Careers in the Retail Industry

Careers in the Retail IndustryCareers in the Retail Industry

Four Creative Myths that Can Destroy Companies

Four Creative Myths that Can Destroy CompaniesFour Creative Myths that Can Destroy CompaniesFour Creative Myths that Can Destroy Companies Burkus, author of The Myths of Creativity (Jossey-Bass, 2013)What causes us to be creative in one moment and void in the next? What makes someone more or less creative than his or her peers? Where do our flashes of creative insight come from, and how can we generate more of them?In my book, The Myths of Creativity, I look at the latest research into how creative individuals and firms succeed and the creative myths that can stunt creative thinking, including the four myths that are outlined here.The Lone Creator MythWhat It IsThe belief that creativity is a solo performance and that the story of neuschpfungs can be told as the story of a single person working fervently on the new idea.In the popular media, this myth sells. Magazines, newspapers and books are filled with stories of lone creative geniuses. These stories tend to ignore a truth behind all great innovations and creative works those geniuses typically had teams.How to Bust It The most innovative companies in the world understand the need for diversity and make koranvers that project teams have a rotating cast of new and old members. The teams connect, collaborate, disband and repeat. When individuals are given a chance to form teams around their diverse interests and their past experiences, the potential for creativity is unleashed.Companies that Mastered the Myth Continuums most significant innovation isnt a new shoe or a different kind of floor mop. Instead, its the process the company has uncovered for creating the right project teams and continuously tweaking them to blend fresh insights and shared experiences.The Expert MythWhat It IsThe belief that long-standing experts are the best source of new, innovative solutions and that the best people for solving hard problems are always experts.This myth explains lucrative consulting contracts and the exorbitant sala ries of experts, despite their most productive years being long behind them. Research supports the idea that innovative new ideas most often come from people at the fringes.How to Bust It The most creative organizations seek to fill their rosters with a few folks from the fringes. Many do this through the hiring process, but others reach out to their customers and stakeholders for insights. The most creative people strive to become T-shaped, with a depth of knowledge in one field (like the vertical part of the letter T) and also a wide understanding of various fields (the horizontal part of the T). Their insights come when something on the fringes applies to their field, or something from their field can be moved to the fringes.Companies that Mastered the Myth Fuse Corps, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, actively partners with city and state governments to place entrepreneurs and mid-career professionals into fellowships as advisors to mayors and governors. The Fuse Corps fellows gi ve a much needed innovation injection to governments in need.The Cohesive MythWhat It Is The belief that the creative process requires total cohesion, with everyone on a project getting along, having fun, and always reaching consensus. This belief grew out of an old rule of brainstorming suspend judgment. However, research implies that even when brainstorming, a little bit of productive conflict goes a long way toward more and better ideas.How to Bust It The most innovative companies cultivate productive, task-focused criticism when it comes to projects. Their people are trained to focus on providing constructive comments, but not pulling punches, and to respond positively when on the receiving end of criticism. The criticism stays focused on projects and process, but never on people.Companies that Mastered the Myth Animation powerhouse Pixar developed a process they call plussing. During film production, animators and directors invite folks from around the company to view the film in progress and offer criticisms.Employees can shred the film apart but must always end their critique with a plus a suggestion for improving the precise element they criticized. Those on the receiving end reserve the right to accept or reject the criticism. Regardless, directors still leave the room with ample ideas for improvement.The Mousetrap MythWhat It Is The belief that were good at spotting creative ideas and that great ideas and innovations are accepted the minute theyre presented to the outside world. We foolishly think if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. The truth is that great ideas get rejected all the time. If you build a better mousetrap, the world will probably beat it down or ignore it.How to Bust It At the core of this myth is a hidden bias against creative ideas. We say we want innovative thinking but, for an idea to be creative, it has to be both new and useful. It turns out that we use the status quo (i.e. the old) for judg ing whether new ideas are useful. Thus we often cant see the practicality of an untried idea because the frame of reference is based solely on tried ideas.Companies that Mastered the Myth Rhode Island-based Rite-Solutions set up an internal stock exchange for new ideas. Anyone in the company can post new ideas and all employees are given virtual currency to invest in these stocks. If an idea gets enough virtual investment, it becomes a real project. While this doesnt eliminate the bias entirely, spreading the weight of decision- making out from one particular manager to multiple people increases the chances that people who arent as afflicted with a bias against a particular idea have the opportunity to share their input.Author BioDavid Burkus is author of The Myths of Creativity ( Jossey-Bass, 2013). He is assistant professor of management at the College of Business at Oral Roberts University, where he teaches courses on creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and organizational b ehavior. He is the founder and editor of LDRLB, an online publication that shares insights from research on leadership, innovation, and strategy. David is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and was named an Expert-in-Residence by Creative Oklahoma. He is an advisor to several start-ups, and serves as Chief Strategy Officer of Vast Learning Systems, a web-based creativity learning and assessment company.

Preventing Concussions on the Ice

Preventing Concussions on the Ice Preventing Concussions on the Ice As a new hockey season dawns amid mounting concerns about the increase in player concussions, researchers at Virginia Tech have begun a program to test and evaluate various models of helmets for safety and durability.The laboratory-based program will include specific ratings that players, coaches, and trainers can apply to assess the capability of certain brands to reduce the risk of concussions resulting from collisions and other head impacts.Following up on the success of Virginia Techs rating program for football helmets carried out in 2011-2012, the universitys Biomedical Engineering Department will be putting popular brands of hockey helmets through a series of rigorous impact tests in an effort to quantify the protective performance of the headgear against concussions. The data collected will serve as the foundation for a numerical ratings system that assigns grades from high to low based on the predictive capa bility of the helmet to protect against injury.Part of the sttarifgy to reduce the incidences of concussions at all levels of competitive hockey involves improvements in head protection, said Steven Rowson, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Tech and co-investigator on the STAR program. The aim of our research is to identify helmets that demonstrate the strongest potential to minimize the risk of on-ice concussions.Steven Rowson (left) and Stefan Duma (right) rate hockey helmets abilities to reduce the risk of concussions caused by head impacts. Image VT.eduAn EpidemicA sports concussion occurs when the head is accelerated during an impact, resulting in relative motion between the brain and skull and causing intracranial pressure gradients and strain responses within the brain tissue. While concussions in football garner the most public attention, in the last 10-15 years, there has been an alarming increase in the number of concussions suffered by professional , collegiate, and youth hockey players. Eighty National Hockey League players sustained concussions in the 2010-2011 season, compared to 60 in 1997-1998. Concussions have claimed players ranging from former superstar Eric Lindros, who skated for the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1980s and 1990s, to lesser-known NHL professionals who have played bit roles on teams. Six concussion-related lawsuits have been filed in U.S. courts by former NHL players, with many more expected in the near future.Concussions in youth hockey are difficult to gauge, chiefly because reliable medical assessments generally are not performed at youth hockey games and also because peewee and high school players often neglect to report dizziness and other concussion symptoms to coaches and parents. But experts contend that many concussions do occur in youth hockey. A recent article in The Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology mentioned that a sample of 13 year-old male and female hockey players received head impacts equal in magnitude to measured values in collegiate American football players.The helmet rating system is based on more than a decade of data collection by the Virginia Tech research center. Image VT.eduTesting MethodologyRowson believes his research will improve safety. He and his colleagues have developed laboratory testing helmets that are representative of real-world head impacts. Virginia Tech will draw on research compiled at Brown University and Dartmouth College, which have instrumented ice hockey helmets to collect head impact data directly from players. In addition, Rowson and his team rented a hockey rink in Roanoke, VA, to identify differences in head impact characteristics between collisions with the sideboards, glass, and ice.Together, these studies inform our testing methods, enabling us to reconstruct real-world head impacts, explains Rowson, a member of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers who has published articles on biomedical engineering in ASME journals.In the tests, a custom-designed impact pendulum that emulates on-ice impacts strikes a head-form instrumented with accelerometers and angular rate sensors. Each helmet is put through a variety of impacts, which are distinct according to impact location (front, rear, side, and top) and impact velocity. Linear as well as rotational head acceleration are measured via high-tech sensors, and the data is collected and analyzed.Hockey helmets modulate energy transfer to the head during impact in a variety of configurations, notes Rowson. Our testing methodology enables us to map head impact exposure to specific energy levels and impact locations on the helmet.The researchers apply complex mathematical equations and computations in the analysis. According to Rowson, the tests will allow Virginia Tech to calculate an incidence of concussion by knowing how frequently each impact configuration is experienced by players, and the probability of injury associated with the head accelerati on generated from the impact. The values will then be summated to produce an overall prediction of the number of concussions a player will experience over a full hockey season while wearing a given helmet.A DebateWhile some in sports medicine dismiss the role of improved helmet designs in reducing the incidence of concussions in hockey and other competitive sports, Rowson firmly believes that new headgear can be a blueprint for less brain damage. Football helmet manufacturers, which post Virginia Techs ratings on their products, seem to be buying in to Rowsons assessment. Riddell has introduced a football helmet featuring an exterior panel that can move slightly inward to absorb hits to the crown of the head, essentially dispersing the energy from the blow.It is a challenge for manufacturers to optimize helmet designs, because you must account for so many different impact scenarios, said Rowson. While we are not specifically telling manufacturers how to revise their designs, we do b elieve that the quest to produce a helmet that lowers head acceleration and as a result, reduces the risk of concussion should not be abandoned. We want to provide sporting goods manufacturers with a set of performance criteria for helmets that can be used to reduce the probability of concussion. For Further DiscussionIt is a challenge for manufacturers to optimize helmet designs, because you must account for so many different impact scenarios.Prof. Steven Rowson, Virginia Tech University

Best Books on Federal Resume Writing

Best Books on Federal Resume WritingBest Books on Federal Resume WritingBest Books on Federal Resume Writing By Kathryn Troutman, Author and PublisherResume Place, Baltimore, MD PublisherFebruary 28, 2018Do you want a federal resume that will get Best Qualified, Referred, get you an Interview and hopefully get you HIRED?Buy one of the latest books on federal resume writing with the most current samples. The resume formats in the following career books will help you get Best Qualified for a federal position.You must make sure you are Eligible to apply for certain positions by looking at the WHO MAY APPLY, QUALIFICATIONS sections. And if you will be Eligible, then its time to write the best possible federal resume.Write your federal resume in the best format the OUTLINE FORMAT which is featured in all the federal resume books.Make sure your resume matches the REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE section in the USAJOBS ANNOUNCEMENTGive yourself all the credit you can with the SELF- ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRECAREER AND TRANSITION CENTERS SEE PUBLISHERS BEST BULK RATESOrder print or PDF books hereRequest Bulk Orders with Contact Us FormBEST BOOK FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORSFIRST-TIME PRIVATE SECTOR APPLICANTSThe first-ever book on federal resume writing is outstanding with samples of the Outline Format that is preferred by Federal Human Resources Specialists and managers. NO. 2 RESUME BOOK IN AMERICAPrint book $15.95 and PDF $12.9550 or more $9.00 No postage in the US

The Dirty Facts About Administrative Assistant Resume Sample

The Dirty Facts About Administrative Assistant Resume Sample Executive B demands a workload that keeps you from supporting Executive A and the remainder of your amtsstube staff comprehensively. Administrative assistants are employed in nearly every type of large and established companies where the administration function is too large to control. Administrative skills are wanted for a number of jobs, which range from office assistants to secretaries to office managers. The 5-Minute Rule for Administrative Assistant Resume Sample The difference between a superior assistant and a wonderful assistant is their capacity to anticipate needs and total vital tasks without having to be asked. Becoming comfortable talking on the telephone and taking detailed messages is something which companies search for in a strong administrative assistant. Getting in a location to remain calm when things get stressful will cause you to be a far better administrative assistant. What sets a decent a dministrative assistant besides a great one is their focus to detail. Learning a few ideas to develop into a fantastic administrative assistant makes your work simpler and puts you in the spotlight for potential raises and a greater standing by means of your company. If youre on the lookout for a position as an administrative assistant, you may use the subsequent sample resume to direct you. Finding Administrative Assistant Resume Sample Online The more detailed and comprehensive checklists you need to reference the not as likely you are going to be to forget a critical instruction for any specific task. In the skills category, you must list down your all important abilities and abilities. Organization Administrative jobs of all sorts need strong organizational skills. There is an assortment of opportunities accessible to move into other associated roles or to get promotion to more senior levels. Finding a formal expert qualification may enhance your promotion prospects. Cand idates must exemplify the highest degree of professionalism and expertise in a wide array of office procedures. Now you have your skills listed, you should be quite proud of yourself. In case you have some administrative abilities, you can use this to find admin jobs. Dont neglect to take a look at the subsequent Administrative Assistant resume sample for more information about how to make yours perfect Employment conditions in your town can fluctuate. Candidates ought to be able to parse the data and organize it into two individual tables or spreadsheets, since they represent two sets of information. The Hidden Gem of Administrative Assistant Resume Sample Employers are interested in men and women who will fix their problems. Administrative assistant jobs are among the most frequently listed jobs in the employment market and employers are located in a variety of industries. Administrative workers will need to see the specifics. They need strong interpersonal skills becau se they deal with employees from almost every department of a company. How to describe administrative experience to receive any job you desire. As you develop more skills and specialize in some specific places, you are able to look into starting your digital assistant business online. No experience is necessary, but should you have even little admin skill and job experience, it may be much easier to land your very first administrative assistant job online. You want to begin with the latest job experience. All About Administrative Assistant Resume Sample Studying resume samples is among the absolute most efficient techniques to get ready for developing your own winning document. Candidates want to create new methods for presenting their skill sets. Very similar to time management, admin assistants want the skill of being in a position to plan strategically. Being a student may be one of the most memorable and exhilarating experiences of your whole life but its not without its challenges. The Most Popular Administrative Assistant Resume Sample Keep reading if you want to find out what you have to master to be able to launch your medical assisting career. The very first step to applying for employment is making a resume. On the flip side, if youve limited or not work experience, keep your resume as much as a page. When you have work experience and hands-on experience utilizing computer computer software applications like word processing and spreadsheets, you are going to have the best prospects of locating a job.

The Ultimate Graphic Design Resume Samples Trick

The Ultimate Graphic Design Resume Samples Trick Graphic Design Resume Samples - Is it a Scam? A great deal of graphic konzeptioner job positions can be found in various industries and fields of expertise. Graphic designers frequently must work with the demands and constraints of their customers and bosses to produce results that please a number of people. For instance, if youre a great makeup artist, a portfolio with photographs of earlier work can help others decide what might suit them. The Ultimate Graphic Design Resume Samples Trick Resumes also supply you with the chance to generate a positive first impression and convince prospective employers that youre the suitable candidate for the job. They are crucial to the job search. Effortless navigation and simple graphic design is a good sign to acquire online clients from any place in the world. So as to design a web site, web designers needs to develop an array of skills and qualifications. Web consultants might also b e accountable for adding downloadable files or clickable emaille info, which demands the usage of file transfer protocol (FTP). The graphic design resumes display both the talents and the essence of the author, helping to construct a brand even if working independently. The Magazine Style Resume template is the ideal selection. You can also find the Resume Templates. To find out more on what it requires to be a Graphic Designer, have a look at our complete Graphic Designer Job Description. Graphic Designer is a wide term skill which can be applied to various positions. The 5-Minute Rule for Graphic Design Resume Samples An expert web designer is liable for the design and placement of images and the evolution of supplemental text. Your resume or CV may be among the most important projects you ever design. Graphic Design Resume Samples Ideas Designers will almost always discover that including the Adobe Create Suite is a fantastic starting point. So, the Graphic Designer Res ume must have the right experience stated there in addition to the area of experience. Creativity Graphic designers must be creative thinkers. Technology Graphic designers have to master a variety of kinds of technology in the current world. Briefly explain why youre searching for a graphic design job, for example, variety of years in the business and your strongest skills. A career portfolio is a group of your work and qualifications for any particular job or sort of position. The most essential part of a graphic designer is the limitation of the job which has been assigned to them. Even though he resume is only the first crucial step in landing your dream position, its often the thing that can make it or break it in terms of your employment.