Douglas Castle Apologizes For An Annoying Technical Glitch.

Dear Readers (Entrepreneurs, TNNWC Members, Colleagues, Business Leaders, Innovators, Project Managers, Commanders of Growing Companies, Braintenancers, Global Futurists, Internationalists, Marketers, Trend-Watchers, Trend-Setters, and Friends):

Subject: Douglas Castle Apologies for An Annoying Technical Glitch.

Q: Conspiracy or Catastrophic Compound Error?

It's simple. I am not certain whether it was due to a deadly conspiracy involving a collaborative effort among Twitterfeed, Hellotxt and Ping, or whether it was the result of an extremely unlikely catastrophic compound error (Do I sound paranoid? Are you talkin' to me?), but my status updates have been prodigiously posting themselves to many of my blogs without my knowledge or consent.

Since this began two days ago, I have had a "Blue Ribbon Panel" of "experts" working on solving the problem, and after much debate (mostly over who would be responsible to pay for lunches, and how much of a gratuity we should give the delivery kid), they have assured me that the mechanism has been repaired.

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you, and I thank you for your patience and for reading me and my guest contributors.

Faithfully, and in the spirit of friendship,

Douglas Castle
http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/douglascastle
http://www.linkedin.com/company/TNNWC
http://www.TNNWC.com (the official website, soon to be released in Visionary Version 3.0 – please stay tuned!)


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Crisis Management, Communications and Control

Crisis Management and Communications.



This article written by Douglas Castle and originally published in Expert Advice And Insights From TNNWC, a publication of TNNWC and The National Networker Companies.



Every leader and team participant who plays an integral role in your company has an obligation to every colleague. If you are in an entrepreneurial enterprise or small business this obligation is all the more critical, in how it is handled and it involves observation, communication, messaging, problem-solving and reporting on the status of any anticipated or actualized crisis. While we'd all prefer to follow a strategic business plan and make incremental, expedient organized progress toward achieving our objectives, crises arise -- it is the nature of business (i.e., problem-solving to achieve an objective) to throw us the occasional crisis or catastrophe. Each one is a test.



If you either recognize or anticipate a crisis that you cannot immediately resolve yourself, you must:



1) Determine all parties within your company who may be affected, and how they may be affected;



2) Immediately notify the parties whose efforts could be a) damaged the most, and b) who are best equipped to handle the crisis so that those parties can make alternative arrangements, or attend to the critical issue. Information and intelligent, reasoned action can contain a small problem and keep it from being catapulted into a catastrophe. If the water is going to be turned off, if your web server is acting up, if the email system isn't going to be working, if payroll is going to tight, if a vendor is no longer qualified to supply your company or if an employee has been terminated, this message must be sent out to everybody affected with efficiency and immediacy;



3) Get the message out directly (yourself, without waiting for a committee meeting, or any other bureaucratic waste of precious time) via email, telephone, or text to all parties who will be affected or may be affected -- it is important, before a crisis ever emerges, that you have established multiple lines of communication to each member of your organization in case of emergency, and that you have a means of signalling that a crisis is in process, or that a crisis is anticipated;



4) Update all affected personnel of what actions are being taken to resolve the critical issue, what they can expect, and an estimated (conservative) timeframe for repair. This is what those folks in Human Resources refer to as "expectation management;"



5) Remember - early, honest notice of a crisis, and updates until it is resolved minimize the organizational and emotional trauma of the crisis, the ancillary damage that might otherwise be caused by a lack of information or by misinformation. A crisis should not be a big secret - it should be competently contained until it can be remedied and business can go back to "work as usual." [ahhh.....]



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The better that you manage a crisis, the less that it will pull you and your team or organization off course. In fact, well-handled crisis management doesn't create the desperation and/or confusion associated with negative surprises or exponentialized rumors -- it is more analogous to improvising lines in a play when you've forgotten part of the script.



How you handle a critical situation will determine if you are meant to lead, or merely menat to attend to the limited scope of your job. Going further, leaders are made because of how they have handled critical situations. For those of you who appreciate silver linings, a crisis represents an opportunity for leaders to develop and to be recognized. Now onward with your mission, captains, commanders and leaders of growing companies, both existing and to be recognized.





Faithfully,



Douglas Castle

Chairman and CEO

TNNWC Group, LLC



http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com

http://www.TheNationalNetworkerWeblog.blogspot.com

http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com

http://TakingCommand.blogspot.com.

http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/DouglasCastle





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Perspective - Your Character.

Note: The article which follows originally appeared in The BRAINTENANCE Blog, prior to its publication in HUMANITAS MAXIMUS and THE INTERNAL ENERGY PLUS Blog. Each of these blogs is a planet orbiting about the TNNWC website (the star) in a vast constellation in cyberspace. Management, leadership, decision making, messaging, buzzing, blogging, reputation management, customer satisfaction and any other factor which affects us either as individually-purposed Human Beings, or as members of entrepreneurial enterprises made up of others working collaboratively. Any topic relating to the aforementioned areas of focus is fair game.

Dear Cranial Vault Keyholders and Honorary Cardholders:

To be a team leader, a manager, or a coordinator, you must lead by example, and you must be prepared to demonstrate the integrity of your character and the legitimacy of the motivations which precipitate your actions. You are being watched by others. What's more, you are constantly making choices and introspectively (as well as retrospectively) examining your own motives. Others may have to deal with your style of leadership or management, but you have to deal with yourself.


This is going to hurt just a bit, but you might want to think about who you are given these real-life situations:

1) You're the owner of a start-up business venture, and you are pushing the speed limit while driving your hybrid car in the left-hand lane (in the US). You are about to meet a major equity investor. You're running late. The fellow in the car directly in front of you is wavering from lane to lane without signaling, and gently tapping on the brakelights at seemingly random intervals. You scream "You flipping idiot!"

2) Your boss likes to come into the office very early in the morning, and after dinnertime in the evening at random times. He clearly wants to see who is working (by his standard, which involves employees remaining at their desks for many hours), and enjoys this "surprise approach." It is Friday evening, and you have a dinner date with your soul mate -- but you are breking into a sweat at the thought of leaving before 6:30 pm. You may be quite late for your date, who will be waiting at a restaurant where you've made reservations.

3) You are a soldier on the field of battle. An unarmed man, terrified, is kneeling on the ground in front of you with his hands atop his head, on his knees, pleading for his life. You believe that he is a civilian. Your commanding officer stands behind you, puts his gun up to the back of your head, cocks the trigger and says, "Shoot him, private, or I'll shoot you."

4) You have quit smoking after many years. You have not had a cigarette in four months. In your top office desk drawer, you have an unopened pack of cigarettes that you haven't thrown away, and cannot seem to part with...

5) You abhor cheating on examinations. You are in a very competitive class. Most of the other students cheat. They are circulating an unlawfully purloined copy of tomorrow's upcoming exam, obviously without the professor's knowledge. You think to yourself, "I hate cheaters. These people are disgusting. But if I don't get a high grade in this course, I'll lose out on my chance to get into a great graduate school program..."

In each of the above-proposed scenarios, what do you do, and how does that make you feel about yourself? Think hard.

Good Luck.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com
http://Braintenance.blogspot.com
http://ExpertAdviceAndInsightsFromTNNWC.blogspot.com

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For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to The National Networker Companies™/ TNNWC Group, LLC.

We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally.

We don’t just coach you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your budget to: 1) create your tool kit and 2) work as your partner to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool.

Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com .

To receive our newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Membership is free and the benefits are unequalled anywhere.

Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button.

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BRAINTENANCE - http://braintenance.blogspot.com/




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Powered By TNNWC Group™

For complete tactical and strategic business planning, marketing, media, lead-generation, technological and capital resources, scalable solutions and tools to support every entrepreneurial start-up, young enterprise, small- to medium-sized business and emerging high-growth company, talk to The National Networker Companies™/ TNNWC Group, LLC.

We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally.

We don’t just coach you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your budget to: 1) create your tool kit and 2) work as your partner to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool.

Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com .

To receive our newsletters, publications, information bulletins and alerts, simply join us as a Member. Membership is free and the benefits are unequalled anywhere.

Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button.

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HUMANITAS MAXIMUS -- SELF-GROWTH, SELF-DETERMINATION AND LEADERSHIP. http://humanitasmaximus.blogspot.com/- "Learn, Dream, Plan, Implement and Achieve."



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YOUR LIFE: Entrepreneurial Inspiration And Brilliant Advice

YOUR LIFE: Entrepreneurial Inspiration And Brilliant Advice

Dear Readers, Colleagues, TNNWC Members, Thought-Leaders and Entrepreneurs:

My wife brought the quote which follows to my attention yesterday. It was taken from a commencement address given by Steve Jobs (the visionary leader of Apple Computer) to students at Stanford University several years ago. As you likely already know, Steve Jobs has had to contend with some tremendous health challenges. He chose to strengthen himself because of his battle with adversity, instead of becoming a cynic or a pessimist.

The essence of the message is to "live each and every moment of every single day as if it were your last." For most of us, we take far too much for granted until we are threatened with serious loss. Jobs' message is not wasted on anyone who is still alive. For while we are still alive, the possibilities are limitless -- unless we chose to resign ourselves to a very small, mundane world, and a routine life of not making a difference.

Yes. It's true. Most men live their lives in quiet desperation. Women do too. Desperation is the dark side of ourselves, while dreams, ambitions and action, with a sense of urgency, are overwhelming evidence of the bright side. Make a choice, leaders, entrepreneurs, would-be activists -- choose to heed Steve Jobs' advice and do not fear the mission ahead. Instead of living with regret, or with wasting time on endless critical introspection, move ahead with your plans. The plans that your heart tells you are truly meant for you.

Proceed with passion.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/
http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/douglascastle
http://www.TNNWC.com

Steve Jobs, commencement address, Stanford University 2005:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

*****

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Douglas Castle - THE DAILY BURST OF BRILLIANCE .001™ http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com

United By Fear - Human Nature

This article was written by Douglas Castle for original publication in The Internationalist Page Blog and in the GICBC (Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community) Blog.

Cooperation Born Of Tragedy

The brief article which appears below came to us courtesy of AP (the Associated Press), and would seem to illustrate how the fears which we have in common -- dare I say it -- the fears which we share tend to unite us when they are extreme enough, and powerful enough, to overshadow long-standing and fundamental differences in ideologies or objectives. Enemies are bound, by their fears, to initiate a means of cooperation. And that cooperation invariably starts with a reluctant, uncomfortable dialogue between two individual Human Beings.

Much as fear acts as a catalyst to bind us (when common interests or objectives don't readily serve that purpose, as pursuit of ambitions is never quite as compelling as a sudden bound with the type of fear that reduces us to children playing in the same sandbox...where our superficial differences do not define us as "better" or "worse"... they just make us each somehow special.

I believe that all persons, all leaders and all nations must search for those things which unite us, instead of investing so much time politicking about those things that divide us.

Admitting and addressing fears and solving common problems is the way we learn the lessons of cooperation and collaboration. If this behavioral shift (admittedly born of tragedy or desperation; in this case, the terrible catastrophe in Japan) proves to be successful, and problems are solved through working together, a great deal of mistrust and suspicion can eventually yield the way to strategic interdependence and synergy.

The article is very brief, but profoundly significant given the history between South Korea and North Korea. As my college thesis advisor had once said to me, "People are far too busy placing blame and fighting each other to actually solve 'real' problems. We're so immersed in our bickering and treasure hunting that we never look up to the sky above, only to realize that a giant meteor is headed for our planet and all of our time on the Earth has been uselessly squandered, with no second chance." It is not too late. Not yet.

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Two Koreas agree on rare volcano talks next week

Thu Mar 24, 4:01 am ET

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea says scientists from the two Koreas will meet next week to discuss joint research into an active volcano extolled in the North as the sacred birthplace of leader Kim Jong Il.

The talks could spark a rare bit of cooperation between the Koreas.

North Korea offered last week to discuss joint research on volcanic activities at its Mount Paektu, the highest peak on the peninsula. South Korea later proposed the countries' civilian experts discuss the matter at a South Korean border village on March 29.

Seoul's Unification Ministry says the North agreed Thursday to the offer, saying it will send three volcanologists to the meeting.

The volcano last erupted in 1903, but minor earthquakes increased there between 2002 and 2005.

####

Maybe the oftimes seemingly indifferent Universe is sending us a brutal message about learning to be civilized.

I am not in the slightest a religious person, but perhaps --- perhaps there is a force far greater than anything that we could ever comprehend that is sending us a warning. I would like to think that this is a warning issued purposefully and sentiently out of some kind of love for Humankind.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

Internationalist,
Global Futurist, and
Chairman and CEO,
TNNWC Group, LLC

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THE INTERNATIONALIST PAGE - "A shrinking world, with expanding opportunities."
http://theinternationalistpage.blogspot.com/



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Economic Inequity and Revolution? Enter: Dysteamia

The dangerously growing gap between the rich and the poor. http://ping.fm/HfrJN.

My First Question: At what tipping point does the difference become so onerous and unconscionable to the poor majority that the seeds for revolution are firmly sown?

My Second Question: How close is the United States (one country among a number of others faced with the same disparity) to this theoretical "tipping point"?

My Third Question: What can be done to avert this type of  "theoretical" calamity? The answer will not come from large monopolies or government "programs". 

I believe that the answer lies in uniting and lobbying small businesses and in doing the same with consumer groups. That's the "hidden agenda" of TNNWC Group, LLC.  Go to http://www.tnnwc.com/ and click on the "JOIN US" button. Be a part of an organization that is truly greater than the sum of its individual Members...SYNERGY!...this is quite the opposite of what is going on inside of some of these corporate juggernauts and the back offices of government. They are actually parties to a phenomenon which I will refer to as (this is a bona fide Lingovation) "Dysteamia".

Dysteamia is the result produced by a group where the sum of the parts is far greater than the whole -- the loss factor has to do with massive waste, gross mismanagement, or some thievery justified by an unmitigated sense of entitlement and excessive greed. Yes: dys - Team - ia. 

news
economics
trends
buzz
TNNWC alerts
politics
revolution
degrees of inequality
rich versus poor
dangerous tipping point...

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/
http://www.tnnwc.com/

"Dysteamia Kills."