April 24, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Communications, Internet/Web Services, News & FYI, Personal Computing, Personal Interest.add a comment
Recently, I was motivated to setup an account and establish a profile on Facebook. While I have maintained a presence on LinkedIn for several years, not everybody that I need to stay in touch with has a LinkedIn account. Further, LinkedIn is geared for professionals and executives, while Facebook is targeted at the general population who basically want to engage in recreational social networking.
A high school buddy contacted me several weeks ago. After catching-up a bit, our dicussion turned to what other members of our circle of friends were up to of late. One of our mutual friends has done extremely well career-wise, and is currently the CEO of a Fortune 1000 ranked company. Much to my surprise, this friend did not have a LinkedIn profile, but did have a Facebook page.
Trying to contact my friend through his executive assistant would prove difficult and time-consuming. (How many people try to contact CEOs of major corporation using the guise of being a “good friend”?). His personal contact information was unlisted, not unusual for executives. So, I created a Facebook account and contacted my friend through a Facebook “friends” invitation. A few days later were were in touch and catching-up on the events of the past years.
An unexpected surprise was finding that my friend had stayed in touch with other high school friends who I had no luck in finding current contact information. Additionally, through my Facebook page, I’ve received invitations from other friends. I’ve also received invitations from people around the world that share common passions and interests.
As a person who values his personal and professional network of friends and associates, Facebook appears to be a valuable web service for staying in touch with friends and meeting people form all walks of life. While I can visualize people rolling their eyes wondering what took me so long to discover this, I would remind them that many similar services promise the same benefits as Facebook and fail to deliver anything other that an increase in junk mail.
I would also argue that some popular web services, such as Twitter, can be extremely addictive and serve to disrupt people from focusing on their own life pursuits. (For more on this perspective, have a listen to Mark Horstman on Twitter.) I have seen some unique applications of “Twittering”, so I may revisit Twitter at some future date. In the mean time, there are many other great web services rolling out that hold greater promise of delivering benefits that are of interest to me and those that I count in my circle of friends and colleagues.
Manager Tools: Learn to Be a Better Manager January 8, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Career Development, Education, Job Search Management, Job Search Strategies, Management Strategies, News & FYI.Tags: business, Education, Management
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Like many busy professionals, I carry an inexpensive MP3 player loaded with audio books and podcasts to stay abreast of business management and career best practices. Much of this kind of content is freely available and aggregated by content management platforms such as iTunes.
One of the best sources of free self-improvement podcasts is the award-winning Manager Tools podcasts, produced by Mark Horstman and Mike Auzenne. Mike and Mark have produced an awesome collection of podcasts for management professionals covering a broad range of topics.
The Manager Tools podcasts are not just for management professionals. The Career Tools podcasts are an excellent source of career management best practices. Career professionals can benefit significantly from career management strategies, tactics and tips provide by Mike and Mark.
Stop by the Manager Tools website and share in the wealth of information that Mike and Mark have assembled. Check out the Community Forums and Recommended Books section of the website for additional resources that will improve your management skills and professional career.
Business Journalism at its Best: Al Lewis January 5, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Career Development, Education, Journalism, News & FYI, Personal Interest.Tags: business, Journalism, media
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One of my favorite business columnists is Al Lewis, formally of the Denver Post. Mr. Lewis has journalism talent that his current employer, Dow Jones Newswire, both recognized and capitalized on by creating a position for him last year.
Over the years as the business columnist for the Post, Lewis basically said in print what many in the business community knew to be true but dared not say in public. He questioned and criticized business practices and political decisions, with a pointed sense of humor that left little room for interpretation.
His work earned him admirers and enemies alike. His brand of journalism earned him industry awards and continued employment in a declining industry that is laying off mainstream journalists that can find no wrong with many business stories, especially if the story concerns an supporting advertiser.
While some did not appreciate Al Lewis pointed sense of humor, few can ignore the point of his writing. Business journalism students interested in a career as a journalist should take note of his work as an example of the type of journalism that attracted informed readers and thus sold papers, the lack of which nowadays is part of the decline of the newspaper business and the profession of journalism as a whole.
Official Launch of the 2009 FIRST Competition January 4, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Career Development, Computer Science, Education, Learning through Fun, News & FYI, Personal Interest, Robotics, Volunteer Opportunities.add a comment
FIRST launched the 2009 worldwide competition season yesterday revealing the competition challenge game “Lunacy” to nearly 1700 teams comprising over 42,000 high school students worldwide. Each team now has six weeks to design and build their robot from a common kit of parts provided by FIRST. Team robots will compete in a series of events that culminate with the FIRST Championship event held in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is my first year serving as a mentor for Team Blitz, our award-winning FIRST robotics team. Last year, I accompanied Team Blitz members to the regional competition and watched both FIRST and Team Blitz in action. I was impressed by what I saw on so many levels that I decided to join Team Blitz for this year’s competition.
Founder Dean Kamen addressed Colorado teams assembled in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science IMAX theater. In his address to the teams, he spoke about the importance of technology as a solution to poverty that affects two-thirds of the world’s population. He challenged team members to use the FIRST to build relationships and learn from team mentors, many who are experts in the fields of engineering, project management and business.
Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST Na
tional Advisor and Pappalardo MIT Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, reminded team members to practice gracious professionalism during the next six weeks and throughout their careers as innovators.
The Colorado chapter of FIRST needs volunteers to help with the organization and management of this years statewide competition. This is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside some of the most remarkable and talented professionals that make Colorado their home. It is also an opportunity to contribute your time, energy and talent to developing the next generation of innovators, business managers and entrepreneurs. Be a FIRST volunteer and help shape the future of the next generation of leaders.
Create Your Custom Newspaper with Pageflakes January 2, 2009
Posted by jimintriglia in Apple Mac, Internet/Web Services, Management Strategies, News & FYI, Personal Computing.Tags: web services
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The nature of my work demands that I stay on top of developments in many different areas. I don’t have the time (or patience) to sort through dozens of periodicals and daily newspapers searching for pertinent facts.
Pageflakes is a free web-based service that delivers pertinent news and information in real time right to my desktop. Since I can specify the topics and select the news sources for my news pages, I can control the content and layout of the information that is delivered.
Pageflakes provides custom ”flakes” that you can choose to populate your custom news page(s). You can also import other subscribers “pagecasts” (Like Jenny Zuko’s “Mac Attack” pagecast, for all things Apple) and specify RSS feeds so you can keep track of blogs of interest.
With Pageflakes as my default web browser home page, I have up-to-date custom news and information at the push of a button. In the age of information overload, Pageflakes is a valuable resource for the busy professional.
