Amazon's Secret Weapon

Amazon.com's revolutionary customer service model has given customers a built-in ability to easily solve service-related problems within a few clicks. This smooth system happens with monotonous regularity even as the number of customers has doubled in the past five years to 88 million. It earned the No. 1 spot on BusinessWeek's customer service ranking this year.

Games and Business

Jane McGonigal, Director of Games Research and Development at Think Tank Institute for the Future, is developing the concept of ARGs-Alternate Reality Games-to bring people together with game-like tools in order to solve real world problems.   This could push us all to a new level of collaboration and problem-solving that bridges games and business.

Energy from Unusual Sources

Entrepreneurs are looking for energy in sources such as tornadoes, algae, giant kites and lightening.  One company with a quirky idea that got funded is LiveFuels, which is trying to generate biofuel from algae grown in pools. Because algae grows superfast, it can produce many times more oil per acre than corn or other crops seen as potential fuels.

Part 3 (of 3)

In the third part of this three-part series, we will talk about the training system. Whether you are a trainer yourself or you are responsible for hiring and preparing the training staff, the material covered in this article will take you back through some of the core concepts that will help you create a robust training staff or simply become a more effective trainer yourself.

There are many ways to reposition your product line or service, in this new economy, and today we will look at a few of them.  

First, take a look at your advertising.   Has it really been giving you a return on your investment, or are you using the same advertising methods and venues as you always have, because it is what "should" work.   Well, if it isn't working, then now is the time to try something new.  

Book Report

Leadership in The Era of Economic Uncertainty
Ram Charan

Ram Charan is a name that is becoming synonymous with leadership in the boardroom. His latest, Leadership in The Era of Economic Uncertainty (McGraw Hill, 2009), is a timely title as companies and individuals alike scramble for answers to solving our economic questions.

Written from a strategic viewpoint high above the corporate landscape, Charan discusses critical issues on a sweepingly wide array of topics from Managing Your Inventory to Guarding Shareholder Interests - all in a tightly written 127 pages.

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Cutting staff was difficult for you. As a department manager it is never easy to let people go, especially in a difficult job market. However that difficulty was doubled when you were forced to make  several cuts in a department that was already stretched close to its limits. The edict handed down to you was to create more efficiencies, automate processes where you could,  and pay small amounts of overtime or outsource when needed.  

It all sounded good, and looked feasible on paper, but when you returned to the reality of your workspace you realized that with your employees were working harder but getting less done. You'd loved to have worked with them on creating those efficiencies and automation but you've been forced to get on the floor with them - only to fall further behind by the end of the day.

Not even overtime, in the amounts you were allowed, were getting you where you needed to be. There simply didn't seem to be any way to create the change you  had been charged with, unless you could completely shut down your operation for a period of  days. Possibly weeks. And in the current economic climate that is simply not an option.    

You brought the issue back to your supervisor, who happens to agree with you, but the executive team doesn't see it that way. You're told to try harder and to work smarter, and that the executive team would monitor your progress. Suddenly you feel as though bringing up the issue has placed a target squarely on your back. It is  clear that you have over-downsized.

You request a meeting with your supervisor and  key members of the executive team, who will listen to you, but are dealing with even larger problems.  You are fighting your nerves, as you know that the executive team will be questioning your effectiveness. You sit down to write a statement describing the problem and your recommended solution, but want to be careful not to say that the executive team cut your department carelessly.  

In a single paragraph how do you state the problem, and solution, to your executive team?

Send in your solutions!

Author Q & A

Bruce Tulgan

Our expert author in this edition is Bruce Tulgan, author of the classic Managing Generation X. His latest title, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y, will be released in March. We caught up with Bruce between speaking engagements.

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