 |
  | | June, 2008 - Vol 3, Issue 2 | | | | In this Issue | | | | | Did you know? | |  In a recent employee survey, Right Management, an outplacement firm, found that 25% of employees leave because of ineffective leadership and 22% cite poor relationships with their managers. | | | Links | | | | | | | Welcome, | | | Welcome to the Summer Edition of
View From the Ridge! 
It's midyear and with all that is going on around us, I am both excited and apprehensive. The Chinese word for "change" is comprised of two symbols, one means "crisis" and the other "opportunity". I believe our current times offer us both. The choices we make will significantly impact the future, near term and longer range. Two perspectives are shared in this newsletter about what we can choose to do now which will impact the futures of ourselves and those around us. I challenge you to be a bit more reflective and conscious in the choices you make, whether they are big or seemingly insignificant. They all matter. | | | | |  How much time did you spend this year just compiling all of your financial information to complete your tax return?
Are you still looking?
Do you guess it took 10 hours? 20 hours?
How about 26.5 hours?
According to the IRS, that is the national average for looking for documents and getting ready to prepare your return! Almost an entire work week wasted looking for tax documentation you knew you had somewhere, since you were the one who filed it away. Also, consider the average American works until April 23rd to pay this year's taxes. This adds up to nearly 5 months out of the year to work to pay your taxes and compile the documentation to prove you don't owe even more in taxes.
| | | | | | 
Clients typically bring us in to fix something that's not working as it relates to people, improve a performance issue, or create new programs to make the workplace better. Whether it's designing retention programs to identify and keep good people, or creating compensation plans to reward those people and their performance, success depends on the organization's ability and willingness to change.
 An article in a recent The New Yorker magazine noted that in the first quarter of 2008, Toyota surpassed General Motors in cars sold. Toyota is also the leader in profitability and innovation. These are two goals many companies don't necessarily seem to embrace concurrently. Most often, there's an underlying fear that "if we try something new, we may jeopardize profitability". So risk is minimized and failure punished. This is observed in organizations which discourage suggestions for improvement from all levels, and instead embrace top-down "change initiatives". Often a current fad, according to McKinsey, these programs fail over two-thirds of the time! In contrast, Toyota operates its business based on the principle of "kaizen"-continuous improvement. This principle recognizes that successful innovation as an incremental process, things improving on a daily basis. | | | | |
In the Community
 Thanks to many of our clients and friends for their support and attendance atthe Friends Outside Annual May luncheon, benefiting families of theincarcerated.
The Cupertino Rotary Golf event Marc helped put on wasa great community success, raising nearly $100,000 for the Valley MedicalGiraffe Bed for premature infants. In addition, our golf foursome placed2nd, low net.
New at CRS
We would like to welcome Karin Churchill to our team! You can read about her here.
Contact Cherryll for information on how you can recieve free assessments!
CRS is launching a new retained client services program.....stay tuned formore information!
| |
|
 |
