MERGERS FAIL MORE OFTEN THAN MARRIEGES

This article compares merges with marrieges and relates that mergers fail more often than marrieges. While the divorce rates varies between 40 and 50 % in North American and Europe, 70% of mergers fails. The causes of divorces vary according to country, education levels and income. The reasons for companies merges are expantion of market share, acquisition of new lines of distribution or technology, or reduction of operating costs but the reasons of fail is a clash of personalities and priorities.
Some examples of fail corporation marriege are Daimler and Chrysler, AOL and Time Warner, Shanghi's SAIC motor Co and Koreas Sangyong Mottor Co. Examples of successful groups are: The formation of General Motors and Volkswagen with Skoda an SEAT.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/05/21/merger.marriage/index.html

WHY WE CAN’T PUT FAITH IN THE NEXT GENERATION

Passing on a family business is often a painful process. But don’t be too quick to blame the youngesters

This article is about the difficulty of the chief of a family business in passing to sons or daughters the run of the company.

The first problem is to deal with the self-esteem of the elder entrepreneur. Sometimes it is associate to death; the interpreuner felt him/herself worthless without work.

Some tips given in the text to the elder entrepreuner pass the business for the heirs are: Identifing and appreciating their core competencies and sign a "symbolic" contract estipulating that, by a certain age they will move on and let the next genneration take its lumps.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/24/family-business-succession-entrepreneurs-management-berglas.html

Centered Leadership: How Talented Women Thrive

This article is about the McKinsey Leadership Project, that is an initiative to help professional women to learn what drives and sustains successful female leaders.

This centered leadership model comprising five broad and interrelated dimensions:

1. Finding your strengths and putting them to work;
2. Managing energy - to know where your energy comes from, where it goes and what you can do to manage it;
3. Positive framing - to adopt a more constructive way to view the world;
4. Connecting - to identify who can help you grow and to builf stronger relationships;
5. Engaging - to find your voice, become self-reliant and confident and collaborate with others.

This model of leadership intend to help women to become more self-confident and effective leaders.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/03/talent-women-leadership-lead-cx_1003mekinsey.html

Out Of Work And Not Young Anymore

What to do in a very difficult job market when your age makes it even harder.

This article talks about the difficulties that older employees have to get a new job. According to the text there are stereotypes that paint them undesirable, as they are reluctant to learn new skills and technology, they are overqualified and demand higher salaries than their younger colleagues. On the other hand some employers says that older employees were loyal and brought much-needed skills to their jobs.

The trick to finding a new job is to leverage the positive attributes and squash the negative stereotypes. Some tips are:

1. Use networking tools to find a new job
2. Be enthusiastic about the job opportunities.
3. Be prepared to answer difficult questions on job interviews
4. Show you are interested in the quality of the job, do not focus on big salaries
5. Point out any new initiatives you undertook in your last position and list new technologies you've learned.
6. Talk about how you believe in teamwork - being a team player means you don't expect special treatment for having more experience.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/05/older-job-seeking-leadership-careers-basics.html

HOW TO STAY COOL ON THE JOB

This article is about how to get the best of the pressure on the job. It gives some helpful tactics to cope it. The first advice is to identify what is stressing you, the second one is to divide the stress triggers into two categories: Those you can control and those you can’t, you must to knock out the stresses you can control first and try to mollify the effects of the one’s you can’t; if it’s not possible, you should try changing how your experience it. The third step is planning, to priorize tasks and decide what is possible to do and what is not. Another advice is turn panic into a thrill. The fifth suggestion is to try a little humor and, finally, if you are going to vent, do it with caution. If all these things seem to be common sense, ask yourself: How often do you actually follow these advices?

http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/11/stress-sleep-exercise-ent-hr-cs_ml_1111stayingcool.html

HOW TO ANSWER 10 TOUGH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

According to this article people should go prepared to an interview of job in order to avoid a disaster. They just have to identify the areas they need to improve and go self-confident for the interview.

When the interviewer asks “Tell me about yourself”, you are not supposed to tell your life history but a quick rundown of your qualifications and experience. When asked “What are your weaknesses?”, just respond identifying areas in your last work where you can improve and figure out how they can be assets to a future employer; when the interviewer asks “If you could choose any company to work for, where would you go? You just have to talk about the job and the company for which you are being interviewed - a suggested answer is “I wouldn’t have applied for this position if I didn’t sincerely want to work with your organization …”

These and others seven tips about “how to answer tough interview questions” will help candidates to conquer a new job.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/03/04/cb.answering.tough.interview.questions/index.html

DOES YOUR CARRIER FIT YOUR PERSONALITY?

People should find a carrier that complements their characters. There are six personality groups that encompass people in general. Above it is listed what jobs fit with each personality. Each one requires different education, training and qualification requirements:

- Artistic: creative by nature. People who like to express themselves through their work. They like to work without rules, with forms, designs, colors, words and patterns. Examples: Editor, graphic designer, high school drama teacher.

- Conventional: like conventional things, rules, procedures, schedules and instructions. They’re practical and like routine and order. Examples: Accountant, Actuary, Technical Writer.

- Enterprising: leaders. They like to see projects through from start to finish. They are doers more than thinkers. Examples: Advertising Sales Agent, Financial Officer, Sales Manager.

- Investigative: prefer to work alone. They solve problems and mysteries, put together pieces of a puzzle and pay extreme attention to detail.
Examples: Computer systems analyst, Librarian, Science Professor.

- Realistic: results-driven, hand-on people who like problems and solutions. Examples: Electricians, Locksmiths, Nuclear Engineer.

- Social: helping others and work with teams. They communicate well, thrive on human interaction. Examples: Family Practioner, Personal Trainer, Teacher.

What about you? Does your carrier fit your personality?

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/03/11/cb.carrer.fit.personality/index.html