lot of new leaders coming out of India with original ideas ~ always good to see them get recognition.