Every time I watch the Lord of the Rings series, I am taken back by the way Aragorn never assumes his role.
It’s interesting to note the humility of the King to be.
1 – he never assumes the prophecies are true about himself.
2 – he never requires anyone to give him respect he deserves due to his birth.
3 – he never brags about his history in prior battles and actions.
4 – he faithfully takes the supporting role and serves others.
5 – he does his best to place others into their destiny.
Check out this great resource for backgrounds and wallpapers. Some of my favorites have come from here. I am of the persuasion that you become what you are surrounded with.
Surround yourself with powerful encouragement!
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Many churches are just now beginning to feel the crunch of the current financial recession. Here’s a practical podcast by Nelson Searcy on how you can turn this tough time into the church’s finest hour.
I am adding a link to this podcast, because I believe we all really do need to spend some time truly developing people right now. We need to take a little extra time to listen, care and lead. When families are in financial trouble, the ground they walk on is shaky.
It is our responsibility to do something to sure up their foundations.
pd
Click below and listen to Nelson’s latest…
Their business model embodies an invaluable 1,500-year-old management paradigm.
This is the first part of a four-part series running over four consecutive days.
For more than 12 years I have been going to a Trappist monastery in Moncks Corner, S.C., called Mepkin Abbey. As a monastic guest, I wear a habit and temporarily live the life of a Trappist monk. I go primarily for spiritual reasons, but as a businessman and entrepreneur I am fascinated by the worldly aspect of the monastic life.
Mepkin, like monasteries the world over, runs a business. These monastic businesses are invariably based on just the kind of low-margin, highly competitive “me too” commodity products–cheese, fruitcakes, eggs–that any first year MBA student would “wind down” and “exit” as fast as possible.
Yet these monastic businesses are hugely successful. The demand for their prosaic products far outstrips supply, giving monastic businesses the kind of pricing flexibility usually associated with dominant brands or patent protection.
Most important, the monastic business model is far more than a curious anomaly. My own experience applying the monks’ lessons demonstrates that the magic behind monastic businesses can be universally applied with equally impressive results. Business executives everywhere should be learning from the monks.
First, some background.
An essential part of the Rule of St. Benedict, the founding and still-definitive guide to monasticism written by St. Benedict in the sixth century, is that all monasteries must be self-sufficient and self-supporting communities. Trappists accomplish this primarily through manual labor. Indeed, the Rule of St. Benedict calls monks to manual labor as an essential part of the monastic experience. Orare est laborare–to pray is to work–is a principle that new monks quickly learn at Mepkin.
Mepkin Abbey has several thousand acres of woods, pastures, gardens and forests. Until recently, the monks ran an egg business with 40,000 chickens; they recently transitioned into the mushroom business. The manure from chickens is collected, processed, bagged and sold as compost, and the trees that cover much of the monastery are managed as a renewable forest.
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Click below to go to Forbes.com for the rest of the series.
In this competitive job market, any extra skills you acquire can help beef up your resume and boost your odds of getting hired.
And the best part is: You don’t have to pay a dime to do so.
Prestigious universities, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Stanford University, are offering courses on the web that don’t require you to apply, enroll or shell out thousands of dollars. In fact, many colleges and universities are offering podcasts, web videos and slideshows that professors use to teach their regular classes on the web for free.
“Not only is [taking an online course] a good educational opportunity, it’s something smart to talk about when interviewing,” says Tory Johnson, CEO of Women for Hire, a New York-based employment company. It’s also a great way to spruce up your resume — as long as you disclose that the course is an online non-credited class, says Jay Meschke, president of executive search firm EFL Associates.
The OpenCourseWare Consortium offers free non-credited access to lectures and assignments at universities in the U.S. and abroad, including Oxford University. AcademicEarth.org, meanwhile, offers videos of lectures at Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton and provides a list of top-rated instructors.
SmartMoney.com spoke with recruiters and headhunters to find out which skills are in high demand among employers these days and which free online courses would help you acquire those skills. Here are six that could help you get a leg up on the competition.
1. Green Business: Sustaining a Business in a More Eco-Friendly World
Course to take: Laboratory for Sustainable Business, at MIT
With the government promising to spend some $43 billion on green energy initiatives and to create three to four million jobs in sustainability in the next two years, being well-versed in the business behind such eco-friendly initiatives is a good way to grab an employer’s attention, says Johnson.
MIT’s Laboratory for Sustainable Business class teaches such skills using case studies of businesses that are grappling with how to adapt to or embrace new green policies and initiatives. Graduate students from a variety of backgrounds, including business, science and engineering attend the class, says lead lecturer Sarah Slaughter.
The University of California, Berkeley also offers a series of video lectures on the causes and consequences of climate change called Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems.
2. Administrative work: Handle Microsoft Office Apps Like a Pro
Course to take: Training course in Microsoft Office applications, including PowerPoint and Excel, from Microsoft (MSFT: 18.78, -0.19, -1.00%).
If you’re seeking a job that requires administrative skills, chances are you’ll be tested in PowerPoint or Excel. “Even if you’ve used it daily in your previous work, but you don’t know the official ins and outs, you’ll score poorly on an assessment,” says Johnson. Taking a free course or online tutorial is a way to improve your chances of acing such a test. To help you do so, Microsoft offers free training courses in Office 2003 and Office 2007 applications on its web site.
3. Technology: Juice Up Your Java Knowledge
Course to take: Introduction to Software Engineering in Java, at MIT
“Java”– as in the Java programming language — is one of the top three key words employers and recruiters use in IT resume searches at CareerBuilder.com.
MIT’s Introduction to Software Engineering course is a great place to start learning. Java is used in a range of fields, including computer science, biology, chemistry and physics, says Olivier Koch, a Ph.D. student in robotics and one of the class’s instructors. As a supplement to class materials, Koch recommends that his classroom students also tap into these three free resources: “How to Think Like a Computer Scientist, Java Version,” a 300-page book; Introduction to Programming Using Java, an online class taught at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and The Official Java API, the document specification for version 6 of the Java Platform from Sun Microsystems (JAVA: 9.15, -0.06, -0.65%).
Also, consider Introduction to Computer Science, taught by David J. Malan at Harvard University, which takes you through the basics of programming languages. Video and slides for each lecture are available here.
4. Health-Care Services: Help Care for Aging Baby Boomers
Course to take: Managing Long-Term Care Services for Aging Populations, at The Johns Hopkins University’s School of Public Health.
As the baby boom generation grows older, the need for long-term care services for seniors — from assisted living facilities and nursing homes to at-home care — is expected to skyrocket. Johns Hopkins’ Managing Long-Term Care Services for Aging Populations teaches the basics of planning, organizing and delivering such services. The class covers a range of topics including regulatory issues that impact long-term care and the principles of managing senior services. Paul Willging, who teaches the class, notes that it’s best to have a background in health care first. For other free Johns Hopkins courses offered online, click here.
5. Marketing: Know the Difference Between a Wiki, Tweet and Blog
Course to take: Blogs, Wikis, New Media for Learning, at Utah State University
Are you a Facebook pro yet? You should be, at least if you’re seeking a job in marketing or communications, says Carolyne Savini, director of recruiting at Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, a sports marketing company. Cover the basics with Utah State University’s Blogs, Wikis, New Media for Learning class.
Also check out the web site of Sreenath Sreenivasan, a new media professor at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, which offers an updated list of new media articles, statistics and resources.
6. Accounting: Crunch Numbers for a New Economy
Course to take: Financial Markets, at Yale University
Yes, the financial industry is bleeding jobs, but accounting and bookkeeping skills remain in high demand. Last month, 1,600 new jobs were created in the field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To be sure, accounting isn’t a trade you can learn solely online or practice without a degree (and the required certifications), but if you have a background in the industry it may be a good way to brush up on or expand your skills. To bone up, consider Yale professor Robert Shiller’s Financial Markets class, the videos of which are posted on AcademicEarth.org.
If you’ve only got an hour or so to spare, be sure to watch Origins of the Financial Mess, a lecture by Alan Blinder, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton.