bed bath and beyond

Everyone remembers military recruiters sitting behind a booth in their high school cafeteria, but few remember the sailors or soldiers talking about their military careers in the classrooms. 
That’s the inspiration behind a new Navy program started by Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert. His instructions were simple: he asked the Sailors working for him to take on an additional mission as they traveled around the world — tell their Navy stories to young Americans.

Greenert's goal, then and now, is for young Americans to gain a greater understanding of what it means to serve in the military and the opportunities a life in uniform can provide by hearing the stories of active-duty Sailors.

The philosophy behind the program is that many American school children simply have never heard what it is that sailors do, and what a naval career entails. It’s hoped that by hearing from successful, well-trained sail
Interview with Henry Singer, Vietnam veteran. CCSU Veterans History Project

ors that high schools students will think of the Navy, not just as a temporary adventure, but as a viable career.  

"This is one of the ways we in the Navy can compete with Fortune 500 companies for the best talent in the nation," said Lt. Cmdr. Henry Gourdine. "By having deckplate leaders visit schools and tell students honestly about their own experiences in the Navy, they can see someone who is just a few years removed from where they sit and know that they can achieve the same goals."

Lt. Cmdr. Kelly Fletcher believes academics are the foundation for whatever career students choose in life.

"The Navy provided me with the opportunity for education, and I tell them about the many opportunities I have had in the Navy," Fletcher said. "These students are smart; they ask very pointed questions, and they are interested in preparing now for the future."
And one of the prime ways that men and women can meet their academic goals while serving in the Navy is by taking advantage of the benefit known as Navy Tuition Assistance, or TA, as it is commonly known across the service branches.

 

Navy TA provides sailors with $4,500 a year in funds that they can use for career training. The money renews each year and sailors can use it at accredited vocational training schools, community colleges or universities.

 

This is especially important for people who are looking to make the navy a career and eventually reach the Sr. Chief Petty officer rank in the Navy. Starting in 20ll, all E-8 sailors must have an associate degree at the minimum. Sailors who wish to reach the rank of E-8 should consider using their TA funds to earn their associate degree

 

In terms of earning a bachelor’s degree, many service members consider majoring in criminal justice. A criminal justice degree is a great fit for military personnel because service members may have already experienced the kind of training that police officers are required to have.

 

Even if a Sailor chooses to spend 20 years in the Navy, a degree in criminal justice will open up the possibility of a law enforcement career when they return to civilian life.

Sean Lee

www.aurora-clinics.co.uk Breast Implant Surgery - Reasons to Exchange or Replace Adrian Richards a well known Plastic Surgeon for Aurora Clinics discusses the reasons to exchange breast implants. He explains that if the implants are intact often there is no reason to change them even after a number of years. Reasons to change the implants include: hardening, abnormal position and rupture. Mr Richards describes the procedure have breast implant exchange surgery and discussed the pros and cons of each. For more information please call 01844 214362 and speak to one of our patient advisors. A FREE informational Audio CD containing all the facts you need to know about this procedure is available from Aurora Clinics. Please complete the form on the attached link www.aurora-clinics.co.uk

When you need a heart by-pass, you call in a cardiologist rather than a general practitioner. When you are in legal troubles, you consult a lawyer. When you have tax problems, you seek advice of a tax consultant. Yet many troubled companies make the fatal mistake of not approaching the right professional for help. Many try to get out of their conundrum using the internal management. Others rely on their lawyers, auditors, etc. These troubled businesses need to bring in turnaround experts and specialists. In fact, the management of some of these ailing companies behaves like a deer caught in the headlights, petrified and totally clueless on how to move forward.

As chief executives and chief financial officers fall from their grace over accounting irregularities and scandals, turnaround managers, with familiar titles such as chief restructuring officers, turnaround specialists or artists, corporate doctors are taking charge of distressed companies to get them up to speed again. In the US, troubled companies such as WorldCom Inc, Enron Corp, Kmart Corp have appointed turnaround specialists to restructure their businesses. Since he Asian financial crisis, even Malaysia has enlisted the use of professionals, armed with impressive credentials rather than political ties to shake up the government-linked companies. For instance, in 1998, the former premier brought in the first batch of turnaround experts to head the Umno-linked companies and asset management firm Danaharta.

Some of these turnaround experts who generally have a background in business, accounting, finance or operations are called in by the creditors or board of directors who lose faith in the management. In most instances, these specialists have had a significant experience as a CEO, CFO, CIO or COO provide a sense of credibility and glimmer of hope to the board, investors and creditors. . They are a special breed of talent, as they have to be entrepreneurs, visionaries, redesign architects and crisis managers all rolled into one. They have to create resources out of liabilities, find opportunities where none is apparent and travel down uncharted paths to fix 'unsolvable' problems. In essence, they have to create value by reinventing the company.

Unfortunately, no company seeking to turn around would run an advertisement that says: "Company not making money and need turnaround specialist. Send in your application." There are many ways of finding quality professionals to enable you to fix your business. The first place to start looking for a turnaround specialist is to contact your banker, lawyer, external auditor, large accounting firms and various business chambers and associations. Through their previous collaborations, these parties may have the contacts of specialist with the requisite skills

Another way to find the turnaround specialist is to contact those who understand the company's situation such as current employees, company's board of directors and advisors and associates. But one has to exercise care in the selection process. There are many professionals who profess to be turnaround specialists but are actually only financial people who are preoccupied with cost-cutting measures. It takes much more than mere cost cutting to turn around an ailing business. Certainly, such skills and knowledge are important but it is only part of the answer.

Besides having actual turnaround experience, turnaround specialist needs to have a broad understanding of the industry. He or she needs some understanding of the industry. Normally time is not on the side of the turnaround specialists to show results. Therefore if he understands the industry it can facilitate and shorten the learning curve and quickly bring in business through his contacts.

The specialist also needs to have gone through adversity and shows track record of successfully turning around troubled businesses. Successful managers in healthy companies will not cut it as they have not had to work with low-morale employees, creditors screaming for payments and diminishing market share as clients switch to the competitors.

Sadly, most of these restructuring experts are brought in too late. As the restructuring should have been carried out yesterday. Consequently, the success rate of turnaround is very low.

Therefore, when you need surgery, call in the surgeon quickly. Do not delay as it can be fatal.

Mike Teng

Wal-Mart may conger up some images for you, yet one thing Wal-Mart does is to have a Greeter to make people feel welcome. Even the old K-Mart use to announces “Welcome K-Mart shoppers.”  Unfortunately, after the Greeter or the welcome message, you get lost in the sea of people and merchandise and it’s next to impossible to find someone to show you where to find what you’re looking for, because they’re too busy stocking shelves.

So always greet your customers.  If all your people are busy with other customers, someone should at least acknowledge the new entrant.  Even the post office gives you a number.  Don’t ignore them or make them feel like an intruder.  Let them know how long the wait will be and point them to a sitting area where they can peruse or sit with a bottle of water, look at a video promo or experience pleasantness.  This is a good captive advertising moment.  If your facility is big with lots to see, have a map with a numbered walking tour. 

Burn this into your staff’s heads.  People are coming into your establishment for ideas and/or to buy. Both are good for your business.  The better the experience the more they will buy and buy and buy.

Lose “Can I help you?”  

It’s like asking the Pope, “Are you Catholic?”  As I said above, people come into your place of business for a reason.  Of course you can help them.  However, to do this your front-line people have to: (1) Make them comfortable; (2) Find out why they came in (their motivation); and (3) Find out what their perfect something looks like, that they are willing to spend and spend and spend on.

Now let’s wrap this up.  Make your customer have a wonderful experience in your Center.  To do this you will have to first convince yourself that it’s all about the customer.  I’m not saying to succumb to abusive people that give no energy and waste your time.  I am saying, however, if they are a motivated buyer and they have a pleasant experience, they may buy a lot more than they originally intended and they will tell their friends how great it was. 
YYCCC 2011-04-11 Calgary City Council - Video Archive - April 11, 2011

Second, show your employees what to do.  Don’t think for one minute they should know what to do, or that you will insult their intelligence by spelling it out.  This is your Center, and it should be done your way.  They don’t know your way unless you tell them, and it’s your responsibility to tell them explicitly.  Otherwise, they won’t succeed.  You’ll get upset and the demotivating cycle will begin. 

Finally, you have to monitor and give feedback.  Look for the positives. “That part of what you did was good.”  Don’t tell what was done wrong, but rather how to do it better the next time.  “In the future, try doing this or that.”  Realize, you cannot just instruct and turn your employees loose.  Until there is recognition, reinforcement and reward, the behaviors you desire will not happen.  So, to insure success make your business establishment a pleasant experience.

And now I invite you to learn more.

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Sam Manfer