Use co-creation to drive public sector innovation Creating new solutions with people, not for them, can help drive radical innovation in the public sector. By focusing on citizens’ own experiences and resources, co-creation can help identify truly valuable services. Public managers should embrace co-creation to deliver better services and outcomes at less cost. Public servants in most modern governments, from the US and the UK to Denmark, and including ‘challenging’ cases such as Greece, Spain and Ireland, are desperate to try to make budget ends meet. Currently, the universally accepted ‘quick fix’ seems to be across-the board 5%, 10% or even 25% cuts in funding to departments, agencies and other public bodies. However, it is abundantly clear that citizens and business are unwilling to accept drastic reductions to public services, and that politicians dislike compromising key public outcomes – ‘social goods’ such as better health, education and care. The public innovator’s dilemma Co-creation: A new innovation paradigm for government?
Why your personal brand matters Click here to submit a question, idea, or a personal experience and you could have one of the Remake America experts address it directly. “Personal branding is how we market ourselves to others,” says Donna DeBerry, a marketing and branding expert. A personal brand takes entrepreneurship to a more meaningful level, and it's something that can increase sales through carefully planned action. DeBerry's has four tips to reach current and potential customers through personal branding: Be seen online and off: Your customers have many choices, and you need to go to where they are.
Change by Design - IDEO Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, shows how the techniques and strategies of design belong at every level of business. The myth of innovation is that brilliant ideas leap fully formed from the minds of geniuses. The reality is that most innovations come from a process of rigorous examination through which great ideas are identified and developed before being realized as new offerings and capabilities. This book introduces design thinking, the collaborative process by which the designer’s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people’s needs with what is technically feasible and a viable business strategy. In short, design thinking converts need into demand. Design thinking is not just applicable to so-called creative industries or people who work in the design field. Listen to Tim’s interview with Brian Lehrer on design thinking and Change By Design here.
Ultimate guide to guys' suits Three Styles That Help You Stand Out No. 1: The New Slim, Trim Double-Breasted • If you want a double-breasted suit to look modern—and not like something from a gangster flick—keep it short and trim. And avoid Dick Tracy-grade shoulder pads, too. • Keep the jacket buttoned (including the interior button). It doesn't hang well when undone. • And unlike with single-breasted suits, unless you want to look like a singer in the '80s R&B band, go for a higher-cut six-button suit instead of a low-slung four-button model. No. 2: The Young Man's Three-Piece • A three-piece suit announces itself loudly and clearly—which means you sould opt for a relatively subdued shirt-and-tie combo to provide balance. • Fitwise, think about the vest. • Mix it up. No. 3: The Winning Peak Lapel • For the best-fitting peak-lapel suits, stick with two-button models. • These are elegant business-to-evening suits. • Want to one-up the dude in the office next to yours? The Cheat Sheet • Show some cuff. More from GQ:
A Strategy for American Innovation: Driving Towards Sustainable Growth and Quality Jobs On February 4, 2011, President Obama released an updated Strategy for American Innovation. You can view the updated Strategy here. "History should be our guide. The United States led the world’s economies in the 20th century because we led the world in innovation. Today, the competition is keener; the challenge is tougher; and that is why innovation is more important than ever. It is the key to good, new jobs for the 21st century. Since taking office, President Obama has taken historic steps to lay the foundation for the innovation economy of the future. 1. Restore American leadership in fundamental research. 2. Promote American exports. 3. Unleash a clean energy revolution. A strong economy, but too reliant on precarious, bubble-driven growth, is unsustainable Despite the American economy’s historic strength, our economic growth has rested for too long on an unstable foundation. After the tech bubble burst, a new one emerged in the housing and financial sectors. Box 1. Box 2. Box 3.
7 Weird Ways to Hurt Your Credit Score The FICO credit score equation might be a black box, but there have been thousands of articles written about what you should and shouldn't do when it comes to your credit score. Most of them are pretty obvious--pay your credit card bills on time, don't apply for a lot of credit, and keep your nose clean. There are, however, a lot of weird ways you can hurt your score without you even realizing it. Closing Credit Cards. [Related: Money Mistakes Everyone Makes] Not Filling Out A Moving Form. Asking Banker to Check Score. Not Paying Library Fines. Unpaid Parking or Speeding Tickets. [Related: 4 Habits That Damage Your Credit Score] Pay Less Than Owed. Cards With No Limit. Jim Wang writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com. More From US News & World Report FICO credit scorecredit scorecredit bureausCredit Cards
Edge Perspectives with John Hagel I’ve become increasingly interested in the role that corporate narratives can play in driving business success in more competitive markets - something that I've written about here and here. While many people find the concept of corporate narratives interesting, they often struggle with what a narrative might look like for their company. This isn’t surprising given how few effective corporate narratives there are out there. In fact, I’ve only found two that really serve as good examples of corporate narratives – the narratives developed by Apple and Nike. The defining elements of a narrative As many will recall from my previous writing, I view narratives as having two key attributes. This is probably the most difficult element of narratives for executives to internalize. At their most fundamental level, narratives answer three questions: Why are we here? So, what might some corporate narratives look like? A hypothetical narrative for a healthcare provider None of this is a given. Bottom line
5 Ways to Increase Your Net Worth with Employee Benefits When you get your offer letter from a prospective employer, what do you do? You find the salary number, wave the paper triumphantly in the air, and completely miss many of the other potential financial benefits contained in an employer's benefits package. It's understandable to focus on your salary or wage when looking over your pay stub. You have a budget and you need income to support your spending. Raises are often based as a percentage of your salary, which means the larger your salary, the greater your earnings potential. However, many employers offer additional benefits and few realize how to set up those benefits to increase personal wealth. Fix Your Withholdings The average tax refund for 2012 was $2,700. You can expect to lose a portion of your refund's value to price inflation throughout the year. Get Your Employer Match on Your 401(k) Speaking of 401(k) plans, many employers offer a match contribution for employees who utilize the company 401(k) plan for retirement savings.
Fortune 500 Top 20 Given the sluggish recovery and a strapped consumer, you’d expect to see corporate America trudging along, not racing for glory. In fact, the Fortune 500 are thriving as a group. Unlike the U.S. economy, they’ve shown quicksilver agility, rapidly shifting their product mix and producing more goods at little new cost. This nimbleness belies the immense size of these companies and, frequently, their advanced age. The Fortune 500 generated a total of $824.5 billion in earnings last year, up 16.4% over 2010. That beats the previous record of $785 billion, set in 2006 during a roaring economy. [Related: The Purpose of Spectacular Wealth, According to a Spectacularly Wealthy Guy ] Looking deeper into the list, several macro trends emerge. These big numbers can’t last. Courtesy: Exxon Mobil Corporation 1 Rex W. It’s tough to beat the kind of year Exxon Mobil had in 2011. Exxon has certainly benefited from rising oil prices, particularly during the last quarter of 2011. Courtesy: Wal-mart 2 6.
Meet the Money Manager Who Is Beating Berkshire Hathaway and Owns It Too | Breakout Much has been made of "the lost decade" for stocks, a 10-year span in which investors in the S&P 500 index saw no gains. And yet, noted value investor Thomas Gayner, president and CIO of Markel (MKL), saw his portfolio gain more than 100%. Understandably, when we caught up with him on the sidelines of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, his commitment to the Benjamin Graham/Warren Buffett—style of investing was concise and unbending. "It works," Gayner says of this style. "There are certainly times when value goes out of favor—that has always been the case, there's nothing different or new about that—but that's sort of why it works," he says in the attached video. What's also interesting is that his top stock, which accounts for about 12% of a $2.5 billion portfolio, is badly lagging the market—not just for a few quarters, but for the past three years. So while growth investors are busy getting their heads around things like Facebook (FB), Gayner isn't worried.
A Cheat Sheet on Tipping Do's and Don'ts Tipping can be daunting. While most of us know that it's appropriate to tip our server at a restaurant, it's not always clear whether to tip the hotel concierge, funeral chaplain or dog groomer. If you leave a tip, how large should it be? Is 20 percent an across-the-board solution? Will your tip leave you looking like Donald Trump or Ebenezer Scrooge? Are there situations where tipping isn't necessary? This list from Bankrate should help you answer these questions as well as give you specific gratuity guidelines. Cash for the hotel staff Thomas Farley, a New York-based manners expert for WhatMannersMost.com, says be prepared for a variety of tips at hotels. Farley's suggestions: Hotel porter toting your bags: $2 to $3 per bag. Etiquette coach and trainer Constance Hoffman, of Social and Business Graces Inc. in Los Angeles, says, "Don't leave the maid's tip on the nightstand as that has sexual connotations. [Related: 9 great castle hotels] Tipping the wait staff Hoffman's tipping guidelines:
Obama's spending: Runaway or reasonable? Beat Bad Financial Habits to Boost Savings Break bad habits: The science of habit change Does it really take just 21 days to change a habit? Experts say it's not that simple. "Breaking bad habits successfully depends on your readiness to act," says Heidi Beckman, clinical health psychologist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics and speaker on financial behavior change. John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at SmartCredit.com, agrees. "If it was easy, we'd all have big savings accounts, and none of us would have credit card debt," he says. Beckman says habits change more quickly when you're in the action stage versus the ambivalence or preparation stages that come before. Create a positive picture in your mind of the result you want, and act as if the bad habit is gone. Break bad habits: Resist impulse buying "We're wired for instant gratification," says Ulzheimer. Practice telling yourself "no" when tempted to spend, and try these tactics. Break bad habits: Automate finances Begin the plan for your retirement.
Nine Degrees That Put You on the Fast Track to $100K - Monster.com Deciding on a college major is difficult -- should you follow your passions, or should you choose a four-year degree that promises to net a high salary? There are good arguments for both paths, but if you choose the latter, consider the disciplines on this list: the top nine four-year degrees that get top earners (for this list, that's the top 25 percent, or the 75th percentile) to $100,000 in a decade or less, according to the salary experts at PayScale.com. And here's a surprise: It's not just those often-touted engineering degrees that make the cut -- liberal-arts degrees are well-represented, too. 1. Find petroleum engineering jobs.2. Computer engineers usually have training in electronics, as well as hardware and software design. Find computer engineering jobs. 3. Economics is more than the study of money. Find economist jobs.4. Find chemical engineering jobs.5. If you ever asked your math teacher, "Will we need this stuff in the real world?" Find mathematician jobs. 6. 7. 8. 9.