Email – The Great Communicator Friend or Foe

– Don Capman, President,
   J.D. Associates

Does anybody out there remember Emily Post? I do. Oops, I guess that says something about my age. C’est la vie. Emily Post lived from 1872 until 1960 and wrote a book and a syndicated column on etiquette. In short, etiquette is a set of rules about how we should behave in a civilized society. While I don’t intend to make this article a commentary on the death of etiquette in our society, I do believe that, in many ways, we are in a sharp state of decline from a kinder and gentler place.

There are many ways to communicate. Most commonly, we communicate verbally. [Get the full story]

Microsoft Produces Critical Daylight Savings Time Update for Windows Products

– Jaime Gray

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a system of handling the changing amounts of daylight throughout the year. According to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the DST will be extending by approximately four weeks beginning in 2007. DST will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday of March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday of November) than what had traditionally occurred. In 2007, the start and stop dates will be March 11 and November 4, respectively.

The Daylight Saving Time modification will impact organizations in the United States, Canada and possibly those with customers, partners or operations within North America. [Get the full story]

A Tuned Out Team

– Doug Fleener

Yesterday I was talking with a store manager who told me that she feels like her staff is just tuning her out. Her exact words were “sometimes I feel like I’m talking to the door.” I assured her that she’s by no means the only manager who has ever felt that way; it can happen to the best of us. I shared with her the good news and the bad news, which in both cases is that the problem isn’t with the staff but with her. That’s good news because it’s something you can easily fix yourself. It’s bad news because it would make us feel better if it were a staff issue. There are a few reasons the staff tunes us out: [Get the full story]