On the last day of the Online Educa I did a talk titled “Open Source: Getting Failure for Free (and Why That is a Good Thing)”. Whenever I talk about open source it is like preaching to the converted: no sceptics in the audience. The two other speakers in the “The Added Value of Open Source Solutions in Times of Crisis” session were pretty hardcore. Matteo Uggeri was wearing a “I do not work for Fronter” badge and Elias Aarnio prefers to talk about “Free Software” and did not use the proprietary laptop that was available to do the presentations.

In my talk I tried to explain that cost should not be the only reason for choosing open source software. Another reason to use open source software is the fact that it will allow you to innovate faster. The slides are available on Slideshare and below:

A special thank you to Alex Wied, senior manager at Accenture who kindly allowed me to use some of his slides in this presentation.

The last few weeks have seen the media reporting furiously on a series of alleged extra-marital affairs and sexcapades by Tiger Woods, his apology to his wife etc. Companies like Gillette have reportedly stopped ads featuring Tiger. What would be of interest is to see how Accenture reacts, given that Tiger Woods is their brand ambassador and their tag line is “High Performance. Delivered”.  One day, this entire sordid saga may well become a B-School marketing/branding case study on the risks of using a mere mortal as brand ambassador, no matter how iconic s/he is.

Amidst all the Tiger Woods controversy, I was not sure how to reach to this Tiger Woods ad by Accenture.

Three frames of the Accenture Tiger Woods Ad

Usually, when celebrities enter a phase of mad (and negative) controversy, brands that they endorse do one of two things, lie low, or drop the celeb.

Accenture have taken the high road. They’ve used the very same controversy to put out a report (really now, a report??).

Interesting, eh? I’m not sure if it’s a good or a bad thing, but it’s certainly brave.

This is my first, live, blog post as PurePeppermint.  Is anyone out there actually going to read this?…

There are few things worse than making small talk with your neighbors. Those of you who have neighbors (and I suppose that’s most of humanity – including those of you who live in the less populated parts of the United States, the eastern fringes of the Russian Federation and most of Africa) surely know that annoying feeling: being stuck in an elevator with people with whom you have nothing in common other than a purely coincidental geographic proximity.

I just experienced one of those occasions a few minutes ago. I can’t say I dislike my neighbor – he’s a perfectly nice guy, married, friendly smile, polite. It’s just that I despise what he stands for. He’s rich, drives an oversize vehicle and dresses with the latest fashions. I can’t say it’s envy which drives my feelings. I’m well-off, can drive a wasteful SUV if I want to and can spend lots of money on clothes. It’s just that it all seems so wrong and out of sync with the world right now.

My neighbor probably doesn’t know I harbor these secretly negative feelings towards him. And in a sense I feel guilty for feeling them. But I can’t help it, it’s just the way it is.

I have always had neighbors – ever since my growing up days in the US, through my days in France, Malta and Italy, where I currently reside. I have always gotten on with my neighbors (except a room-mate from Australia – an incredibly self-centered, sloppy and snobby girl) and actually liked a good number of them.

Those of you who know me (and there are many of you) know that I can be brutally cynical at times. Or realist – depending on your point of view. I wonder, how many of you secretly loathe your neighbors, even as Christmas approaches and as you try to let that holiday spirit wash over you?

Separately, I’m watching the news and the man of the hour appears to be Tiger Woods. According to a survey cited by the Italian evening news, 80% of Americans have a “negative” opinion of him. And my question is: what will Accenture do with its sponsorship contract? “Go on, be a Tiger” can now take on such a different meaning.

End

Some very special guests attended Leeds Grand Theatre on Sunday. Young patients from Leeds Teaching Hospitals came to see Northern Ballet Theatre’s A Christmas Carol at which tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from mealy-mouthed skin-flint to the most famous champion of Christmas spirit.

Photo: Brian Slater

After the show the young patients were joined by Scrooge and other characters from the production for a VIP tea party and games. The patients, their families and staff were treated to tickets to the performance and the tea party courtesy of NBT sponsor, Accenture.

Photo: Brian Slater

Sharon Edwards from the Leeds Teaching Hospitals says: “We cannot thank NBT and Accenture enough for giving some of our younger patients the opportunity to go along and see a performance of A Christmas Carol. What a magical experience it was, especially as they got to meet some of the cast, their little faces were such a picture! The patients who came along all have long-term illnesses and conditions and are regularly receive treatment here. On behalf of all the children and their families, a very big thank you.”

Photo: Brian Slater

Apple’s gadgets win adulation, but research shows the sector needs a jolt if it wants to grow

By Wouter Koetzier, global managing director-Accenture’s Innovation Performance Group, and Adi Alon, North American managing director-Accenture’s Innovation Performance Group

Large consumer technology companies are underperforming in the global innovation battle.

The culprit: Widespread flaws in how they manage and invest in innovation.

If tech companies want to grow, they need to invest in breakthrough, high-impact innovations and more systematically and rigorously manage their innovation processes.

This conclusion is based on our daily interactions with clients and recent Accenture research in which we interviewed research and development decision-makers at leading consumer technology companies in North America, Europe and Asia. Collectively, the executives represent companies that generate almost two-thirds of global industry revenue.

The data revealed that innovation is a top priority for companies seeking to grow. But shortcomings in managing innovation, such as not having uniformity of command, are resulting in poor returns on innovation investments.

Accenture believes these poor returns can be turned into profitable, sustainable growth by systematically managing innovation end-to-end — with the same rigor and discipline as other major business processes. According to Accenture’s consumer technology research:

• There is a lack of innovation pipeline management with potentially too much emphasis on incremental versus long-term, large-scale innovation. One respondent indicated that incremental, as opposed to breakthrough, innovation accounts for 60 percent of his company’s pipeline. There was a wide variance among participants in how often product pipelines and portfolios were evaluated.

• There are far too many self-centered business unit silos. These silos impede collaboration on innovation efforts that can benefit the company.  As devices, content and communication technologies converge, cross silo collaboration becomes more critical for successful, ground-breaking innovation.

• There is an overdependence on backward-looking innovation metrics such as the number of patents, revenue realized from new products and the percentage of revenue derived from innovation initiatives versus forward-looking indicators such as sources of ideas, pipeline velocity and project risk profiles.

• There are far too many ad hoc innovation processes, especially for larger breakthrough innovation efforts, making it difficult to deliver value. To achieve excellence and deliver value, innovation needs to be managed as a business discipline with supporting processes and tools; few companies approach innovation in a holistic and systemic way.

So what should consumer technology companies do to generate better returns on their innovation investment? Here are a few ideas:

• Companies can reorient their innovation culture to start with the consumer, rather than the technology, and increase their tolerance for failure in the quest for breakthroughs.

• Companies must manage innovation like other disciplines—some don’t and it’s a major mistake. Innovation must be managed with rigor in an integrated way, blending marketing, customer service, sales, research, operations, performance management and risk management.

• Companies must design and actively manage an innovation portfolio consistent with their strategy, balancing short term incremental innovation with longer term, market moving bets.  Particularly during an economic downturn, the natural tendency of “hunkering down” and investing in short term incremental innovation only compromise a company’s competitive position for years to come.

The typical corporate response in a down economy is to cut costs. But companies cannot simply cut their way to prosperity. They must invest in growth through innovation—yes, even during tough times. Managing innovation well, in a uniform, well-structured fashion, is as important as an act of innovation itself.

Koetzier and Alon are managing directors for Accenture’s Innovation Performance Group, which works with clients on processes for addressing business challenges.  Koetzier can be reached at Wouter.koetzier@accenture.com and Alon can be contacted at adi.alon@accenture.com.

What a fitting slogan for the latest accenture Tiger Woods ad. This one appeared in this week’s issue of Business Week.

How much will Tiger’s transgressions cost his brand?

What his endorsers are paying for

Companies like Nike, American Express and Accenture are paying Tiger megabucks to convey certain characteristics they want to be associated with, including:

• Discipline
• Intelligence
• Good judgement
• Strategic and tactical brilliance
• Winning

What his brand is now

Woods has acted in a way fundamentally at odds with these brand traits.  He has demonstrated remarkable stupidity and recklessness by sending racy texts and voice mails to his mistress, and by trusting a groupie not to blow his cover in the first place.  It was a further bad strategic move to lie to the public in his first apology, wherein he slammed the rumours of infidelity as false and irresponsible.

Tiger’s most recent apology, on the other hand, appears to be genuine.  The degree to which he accepts responsibility goes far beyond today’s standard for politicians, celebrities and multimillionaire athletes. 

But there’s a big but:  in the apology, he pleads for privacy and claims surprise at the intrusions of the media.  Which, for a man who chose to compromise his privacy by sending raunchy texts and voicemails, is hypocrisy of the highest order.

People, Americans in particular, can be very forgiving.  What they just can’t stand is hypocrisy.

What the future holds

The future of Tiger’s brand value is very much dependent on the intensity of the media circus around him.  If Tiger continues to rail against these intrusions while further examples appear of his recklessness – and hence voluntary relinquishment of privacy – the media and the public will be tough on him.  And so will his endorsers.

It’s What You Do Next That Counts, Tiger

by Peter Verrengia

President and Senior Partner, Communications Consulting Worldwide (CCW)

It has been widely reported that Tiger Woods will not play in his own tournament, or appear at other events before the end of the year.  His stated reason for withdrawing from public view is that he was injured in his unexplained car accident.  However, his injuries were reported to be minor.  More likely, it is the concern about damage to his reputation that has sent him into seclusion.  His situation underlines the lasting result of the first choices an individual or organization makes after a negative event, and the impact of public scrutiny on even the most well-liked public figures. 

The effect of the accident itself on his reputation, and on his career as an endorser, should have been minimal.  But Tiger may be making the situation much worse by his subsequent choices.  Now he has stimulated the imaginations of millions of people by compounding the mystery of what actually happened with behavior that appears evasive, if not suspicious. 

Fans of irony will also appreciate the unintended consequence of one of his most visible campaigns.  Plastered over the walls of airports everywhere is the image of Tiger Woods considering his next shot in Accenture’s long-running ad series.  The headline reads: “It’s what you do next that counts.”

No kidding.  Especially in public situations.  Tiger’s decision to hide and ask for privacy offers lessons for individuals and organizations facing the heat of unplanned attention.

The first, and biggest, point we can take away from Tiger Woods’ brush with infamy is that public figures can have no expectation of privacy in a 24-hour, instant-information world.

This is especially true for people who sell their celebrity as endorsers, as Tiger Woods has done.  Even beloved celebrities don’t earn the right to privacy–no matter how much they protest to the contrary.  At best, well-liked public figures with “good guy” images may have more reputation resilience.  That is, their reputation will recover more quickly, overall, than others in similar situations.  But if fame has a cost today, it isn’t just the loss of privacy, it is the risk of instant infamy.   

The second lesson to take from the Mr. Woods’ experience is: No matter what, celebrities, executives, and organizations that come under investigation should rapidly declare their intent to cooperate with authorities.  Declining to be interviewed by the police in an accident where you were the driver just looks like defensive legal maneuvering, or arrogance.  Neither is good for anyone’s reputation.  Cooperation may not be the best legal approach for people or companies that have something to hide, but that’s just the point.  Resistance to an official inquiry is widely seen as a signal that there must be more to know, information that is worth trying to keep out of view.  There is no better bait for the gossip media and public speculation.

Like the maxim in science that nature abhors a vacuum, celebrity gossip also hates an absence of information.  If the people involved don’t talk,  everyone else will, including the police.  Once the speculation is out there, and especially if there isn’t much factual information to go on,  the same theorizing and assumptions are replayed over and over.   As a result, a celebrity drama can quickly be blown up into a crisis.  Thanks to the long-lasting nature of internet content, it stays out there in public view, no matter what is ultimately disclosed. 

What is the economic impact of this imbroglio on Woods and his sponsors? That question is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  The outlook for Tiger is probably good, unless there is a lot more, and worse, that we haven’t yet heard about his situation.   The volatility and recovery of the economic value of reputation can be measured and tracked over time.  So, we can say with certainty that celebrities, executives, and companies with mostly positive reputations will almost always bounce back from their first scandal. 

It’s important to realize that reputation isn’t just one thing.  It is a collection of attributes, and each attribute of Tiger’s reputation that this event harms will recover at a different rate.  Eventually, when more is known or more time has passed, his reputation value will recover overall.  But certain elements may never be strong again and a lot depends on how much more there is to the story he wants to suppress.  

While his reptuation value may recover, his reputation risk will be higher.   Reputation risk is the likelihood of further negative change in reputation value, whether from deeper impact of the current situation, or a new pattern of negative events or other reptuation damage.  For a visible public figure who is compensated as an endorser, higher reputation risk may lead to the quiet renegotiation of contracts at a discounted fee, or if things get worse for him, the end of sponsor relationships.

But, as this situation unfolds or is resolved,  some of Tiger Woods’  reputation elements may rise in value.  He may also be more attractive to some new sponsors who are looking for a little more edge, and want to take advantage of his temporary (we assume) brush with infamy.

How could Tiger have avoided most of the impact of this situation on his reptutation and its value?  For well-regarded, high-profile personalities or visible institutions and their leaders, the best antidote to instant notoriety is already well known:

1. Announce at least the basic facts yourself, before the media and amature gossip sleuths go off hunting for experts to speculate on what happened.
2. Cooperate with the authorities, or at least declare your intent to cooperate.  
3. Aim for quick resolution, including disclosure of enough details to avoid independent digging for “what really happened.”
4. Admit  fault, to some degree, and commit to do better. (Tiger Woods did say the accident was his fault, but he eliminated the benefit of that statement by asking for the impossible–privacy–and declining the opportunity to look contrite and cooperative when the police asked to interview him.) 
5. Follow the resolution of the incident with a period of being as boring as possible.  The person in the spotlight should recommit to focusing on the  activity, skill or talent that created the original reason for his or her  fame. 
6. Celebrities and high-profile executives should rehearse what to do in the event of a situation that can attract negative attention.  Organizations invest time preparing for inevitable, but unpredictable, crises.  Individuals can do the same.

 As the ad says, it’s what you do next that counts…Tiger.

Athlete: Tiger Woods
Sport: Golf
League: PGA
Agent: Mark Steinberg (IMG)
Age: 33 (December 30, 1975)
Rank in SI’s 50 richest athletes:  1st
Endorsement value:  $105,000,000.00

Tiger Woods endorsement deals (thru Nov. 2009):
* Accenture
* AT&T
* Gatorade (Pepsico)
* Gillette (Procter & Gamble)
* EA Sports (Electronic Arts)
* NetJets
* Nike Golf
* Tag Heuer
* TLC Vision Corporation
* Upper Deck

Tiger Woods endorsement potential:
Tiger Woods is the top athlete endorser in the world today.  He is the Cadillac of athlete endorsements (even if he occasionally drives erratically in his own Escalade).  Every major corporation wants him, but few can afford him.  Woods has even surged past sports brand icon Michael Jordan in-terms of earnings; Tiger is first athlete in sports to earn more than $1 billion dollars in their career.  Much of that money comes from the rich endorsement deals that Tiger has had for over a decade.

Tiger’s endorsement history is legendary, starting with a $40 million contract from Nike when he turned pro in 1996.  Tiger basically made Nike Golf what it is today and Phil Knight rewarded him handsomely with a $100 million extension in 2006.  Tiger has become the driving force behind Nike Golf, even as they have added other big name golfers to their endorsement stable (i.e.- Stewart Cink, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard).  Woods is a poster boy for their product line, having dropped his lucrative Titleist sponsorship when he switched to play a Nike golf ball.

Much of Woods appeal as an endorsement star has to do with his phenomenal ability on the golf course.  Tiger grabbed the sport of golf by the throat and has not yet let go; in a sport with some of the biggest endorsement stars on the planet (Phil Mickelson, Arnold Palmer) Tiger is the king.  It only helps that golf’s demographic is one that appeals to the bluest of blue chip companies; businesses that want their product featured (by Tiger Woods) to that affluent golf crowd.  Tiger’s so marketable that even his caddy, Steve Williams, has grabbed endorsement deals with Nike and Valvoline.  Let that sink in for a second…even Tiger Woods’ caddy has major corporations paying him money to endorse their product.

Perhaps the truest test of Tiger Woods endorsement appeal is understood by looking at the list of corporations that he used to endorse.  Tiger’s former deals with American Express, Buick, General Mills, Titleist and Rolex would be the envy of most athletes, yet Woods has just moved on to bigger, more lucrative deals.

Tiger Woods has truly changed the game in-terms of endorsement deals.  Like Jordan did before him, Woods seeks out “business partnerships” rather than just contractual endorsement deals.  He is setting the standard today on how athletes and sponsors partner up.  His deals are making sports stars, like Tiger, more money from corporate sponsors than they have ever earned before.

Tiger Woods commercial for Nike Golf:

The Program

Accenture is committed to providing financial support for a variety of academic programs at institutions of higher education.

As part of this commitment, Accenture is pleased to sponsor the Accenture Scholarship Program for Minorities. This scholarship program was created to encourage minorities to pursue degrees in engineering, computer science, and a variety of programs related to information systems and decision or management sciences.

Get more info: Accenture

There are tremendous opportunities for bright, hardworking professionals who wish to apply their skills to the advantage of businesses on a global scale. It is the program’s objective to help support meritorious minority students in pursuit of such goals.

This scholarship program is administered by Scholarship Management Services, a division of Scholarship America. Scholarship Management Services is the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarship and tuition reimbursement programs for corporations, foundations, associations and individuals.

Eligibility

Applicants to this program must be:

• African American, Hispanic American, Native American, or Asian American.
• A U.S. citizen, permanent resident, asylee or refugee.
• Enrolled in at least the third year of course work by the fall semester 2010 in a full-time undergraduate program in engineering (electrical, industrial, mechanical, or systems are preferred), computer science, information systems (accounting, business, computer, management and related), decision or management sciences, or other programs whose curricula are equivalent to the above.
• Above-average in academic performance. Generally, this means that the applicant is at least a “B” student; however, the difficulty of curriculum concentration and course selection will be considered.
• Proficient in quantitative skills as evidenced through quantitative course work and/or exams.

Partners, employees, and children of partners and employees of Accenture are not eligible to apply.

Scholarship Awards

Scholarship awards of $2,500 are awarded to outstanding students for undergraduate study. Recipients must be enrolled as full-time students in at least two semesters of the 2010-2011 school year to receive the full award.
Application

Students must complete the application and submit it with a current, complete transcript of grades by the postmark deadline of January 31, 2010.

Students who have received a Minority Scholarship Award in the past from Accenture are invited to reapply by completing the same application procedure.

Applications are evaluated on the information supplied; therefore, it is important to answer every question as completely as possible. All information submitted is considered confidential and is reviewed only by Scholarship Management Services and the Accenture Scholarship Committee. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Selection of Recipients

Scholarship recipients are selected solely on merit, based on academic achievement, leadership, participation in school and community activities, work experience, statement of education and career goals, personal essay, and an outside appraisal.

Final selection of scholarship recipients is made by Scholarship Management Services. All scholarship recipients will be notified by the first part of April. All applicants agree to accept the decision of Scholarship Management Services as final.

Payment of Awards

Scholarship Management Services processes scholarship awards on behalf of Accenture in two equal installments. Checks will be mailed directly to each recipient’s home address on August 15 and December 30. Checks are made payable to the school for the student.

Obligations

Recipients have no obligation to Accenture . They are, however, required to provide all requested information and to notify Scholarship Management Services of any changes in address, school enrollment, or other pertinent information.

Revisions

Accenture reserves the right to review the conditions and procedures of this scholarship program and to make changes at any time including termination of the program.

Get more info: Accenture

"He's Human!"

The world’s greatest golfer and first “Billion Dollar Athlete” is going to suffer a huge hit to his marketability and squeaky-clean reputation.  With the news coming out today that Woods did in fact have an affair with Jamie Grubbs, a Los Angeles cocktail waitress and Las Vegas nightclub promoter, the $164 reckless driving ticket he received from Florida State Police is now the least of his worries.

This saga of extramarital affairs, cheating, and scandal began on Thanksgiving Day, when a woman by the name of Rachel Uchitel was the subject of the National Enquirer story detailing a possible affair between her and Woods.  It turns out that a woman by the name of Ashley Samson was paid by the Enquirer $25,000 to tell her what she knew about the relationship between Uchitel and Woods, information which led the public to speculate about the possibility of Woods cheating on his wife of five years, Elin Nordegren.

Thanksgiving night, Woods gets into his single-car accident outside of his family home following an alleged argument between him and his wife over the Enquirer story.  Tiger is found unconscious and is rushed to a nearby hospital, where he is released the next day.  Following the accident, it is unclear whether or not he was attacked by his wife, Elin, or she tried to rescue him from the car.  Doctors just today proved that his injuries could only have been a result of the accident and not from domestic violence.

After all this probing for answers and attempts by the media to investigate Woods’ private life, I have been able to come up with one true statement about the whole ordeal: “Tiger Woods is human just like the rest of us.”  Although, he has won 14 major titles and earned over $900 million from tournament prizes in his career, he is not flawless and is not incapable of sin.  Lastly, while I believe that these transgressions will ultimately effect his career and overall legacy, CNBC Sports Business reporter, Darren Rovell believes that his sponsors like Nike and Accenture will still stay true to their man, “as long as he is a winner.”

Posted via email from invisiblegaijin

There was an interesting interview with Accenture CEO, William Green, in the New York Times last week. He discusses his management approach and how he has evolved as a leader.

One of Green’s key stories is about a training session that he sat through which introduced 68 things that new managers should focus on. He thought it was ridiculous to think that people would remember all of those items, so he condensed it down to three Cs:

1. Competence: Be good at what you do.
2. Confidence: People want to know what you think.
3. Caring: Nothing today is about one individual.

I really like what Green said about “caring:”

This is all about the team, and in the end, this is about giving a damn about your customers, your company, the people around you, and recognizing that the people around you are the ones who make you look good.

My take: Green provides valuable insight into what it takes to be a good leader, but I’d add two items to his list (people should be able to remember a list of five things, right?!).

First of all, I’d tack on one more “C” for Clarity. Green actually showcased this trait when he boiled the 68 things in the training class down to three.

Then I’d add a ”P”, for Purpose. Good managers, actually any leaders, need to continually define and communicate the role of their group. They need to always be answering two questions:

• How does the group’s efforts fit within the company’s overall mission?
• What does success look like? 

The bottom line: Management is as easy as 4Cs and a P.

Featuring Accenture Partner Randy Vogel

The cost of rework, poor quality, and the associated delays in realizing return on investment continue to plague IT organizations.  Getting the requirements right is critical to solving these problems.  

This webinar, drawing on years of practical experience at Accenture, will describe how applying standardized techniques and enabling users through tools and usage guidance helps reduce costs, increase quality, and deliver applications sooner.

Join this webinar to learn:
• Key requirements gathering techniques
• How requirements techniques can be used effectively together
• How an integrated set of tools can be used to automate and enable the techniques

Presenter: Randy Vogel

Randy Vogel is a Partner at Accenture with over 21 years of experience in IT and software development. Randy has been responsible for delivering applications across a broad spectrum of platforms and technologies using globally distributed development teams. Randy currently leads Accenture’s strategic tools program focused on standardizing the tools and processes used globally to deliver high-quality solutions to Accenture clients.

Watch it now!

As I continue discussing employment, unemployment and social media in helping you find a job, I recently read a New York Times interview with William D. Green, chairman and C.E.O. of Accenture. He discussed, in part, hearing 68 rules during a managers training meeting over three days at Accenture. Baffled by the myriad of rules that bombarded new hires, he realized only three rules really matter in business.

According to Green:

The first rule is competence — just being good at what you do, whatever it is, and focusing on the job you have, not on the job you think you want to have.

The second rule is confidence. People want to know what you think. So you have to have enough desirable self-confidence to articulate a point of view.

The third rule is caring. Nothing today is about one individual. This is all about the team, and in the end, this is about giving a damn about your customers, your company, the people around you, and recognizing that the people around you are the ones who make you look good.

You can apply these rules to your employment search. In developing your resume and during interviews, you need to make sure your competence, confidence and caring come through.

So let’s take a look at the three…

Competence. When you apply to a job and prior to an interview, learn about the company. Look up their annual report on the web, check out recent news releases to see what the company is accomplishing. Set yourself apart from the competition by showing competence about the company.

Confidence. Show in your cover letter and interview that you are a confident individual. Highlight accomplishments, look the interviewer in the eye.

Caring. While it is hard to be choosy in getting interviews in this economy, show how you would be a caring individual to your prospective boss, team, superiors and more.

The article gives great insight. I hope you’ll take the time to read the article.  Now, let’s get out there and do something good together!

Nota di Pao: Trovo ironico il fatto che in Italia la TNT abbia aderito* al Progetto10×10 di Quattroruote con il quale ci si impegna a ridurre del 10% le emissioni di CO2 dei veicoli e poi in Inghilterra sia inserita nella lista dei più cattivi in assoluto.

* Vedi > http://www.quattroruote.it/eco10×10/azienda_tnt.cfm

°°°

Rimandati a settembre, o forse addirittura bocciati. Questa dovrebbe essere la sorte scolastica di molte aziende inglesi, che dimostrano un atteggiamento ancora troppo poco collaborativo nelle proprie politiche ecologiche.

Secondo una ricerca britannica (promossa da Marketing magazine e Brand Republic, con la collaborazione di ENDS Carbon e l’Università di Edimburgo) dal titolo Brand Emissions che ha coinvolto 600 marchi, molti hanno ancora politiche ambientali lacunose e non pubblicano nemmeno i dati riguardanti le emissioni di gas serra. Ma non c’è limite al peggio e c’è chi addirittura, in tempi di allarme climatico, è riuscito ad aumentare le proprie emissioni di CO2.

Gli insufficienti, a vari livelli, sono circa i due terzi dei marchi più noti che sono molto lontani dall’obiettivo governativo del 2020 di ridurre le emissioni del 20 per cento rispetto al 1990.

Tra i più attenti all’ambiente troviamo Tesco, T-Mobile, Dell, BMW, Eurotunnel, Accenture, Standard Chartered, Ericsson, KPMG, AMD, mentre tra coloro che dimenticano di pubblicare le informazioni ci sono Google, McKinsey e Amazon.

Per ben 320 delle aziende osservate, tra cui Porsche, Harvey Nichols e McDonald’s, non è stato registrato alcun proposito di ridurre le proprie emissioni inquinanti. Inoltre 122 brand, tra cui Barclays, Sky e eBay, sono riusciti addirittura ad aumentare i propri gas serra nel corso del 2008.

Infine ci sono i più cattivi in assoluto, tra cui Acer, Juniper Networks, Billabong International, Finnair, Premier Inn, Costa, Gossard, Aegon, Unisys, TNT, ovvero quelli che sono riusciti nel duplice obiettivo di innalzare le emissioni di anidride carbonica e di non avere alcun proposito di cambiare.

Fonte: www.corriere.it

No es cuántos títulos tienes. Es lo que puedes hacer.

Brief interview with Accenture’s CEO has some interesting tidbits:

• Accenture gets two million C.V.’s a year and ultimately hire between 40,000 and 60,000 people
• It isn’t how many degrees you have. It’s what you can do.
• High-performance people are learners by nature. And as long as they’re learning, they’ll stay where they are.

Worth a quick scan.

These are volatile times, the globalization and new media make it increasingly easy for consumers to shift service providers. Customer Service has become the key factor in customer loyalty and the current economical crisis has emphasized this even more.

According to a study performed by Accenture in Belgium 85% of Belgian consumers share bad customer service experiences. 17% uses new media, like social network sites to share their (bad) experiences.
Over the past year, 77% of the people surveyed indicated they had changed service provider after a single bad customer experience.

This again proves that in customer service you need to get it right the first time. So if you’re part of an organization that is struggling with customer loyalty, act now!

Because I am most definitely into personal development, I’m absolutely more impressionable than the average bear. Be that as it may, this Q&A with William D. Green, Chairman and CEO of Accenture, is outstanding–a true keeper.

Here a few great quotes:

“It isn’t how many degrees you have. It’s what you can do…What that says is, it doesn’t matter what you look like, what you talk like, where you went to school, where you came from, any of that stuff. What matters is what you’re capable of.”

“…there are three things that matter. The first is competence — just being good at what you do, whatever it is, and focusing on the job you have, not on the job you think you want to have. The second one is confidence. People want to know what you think. So you have to have enough desirable self-confidence to articulate a point of view. The third thing is caring. Nothing today is about one individual. This is all about the team, and in the end, this is about giving a damn about your customers, your company, the people around you, and recognizing that the people around you are the ones who make you look good.”

“What critical behavior interviewing does is get at people’s character, and you get to see where work fits in their value system, where pride fits in their value system, where making hard decisions or sacrificing fits in their value system. I mean, you sacrifice and you’re a victim, or you sacrifice because it’s the right thing to do and you have pride in it. Huge difference. Simple thing. Huge difference.”

Great stuff! (Have I written the word “great” enough in this post?) Read the whole interview here.

Questions about the scalability, performance and reliability of open source software have been answered through its use on such popular websites as Facebook, one of the world’s largest and most innovative applications, and LinkedIn, the professional social networking website that uses the open source database MySQL to handle its database of more than 30-million subscribers. However, it may have taken the reality of a global recession to convince many enterprises that open source computing is ready for prime time… (more)