Completed Staff Work for Managers & Individual Contributors;
A Business Case Study for Business 200, Northern Virginia Community College
October 23, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
The Business Case Study Method permits the student or researcher to conduct a critical analysis to solve a problem or to exploit an opportunity. Or to answer a hypothetical "what if?" scenario. (In contrast to politics where hypothetical questions should never be addressed.)
There are a number of outstanding formats and templates (see below or at the jump) for organizing.
Your Business Blogger(R) as Your Business Professor prefers a simpler, story telling formula: Problem, Solution, Result. (The use of such PSRs as narrative outline are also most helpful in job interviews.)
A Problem defined is half solved. It is useful to state the problem as an inquiry (think the game show Jeopardy or Larry King or Dr. Laura, "What's your question?").
The subject for the content on Business Case Studies is one of my former companies. The Alert Student will also select a company where s/he worked, is working or wishes to work. Students who have first-hand knowledge or a compelling interest deliver the best case studies. Let's start with the backgrounder.
Menlo Care, Inc. was a medical device start-up manufacturer and direct seller with an outside sales team of 35 experienced, senior, account managers in the 1980's and 90's. The company had a proprietary process to manufacture a new intravenous catheter. The venture was funded with $500k in seed money from Raychem Corporation where the technology was developed and spun off. The product is based on a material science of a polymer that was as rigid as Teflon when dry but became as soft and flexible as silicone when wet.
The polymer-plastic was extruded or formed into an intravenous catheter for insertion into the venous blood system.
The new technology improved patient care in a cost-effective manner. However, the new IV catheters had two major marketing concerns:
1) They were 100 times the price of the existing, nearest competitive substitute.
2) The Menlo Care products required advanced one-on-one inservice training to insert or to pass" the I.V. catheters.
At the time, Menlo Care was still operating on venture capital investment and had significant negative cash flow typical of early stage start-ups entering the marketplace.
The high "burn rate" of capital would not allow the hiring of the estimated 35 full-time instructional nurses; one teacher for each sales territory.
Nurses prefer to be taught by their peers - other nurses, not necessarily company sales representatives. Sales teams have the time intensive responsibility to peddle the product and to manage the territory logistics.
The question: How can a manufacturer teach and sell new medicine across the USA within 90 days?
The issue is an extension of the classic challenge of marketing with no money or no budget and the need for an intensive face-to-face sales process.
A Solution was developed from a number of options and recommendations. The final sales-education idea was an innovative combination of well-known teaching-marketing strategies reconfigured into a unique delivery process.
The answer to the problem would involve having per diem or part-time nurse clinicians conduct training classes. Each of the 35 sales representatives would identify, recruit, train, motivate and manage the advance practice nurses who were the thought and opinion leaders in the medical community (e.g., presidents of local chapters of oncology nurses, certified I.V. nurses' associations and leaders in the home health care business). These nurses would come from the small cadre of existing users of the Menlo Care catheters. The solution was simply to hire the customers to teach.
Key nurses from a local area would be invited in for a day-long training program. The area account manager/sales representative would host the event and act as the "master of ceremonies" where the class of nurses would be taught about the new medical devices.
The hook for attendance would be the concern and the warning that local hospitals might start to see the new Menlo Care I.V. catheters on those patients who might be admitted into emergency rooms. Clinicians need to know what products are being used on patients using IV therapy in case the patient has an emergency. Especially of concern were those being treated as out-patients in the home health care market.
The attending nurses who received training and inserted a catheter on a patient became credentialed as a "Landmark Nurse" and were awarded a framed certificate and lapel pin to recognize their expertise and achievement.
(A credential can be done by private associations in contrast to a certification which is awarded by a state licensing authority. Common certifications are MD, LPN and RN.)
The Results were immediate and measurable. Sales increased from near zero to over $12 million on a yearly run rate. The product line and technology commanded such attention that a number of major medical device manufactures expressed interest.
Menlo Care, Inc, was sold in 1994 to a division of Johnson & Johnson satisfying investors and stockholders.
Also see marketing with no budget in 10 steps.
Refer to the syllabus for length and style.
How to get Completed Staff Work
FREE Training for the Team
Save the Date: 30 October
October 2, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Your Business Professor is conducting a seminar on Completed Staff Work in Washington, DC on October 30th from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.
The session is FREE, hosted by Americans United for Life. There is no charge, but registration is required by building security.
Space is limited.
Managers: watch the YouTube, Train Your Staff, at the end
Course outline,
Three hour program
Introduction
1. What is Completed Staff Work?
a. Perfection.
b. Efficient: faster, better, cheaper.
c. Happy Customers, Happy Employees, Happy Cash Flow.
2. Will I have Greater Job security?
a. Power as an employee.
b. Put me in coach - I'll take that job.
c. Boss not always right; but s/he must always be happy.
3. How Do I Manage My Manager?
a. Child-teen-adult responsibility matrix.
b. Managers' greatest two fears.
c. Selling to the boss.
Training is not only the responsibility of the Human Resources Department,
Follow Your Business Blogger(R) on Twitter: @JackYoest
Stop the Abortion Mandate:
The Video
August 21, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Then let us drown those we don't like from the litter.
Let all the old folks die.
Who wants to feel their pain -- they're so old and bitter?"*
Charmaine Yoest, PH.D.
Screen Shot Courtesy Hot Air.
Obama is having trouble selling his socialized medicine.
Cecile Richards, CEO of Planned Parenthood supports Obama's health care government take over.
Americans United for Life Action does not.
Planned Parenthood has a money-making business model selling abortion. The Obama plan will demand abortion in health insurance plans and will provide tax dollars to provide for abortion on demand. Though all nine months -- and beyond: See Obama and the death of a live birth.
Planned Parenthood will make more -- lots more -- money.
Your Business Blogger(R) loves business. But not this one.
Join Fight FOCA *"Let all the babies be born.
Then let us drown those we do not like."
GK Chesterton, Babies and Distributism, GK's Weekly, 11/12/32
Thank you (foot)notes:
Bait and switch healthcare - the Trojan Horse strategy,
Below is an open letter to those who support the life of the pre-born and stand against a mandate which would fund abortions from tax revenue. This letter is from Charmaine Yoest, P.H. D, President and CEO of Americans United for Life. She writes:
"We've got inside information: Yesterday a media-relations executive from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, giving a talk here in Washington on Planned Parenthood's health care reform strategy, made a comment that revealed the impact we've been making in thwarting the abortion industry's agenda. She lamented that because the "anti-choice" movement -- meaning pro-lifers like you and me -- had attracted so much attention to her organization's efforts to mandate abortion funding in health care reform, Planned Parenthood was being forced onto the defensive.
Anti-Abortion Coalition Called Into Question, By Sara Jerome
Myths about abortion in "Health Care" debacle
Liberal's War on the Weak & (un)Planned Parenthood
July 4, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.
Margaret Sanger
Founder Planned Parenthood
Happy 4th of July...
Alert students of Your Business Professor know that men are not equal to each other.
This is one of the great challenges in Business Law: understanding that the Law is King. Not the KIng is King. But Lex Rex.
Men are equal in the eyes of our Creator; in the eyes of the Law. Our governance and justice should be based on Natural Law and the original intent of our Constitution.
Conservatives and Liberals see equality, so to say, differently:
Conservatives:
CreatorLaw
over
Man.....Man
Where all men are equal under the law.
The modern Liberal flow chart is different and cascades so,
Creator(irrelevant)
Law(extension of policy-judges become legislators/politicians)man = man
Men are equal to each other under the new Liberal equation.
Conservatives however, would submit that each person has equal value under law, under the Creator.
But if the Liberal removes the Creator and Law simply becomes an extension of a political policy shop then the Liberal is left with only Man. Who must be then equal to one another. Because we still do believe in equality.
Maybe.
So how can we judge the new Liberal paradigm of equality without the Creator or the Law?
By observation -- By how we treat the least among us. How we treat "retarded people."
Since all men are obviously "not equal" directly to each other -- what do liberals think of the weak, with no Creator? --
What do liberals think of those unequal in their liberal equation; what do they think of those "beneath" them?
NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard saved us an article from the liberal Huffington Post, HuffPoster: 'Palin Will Run In '12 On More Retardation Platform', July 3, 2009 - 19:52 ET
This is about as disgusting as Palin Derangement Syndrome can get.A blog just published at the Huffington Post is disgracefully titled "Palin Will Run In '12 On More Retardation Platform."
The author, fiction and comedy writer Erik Sean Nelson... actually wrote the following (readers are seriously warned to proceed with caution as this is really vile stuff):
In Sarah Palin's resignation announcement she complained about the treatment of her son Trig who always teaches her life lessons. She said that the "world needs more Trigs, not fewer." That's a presidential campaign promise we can all get behind. She will be the first politician to actually try to increase the population of retarded people. To me, it's kinda like saying the world needs more cancer patients because they teach us such personal lessons.
Her first act as President: To introduce a Pre-K lunch buffet that includes lead paint chips. Sort of a Large HEAD-START Program.
She will then encourage women to hold off on pregnancies until their 40's just to mix up some chromosomes.
She now is in favor of abortion only in case of diploid birth [normal chromosomes-this liberal is saying that Palin would only want abortions on "normal" babies. This passes for humor for abortion supporters].
Her policies will increase jobs because Wal-Mart is building new stores each day and someone has to be the greeter. [Liberals hate, just hate Wal-Mart.]
This will lead to smaller government because fewer Americans will have the cognitive ability to hold a government job
Wow. Is this what passes for comedy today?
It will be interesting to see how long this post stays up before someone at HuffPo pulls it.
Stay tuned.
*****Update: The article has been pulled, apparently by the author who claimed: "I got some emails from offended loved ones of the retarded. No one was seeing the absurdity of Palin hiding behind her children, so my piece was not accomplishing anything good."
Imagine that.
Well, for posterity purposes, here's a screen-cap of the piece courtesy NB reader Brett Scheer:
Nice job, [HuffPo writer] Erik. Don't be a stranger.
--Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
Liberals support Barack Obama's vote against his state's Born Alive Infant Protection Act before he became president. His vote would allow babies born alive -- from a botched abortion -- to die by withholding treatment.
Obama's concern was that his vote might lead to overturning Roe v Wade which made abortion legal through all nine months - and beyond.
His philosophy is not new.
Barack Obama
Supports Planned Parenthood
This thinking was born, so to say, at the turn of the last century and made "popular" by Margaret Sanger, founder of modern Planned Parenthood.
In 2003, Edwin Black wrote a national bestseller War against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign To Create A Master Race.
War Against the WeakAuthor Edwin Black does not oppose abortion. But he is nevertheless horrified by the disgust that elite Americans feel for the weak, "the least among us."
Edwin Black writes,
Sanger's solutions were mass sterilization and mass segregation of the defective classes, and these themes were repeated often in [her book] Pivot of Civilization.
"The emergency problem of segregation and sterilization must be faced immediately. Every feeble-minded girl or woman of the hereditary type, especially of the moron class, should be segregated during the reproductive period.
Otherwise, she is almost certain to bear imbecile children, who in turn are just as certain to breed male defectives. The male defectives are no less dangerous.
Segregation carried out for one or two generations would give us only partial control of the problem.
Moreover, when we realized that each feeble-minded person is a potential source of endless progeny of defect, we prefer the policy of immediate sterilization, of making sure that parenthood is absolutely prohibited to the feeble-minded."
Edwin Black then guides us to Margaret Sanger's solution,
Sanger was willing to employ striking language to argue against the inherent misery and defect of large families. In her book, Woman and the New Race, she bluntly declared,
"Many, perhaps, will think it idle to go farther in demonstrating the immorality of large families, but since there is still an abundance of proof at hand, it may be offered for the sake of those who find difficulty in adjusting old-fashioned ideas to the facts.
The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."
It would appear that liberal elitists like Obama, in keeping with Margaret Sanger's world view, might have prefered that the Palins abort Trigg, Sarah's Down syndrome newborn.
Why?
To avoid the "pain and despair" these children have and cause, so says Obama.
Because an unexpected child is a "punishment."
What kind of political party would even consider a man with this world view to govern?
Edwin Black tells us more and connects the events in War Against The Weak,
During the period between the wars, the American [eugenics] movement viewed National Socialism [in Germany] as a rising force that could, if empowered, impose a new biological world order. [National Socialism] eugenicists promised to dispense with the niceties of democratic rule.
So even if America's tower of legislation, well-funded research and entrenched bureaucratic programs still monopolized the world of applied eugenics in the 1920's, National Socialism promised to own the next decade.American eugenicists welcomed the idea.
Obama and the The Party of Death.
Thank you (foot)notes,
Follow us on Twitter: @jackyoest and @charmaineyoest
Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine are celebrating Independence Day at The Dude's All Star baseball tournament with our large family -- The Penta-Posse. When we got married we didn't know it would be so large...and so much fun. This is (un)planned parenthood. What would Margaret Sanger and Cecile Richards say?
Americans United for Life Launches
New Website: Sotomayor411.com
June 12, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Most people know very little about Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor. Americans United for Life will be alerting the public about the Pro-Abortion-Choice affinities of Sotomayor and the abortion agenda of president Obama.
AUL has published a new website www.Sotomayor411.com.

Click on the banner for outstanding research and analysis to learn about Sotomayor's judicial activism and the personnel policies of president Obama.
Alert Readers know that Charmaine served in presidential personnel in the (real) West Wing of the White House in the Ronald Reagan Administration. The direction from The Gipper was to hire carefully. Personnel is Policy.
President Obama shares more that oratorical elegance with Reagan. Obama also knows that Personnel is Policy.
Sotomayor is the personification of Obama's abortion policy.
Follow us on Twitter: jackyoest and charmaineyoest
Management Training in Northern Virginia
& DC in July and August
June 11, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Management is getting things done through the active support of others.
These "others" are more than your direct reports. And they are key to the Manager's success.
In this six week course we will review how the experienced manager,
1) Gains the support of his network,
2) Practices followership as well as leadership, and
3)Trains his staff to be self-reliant, not boss-reliant
We will review strategies that women can use to break the glass ceiling.
Your Business Blogger(R)
interviewed in The Washington Post
Watch the video clips at the end for a preview: The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey.
The class is perfect for the manager looking for his next assignment.
The best time to look for a job is when you have a job.
Question: But what if you don't have a job?
How to look?
And what to do meanwhile?
Answer: Go back to school.
Alert Reader, FaceBook and Twitter Friend, Janet, asks Your Business Blogger(R) about a common challenge:
What do I do about gaps in employment history; gaps on my resume?
If you are in this situation here's what the job seeker can do to 'mind the gap.'
Enroll in a course at your local community college.
Continuous learning is, well, continuous.
And it doesn't have to be expensive.
Here are three F.A.B.'s, the Features, Advantages and Benefits of going back to class.
If you have a job or not.
First Feature
Meet a professor
Advantage
Learn subject matter.
Learn presentation -- interview -- life skills.
Get referrals.
Benefit
Cheaper than a personal coach.
Get a character reference letter.
Get employed faster
Second Feature
Meet other inquisitive minds
Advantage
Expand your Friend contact database.
Challenge assumptions.
Increased network of contacts for job referrals.
Benefit
Faster learning.
Cheaper than a job placement agency.
Get employed faster
Third Feature
Regularly scheduled class times.
Advantage
Encourages the student to get out of bed, out of the house.
Provides structure to the job seekers' week.
Forces the student to walk past career counselors' office.
Benefit
Get more done in less time.
Spend less time in Starbucks.
Get employed faster.
The purpose of continuing education is the gaining of new knowledge, skills and abilities. But this is even more important when one is out of work. A perspective employer is going to ask you a number of questions.
The first interview question will be, "What are you doing now?"
The perfect answer is, "As I look for my next position, I am taking a business refresher course at my local community college."
Remember: the best time to find a job is when you are working -- going to class is your job.
You may be unemployed, but you are busy: You are using your time wisely while you look for work.
As it happens, the Northern Virginia Community College has the perfect solution to help you find your next job.
Sit in my class.
NOVA has openings in my Business 200 class, Principles of Management. We will meet every Monday & Wednesday nights at the Arlington Campus, near the Ballston Metro. Beginning July 1 for six weeks.
Alert Readers know that Your Business Blogger(R) charges outrageous fees for a two day management seminar.
The same instructor at NOVA will set you back about 100 bucks a credit hour or about 500 bucks fully loaded for a three credit-hour class.
Course topics covered in Principles of Management:
1. Intro to Management
2. History of Management
3. Organizational Environments and Culture
4. Ethics and Social Responsibility
5. Planning and Decision Making
6. Organizational Strategy
7. Innovation and Change
8. Global Management
9. Designing Adaptive Organizations
10. Managing Teams
11. Managing Human Resource System
12. Managing Individuals and a Diverse Workforce
13. Motivation
14. Leadership
15. Managing Communication
16. Control
17. Managing Information
18. Managing Service and Manufacturing Operations
Call now to register. Operators are standing by.
Or apply on-line.
This after hours, summer evening class is the perfect career-management strategy and allows the attendee to job-hunt early in the day.
Come join my class. And get employed faster.
Thank you (foot)notes:
For more on your job search: tattoos, lying, resume enhancement and trick questions follow links below.
Read Job Search? PASS This Test
See how "Sarah" is getting it right. To get your next job, assignment or project PASS this test! See how the mythical composite Sarah learned new behaviors to find new opportunities.As first appeared in The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, January 20, 2002
To get a job, first get a plan and then get busy...
Your Business Blogger(R) is of a certain age from a certain generation with teenage children and is confused by various body art. I do not understand tattoos. (Except on my dad, who was in the Navy...) A future employer also may not understand body art. Not even Starbucks. Tiny URL: http://tiny.cc/4FMr3
What is the first question hiring managers ask themselves? Get a Blog; Get Hired -- And the First Question
Be sure to ask some questions in your job interview, Job Interview: 3 Questions for Your Prospective Boss.
The Lie: A Guide to Fibbing in the Job Interview, it's not what you think.
Here's what your interviewer is really looking for, Job Interview: How To Tell If the Candidate Will Lie, Cheat, Steal?
There is actually controversy on hiring competence, Hiring Super Stars vs Tolerating Turkeys
Yes, High School still counts. Forever. What's the One Best Question to Ask a Job Candidate?
Why Were You Really Hired? The Two Qualities That Count.
Follow me on Twitter: @jackyoest
Watch The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey; short video
Part One
Watch the other videos at the jump.
Career Management:
Get a Promotion; Get a Job
April 7, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
You are in control of your own career. Start now.
Learn how to earn that promotion. Learn how to get that job.
On April 29, 2009 from 11am to 12:15 a career management seminar will be conducted at The NOVA Theater at the Alexandria Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College.
Save the date. The seminar is at no-charge and is open to the public. Space is limited and registration is required. Email me to hold your seat.
We will cover:
The five rules to getting promoted:
1) Don't make the boss nervous.
2) Deliver Completed Staff Work.
3) Adopt the US Army's definition of discipline (and it's not what you think).
4) Find a friend.
5) Get your boss promoted.
Your next big job. It will be:
A) From someone you know (slightly).
B) A created position.
C) In high technology.
The thoughtful professional knows that he is constantly selling his knowledge, skills and abilities to his boss and to his peers.
The professional knows also that each position on the company organization chart can be an opportunity to be groomed with a track record of success -- to move easily to a higher level...or another company.
The professional in a job search has the choice of pro-actively conducting a sales and marketing campaign to move to his next assignment by selling the intangible of his talent.
If the seminar attendee is on the job market, his choice is networking or not working.
The seminar reviews the steps needed to secure more responsibility within an organization or even another position inside his company -- or outside his current employer.
The purpose of this career management seminar is to increase your value to your current employer and to your future company.
And to prepare the attendee to move and to be ready to change jobs in a fast changing, uncertain world.
Who: Professionals interested in earning a promotion or seeking increased responsibilities or in conducting a job search.
What: The career management seminar will equip the attendee with strategies and tactics on how to increase the attendees' value in the marketplace of talent and to command greater compensation in another position.When: Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 11:00am to 12:15pm
Where: Northern Virginia Community College,
Alexandria Campus, campus map
The NOVA Theater; the new Bisdorf Auditorium, room 196
3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 street mapWhy: To enable the attendee to gain the greatest return on the attendees' time and talent in his income-producing career.
Cost: No Charge. Register here at JYoest@NVCC.edu. Space is limited.
Jack Yoest, Adjunct Professor of Business at NOVA and President of Management Training of DC, LLC, is a former Armored Cavalry Officer in Combat Arms. For over 30 years he has managed software, health care and international human resource management companies. His experience spans the military, Fortune 500, government, start-ups, non-profits, media and academia.
He conducts career management training for professionals in industries from law to government, from for-profit businesses to non-for-profit organizations, from military to media.
He has participated in hundreds of personal interviews of job candidates and has been instrumental in the hiring of thousands of employees.
Jack also served in the Governor's Office of the Commonwealth Virginia as Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Resources where he acted as the Chief Technology Officer for the secretariat. He was responsible for the successful Year 2000 (Y2K) conversion for the 16,000-employee unit.
He was also a sales account manager with a medical device start-up and helped move sales from zero to over $12 million, opening over 300 accounts, resulting in a buy-out by Johnson & Johnson.
Jack has consulted across industries and in China and India.
Questions? www.Yoest.com, JYoest@NVCC.edu or call Jack at 202.215.2434.
Come to this class.
Parking info at the jump.
Thank you (foot)notes and suggested class reading:
Helping sentences for employee evaluations.
The secret on how to get a letter of recommendation.
Save the Date: April 29, 2007
Please pass this link on to a friend who might be interested.
Event registration is also available to Friends on Facebook.
Details also at Management Training of DC, LLC.
7 step syllabus for training in The Practice of Management
| By Jack Yoest
Following is the 7 step syllabus for training in The Practice of Management
1. Management and the Myth: Why everything you learned about managing is wrong.
Plan, Organize, Lead, Control. This is the traditional definition of management. Managers are taught the four parts equally with dangerous career-killing assumptions.
2. Staffer & Manager. Night & Day. Black & White. As far as the East is From the West.
Learn the mindsets of the efficient staffer and the effective manager. What is the key difference between the staffer-individual contributor-subordinate and the manager?
3. "Batting Average" non-perfect management model.
Managers: Your staff must be perfect. You must NOT be perfect. Learn the real differences between the staffer-individual contributor-subordinate and the manager.
4. The Manager's Work (Plan, Organize, Control)
How to Build the Manager's Web of relationships. Three parts deal with traditional vocational skills. But only one, Lead (influence and motivate) is the real management talent. And it receives the least amount of attention.
5. Who's zooming who? Understand the Buying & Selling & Persuasion in office politics.
Manager to staff: You must persuade me... You must sell me.
"I agree with you, I want to do it...now make me do it," FDR
6. The Manager's two greatest fears, and how to cope.
Every morning when the manager looks at her staff, she has two paralyzing fears - twin terrors she shares with no one:
1. That her direct reports will not do exactly as she directs. And,
2. That her direct reports will do exactly as she directs.
7. Why Managers micro-manage. Why is the boss is a Nervous-Nellie?
Who needs training? The manager...or the staff? It might depend on what the manager is working with. I've got kids at home. I don't need any at work. Empower workers? Nope. Not if I've got nothing but children. HR, send me a grown up!
Jack Yoest, Adjunct Professor, Business & Technology,
Northern Virginia Community College, JYoest@nvcc.edu, 202.215.2434
Your Business Blogger(R)
Thank you (foot)notes,
Why Academics...and Entrepreneurs Can't Manage
PowerPoint, Sales & Persuasion Training for Business, Government, War
The Year 2000 Rollover and Emergency Management
PowerPoint Presentation, The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
How to get Promoted
Sales and Persuasion Training: Outside Your Company...and Inside
What makes a manager nervous?
Management Training: 10 Mistakes Managers Make
The Mission and Purpose of the Manager
What two characteristics should the manager look for in considering a job candidate? "Wisdom and judgment," says Henry Ford. Why Were You Really Hired? The Two Qualities That Count
Management -- yes management -- is hard work. Read Rowing and Teamwork.
Why Entrepreneurs...and Academics Cannot Manage
April 4, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Why Academics...and Entrepreneurs Can't Manage
Entrepreneurs and Academics are typically poor managers. Not only because they might lack a particular skill set, but because of the expectation of vocational perfection. They share the passion for the perfect in their products. But to understand and practice management, a "batting-average" model of non-perfection is needed.
There is a fundamental difference between the work of the individual contributor and the contribution of a manager. The entrepreneur, as an individual contributor, brings a new vision for a new product or service. But introducing the New Next Big Thing requires basic management.
The teacher and new-product visionary are individual contributors whose work is the creation of "perfection." But management does not -- must not -- deal only in this perfection. Because it is the managerial skill set which brings the individual contributor's perfect product to market to do business.
The entrepreneur as individual contributor understands the basic formula:
But the teacher working with the individual contributor, who needs to become a manager, must emphasize that work alone will not have the world beat a path to the inventor's door.
Management has a more complicated formula with an additional variable: Network. This 'Network of Support' is the ability of the entrepreneur as manager to get the support of investors, advisors, external stakeholders, customer, staffers and subordinates.
The entrepreneur should see his role as manager with a new formula:
Work + Network = Results
The results and success of the entrepreneur's venture depends as much on his ability to manage as his brilliance in new product creation.
Jack Yoest is an Adjunct Professor at the Northern Virginia Community College and is president of Management Training of DC, LLC. He worked with Menlo Care, a start-up medical device manufacturer as part of a team that moved sales from zero to over $12 million, resulting in a buy-out by Johnson & Johnson.
He also served as Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Resources in Virginia, where he was responsible for the successful Year 2000 conversion for the $5 billion, 16,000-employee unit.
Jack has been published by Scripps-Howard News Service and has contributed to Small Business Trends, Small Business Trends Radio, The Business Monthly, Business & Media Institute and National Review Online.
His web-log was nominated for Best Business Blog in 2006. Jack is a former Captain in the Army.
He earned an MBA from George Mason University and completed graduate work in the International Operations Management Program at Oxford University. Jack and Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., live near the Nation's Capital with their five children.
aka: Your Business Blogger(R)
Save The Date 29 April:
Career Management;
Get Promoted, Find a Job
March 31, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Learn how to earn that promotion. Learn how to get that job.
On April 29 from 11am to 12:15 a career management seminar will be conducted at The NOVA Theater at the Alexandria Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College.
Save the date. Seminar is at no-charge and open to the public. Registration is required.
There are five rules to getting promoted:
1) Don't make the boss nervous.
2) Completed Staff Work.
3) Adopt the US Army's definition of discipline (and it's not what you think).
4) Find a friend.
5) Get your boss promoted.
Your next big job will be:
A) From someone you know (slightly).
B) A created position.
C) In high technology.
The purpose of the seminar is to increase your value to your current company so that additional responsibility will, like a magic cape, float down from on high and rest lightly on your shoulders.
And to prepare the attendee to move and to be ready to change jobs in a fast changing, bailed-out world.
Please pass this link on to a friend who might be interested.
Details will follow here and to Friends on Facebook.
Details also at Management Training of DC, LLC.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Helping sentences for employee evaluations.
The secret on how to get a letter of recommendation.
The Reference Letter;
How To Get One,
How To Write A Letter of Recommendation
March 30, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Your Business Blogger(R), also known as Your Business Professor has written dozens of recommendations for hundreds of students, clients, friends and vendors.
Question: If I wrote dozens of letters, then how did hundreds of people get a written recommendation from this very generous, very perceptive and very busy business consultant?
Answer: I didn't write them.
***
I used to write recommendations all the time.
Before I got smart. (This took a long time...)
Linked here is a glowing recommendation from a United States Congressman for Your Business Professor for a presidential appointment. Note the glowing language. The detailed biography. The compelling argument.
Wow! That Congressman must really know Jack! Were they roommates in college? Are they cousins? Did they serve jail time together?
Nope.
The Good Congressman hardly knows me to send me anything other than a Christmas card.
No, the Good Congressman didn't actually write my recommendation.
I did.
***
Why did a Very Busy Big Boss sign-off on a letter to Your (unknown) Business Professor?
Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr., the late Speaker of the House during Reagan's presidency, directed his staff to, don't take nobody that nobody brought. That the Speaker would only use his resources for someone who was sponsored by a trusted adviser.
A trusted third party...
To get a recommendation from a Very Busy Big Boss, find a friend who the Boss trusts. A trusted staffer.
With input from the trusted staffer, I composed a draft of my recommendation, which was, of course, fact checked, spell checked and signature ready for the Big Endorser's OK.
This is important: Very Important Busy People don't have time to write anything. They have speech writers.
If you want an endorsement or a recommendation, you will need to become a speech writer.
For your own content.
This is the first lesson in Completed Staff Work for subordinates. The Big Boss should only make decisions and sign his name.
The Boss does not do any work.
"Work" in the form that the individual contributor or staffer would recognized.
I tell Interested Parties if they want a written recommendation from me on why someone should hire them -- the Interested Party must first draft the letter so that I would know why I would make such suggestion.
Some one is going to have to do the thinking and the work for me.
This is how senior management works.
Some Interested Parties might suggest that Your Business Blogger(R) is not very bright and certainly very lazy.
Perhaps so. But.
This is how senior management works.
***
Now that the Alert Reader understands who really does the thinking and the working, let's review what should go into the writing of the recommendation.
Symmetry and Chemistry
The letter is written for a Big Boss to be read by another Big Boss. Well, OK, maybe not. Maybe your letter will be signed by an auto-pen (or secretary) and read by a trust adviser (or secretary).
The Letter of Recommendation has two purposes,
1) To assure the gate-keeper that your criminal record is irrelevant or that those tattoos are not visible with modest clothing (noticeable only in that YouTube video that you can't get deleted). And,
2) To get you a face-to-face appointment for the interview.
The Big Boss probably will not see your letter and/or resume until you walk in his office. (Remember, he's got staff to work and to think for him.)
The Hiring Manager is looking to answer two questions with Symmetry and Chemistry:
- Do we have the same values?
- Will we all get along?
Your Letter of Recommendation gets you two together. So what should it look like?
Personnel is Policy
The wife of Your Business Professor, Charmaine, worked in the Office of Presidential Personnel for Ronald Reagan who often said, "Personnel is Policy." No President or senior leader can make every decision at every level but he can have have trusted deputies who can act in the president's best interest -- making decisions that the president would make if he had enough time.
Your Letter of Recommendation should indicate that you will make recommendations and think and act just as The Boss would think and act.
Academics, journalists, consultants and even real managers will tell you that they are looking for independent, free-thinking individuals who advance independent thought and action.
This, of course, is a lie.
Managers want subordinates who will offer well thought-out recommendations and work to persuade The Boss -- But once The Boss makes a decision, the subordinate will implement the decision as if the decision were the subordinate's.
You will be hired for your wisdom and judgment.
Problem, Solution, Result
Give a short example of a problem you faced, a solution you devised and the result of your initiative.
"[Problem] When faced with a sudden snow storm, Mr. Jones rented a snow plow [solution] and cleared the parking lot assuring that customers could get to the store front where he worked as a cashier. His initiative not only provided a customer service and safety but increased the store's daily sales [results]."
Atta-Boys and Girls
What actions won you what awards? What superlative? All-American? Honor Roll?
"Mr. Jones never missed a session in my Business 100 class."
"Miss Jones volunteered as a researcher to find a solution to a BlackBoard software problem I was having."
"Mr. Jones would bring guests to my open lectures."
"Miss Jones got an "A" in my class and regularly contributed to the discussion."
"Mr. Jones was consistently on time."
"Miss Jones worked part-time while attending and completing her undergraduate course work."
Look and Feel
The letter should be a single page, single spaced, 12 point type, on 8-1/2 X 11 inch, with a conventional front like Times New Roman.Your draft should allow space for the Big Boss letter head and signature block.
If there is an address to a third party, provide it in the body.
Be sure to (gently) alert the Big Boss of any deadlines or suspense dates.
If the letter is to be mailed directly from the Big Boss to a third party, request a blind copy to be mailed to you. We want to know how the Big Boss Staff may have modified your draft.
Ask someone to preview your social networking pages. Not sure about that bikini picture on Facebook? Take it down. Never have a picture taken with any, ANY kind of beverage in your hand -- alcohol or not. Water looks like vodka.
So, put the drink down and take your name tag off when the cameras are close. Including cell phone cameras -- especially cell phone cameras.
Do not use your too-familiar nick-name, Corky. Change your too-familiar email address, hotstuff@hotmail.
...So What?
Your reference letter or letter of recommendation is a one-page sales sheet; a marketing campaign to get you hired.
If you have had a real problem in your past, like that really interesting YouTube, email me for a consult. (Hint: I was young and needed the money is not a defense.)
Your Business Blogger(R) was still able to get a job after that unfortunate bar fight, street racing and other assorted events in his wasted youth. (No, no, not THAT wasted...)
And no, I do not need to see that video. Really.
###
Helping sentences for employee evaluations.
The Pill For Minors (and Your Mother Need Not know...)
March 24, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
George Weigel says that the real winner in the last election was...
the 1960's.
The Woodstock-er Flower Power, Free Love-Hippy-Hypocrites are having children and presidents of their own.
Love Hypocrites? Yep.
If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with!
Sex sells as nothing else. But only sex. Nothing else.
Your Business Blogger(R) was at a local high school sporting event in the stands next to another doting dad who truly cares about his daughter. (Note: this story is essentially true; some details have been changed for obvious reasons.)
I know about the daughter. A lot. Too much.
Charmaine and I regularly monitor The (teenaged) Dreamer's and the Dude's Facebook friends. And saw pictures of someone else's daughter that would not get her hired in any company I advise.
I gently suggest to the Dad that Facebook is a good source to learn if teenage daughters are well, "active."
He says. "I don't want to know." I am perplexed.
He smiles, "They are just going to do it anyway."
He didn't want to know about his daughter's (potential) amorous adventurous.
But he might get concerned...
If he learned that she might be smoking.
And without a doubt, if her football friends were drinking and driving.
Sex: OK anytime.
Smoking: BAD anytime.
Drinking: BAD while driving.
Facebook: WHAT?
Woodstock-ers don't mind if their daughter's are sexually active, as long as they really care about their health: no smoking and don't drive while drunk.
(I'm still waiting for the public school system Safe Smoking Class; the Safe Drinking Class.)
The contraceptive pill known as Plan B soon will be made available without prescription to minors without parental consent . . .
This is Woodstock-ing your children.
NATASHA SINGER writes in The New York Times, Contraception Pill Strictures Are Eased by a Judge
A federal judge ordered the Food and Drug Administration on Monday to make the Plan B morning-after birth control pill available without prescription to women as young as 17....
The agency has 30 days to comply with the order, in which the judge also urged the agency to consider removing all restrictions on over-the-counter sales of Plan B. The drug consists of two pills that prevent conception if taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse...
Not until 2006 did the F.D.A. rule, saying that the drug could be sold without a prescription only to women over 18. In order to enforce the age restriction, the agency also ordered that Plan B be stocked behind pharmacy counters, in contrast to other over-the-counter contraceptives like condoms.
Americans United for Life Condemns Ruling Increasing Minors' Access to Dangerous Plan B
Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York unilaterally determined in Tummino v. Torti that 17 year old girls should have unrestricted, over-the-counter access to Plan B or so-called "emergency contraception." In doing so, the court overruled a previous decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requiring that minors first obtain a valid prescription for the potentially dangerous drug.The Obama Administration is widely expected to welcome the ruling and not pursue a meaningful appeal in the case.
Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life said, "Given legitimate concerns about the safety of self-medicating with Plan B, it is incomprehensible that we would allow a minor to walk into any pharmacy and obtain this drug without medical oversight or parental involvement."
So where did this new nonsense originate?
Sam & Dave sum it up,
I was educated at Woodstock
When I start lovin', oh, I just can't stop
Join Fight FOCA Maybe the Obama administration is right:
Kids are going to do it anyway:
They just can't stop.
But they better not have a cigarette after...
The Woodstock-administration is working to promote prescription pills to underage girls.
Abortions are coming next.
Stop the Woodstock-ers.
Fight FOCA.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Some versions From the Blues Brothers have,
I was educated from good stock
When I start lovin' I just cant stop
The Woodstock-ers have created the party of death.
Alert Readers know that Your Business Blogger(R) spent a number of decades in pharmaceutical and medical device companies and had to work with FDA requirements.
The FDA has its reasoning upside down, backwards, wrong.
That is to say: They are making political -- not a medical -- decision.
The normal contraceptive Pill requires a prescription from a licensed physician.
Plan B IS the Pill, except much, much stronger.
Now Plan B will require no prescription, but its stronger dose twin does?
This is lunacy. This is anti-science. This is anti-health.
This is the new administration.
Visit Court Gives 17-Year-Old Girls Unrestricted Access to Morning-After Pill
Tuesday, By Susan Jones, Senior Editor
Sales and Persuasion:
Selling Inside and Outside Your Organization
March 6, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
A Tale of Two Presentations.
A Tale of Two Wheelers.
What if Earle Wheeler was more like Elmer Wheeler?
Your Business Professor
Jack YoestYour Business Professor opens our lesson with a story from November, 1965, as told by Charles Cooper who remembers the most important sales presentation of the last fifty years -- .
Charles Cooper was a young staffer assisting his boss, Earle Wheeler who made a presentation to the Big Boss.
The Big Boss had to decide between two strategies, one from Earle, who had wisdom and judgment and experience.
The another strategic was from Robert who ran an academic team of whiz kids.
The Big Boss had to choose between nearly opposite recommendations from Earle and Robert.
Although the pitch by Earle Wheeler was done almost a half century ago, Charles Cooper remembers it as if it were yesterday. Cooper was the young man who was holding the flip chart.
The Big Boss was about to make the biggest mistake of the last 50 years...
Why? Because Earle Wheeler could not sell like Elmer Wheeler.
Persuasion in Business, Government, Non-Profits and War.
Well-run organizations have decision makers and influencers who are sales professionals at every level. People who persuade.
They sell to customers, superiors and peers. They are 'salesmen' who work to control events - both inside and outside the organization. Salesmen in business development who are account managers.
Who: Professionals and life-long students in management or in business development - sales, fund-raising, leadership.
What: The seminar will equip the attendee with background on how to manage and how to sell both tangibles and intangibles -- To sell ideas, and products, and services.When: Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 11:00pm to 12:15pm
Where: Northern Virginia Community College,
Alexandria Campus, campus map
The new Bisdorf Auditorium, room 196
3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 street mapWhy: Increase sales, Increase funding,
Sell an idea, Save the world.Cost: No Charge. Register here at JYoest@NVCC.edu. Space is limited.
The sales training on March 18th will present an overview of the dominant, popular sales philosophies and their application to selling ideas and products in for-profits, not-for-profits, government, military, media and academia.
Jack has developed a simple three step method to sell; to persuade:
The Push: gently encourage the client -- overcome inertial.Jack Yoest, Adjunct Professor of Business at NOVA and President of Management Training of DC, is a former Armored Cavalry Officer in Combat Arms. For over 30 years he has managed software, health care and international human resource management companies. His experience spans the military, Fortune 500, government, start-ups, non-profits, media and academia.
The Pitch: the seller must always be in the debt of the buyer -- never the reverse.The Promise: selling is a long term relationship -- love the client.
He conducts sales and marketing and management training for professionals in industries from law to government, from for-profit businesses to charities.
He has sold car mufflers and intravenous catheters. He's peddled tactics for night vision devices, partnerships with software developers, budgeting in public policy and media marketing for CEO's.
Jack also served in the Governor's Office of the Commonwealth Virginia as Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Resources where he acted as the Chief Technology Officer for the secretariat. He was responsible for the successful Year 2000 (Y2K) conversion for the 16,000-employee unit.
He was also a sales account manager with a medical device start-up and helped move sales from zero to over $12 million, opening over 300 accounts, resulting in a buy-out by Johnson & Johnson.
Jack has consulted across industries and in China and India. His first job out of high school was selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door in 1971.
Questions? www.Yoest.com, JYoest@NVCC.edu or call Jack at 202.215.2434.
Suggested class reading:
Selling your skills, Do You Have An Incompetent Manager? From The Washington Post.
Management_Time__Who_s_Got_the_Monkey___HBR_OnPoint_Enhanced_Edition_.pdf Harvard Business Review. How not to sell in the office.
One Minute YouTube Introduction: Office Politics: Someone is always selling, Someone is always buying.
Come to this class.
Thank you (foot)notes,
See George Mason University, History News Network The Day It Became The Longest War.
Parking info at the jump.
Save the Date: 18 March 2009
Save the Date 18 March, Sales Training:
How To Persuade in Business, Government,
The Military
February 27, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine are spending a few days at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel for a series of meetings.
This Ritz sold us in the first two minutes.
The car valet attendant took our car and offered assistance with our bags. Walking thru the front entrance, the staff welcomed us.
By name.
We are escorted to the check-in counter (of magnificent stone) and Charmaine addresses the lovely clerk (young, but mature and a happily married mother we soon learn),
Charmaine asks, "How did the door man know our names?"
She looks up. "He's got special powers," she replied matter of factly.
Funny. Smart. Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen.
The Ritz knows how to sell. The lifetime value of each regular guest of the hotel is over $300,000.
Commitment, Attention to Detail, Immediate Follow-up: Selling.
Save the Date:
Persuasion in Business, Government, Non-Profits and War.
Question: What lost Vietnam?
Answer: A failed sales presentation.
Well-run organizations have decision makers and influencers who are sales professionals at every level. People who persuade.
They sell to customers, superiors and peers. They are 'salesmen' who work to control events - both inside and outside the organization. Salesmen in business development who are account managers.
Who: Professionals and life-long students in management or in business development - sales, fund-raising, leadership.
What: The seminar will equip the attendee with background on how to manage and how to sell both tangibles and intangibles -- To sell ideas, and products, and services.
When: Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 11:00pm to 12:15pm
Where: Northern Virginia Community College,
Alexandria Campus, campus map
The new Bisdorf Auditorium, room 196
3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 street mapWhy: Increase sales, Increase funding,
Sell an idea, Save the world.Cost: No Charge. Register here at JYoest@NVCC.edu. Space is limited.
The sales training on March 18th will present an overview of the three dominant, popular sales philosophies and their application to selling ideas and products in for-profits, not-for-profits, government, military, media and academia.
Jack Yoest, Adjunct Professor of Business at NOVA and President of Management Training of DC, is a former Armored Cavalry Officer in Combat Arms. For over 30 years he has managed software, health care and international human resource management companies. He conducts sales and marketing and management training for professionals in industries from law to government.
He has sold car mufflers and intravenous catheters. He's peddled tactics for night vision devices, partnerships with software developers, budgeting in public policy and media marketing for CEO's.
Jack also served in the Governor's Office of the Commonwealth Virginia as Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Resources where he acted as the Chief Technology Officer for the secretariat. He was responsible for the successful Year 2000 (Y2K) conversion for the 16,000-employee unit.
He was also a sales account manager with a medical device start-up and helped move sales from zero to over $12 million, opening over 300 accounts, resulting in a buy-out by Johnson & Johnson.
Jack has consulted across industries and in China and India. His first job out of high school was selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door in 1971.
Questions? www.Yoest.com, JYoest@NVCC.edu or call Jack at 202.215.2434.
Suggested class reading:
Selling your skills, Do You Have An Incompetent Manager? From The Washington Post.
Management_Time__Who_s_Got_the_Monkey___HBR_OnPoint_Enhanced_Edition_.pdf Harvard Business Review. How not to sell in the office.
One Minute YouTube Introduction: Office Politics: Someone is always selling, Someone is always buying.
Come to this class. You might be the one to prevent another Vietnam.
Jack Yoest
202.215.2434
Adjunct Professor
Americans United for Life Quoted in
Washington Times
February 23, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Alert Readers have noted that Charmaine did not make a number of points about the Octo-mom on Huckabee.
The segment was edited down for time. But Charmaine at AUL and some media outlets are reporting about the need for regulation of fertility clinics and Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART).
Cheryl Wetzstein writes
WETZSTEIN: Fertility industry in need of rules in the Washington Times,
Lawmakers in a hurry might want to consider model ART legislation from the pro-life Americans United for Life (AUL).The bill recommends limiting the transfer of embryos to two at a time and encourages using frozen embryos before creating new ones, AUL official Mailee Smith said. It also would require comprehensive informed consent, so women can understand the range of health risks associated with multiple births, she said.
Charmaine was scheduled to appear on Larry King Live to continue the fertility debate, but was canceled.
Thank you (foot)notes,
See more of AUL's incremental abortion strategy in, MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH New trend: Ultrasounds before abortion 12 states may require doctors to offer image of baby prior to terminating life, By Chelsea Schilling, © 2009 WorldNetDaily. For example, in,
Missouri: Physicians and other "professionals" performing abortions must provide information about free ultrasound services, allow the woman access to an ultrasound and provide her with a chance to listen to the heartbeat of her unborn baby.Currently, a patient must be informed of risks of abortions 24 hours before terminating her pregnancy. Doctors must have written parental consent or a court order to perform abortions on minors.
According to Americans United for Life, the state's General Assembly "has found that the life of each human being begins at conception." The state prohibits partial-birth abortion throughout pregnancy.
Most fertility clinics break the rules.
The One Minute Manager
Meets the Monkey
Parking at NOVA Alexandria Campus
February 10, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey seminar meets on Wednesday February 18th, 2009 at the Alexandria campus of the Northern Virginia Community College.
FREE*. Details here.
Follows is parking information if you will be able to join us.
If by car, street map.

X Marks the spot, the Bisdorf lecture hall/auditorium room 196.
Northern Virginia Community College
Alexandria Campus
3001 North Beauregard Street 22311
Circled are metered parking lots for visitors without NVCC parking permits.
The auditorium/lecture hall is at the east wing of the Bisdorf Building. Please know that the parking at the Beauregard Street Garage (AP) is convenient but there is a short up-hill walk to Bisdorf.
If you do not have a NVCC parking sticker contact me, I have a limited number of free parking passes.
If by Metro, you might wish to stop at King Street on the Blue Line. The NVCC Alexandria Campus is served by the DASH #6 and Metrobus lines 7A, E, F; 25A, B, F, G, J, P, R, B, C. Please allow 30 minutes travel from King Street Metro. For more transportation information call 202.637.7000.
Thank you (foot)notes,
* Alert Readers know that there is no free lunch. The seminar is not 'free.' It is provided 'at no charge' as a public service courtesy of the Northern Virginia Community College and the taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Students, remember to email to me the names of your guests.
Louis the XVIII once said that Punctuality is the courtesy of kings. However, if your busy schedule prevents your prompt arrival at 11am, please come even if delayed. The auditorium is designed so that late attendees will not disturb the presentation. Better late than never.
Pro-Life State Rankings by
Americans United for Life
February 9, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Americans United for Life has released a state-by-state review of local abortion laws. The ranking is based on a numerical evaluation-criteria. See State by State Legal Guide to Abortion, Bioethics and the End of Life.
The Best States
1. Pennsylvania
2. Louisiana
3. South Dakota
4. Oklahoma
5. Mississippi
6. Texas
7. North Dakota
8. Nebraska
9. Arkansas
10. Indiana
The Worst States
50. California
49. Hawaii
48. Vermont
47. New Jersey
46. Connecticut
45. Nevada
44. Oregon
43. New York
42. Washington
41. Illinois
And please sign the FightFOCA petition!
Thank you (foot)notes:
The KansasJackass loves abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Also see LifeNews reports, Missouri Bill Introduced for Ultrasound, Better Informed Consent Before Abortion
See 12 States Weigh Ultrasound Abortion Bills, by Christianity Today.
Is The State You Live In For Or Against Life?
See Craig's Cogitations.
Is your state for or against life?
Read the outstanding writing by Meredith Turney at California Ranks DEAD Last.
SwampFox discusses FOCA
Jeremy Alford blogs How pro-life is Louisiana?
Dr. Charmaine Yoest, AUL president, says the ranking offers every reason for optimism for conservatives in Louisiana, especially with the election of Democratic President Barack Obama, who is pro-choice. "Since the election, we have seen a huge outpouring of grassroots support for our work opposing the radically pro-abortion Freedom of Choice Act as well as hundreds of inquiries about life-affirming legislation," Youest says.
Life as it Happens has more on Obama and FOCA.
Kyrie Eleison gives a link.
The Spin Cipher has Freedom of Choice for who?
Cellar dweller has California at bottom of list in pro-life group's ranking of states.
Memorize the Presidents
February 3, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Alert Readers know that Your Business Blogger(R) advises students and clients to memorize important presentations.
Brute memorization is mocked by educracrats, the union thugs well-meaning liberals who run public education.
Brute memorization is loved by home-schoolers, the brilliant parents and students who are get education right.
There are some facts that must be learned. Must be memorized.
Our Penta-Posse was home-schooled for a season. And have now moved into the public school system. (High school sports beckon.)
The idea for this YouTube comes from The Dude. His elementary school teacher once asked about the presidents and who followed who. The Dude knew the answer, and volunteered a bit more.
"It seems that you know all the presidents," says The Dude's teacher. "Can you name them in order?"
"Sure," says The Dude. "How do you want them? Forwards ...or backwards?"
Learn how at the end.
Here are the presidents in order Washington to Obama:
And reverse order Obama to Washington:
What to learn the State Capitals and the presidents in order? Then order States and Capitals and the Presidents by Jerry Lucas
FREE Management Training:
The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey
February 2, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Conservatives have the correct content and communication, but what is needed now is control -- the control seen as a component of management*.
Quin Hillyer at the AmSpecBlog, the American Spectator Blog, writes, We Need Managers,
I can think of all sorts of conservative organizations that need better management skills. Maybe they should try to learn something here.
Alert Readers know that Your Business Blogger(R) reminds students and clients that management is defined as more than merely getting things done through others.
Management is getting things done through the ACTIVE SUPPORT of others. Lean how.
Your Business Blogger(R)
at the Stern Business School
at the New York University
Following is your invitation.
You Are Invited.
The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey: An Introduction
How to Manage Your Staff and How to Manage Your Manager
Well-run organizations have managers and staff who work to control events, instead of events controlling them. They anticipate the future . . . adapt to the present . . . and learn from the past.
Who: Managers who need to get in control of events or to better influence results
What: An introduction to The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
1. The Management Equation:
Vocational Time vs. Management Time
2. How Management Really Works:
The Molecule of Management
3. The Who and How of Promotions:
The Freedom Scale
When: Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009, 11:00am to 12:15pm
Where: Northern Virginia Community College,
Alexandria Campus, campus map
The new Bisdorf Auditorium, room 196
3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 street map
Why: Improve managerial effectiveness and staff efficiency.
Cost: No Charge. Register here.
The class will center on the work of Ken Blanchard and Bill Oncken in their book The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey. Also used will be the Harvard Business Review article, Managing Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?, published in 1974, by Bill Oncken, Jr.. The article, an edited excerpt of the Managing Management Time™ seminar, has gone on to become one of the two most requested reprints in the history of the Review. The training summarized in the article is sometimes called the "Monkey Management" seminar.
Jack Yoest, Adjunct Professor of Management and President of Management Training of DC, is a former Armored Cavalry Officer in Combat Arms. His military leadership training and experience guides his management philosophy at the core of Managing Management Time™. He has managed software, health care and international human resource management companies.
Jack also served in the Governor's Office of the Commonwealth Virginia as Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Resources where he acted as the Chief Technology Officer for the secretariat. He was responsible for the successful Year 2000 (Y2K) conversion for the 16,000-employee unit. He was also a manager with a medical device start-up and helped move sales from zero to over $12 million, resulting in a buy-out by Johnson & Johnson. Jack has consulted in China and India.
Questions? email JYoest@NVCC.edu or call Jack at 202.215.2434 to save your spot.
Suggested class reading:
Do You Have An Incompetent Manager? From The Washington Post
Who's Got The Monkey? from the Harvard Business Review
One Minute YouTube Introduction:
Jack Yoest
202.215.2434
Adjunct Professor
*Management is traditionally defined as planning, organizing, leading, motivating and controlling.
There is no free lunch. The class is not FREE. It will be presented at no charge to the guests.
Parking and Directions at the Campus here.
The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey:
An Introduction; FREE
January 28, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
Based on the book The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Kenneth H. Blanchard and William Oncken, Jr.
Save the Date: Wednesday, February 18th, 2009, at the Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia.
11am to 12:15
FREE*

Space is limited and registration is required: email me to reserve your seat or for more information.
*Well, no, the class is not free.
It will be presented at no charge.
The cost is covered by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
What's The Best Way To Find A Job?;
What's Best To Do While Looking For A Job?
Managing Management Time(tm) Intro
Known as Monkey Management by Bill Oncken


































