Beginning on Friday, July 20th, Live ID began its transition to Microsoft Account. At a high level, this is primarily a name change from Windows Live ID to Microsoft account. The sign-in page for Windows Live ID will be updated and adopt the new name. However, this will not change how you sign in to your services, as you will use the same email and password.
This will be a transition that happens over time as content references across the Microsoft.com network (and on external sites) abound. There will be a link on the sign-in page which explains this name change and references that you may see both names for a while, but they are one in the same.
To reference the name change, please click here.
Today, Microsoft announced the release of Outlook.com, a new email service which is a preview of modern email from Microsoft designed to work seamlessly on the web and with Windows 8, Windows Phone and the new Office. The new Outlook is now available by logging on to http://www.outlook.com with your existing Microsoft (aka “Live ID”) account. You can even get a new @outlook.com mail address by either renaming your current account or create an @outlook.com alias on your account.
Click on image or click here to see video
Outlook.com is Microsoft’s new personal email service, and over time it will replace Hotmail. It complements Outlook Web App for Exchange, works seamlessly with the Outlook desktop application, and was designed for Outlook.com and the Outlook app to be used interchangeably. To learn more about the new Outlook.com and its features, visit http://www.outlookpreview.com and stay up-to-date on the latest Outlook.com developments by following the Outlook blog, become a fan on Facebook or follow Outlook on Twitter.
Collecting Feedback from Stakeholders with Visual Studio 2011: 1 May
Plan for Visual Studio 11 by Leveraging Your SA Benefits: 2 May
Deployment Automation Challenges with vNext: 3 May
The AlignIT experience as you know it today consists of the AlignIT portal, the Canadian IT Manager Connection, the alignitca Twitter handle, and Facebook page. It also has a discussion group on LinkedIn where some of you are already networking and sharing your thoughts (if you’re not a member of the group yet, you’re invited! Join us.) and a monthly show, AlignIT Manager Tech Talk (available as video as well as audio podcast), with news, feature presentations, and live guests.
You can now enhance that experience by taking AlignIT on the go with you with the brand new Windows Phone app released into the Windows Phone Marketplace yesterday.
Get the app >>
These screenshots will give you a teaser of the app:
In this first version, you can:
Go ahead, get the app and get tuned in. Then, share your feedback and ideas for new features it the AlignIT LinkedIn group. Also, don’t forget to share the news with your colleagues and friends on Twitter and Facebook!
Special thanks to the man that made the app possible, Sébastien Lachance!
Sébastien Lachance is a developer with 12 years of experience and 18 months of Windows Phone programming. For less than a month, Sébastien is working at the new Montreal office of Mirego, a company innovating in mobile development, looking to bring his Microsoft development expertise to the company. Sébastien is passionate about Microsoft technologies especially about Windows Phone/Windows 8 and the new Metro design. When he’s not in front on a computer, he’s playing bridge (he’s even written an app for that), biking, and reading technical books.
More apps by Sébastien >>
A few people were invited to contribute articles in honour of Kelly’s and Allan’s seminal book, Social Issues in Computing. The University of Toronto has a blog in celebration of the 40th anniversary in the publication of the pioneering work. Here are the initial entries:
Authors (Kelly) Gotlieb and (Allan) Borodin interviewed: http://socialissues.cs.toronto.edu/2013/01/interview-p1/
Vint Cerf (Internet inventor) “Social Issues in Computing And The Internet”: http://socialissues.cs.toronto.edu/2013/01/social-issues-and-internet/
John Leslie King, W.W. Bishop Professor of Information, University of Michigan, “Privacy: It’s Harder Than We Thought”: http://socialissues.cs.toronto.edu/2013/01/privacy-harder-than-we-thought/
William H. Dutton, Professor of Internet Studies, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, “The Enduring Social Issues in Computing”: http://socialissues.cs.toronto.edu/2013/01/enduring-social-issues-in-computing/
Stephen Ibaraki, Founder and Chair, IFIP IP3 Global Industry Council (part 1 of three/four articles), “ICT E-Skills and Professionalism in 2013”: http://socialissues.cs.toronto.edu/2013/01/ict-professionalism-in-2013-p1/
Stephen Ibaraki, Founder and Chair, IFIP IP3 Global Industry Council (part 2 of three/four articles), “PERSPECTIVES ON ICT PROFESSIONALISM IN 2013”: http://socialissues.cs.toronto.edu/2013/02/ict-professionalism-2013/
John DiMarco, IT Director Department of Computer Science and Blog Editor states: “In 1973, Kelly Gotlieb and Allan Borodin’s seminal book, Social Issues in Computing, was published by Academic Press. It tackled a wide array of topics: Information Systems and Privacy; Systems, Models and Simulations; Computers and Planning; Computer System Security; Computers and Employment; Power shifts in Computing; Professionalization and Responsibility; Computers in Developing Countries; Computers in the Political Process; Antitrust actions and Computers; and Values in Technology and Computing, to name a few. The book was among the very first to deal with these topics in a coherent and consistent fashion, helping to form the then-nascent field of Computing and Society. In the ensuing decades, as computers proliferated dramatically and their importance skyrocketed, the issues raised in the book have only become more important. The year 2013, the 40th anniversary of the book, provides an opportunity to reflect on the many aspects of Computing and Society touched on by the book, as they have developed over the four decades since it was published. After soliciting input from the book’s authors and from distinguished members of the Computers and Society intellectual community, we decided that this blog, with insightful articles from a variety of sources, was a fitting and suitable way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the book.”
Phaneesh Murthy, currently the CEO of iGATE, has over the last two decades created three large transformations in the Global IT industry. In recognition of his exemplary entrepreneurship, Phaneesh received the "Outstanding Entrepreneurship" Award for 2011, instituted by Enterprise Asia.
In the 1990s, Phaneesh Murthy was an integral part of the industry that created the huge IT Outsourcing market in India. As the Global Sales Head of Infosys, he has been widely credited as the one who was responsible for taking the organization from just $2 million in revenues to $700 million in under 10 years.
Over the last decade, Phaneesh has embarked upon his second large transformation. Eight years since taking over as the CEO of iGATE, Phaneesh has transformed iGATE from a loss making staffing firm with negative margins, to a best-in-class earnings growth company with high focus on profitability, through his industry pioneering Business Outcomes based delivery model, that has now come to be accepted in the industry and is increasingly being adopted by Global customers. Under Phaneesh's leadership, iGATE grew from $80 million to $1 billion in under eight years. This has clearly reconfirmed Phaneesh as a thought leader in the industry.
Phaneesh's third transformation is already being pegged as a big trendsetter for the industry. Against all odds, in 2011 Phaneesh challenged the previously unheard of scenario of a mid-sized IT company buying out a company that is more than double its size, with the vision of making the combined entity not just a large Tier 1 player delivering Business Outcomes based solutions, but also one that would have the best-in-class earnings growth in the industry.
Phaneesh's achievements include:
When not at work, Phaneesh loves reading murder mysteries and engaging in adventure sports.
Phaneesh graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai and did his Masters at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad — India's premier Technology and Management Institutes.
Sample links to Phaneesh's media conversations:
To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link
DISCUSSION:
:00:26: Phaneesh, thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience. "....It's a pleasure to be here and I'm happy to share some of my thoughts...."
:00:41: Phaneesh, can you profile your work history and provide a defining and usable lesson you wish to share from all of these major events and roles in your life? "....You have to keep a very open mind throughout the integration process....To me the percentage of ownership multiplied by the value you can create is the value you will end of getting and not just the percentage of ownership....Never worry about dreaming big or bold, but always follow it up with changing the rules of the game...."
:06:14: Is there anything more that you can add about best practices and lessons for the founding of companies? "....Never found a company with friends-only as your partners (if you don't know their work ethics, their appetite to run the long race, or what their stressors are in terms of liquidity needs)...."
:08:23: What are the tremendous opportunities for innovative IT approaches with businesses out there? "....At the end of the day, the mega changes or the mega jumps you can make in your business performance is only by innovation. Incremental changes you can make in your business performance by process improvement...."
:12:14: What are the advantages of outcomes-based models? "....With the 'dollars for time' model what you end up doing is you produce more time, which is not what the customer wants. With the outcomes-based model it creates a much better alignment between the customer and the vendor creating potential for better partnerships and at the end of the day it makes more people pull in the same direction of more outcomes....It's the integrated model and that is the big change I think that we are trying to bring about in the industry..."
:16:50: Why are large IT solution providers well positioned to take on more risk, and make the initial investments in technology and operations to better serve their customers? "....It's just a question of resources, you have more intellectual capability available....more financial capital available....and you can deploy the two together to really invest something for the future...."
:18:29: Which emerging technologies or movements do you find exciting, scary, or that promise to alter our lives? "....I believe that the world is going to get more and more complex; we are going to get better tools to get more productive. At the same time, it's scary as to how much technology overtakes our lives and you feel almost completely inept when you don't have all of that technology at your service..."
:23:43: What changes do you foresee to the skills needed for this future? How can we prepare the workforce for this new reality? "....Most people, having been exposed to very sophisticated consumer applications, expect the same level of sophistication in the business applications....The ability to write such simplified applications requires complex thinking and work and I think that's where the future will go more and more. The biggest change I find is miniaturization....The concepts of how budgeting and planning will be done, in addition to the technical skills, I think will all start to change...."
:27:23: Do you feel computing should be a recognized profession on par with accounting, medicine and law with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, personal responsibility, public accountability, quality assurance and recognized credentials? [See http://www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council] "....I believe that computing is a profession because at the end the day if you look at it, more than 55 — 60 percent of Fortune 500 capital investments have something to do with technology....As you formally get computing as a profession, the biggest improvement that I think will happen will be in quality standards and quality assurance for all the output in the industry, and I think that will be a very important thing...."
:31:26: Phaneesh shares some stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected or amazing), from his extensive speaking, travels and work. "....You (can) assume so much about people....Never assume anything...."
:36:49: Phaneesh, if you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask and then what would be your answer? "....What qualities or traits might make a good leader?...."
:38:55: Phaneesh, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience. "....Thank you very much, it was a pleasure...."
Music by Sunny Smith Productions and Shaun O'Leary
We gather and receive feedback in a lot of ways at Microsoft. One of the things that has been clear to us, (regardless of where the feedback comes from) is that you'd like us to spend a little more time on Windows 8.
We've heard you loud and clear so in addition to hands on events that we've been running, we're also delivering more technical content online via our blog. Windows 8 continues to be a big area of focus for us (because it's something you want to hear about). We covered a lot of great content at launch and we've complimented that with new content like:
In addition to this, there are some great online resources you can use like Microsoft Virtual Academy, our no-cost online training portal. Or software evaluations (free trials) on TechNet that allow you to build your own labs to try out what you've learned.
We always attempt to strike a balance in the ways we engage with you. A balance between online and in person training, a balance of content that is focused on you as an end user or the technical go to person or as the technical decision maker in your company. One of the ways we strike this balance is by listening to your feedback and providing more of what you ask for.
We collect feedback in a lot of ways, one of the really important ones is something called the Global Relationship Study (GRS for short). It's a survey Microsoft sends out twice a year to collect your feedback. So if you receive emails from us, subscribe to our newsletters‚ or you've attended our any of our events you may receive the survey. The important details:
Many of you already read our blogs‚ connect with us on LinkedIn and have attended our events in the last year or so. So you may already know that you're our top priority. So we want to hear from you.We use the GRS results to shape what we do. How we do it and if it's resonating with you. Tell us what you need to be the "go-to" guy (or gal). Tell us what you need to grow your career. We want you to be completely satisfied with Microsoft Canada.
Regardless of how you engage with us‚ you'd probably agree that we hear you. I'd also encourage you to continue to provide that great feedback. We thrive on it‚ we relish it‚ we wallow in it and most importantly of all‚ we action it. So please keep connecting with us and keep it coming! We're listening.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I have a ChinaValue interview with Nova Spivack that I conducted with Alex Lin (CEO of ChinaValue). I highly recommend that you read over the full-text of the interview which is provided in the link below after Nova’s profile (and above in the second sentence) or listen to the interview in its entirety. I can say that this is the most in-depth interview that I have been involved with in my over 20 years of interviewing. This speaks to the historical impact and far reaching depth of Nova’s work.
Nova Spivack is a technology futurist, serial Internet entrepreneur, and one of the leading voices on the next-generation of search, social media, and the Web. He works as a producer of emerging technology ventures including Twine.com, Live Matrix, Klout, Bottlenose, The Daily Dot, StreamGlider, and a stealth-mode new energy company.
In 1994 Nova co-founded one of the first Web startups, EarthWeb, which led to a record-breaking IPO in 1998, and a second IPO DICE.com in 2007. Nova worked with Stanford Research International (SRI), to conceive and co-found their global business incubator nVention, and on the DARPA CALO program, the most ambitious artificial intelligence project in US history.
He is a frequent speaker and blogger, and has written guest-articles for TechCrunch, GigaOM, and SiliconAngle. Nova has authored more than 30 granted and pending patents. He earned his BA in Philosophy from Oberlin College in 1991, with a focus on the philosophy of mind and artificial intelligence. In 1992, he attended the International Space University, a NASA-funded graduate-level professional school for the space industry.
In 1999, he flew to the edge of space with the Russian Air Force and did zero-gravity flight training with the Russian Space Agency as one of the early pioneers of space tourism, which later led to his angel investment in Zero Gravity Corporation, which was acquired by Space Adventures.
He is chairman of The Earth Dashboard initiative, a new non-profit initiative to build a shared online dashboard to visualize the real-time state of the planet, and he serves on the board of directors and advisory boards of numerous startups.
Nova is the eldest grandson of the late management guru Peter Drucker.
He writes about the emerging edge of the Web via Twitter at @novaspivack and his site novaspivack.com. Additional details and history related to Nova Spivack can be found on his site, and his Wikipedia page.
More Details Nova speaks internationally and advises governments and corporations on product strategy and the future of the Web. He has co-authored books on Internet strategy and collective intelligence, and has authored hundreds of articles about the Web.
During the late 1980's and early 1990's while in high-school and college, Nova worked as a software engineer and product marketer with artificial intelligence and supercomputing ventures including Xerox Kurzweil, Thinking Machines, and Individual Inc. He also participated in computer science research at MIT focused on cellular automata.
Nova has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism for over 20 years and has pursued this interest extensively in monasteries, refugee camps and communities in Nepal, India, Europe and the USA. He focuses his philanthropic activities on helping to fund the preservation of Tibet's unique wisdom culture.
While a student at Oberlin College, Nova did a winter term internship as a production assistant at Paramount Studios, working on Star Trek, The Next Generation.
In the mid 1990's Nova co-authored a series of patents for early Web-TV convergence for a product called HyperTV, owned by ACTV. The patents covered simulcasting URLs and metadata on the television vertical blanking interval (VBI) in order to display relevant Web pages next to live television content on suitably instrumented TVs and PCs. The patents were later sold to Disney.
Nova is also currently running a $10K challenge to create unblockable, anonymous, encrypted mobile internet access, in response to recent brutal crackdowns in Tibet, Myanmar and Iran where local governments were able to block, censor, and spy on Web access by their citizens.
Media & Press
Nova has been featured, cited, and has contributed guest articles in numerous media outlets such as: AdWeek, Atlantic Monthly, BusinessWeek, Business 2.0, The BBC, CBS Evening News, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, CNBC, CNET, CNN, Der Spiegel, the Discovery Channel, Download Squad, the Economist, Entrepreneur, the Financial Times, Gartner, GigaOm, the Guardian, Guidewire, Industry Standard, Infoworld, Information Week, Interactive Age, International Herald Tribune, the L.A. Times, Mashable, the MIT Technology Review, the New Scientist, Newsweek, the New York Times, NPR, the Observer UK, PC Magazine, PC World, ReadWriteWeb, Red Herring, Reuters, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, SiliconAngle, TechCrunch, the Times Online, Venturebeat, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, WIRED and ZDNet
Nova has authored hundreds of articles and co-authored several books on Internet strategy and technology, and led the EarthWeb Press publishing imprint with Macmillan Computer Publishing.
Invited Talks
Nova gave over 30 talks in 2009 – 2010, to both technical and business audiences. For videos of some of these talks please click here.
He has spoken, moderated, and served as a judge at numerous conferences and industry events including: BlogTalk, Defrag, DEMO, DigitalNow, the Financial Times Digital Media Conference, the Future in Review, GigaOm's Bunker sessions, the Highlands Forum, Internet World, Internet Expo, the International Semantic Web Conference, the Island Forum, the Kleiner Perkins CIO Strategy Exchange, MIT's Emtech, NextWeb, NewTeeVee, SDForum, the Semantic Technology Conference, SIBOS, the Singularity Summit, Search Engine Strategies, Stanford/MIT's VLAB, Supernova, SXSW, TTI Vanguard, and The Web 2.0 Summit.
Nova has also given guest lectures and keynotes for the MBA programs at Harvard University, Stanford University and Berkeley, as well as to several business schools in Europe. In addition, Nova has advised governments, defense and intelligence agencies in the United States as well as Asia on the near-term and long-term future of the Web.
http://www.novaspivack.com/about
To listen to the interview, Click on this MP3 file link
To read the text from the podcast, click on this FULL TEXT FROM PODCAST.
:00:09:
Stephen Ibaraki: Welcome today to our interview series with outstanding professionals. We are conducting an exclusive interview with Nova Spivack: celebrated, world-renowned pioneering global technology visionary, innovator, strategist, entrepreneur and investor. Nova, you have an incredible history of notable historical distinction, significant outstanding contributions in so many fields, as a globally top ranking authority in technology, innovation, strategy, entrepreneurship and investment. Thank you for sharing your considerable expertise deep accumulated insights and wisdom with our audience.
Nova Spivack: "....You're welcome. I'm happy to be here...."
:00:49:
Stephen Ibaraki: So Nova, as I mentioned, you are really a historical figure, and you continue to make significant contributions to the world. Can you highlight what you consider to be your top four contributions and their lasting historical significance?
Nova Spivack: "....I helped start one of the first web companies in the world called EarthWeb....I helped launch and evangelize Java technology, working on a number of projects with Sun Microsystems, one was called Gamelan and [we] started the World Java Developers Alliance....I worked on the early days of Semantic Web, pioneering the concept of smart data, helping to evangelize that through Twine.com....What I'm doing now is a new model for innovation, which I think of as a production studio, but for creating technology ventures....I have 7 different new startup ventures, working on emerging technology frontiers....I'm also working on Wireless Power and other interesting projects...."
:02:42:
Stephen Ibaraki: It's interesting you mentioned that you worked with Java early on at Sun. Did you also work with Eric Schmidt at that time?
Nova Spivack: "....I certainly knew Eric, and we did interact at the time he was CTO over there...."
:03:01:
Stephen Ibaraki: Can you profile (and you've mentioned this already in terms of some of your venture work) your current and future areas of focus and why they resonate with you?
Nova Spivack: "....Some themes in my work....Trying to use massive amounts of data to create smarter applications and services....Entrepreneurial endeavors, and helping to start ventures and figuring out ways to get early stage ideas to market inexpensively and quickly....Augmented reality, where I think in partnership with intelligent assistants we'll be annotating and extending our experience of the physical world as we move around....New energy technologies, new ways of generating and distributing energy that can free us from fossil fuel, and can also make the use of existing energy far more efficient...."
:05:51:
Stephen Ibaraki: Wow, that's a really amazing array of projects you're working on with your ventures and themes. I guess then from your current role there must be some top challenges and top opportunities within all of these different ventures that you're working on.
Nova Spivack: "....Finding [good] investors is always a challenge; we've been lucky to find a lot of them....I think the next big challenge is talent, attracting entrepreneurs to be involved in these companies...."
:07:34:
Stephen Ibaraki: What kinds of lessons shaped your life and you think would be useful to the audience?
Nova Spivack: ....Growing up with my grandfather, Peter Drucker, who is a well-known management theorist. He was a huge influence on me as a child and through my college years....When I attended the International Space University, which is an international program to train business and technical leaders of the Space industry....When I started EarthWeb....More recently, a very big experience was the death of my father, which just happened few months ago...."
:10:01:
Stephen Ibaraki: Now, can you make your predictions of the future, their implications, how we can best prepare?
Nova Spivack: "....What happens as we augment reality and if that trend continues?....There will come a point when we have so much information about any decision that we're going to make and information of what other people have done in the same situation....We'll have so much information influencing that decision that it won't be even our decision anymore...."
:12:59:
Stephen Ibaraki: How does that tie-in with this concept of singularity or with Kurzweil's concept of singularity, or does it?
Nova Spivack: "....I think this is a similar concept, you can think of it as he's talking about technological singularity, and I suppose, I'm talking about a psychological, or spiritual singularity...."
:13:56:
Stephen Ibaraki: Wow, that's really fascinating. I can see the implications, and it's good to get this into the broader conversation as you were doing. Now, the next thing series of questions comes from Alex Lin, who is the founder and CEO of China Value. And I'm going to be quoting him through the next series of questions.
:14:15:
Alex Lin: Thank you for accepting this interview with China Value. Your contributions into semantic web and global brain will change the world. Please explain your ideas around the concept of the global brain, a term coined by Howard Bloom. And can you quickly profile and comment on critical ideas in this field from a few others that you feel are noteworthy?
Nova Spivack: "....Probably one of the earliest references to it started with H.G. Wells who predicted that one day in the future there would be a global encyclopedia that everybody would have equal access to....Teilhard de Chardin believed that there was a realm of ideas, the environment of ideas and intelligence, and that we were heading towards a point in time when the whole universe would wake up and become conscious and aware....Gregory Stock wrote a book called Metaman in which he talked about how there are many systems today: economic systems, medical systems, agricultural systems and manufacturing systems around the world that really cannot function without the rest of the global infrastructure supporting them....Francis Heylighen spent many years on a big project online called Principia Cybernetica, which is basically a set of algorithms and essays about collective intelligence and how to help large collective intelligences learn on the Web....Howard Bloom's primary contribution has been to remind us that the global brain is already here, and has been here since the beginning of time....Ray Kurzweil and his concept of singularity....Kevin Kelly has been working writing books and papers about his views on collective intelligence...."
:20:11:
Stephen Ibaraki: Those are some very interesting ideas and people you brought forward. I'm just thinking in 2012, they are saying that there is going to be a solar max, so what impact will that have on the global brain that is really dependent on computational power, and then there's this other concept, or Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am).
Nova Spivack: "....We do have terrible solar storms that some people have predicted. That will be something catastrophic, but we'll survive it....As far as, "I think, therefore I am", I actually as a Buddhist look at it the other way, I think it’s "I am, therefore I think", which is I think a more Buddhist view on that...."
:21:44:
Stephen Ibaraki: I guess this ties into Penrose's work in this area about consciousness.
:21:49:
Alex Lin: Now, what do you think about the argument that there will be an emerging global brain, and we've talked about this already, the worldwide mind? What are your views on the emergence of a global group of simply connected entities of independent people?
Nova Spivack: "....I do think the worldwide mind is already here, it's existed for ages....You can look at all those different technologies, adding up to really improving the efficiency with which humans distribute knowledge.....Knowledge and intelligence are two different things. You can say knowledge is the data, and intelligence is the program, the process....So the next big step is we're doing for intelligence what we're doing for knowledge. As that happens, then I really think we can start to say that intelligence lives on its own, outside of us in the Web...."
:25:14:
Stephen Ibaraki: It sounds like something that you can get Paul Allan to fund as he was funding the SETI project.
Nova Spivack: "....Effectively, that is what he is doing. He has a number of projects that are working on the frontiers of artificial intelligence today...."
:25:27:
Alex Lin: Now can you explain your key points about WebOS and the software-understanding based web (that is machine-understanding based web). Do you have any new updates since you published your map of web evolution?
Nova Spivack: "....Today that operating system is no longer on the desktop; even though we have operating systems, the important operating system is out on the web....Right now there's fierce competition in that space – just like there was for desktop operating systems in the 90s....If it develops, it will enable much more universal, powerful, more intelligent applications...."
:31:46:
Stephen Ibaraki: I guess there have been enormous strides made in what you call machines learning, it's used widely today (although it's more the brute force method).
:31:56:
Alex Lin: Now, what do you mean by the singularity in 2029 (when the human brain equals $1)?
Nova Spivack: "....That's really a Kurzweil idea. One set of predictions shows that in 2029 the computing power, equivalent to the computing power of a single human brain, will cost about one dollar....If we had an infinite amount of time, will it ever happen?....Ultimately we may find that every brain is just a piece of a much larger computer, the universe - and you can't separate those two things....So it's a deep philosophical question, but on a technical level, whether it's all the computation of the human brain or just a huge amount of computation, I think it will happen within a few decades...."
:36:47:
Stephen Ibaraki: I guess then this extends into quantum computing, twin particle effect, and all the possibilities that can come from that.
:36:55:
Alex Lin: Now the next question is about the global brain, not just being related to information technology, but also philosophy, sociology, economics, politics and cultural anthropology and so on. We can even say it's related to the next stage in civilization: the question "Who are you?" is based on our evolutionary definition of the concept of human. Can you give us your idea of how matter becomes imagination, this idea in a book by a Nobel Prize winner, Gerald Edelman?
Nova Spivack: "....When we talk about the global brain, an analogous thing might arise: if there ever is a global brain, will it have a self? Will it have one self, or many? Will it be an actual real thing that we can point to, or will it just be some data somewhere, that's just a bunch of labels but not really an actual self? So what is self? Same question, just a different level of scale...."
:47:03:
Stephen Ibaraki: Fascinating, all of these ideas, that you're putting out and gives much pause for everybody to contemplate. I guess it goes into this next question from Alex.
:47:16:
Alex Lin: I think the evolution of the Internet starts with the evolution of philosophical thinking. The founder of LinkedIn is a philosopher and you're a philosopher, as the founder of Radar networks and as the philosopher Nelson Goodman said, "The world is made rather than the world is discovered." For me my ideas are influenced by Popper and Kuhn, László. Can you share who influenced you and tell us something about your philosophy?
Nova Spivack: "....If we really want to see what's going on at a larger scale, if we want to see outside the system that we're in, if we want to see the background not the foreground, then you have to go to a different level...."
:55:32:
Stephen Ibaraki: That's fascinating, and I guess it extends beyond Daniel Dennett and "Consciousness Explained" or the work of Brooks at MIT, this sort of insect behavior being modeled very simply by very simple rules and computers. There's this next question, and Alex says, he's one of the advisors of the Peter Drucker Academy in China, and he wrote an article in 2009, in the year of 100th celebration of Peter Drucker. He says:
:56:00:
Alex Lin: I hold in high esteem his "Knowledge Society" and I'm putting all my efforts to make it happen through chinavalue.net. What do you see as the top three influences of your grandfather, and how has your grandfather's global influence shaped your thinking and your life? Mr. Drucker once commented that knowledge is enterprise. Can you please comment on how knowledge sharing, creation and management help business?
Nova Spivack: "....His [my grandfather's] mind wasn't limited to one field, and he made amazing connections and really integrated different fields, different trends and different thoughts in ways people had never seen before....He is well known for coming up with the term "knowledge worker" and he pioneered this whole idea that instead of creating value with their hands, people were going to create the value with their minds, and that was going to be the next big thing....At a later part of my grandfather's life, he focused on helping non-profit organizations and the social sector to develop new disciplines, new tools, and to become more professional, more mature, more evolved as a sector...."
:01:03:18:
Stephen Ibaraki: I can see the influences though, and then you adding to those influences to make your long-lasting historical contributions. It's a really interesting this idea of reaching back in the past and integrating those lessons, contrary to Eckhart Tolle's idea of living in the now. This concept that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, and maybe they're in conflict; how do you resolve that?
:01:03:49:
Alex Lin: Now, in your social semantic solutions, how do you deal with this fragmentation of the semantic web? And a follow-up question would be: I think Nick Bostrom's simulation hypothesis sounds like a contemporary version of the incompleteness theorem of Gödel's mathematics. What are your views on this?
Nova Spivack: "....How you deal with the fragmentation of the semantic web?....There are standards the World Wide Web consortium Tim Berners-Lee and the standards of the semantic web were designed to get everybody using one language for saying what a piece of data means, so all applications and software could understand it...Unless people adopt those standards, it won’t be solved....Nick Bostrom's simulation hypothesis essentially says that "probability indicates that it's likely that we are living in a simulation"....I think the problem with Nick Bostrom's hypothesis is that it leads to a conclusion that it's simulations all the way down, so it doesn't necessarily tell us anything all that useful....The answer you get from that is basically more concept. The answer is beyond concepts...."
:01:15:31:
Stephen Ibaraki: Great. It's quite a fascinating discussion. We sort of turned in questioning back to the global brain and semantic web.
:01:15:36:
Alex Lin: So in your view, what are the visionary milestones of the global brain and semantic web? And the next question is what would be the evolution in the business model and the future with regards of these two?
Nova Spivack: "....The global brain already exists and has existed since we've had language. It's just gotten more global and become more and more of a brain over time. You can just say it's a collective intelligence of humanity....I think the critical threshold is when the parts can no longer function independently of one another, when they become a part of a whole....That new organism would be a combination of humans and machines and software, and maybe other species too, and we'll be operating at a global scale...."
:01:28:34:
Stephen Ibaraki: So the global brain is the Borg of the future?
Nova Spivack: "....It's a very negative view of the global brain, that by being in a global brain, you somehow become an automaton, you can lose your value, you can become a worker bee in a hive, become expendable. That's one vision of the global brain, but that's not the only vision of it...."
:01:35:34:
Alex Lin: I found some amazing accidents. You and I were born in the same year, 1969, and Nick Bostrom and I were born on the same day, March 10th. It's the call of destiny. I'm thinking that we should build a long term dialogue between us around both the technology and philosophy of the West and China. Last year I talked to a managerial guru, Peter Senge, the concept coiner of Organizational Learning. Chinese philosophy, especially the philosophy of Taoism and the Book of Change, can make great contributions to the world civilization during this '2nd Axial Time' (Karl T. Jaspers, 1883-1969). In speaking draft, I'm integrating the wholeness and dualistic-symbiosis change of Chinese philosophy with the Theory of the General System and Evolution and Quanta Transition of Western philosophy. History always replays: about one hundred years ago modern physics owed its achievements to a combination of Chinese and Western ideas. Now as Internet stories happened, I see an integration of Chinese and Western ideas again evolving further. What are your thoughts on this?
Nova Spivack: "....I think that China and the Chinese philosophy bring history, and the Western approach (The United States, Europe and emerging Western countries) can bring new ideas and if you combine them, you can do something really good. I don't think either one on its own would be as good as the combination. ...."
:01:39:23:
Stephen Ibaraki: It's interesting, (Alex brought this out), this idea that you were born around the same time. Do you believe in those kinds of coincidences?
Nova Spivack: "....I think there are a lot of people that were born the same time, not necessarily the same day, but the same generation, who all have the same idea that is driving them...."
:01:40:11:
Stephen Ibaraki: Or maybe it ties to what Malcolm Gladwell talked about people who were born in mid-50s (Gates, Jobs and others), who made these contributions. It seems to be these different sorts of eras.
Nova Spivack: "....It's interesting, for example, how the different people from different parts of the world who have never met all start thinking about the same thing. You get a bunch of start-ups, which were all worked in secret, and at the same time they develop similar ideas...."
:01:41:17:
Stephen Ibaraki: A hundred years from now when we reflect back, there was this recent IBM-Jeopardy Challenge. Do you think that will be some kind of an inflection point?
Nova Spivack: "....I think it was a nice PR stunt. Does it say anything significant, does it establish anything of lasting importance? No, I don't think so...."
:01:42:08:
Stephen Ibaraki: Nova, it's been a real pleasure talking with you, and I know your schedule is very demanding, so we are fortunate to have you come in and do this interview. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, substantial experience and historical contributions with our audience.
Nova Spivack: "....Thank you. It's been my pleasure and I look forward to hearing the interview...."
Hear deep insights from the top-awarding-winning Stacey Cerniuk, Founder and CEO of Annex Consulting Group, Entrepreneur, Innovating Executive, Business & Technology Authority. Ask yourself these questions and how do your experiences stack up against Stacey’s? Stacey shares top success attributes for professionals working as: CEOs, leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, HR managers, recent graduates, experienced professionals (early, mid, and senior levels), developers, project managers, business analysts, management consultants, and infrastructure professionals. How do your experiences compare with Stacey’s based upon his insights from achieving a 97% customer satisfaction rating?
Stacey discusses labour market and job trends, top opportunities and challenges, and project lessons. How are these areas impacting you? He provides the benefits of involvement with PMI, CIPS (professional associations), advisory roles, and non-profits. What are your views on volunteering and what is the value?
Stacey discusses why computing professionals and executives should be attending the World CIO Forum. Why would you agree?
Should computing be a recognized profession? Stacey provides his views and on questions he would ask in an interview.
Enjoy, Stephen Ibaraki
Stacey Cerniuk is the founder, President and CEO of Annex Consulting Group. Stacey has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computing Science from Simon Fraser University and 23 years of IT industry experience as a business analyst, project manager, management consultant and entrepreneur. He was a Forty Under Forty winner recognizing the top business people in British Columbia under the age of 40.
Stacey is actively involved in a number of IT industry associations and academic programs:
Stacey's company, Annex Consulting Group, is an IT consulting and recruitment company specializing in applications development, project management, network infrastructure, business analysis and management consulting services. Annex staffs its projects from the Annex Alliance, a membership of 8000 independent IT and business consultants in BC. Annex has completed 1,200 IT projects for 250 different clients since 1998 with an industry-leading 97% customer satisfaction rating.
Under Stacey's leadership, Annex has been recognized with many awards:
Away from the office, Stacey has coached a boy's select soccer team for the last ten years. He also enjoys reading, exercising and goal setting.
:00:54: Stacey, can you profile your history prior to your current role and three valuable leadership lessons you wish to share from these roles? "....As an HR manager:....Use the 80:20 principle to look at your business and really concentrate on the key 20% in your organization....Being an entrepreneur:....Do what I did when I started and that is to join a Mastermind forum of fellow CEOs....My third leadership lesson is more around setting goals:....Define what success means to you, define your goals (make sure your write them down), then create an action plan for accomplishing them...."
:09:07: Can you profile Annex? "....We're an IT consultant and recruitment company and we serve the Pacific Northwest region of North America....What I'm very proud of is across all of the projects that Annex has done since 1998, we have a 97% customer satisfaction rating which we believe to be the highest in the industry...."
:11:50: I know you have over 8000 IT and business consultants now. What are your objectives this year, in two years and in five years? "....We're happy to see the back end of 2009 and 2010, so our objective this year is significant growth as we emerge from the downturn....Two years down the road....more geographic expansion in Western Canada and Westcoast US....Five years from now, more geographic expansion either organically or through acquisition and then making sure that we are adjusting with the market in terms of what our customers are expecting...."
:13:56: What about your long term exit strategy or do you have one? "....Everybody has that option to change careers or finish working. More interesting exit strategies for me are to have Annex acquired by a bigger company as part of its growth strategy.....We could end up grooming someone new to run the business, like an internal manager where I may stay on at a Chair level or leave the business (have someone take it over). Or perhaps the option where the employees decide to take it on themselves...."
:15:10: What five attributes make for a successful developer? "....Solid technical skills and aptitude at what they do....Lifelong learning....Problem-solving (which also includes creativity)....Attention to detail....Strong communicator...."
:17:18: What five attributes make for a successful project manager? "....Communication (verbal, written, facilitation, listening)....Leadership skills....Experience....Planning skills....A combination of problem-solving and decision-making...."
:20:28: What attributes make for a successful business analyst? "....There will be some overlap here....Verbal and written communication....Interviewing skills....Analytical thinking....Interpersonal skills are key....Industry knowledge....Attitude (get things done)...."
:22:18: What attributes make for a successful management consultant? "....Communication for sure....Being that big-picture thinker....Being strategic in nature....Leadership skills....Deep business experience...."
:23:16: What five attributes make for a successful infrastructure professional? "....Strong technical aptitude in those networking and infrastructure technologies....Lifelong learning becomes key....Problem-solving....Detail oriented....Integrity...."
:24:27: Can you provide attributes for success for other roles in computing based upon your experiences at Annex? "....I think there are some common themes around what attributes are key for success: Communication skills....Technical aptitude in the relevant technology areas....Lifelong learning....Interpersonal skills to build relationships and strong emotional intelligence, being compatible....Your hard skills will get you your first contract with the client, but it's really the soft skills that will get that person repeat business...."
:26:03: In your current role, what are your top challenges and top opportunities? "....Top challenges: The availability of talented people to do project work....To raise awareness of our services and to do marketing on a tight budget....Managing growth....Opportunities: For Annex we have great opportunity for expanding to new geographic markets....Some of the new lines of businesses that we're working on we really see a number of areas in the market that are being underserved. I recommend people read the book "Blue Ocean Strategy" by Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne...."
:30:00: Can you forecast job trends this year and next? "....There's an industry watchdog in Canada called Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) and they monitor the Canadian IT industry. They've recently come out with a labour market report and they are predicting that here in Canada, Canadian employers are going to need to hire an additional 106,000 ICT workers for information and technology workers between 2011 and 2016...."
:32:01: Sometimes when people hear the stats about a labour shortage, they think about the overall field. But really it's a skills shortage in specific areas, isn't it? "....It can be both labour and skills. 106,000 people for sure is a labour shortage in IT, but within that 106,000 – if we slice and dice that down and take a look at what are some of the key fields, there will definitely be some key areas that will be more in demand than others. What is in demand will change over time...."
:33:17: For recent graduates, what areas should they focus on? "....They definitely need to focus on technical competency in the areas that interest them the most....People need to be adaptable and open to change and to build some of those general skills like soft skills that will help them regardless of what career they choose...."
:35:17: For experienced IT professionals, what areas should they focus on from a career and job standpoint? "....I think younger workers are going to get management opportunities earlier than the baby boomers did. The experienced IT professionals who may be at intermediate levels or maybe even senior levels, they may want to focus as well on general management skills to progress their careers, because I think there are going to be a lot of opportunities in leadership as these more senior people leave industry. So general management skills like leadership, communication, negotiation, conflict resolution....even industry specialization...."
:36:35: What are your current projects and what one lesson can you share from each of your major projects? "....We have hundreds but I will try to grab a couple here. One is a software development team project - we're doing a web-based registration system....The lesson I can share is that it's important to have a dedicated project manager on the team....Project number two is more a series of engagements that we are doing for a large organization, a multi-billion dollar organization....I want to remind people, it may seem obvious to some but change management is key and don’t forget about it in large scale technology projects...."
:39:18: Why would you recommend people get involved with Project Management Institute (PMI)? "....PMI is the largest and most recognized project management association in the world. They also manage the PMP certification....PIMBOK, the project management body of knowledge, is the most widely used PM practices in the world so it's good exposure to that guideline....For me personally all that is great stuff, but I like being involved in these associations because there's a networking component with like-minded peers where you can share your experiences and collaborate and raise your personal profile and there are educational benefits as well...."
:40:59: Why would you recommend people get involved with Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)? "....For me the big benefit and what I like about being involved with CIPS is the networking with peers and seeing others in the industry and sharing experiences. There's always an educational and learning component to associations. I am not only involved with CIPS as a member, but I was on the Board for many years and I also got involved to give back to the local IT community...."
:42:05: What are the benefits of some of the advisory roles you perform? "....A lot of it [the benefits] is around giving back to the industry that's been so good to me....Advisory Council at UBC for their Certificate and Project Management Progam: I get to help shape Project Management and project managers of the future, how the training is done and how they are being educated, based on my experience....Advisor for UBC Certificate and Business Analysis. I get to be involved to ensure that the new program at UBC conforms to industry standards in Business Analysis....Advisor to small businesses because I feel that I can, based on my experiences, accelerate entrepreneurs in their businesses....Career advisor to a number of computing students at local universities, colleges. It gives me pleasure to be involved and to help shape someone's life and hopefully add value to them....."
:44:26: You are a mentor in an organization called S.U.C.C.E.S.S.; can you tell us what that involves? "....S.U.C.C.E.S.S. is a not-for-profit organization which has a whole variety of services. One area I'm involved in is helping new immigrants adapt to life in Canada....S.U.C.C.E.S.S. knows that my expertise is in technology so what they often do is to assign me new Canadians who have technology backgrounds and then I can help to mentor them and get them ‘up to speed’ on what Canadian companies are looking for...."
:45:42: Please make some predictions from a technological standpoint about where things are going in the future, their implications, and how we can best prepare? "....My expertise is around IT consulting so I will try to make predictions around that area....The supply shortage of IT professionals in Canada will continue the future and more likely than not it's going to get worse....The consulting industry is going to continue to flourish....Small business and particularly this idea of freelance consulting is not just a trend but it's an economic powerhouse in our country and it drives the economy and jobs...."
:49:09: Why should IT executives attend the IFIP World CIO Forum or WCF [Editor=s note: For more information go to: www.worldcioforum.com; Call for papers; WCF news in the IFIP Newsletter]. "....There are organizations for CIOs in various countries, for example in Canada we have CIOCAN, but it's rare to have a world CIO conference....This is a great way to increase collaboration between IT leaders....There's an education and learning component to hearing the speakers and understanding what others are doing in other countries....It's an opportunity to network and raise your personal profile...."
:50:29: What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession like medicine and law, with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized credentials? [See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council] "....We as an industry still have some work to do to get to that point, but we are definitely making progress....Outside of healthcare, businesses in general depend on technology every day....If we're so reliant on that technology then we are also relying on the competency and the professionalism of the people who create and manage that technology. That’s why we need a recognized governing body and certification with a Code of Ethics for the body of knowledge....IP3 is taking a leadership role to foster professionalism in the IT industry worldwide...."
:53:51: If you were conducting this interview, what questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers? "....In order to get to know you better can you share some of your life goals and what’s on your bucket list?....What five people (living or not) would you invite for dinner?....What three books would you recommend?...."
----------------------------------------
How can people complain to me they're not getting ahead and then also tell me they're not reading very much?
If you're not reading regularly, significantly, virtually every day for at least an hour, your development is lagging. Professionals interested in their own self-development read voraciously.
Start or re-start now.
One of my best friends in my entire life is Michael Swenson. At our conferences, Michael often shares one of his favorite quotes: to know and not to do is not to know. It always reminds me of, the man who can read but doesn't is no better off than the man who can't.
I know - you're too busy. But get this: in 2008, the President of the United States read 40 books. He's busier than you are!
Business professionals have to keep up with more than television headlines. To say nothing of the fact that television is the arch-enemy of readers, anyway.
A refresher:
READ.
If you’re not familiar with Manager Tools, take the time to check them out. They have a regular podcast which is well worth listening to for any manager. Now if you don’t mind…I think one of those books on my nightstand is calling my name.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview London School of Economics (LSE) Alumni Alex Lin Yong Qing. Alex is a leading CEO in China who provides a unique perspective on this growing region.
Alex Lin Yong Qing is the leading international business and information technology authority, founder and CEO of ChinaValue.net, the largest top-ranked online business media, professional social networking service, and business marketplace intelligence service. In late 2009, the London School of Economics (LSE) profiled Alex in "Blazing Trails", due to his unique success as an entrepreneur and visionary innovator transforming the world.
:00:39:Alex, you bring an incredible background of innovation, business, and technology success to our audience. Considering your very busy schedule, we thank you for doing this interview with us. Tell us a little about ChinaValue?"....ChinaValue is the first "Real name verification website in China in which the members are required to prove their identity in order to build a creditable and trusted business environment online. We are also the first professional social media community providing information for different levels of business executives in China. Professionalism is one of our core competences which differentiates our value from others...."
:02:31:You were recently invited to participate at the World Economic Forum (WEF). Share your insights and experiences?"...In the past 3-5 years, there were many Chinese companies "going out" to increase the growth rate and explore more business opportunities for business expansion and development in North America and European countries; however, you can see today China has been one of the biggest foreign capital destinations and it became the major topic during the World Economy Forum...."
:04:24:In September, you participated in the global leaders forum in New York City which was held concurrently to the G20 summit. Share your sights and experiences from this work."...The conference was jointly organized by the UN Assembly and Foreign Policy Association of US. The conference invited some top global leaders in politics, industries and finances. They were discussing critical global issues like financial crisis, climate changes and new energy development during the conference...."
:08:00:Due to your standing as a noted innovator, you are invited to provide your views on the world's largest television network, CCTV. What insights can you share from this work?"....From a long term perspective, I think governments should open the market of the TV industry in order to enhance competence and knowledge through competition...."
:09:28:Can you share your key lessons from building the world's largest sales channel for Intel?"....I learned two key lessons from Intel. First, you have to believe everything is possible. You also have to set a higher goal and vision than normal standard and try your best to achieve it. Second, an opportunity was given by Intel for me to broaden my horizons...."
:11:49:Alex, can you talk about the TRIUM program, your fellow alumni, and share your best practices that you gained from the experience?"....TRIUM program is jointly organized by the London School of Economics (LSE), HEC Paris and NYU Stern. Financial Time ranks it as the world's number two, three and two in 2007, 2008 and 2009 EMBA program respectively....The program is very helpful and valuable and it really helped in my career path. It also opened my mind and broadened my horizons and I gained much knowledge and expanded my inter-personal relationships. It gave me the confidence and belief that Chinese entrepreneurships are also capable of changing the world and becoming the business leaders...."
:15:06:You regularly talk to global leaders. Can you choose 3 of them and insights that you want to share from them?"...When I talked to global leaders, such as John Naisbitt, Jim Rogers and Don Tapscott, they gave me so much enlightenment....Now is the time for globalization and to learn from others from all over the world, and it is very helpful to talk with them and to learn from their insights or their observations...."
:20:12:What were the initial drivers behind your founding of ChinaValue in 2004?"....Our position is to be the professional business media and social community which can provide knowledge and a business networking platform for Chinese online...."
:21:57:What are the major accomplishments of ChinaValue now?"....There are over five hundred thousand members registered in ChinaValue. They are not only reading the information and articles; they also contribute content for the platform. ChinaValue has fifty million to sixty million professional readers ranging from undergraduates to the managing directors of listed companies....We have proposed the draft for legislation to Chinese Congress and even though the proposal has been rejected, it showed our determination to the real name system on the Internet and drew attention from the general public...."
:25:14:When comparing with other web2.0 sites worldwide, what are the key innovations of ChinaValue?"....We have built a new model of a web2.0 ecosystem in China. From the standpoint of ChinaValue, it means every member can fully utilize the functions and environment that are created by ChinaValue to build relationships and more importantly, to contribute to the community by making use of their expertise and knowledge. In addition, ChinaValue provides a series of functions that members can get most of the information they may need in one single website. In my view, web2.0 is not a product or technology innovation, but a system innovation....."
:30:28:Please share your views about the entrepreneurship of Chinese people? "....Most of Chinese entrepreneurships are at the grass-roots level...On one hand most Chinese entrepreneurs are very diligent and hardworking, but on the other had I think the entrepreneurs here need to be more critical thinking and need to be more innovative....."
:34:49:What do you think is the role of ChinaValue in China and in the world?"....China will be the center of world economy in the 21st century. If knowledge is the most powerful asset, ChinaValue is trying to become the engine of China economy....The power of professional knowledge and collective wisdom will help ChinaValue and China's economy...."
:38:13:What do you see as the key trends shaping the planet?"....Buddha states that today's thoughts are tomorrow's world. We can see that the world is built based on humans' thoughts. In addition, the world is flattening by the speed of the development of networks across the world. People have more exchange due to the ease of communication. It also creates a favorable environment for globalization and cultural exchange...."
:42:06:Can you describe some of your other activities that shape China and the world?"...I actively participate in youth education because the youth generation will be the pillars of our future. I think Chinese youth should learn more from the traditions both in the West and in China. Many local universities have invited me to be the speaker to share my experience and thoughts on how to become a successful entrepreneurship. In addition, ChinaValue has helped many foreign publishers and authors, translating their books into Chinese version as we think it may help Chinese youth to better understand the key factors for their success. I am also the general advisor of the biggest student organization - AIESEC in China....."
:45:39:You are a distinguished mentor-advisor or professor for the top business schools in China including Beijing University, Beijing Normal University, and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. You are also a lecturer on Chinese Entrepreneurship to the Peter Drucker Academy. What 3 tips can you provide on entrepreneurship?"....The mission and vision of a company is more important than just making a profit....Everything is possible, you need to believe in yourself and insist your belief....The best way to predict or estimate the future is to create it instead of just following it....It is better and more efficient to learn from others' success than from your own failure....If we all know the fundamental concept of entrepreneurship means building something from zero, you'll realize that knowledge is the most critical and only asset in a knowledge-based economy....."
:49:31:What questions would you ask and what would be your answers if you were doing this interview? "....'What is your philosophy in your life?'....'What should China continuously learn from this world?'....'What will be the role of China in this world?'...."
One of the best things about going out on a speaking tour is meeting up with IT professionals across Canada and I was really pumped to discover that there was going to be a Winnipeg Girl Geek Dinner the same week that Damir and I would be there for Align IT. While the event got moved to the end of the week and I won’t be able to attend, I have been in touch with organizer, Trish Rempel and will be getting together with her earlier in the week for an alternate geeky girl dinner.
Now, I really like getting together with the guys, too, but I am wondering if there are other women in IT along my upcoming travel route who would be interested in connecting. Why? Well, it’s always fun to get together with like-minded people and there are few enough of us girls in the IT profession that it’s a bit special to meet up. I bet there would be ways we could help each other out in business or life. If nothing else, we’ll have made another connection in this crazy world.
I’d be up for coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner or anything in between. Heck, I’ll even buy (unless there are dozens of you!). Here’s my travel schedule:
Send me an email at ruth.morton@microsoft.com or contact me on Twitter (@ruthm). Really. I’m serious. I’m standing by. Waiting. Don’t leave me hanging!
* If you’re in the Toronto area, I’m in and out of there all the time, so we don’t have to wait until Align IT to meet up.
Excellence is a rare commodity and one can’t be developed overnight. It takes time, training and very often perseverance. With IT becoming an increasingly vital strategic asset and business enabler in organizations today, excellence in the execution of IT projects is more important than ever.
My colleagues Dave Remmer, Architect Advisor, and Adam Gallant, Developer Tools Technical Specialist, have put together a web cast series called AlignIT: Excellence in Action Development Best Practices from March 23 to April 27 for anyone interested in striving for excellence in their development practices.
While there are a number of different ways to develop excellence in IT, Dave and Adam have put together six, one-hour webcasts to give you a perspective on how to help make it happen.
Starting with the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) foundation of successful project delivery, they’ll look at architectural patterns for the web, for building secure solutions, for leveraging the cloud and client devices, for IT governance and operations, and finish up with real life stories from experts who’ve done it before. At the end of the series, they hope that you will gain new insights how to help increase business value and agility through IT by having a better understanding of how to leverage the Microsoft platform and toolset.
Have questions you want to see answered during any of the webcasts? Submit them beforehand to alignit@microsoft.com and I’ll pass them along to the guys.
I’ll be on the road for the Align IT 2010 Tour, and will tune in for the later part of the series. Register below for one or all six webcasts. Dave and Adam look forward to connecting with you then!
Excellent Project Delivery: ALM Bread and Butter Principles Start Date/Time : 23-Mar-2010 12:00 PM Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032443728&Culture=en-CA
Building Excellent Internet & Intranet Solutions on the Microsoft Platform Start Date/Time : 30-Mar-2010 12:00 PM Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032443730&Culture=en-CA
Preventing Excellent Hacks: Understanding the Security Development Lifecycle Start Date/Time : 06-Apr-2010 12:00 PM Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032443733&Culture=en-CA
Cloud Excellence: Building Solutions for 3 Screens Leveraging Services Start Date/Time : 13-Apr-2010 12:00 PM Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032443735&Culture=en-CA
Organizational Excellence Through Governance and Building for Operations Start Date/Time : 20-Apr-2010 12:00 PM Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032443737&Culture=en-CA
How I Achieved Excellent Results and Lived to Tell About It – Expert Panel Discussion Start Date/Time : 27-Apr-2010 12:00 PM Event URL : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032443739&Culture=en-CA
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Sean W. Smith and John Marchesini, World Renowned International Authorities/Authors in Security.
Enjoy! Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP
Interview:
About Sean W. Smith
Professor Sean Smith has been working in information security - attacks and defenses, for industry and government - since before there was a Web. As a post-doc and staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory, he performed security reviews, designs, analyses, and briefings for a wide variety of public-sector clients; at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, he designed the security architecture for (and helped code and test) the IBM 4758 secure coprocessor, and then led the formal modeling and verification work that earned it the world's first FIPS 140-1 Level 4 security validation. In July 2000, Sean left IBM for Dartmouth, since he was convinced that the academic education and research environment is a better venue for changing the world. His current work, as PI of the Dartmouth PKI/Trust Lab, investigates how to build trustworthy systems in the real world. Sean was educated at Princeton (A.B., Math) and CMU (M.S., Ph.D., Computer Science), and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.
About John Marchesini
Dr. John Marchesini received a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Houston in 1999 and, after spending some time developing security software for BindView, headed to Dartmouth to pursue a Ph.D. There, he worked under Professor Sean Smith in the PKI/Trust lab designing, building, and breaking systems. John received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dartmouth in 2005 and returned to BindView, this time working in BindView's RAZOR security research group. He conducted numerous application penetration tests and worked closely with architects and developers to design and build secure systems. In 2006, BindView was acquired by Symantec and he became a member of Symantec's Product Security Group, where his role remained largely unchanged. John recently left Symantec and is now the Principal Security Architect at EminentWare LLC.
(This is part 4 of a 4 part series, you can read the first post here)
Here is the final part of my discussion with Shane Schick on the Myths & Realities of the IT Skills & Talent landscape in Canada. This part is titled “Myth 4 – Certifications Aren’t Worth It”.
Be decent to other people – always.
This cannot be understated. You may have a secure job today but do you know where you will be tomorrow? If you are good to others you will be rewarded when you need it.
I was downsized recently. Regardless of the circumstances there is a certain amount of depression and self doubt; however, a strong network of family, friends, and loyal business associates have helped to make this an uplifting experience.
I had the most pleasant experience the other day. My best friend came by for an early morning run. He offered to travel to a conference at his own expense to help introduce me to a number of senior people who would be at the conference. After our run I arrived home and within minutes a highly paid professional (who charges far more than what I would readily spend) was prepared to assist me at no cost. While I was on the phone with this professional another friend who had heard about my position stopped by the house and took me out for a coffee and iterated through a number of ways he was going to help me. On my way home from coffee I stopped by the dry cleaners to pick up some shirts. The dry cleaner commented that I was not at work in the middle of the week and we started chatting. By the end of our conversation she refused to take my money until I had a job. She probably needs the money more than I and I insisted that she take it. She refused and chased me on to the street. I remember joking with her that if anyone saw me fighting with an elder lady on the street I would end up in jail. With the cash in my hand she dodged back in to her little shop, and smiled and blew a kiss goodbye safe behind her locked door.
By 10am I had seen four solid examples of goodwill which I had accumulated over the years come back to help me in many priceless and unexpected ways. As for the dry cleaner – I still owe her the 30 bucks, and at least a good bottle of wine. In addition, everybody in my neighborhood that I have told this story to is now a client of hers.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Marcus Schmidt, International Business and Technology Authority, Senior Marketing Manager and Community Manager, Windows Business Group.
Enjoy, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., ITCP/IFIP IP3, MVP , DFNPA, CNP, Advanced Technology,YouShapeIT
This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Marcus Schmidt.
As a senior marketing manager and community manager in the Windows Business Group, Marcus is responsible for building a vibrant consumer community around some of the world's most widely used products - Windows & Windows Live. Every day he sees, hears and learns how MS customers use these products in their daily lives. The best part of his job is sharing and showcasing the contributions of the community to the world through MS corporate websites, e-mail newsletters, Facebook and Twitter.
Marcus has been at Microsoft for nearly twelve years, in various marketing and product management roles across a wide range of products and services. While currently working with consumers, his previous roles focused on business customers, both large and small. Prior to Microsoft, he worked in a small startup software company for five years building Manufacturing and Human Resources software.
A native of South Dakota, Schmidt received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the South Dakota State University (SDSU), as well as his Master of Science degree in Industrial Management.
Discussion and Time Line
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Kelly Gotlieb, "the" Internationally Renowned Pioneer in Computing - Kelly talks about his classified work.
Enjoy, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP , DFNPA, CNP
This week, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P. continues his exclusive interviews with computing pioneer, Calvin C. (Kelly) Gotlieb, C.M., M.A., PhD.D. (University of Toronto), D. Math. (Hon., University of Waterloo), D. Eng. (Hon., Technical University of Nova Scotia), Fellow CIPS (FCIPS), Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the British Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery.
Kelly Gotlieb is currently Professor Emeritus in Computer Science and in the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto (UT). He is a computing pioneer, whose innovations and accomplishments helped lay the foundation of an entire worldwide industry, educational stream, and profession. His contributions are so profound and their impact so diverse and in so many areas that the lasting value cannot be comprehended. Have a look at this blog to find out more: http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers/archive/2006/09/29/459971.aspx
View Topics and Timeline
Back in the fall – Damir and the team went our across Canada with the “IT Manager” focused series of events under the “Align IT” banner. It’s format was simple, having basically three parts.
The event concluded with a networking lunch opportunity where the attendees (including presenters) could mingle with different tables and talk about issues they are facing today in their work environments. Personally – I find this portion of the day absolutely invaluable. It allows us to sit and listen to what you have to say about any topic. In case you didn’t know, we take all this information very seriously and compile it as a team in order to determine how we’re doing on meeting your needs and about the state of the nation for IT Managers in Canada.
One thing that came up frequently was the difficulty locating relevant resources for IT Managers on the Microsoft site. Resources are spread around and often mixed in with Technology reference areas targeted at developers and IT professionals. We took that feedback and started to come up with a plan to make things more relevant and discoverable.
I am pleased to announce that we’ve launched a resource page specifically designed for IT Managers in Canada.
I spent some time perusing the page recently and I wanted to draw your attention to some highlights:
The design of the page is such that we can feed in new and relevant content as we create it or as it’s identified to us as something to share. It is also designed to leverage Social Bookmarking from our TechNet/MSDN community driven Social bookmarking engine.
Check out the site – give Damir or myself your feedback and ping us if you feel there is something we can add to provide more value to the IT Manager Portal. I am anxious to see how it evolves over time.
IT Pro blog | IT Manager blog | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn My Shared Bookmarks
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Merrill Brown, founder and principal of MMB Media LLC, which provides clients with management and strategy consulting, corporate, editorial and program development, business analysis and marketing services..
About Merrill Brown
Merrill Brown is the founder and principal of MMB Media LLC, which provides clients with management and strategy consulting, corporate, editorial and program development, business analysis and marketing services. Since the founding of MMB Media, clients have ranged from companies in the news, information and wireless businesses to a large foundation. Brown serves as Chairman of the Board of NowPublic.com, the leading citizen journalism company in the world.
Brown is also a partner in Propeller LLC, a New York consultancy, and served from 2005 through December 2007 as National Editorial Director of News for the 21st Century: Incubators of New Ideas (News 21), part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.
Before establishing MMB Media, Brown served as Senior Vice President, RealNetworks' RealOne Services from August 2002 through August 2003 and was responsible for all facets of the RealOne programming business including programming, subscription sales, marketing, advertising sales and technology. During his tenure, RealOne expanded subscription programming offerings in news, sports, entertainment and music and grew from 750,000 paid subscribers to over 1,000,000.
Brown became the first Editor in Chief of MSNBC.com in August 1996 after serving as acting managing editor for the July launch of the service. He became Senior Vice President in August 2000. During his tenure, the fledgling company grew to become one of the most visited news offerings on the Web, maintaining a position as the No. 1 online news provider since 1999.
Prior to joining MSNBC in May 1996, Brown was a media and communications consultant whose work included strategic development work at Time Inc., NBC, U S West and a score of other media ventures (1995-96). While at Time, he served as consulting senior editor of Money magazine, developing online and Internet services for the publication. He also served as acting editor for Time Magazine Daily (the periodical's daily online news operation) and as a consulting editor for Time magazine. During that time, Brown also served as a launch consultant for NBC Desktop Video, designing the network program plan and creating the network's on-air look for NBC's business news service delivered to personal computers.
Brown was one of the initial strategists responsible for creating the Courtroom Television Network (Court TV). As a founder of the cable network, Brown worked on all facets of the network's operation leading up to its July 1991 launch. As senior vice president, corporate & program development, he oversaw program planning, advertising, promotion, marketing, public relations and development of day-to-day management of the cable network (1990-1994).
From 1985 to 1990, Brown was editor in chief of Channels magazine, repositioning the bi-monthly as a highly successful television business monthly, tripling the amount of ad pages in three years. Channels was named a National Magazine Award finalist for general excellence during Brown's tenure.
Brown was associated with the Washington Post from 1979 to 1985, serving as a financial reporter (1979-1982), New York financial correspondent (1982-1984) and director of business development, Washington Post Company (1984-1985). Prior to that, Brown was a financial reporter at the Washington Star (1978-1979), Washington correspondent for Media General Newspapers (1975-1978), a reporter at the Winston-Salem Sentinel (1974-1975) and reporter and freelance critic at the St. Louis Post Dispatch (1973-1974).
Brown has also made numerous television appearances, including the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (1980-1990), as a regular media analyst for CNBC and FNN (1988-1990) and on dozens of other major broadcast and cable news programs. Brown also serves on the boards of Smashing Ideas, Inc., the Center for Citizen Media, New West Publishing, the International Women's Media Foundation, iFocus, the Institute for the Connected Society, Project Agape, and the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.
I'm back having completed more than 10 keynotes/presentations the last few weeks. I'm providing a blog series from these keynotes--lessons to be shared. This blog will focus on the SAF (Strategic Architecture Forum).
Ruth posted a blog on the Strategic Architecture Forum where I keynoted on the opening day. Sasha Krsmanovic, Canadian MVP Lead, noted in his newsletter that the event received a 97.5% recommendation rating; MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals) were represented in force delivering breakout sessions, receiving the highest rankings: Nelson Ruest, Danielle Ruest, Richard Campbell, and Dana Epp. Other MVPs contributed to the discussions (James Kovacs and Daniel Carbajal). From Sasha Krsmanovic: "Thanks a lot guys!!"
One of the key lessons that I'm driving home in my keynotes is that career growth for IT practitioners requires BAIT attributes with an increasing focus on "Business Skills" and a sound knowledge of "Core Industry" processes.
On the business side, this means the IT worker understanding the business goals or long-term results found in organizations. These goals can be summarized in the areas of:
In addition, the IT worker should have a good understanding of the "core processes" in the industry they are working in: government, education, banking, mining, ...
In my travels and discussions with business and technology leaders, they also cite a good "Attitude" as a core attribute they encourage. So, a service-orientation with a focus on customer or client intimacy, and user experience.
Connecting is a foundation for all activity today. There's this rule of thumb based upon research that states, 93% of any engagement is message and delivery, and only 7% is content. This means strong "Interpersonal" skills are needed linked to project management, client/customer relationship management and communications capabilities.
Rounding out all of this are technical skills and competencies where competencies reflect what you can actually accomplish when confronted with problems and challenges. There's a framework for abilities starting with knowledge, comprehension and ending with application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Skills are knowledge-based but through practice and experience lead to application, analysis (of problems) and then finally synthesis and evaluation. Synthesis means you can take diverse subject areas and integrate them in solving situations and evaluation allows you to act as a judge or gives you the ability to fully evaluate the performance of others. Competencies are about "application to evaluation."
Best regards,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Jean-Luc David, Developer Advisor MSDN, Top International Developer Authority.
Best regards, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP
About Jean-Luc David
Jean-Luc David is a Developer Advisor for Microsoft Canada. He has written five technical books for Wiley Publishing, including Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System and Professional Team Foundation Server. In his current role, he spends much of his time with development communities, companies and schools, connecting them to the resources they need to learn new skills and improve their careers. Prior to joining Microsoft, Jean-Luc ran a successful development and consulting firm specializing in areas such as Web Development and providing early guidance on Team System. You can reach Jean-Luc at: jean-luc.david@microsoft.com.
Hello again! It’s now been a week since I returned from maternity leave and I felt it was high time I posted to the blog. I want to thank Rick, Damir and Stephen for keeping things going while I was away. Stephen will be continuing, of course, to co-host this blog with me and I’m sure we’ll still hear from Rick and Damir from time to time as well, so not to worry.
To kick things off, I thought I’d share with you some of my opinions about the release candidate of Windows 7 which I’m now running on my main notebook, a nice little blue Dell Latitude E4300. I’ve never had a blue notebook before, so that in itself was a cool treat to come back to work to. Usually I lug around a utilitarian looking, powerhouse notebook that is some shade of black. But anyway, enough about how good I look toting my slick new laptop around and on to what makes me happy about Windows 7…
Location-Aware Printing
One of the things that makes me very happy is the location-aware printing feature. This feature allows you to have the default printer change automatically according to what network you’re attached to. Finally! How many times have you sent a document to the printer at the office and waited 10 minutes before realizing it's sitting idly in the queue because you’re at home? Probably not as many as I have. Or worse – how many personal documents have you sent to the office printer through the VPN? Yikes!
Windows Desktop Search
Even the smallest company can generate an awful lot of information. And one of the most frustrating things for many people, including myself, is trying to find the information that they need when they need it. Windows Vista already had Windows Desktop Search incorporated into it but the enhancements made in Windows Search 4 (which comes with Windows 7 and can be downloaded for Windows Vista) make this feature worth another look.
It may just be me, but the interface seems to be much more intuitive. Once I type in my query, I can quickly find what I’m looking for. The search is very accurate. For enterprise companies, search scopes can be added to user desktops using Group Policy. So in addition to searching the local desktop files, applications and email, network shares, SharePoint sites and other enterprise resources can be searched from a common interface.
Windows XP Mode
Here’s a feature that I don’t need, except when I’m demoing, but I’ve included it here because I know it’ll make IT departments that are supporting legacy Windows XP applications happy. Let’s face it – Windows XP a solid operating system that can still be effectively used in certain situations even 8 years after being released. However, there have been many improvements made in security and management that a Windows XP machine isn’t able to take advantage of.
Windows XP Mode running on Windows 7 allows you to have the best of both worlds. You can run your legacy point-of-sale application, voicemail software or other legacy product while being able to fully manage, patch and secure that system. If that doesn’t make you do just a little bit of a happy dance, I don’t know what will.
These are just some of the things in Windows 7 that makes it an exciting release. To learn more or download a copy of the Window 7 Release Candidate, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows7 and be prepared to put on your happy dance shoes!
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Nick Corcodilos--Top Management Authority, Author, Writer, Speaker, and Headhunter.
Nick Corcodilos is the host of Ask The Headhunter® and author of How to Work with Headhunters (2009).
Nick is also the author of Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing The Interview to Win The Job (Plume, 1997), the #1-selling interview guide on Amazon for 26 consecutive months. (Also published in several foreign editions.)
Nick started headhunting in 1979 in one of America's most competitive job markets: California's Silicon Valley. Using the methods described in his book and on the ATH blog, he has helped people win management and staff jobs in companies including IBM, GE, Hewlett-Packard and Merrill Lynch.
Featured in The Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest, USA Today, The New York Times, Fast Company, Working Woman, on CNN, CNBC and MSNBC, Nick's iconoclastic techniques for job search, hiring and career development are used by job hunters and employers alike. Publishers including IDG, CNet and CMP Media have licensed Nick's work for use by their millions of members in the fields of information technology and electronics engineering. Since 2008, Ask The Headhunter features have been distributed worldwide by Universal Press Syndicate.
The Ask The Headhunter approach to job hunting and hiring has been recognized by management gurus including Peter Drucker and Tom Peters.
President of North Bridge Group, Inc., Nick Corcodilos has been retained by companies including AT&T, Merrill Lynch, Becton Dickinson, and Procter & Gamble to teach managers to recruit and hire more effectively, and to help groom employees for promotions and career transition. Companies using his books as a hiring tool include Disney, Marriott, Microsoft, Merrill Lynch and the U.S. Government.
Nick holds a Bachelors Degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from Rutgers College where he was a Henry Rutgers Scholar, and a Masters in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford University (where his academic bent was quickly corrupted by the Biz School and Silicon Valley). He plays music (keyboard and guitar), and enjoys Chi Gung and T'ai Chi, backpacking and kayaking. He loves his work, but would rather be in Alberta climbing big rocks.
To learn more, go to: www.asktheheadhunter.com/whoisnick.htm.
You can listen to Nick in his latest Microsoft TechNet Webinar (select the Selling Yourself tab): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/cc837417.aspx
WEB: www.asktheheadhunter.comBOOK: "How to Work with Headhunters"LATEST BOOK: "How Can I Change Careers?"
:00:35:Looking back, what were your biggest career challenges and why?"....My biggest challenge was figuring out how to get out of academia and into the business world...."
:01:58:What were your biggest career wins and why?"....Shedding the fear of getting into the business world and trying something completely different....Turning my headhunting business into a publishing business...."
:03:18:What are your key messages in the Microsoft Webinar delivered in September 2009?"It's less a question of looking at yourself and selling who you are and it's more about identifying what the problem is and reaching into your skill set and figuring out how to sell that...."
:04:56:How has your work evolved since we last chatted and can you profile the services you currently offer?"....I've written my second book in twelve years....I wrote a new book called 'How to Work with Headhunters and How to get Headhunters to Work for You'...."
:08:06:How do you view the current job landscape?"....The job landscape for those who are very good at what they do never really changes....The best companies out there, even if they are laying people off out of one door (for whatever reason) continue to hire top quality people in through the other door because they are not expecting to go out of business...."
:09:45:Provide your predictions of the job market in 2009, 2010, and 2011?"....I think rather than being afraid of what's happening...ask yourself, what are you really best at and what motivates you the most, then pursue opportunities in that direction. I think it's almost irrelevant where the so-called job market is going...."
:10:40:What are some longer term work trends?"....I think more people will be working from their homes. More people will be working as contractors. More people will be working for multiple companies at a time, providing specific kinds of expertise....Jobs are not going to be as traditional as they have been...."
:11:49:Tell us more about your latest book and why it is a must read today."....When a company retains a headhunter what they are really paying for is not the résumés of the candidates, they are paying for that headhunter's personal contact. What I try to teach in the book is how to use and exploit (in a positive way) the personal contacts that you can develop out in the professional world. Headhunters tend to be hubs of great contacts...."
:14:33:What role do headhunters play in the current economy in filling jobs?"....They act as the first level filter, the personal contact who brings the credible candidate into a company...."
:15:37:How should the audience incorporate headhunters in their career development strategy?"....A headhunter can be a valuable tool but you don't call headhunters, they call you. You need to be someone who is visible enough that headhunters will recognize you out in the market....."
:17:28:What are some "gotchas" about working with headhunters that can cause problems?"....Knowing whether you are working with a good headhunter or an unsavory individual who is out to make a quick buck. What I talk about in the book is there is a list of qualifiers that help people to figure out whether you are dealing with someone credible - and some of tips are so fundamental that people just don't think about it...."
:19:00:Can you give us some good tips about how to making working with a headhunter most profitable for a job hunter?"....Check the headhunter's references....Establish some ground rules....Know how to negotiate with a headhunter...."
:21:06:Headhunters are paid by their employer clients. How can I ensure that a headhunter is acting in my interest, too?"....The best headhunters out there really earn their living and develop their business not so much by having great client companies but by having good credible access to the pool of professionals in the community that they recruit from...."
:22:16:Nick shares some stories and experiences from his work.
:25:35:Provide your predictions of future trends and their implications/opportunities?"....If you are really good at what you do there are some fantastic opportunities out there..."
:26:14:Which are your top recommended resources and why?"....Ask the Headhunter....LinkedIn....Richard Bolles' 'What Color is your Parachute' is a good tool....Mentoring....Go hang out with people who do the kind of work you want to do. That's the best way to network and to get in the door and find the opportunities...."
:27:43:If you were doing this interview, what added question would you ask and then what would be your answer?"....'What's the single best way to find the job you really want to do?'...."