Kluge Hans (better known as “Clever Hans”) was a most amazing horse!  He had the ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide by tapping out the answers with his hoof.  He could tell time and name people.  He could spell and solve problems involving musical harmony.

His owner, German mathematician Von Osten, began showing him to the public in 1891, and for years, Clever Hans amazed even the stoutest critics.  The horse could perform his tricks for randomly selected people with or without his master present.  It seemed impossible, but no one could deny the horse’s accuracy.

It wasn’t until 1904 when researcher Oskar Pfungst finally figured out how Clever Hans did it.  By testing the horse with a variety of constraints, he learned that Clever Hans was not so clever if he couldn’t see his questioner.  Also, if the questioner did not know the answer to a question, neither did the horse.

Following a hunch, Pfungst started observing the questioners more than the horse.  Soon, he discovered that Clever Hans was responding to subtle non-verbal cues from the people asking the questions.  They tended to tense their muscles until Clever Hans tapped out the correct answer with his hoof.  When he did, the questioner relaxed, signaling to the horse that it had reached the correct answer.  The horse could detect slight movements of a person’s eyebrows or a change in head position or an approving facial expression.  Clever Hans could even pick out a slight dilation of the questioner’s nostrils.

In the end, Clever Hans was most clever when people expected and wanted him to be clever.  Their anticipation of his correct answer provided him all the non-verbal feedback he needed to reassure their trust in his abilities.

Think about the implications for our human relationships.  If a horse is perceptive enough to read our non-verbals with such accuracy – even non-verbals that we are oblivious to sending – isn’t it possible that other people can pick up on them, too (if not consciously, then subconsciously)?  If you have high expectations for someone, it gets communicated in more than your praise.  If you have low expectations of someone, it leaks into every interaction you have with that person.  What you think about a person often creates a self-fulfilling prophecy in your relationship.

When you have negative expectations about someone, you can try to fake your feelings when you are around them, but most people will see through your plastic efforts.  The only real way to make sure that you don’t communicate negative expectations is to change how you feel about that person.  In order to do that, you are going to have to change the story that you tell yourself about them.  You need a positive story to replace the negative one.  This is much easier said than done, but here are some suggestions:

• Assume positive motive. Maybe the person is the way he is or acts the way he does, because there is a good reason for it.  Maybe he means well and is doing the best he knows how to do.
• Consider that there may be extenuating circumstances. There may be factors outside of her control – things like the way the person was raised, the limitations on what they know or are able to do, the situation that they are currently in or other people and their behavior toward her.
• Examine your own accountability. Is there anything that you are doing that is making your interactions with this person worse?
• Get more information. Don’t make up your mind about someone or about the way someone behaves without first making sure that you have enough information to make an opinion.  Legion are the embarrassing stories where someone reacted to a small amount of information and later learned that they were missing the most important parts of the story.
• Lower your expectations. If the person can’t or just won’t change, lower your expectations of him.  You will be happier, because he won’t let you down all the time.
• Tell a bigger story. Maybe your story is too small.  For example, you are distracted by your teenager’s sloppy appearance and can’t help but comment on it each time you see her.  But how important is how neat she looks compared to the health of your relationship with her?  Maybe you could tell a story that says the health of your relationship is bigger and more important than your irritation over her appearance, and you are going to overlook her clothing choices in order to preserve open doors of communication with her.
• Pray for the person. Nothing is more effective at changing your heart toward another person than prayer.  Even if you struggle to be sincere with your prayers, make a commitment to pray for him or her until God gives you His heart for that person.

Change what you think (your story) about those around you, and you will change the relationship.  You might even find that your negative story has been the whole reason for the problems between you.  Change your story; change your world.

By Shira Ovide & Gregory Zuckerman (WSJ)

Chieftain Capital Management Inc., an iconoclastic investment firm with a strong two-decade track record, is splitting up following personality conflicts among its leaders, according to people familiar with the matter.

Co-founder Glenn Greenberg, who came into the headlines nearly two years ago for his campaign against management at cable company Comcast Corp., plans to stay at the firm, according to a letter that he, co-founder John Shapiro and two partners sent to investors. Mr. Greenberg’s firm will be renamed Brave Warrior Advisors, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. Shapiro and Chieftain partners Tom Stern and Joshua Slocum plan to launch a new investment firm that will retain the name Chieftain Capital Management, effective Jan. 1, according to the letter. Chieftain manages about $3 billion in assets. Messrs. Shapiro and Stern are cousins.

“Although Chieftain’s partners remain committed to the firm’s investment philosophy, differences on internal firm matters have led us to decide to separate,” said the letter, sent to investors earlier this month.

Mr. Greenberg, son of legendary baseball player Hank Greenberg and a former competitive squash player, founded Chieftain with Mr. Shapiro in 1984.

A person familiar with what Mr. Greenberg has told investors said Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Stern had personality conflicts, and Mr. Shapiro decided to leave with Mr. Stern. Another person said the personality conflicts were between Mr. Greenberg and the three other officials who are starting the new firm.

Through spokesmen, Messrs. Greenberg, Shapiro, Stern and Slocum declined to comment.

At one point, the firm considered retaining an executive-conflict-resolution specialist, according to people familiar with the matter, though it is unclear if it retained one.

The firm has generated annual gains averaging about 18% before fees focusing on “value” investing, or buying inexpensive, sometimes out-of-favor shares in which the firm has deep conviction. Chieftain’s returns are roughly in line with the market so far this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm counts among its clients Yale University’s endowment.

While many other investment managers spend much of their time courting new and existing clients, Mr. Greenberg told Wharton School students several years ago that his firm was built on keeping his communications with clients limited, ignoring ideas from Wall Street analysts and avoiding the marketing of his firm.

The firm disdained Wall Street’s mantra of diversification. Chieftain’s largest stock holdings as of Sept. 30 included Lockheed Martin Corp., U.S. Bancorp, and Comcast, three stocks that represented more than 40% of Chieftain’s stock holdings, according to FactSet Research Systems. By contrast, some funds often keep their top positions at less than 5% of their holdings.

Going against the firm’s typically quiet style, Mr. Greenberg in early 2008 launched a public campaign against Comcast management. He sought in part the ouster of Chief Executive Brian Roberts over complaints about the cable company’s strategy and uses of capital.

Comcast at the time said the company’s operating record, growth and stock returns were strong.

After Mr. Greenberg’s campaign went public, Comcast changed some compensation policies and started a dividend, and the Chieftain campaign died down. Mr. Roberts remains Comcast’s chairman and CEO.

More recently, Mr. Greenberg had been noncommittal about Comcast’s negotiations to buy a controlling stake in General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal. He told the Journal last month that Comcast has moved in the “right direction” since his campaign last year, but he said he would reserve judgment on the possible NBC Universal deal.

After the firm’s planned breakup, Bryan R. Lawrence, the founder of Oakcliff Capital, will work with Mr. Greenberg, as will Mary Mulholland, Chieftain’s vice president of administration, the Chieftain officials said in the letter to investors.

The letter said clients will be asked to select which of the new firms will manage their investment assets.

Paul Fribourg, chairman and chief executive of agribusiness-and-investment firm Continental Grain Co., a longtime investor with Chieftain, said the firm was a collection of “smart, strong-willed, opinionated” people but “I don’t think there’s any hidden mystery or blowup.” Mr. Fribourg, who added that he had no direct knowledge of why the firm was splitting up, said he hadn’t yet decided what he’d do with his Chieftain investments.

If you’re considering using a visual aid or requesting that someone else use a visual aid as part of his or her presentation, realize that any visual aid should be used to complement the speaker’s presentation, not cause the listener or viewer to divide his attention between the two. Visuals, particularly slides, are often used as crutches. They are also habit forming. They take the place of notes, and the presenter counts on them to keep him on track. They control him rather than the other way round.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight.

inBox Enigma: A basket contains 5 apples. Do you know how to divide them among 5 kids so that each one has an apple and one apple stays in the basket?

Solve this and win a free magazine!

Google.com

My hair is as long as my girlfriend’s hair.

I told her that I am going to cut my hair short when I go back to Brazil in December.

“Then, I am going to divide it on the side, not in the middle anymore,” I said.

She started laughing.

“It’s to part the hair, not divide,” she said. “Dividing your hair sounds like you’re going to cut it all off, separate it into two piles and give it to your friends.”

Reportedly written by Sherry Hackett, the widow of Buddy Hackett.

“WE NOTICED”

President Obama:

Today I read of your administration’s plan to re-define September 11 as a National Service Day. Sir, it’s time we had a talk………

During your campaign, Americans watched as you made mockery of our tradition of standing and crossing your heart when the Pledge of Allegiance was spoken. You, out of four people on the stage, were the only one not honoring our tradition.

YES, “We noticed.”

During one of your many speeches, Americans heard you say that you intended to visit all 57 states. We all know that Islam, not America has 57 states.

YES, “We noticed.”

When President Bush leaned over at Ground Zero and gently placed a flower on the memorial, while you nonchalantly tossed your flower onto the pile without leaning over.

YES, “We noticed.”

Every time you apologized to other countries for America’s position on an issue we have wondered why you don’t share our pride in this great country. When you have heard foreign leaders berate our country and our beliefs, you have not defended us. In fact, you insulted the British Crown beyond belief.

YES, “We noticed.”

When your pastor of 20 years, “God-damned America” and said that 9/11 was “America’s chickens coming home to roost” and you denied having heard recriminations of that nature, we wondered how that could be. You later disassociated yourself from that church and Pastor Wright because it was politically expedient to do so.

YES, “We noticed.”

When you announced that you would transform America, we wondered why. With all her faults, America is the greatest country on earth. Sir, KEEP THIS IN MIND, “if not for America and the people who built her, you wouldn’t be sitting in the White House now.” Prior to your election to the highest office in this Country, you were a senator from Illinois and from what we can glean from the records available, not a very remarkable one.

YES, “We noticed.”

All through your campaign and even now, you have surrounded yourself with individuals who are basically unqualified for the positions for which you appointed them. Worse than that, the majority of them are people who, like you, bear no special allegiance, respect, or affection for this country and her traditions.

YES, “We noticed.”

You are 9 months into your term and every morning millions of Americans wake up to a new horror heaped on us by you. You seek to saddle working Americans with a health care/insurance reform package that, along with cap and trade , will bankrupt this nation.

YES, “We noticed.”

We seek, by protesting, to let our representatives know that we are not in favor of these crippling expenditures and we are labeled “un-American”, “racist”, “mob”. We wonder how we are supposed to let you know how frustrated we are. You have attempted to make our protests seem isolated and insignificant. Until your appointment, Americans had the right to speak out.

YES, “We noticed.”

On September 11, 2001 there were no Republicans or Democrats, only Americans. And we all grieved together and helped each other in whatever way we could. The attack on 9/11 was carried out because we are Americans.

YES, “We noticed.”

There were many of us who prayed that as a black president you could help unite this nation. In six months you have done more to destroy this nation than the attack on 9/11. You have failed us.

YES, “We noticed.”

September 11 is a day of remembrance for all Americans. You propose to make 9/11 a “National Service Day”. While we know that you don’t share our reverence for 9/11, we pray that history will report your proposal as what it is…a disgrace.

YES, “We noticed.”

You have made a mockery of our Constitution and the office that you hold. You have embarrassed and slighted us in foreign visits and policy.

YES, “We noticed.”

We have noticed all these things. We will deal with you. When Americans come together again, it will be to remove you from office.

Take notice.

Psa 118:8-9 NIV  It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.  (9)  It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

604 // November 03, 2009

Reflected wicker chairs in a glass tabletop.

Intel ha siglato un protocollo di intesa triennale con il Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, per la realizzazione di azioni a supporto del Piano di Innovazione Digitale nella Scuola implementato dal Ministero.

Il documento è stato sottoscritto a Palazzo Chigi dal Ministro Mariastella Gelmini e da Dario Bucci, amministratore delegato di Intel Italia, e delinea gli ambiti della collaborazione fra l’azienda e l’ente pubblico,finalizzata sull’adozione della piattaforma di formazione Intel Teach Advanced Online per l’aggiornamento professionale dei docenti italiani.Gli obiettivi di questo accordo sono di collegare e supportare l’attività di formazione degli insegnanti all’uso delle nuove tecnologie, di creare contenuti appositi per supportare le attività di integrazione delle nuove tecnologie nell’insegnamento, di sostenere iniziative per ridurre il digital divide nelle scuole e per innovare la didattica e i processi di apprendimento attraverso l’uso della tecnologia e dei contenuti didattici multimediali.La partecipazione dei docenti al programma Intel rientrerà all’interno degli attestati dei corsi rilasciati dall’A.N.S.A.S.

(Agenzia Nazionale per lo Sviluppo dell’Autonomia Scolastica – ex Indire).Dario Bucci ha commentato così questo accordo: “Siamo molto attivi su questo fronte, a fianco del Governo, poiché riteniamo che l’alfabetizzazione digitale sia oggi alla base dell’economia della conoscenza: il nostro Paese ha bisogno non soltanto di docenti e studenti preparati, ma anche di cittadini capaci di adoperare con padronanza gli strumenti informatici’.

Il nuovo ThinkPad T400s di Lenovo può gestire l’input simultaneo di ben quattro dita

Fonte:
http://www.cwi.it/notizia/18876/2009-09-25/Digital-divide-nella-scuola-accordo-tra-Intel-e-Ministero-dell-Istruzione.html

Did you already divide perennials? Plants can be divided at almost any time if kept well-watered afterwards.

Now is a good time to divide waterlilies and other pond plants, both floating and marginal.

Dutch financial services group ING is to split itself in two and launch a share issue to repay its aid from the Dutch state early…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: recession effects. The blog is also related to: recession recovery.

Burlington, Ontario’s hardcore act Oceans are nominated for an award in the Hamilton Spectator. Their debut album, “The Great Divide”, is going up against Alexisonfire, Dead and Divine, Silverstein, and Straight Reads the Line for best Emo/Screamo album of the year. VisiONtheNet wishes them the best of luck!

You can check out the other nominees for other awards here:
A LINK!

Most physicians are not overly familiar with the fee-splitting prohibition found in the Illinois Medical Practice Act.  Percentage arrangements, especially with billing companies are very common.  That being said, the law in Illinois has now changed to allow what has never really stopped in Illinois: percentage arrangements for billing.

As of April 27, 2009 legislation to amend the Medical Practice Act of 1987 has become law.  The old language addressing fee-splitting at 225 ILCS 60/22 was deleted and a new Section 60/22.2 was added to the Act to read as follows:

“Sec. 22.2. Prohibition against fee splitting.

(a)     A licensee under this Act may not directly or indirectly divide, share or split any professional fee or other form of compensation for professional services with anyone in exchange for a referral or otherwise, other than as provided in this Section 22.2.

(b) Nothing contained in this Section abrogates the right of 2 or more licensed health care workers as defined in the Health Care Worker Self-referral Act to each receive adequate compensation for concurrently rendering services to a patient and to divide the fee for such service, provided that the patient has full knowledge of the division and the division is made in proportion to the actual services personally performed and responsibility assumed by each licensee consistent with his or her license, except as prohibited by law.

(c) Nothing contained in this Section prohibits a licensee under this Act from practicing medicine through or within any form of legal entity authorized to conduct business in this State or from pooling, sharing, dividing, or apportioning the professional fees and other revenues in accordance with the agreements and policies of the entity provided:

(1)     each owner of the entity is licensed under this  Act;

(2)     the entity is organized under the Medical Corporation Act, the Professional Services Corporation, the Professional Association Act, or the Limited    Liability Company Act;

(3)     the entity is allowed by Illinois law to provide physician services or employ physicians such as a licensed hospital or hospital affiliate or licensed ambulatory surgical treatment center owned in full or in part by Illinois-licensed physicians; or

(4)     the entity is a combination or joint venture of the entities authorized under this subsection (c).

(d)     Nothing contained in this Section prohibits a licensee under this Act from paying a fair market value fee to any person or entity whose purpose is to perform billing, administrative preparation, or collection services based upon a percentage of professional service fees billed or collected, a flat fee, or any other arrangement that directly or indirectly divides professional fees, for the administrative preparation of the licensee’s claims or the collection of the licensee’s charges for professional services, provided that:

(i)     the licensee or the licensee’s practice under subsection (c) of this Section at all times controls the amount of fees charged and collected; and

(ii)     all charges collected are paid directly to the licensee or the licensee’s practice or are deposited directly into an account in the name of and under the sole control of the licensee or the licensee’s practice or deposited into a “Trust Account” by a licensed collection agency in accordance with the requirements of Section 8(c) of the Illinois Collection Agency Act.

(e)     Nothing contained in this Section prohibits the granting of a security interest in the accounts receivable or fees of a licensee under this Act or the licensee’s practice for bona fide advances made to the licensee or licensee’s practice provided the licensee retains control and responsibility for the collection of the accounts receivable and fees.

(f)     Excluding payments that may be made to the owners of or licensees in the licensee’s practice under subsection (c), a licensee under this Act may not divide, share or split a professional service fee with, or otherwise directly or indirectly pay a percentage of the licensee’s professional service fees, revenues or profits to anyone for:

(i)       the marketing or management of the licensee’s practice,

(ii)     including the licensee or the licensee’s practice on any preferred provider list,

(iii)     allowing the licensee to participate in any network of health care providers,

(iv)      negotiating fees, charges or terms of service or payment on behalf of the licensee, or

(v)     including the licensee in a program whereby patients or beneficiaries are provided an incentive to use the services of the licensee.”

The new legislation is very similar to the old legislation in that Illinois physicians are still prohibited from sharing or dividing compensation with any other physician unless they practice together in the same entity or provide services for the same patient and receive proportional payment for such services.  What the new legislation has added is a carve-out that allows physicians to compensate others for the performance of administrative, billing, and collection services based on a flat fee or a percentage of professional fees billed or collected as long as the physician controls the fees and the account into which the fees are deposited.

In the event you are a physician and you or your practice have a financial arrangement with a third party based on a percentage of collections or fees for services other than billing, collection and administrative services, these arrangements must be restructured to comply with Illinois law. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Ericka Adler: eadler@kr-law.com

Market share is the ratio of the competitor’s annual sales to the total annual sales of competitive products in the market being served by the competitors. It is usually measured by dividing the  competitor’s sales in dollars by the total sales volume in dollars for the industry. Dollars are used in the calculation because monetary value is usually easy to obtain.

As may be seen from the dimensions describing the horizontal axis of the economic experience curve. It would make more sense to measure the market share in units sold during the year. Dollar volume does not double when volume in units shipped doubles if price decreases with experience.

The dimensions of the experience curve are fully allocated unit expense in constant dollars and cumulative number of units produced. The reference to doubling sales is measured in units shipped. Because this kind of measure could be counted off on the horizontal axis of the curve, it is possible to relate the growth in shipments to fully allocated expense in constant dollards, a reasonable profit margin, and the resulting dollar volume of sales.

The difficulty in obtaining the information needed to calculate market shares in terms of units shipped is often resolved by trade association data, which reports in both units and dollars. Still the associations may not include every possible competitor among their membership. In almost all cases, however, the non-members are not big enough to be significant. Even without the non-member data, the trade association information is a good approximation to the actual figures.

Given that sufficient data is available, it is not entirely necessary to know a competitor’s exact market share. The information most meaningful to a manager is market share compared to that of the nearest competitor. This gives rise to the concept of a market share ratio.

A proposed ratio that has special meaning when used in conjunction with the economic experience curve. The ratio may be best understood as:

Market Share Ratio =   Your Market Share __________

Market Share of Your Biggest Competitor

The interesting result of defining the ratio this way is that only one competitor has a ratio greater than one. All the others have functional ratios, less than one. For instance, if you the largest market share your biggest competitor will have a smaller share than you, and your ratio will be a number greater than one. If your biggest competitor has a market share larger than yours, your ratio will be less than one.

Because only one competitor has market share ratio greater than unity, the dominant competitor is identified by a number greater than one. Also, the degree of the biggest competitor’s dominance is indicated by the size of the number.

Typically, when a new business concept arises that can be represented by an economic experience curve, several competitors enter the marketplace within a very short span of time. There is an initial market penetratiuon in which market shares are established. Managers have learned how difficult it is to change the market share of the competitors once they have been established. Market shares among suppliers who are competing forcefully tend to remain reasonably constant. Cummulative experience relative to other competitors tends to be aligned with the market share ratios.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight