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Measuring Stick For Managers (Nov 17, 2008)
In one of its biggest polls, Gallup asked more than one million employees from a broad range of industries a series of questions designed to uncover the answer to the question, "What do talented employees need from their workplace?" The answer -- that talented employees need great managers -- led to the second research effort, which attempted to determine how the best managers find, focus, and keep talented employees. The chief outcome of these studies is a performance "measuring stick" that evaluates human capital, which, the authors argue, is increasingly seen on an equal footing with more traditional metrics, such as assets and profits. Using just 12 questions, "The Measuring Stick" captures those elements critical to finding, engaging, and retaining the most talented employees.
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Rebuilding Generations Through Football (Nov 15, 2008)
What began as one man's passion to help at risk kids has become the vision of many through the Playmakers Mentoring Foundation and their innovative program which began in California. Developed and led by Coach Greg Roeszler (Aka Coach Roz) and his dedicated staff of assistant coaches, Playmakers is drawing kids off the streets and out of gangs to be part of this amazing outreach where children are loved and respected and taught to be the best they can be. Through their inspiring leadership, Roz and his coaches use the game of football to teach boys how to play by the rules, to respect others, how to be a good citizen and a leader in their community.
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One Woman's Artistic Gift (Nov 10, 2008)
On her countryside farm in Salt Lake City, Kazaih raises goats. And paints. "I paint people I can relate to and the wildlife and countryside I love," the 58 year old says. In 2002, Kaziah sent a note to a Gloria Johnson to see if she could do a portrait of her son, an Army private who died in an ambush in Iraq. Gloria agreed, and Kaziah's portrait moved her to tears. Kaziah continued her humanitarian experiment -- without taking any political sides -- and today, more than 200 portraits later, she's still at it. Oh, and she doesn't sell her art; she gifts it ...
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A Hospital With A Difference (Nov 9, 2008)
Anne Lang, head of human resources at Winchester Hospital, pulls out a simple, black box and flips it open. Inside is a small but telling stack of reasons why this 229-bed community hospital is the state's top place to work. At Winchester, Lang and other managers keep index cards listing how employees prefer to be rewarded: in a meeting, in the hospital newsletter, personally, with chocolate or sports gear. Senior managers started the tradition in 2005 to meet its 2,600 employees' yearning for a more formal system of rewards, big and small. "It was in response to our employee survey results," said Lang. "Every two years, we do a formal employee survey. They said, 'You know, you could do a better job on recognition.' "
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A Table For Three (Nov 7, 2008)
"My fiancee and I decided today was the day to finally treat ourselves to a nice dinner. It started off as 'our' day' but little did we know that it would turn into much more. I didn't want the whole day to be about yearning to leave the office for the upcoming dinner and I didn't want the dinner to be just another romantic night for two... So, I felt compelled to turn up the notch of giving that day and see what that could do." So begins this short, moving story about how one person's conscious decision to reach out to others made a special difference.
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A Daughter's First Words (Nov 6, 2008)
A little girl who cannot walk or talk has used a machine to tell her mother for the first time: "I love you." Six-year-old Elke Wisbey, who was born brain-damaged, has been able to communicate with her family by using a high-tech gadget which tracks her eye movements. Readers of a local newspaper raised money to buy the specially-adapted machine for the family. The MyTobii Smartbox machine from Sweden detects which icons Elke is looking at by using tiny lasers.When her eyes settle on an icon on the screen of the Smartbox, a pre-programmed voice speaks the word or phrase for her. Just a few days after setting up the equipment, Elke's parents described how their daughter started using her eyes to repeat the words "I love you" over and over again.
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The Generosity Gene (Nov 5, 2008)
The thought of not receiving presents on a birthday, bar or bat mitzvah, or any other gift-getting occasion is hard to accept for most children. So, where would such an idea come from? Teachers, older siblings and parents are the inspiration. Sometimes, it's just another compassionate stranger. For Gwenna Heidkamp, 11, who requested animal shelter supplies in lieu of presents for herself, it was her first-grade teacher Susan Vani, who got her excited about helping others. Every year, Vani gives each of her students $10 of her own money and challenges them to find ways to grow it and then send the total to a charity of their choice.
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The Plastic Battle (Nov 3, 2008)
Has this ever happened to you after you've purchased a consumer item? Winner of the Friend's of the Earth Best One-minute Green Film Award, director Ulla Jackobsen from Denmark makes a simple yet dramatic statement with the help of a child and her toys. This video reminds us, in a most poignant way, to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
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Web Surfing & The Brain (Oct 31, 2008)
The Internet is not just changing the way people live but altering the way our brains work with a neuroscientist arguing this is an evolutionary change which will put the tech-savvy at the top of the new social order. Gary Small, a neuroscientist who specializes in brain function, has found that Internet searching and text messaging has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions. But while technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity it can have drawbacks as it can create Internet addicts whose only friends are virtual and has sparked a dramatic rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses. Small, however, argues that the people who will come out on top in the next generation will be those with a mixture of technological and social skills.
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Five-A-Day Plan For Well-Being (Oct 30, 2008)
Simple activities such as gardening or mending a bicycle can protect mental health and help people to lead more fulfilled and productive lives, a panel of scientists has found. A "five-a-day" program of social and personal activities can improve mental wellbeing, much as eating fruit and vegetables enhances physical health, according to Foresight, the government think-tank. Its Mental Capital and Wellbeing report, which was compiled by more than 400 scientists, proposes a campaign modelled on the nutrition initiative, to encourage behaviour that will make people feel better about themselves. People should try to connect with others, to be active, to take notice of their surroundings, to keep learning and to give to their neighbors and communities, the document says.
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Playing For Change: Peace Through Music (Oct 28, 2008)
Mark Johnson is the producer of a remarkable documentary about the simple but transformative power of music: Playing For Change: Peace Through Music. The film brings together musicians from around the world -- blues singers in a waterlogged New Orleans, chamber groups in Moscow, a South African choir -- to collaborate on songs familiar and new, in the effort to foster a new, greater understanding of our commonality. Johnson traveled around the globe and recorded tracks for such classics as "Stand By Me" and Bob Marley's "One World" -- creating a new mix in which essentially the performers are all performing together -- worlds apart. Often recording with just battery-powered equipment, Johnson found musicians on street corners or in small clubs and they would in turn gather their friends and colleagues -- in all, they recorded over 100 musicians from Tibet to Zimbabwe.
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Research Links Meditation With Compassion (Oct 26, 2008)
Like athletes or musicians, people who practice meditation can enhance their ability to concentrate -- or even lower their blood pressure. They can also cultivate compassion, according to a new study. Specifically, concentrating on the loving kindness one feels toward one's family (and expanding that to include strangers) physically affects brain regions that play a role in empathy."There is such a thing as expertise when it comes to complex emotions or emotional skills, such as the one of cultivating benevolence," says Antoine Lutz, the neuroscientist who led the study. "That raises the possibility that you can train someone to cultivate this positive emotion."
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The New Face of Giving (Oct 22, 2008)
A charity that provides water to African villages posts locations of new wells using Google Earth, and a 13-year-old contributor in Manhattan tracks the progress. A cancer charity accepts "micro-donations" of $5 by text message. An orchestra in Michigan begins posting videos of its performances on YouTube to try to draw patrons. The United States long has been a nation of givers, but a new generation is transforming the way we do good. Millennials and Generation Xers, especially those 20- and 30 - somethings starting careers, may not have the bucks to be major donors, but they are finding ways to help others and prompting big changes in the way charities raise money
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Mandela's 8 Lessons of Leadership (Oct 21, 2008)
"Nelson Mandela has always felt most at ease around children, and in some ways his greatest deprivation was that he spent 27 years without hearing a baby cry or holding a child's hand. Last month, when I visited Mandela in Johannesburg -- a frailer, foggier Mandela than the one I used to know -- his first instinct was to spread his arms to my two boys. Within seconds they were hugging the friendly old man who asked them what sports they liked to play and what they'd had for breakfast." So begins this Time magazine article that shares 8 unusual lessons from this remarkable world leader.
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An Act of Kindness in 1988 (Oct 16, 2008)
Mary Menth Andersen had just married Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was looking forward to starting a new life with him. But first she had to get all of her belongings across to Norway. The date was November 2nd, 1988. At the airport she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness: "You'll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway, the man behind the counter said." Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call. Although she explained the situation to the man behind the counter, he showed no signs of mercy. "I started to cry, tears were pouring down my face and I had no idea what to do." What followed was an ordinary act of kindness from a stranger -- who as it turns out, would not remain anonymous...
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If Everyone Cared (Oct 13, 2008)
This music video by Nickelback lauds several examples of individuals who have stood up to injustice, and won. The examples range from Bob Geldof's Live Aid concerts in 1984 to Nelson Mandela's triumphant release from prison in 1989 and election as South Africa's first democratically elected president.
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An Unexpected Thank You (Oct 6, 2008)
"You probably don't remember me," she began, "but I have come back to file for Graduation with Distinction" And then she pulled out a piece of paper from her wallet and gave it to me to read. It was my handwriting, but I didn't remember writing it. As the Assistant Director of the Honors Programs at the university, one of my jobs was to review student transcripts to make sure they met requirements for continuing in Honors. It was not uncommon for freshmen to have a rough start and be notified that they could no longer continue in Honors after their first semester. Sometimes second trimester report cards would be sent to us anyway, even though students were no longer in the program." So begins this heartwarming story of how a single thoughtful gesture changed someone else's life three years ago.
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Dance Like No One Is Watching (Oct 3, 2008)
There are no weekend box office charts for online videos. But if there were, at the top of nearly every list right now might well be a four-and-a-half-minute video called "Dancing." In just a month since its online release, it has been viewed by more than ten million people. After 14 months of traveling in 42 countries, it's the story of a guy named Matt doing the gratitude dance with a cast of thousands around the globe ... from the streets of Mumbai to a rock formation in Ireland to a tulip field in Netherlands!
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The Story of a Sign (Sep 27, 2008)
With a stroke of the pen, a stranger transforms the afternoon for another man in this emotionally stirring film by Alonso Alvarez Barreda. The winner of the short film online competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Story of a Sign has since become a regular feature of Mexico's national television programming.
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I Am The Other (Sep 24, 2008)
Born half Bolivian, half Italian and bred in Switzerland, Denise Zabalaga possesses a unique sensitivity towards "otherness" and an ability to transcend many of the projections of fear and mistrust so commonly associated with strangers. Six months after Septemeber 11, her travels as a photographer and photojournalist took her, a lone woman, to territories of the Middle East and Afghanistan normally considered hostile or dangerous. With a combination of determination, fearlessness and an incredible dedication to interacting with the language and culture of the lands she visited, Denise's experiences brought her again and again to a profound realization, "There is no separation from the other because I am the other." In this interview she shares more about her journeys, along with insights about our shared humanity and her powerful encounters abroad with generosity.
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