Working to Protect Children and Pregnant Women from Lead Poisoning, Part 2
As announced on this blog previously, the EPA enacted the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Regulation in April to reduce the amount of lead dust created during home renovation and repair. After concerns were raised by business and trade groups, on June 18, 2010 the EPA has decided to offer additional and sufficient time for renovation firms and workers to obtain the necessary training and...
Read More »The Deviant's Advantage
In The Deviant's Advantage, authors Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker examine the power of innovative and unusual thinking, showing how fringe ideas in a wide range of fields have led to incredible mainstream success. FROM THE PUBLISHER Don't consider yourself deviant? Well, that just may be a career breaker. Deviance is nothing more than a marked separation from the norm and is the source of...
Read More »Q&A: futurethink's Lisa Bodell on Innovation
Innovation is becoming the bellwether for success among many industries. From cultural leadership to practical, cost-conscious strategies, futurethink's Lisa Bodell answers the persistent questions about innovation in a recession. Innovation is once again a top strategic priority for the majority of companies in 2010, according to a mid-April report by The Boston Consulting Group. The report,...
Read More »A Glimpse into the Future of Engineering
Advances in technology, materials and business practices are likely to transform the way we engineer and produce goods. Here we look at some of the developments in science and manufacturing poised to shape the future. Engineers are no strangers to innovation - their livelihood depends on finding creative solutions to problems and developing effective ways to harness technology. New and upcoming...
Read More »Fringe Benefits: Unique Employee Perks
As businesses continue to focus on keeping costs low, offering non-traditional perks is becoming a more popular way to reward workers without overrunning budgets. With the job market still struggling to stabilize, many employees have been forced to sacrifice some of the benefits they've grown accustomed to in order to keep their jobs. As companies remain focused on managing costs, particularly...
Read More »Weird Job-Seeking Tactics
Companies are hiring again, but job seekers are up against more competition than ever before. Faced with this reality, people are using unusual tactics to stand out. Increasingly more employers are beginning to consider hiring. The seasonally adjusted results of the latest quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, released this month, indicate that employers in 30 of 36 countries and...
Read More »Is Carbon Emissions Tax a Breakthrough or a Backbreaker?
As we begin to slowly but surely wean ourselves off of oil and other so called dirty sources of energy, one has to wonder if a new breakthrough in carbon emissions technology is the right way forward. At its core, the tech aims to track real time carbon emissions output from different types of power plants thus providing accurate data for governments to enact proper carbon tax laws. But do we...
Read More »7 (Supposedly) Impossible Scientific Achievements
A human being stepped foot on another heavenly body and, at the touch of a button, virtually any piece of information is available. The following seven scientific achievements, previously thought impossible, have transformed our lives. There is the old myth about the turn-of-the-century patent official: I am retiring, the unnamed official is claimed to have said, because there is nothing left to...
Read More »Energy Efficiency's Role in a Recession
Recent findings outline the energy management priorities, practices and investment plans among decision makers responsible for managing commercial buildings and their energy use. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that world energy use will jump nearly 50 percent over the next 25 years. According to a report published by the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy...
Read More »An Idea So Crazy it Might Work: Tips for Disruptive Thinking
Stepping sideways to see things from another angle often leads to breakthrough thinking, which in turn creates new markets and topples traditional ones. Innovation is a top strategic priority for a large majority of companies today. As such, creativity - arguably the driving force behind successful innovation - is increasingly gaining recognition as the new capital in uncertain and challenging...
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