| Working the Network and Liking It, Too
It's always a challenge getting started when you arrive at an event if you don't know anyone there or are shy. A little preparation works wonders. Practice a 30-second "elevator speech" introduction that encourages people to ask questions. Don't worry about fumbling -- most others are equally ill at ease and will appreciate your icebreaker. A great first line can be, "What brings you here?" A common dread is being trapped with someone, unable to escape. It's easy to disengage with a neutral, "Excuse me, I'm going to circulate" remark or a comment about fetching food or drink or visiting the restroom. There are pitfalls to avoid. Kristen King, a freelance writer and consultant near Richmond, said the worst mistake is "talking only about yourself instead of getting to know the other person." "If you're totally egocentric in your marketing, people will avoid you like the plague," she said.
UVa Aid Policy Gets a Facelift
A year ago, the University of Virginia joined the growing list of selective institutions altering their financial aid policies to make them friendlier to students from low-income families. Now it has decided that it needs to do even more, and do it sooner, than originally planned. .
Fed Chief Opens the Door To 'Substantive' Rate Cuts
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, citing the growing threat to the economy from fragile financial markets and weakening employment, opened the door to "substantive" cuts in U.S. interest rates. Mr. Bernanke's comments yesterday suggested that after months of being out of step with the nation's markets, the Fed is drawing closer to their view that much lower rates are needed to keep the economy from stalling, despite the risk that rate cuts could fuel inflation. In a speech that reflected more urgency about the economy than he has expressed since August, when the current credit crunch began, Mr. Bernanke strongly ... .
2007 EOY Awards
A native of Ecuador, Ms. Vaca comes from three generations of entrepreneurs. Ms. Vaca started Pinnacle, an information technology and administrative staffing firm, in 1996 out of her living room. A little more than a decade later, Pinnacle is estimated to reach $140 million in sales in 2007. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company has 2,000 consultants across more than 40 states. Pinnacle has since introduced its own Web-based software tool called Progata. The application streamlines in-house operations and communications among IT managers, sourcing managers, and third-party staffing providers. Pinnacle's roster of Fortune 500 clients include AT&T, Pepsi Co., and Verizon.The company extols its human capital as the company's foundation. Among Pinnacle's key priorities is finding top talent: one of the company's biggest challenges."Whether you're a $1 million company or a $200 million company, the message is the same," Ms.
Coming Soon: SR to Release E-mail Exchanges ... (Not so fast...)
Baughman first asked to make a statement: "I hope that you obtain the income from the sales of your paper from the sensationalizing of people being human beings or friends. "I recognize that your paper is a business. I understand that, but when you start destroying peoples lives and credibilities and when you start causing humility amongst their children in their high school you have overstepped the bounds. "At some point you have to draw the line. How many times do my kids have to undergo the torments of their friends just so you can sell a newspaper." Asked about the sexual harassment allegations, Baughman replied: "There have been no complaints filed." Asked why he sent the e-mails, Baughman was silent. Asked if he sexually harassed female coworkers, he answered, "Now you're going low." Baughman then said: "My intent of calling you is twofold.
CAMPAIGN 2008
He voices as much concern for postnatal life as for prenatal life. He seems genuinely concerned about the less fortunate, including the children of illegal immigrants. Given those qualities, it's probably not surprising that many old-guard leaders of the religious right seem uneasy about the former Baptist minister and Arkansas governor—or at least about his surprisingly strong showing in the Republican presidential primaries. Is Huckabee the political expression of something new in the evangelical Christian movement? Some analysts think so. Rice University sociologist Michael Lindsay, writing in the the Immanent Frame, calls him a "new kind of evangelical that is less interested in 'taking back the country' for the faithful and more interested in his faith being seen as authentic, reasonable, and attractive." Dubbing this new type the "cosmopolitan evangelical," Lindsay, author of Faith in the Halls of Power, says that many who fit the label have become influential Washington players, still committed to the antiabortion and traditional marriage agenda but "also concerned about the environment and...federal support for the poor and suffering." Some of these cosmopolitan evangelicals are politically liberal, Lindsay explains, but just as many, if not more, are conservatives who favor a truly compassionate and less confrontational conservatism.
We own the Rock
The important point is that there is no economic difference for the Treasury between providing a direct loan through the Bank of England or providing a guarantee against losses to someone else who has provided a loan. So in order to calculate the financial exposure of the public sector to the Rock, you have to add together the £26bn of tax-payer backed loans actually made to the troubled bank and the commercial loans and deposits that are now subject to a Treasury guarantee. And on the basis of the statement put out this morning by the Treasury, more-or-less the entirety of the Rock's business has been underwritten by all of us. But don't be too alarmed. It doesn't mean we're at risk of losing £100bn. Most of the Rock's lending is underpinned by assets, in the form of the houses owned by its customers.
Duke’s Ever-Evolving iPod Initiative
Given some of its recent publicity, this might not have been the best time for Duke University to announce that it was altering a highly popular student benefit. But Duke’s plan to stop giving students free iPods through its path-setting Duke Digital Initiative and to instead lend them or sell them the devices for a highly subsidized $99 has even struck most students as a logical next step in the maturation of the educational technology program. The surprising headline on an editorial in Duke’s student newspaper: "A Smart Change." .
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