New Era of Responsibility----not just my idea!

JANUARY 20, 2009, 12:47 A.M. ET

Obama to Call for a New Era of Responsibility

Huge Crowds Gather as First African-American President Takes Office; Aides Expect Steps on Iraq War, Bank Policy This Week

By LAURA MECKLER and JONATHAN WEISMAN
Landov

On the eve of his inauguration as the 44th president, Barack Obama visited Monday with children at a Washington school in observance of the National Day of Service Project.
WASHINGTON -- Americans poured into the nation's capital to celebrate the inauguration of their first black president. But with the U.S. in its worst economic crisis since the Depression and at war on two fronts, Barack Obama was expected to call on the country to embrace a new culture of responsibility when he takes office at noon.
The inaugural crowd Tuesday could reach two million people, one of the largest gatherings in Washington's history. Millions more will be watching across the U.S. and around the world, with outdoor video screens planned for public squares.
Mr. Obama will take the oath of office with his hand on the Bible that once belonged to the last president to hail from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. The 44th president will stand opposite the Lincoln Memorial, two miles away, where 45 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. called upon the nation to judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Mr. Obama spent Monday celebrating Dr. King's birthday as a day of service, while street vendors sold memorabilia juxtaposing the images of the two black leaders.
Little official business is expected Tuesday in Washington. The real work of the new president will begin Wednesday, Mr. Obama's first full day in office. Aides said one of the new president's first actions will be summoning his national security team to begin preparing for a 16-month withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq, one of the main promises of his two-year-long campaign for the presidency.

News, photos and background on key players and issues in the Obama administration's first 100 days from the WSJ and across the Web.
The Inauguration
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COMPLETE COVERAGE of Inauguration Day
That's just one of the new policies symbolizing the change to come as Washington shifts from eight years of Republican rule under George W. Bush. Within days, Mr. Obama also is expected to issue executive orders to begin closing the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, one of the most controversial symbols of the Bush administration's war on terror; reversing Mr. Bush's restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, and restoring funding for family-planning programs overseas.
On the economic front, Mr. Obama's administration is likely to soon issue new regulations forcing recipients of Wall Street bailout funds to be more transparent with the money, an aide said. The most-ailing financial institutions won't be forced to lend immediately, but healthier banks will be under pressure to move money from their vaults into the economy. "Transparency is going to make a big difference," the aide said.
The inauguration caps a weekend of events and pageantry, and officials predict as many as two million people will seek a spot on the National Mall. The inauguration will join Washington's biggest events, ranking with Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington, Lyndon Johnson's 1965 inauguration, and protests against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s.
Jumbotron screens were in place along the grassy lawn. Attendees, many of whom arrived by bus from around the country, were advised to dress for temperatures forecast near freezing.
Stuck in Traffic
The National Mall was already crowded Monday afternoon, with buses stuck in traffic and tourists taking photos. Visitors made their way through a maze of crowd-control barriers and past dozens of sellers hawking wrist bands, T-shirts and a Spider-Man comic featuring Mr. Obama on the cover.
"If you are black in America right now, that's all the inspiration you need -- a black president!" said David Reed, 39 years old, an African-American from Lexington, Ky., who was selling the comics.
View Full ImageAssociated Press
Paul Locke of Richmond, Va., was among those selling Obama-themed Merchandise -- he had inauguration pins for $5 -- Monday in Washington.

Britt Loudd of Charlotte, N.C., said that as a precinct organizer she made more than 2,200 calls for the campaign. Her three children, who joined her in Washington, also volunteered. "There was no choice," said Mrs. Loudd. "We had to be here."
Mr. Obama on Monday spoke the message he will deliver at his swearing-in: The time has come for a new culture of public service, as well as a new national unity after years of bitter partisan political division.
Pitching In
"Given the crisis that we're in and the hardships that so many people are going through, we can't allow any idle hands," Mr. Obama said, taking a break from painting a dormitory at Sasha Bruce House, a shelter for homeless teens. "Everybody's got to be involved. Everybody's going to have to pitch in, and I think the American people are ready for that."
Mr. Obama will begin his inaugural day with coffee at the White House with Mr. Bush. The swearing-in will be followed by a luncheon at the Capitol and a parade featuring high-school marching bands, drill teams and floats. The evening will conclude with 10 official inaugural balls and countless unofficial parties.
At the swearing-in ceremony, seated behind Mr. Obama, will be his chosen cabinet, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, expected to be confirmed as secretary of state later Tuesday. Also behind him will be his defeated election opponent, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office to Mr. Obama following the swearing in of his vice president, Joe Biden, by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
President Bush will be there, too, departing immediately after the ceremony on a Marine chopper en route to Texas, where he will begin the next chapter of his life as an ex-president.
Before Mr. Obama speaks, the evangelical Rev. Rick Warren will deliver the invocation, a choice that infuriated gay-rights activists but signaled the new president's interest in reaching out to Americans who are not part of his political base.
Throughout his campaign, Mr. Obama stressed that a nation that should have been rallied to service after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, instead drifted to complacency and consumerism. One of his first political promises was a $3.5 billion-a-year service plan to expand the AmeriCorps program established by President Bill Clinton by 250,000 slots, double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011, expand the Foreign Service, and create an Energy Corps to conduct renewable-energy and environmental-cleanup projects.
During appearances on Monday, Mr. Obama returned to the themes of unity and self-reliance.
"I am making a commitment to you as the next president, that we are going to make government work," he told volunteers at Coolidge High. "But I can't do it by myself. Michelle can't do it by herself. Government can only do so much....If we're waiting for someone else to do something, it never gets done."—T.W. Farnam contributed to this article.
Write to Laura Meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com and Jonathan Weisman at jonathan.weisman@wsj.com

An example of the desperate need for new paradigms

Why Do I Teach?As any teacher knows, there will always come a time when you ask yourself, "Why do I teach?" When one teacher asked herself that question, she got an answer. It began when teachers in a Maryland school district agreed in early December to give up a 5% pay raise for the coming school year to help their district cope with the impact that current economic conditions have had on their schools. After the local paper wrote a story on their decision, she received the following e-mail from the student body co-president who read the article.
Dear Mrs. G.,Not until after coming across this article in the paper yesterday did I become aware of the great sacrifice that the teachers, faculty, and staff of our county have made in order to ensure the stability of our public school system. I was pleasantly surprised by this heroic act of altruism and would like to extend my utmost appreciation to the employees at-large of our county, but most importantly, to the teachers, faculty, and staff of our high school. In these times of economic instability, I, as well as the rest of the BHS and district student bodies, should be honored that we have been of priority concern in the minds of our teachers, even as they may be dealing with hardships of their own. Best wishes to you and the rest of the BHS teachers, faculty, and staff for a wonderful holiday season—you all deserve it!

Is this a changed paradigm?

Switching Terms from a "bailout"

to a more Politically Correct

Term..."stimulous package"

Not a changed paradigm...just

a different word for the same idea!

Will we learn....

The first "bailout" with the financial industry was done with a doomsday fear painted to us by both parties. Now we hear complaints about a deficit that is growing and a new economic stimulus (notice the name change for PC purposes) that we are being told again that needs to be shoved through at NASCAR speeds through Washington. On one side we are told that there can be suggestions, ideas etc. but it must be done by preferably the day after Obama's Inauguration. Pelosi is even threatening as the Principal of the House that if it is not finished by late January to make the people in Congress work on the weekends and even more severe of losing some of their holidays. The key is to the Democratic Trinity of Obama, Pelosi and Reid is to push it through quick as possible before anyone is able to ask any questions.

Shouldn't we have learned from the first doomsday rush failure that haste makes waste?

The key with every paradigm is to think things through which we might not be doing currently at this time in our country...Obama is looking for projects that are "shovel ready" (his words) but we may be getting things that are just be shoveled at us ....we must stop an think!

Can you spot paradigms and distinguish between ones that need to never change and those that will change with time?

There are paradigms in every sector of our society. Below is what I wrote in "sports speak" or the lingo of the sporting world to several people and publications.

As I look back on it I see that what we are dealing with is really "paradigms" and shifting to new ways of thinking. See what I am talking about in the words below. Can you spot the paradigms either referred to directly or indirectly in my writing?

Here is what I wrote...

Florida showed last night why the smack-talk of the Big Twelve was just that...talk! What happened to that 60plus point prolific offense that no one could stop? This shows why it was wrong to give the Oklahoma Quarterback the Heisman! Anyone could have put up the yards and points that he did this season if they were playing against "pop warner Big Twelve Defenses". I guess Stoops got stooped!

We need to be able to spot paradigms and see them in most cases as not being set in stone. Yes, murder being wrong is a paradigm that is consistent and should never change but the Big Twelve Quarterbacks being superior to the rest of the Quarterbacks in college football is an example of a paradigm that can change. We are in a day of shifting paradigms...we must be able to spot the things that are constant or unchangeable and those that we must be flexible on ....what do you think?

Becoming a life long learner

Through this blog ideas and information will be given that might be helpful for handling the many new paradigms that each of us are faced with daily...

An old saying is ,"...knowledge is power!" How does one obtain that knowledge? This knowledge is not obtained through a diploma or degree. It is not obtained at a final time and place. Knowledge itself has a new paradigm that many have not absorbed as part of their life's mission and purpose. Knowledge now has changed from a high school diploma, advanced degree or technical degree. The theory that "knowlege is power" is true only if one is a "life long learner." What is a life long learner? It is setting about to live life with the strategy of learning a little every day, every week and every month of life striving to never rely solely on what one has learned in the past. This comes with the understanding that knowledge is never stagnant and therefore one can not stand still with this abstract concept of knowledge or he or she will be left behind as the world continues to progress and change.

Below is one example of an easy way to be a life long learner. You can click on the links below and sign up for a "Daily PowerWord". Unless one creates a process for gaining knowledge like one might for paying bills then a few months will go by before you realize you have not kept up with your goal to be a life long learner. I get no financial compensation for this recommendation....Think about if not this way,what will be your specific plan to be a life long learner?

Daily PowerWord
Graphical version: <http://www.success.bz/newsletters/16466>

Other newsletters: <http://www.success.bz/newsletters>
* * * * *
Turpitude (TUR-pi-tood, -tyood) n. - inherent vile act; depravity
Example: A moral turpitude is a criminal behaviour that gravely infringes on the moral sentimentsof the community.

We all have shifted our paradigms...

We all have shifted our paradigms ...We just did not realize

that was what we were doing!

"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong." - Charles Wadworth

We need to not be afraid of things just because we may not understand the terminology or the full implications of an idea. Many are afraid of new ideas and change when change and new ideas have been apart of everyone's life since the time they were handed off from the doctor to their parents in the hospital at birth!

Shifting into a new paradigm ....how?

"There are no rules here -- we're trying to accomplish something." -

Thomas Alva Edison

What couldn't you live without?

What couldn't you live without?

Vote for the most important invention of all time.

Air conditioner
Internal combustion engine
Internet
Jet engine
Penicillin
Printing press
Radio
Telephone
Television
Wheel

Demanding our leaders to shift for the sake of our country

We

Must

Demand

Our

Leaders

to

Shift

from

Old

Paradigms

CHICAGO - Illinois' embattled governor complained through his spokesman Saturday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is guilty of a conflict of interest in that Reid telephoned him in early December to discuss the seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Lucio Guerrero, spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said he didn't know firsthand which candidates the Nevada Democrat supported during the call, but said he knows Reid's candidates did not include Roland Burris, the man the governor recently picked for Obama's seat.
Senate leaders have vowed to oppose the appointment of Burris.
"I think the governor believes there is a conflict of interest — that Reid showed he has a horse in the race and Roland Burris wasn't one of them," Guerrero said.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Reid spokesman Jim Manley confirmed the majority leader called Blagojevich on Dec. 3 — six days before the governor's arrest on federal corruption charges — to talk about the vacancy. Prosecutors say Blagojevich at the time was trying to peddle Obama's seat in exchange for money or a job in Obama's cabinet.
New York, Colorado openingsManley declined to name the candidates discussed, saying there was "no need to embarrass the people that were subject of the conversation."
Manley added that Reid also spoke to the New York and Colorado governors about openings created when senators from those states accepted Obama administration jobs.
"It is part of his job as majority leader to share his thoughts about candidates who have the qualities needed to succeed in the Senate," Manley said.
Manley said the claim that Reid has a conflict of interest regarding Burris was "absolutely ridiculous."
"The Senate Democratic caucus has said from the very beginning we would not accept an appointment by the governor," he said. "This has nothing to do with Mr. Burris. It is about the man doing the appointing."
Burris wouldn't comment on Reid's conversations with the governor, saying he didn't know the details of what they discussed.
Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, accepted Blagojevich's appointment and is expected to be in Washington on Tuesday and ask to be sworn in along with the rest of the Senate. The Democratic leadership is expected to defer the matter to a rules panel until impeachment proceedings against Blagojevich are settled, apparently in hopes that a new governor will appoint someone else.
Reid is standing by the decision to oppose any appointment by Blagojevich, Manley said.
A political stakeAn attorney representing Burris is lobbying for Senate support, sending a letter to Senate Democratic leaders asking them to seat his client.
In the letter, dated Friday, attorney Timothy Wright called on the Senate leaders to grant the people of Illinois the representation the U.S. Constitution affords them.
The letter was addressed to Dick Durbin of Illinois, Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California and to Reid, who has said that anyone picked by Blagojevich will be turned away.
Wright, who said he hadn't received a response to the letter as of Saturday, told AP that he planned to go to federal court if the Senate refuses to seat Burris.
Burris has already asked the Illinois Supreme Court to force Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to certify the appointment, hoping it will help his argument to be seated.
Telephone and e-mail messages left by AP for Wright on Saturday were not immediately returned.
Reid urged Blagojevich to appoint either Illinois Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday, citing anonymous sources.
Reid reportedly opposed the appointments of Democratic Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Danny Davis because the Democratic leader feared they would lose the seat to a Republican in the 2010 general election. Reid also allegedly opposed Emil Jones, the powerful black leader of the Illinois Senate, on the same grounds.
"What is clear to me is that every candidate that was African-American was denied and every other candidate was acceptable," said Wright, adding, "I'm not going to read too much into that."
Wright also echoed Blagojevich's claim of a conflict of interest, saying that Reid's call to the governor showed he had a political stake in who took Obama's seat.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28485065/

Who is asking the tough questions?

Key Democrat: No stimulus by inauguration

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats said Sunday that President-elect Barack Obama probably will have to wait until next month before getting the chance to sign an economic aid bill his team once hoped would be on his desk by his swearing-in Jan. 20.
“It’s going to be very difficult to get the package put together that early,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said. “But we certainly want to see this package passed through the House of Representatives no later than the end of this month, get it over to the Senate, and have it to the president before we break” in mid-February.
Obama planned to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Monday to talk about enacting a massive spending plan. The president-elect also scheduled a separate meeting with the entire Democratic and Republican leadership teams.
Reid said they will do their “very very best” to get a package finished as soon as possible, but he was unwilling to set an artificial deadline for completion.
“We’re going to get it done as quickly as we can,” Reid said.
Added Hoyer: “We’re going to move as quickly as possible, given our responsibilities to make sure that we’re passing a package that will work.”
Obama said Congress should pass a plan designed to create 3 million jobs. The Democratic president-elect hasn’t announced a final price for it, but aides said the cost could be as high as $775 billion.
Congressional aides briefed on the measure say it probably would blend tax cuts of $500 to $1,000 for middle-class individuals and couples with about $200 billion to help revenue-starved states with their Medicaid programs and other operating costs. A large portion of the measure will go toward public works projects and include new programs such as research and development on energy efficiency and an expensive rebuilding of the information technology system for health care.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky warned Democrats against trying to move quickly without the GOP’s input.
“This is an enormous bill. It could be close to a $1 trillion spending bill,” McConnell said. “Do we want to do it with essentially no hearings, no input, for example, in the Senate from Republican senators who represent half of the American population? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Instead of giving all that money to states as grants, McConnell suggested it go as loans.
“It will make them spend it more wisely,” McConnell said. “The states that didn’t need it at all wouldn’t take any.”
Democrats understand that the GOP has to be involved in anything they do, said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat.
“Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid both know that we can’t pass the economic recovery plan that this nation desperately needs without bipartisan cooperation,” Durbin said. “We’ve got to put aside a lot of the squabbling that in the past and come together under this new administration and new leadership, to get the American economy back on line.”
Hoyer said they have only two criteria for passing an economic package.
“Do it as quickly as possible, but do it right, and do it so the American people know what we’re doing, do it so that members of Congress are confident of the action that we’re taking,” Hoyer said. “So those are the two criteria — do it as quickly as possible, but do it right. I think that time frame is hopefully certainly by the end of the month.”
Hoyer spoke on “Fox News Sunday,” Reid appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” while Durbin and McConnell were on “This Week” on ABC.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28494694/
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Holding our leaders accountable to shifting paradigms!

Holding our leaders accountable to achieving new paradigms...

How can Pelosi,Dodd, Franks,Obama and Harry Reid bail out the "auto industry" which they are considering Ford, GM and Chrysler like when Congress came to the rescue of Iaccoca?

Now the auto landscape in America has changed and contains Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagon, Hyundai, Mercedes, Kia and numerous others so how can one justify assisting three companies when all of these others are operating with a new paradigm and are now just as much
the American Automotive Industry?



If we believe in the Darwinian theory and Capitalism shouldn't we allow the survival of the fittest?



Richard Reynolds M.Div.,M.Ed.,Ed.S.

Consistancy would be nice...

President elect Obama has stirred the emotions of many Americans over his choice of Pastor Rick Warren giving the Invocation as the Inauguration. The emotions that have been stirred are lacking any form of consistency. During the run for the White House when the complaints over Obama having Rev. Wright as a Pastor began to surface and many began to wonder how someone could sit under his preaching for twenty years these people were considered narrow minded by many of the same individuals who are now complaining about Rick Warren giving a prayer. When conservatives were questioning things with Rev. Wright they were devisive, playing partisan politics and racial bigots infringing on Obama's religous liberties. Now the groups that are questioning Obama's judgement with Rick Warren's one prayer and not twenty years of preaching and prayers like they were insisting with Rev. Wright were of little importance are lacking in consistency. Today both the "left" and "right" should remain consistant with their actions and ideologies instead of relying on what is convenient. Our world is screaming for people that will be consistant day by day and not ones that check which way the winds are blowing to decide what they should think.

Richard H. Reynolds M.Div.,M.Ed.,Ed.S.

Big Expectations

www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat-autobailoutdec20,0,4932706.story

chicagotribune.com

Big expectations for autoBailout plan calls for radical changes in three months

By Michael OnealTribune
reporterDecember 20, 2008
Can Detroit's auto giants do in three months what has stymied them for 30 years?


That's the monumental challenge at the heart of the $17.4 billion plan from President George W. Bush's administration to prop up General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC long enough for them to attempt a pair of massive restructurings.
Ford Motor Co. so far doesn't need bailout funds, but the government is asking GM and Chrysler to:
•Convince holders of tens of billions in unsecured debt to swap two-thirds of their claims for equity of unknown value.
•Strong-arm the United Auto Workers into accepting work rules and wages that make them competitive with foreign rivals.
•Let the government examine their books and prove that they can be financially viable.
The moves are meant to blunt the onslaught of Toyota and Honda, which the Big Three have failed to do for decades. Experts say that will also involve shrinking dealer networks, eliminating tired brands and slashing manufacturing capacity.
"They will have to be radically transformed," said Douglas Baird, a corporate restructuring specialist at the University of Chicago Law School. "Maybe it works and let's hope it does. But can you really get all these people [to agree on anything]?"
After a long political battle over the fate of the auto companies, the Bush plan in many ways passes the crisis to the incoming Barack Obama administration.
It will extend $13.4 in emergency loans to GM and Chrysler right away in return for a pledge to meet a strict set of restructuring goals by March 31. At that point, the Obama team will have to decide if the companies have done enough to be considered viable.
If the answer is yes, they will be eligible to receive another $4 billion to fund operations. If not, they would have to pay back the original loans and fend for themselves. Until the inauguration, the effort will be overseen by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who will assume the role of "car czar" contemplated in bailout legislation that failed to pass Congress earlier this month.
The rescue pits Bush against many in the Republican party and reverses his recent position. But if he didn't act, he faced the prospect of closing his presidency with the collapse of one of America's most important industries.
"Under ordinary economic circumstances … I would not favor intervening to prevent the automakers from going out of business," he said during a Friday press conference. "But these are not ordinary circumstances."
On Thursday, Bush and his spokeswoman Dana Perino hinted that the administration was giving serious thought to structuring a bailout around a so-called organized bankruptcy—an effort to forge a multiparty restructuring deal in advance of a Chapter 11 filing.
Bankruptcy experts applauded the idea, noting that a restructuring of this magnitude is almost impossible to accomplish outside the legal framework of bankruptcy court, where a judge has the ultimate power to rip up old contracts and enforce the enactment of new ones.
The auto lobby, however, argued vociferously that the taint of bankruptcy would scare off so many customers that the already teetering companies would never be able to recover. The Bush plan strikes a compromise: It uses the carrot of government funding to force the auto companies, their lenders, the UAW and countless other constituencies to strike a bankruptcy-like deal without the stigma of an actual filing.
Experts said the effort will face a thicket of difficulties.
The UAW and the auto dealers are showing no inclination to compromise. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the focus on labor was unfair and pledged to ask the Obama team to eliminate what many others feel are crucial provisions.
Annette Sykora, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said that while her membership understands that cuts must be made, they also demand fair compensation for individual dealers forced to close.
When asked what type of compensation dealers might settle for, Sykora hinted at the complexity the auto companies can expect. "We have close to 20,000 members, and you could get close to 20,000 answers to that question."
When it comes to restructuring the debt, the problems only multiply.
The Bush plan insists that GM and Chrysler swap two-thirds of their unsecured debt for equity. In a normal bankruptcy that might not be so difficult. But when the company is burning cash and survival is in question, the future value of the equity is a leap of faith. One bankruptcy attorney who asked not to be named said a swap leads to sticky negotiations over the rights of equity holders and what control they can exert.
"When you swap debt for equity, debt holders become owners," the attorney said. "They turn into busybodies and start making all sorts of demands."
U. of C.'s Baird notes that all of these negotiations would be easier in bankruptcy court. Rules allow a majority of bondholders to force an agreement on others. A judge can weigh dealer and labor contracts objectively and decide what makes sense for the greater good. Without that construct, success may become a test of Obama's resolve and clout.
"In these situations, motivation turns on the credibility of the threat," Baird said. "Is Obama going to hold them to it? We don't know."
mdoneal@tribune.comCopyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

Laziness

"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired."

- Jules Renard

...if this is your working definition of "laziness" it might be difficult to shift paradigms in your personal life....

Navigating the Next Year

Herman Trend Alert: Navigating the Next Year

December 31, 2008

A recent study by the well-respected organization The Corporate Executive Board offers some sage advice for corporate leaders about how to successfully navigate the next year.Speaking on MSNBC, Tom Monahan, Chairman and CEO of this unique peer-to-peer network, shared the results of their recent research. When asked which issues would be most challenging in 2009, 30 percent of the corporate leaders who responded answered "protecting growth initiatives", 24 percent said "making critical talent plays", 21 percent answered "exploiting risk opportunities", and 17 percent replied "improving cost discipline".Overall, the suggested strategies highlight the need for leaders to change in five key areas.

First, the report directs executives to "focus on product and services [expenditures] in their cost-cutting process, not just overhead cost, because that is where long-term competitive advantage lies".

Second, leaders must be vigilant to "protect growth initiatives ". This strategy involves identifying and sheltering growth opportunities in the capital budget. In addition, the report suggests they integrate concrete innovation targets into performance expectations and reporting, even while belt-tightening".

Third, leverage financial strengths. Foster innovations that target the shifting financial strengths of customers and suppliers.Fourth, "exploit risk opportunities: embrace, don't eradicate, "the right" risk exposures".

Finally, and in our view most importantly, now is the time to "make critical talent plays", "to court and cultivate tomorrow's winners". Take the opportunity to close critical skill gaps with less-occupied talent. Reward outstanding performance. "Use the economic crisis to sharpen the acumen of future executives." "Embrace offshore centers as a source for critical skills and next-generation executive leadership, not just low-cost execution."

The study also found that one in four top, high-performing employees expects to leave in next 12 months, up from one in 10 last year. Wise employers will use this downtime to re-engage employees with "stay interviews", re-orientation, and special projects.

This re-engagement will also reduce the five percent productivity loss that translates into about $100 Million in lost operating cash flow for the average company. Monahan closed his interview with an astute observation: "Companies playing offense on talent have a remarkable opportunity right now."********

Staten Island School Chorus Finds Fame on YouTube

December 26, 2008

Staten Island School Chorus Finds Fame on YouTube

By AZADEH ENSHA

Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now.

Something seemed a bit off in the fifth graders' song about a Christmas tree. "Altos, a little more carefully, please," the chorus director, Gregg Breinberg, told them. "You're still a little flat."The children, students at Public School 22 in Graniteville on Staten Island, listened to Mr. Breinberg carefully before starting again. As well they might — he helped make the chorus popular on YouTube, and their predecessors once serenaded the singer and songwriter Tori Amos with two of her songs.Mr. Breinberg, 36, had his own jagged route to P.S. 22 and YouTube. He had been a music teacher at a nearby school, and when that job was cut he arrived at P.S. 22 in 1999 — as a second-grade teacher."It was never my intention to be a classroom teacher," Mr. Breinberg said. "In the absence of a music job, I used music to teach second grade. Everything I taught, from math to English, I taught with music."The following year, he persuaded the school's administration to let him start a chorus and become a full-time music teacher again. That was difficult enough, given cutbacks in arts programs, but he also wanted the group to sing contemporary songs instead of, say, "Kumbaya.""I remember being in a chorus when I was a student and singing songs that I hated," he said. Before long he had the new chorus singing "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay and "1000 Oceans" and "Flying Dutchman" by Ms. Amos."I love to sing," said Joseph Spear, 10, a member of the chorus. "When I get depressed, I think about my songs and it makes me feel better. I also sing for Mr. B because he takes his own time to teach me, and so I always put in a 100 percent effort because that's a really cool thing for him to do." In the summer of 2006, Mr. Breinberg began posting videos on the Internet of the students singing. He started a YouTube channel and a complementary blog, posting regular updates and information about the chorus's performances, which up to that point occurred just twice a year at the school.A viral moment happened when the gossip blogger Mario Lavandeira, better known as Perez Hilton, began putting links to the videos on his Web site, perezhilton.com. "A reader e-mailed me a link to one of their videos and I instantly loved it," Mr. Lavandeira said. "The first video of theirs was one of their many Tori Amos covers, and I'm a big, big, big Tori Amos fan and I thought it was so cool that this choir teacher was having the kids do Tori Amos songs."By Christmas, the chorus's YouTube videos had been seen 2,110, 267 times. Ms. Amos gradually learned of these young interpreters of her work and was intrigued. "I first heard about P.S. 22 when friends started sending me YouTube links of their rehearsals," she wrote in an e-mail message from England. "The first time I heard them I thought this director had a very imaginative arranging sense," she said. "The fact that the children are so versatile — I didn't expect this level of ability from a children's choir and was really blown away, touched, thrilled and inspired all at once."She met the students in Midtown Manhattan in May of last year. In that encounter, which — of course — itself became a video on YouTube, Ms. Amos wiped away tears as the children sang another of her songs, "Dragon." She then joined them on "Father's Son."One of the singers, Alex Avilla, 13, who is now a student at Intermediate School 51 on Staten Island, said of that day: "I have to say, it's my favorite memory from that school."Another former chorus member, Justin Rolon, 12, has begun a career in show business since leaving P.S. 22 and has been cast in a television show that is being developed. Mr. Breinberg has "taken the time to give me lessons and that's why I am where I am right now," Justin said. "He's helped me and everybody else in so many ways."Melissa Donath, the principal at P.S. 22, said Mr. Breinberg was "very modest, but he always makes sure that the kids are treated like professionals and he gives them the utmost respect. Every year, he brings out the best in our children."Another student, Mariah Baez, 10, said, "Mr. B is like our family." And Mr. Breinberg, in turn, seems to feel a deep affection for his singers. "There's a great feeling in seeing these kids — some of whom have been abused, neglected, who have nothing to look forward to when they get home — and knowing that when they come in to my class to sing, you can just see the depth of their emotional experience come through," he said.So far in December, the chorus has had eight engagements. On Dec. 18, they sang at a party for the photographer Bruce Weber's new book, "All-American VIII: Nature's Way" (Little Bear Press). They also appeared at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Staten Island Borough Hall and, on Sunday, they performed for the unofficial swearing-in ceremony of Michael E. McMahon, the borough's new congressman. "Now I have to get them ready quicker because we have more performances," Mr. Breinberg said. "We've never had a December like this."As for the group's success, Joseph Spear said, "It makes me feel famous that a whole bunch of people know me."

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