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The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check Wally's Three Star Leadership Letter

Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.

Find out more about Wally's coaching services.

Every week, great business stories show up in newspapers all over the country. Since you may never see them, I pick five every week to help make your weekend reading enjoyable and profitable. This week I'm pointing you to stories about social networking at work, tech lingo, predicting revolutions, changing markets, and niche-building.

From the New York Times: MySpace Mind-Set Finally Shows Up at the Office
"Social networking sites have had a slow start in the business world, but that is changing as the technology is becoming more integrated into corporate software applications."

Wally's Comment: I think that social networking can provide powerful benefits for businesses, including some help solving the problem of the Boomer Brain Drain. It's one of those technologies that should help humans do better what humans do naturally.

From the Orlando Sentinel: All wired up? It's time to learn the lingo
The Sentinel's tech columnist, Etan Horowitz, offers a glossary tech terms.

Wally's Comment: A short selection of words that zip around the new tech landscape. Think of this list as a way to avoid asking a question that other people think is dumb or persisting in ignorance to avoid embarrassment.

From the Boston Globe: Whatever happened to the next big thing?
"The genomics revolution was not a flop. It just needs more time."

Wally's Comment: One of the most common errors in forecasting technological change is to assume that this revolution will happen much faster than all the other revolutions. The normal timeframe is fifteen to twenty years.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer: Restaurants feeling spending pinch
"High gasoline prices slamming household budgets, rising commodity costs for restaurants and competition for the prepared food dollar from grocers are hurting sales at local eateries."

Wally's Comment: I picked this little article about the local restaurant business in Cincinnati because it illustrates the dynamics of many markets. There are the effects of the economy at large, the effects of competition, the need for good management and the effects of competitors who might seem to be in an entirely different business.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Brewers get extreme as they create new beers
"Like genius, extreme beers defy easy classification, but you know them when you see them: barley wines ranging above 10 percent alcohol by volume, ultra-hopped ales and wood-aged beers — the traditional turf of wine and whiskey. Although "extreme" beers often have been linked to strong alcohol content, brewers say the label also applies to offbeat ingredients and zany brewing and aging processes. Extreme beers can raise credibility and boost a little brewery's cachet among serious craft beer drinkers, those hard-to-impress folks who can casually discuss a brew's "balance," "gravity" and "hoppiness." But to see the beers as sales-boosters would miss the main point, brewers say. Mostly, the creative beers are just fun to make, offering the chance to heed their creative Muse."

Wally's Comment: Every industry has its "extreme" versions. This article is about the beer industry and specifically the segment known as craft beers. Innovation from many things doth grow.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

Request your free copy of "Meeting the Challenges of the Boomer Brain Drain: An integrated approach."

Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

Click here to find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.