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Part I: Speaker
Article 1:
House Nears Vote To Fund Government, Defund Obamacare
[Rephrase 1]
[Dialog, 4 min 17 sec]
Source: NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/09/20/224257137/house-set-to-launch-fund-government-defund-obamacare-effort
Part II: Speed
Article 2: Home Depot to tap health insurance exchanges for part-timers
[Time 2]
(Reuters) - Home Depot Inc is shifting medical coverage for part-time workers to new public marketplace exchanges ahead of new benefits requirements under the U.S. Affordable Care Act, a spokesman said on Thursday.
The world's largest home improvement retail chain announced its move shortly after a similar announcement from Trader Joe's Co, a popular privately held grocery chain.
Home Depot's change would affect roughly 20,000 part-time workers who previously had chosen the limited liability medical plan the company offered, spokesman Stephen Holmes said.
After December 31, companies can no longer offer those plans under the health law, also known as Obamacare.
"We're going to shift them over to the public exchanges, where there are more options," Holmes said.
The public exchanges being set up under the law will allow individuals to buy government-subsidized healthcare based on income. Enrollment begins on October 1.
Until now, many restaurants and retailers offered workers limited liability plans that often provided less than $5,000 in coverage.
Home Depot's plans for part-time workers provided coverage of up to $20,000 depending on the plan and were administered by Aetna Inc.
Experts have said exchanges would provide more comprehensive coverage that may not cost more because government tax credits will help some workers offset premiums.
Some employers are opting to offer coverage through private health insurance changes.
Walgreen Co, the largest U.S. drugstore, and more than a dozen other large employers have said they would offer their employee insurance for 2014 through the Aon Hewitt Corporate Health Exchange
Home Depot employs about 340,000 people and will continue to offer healthcare benefits to full-time employees, who will be paying more for that coverage next year due to higher healthcare costs, Holmes said.
【283】
Source: YAHOO FINANCE
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-depot-tap-health-insurance-000714943.html
Article 3: Global stocks' Fed-inspired rally fizzles out LONDON (AP) -- The rally in global stock markets fizzled out on Friday, two days after the U.S. Federal Reserve buoyed sentiment by keeping its monetary stimulus program in place.
Many traders had expected the Fed to start scaling back its asset purchase program, instituted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to help keep the U.S. economy afloat. The program was used to increase the flow of money available for loans to push down interest rates and spur growth.
The low interest rate environment proved a boon for stock markets, where investors fled with their money in search of higher returns.
That is a key reason why stock markets rejoiced when the Fed left its "quantitative easing" program untouched earlier this week — even though the Fed is maintaining the program because the U.S. economic recovery is weak.
By Friday, however, that enthusiasm had worn off.
Britain's FTSE 100 was down marginally at 6,623.52 while Germany's DAX edged up 0.1 percent to 8,702.64. France's CAC-40 was almost 0.1 percent higher at 4,208.87.
Wall Street was expected to dip on the open, with Dow Jones industrial futures down 0.2 percent at 15,570. S & P 500 futures were down almost 0.1 percent to 1,716.75.
Trading throughout Asia was muted Friday, largely due to public holidays. Markets in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia were closed.
【226】
[Time 4]
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index gave up early gains to close 0.2 percent lower at 14,742.42. Australia's S & P/ASX 200 fell 0.4 percent to 5,276.70. Benchmarks in Indonesia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore fell. India's benchmark Sensex dropped 2.2 percent to 20,203.96 after the country's central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates in a bid to lower inflation.
Now that the Fed has spoken, investors will likely begin turning their focus to Washington and the political fighting between the White House and Congress over the approaching debt ceiling. It must be raised by Oct. 1 to avoid a government shutdown. Failure to do so could lead to the first-ever national default in U.S. history.
Market volatility will increase as the deadline approaches, said Evan Lucas of IG in Melbourne, Australia.
"This is the next key thing," Lucas said. "A lot of people are looking for a reason to sell."
Benchmark oil for October delivery was down 33 cents to $106.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.68 to close at $106.39 a barrel on Thursday.
In currencies, the euro was up 0.1 percent to $1.3546, while the dollar was down 0.1 percent at 99.34 yen.
【204】
Source: YAHOO FINANCE
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-stocks-fed-inspired-rally-111214221.html
Article 4: The Right Innovation Mindset Can Take You from Idea to Impact
[Time 5] Thomas Edison said it over a century ago: “Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.” Unfortunately, when companies launch innovation initiatives, they tend to devote most of their time, energy and attention to that initial 1% – the thrilling hunt for the breakthrough idea. The real innovation challenge, however, lies beyond the idea, in a long, hard journey from idea to impact. Innovative companies sustain a track record of success by creating the right “climate” for employees to cultivate the innovation mindset — to think different, act different, and achieve extraordinary success.
Think Different
Opportunities
Not every idea is worth pursuing. The first step is to narrow down the ideas to worthwhile opportunities. Have a process to evaluate whether it is the right opportunity by asking: Do we want to pursue this–does it align with our purpose? Can we execute it–does it align with our core competencies? If it takes off in the best possible way, will the benefits be worth it? Are the risks such that the damage won’t be irrecoverable if things go wrong?
Dare to seize the opportunities that meet these criteria. Create mechanisms to seed fund and resource the right opportunities. Have a portfolio view of the opportunities, and ensure that there is a balance of opportunities that span current, adjacent and new space. Recognize that seizing the opportunity is but a tiny first step – like a little plant has sprouted. You have to nurture it patiently until it grows into a big tree with deep roots and a thick trunk.
“And” Thinking
The next challenge is to strike the right balance between getting the most out of these opportunities AND keeping your performance engine humming. What are the best structures to create so you neither disturb the rhythm of the performance engine nor drop the ball on opportunities? Many organizations embark on large-scale change management efforts to “make” their organizations more innovative; most fail. Our guiding principle is quite the opposite: Do no harm. The challenge is not just to make innovation happen, but to do so while simultaneously excelling in ongoing operations. Butter before Jam. Cake before icing. But butter AND jam. Cake AND icing. If the performance engine is humming along, it’s best not to impose an innovation challenge if it would disturb that rhythm. We would opt for minimal change on that front, and creating dedicated innovation teams that work in partnership with shared staff. Rather than major surgery, aim for precision surgery or micro surgery.
【416】
[Time 6]
Act Different
Resourcefulness
Create a climate where resourcefulness is encouraged and rewarded. Pass down organizational stories, highlighting the obstacles that employees powered through to get results, through successive generations of leaders.
Achieve Extraordinary Success
Outcomes
Create a climate in which employees can focus on outcomes instead of getting caught in the activity trap. Create separate planning processes for innovation efforts that are big enough to require dedicated teams. Unlike the performance engine–where the planning process is focused on financial, customer, and market share performance–the innovation planning process needs to focus on learning, viewing innovation as a disciplined experiment. What gets measured gets done. In companies that consciously cultivate a climate of innovation, innovation is not about no accountability, but a different kind of accountability. Construct just enough structure to make sure you’re making progress in the right direction, and no more.
If a flight going from Dallas to New York were a degree off, it would end up in the sea instead. Most flights, in fact, are more than a degree off 95% of the time. Most flights, though, land where they are supposed to. How do they do it? One key reason: the pilot has a “rough” flight plan and engages in dynamic course correction.
This same notion of a “rough” plan coupled with dynamic course correction is what we recommend in innovation efforts. If the performance engine has monthly planning meetings, the innovation side should have weekly “course correction” meetings. If the performance engine is on a weekly rhythm, the innovation side has to step it up a notch and get on a daily course correction cycle.
Expand the Pie
When the business model has stabilized, have systems in place to encourage employees to “expand the pie” by developing new revenue streams, increasing reach, or converting non-consumers into consumers. For example, Apple expanded its pie by creating the App Store, where individuals and small development shops could stand on Apple’s shoulders and reach a market they never could otherwise. In turn, Apple’s reach increased because their customers got access to a much larger pool of software. They expanded the pie for themselves, their partners, and their customers.
Innovation execution is neither innovation nor execution but its own strange beast. When tamed, however, it can be a source of enormous strength, lasting differentiation, and sustained success.
【389】
Source: HBR
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/the-right-innovation-mindset-can-take-you-from-idea-to-impact/
Part III: Obstacle Please Stop Complaining About How Busy You Are
[Time 7]
We’re all just so “busy” these days. “Slammed” in fact. “Buried.” Desperately “trying to keep our heads above water.” While these common responses to “How are you?” seem like they’re lifted from the Worst Case Scenario Handbook, there seems to be a constant exchange, even a a one-upping, of just how much we have on our plates when we communicate about our work.
My favorite “busy” humble-brag was that of a potential client who apologized for lack of communication due to a “week-long fire drill.” What does that even mean? Does this mean there were fake fires, but not real ones, all week? Does calling it a “drill” mean that everything is okay? Is your business in flames? Should I call someone?
Then there was the date I had with a fellow who was so busy “crashing on deadlines” that he asked me to “just make a reservation somewhere” for him. I was floored.
So much of this is about out-doing each other. To say that “I’m busier than you are” means I’m more important, or that my time is more valuable, or that I am “winning” at some never-finished rat race to Inbox Zero. (Inbox Zero is another absurd contest to tackle at another time.) What you’re trying to say with these responses is: I’m busier, more in-demand, more successful.
Here’s the thing: it’s harming how we communicate, connect, and interact. Everyone is busy, in different sorts of ways. Maybe you have lots of clients, or are starting a new business, or are taking care of a newborn. The point is this: with limited time and unlimited demands on that time, it’s easy to fill your plate with activities constantly. But this doesn’t mean that you should.
To assume that being “busy” (at this point it has totally lost its meaning) is cool, or brag-worthy, or tweetable, is ridiculous. By lobbing these brags, endlessly puffing our shoulders about how “up to my neck” we are, we’re missing out on important connections with family and friends, as well as personal time. In addition to having entire conversations about how busy we are, we fail to share feelings with friends and family, ask about important matters, and realize that the “busy” is something that can be put on hold for a little while.
I am not trying to belittle anyone’s work-load in the slightest. But in using it as a one-upping mechanism, we’re failing to connect in a very substantial way. And we’re making the problem worse: When everyone around us is “slammed,” it’s easy to feel guilty if we’re not slaving away on a never-ending treadmill of toil. By trying to compete about it, we’re only adding to that pool of water everyone seems to be constantly “treading” in. And all this complaining is having serious effects on our mental health.
And yet we continue to use long hours as a sort of macho badge of honor.
We need to work smart, not (just) hard.
Just because you clocked 15 hours at your office, with likely dry eyeballs and a complete lack of focus, doesn’t mean you’ve accomplished things in a smart way. Many people have written or spoken about this. Typically, you have 90-120 minutes before you devolve into internet fodder or social media. If you’re putting in 15 straight hours at your desk, without breaks, how good is your output? How much time are you wasting?
The distinction between working hard versus smart has hit me as an entrepreneur. In high school and college I was always that girl who read all the assigned reading (and no, I was not giving you my study guide). I created outlines, outlines of outlines, and then flashcards. One of my greatest lessons as a businessperson has been to throw out that skill set. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t be diligent or that you should half-heartedly execute, but rather, that it’s crucial to know what you have to do as opposed to everything you could do. It’s about being strategic.
For once, I’d like to hear someone brag about their excellent time management skills, rather than complain about how much they can’t get done. Maybe we could learn something from each other.
In fact, I’ll start — here are three tactics I’ve been using to work smarter:
Constrain the time. The more I constrain my time, the more focused and productive I feel, and the less I waste time on low-priority work. If you can only afford to spend 45 minutes on a certain project, then only spend 45 minutes on it — and move on, even if it isn’t perfect.
Use a scheduler. If you’re really up to your neck, it’s very easy to find a scheduler, virtual or otherwise, to help put things on your calendar. Sometimes it’s a matter of freeing up that time used for coordinating plans to actually doing them. Zirtual is a great answer to this. As is the DIY scheduler Doodle.
Cut the fat. Once I cut out superfluous meetings that were not: fun, productive, leading to new business, or really had something wonderful in it for me professional or otherwise, that plate emptied a little bit. (Here’s a tool for figuring out what to cut.)
Yes, we all have some strange need to out-misery each other. Acknowledging that is a first step. But next time you speak to a friend and want to lament about how busy you are, ask yourself why. Try steering the conversation away from a complain-off. With some practice you might find yourself actually feeling less “buried” (or at least feeling less of a need to say it all the time).
And maybe that’s something worth bragging about.
【947】
Source: HBR
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/please-stop-complaining-about/
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发表于 2013-9-21 08:57:28
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