Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Way It Works. - Douglas Castle

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The Way It Works.

Dear Friends:

The way it works ("it" being the essence of all things important in life), is not what the way we were taught. In an increasingly distraught world where established systems are rapidly de-stabilizing...in a time where we are suffering the leaden depression associated with repeated disillusionment...in a world of turbulence, spinning ever-faster and more erratically, we might just have to look at things in a new way.

It is no longer sensible to adhere to the childhood warrior philosophy of "divide and conquer."

For most of us, it is now the time to "unite and dominate." When old ways of thinking fail us, it is time to modify our approach to dealing with life.

Faithfully,

Douglas


Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Friends & Colleagues: Douglas Castle will be missing (and even more out of touch than usual!) from 6/17 - 6/23. Please keep a light on.

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Friends and Colleagues: Douglas Castle will be missing (and even more out of touch than usual!) from 6/17 - 6/23. Please keep a light on.



Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

GICBC - The Time Is Now

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SUPPORT THE GICBC MOVEMENT

It is time to be a part of something world-changing; something that Matters. Let's MAKE the future together, instead of waiting for governments, banks and monopolists to “SAVE” us. Please show your support and be a part of the GICBC Movement. Join our Facebook Fan Page at http://bit.ly/GICBCfanpage . Read on:    


GICBC*:  STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

United, organized, and democratically self-governing, each of us will be secure, stronger and more prosperous. Working together collaboratively, our resources will grow exponentially, and we will achieve limitless accomplishments and success.

Through Membership in the GICBC, we will each reclaim our lost power…the power to control our own destinies, to realize our dreams and to build the future on our own terms.

Acting harmoniously, and joining our hearts, our hands and our minds, we become far greater than the sum of each of our Members – we have the voice, influence and towering presence of a Giant. And we need no longer be at the mercy of any institution with self-proclaimed authority over our lives, our freedoms and our fortunes.
-----
*Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community.

It is crucial for initiators, innovators, entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises to join the GICBC (Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community) Movement by 1) becoming a Member of TNNWC [you are invited to join for free] at http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC  and to show your support for the freedom and the growth of Human Entrepreneurial Potential by 2)  becoming a FAN on our Facebook Page at http://bit.ly/GICBCfanpage . Learn much more about the GICBC by visiting http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com  -- just use the navigation tool and click on GICBC.

Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.
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Monday, June 07, 2010

THE MAGIC OF ASSUMPTIVE MANAGEMENT!

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THE MAGIC OF ASSUMPTIVE MANAGEMENT!

Dear Colleagues:

Throughout our lives, people are telling us not to assume. It is thought that assumption leads to poor preparation, rushing to judgment, unrealistic expectations, and other terrible things. I have discovered two exceptional situations where it is always helpful to assume -- in fact, if you don't make these assumptions, it is more than likely that you will not be successful as a manager. ASSUMPTIVE MANAGEMENT has only two general rules, and they are outline in the friendly bit of correspondence which follows. Enjoy it.
---------------

Dear Anonymous Person In A Non- Military Managerial Position:

You should consider making certain that each person who reports to you is reminded at least weekly (a day or two in advance) as to what his or her recurring obligations are, and that you expect them to be fulfilled properly and promptly. This applies to every single person in your charge even if he or she has been performing these obligations faithfully for a very long time, i.e., since the paleolithic era.

ASSUMPTION A:  You see, people get "busy," "distracted," or "confused" more frequently than you'd every suspect and they just simply forget. -- this even happens at nuclear power facilities, or at offshore oil drilling stations. And even worse than forgetting, sometimes these individuals just don't really care because they are either 1) unmotivated or 2) don't see the significance of what they are being relied upon to do. 

ASSUMPTION B:  When instructing others, assume zero comprehension and zero retention. This will ensure that you become a better communicator and a more frequent one, at that. When people in a subordinate role to you do not understand what you are talking about, they will seldom say "would you please be more specific?" or "If I may paraphrase what you are asking, you'd like me to......" What they do instead is any one or more of the following:
  • remain silent until dismissed
  • Give an affirmative nod of the head and go "umm - hmm."
  • leave the meeting and ask each other what you might have talking about, in a classic example of the blind leading the blind.
You must be specific in every aspect of your instructions. State them clearly. Outline them in a concise bulletin. Ask each member of your audience (one on one), or at very least several members to explain to you precisely what they are going to do based upon what you've said. You needn't even be as obvious as to ask "Now what did I say for you to do?" It's easier to use a bit of social lubricant and ask something like this (with a furrowed brow): "Do you think that you can handle it? What do you think that your first steps are going to be? Gosh, I'm curious..." It might help to visualize (in your mind's eye) a sportscaster catching a quick interview with a famous, albeit somewhat non-academic football or basketball star.

To truly put this technique to the test, within a day or two, ask the same questions and add, "so what moves have you made so far?" You may get a response indicative of comprehension and progress, some jibberish that sounds like a schizophrenic utterance, or a blank stare. Statistically, my guess is that you get the second or third response much more frequently than the first.

On a positive note, if you repeatly perform this special ritual (you can even carry a toy microphone with you!), with a number of the people who are working for you, you notice that the first type of response will occur with increasing frequency.

An employee once asked me, "When are you going to stop hounding me about this?" I responded very honestly, but not unkindly: "I don't mean to hound you at all! I apologize if you thought that! I'm merely going to continue asking you until you can explain what you are doing, and how much progress you've made. Let's talk again later, okay?"

Do you hear me, aspiring Commanders, Team Leaders and Managers?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
Join my TNNWC Group, LLC collaborative business community (GICBC) at no cost by clicking on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC.
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Thursday, June 03, 2010

INDECISION: The Costliest Course Of All.

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INDECISION: The Costliest Course Of All.
Dear Friends:

If you do not make decisions, you will experience your life at the whim of others who will decide for you. If you cannot make decisions, you have no business being a manager or a leader. If you repeatedly demonstrate indecisiveness, you will lose your influence, your effectiveness, and your following. If you surrender your power of choice to others, you will not only lose your power permanently, but you will be looked upon as someone who was not worthy of power from the very outset.

A leader who permits himself or herself to be led by his or her subordinates, is not a leader, but a puppet, and will eventually be seen as such.

This is NOT a post about politics. This IS a post about leadership.

Here are some examples, right from the White House:

1.     United States President Obama permitted the US Fed, under the reign of Ben Bernanke, limitless, unsupervised lattitude to bail out failing financial institutions (failing due to their own ineptitude, avarice, sense of entitlement, 'creative accounting', government incest and toothless legislation, regulation and law enforcement) by issuing them unprecedented sums of fiat money without any significant strings, for which the US taxpaying public will ultimately have to pay with real earnings from real productive activity. Imagine rewarding bad behavior, flooding the market with currency backed by a bankrupt government's "promise to pay", and then punishing the victims of the crime (the depositors, borrowers, pensioners, smaller businesses and  individual taxpayers) by making them use their labors to reimburse an overextended government for rewarding the guilty?

To date, this money has not seen its way into the economy, jobs creation, small business lending or any type of productive stimulus. It has found its way into the wallets of some ruthless executives, and into more market speculation and other dangerously risky things -- the things that caused the damage in the first place.

Did this president inherit a damaged, indebted economy and a heat map of military efforts and policing all over the globe? -- yes he did. Perhaps that was former US President Bush's heavy-handed legacy. But while Bush will be remembered (regardless of your personal politics) as an aggressive, arrogant leader, he will be remembered as a president.


2.       The BP offshore oil tragedy -- an environmental and economic disaster to make Chernobyl and the Exxon Valdez look like parking tickets -- presented an opportunity for a president to be a leader, and coordinate the efforts of the federal agencies and forces and the Louisiana government to grap BP by the pipe and force it to contain its spills...to demand that it pay every single penny associated with the cost of the cleanup, and to fine it daily for every spilled barrel.

Who is leading the cleanup? BP. A president abdicates decisiveness and enforcement power at a great loss to his own perceived leadership, but also at a loss to the ecology and economy of the entire United States. Fining BP could absolutely help narrow the federal budget deficit, while also encouraging BP to own up to its own negligence, duplicity and greed and pay the price. Who will pay (aside from the democratic party in terms of positioning)? The US Taxpayers.

To trowel some bloody icing onto the ever-growing fecal cake, a leader gives executive orders and sees to their enforcement. This leader is a study in cajoling, compromising and begging. He should be issuing orders and expecting them to be carried out.

His ideals and agenda notwithstanding, a leader seizes the opportunity to exert power, lest he be seen as a toothless tiger. I did not care for George Bush, but the scrappy, pompous little king of the malaprop ("this is not rocket surgery...") with a wanton disregard and almost palpable disgust for either the interests of the middle-class or the Constitution (and the law in general) was a leader. He did quite a bit of damage to the United States' economy and to its international relationships with other sovereigns, but he was feared and respected.

The current President, Barack Obama, ideals and agenda notwithstanding, presents a whole new problem -- he is failing in his role as a leader, and many parties will be irreparably injured by his repeated inability or reluctance to act precipitously and immediately.
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Given a choice, your average slave to the republic would rather have a fierce leader who makes decisions that create catastrophes than a benign, capitulative but well-intended leader who doesn't use the power which the People have vested in him.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

Keywords, Labels and Terms: indecision, unenforcement, wavering, leadership, command skills, power vacuum, Articles by Douglas Castle, TNNWC Group LLC, Taking Command, posturing, positioning, confidence, fear, avoidance, palliative measures, ineffective compromise, procrastination, abdicating responsibility...


About Douglas Castle
Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile 
The National Networker Companies
Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.
The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.
The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.
Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.
LINKS 4 LIFE - Crisis resources.
Follow Castle on Twitter 
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Join Us: Become a Member of the TNNWC Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community (GICBC) at no cost. Click on http://bit.ly/TNNWC


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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

COMMUNICATE! - For Optimal Goal Attainment: An Extra Bit Of Work At The Beginning Can Prevent Lots of Wasted Time Later.

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Dear Friends:

To be an effective leader, you must be a skilled communicator. Giving orders that are either unclear or conflictory are very inefficient.

To be an effective implementer, contractor, employee or team member, you must also be a skilled communicator. If you misunderstand your role, responsibilities or priorities, you are doomed to fail at performing any task.

Communication between two individuals has several components, and none of them should be admitted in a business dialogue......and although it begins with the leader, the other party (i.e., the "initial listener") must, of necessity, participate:

1. The leader gives clear directives, the reason for them, and the end result that is expected to be accomplished;

2. The initial listener acknowledges by paraphrasing to the leader, what he or she believes he or she is to do. If the directives seem "out of sync" with the reason given for them, or the desired end result, NOW is the time to clarify points or make any observations as to any conflicts or possible means of improving efficiency. This acknowledgment gives the initial listener a chance to make suggestions, register concerns, and to let the leader know if he or she has been totally clear;

3. The leader either agrees, clarifies, or changes the directives to accommodate a suggestion made by the initial listener;

4. The leader sets up a schedule of times (throughout the process) to monitor and review the progress and process, to be certain that the work being performed is a) of proper quality and on schedule, and is b)  following the necessary trajectory to achieve the desired end result;

5. During the progress of the process, the initial listener should render feedback (assertively) to the leader in the event of any errors, anticipated problems, confusion, failure to meet a promised deadline or change in priorities due to changing or conflictory circumstances.

Frequent, candid communication is always crucial.

Clarity in communication (sometimes giving examples to demonstrate points) is always crucial.

Continuous feedback prevents veering "off-course, " stalling in the work effort, and compounding errors. 

If you have given a directive and there is silence from your initial listener, you have already begun to fail in your communications effort. Never take for granted that your listeners understand you unless they can paraphrase back to you (with vigor and enthusiam) what they are going to do.

***Oh, and listeners who depart your meeting to embark on their missions without any questions may not have any idea of what you want -- more likely, they are confused (and will work on a tentative, trial-and-error basis), have many questions (but are embarrassed to ask them), or are in a hurry to leave because they were bored by the encounter.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

About Douglas Castle
Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile 
The National Networker Companies
Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.
The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.
The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.
Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.
LINKS 4 LIFE - Crisis resources.
Follow Castle on Twitter 
Follow TNNWC on Twitter
Join Us: Become a Member of the TNNWC Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community (GICBC) at no cost. Click on http://bit.ly/TNNWC


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Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Irony Of The Latest Decline In U.S. Interest Rates

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THE IRONY OF THE LATEST DECLINE IN U.S. INTEREST RATES


Article written By Douglas Castle (http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com)
Originally published in THE GLOBAL FUTURIST (http://TheGlobalFuturist.blogspot.com)
Release Date:  05.29.2010
---------------

Dear Friends:

An article follows from the ASSOCIATED PRESS which speaks of the lowest US mortgage borrowing rates in many years. The inference is that this should be great news for homeowners looking to refinance and for home purchasers.

While this appears to be good news on the surface, it may be largely inapplicable for the large majority of applicants seeking loans from banks for these reasons:

1) The “advertised rates” are only for prospective borrowers with excellent, unblemished credit histories and the highest credit scores pursuant to the FICO (Fair-Issac) consumer credit-rating standard – the standard for credit evaluation used by most US lenders. Banks typically charge higher rates to lower-scoring applicants in order to adjust for their increased “credit risk.”

2) The same banks and affiliated credit card companies [which largely, because of their negligence, recklessness and unbridled greed created and fueled the global economic meltdown have severely damaged the credit scores of countless consumers through loan foreclosures, repossessions, increased personal bankruptcies, credit card line reductions, credit card closures, late fees, over limit fees and other lawless and opportunistic moneymaking opportunities associated with institutionalized consumer fraud perpetrated on a credit-addicted society] are the ones who are now applying increasingly stringent standards to loan applicants.

In fact, these banks are tightening up their underwriting guidelines weekly due to policy guidelines being handed down to them by their principal insurer, Fannie Mae. Be reminded that Fannie Mae was one of the biggest defaulters in the economic meltdown. But, unlike consumers, the government deemed them “too big to fail,” and started the printing presses rolling to bail them out.

Some of the biggest bailout beneficiaries are now reporting record profits – they are, in essence, using taxpayer money gifted to them by the Fed (in plainspeak, the banks and financial institutions pissed away all of the taxpayers’, savers’ and investors’ money, and now the government is making the taxpayers PAY TWICE to maintain the banking system’s entrenched entitlement to profits), and buying government securities (which increases the national debt, for which the taxpayers will have to pay YET AGAIN.


This is an incredible economic debt loop which cannot be broken without some kind of actual productivity, earnings, employment and fresh thinking. In the meantime, all of the money (either scrip or electronic book entries) is being hoarded by the financial institutions. They are being rewarded for not taking any entrepreneurial risk. They are making money by using debt (or bailout welfare money) to purchase more government debt.

Here are a few things to anticipate:

1)  Following the stabilization of the Euro, and of the European capital markets, the US dollar will again dive in value, and our sovereign credit rating will drop, institutions outside of the US will stop buying our Treasury Paper (which is, by the way, what is temporarily driving US interest rates down for the time-being), and rates will begin to creep up again. What we are experiencing now is just a brief bit of luck that the European Markets look a bit worse than those here in the US. Our Treasury Securities are the “default investment” when things get dicey in Europe;

2)  The US Treasury is going to be taking the muzzle off of the Internal Revenue Service – its hired gun, so to speak - within the next month or so, in order to start replenishing its empty war chest. Expect vigorous, aggressive and brutal IRS audits and assessments, and heightened, expedited enforcement action (seizures and sales of assets) to raise money from the easiest targets: individuals and small businesses, most of whom are easily intimidated, cannot afford to mount a defense, and will do virtually anything in order to pay whatever the IRS says that they owe. The percentage of taxpayers audited will increase, collections will increase, and the economy will be profoundly damaged.

Friends – this is nothing short of a reign of terror.

3) Because of items 1 and 2, above, expect many Boomers and recent graduates to leave US citizenship behind in favor of working in Asia, parts of Europe, and Middle East. This will produce an unprecedented brain drain in the US. Of course, businesses, opportunities, entrepreneurs and innovation will flee from the US as well. This is already happening at an alarming rate.

4) The stragglers, those left behind in the US, will be government employees, the ultra-wealthy, those who are incarcerated, or those who are part of the ever-present underground economy.

The AP article follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mortgage rates sink to lowest this year

By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer Alan Zibel, Ap Real Estate Writer 2 hrs 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates have fallen to the lowest level of the year as investors poured money into the safe haven of U.S. government securities.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dipped to 4.78 percent this week from 4.84 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. It was the lowest level since early December, when rates fell to a record low of 4.71 percent.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell this week to 4.21 percent_ the lowest level in nearly two decades.
Concerns over the European debt crisis have sent yields for 10-year and 30-year Treasury bonds to their lowest levels of 2010. Rates on 30-year home loans often rise and fall in line with the 10-year note.
Analysts say the opportunity may not last. If Europe's woes subside and the U.S. economic recovery stays on track, rates are likely to move higher. That's because traders will move their money back into riskier investments.
"Strike now," said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. "If they move quickly against you, it just takes money right out of your pocket."
Homeowners appear to be taking notice. Applications to refinance surged this week to the highest level since October 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
But mortgage applications to purchase homes fell to the lowest level since April 1997. A major reason for that drop: tax credits expired on April 30.
A campaign by the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs for consumers pushed rates down to extraordinarily low levels last year. Rates were expected to rise after the program ended this spring. Instead, they have dipped. Fears that Greece's government would default on its debt shook world markets and boosted demand for U.S. Treasurys.
Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.
Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.97 percent, up from 3.91 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.95 percent from 4 percent. That was the lowest average since May 2004.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.
The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year, 15-year and 5-year loans. The average fee for 1-year loans was 0.6 of a point.
####
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Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

About Douglas Castle
Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile 
The National Networker Companies
Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.
The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.
The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.
Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.
LINKS 4 LIFE - Crisis resources.
Follow Castle on Twitter 
Follow TNNWC on Twitter
Join Us: Become a Member of the TNNWC Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community (GICBC) at no cost. Click on http://bit.ly/TNNWC

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