Had this thought this week while traveling on business.

You know this whole “1% vs 99%” topic and “income inequality” and “raise the minimum wage” debate – well I saw this quote from Pope Francis in Time Magazine, February 3 edition: “I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it.”  That gave me the idea to leave a $5 or $10 dollar tip on the morning I check out of the hotel.  I tip when I’m out at a restaurant or in a bar while on business travel.  The servers are making a comparatively low hourly wage as are the housekeeping staff at the hotel.  Maybe some of you already do this, I know that I may have done so only once or twice ever.

So then I thought, what if a lot of us who fit this description: work full time, travel occasionally for business or pleasure with some discretionary income (eg, kids out of college and on their own), did the same thing.  Rather than having the government engage in forced redistribution of wealth, citizens would be helping citizens for the betterment of society and the economy.  Lower wage earners would have additional income with which could help them buy additional food, goods, services, thereby improving the economy.

I believe it has a spiritual impact (it’s better to give than to receive).  Am I naïve? Do you think this has merit economically or would it be a drop in the ocean and have no or minimal economic impact?

In late January of this year at the Outsourcing in Clinical Trials West Coast conference, Lorri Perkins received her FOCM card.  It was a very moving ceremony, many tears of joy were shed.

Lorri and I worked together at ICON Clinical Research.  Lorri then went to work for ClinStar and has recently joined ChemDiv’s IPHARMA Division.  Thanks to Debbie McCoy for taking the photo and making sure to get her company’s logo in the background.

 

February 22, 2014

A good group is expected: Brian Frankel and Gwen, Chris Diehl and Polly, Sheryle Browne (FOCM’s favorite massage therapist), Carol and Harlan Cox, Angie Lee and Mike, Carol and Don Lewis, May Singh, Gayle Grandinetti, Deb Jendrasek and me.  Sadly Carrie Gallagher, Mike Burrows and Wendy Revenaugh are unable to attend

 

FOCM WBWW_2014

I recently was introduced to Heather Hollick through Tanyss Mason, a FOCM member since Fall of 2013.  I met Tanyss through a friend who introduced us.  As you can see, we each gained additional people and resources into our respective networks.  Heather’s business focuses on leadership development, team building and career coaching.  We hit it off right away with our recognition of the need and value for networking.  Heather blogs at her own website on those topics.  She has an excellent article on how to create a stronger LinkedIn profile and is graciously sharing it with FOCM Network.  This has very practical and easy to follow steps, starting with what should you do when updating and writing content for your profile.  The first thing is to turn off notifications until you have completed the update, so as not to inundate your network with multiple notifications on each thing you update.  Then once you have made the changes that she recommends, you are to turn back on the notifications.  You can go to the link below to read the full content.

How To Create A Stronger LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is so much more than a resume — an up-to-date profile leads to better meetings, better connections and better introductions.

But what should you actually do when updating and writing content for your profile? Every entry in your resume or LinkedIn profile should contain three key pieces of information: What you did in that role, what you learned, and what you were ready for. Most people stop at listing what they have done. You are stopping yourself short. Read on for details on how to make create a LinkedIn profile that depth and color rather than just the dry facts about what you have done.

In an extremely rare moment, I actually issued the announcement of the January 14 meeting 6 days before the event.  I am serious! I really did.  As such, we had a very good turnout. It was also helped party for Tom Perkins, which added a few more people who also came over to the FOCM section.

I gave so much notice because Toni Tiburzi had let me know she was coming to Raleigh and we had been wanting to meet and learn more about each other’s companies. I said, not only will we meet, but I’ll throw a FOCM event so you can meet more RTP area people. So thank you Toni.

First to arrive was Andrew Smith, he even beat me there. In attendance were (in no particular order):

Toni Tiburzi, Rosina Maar Pavia, Josh Davis, Mike Burrows, Vince Hoefling, Nick Macaulay, Kelly O’Brien, Heather Lee, Susan Thomason, Paul Casey, Gayle Grandinetti, Carrie Gallagher, Mike Markowitz, Tom McPhatter.

Receiving their FOCM Cards that night were: Toni Tiburzi, King Jolly and Paul Casey. If I forgot anyone else who received their card, please let me know and I’ll amend the minutes.

 

Saw this on a LinkedIn posting

The question posed was has the internet taken away the human factor in the selling process.  The answer is a resounding NO!  While some research suggests that 60% of the buying process has been done by the time a sales person is contacted, non-personal/internet cannot do these three things:

1) know the details of the situation and the proposal

2) develop trust and confidence

3) Create the right customer experience

Read more at:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/netapp/2014/02/10/sales-human-factor//