Working from Home: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

When I saw the Yahoo news that CEO Marissa Mayer was putting the kibosh on employees working from home, I immediately thought: “Oh, I can see it now. Other companies will jump on the bandwagon”.

Let’s hope not. I worked from home for 10 years from San Diego for two employers and while I was running my own independent research firm before moving to the New York area three years ago to join CNBC; the other 29 years were in offices, mostly newsrooms.

I think I know something about working from home.

I can honestly say I miss working from home much of the time. The operative word is “much.”

So let’s go through the good, bad and the ugly of working at home:

The good: Beyond the obvious -- no commute -- there is the less obvious: the ability to focus with little or no interruptions or distractions. Sure, there is the noise of the guys cutting the lawn, the dog barking and the delivery trucks, but otherwise it’s...quiet. And when you write or try to do deep research, quiet has its virtues. That’s why, for me, working at home was a way to turn a regular job into a lifestyle job.

The bad: You’re always working. Work is home, home is work. And with no commute, you’re likely to work longer hours. I would add, though, that you're probably also more productive -- depending on what you do for a living. I’m speaking as a journalist, and I didn’t mind the longer hours. Also, there is something to be said for being around people and, to Mayer’s point, exchanging ideas. Whether it’s an office or a newsroom, creativity really can get a kick-start by running into someone in a hallway. To be fair, though, a quick phone call can accomplish the same thing as can social media.

The ugly: Isolation.There is no way getting around this one. Some people love it, some don’t. I never did, especially when I was trying to run a very private research business that all but eliminated using social media.

Bottom line: Working from home is a heck of a perk if you can deal with the bad and the ugly.

The 1 Thing Every Business Executive Must Understand About Social Media

Social media is still in its infancy, and many business executives still don't understand how to Ieverage it for their organizations, large or small. They're too focused on the talking, and not focused enough on the listening.

When I speak, I often begin by asking my audience, "How many of you know at least one executive who doesn't fully understand the business value of Twitter?"

Sure enough, the entire audience raises their hands. Then I tell them about my experience in Las Vegas three years ago.

I had been standing in line to check in at Las Vegas’s then-trendiest hotel in town, the Aria, for nearly an hour. I was exhausted and frustrated after a 6 hour flight from New York, and just wanted to get to my room and rest. The last thing I wanted to do was waste an hour of my life waiting in line.

Frustrated, I did what any social media nerd would do - I pulled out my phone, and tweeted the following:

“No Vegas hotel could be worth this long wait. Over an hour to checkin at the Aria. #fail"

Unfortunately, the Aria wasn't listening, and didn’t tweet back to me. But a competitor was listening. Just two minutes later, I received a tweet from the Rio Hotel down the street.

Now at this point, if you’re anything like most executives I’ve shared this story with, you’re thinking, “What did the Rio tweet - “Come on over, we have no line here" or "Call us, we have a room for you!"?

Had the Rio tweeted something like that to me, I would have thought two things: First, "Why are you stalking me?" and second, "Why is it wide open at the Rio when it's jam-packed and happening at the Aria?"

On the contrary, the Rio Las Vegas tweeted the following to me:
“Sorry about your bad experience, Dave. Hope the rest of your stay in Vegas goes well.”

Guess where I ended up staying the next time I went to Las Vegas?

The Rio hotel earned a $600 sale on the basis of that one tweet. But the story gets even better, because I gave the Rio a "Like" on Facebook, and a few months later, I got a message from a friend on Facebook. My friend Erin asked, "Hey, I'm having a family reunion in Vegas this New Year's, and I saw you liked the Rio's page. Do you recomend them?"

I wrote back to her, "Well, the Rio isn't the newest hotel in Vegas, or the nicest - but I'll tell you one thing - they know how to listen to customers." She booked the Rio for 20 guests that day.

One tweet from the Rio, and one "like" from me led to over $10,000 in revenue for the company.

No executive that's heard or read this story could argue that the Rio's message was a marketing or sales message, either. All they did was use social media to listen, and then show a little empathy to the right person at the right time. An ad, or a push-marketing-like message from the Rio, simply wouldn’t have worked. But their ability to listen, respond and be empathic did work.

The Rio was listening on Twitter by tracking keywords of their competitors, and of the word "Vegas". If you work at a hotel, you can do the same. If you work at a law firm, try listening by doing a Twitter search for the words "need a lawyer". Or if you work for a recruitment firm, try a search for the words "We're hiring."

Whatever your organization does, you can find your customers and prospects on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and everywhere on the social web, by listening for the right words.

The one thing every business executive must understand about social media:

The secret to social media success isn't in talking - it's in listening.

The 1 Thing Every Business Executive Must Understand About Social Media

Social media is still in its infancy, and many business executives still don't understand how to Ieverage it for their organizations, large or small. They're too focused on the talking, and not focused enough on the listening.

When I speak, I often begin by asking my audience, "How many of you know at least one executive who doesn't fully understand the business value of Twitter?"

Sure enough, the entire audience raises their hands. Then I tell them about my experience in Las Vegas three years ago.

I had been standing in line to check in at Las Vegas’s then-trendiest hotel in town, the Aria, for nearly an hour. I was exhausted and frustrated after a 6 hour flight from New York, and just wanted to get to my room and rest. The last thing I wanted to do was waste an hour of my life waiting in line.

Frustrated, I did what any social media nerd would do - I pulled out my phone, and tweeted the following:

“No Vegas hotel could be worth this long wait. Over an hour to checkin at the Aria. #fail"

Unfortunately, the Aria wasn't listening, and didn’t tweet back to me. But a competitor was listening. Just two minutes later, I received a tweet from the Rio Hotel down the street.

Now at this point, if you’re anything like most executives I’ve shared this story with, you’re thinking, “What did the Rio tweet - “Come on over, we have no line here" or "Call us, we have a room for you!"?

Had the Rio tweeted something like that to me, I would have thought two things: First, "Why are you stalking me?" and second, "Why is it wide open at the Rio when it's jam-packed and happening at the Aria?"

On the contrary, the Rio Las Vegas tweeted the following to me:
“Sorry about your bad experience, Dave. Hope the rest of your stay in Vegas goes well.”

Guess where I ended up staying the next time I went to Las Vegas?

The Rio hotel earned a $600 sale on the basis of that one tweet. But the story gets even better, because I gave the Rio a "Like" on Facebook, and a few months later, I got a message from a friend on Facebook. My friend Erin asked, "Hey, I'm having a family reunion in Vegas this New Year's, and I saw you liked the Rio's page. Do you recomend them?"

I wrote back to her, "Well, the Rio isn't the newest hotel in Vegas, or the nicest - but I'll tell you one thing - they know how to listen to customers." She booked the Rio for 20 guests that day.

One tweet from the Rio, and one "like" from me led to over $10,000 in revenue for the company.

No executive that's heard or read this story could argue that the Rio's message was a marketing or sales message, either. All they did was use social media to listen, and then show a little empathy to the right person at the right time. An ad, or a push-marketing-like message from the Rio, simply wouldn’t have worked. But their ability to listen, respond and be empathic did work.

The Rio was listening on Twitter by tracking keywords of their competitors, and of the word "Vegas". If you work at a hotel, you can do the same. If you work at a law firm, try listening by doing a Twitter search for the words "need a lawyer". Or if you work for a recruitment firm, try a search for the words "We're hiring."

Whatever your organization does, you can find your customers and prospects on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and everywhere on the social web, by listening for the right words.

The one thing every business executive must understand about social media:

The secret to social media success isn't in talking - it's in listening.

Best Advice: Tips for Success and Happiness

I can't pinpoint one particular piece of advice I've been given as the pièce de résitance, because I've had the great fortune to have absorbed, and continue to absorb, some priceless gems. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the many people that have had a positive influence in my life and for those that continue to do that right now.

So, packaged together I can sum up the 6 top tips for success and happiness:

1: Follow your dreams. Follow your passion. Love what you do. Believe you can achieve. Plan it out and decide on your action steps to make the dream become a reality. Take the steps and set the wheels in motion.

2: When faced with a tough decision, be prepared to listen to positive and loving guidance from those around you who may have seen a positive step that you may have missed or a consideration you may have chosen to ignore as not relevant. These people are your advice angels. They are a true gift of kindness.

3: On the other side there are people that are your advice monsters. Don't pay attention to negative and unhelpful comments such as, you'll never make it, it's for people that know people, you’ll never get the opportunity, you’ll be banging your head against a brick wall, etc. These people may mean well but generally they are reflecting their own insecurities and self-limiters on to you. Ask yourself, what have they done and what are they doing with their own lives? Are they a role model for me?

4: If someone in authority says, “No, you can't do that!” acknowledge the reason they give as to why and then invest time into looking at other options that may not have been noticed or realized before, by you or the person in authority. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and if something is so strong in your heart and is a true passion and a real goal, then more often than not it is meant to be and a path will be revealed.

5: Consistently treat people with genuine respect and love and you'll be amazed at how even those who at first may have appeared uninterested, unhelpful, obstinate and a real jobsworth, will be very willing to help you out. Stand your ground, be bold, be loving, respectful and always polite and you will see how many closed doors start to open up for you. Doors will open that you didn’t even know were there.

6: Always have an open mind and a hungry heart. Always aim to raise your game. How can I be better? How can I work smarter? How can I be more impactful? How can I be kinder? How can I be more loving? Never stop taking on new learning, new reading, new professional development and training. The day we do that we start to stand still. If we choose to stand still it goes without saying that many around us will keep moving forwards. This means, in essence, that the minute you stand still you start to go backwards.

Enjoy the ride :-)

I welcome below your thoughts, observations and experiences.

Best Advice: Don't Follow It!

The worst kind of advice can sometimes come with the best of intentions, from those who really care for you. The best advice then is the advice you give yourself – to stop listening to the naysayers and to trust your vision.

The worst advice I (and almost everyone) have received and still receive, dose after dose, is: “Don’t do that.” The supporting arguments vary little: “It’s not practical. It won’t work. You can’t make that fly. It will cost too much. It’s a crazy idea.”

“You can’t drive from Europe to India," I was told when I was 19. Three friends and I did, and that is when Ashoka and so much else was born.

“Don’t waste your time with this Ashoka idea. Individuals and their little organizations can’t change the world. Stay with the government or McKinsey,” I was told again. However, over half of the 3,000 Ashoka social entrepreneur fellows have changed national policy within five years of launch. Three quarters have changed their field (i.e. health, human rights) within the same five years.

“You must be crazy to try to repeal payroll taxes; they are taboo because they are linked to social security,” I was told yet again. However, Europe and Asia are now cutting payroll taxes, and U.S. politicians just learned that opposing reduction in this job-killing tax is truly where the chief political danger lies. My work with Get America Working! to tax natural resources, not jobs, is flourishing as a result.

Here’s my advice: The first step to becoming a changemaker (the only secure job going forward) is to give oneself permission, i.e. to ignore — politely, of course — all those who say “Don’t do it.”

The 5 Traits of Great Sales People

As a professional speaker, I get to speak to some great teams, and it’s a real pleasure to present to people that are excited to be at an event or conference and last week was no exception.

I like to take the opportunity to mix and mingle with the attendees over lunch before my session if I can, and as the event was an awards ceremony for the company’s top sales achievers, it was a real opportunity for me to learn from them.

What are the secrets to being a top achiever in the real estate industry, which in anyone’s books, is a tough job to do when the market is buoyant never mind a bit flat?

As I mingled and chatted over lunch, it became apparent.

Take or find action

“It’s no use sitting in the staff room drinking coffee with your colleagues, you need to get out and meet new people all of the time” was one comment. “If you want a coffee, get out and get one, you never know who you might bump into”. I am a huge believer in that.

Wear a smile

I know it was an awards ceremony, but each and every person had a big smile, a smile that was genuine. The power of a smile is tremendous, it does wonders for the soul and is easily passed on. Making other people feel good is a sure fire way to be remembered.

Dress the part

Given the group were the best of the best, they all dressed appropriately; there was no competition for the most expensive flashy “salesy” suit. Dressing “just a little bit better” is all you need to aim for.

Focus on the end point

If your goal is to deliver $250m worth of settled transactions, monitor and plot every single transaction that gets you to that goal. I think it was Tom Peters that said “What gets measured gets done”. I bet each and every one of those top achievers had a totalizer stuck to their wall somewhere that they filled in after each sale.

Create a buzz

Awards aside, from the buzz it was obvious they loved their job. Many had been with the company for more than 10 years, some more than 20, and you don’t usually hang around that long if you’re not happy!

There is no rocket science, it always comes down to the same things: building relationships with others, doing the hard graft, measuring your success and having a little fun while you are doing it. Well-done guys, Cheers!

Best Advice: Lessons From My Dad and Steve Jobs

Since we launched the Influencers platform on LinkedIn several months ago, I've had the chance to share a few different posts with some great advice I've received over the years.When our editors mentioned they were running a special edition of Influencer posts focused on the question "What is the best advice you've ever received?" I thought it would be a good opportunity to digest some of those posts and add some additional advice I've found to be particularly valuable.

You can do anything you set your mind to -- My dad

As a child, I can't recall a day that went by without my dad telling me I could do anything I set my mind to. He said it so often, I stopped hearing it. Along with lines like "eat your vegetables," I just assumed it was one of those bromides that parents repeated endlessly to their kids. It wasn't until decades later that I fully appreciated the importance of those words and the impact they had on me.

Today, the question I'm asked most often by students and interns is how best to achieve their career goals. As simple as it sounds, the short version of my response is that you have to know what it is you ultimately want to accomplish (optimizing for both passion and skill, and not one at the exclusion of the other). As soon as you do, you'll begin manifesting it in both explicit and implicit ways.

Everything that can be converted from an atom to a bit, will be -- Nicholas Negroponte

In the Fall of 1994, I read "Being Digital" by Nicolas Negroponte. In the opening chapter Negroponte posited that by virtue of the ensuing digital revolution, everything that could be converted from an atom to a bit would be. Having just started as an analyst in the Corporate Development group at Warner Bros, it didn't take much to realize this coming transition would have material implications on the studio and the entertainment industry in general. Thus began my nearly two-decades-long career in digital media.

Do you want to push paper around or do you want to build products that change people's lives? -- Dan Rosensweig

Roughly a year after I started on the Corp Dev team at Yahoo in 1994, Dan Rosensweigjoined as Yahoo's new COO. He tried recruiting me to an operating role on his team literally every time I saw him over the first year of his tenure, but I would always decline. Then, almost a year to the day he started, Dan said, "Jeff, you've always told me that your lifelong ambition is ultimately to reform the education system in the U.S. Let me ask you something: Do you think you are going to be better prepared to make that a reality by pushing paper around, working on strategy, and doing deals; or by moving in to operations and building teams, inspiring people, and developing great products that change people's lives?" Suffice it to say, I accepted on the spot and haven't looked back since.

We are the stories that we tell -- Deepak Chopra

Several years ago, I asked Deepak how massively scaling consumer web platforms could best contribute in a world that felt increasingly besieged by secular challenges. His response was that ultimately we are the stories that we tell; that the importance of storytelling was as old as humanity itself, dating back to the time of cave drawings. He went on to explain that if society was exclusively focused on rehashing the problems of the world, e.g. rising unemployment, global warming, threat of terrorism, etc, it would create anxiety, stress, and a planet steeped in self-fulfilling negative energy. However, if we came together and focused on not only identifying the problems, but developing the solutions and shining a light on those success stories, we could change the dialog and manifest more positive change. That discussion forever changed my appreciation for the power of narrative, regardless of the size of the audience.

If you could only do one thing, what would it be? -- Steve Jobs

Shortly after Jerry Yang became the CEO of Yahoo, he invited Steve Jobs to address the company's leadership. Among many insightful things that Steve shared that day, the one that continues to have the most profound influence on me was his discussion regarding prioritization. Jobs said that after he returned to Apple in 1994, he recognized there were far too many products and SKUs in development so he asked his team one simple question: If you could only do one thing, what would it be? He said that many of the answers rationalized the need to do more than one thing, or sought to substantiate bundling one priority with another. However, all he wanted to know was what "the one thing" was. As he explained it, if they got that one thing right, they could then move on the next thing, and the next thing after that, and so on. Turned out the answer to his question was the reinvention of the iMac. After that, it was the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Interestingly enough, years later I heard Jobs speak at All Things D and he explained that the company had actually been working on the iPad before the iPhone, as he had long written off pursuit of the phone as being prohibitively challenging given the carrier landscape. However, once a window of opportunity opened up to successfully bring a phone to market, he hit the pause button on the tablet, and only returned to it once Apple got the iPhone right. Pretty mind blowing to think that a company as large and successful as Apple, and someone as prodigiously talented as Steve Jobs, would temporarily shelve something as important as the iPad for the sake of focus, but that's exactly what he did.

Wisdom without compassion is ruthlessness, compassion without wisdom is folly -- Fred Kofman

After having worked at Yahoo for seven years and making the decision to leave, I started to think a lot about what I wanted to do next. I've long been interested in education reform, and specifically the democratization of knowledge, which was one of the primary dynamics that drew me to the consumer web, digital media and search specifically. Consistent with this passion, I drafted a personal vision statement: To expand the world's collective wisdom.

A few weeks after developing that vision, I found myself at dinner one night with my friend Fred Kofman, founder of Axialent, author of "Conscious Business", and one of the most enlightened people I've met throughout my career. After sharing my objective with him, he said, "That's very powerful, but bear in mind, wisdom without compassion is ruthlessness, and compassion without wisdom is folly." The line stopped me cold in my tracks. After some additional back and forth, I said I was amending my initial vision to read "To expand the world's collective wisdom and compassion" and that objective has influenced every aspect of my work ever since.

Five steps to happiness -- Ray Chambers

After a legendary career on Wall Street where he was widely acknowledged as having developed the modern day leveraged buyout (the acquisition of Gibson Greetings in 1982), Ray gave it all up in the late-eighties to pursue a life of philanthropic activity. Among other endeavors, he founded or led efforts such as the National Mentoring Partnership, the Points of Light Foundation, America's Promise, The Millennium Promise Alliance, Malaria no More, and today is the special emissary to the United Nations to help eradicate deaths due to Malaria. As one of my mentors, I've learned a lot from Ray through the years, but the one piece of advice that I find myself coming back to most often are are his five steps to happiness:

Live in the moment

It's better to be loving than to be right

Be a spectator to your own thoughts, especially when you become emotional

Be grateful for at least one thing every day

Help others every chance you get

Best Advice: Six Secrets to Success

In my 39 years of business life I have learnt a great deal. My first 25 years was in corporate life where I had some great managers and some real idiots. I quickly realised I could learn from both of them. The good manager I copied; the idiots I realised the negative effect they had on me and just did the opposite of what they did!

Here are the 6 pieces of advice I received that have led me to whatever success I enjoy today.

1. 'Son, just do a good job, then everyone will want you'

When I started my first job my father gave me a great bit of advice. He said “Son, don’t get involved in company politics. To get on in life just focus on doing a good job and then everyone will want you….” This held me in good stead as I climbed the corporate ladder and then when I started Beyond Philosophy, one of the world’s first dedicated Customer Experience consultancies, from home some 11 years ago. That was probably the most daunting time for me. I gave up a highly paid job to start up on my own. At that time no one had really heard of ‘Customer Experience’ as a concept until I wrote my first book, Building Great Customer Experiences, Palgrave Macmillan 2002 . They certainly hadn’t heard of me or my new company, Beyond Philosophy. But I quickly understood this advice still held true. By ‘doing a good job’ for clients I quickly built a successful business. For example, we helped Maersk Line, the world’s leading container shipping company, improve their Net promoter score by 40 points in 30 months. I think my Father would class that as ‘doing a good job’, certainly Maersk Line did. Take a look at the case study here.

2. 'None of us are as clever as all of us'

One of the fundamental bits of advice I was given by an old boss. Practically, this means if we use the collective brain power of the team then that is better than any one person’s thoughts. At the beginning of my career I thought that being the manager/leader meant I needed to know everything and make all the decisions. How wrong I was! What I learnt was that I need to be a good leader for people who know things. I need to get the most out of my people by inspiring them; creating the environment for them to work in and give them space to flourish. Therefore, I learnt the irony of leadership is that you have to ‘let go’ and trust people. These tie into another piece of advice I was given ...

3. Employ people who are smarter than you

Many leaders are worried about employing people who are more intelligent than themselves. They see it as a threat to their leadership. It’s not a threat, it’s an incredible advantage. I am blessed at Beyond Philosophy that all the people that work with me are smarter than I. I encourage people to challenge me and show me a better way. I encourage them to take the lead in different situations. This is not a threat to my leadership; this shows the strength of our organization. How I lead the organization then becomes the most important thing. This brings me to the next piece of advice I was given: how to operate different leadership styles…

4. Democracy and Republican

The best manager I ever had was a guy called Neil Hobbs. Neil taught me many things and I still admire the way he leads his teams. Neil used a phrase that I still use today. In fact I was coaching one of the Beyond Philosophy team on this only the other day. Neil used to tell me there is a difference between ‘Democracy and Republican’ modes of leadership. He would say to get the most from people they need to feel motivated; they need to buy into what you are doing; they need to feel inspired to work hard and go above and beyond the call of duty. To do this you need to operate a democracy style of leadership. I now do this. I involve people in decisions, we debate things, argue our points and ideally we will reach a consensus. In doing so, we are all more committed to this outcome.

Neil used to tell me that human nature is such that this doesn’t always work 100% of the time. Sometimes the team can’t agree, or the debate is just going on for too long. When this happens you need to move into Republican mode. Republican mode is when I make the decision and tell people what to do. The reality is, I rarely use this mode, but the team know that I reserve the right to do this. What I have found is that as people know you normally work in a democratic way they respect it when you switch modes to republican. I see too many businesses with ‘macho’ management. They think by shouting and scaring people you get the most from them. You don’t. This is just a power trip for that person. The irony is many of them are just insecure in themselves. In my view it takes a more mature form of leadership to operate democracy. You have to be comfortable in your own skin. But this only works if you then operate the next principle Neil told me about…

5. 'Once we agree, we do'

When everyone has had the opportunity to put their case forward, we have debated it and we have agreed an approach, either through democracy or republican, we do. We implement. No excuses. No more debate. Now is the time for action. Debate is over and collective responsibility now kicks in….

6. 'Do as you would be done by'

Finally, the advice I have given myself throughout my life is ‘do as you would be done by’. In a leadership environment this means I lead by example. I never ask one of my team to do something that I am not prepared to do myself. We are all equals, we just do different jobs. Everyone’s opinion is valid and should be treated with respect. I don’t stay at better hotels than my team. What’s good for me is good for them, I am no better than them and I believe I have built a better committed team because I ‘do as I would be done by’…

These philosophies have held me in good stead over the years. Today we have a great team that are all motivated and committed and are all respected for their thought leadership inCustomer Experience. That’s something that I’m proud off…

5 ways for busy people to acquire a reading habit

Let’s get this straight, you cannot have big vocabulary and great communication skills if you do not have a reading habit.

Read whenever you can!!!

Yes sir. Though you might wish of a magic book which you can keep under your pillow and wake up in the morning with 20,000 new words in your head, such a magic book doesn’t exist.

You might even venture out to memorize 20,000 hottest words from the hottest word list on the internet but you wouldn’t be able to use them in conversation or writing, thus ending in only heartbreak and headache.

To possess the power of words, you need to see them in action and reading regularly is the single most powerful way to do that.

Once you begin reading books, you will be surprised to see how easily you begin using those words, phrases and expression styles in your day to day communication and amaze everyone around.

“But I work from 8 to 8, have a nagging wife, an evil boss, 6 naughty kids and a fat EMI to pay”, you protest.

Well, do you want to use this as an excuse for the rest of your life or do you want to  be smart and figure out creative ways to include reading in your awfully busy schedule?

I assume its the latter, hiding behind excuses is for the losers, not you!

Time now, for the real thing. Here are the five simple ways that will make you a reader.

1. Read in the toilet

Before you close your nose and scream Eeeeewwww, it is those 15 minutes which you get everyday where no one disturbs you. All your busy business remains outside the doors.

Even if you read 3 pages everyday, in a month, you would have read 90 pages and in 3 months, you’d finish a 300 page book. Not bad for someone who doesn’t read anything apart from his friend’s Facebook updates.

2. Pick something you like

Yes. A book which interests you – mythology, children’s stories, a classic, a Chetan Bhagat novel, a controversial story, about dacoits, criminals, mafia dons or scientists; about ayurvedic medicine or sex; about psychology or cinema – anything which excites you.

These days everybody and their uncle is writing books. The big advantage is that the language is typically easy and books are available on almost any topic.

Pick yourself up, spend sometime in the bookstore and get a couple of books that talk about things you like. It is important as you won’t be able to continue reading if you don’t like the subject.

3. Carry a pocket dictionary or have one on your mobile

If you use an Android phone, download Wordweb. If you don’t, then buy a small dictionary and keep it in your loo library.

Look up when you see a word you don’t know and keep reading. Don’t make 100 word notes for every new word you see.

The idea is if you keep reading, you will come across the words so many times that you’d automatically acquire them.

4. Read when you are in between places

Another great chance to read is when you are in transit. For example, when travelling in a bus, plane, cab, metro or auto.

We spend a lot of time in between places and we usually waste it. Not a great idea if you are a busy person and want amazing communication skills.

5. Get a new book before you finish the current one

Yes. It’s important to build a reading habit and not just read one book and wash your hands.

The fun part is as you read more and more, you will develop your own sense of what kind of books you like. Moreover, you would slowly move on to more sophisticated books which discuss complex ideas in elegant ways.

Reading habit works. It gives you great ways to express ideas, powerful words to describe them and an ability to shine over others who don’t read.

Ask yourself, “Do you want to achieve success?” and if you hear a yes, read!

Yahoo abolishes work-at-home policy

Since Marissa Mayer became chief executive of Yahoo, she has been working hard to get the Internet pioneer off its deathbed and make it an innovator once again. 

She started with free food and new smartphones for every employee, borrowing from the playbook of Google, her employer until last year. Now, though, Yahoo has made a surprise move: abolishing its work-at-home policy and ordering everyone to work in the office.

A memo explaining the policy change, from the company's human resources department, says face-to-face interaction among employees fosters a more collaborative culture — a hallmark of Google's approach to its business.

In trying to get back on track, Yahoo is taking on one of the country's biggest workplace issues: whether the ability to work from home, and other flexible arrangements, leads to greater productivity or inhibits innovation and collaboration. Across the country, companies like Aetna, Booz Allen Hamilton and Zappos.com are confronting these trade-offs as they compete to attract and retain the best employees.

Bank of America, for example, which had a popular program for working remotely, decided late last year to require employees in certain roles to come back to the office.

Employees, especially younger ones, expect to be able to work remotely, analysts say. And over all the trend is toward greater workplace flexibility.

Still, said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger Gray & Christmas, an outplacement and executive coaching firm, "A lot of companies are afraid to let their workers work from home some of the time or all of the time because they're afraid they'll lose control."

Studies show that people who work at home are significantly more productive but less innovative, said John Sullivan, a professor of management at San Francisco State University who runs a human resource advisory firm.

"If you want innovation, then you need interaction," he said. "If you want productivity, then you want people working from home."

Reflecting these tensions, Yahoo's policy change has unleashed a storm of criticism from advocates for workplace flexibility who say it is a retrograde approach, particularly for those who care for young children or aging parents outside of work. Their dismay is heightened by the fact that they hoped Ms Mayer, who became chief executive at 37 while pregnant with her first child, would make the business world more hospitable for working parents.

"The irony is that she has broken the glass ceiling, but seems unwilling for other women to lead a balanced life in which they care for their families and still concentrate on developing their skills and career," said Ruth Rosen, a professor emerita of women's history at the University of California.

But not only women take advantage of workplace flexibility policies. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly as many men telecommute.

The bureau says 24 percent of employed Americans report working from home at least some hours each week. And 63 percent of employers said last year that they allowed employees to work remotely, up from 34 percent in 2005, according to a study by the Families and Work Institute, a nonprofit group studying the changing work force.

During the recession, the institute expected employers to demand more face time, but instead found that 12 percent increased workplace flexibility, said Ellen Galinsky, its president and co-founder. She attributed this to companies' desire to reduce real estate costs, carbon footprints and commuting times.

Technologies developed in Silicon Valley, from video chat to instant messaging, have made it possible for employees across America to work remotely. Yet like Yahoo, many tech companies believe that working in the same physical space drives innovation.

A Yahoo spokeswoman, Sara Gorman, declined to comment, saying only that the company did not publicly discuss internal matters.

The company's memo, written by Jackie Reses, director of human resources at Yahoo, and published on All Things D, a blog on digital issues, said: "Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home."

In part, the memo looks like an effort to bring a Google spirit to Yahoo, said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners who covers both companies.

Don’t Abandon Customers who Abandoned You; Five Steps to a Better Customer Experience

When customers call your customer contact center, they want their calls answered quickly by a knowledgeable representative.  But too often a customer hangs up before you have answered their call.  Understanding why can help drive improved customer experience and a positive bottom line.

Here are five steps to understanding and dealing with abandoned calls to improve customer experience:

1. Define abandoned calls with the customer in mind.  Remember, hanging up usually indicates that the customer has reached their breaking point of frustration. So make sure your abandoned calls definition includes customers who hang up while in the IVR or VRU, and not just those who hang up while waiting in queue for a representative to answer.

2. Access to data and reporting is key. Without the proper data and reporting, you will not be able to determine how many customers abandon and at what point in the process they abandon.  Having this information allows you to weed out callers who abandoned for reasons for which you have no control; for example, callers who abandoned within 10 seconds may have dialed the wrong number.

3. Record and listen to abandoned calls. This may be the most important step in the process.  Start by recording 100% of your calls, and make sure you record the customers’ choices and words in the automated process.  Utilize your quality department or a special task force to listen to abandon calls, report findings, and make recommendations for improvements.

4. Create a repeatable process. Reducing abandoned calls is not a one and done effort but a process of continuous improvement.  

5. Surprise your customers who abandon with a proactive outbound call. How will a frustrated customer who hung up during processing feel when you call them to help resolve their issue.  “Hello Mr. or Mrs. Customer, we noticed that you called today but you hung up before we could speak to you.  How can I be of assistance to you today?”  Talk about a great customer experience!

In the end the cost related to abandon calls is well worth the effort required to understand the reason why customers abandoned and make appropriate changes to reduce customer frustration.  Abandon customers drive customer churn and poor Net Promoter Scores, two very measurable revenue-killing statistics.  So don’t abandon your customers.