I recently discovered the term ‘homing from work’ (versus ‘working from home’). It refers to the tendency to take care of personal business at work – such as texting, making/receiving personal calls, calling in reservations, scheduling medical appointments, checking the Dow Jones, paying bills, internet shopping, social media, etc. The result is the blurring and eroding of strict ‘work’/ ‘home’ hours. It may appear innocuous, after all if you spend an hour at home, say, catching up on emails, why not spend an hour at work preparing your personal travel itinerary? [...]

by Victoria Krayna

Amplified global competition, rapidly developing advancements in technology, fluctuations of customer demand, and a destructively turbulent economy have produced lean organizations. To thrive in today’s economy it takes focus, motivation, determination, and follow-through to maintain competitive advantage.

Overcoming the inertia of competing priorities, energy drainers, and the three ‘P’s – Pleasing, Procrastination, and Perfectionism requires championing excellence in each endeavor, relationship, and process one is involved in. Social Media can, if abused fall into this category.

Two social media resources that have brought me corporate clients as well as individual clients are LinkedIn and my blog – http://www.lifestagingblog.com/. My LinkedIn profile is already optimized to appear in search engines. This means that when someone ‘Googles’ my name, my LinkedIn profile will be one of the first results that shows up. Case in point:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS358US423&q=victoria+krayna [...]

In today’s fast-changing business environment, responsiveness – quickness, agility, the ability to adapt to changing demands – is more vital than ever to organizational survival. Amplified global competition, rapidly developing advancements in technology, fluctuations of customer demand, and a destructively turbulent economy have produced lean organizations. To manage effectively across the organization, acute awareness regarding the interdependency of departments, partnerships, culture, and subcultures is critical.

Within any organization there are two types of power structures, the formal structure, or chain of command; and the informal structure, the subculture. The former represents the firm’s senior management; their purpose, mission, and vision. The chief cornerstones of competitive advantage include innovation, quality, cost control, and speed. These qualities are often implemented more efficiently and effectively by informal, dynamic, and synergistic cross-functional teams. While senior management would like to believe their philosophy permeates the organization, it would be naive to do so. [...]

Strategic business planning aligns strategic priorities with financial realities. The reverse is also true; the budget needs to be congruent with the strategic business plan. Budgets are required to play many roles. A budget quantifies long-range financial strategies. Strategic planning or budgeting, in financial terms, historically analyzes the organization’s activities and the outcomes of those activities reported in terms of income, cash flows, and financial status. Preparing a budget is valuable as it is often foundational for making managerial decisions and future planning. Budgeting also provides a benchmark to measure planned activities against actual activities. [...]

Philip H. Knight
Founder & CEO, Nike, Inc.
Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005-6453
Phone: 503-671-6453
Fax: 503-671-6300

Mr. Dennis Dwyer,
Senior Manager, Footwear Division
Research and Development
Subject: Managing Across Nike, Inc., Footwear Division

Dear Dennis,

Welcome to Nike, Inc. Footwear Division. Our year-to-date footwear sales represent 54% of total revenues for the Nike, brand and its subsidiaries. Your role in research and development strategically supports our company’s objectives as it strives to continuously outdistance our competitors in a capricious consumer market.

Your critical partnerships within the organization will include Vice President and CFO, Donald W. Blair, President, Mark G. Parker, Divisional Vice President and General Manager, Craig Zanon, Vice President, New Business Development, Clare L. Hamill, General Manager, Kirk Richardson, and our new Director of Communications, Jack Gold. These committed, knowledgeable, trend-setting groups of managers are here to support you and your teams. They are the chief cornerstones from which to build your network. [...]