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"Most companies would like to become more gender balanced at all levels, with women and men dancing together in a smooth and natural way. They have been trying for decades to attract, retain and promote more women. They have tried to grow their female customer bases. They are embarrassed by the all-male faces on the boardroom website, dancing to the tune of their own drummers. Most have gotten rid of the photos, but not the problem. Yet some companies have tried really hard, for a really long time. And almost everyone, male and female, is suffering from gender fatigue.
[...]
Why so much effort for so little result?
Because we have over-focused on kissing Cinderella awake from her slumber and inviting her to the ball. But nobody ever bothered checking if the prince can actually dance."
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"So ubiquitous have Web sites become that it's hard to believe they've been with us for less than 20 years. It was the 1994 introduction of the browser-enabled World Wide Web that gave birth to the Web site. Since then they have gone through about four stages of evolution: [...]
Now, we're entering a fifth era of the evolution: transformation of the Web site into a real-time marketing (and sales) machine. This is the natural evolutionary outcome of a process that started with a new way to slip brochures under people's doors."
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"Social media has the potential to dramatically improve the inner workings of every company. The interstitial connections can quickly cross business silos, inform decision making, educate people at all levels, and allow employees—especially new entrants—to pick up the natural rhythms of how people around them work. But only if the company allows access to social networks. And most companies don't."
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"Major change usually comes off a platform of crisis, and I think everyone can agree that crisis conditions surely exist in health care economics. The nation's health care bill has been doubling every eight years for the last four decades. The runaway costs have been busting the budgets of federal, state and local governments, and they have bled the bottom lines of corporations. [...]
We began our quest with a simple goal: neutralize the upward spiral in health costs so we can avoid annual premium increases for the company and its co-workers.
How did we do this? As CEO and now chairman, I asked our 460 workers to take ownership of their health and healthcare costs, and we gave them the incentives and information to become expert consumers of health care."
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"When they're not around you or me, the Amish speak a language called Pennsylvania German. Demut is their word for humility. And Demut isn't just for the Amish.
Why does humility matter?
It matters in business. It matters in life. It matters in our relationships.
"Celebrity" is a word you don't often see next to "humble." If you're gunning for stardom, there are only so many spots. Unless you're one of a select lucky few, you're bound to be disappointed, or worse. Humility is healthier.
A humble approach in a relationship helps one recognize the other person's inherent value and needs. Humility fosters human understanding.
If you're guided by humility in business, you are less likely to blow up the company by going too big, too quick. Humility checks you when that demon in your brain says "more." The one you know you should ignore.
And as some find out the hard way, humility can save a heck of a lot of pain."
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