A Parting Thought From Dr. Brett Steenbarger

When I talk with traders, I can often sense within the first few minutes of conversation whether the trader is successful and talented or not. What hit me was identifying, consciously, how I was arriving at that assessment.The really good traders tend to have differentiated market views. Their thinking is of a higher order of complexity. So, for example, they may be bullish on certain themes, bearish on others. They like some stock market sectors, avoid others. They see in range bound terms sometimes, trending on other occasions.

The really good traders see a large playing field. If they see a weak dollar, they think about how that affects bonds, metals, energy, and international returns. If they see a breakout from a multiday range, they see a swing move in the making, not just an opportunity to make a few ticks. They can be daytraders or portfolio managers–it doesn’t matter.  They see how markets are interconnected. They see how the morning trade relates to the overnight range, and how today’s trade is connected to what we did yesterday. And the less successful traders? They’re bullish or they’re bearish. That’s it. They think in simple terms of causation: We’re having a housing slump; that means we’ll have a bear market. We’re making new highs; that means we should buy because we’re in an uptrend. The news is good, so we’ll buy. The news is bad, so we should sell. No complexity. Sadly, we see much of that kind of thinking in the financial media.

Jean Piaget, the developmental biologist, emphasized that cognitive development occurs through a process of assimilation (taking in new information) and accomodation (integrating that new information with what we already know). Over time, that enables us to develop increasingly complex (and accurate) models of the world (schemas). I strongly suspect that process is at work in the development of successful traders. Interesting!

We often hear advice to the effect that traders should keep things simple. Complexity for its own sake is not helpful in the least. Still, when I talk with successful traders, I am impressed by the relativity of their views: they look at how this is related to that and how they can profit from the relationship. It may be a simple relationship, but it’s not simplistic. The difference is important.

Which Ones Are Less Likely to Work in Teams or Trust Their Colleagues

Chinese engineers are younger, less-educated, unhappier in their current jobs and more likely to join a startup than their American counterparts according to survey released today comparing the hopes and dreams of engineers on either side of the Pacific. The report, titled “The State of Engineering in China,” is modeled on four similar surveys of the attitudes and ambitions of American engineers that were commissioned between 1998 and 2005.

A comparison of the surveys reveals some significant differences between U.S. and Chinese engineers, along with some similarities.With regard to job satisfaction and career ambition, a comparison of survey results reveals some paradoxical twists. For instance, it is an article of faith in Silicon Valley that great teams are the secret to success, and in this regard Chinese engineers seem to lag. They’re less likely to work in teams than their U.S. counterparts (57% and 76%) and when asked to evaluate various on-the-job risks, they were far more likely to consider it problematic to rely on a colleague (26% in China and 8% in the United States).

Kerry McClenahan, a principal of the communications firm behind the surveys, said this lessened sense of job satisfaction, combined with the relative youth of the Chinese engineers, helped explain another of the findings - their self-professed greater willingness to jump to startups relative to their American counterparts. By and large, Chinese engineers expressed less job satisfaction. They reported better job security than their American counterparts, but had far less say about their working conditions and were less likely to be “proud” to be working for their employer. Despite many differences, the survey turned up similarities, starting with the fact that precisely 94% of the respondents in both the Chinese and U.S. surveys were men.

For the ADA Seal of Approval to Appear on their Gum

The American Dental Association said Tuesday it has awarded its seal of acceptance to Wrigley sugar-free gums Orbit, Extra and Eclipse — based on studies funded at least partially by the maker of Wrigley gums, Chicago-based Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. It’s the first time the ADA has allowed its seal to appear on gum after clearing it for thousands of other products since 1930. The seal currently appears on various toothpaste, dental floss and oral rinse products. Now gum? Shouldn’t they test other products before before issuing such a seal on only Wrigley? Why not Trident.

 Studies confirms those three gums have been shown to help prevent cavities, reduce plaque acid and strengthen teeth. Studies submitted by Wrigley showed that chewing those gum products for 20 minutes three times a day after meals increases saliva production. Saliva, the ADA said, helps neutralize and wash away plaque acid and bathes the teeth in minerals such as calcium, phosphate and fluoride, which are known to strengthen tooth enamel and help prevent cavities. Yay!

Wrigley’s gums were singled out among other sugar-free gums because the company approached the studies that focused solely on its products. However, Wrigley paid $36,000 to submit its evaluation material — $12,000 per product. ADA also said Wrigley spends $35,000 to $45,000 in exhibit booth space at its annual meeting, advertising in its publications and on other sponsorships. It also pays $25,000 to help sponsor an ADA health screening program. AHA! Gaining the seal nevertheless is a marketing coup for Wrigley, which kicked off a print and online publicity campaign Tuesday and said it would target dental professionals in particular.

Women need to “connect” with investing because we live longer

Women now hold just over half of all professional and managerial positions, but investing skills and confidence haven’t kept pace. According to the research organization Catalyst, women now occupy 50.6% of workplace managerial and professional positions. Yet as investors, women still don’t get involved or they invest too conservatively, leaving money on the table.  

• Education. Women growing up are simply not socialized as investors. 76% of women wish they had learned more about investing while growing up. Parents, get your daughters involved.
• Experience. Most women don’t take the investing helm when married.
• Fear. Some 90% of women fear “losing it all,” and even 48% of those with incomes exceeding $100,000 annually cite that fear.
• Adviser Disconnect. Most financial advisers are men, and they’re still geared to talk to men. Most advisers still talk in jargon. There’s still a “tendency to tell women what they want to hear, to comfort them, instead of talking about the opportunities in a situation.”

About 80% to 90% of women will be solely responsible for their finances someday, according to the National Center for Women and Retirement Research. Here’s a fun stat: 96% of men think that financially secure women are sexy. Perhaps because too many women can’t get finances the moral way.

For women who may still be reluctant to wade into investing waters:

1. Think like a business owner.  Business owners understand how businesses work and how to handle the ups and downs. Women are good at this in the business world.
2. Buy businesses you understand.  If inclined to buy individual stocks, this is a fundamental Warren Buffett value principle. As a woman, you probably understand some businesses better than your male counterparts — use this to your advantage.
3. Get the right advice.  Research shows that women prefer the help of advisers. Some 75% of women who rely on advisers are “more comfortable with investing.” That said, finding the right one is important — one tuned in to the needs of women.
4. Follow role models.  In business and in investing it always helps to find good role models and to study their actions and response to business and market stimuli. Buffett, an investor role model for years, is a great place to start.

The Gossiper, The Slacker, The Hypochondriac, The Kiss-ass?

SnagAJob.com, a job site for hourly workers, recently conducted an online poll to find just how Americans rate office stereotypes on the irritation scale. According to the 7,000 people who responded to the poll last month, the “slacker” and the “kiss-up” tied for the most annoying person to work with. Third on the list of annoying co-workers was the “gossip hound,” which 18.4% said was the most annoying co-worker. The “loud talker” was deemed most annoying by 11.8% of participants and the “hypochondriac” was ranked worst by 4.6%.

How To Handle The Annoying

1. The Loud Phone-Talker.  Obviously the first step is to pull them aside quietly and ask them to lower their voice when using the phone. Or you can hold up a sign that says, ‘Please turn volume down’.
2. The Hang-Arounder.  When confronting the co-worker who chronically lingers to chat when you’re busy, try standing up when they enter your office or cube. The unspoken message of your body language will clearly tell him or her to keep it brief and head for the door.
3. The Idea Stealer. There is a strong possibility that this thief can’t distinguish between a good idea and a bad one. Somewhere along the way, slip in a really bad idea and let the jerk steal that. Beware that this might only encourage the thief to become worse.
4. The Bully. Remember, you’re not in high school anymore. Hold your ground and refuse to be bullied. They’ll usually back off over time.

Difficult people don’t always know they’re being difficult. People generally don’t have a very high level of self-awareness, so specific and constructive feedback is important. Try to understand where the behavior is coming from, and tailor your response to that.

Ever wonder how some immigrants who arrive in this country with nothing can work their way into the middle class in one generation?

Immigrant entrepreneurs are the fastest-growing segment of small-business owners today, says a report on the future of small business by Intuit and the Palo Alto, Calif., Institute for the Future. That’s partly because immigrants have few options: U.S. jobs usually go to those fluent in the English language and American culture. Every month in 2005, about 350 of every 100,000 immigrants started businesses — compared with 280 native-born Americans, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. Many fail, but others hang on or try again, eventually launching a better life. Take a glance into the lives and lessons of three immigrant entrepreneurs:

Lesson 1: Reinvent Yourself
Kamal Dergham, 47, arrived in the U.S. in 1979 to study mechanical engineering and eventually trained to trouble-shoot commercial air-conditioning systems. Through seven years of study he worked long hours for low wages at a Lebanese fast-food restaurant. He held every job, from cook to dishwasher to cashier, learning the business inside and out. In 1989, his big break came, not in his field but when a relative abandoned a failing restaurant, turning over the keys to Dergham at no cost. For six months, Dergham made no money, only friends. Standing outside the restaurant, he chatted with merchants, strangers and passing children, a few of whom eventually ventured inside to try. Today his Pita Delite restaurant chain has six locations, three of them franchises. Dergham’s refusal to be defined by training or tradition is typical of successful immigrant entrepreneurs.

Lesson 2: Take A Chance
Immigrants are risk-takers by definition. Like Dergham, people who immigrate generally are more achievement-oriented. That’s why they are here in the first place. Without money for restaurant food supplies, Dergham, his wife, mother, father and younger brother cooked each day’s menu from supplies on hand, using the day’s meager receipts to buy for the next day. They shared a two-bedroom apartment, crowded by American standards but roomy to Dergham. He worked 13-hour days and six-day weeks. Summoning strength for sacrifices typifies self-made millionaires.

Lesson 3: Work, Work, Work
Sheela Murthy heads a 60-person law firm near Baltimore and grosses millions of dollars a year, enabling her to indulge her greatest pleasure, charitable giving. She arrived from India in 1985, dead broke and 24. She had, however, a secret weapon: her willingness to work long hours. “I can work 18 hours a day and really turn it out,” she says.  In the U.S., hard work produces “immediate results,” unlike back home in her day where, she says, no one — least of all a woman — could get established without connections. Intuit’s study finds immigrant women start businesses at a rate almost twice that of native-born American women.

Lesson 4: Fill A Void
Murthy’s rise exemplifies the tendency of immigrants to spot and fill unmet needs, particularly in their own communities. Murthy’s Harvard degree immediately gained her a $70,000 job as a corporate lawyer, but she hated the atmosphere. She needed to know she was helping people. Searching for a specialty, she recalled the poor job her own immigration lawyer had done. Other newcomers, she realized, needed trustworthy help with complex American immigration laws. Nine years after arriving, she went solo. Her volunteer column on immigration law for a nonprofit newsletter generated a huge response, telling her that the Internet might reach new clients everywhere.

Lesson 5: Network With Others Like Yourself
Anatoly was 21 in 1995 when he left Russia for business school in America.He had no money, and his student visa’s terms forbade him from taking a job. But, in the post-perestroika turmoil, Russians were desperate for Western cars and tools. Before he left he distributed his e-mail address and cell-phone number far and wide, telling people, “Make sure you guys call me first if you need anything, if you need nice SUVs — anything.” He financed two MBAs — in international business and information technology — by filling orders from friends, acquaintances and strangers, marking up cars $1,500 or $2,000. Like Murthy and Dergham, he spotted a void and filled it. Immigrants without access to local language, capital or cultural acumen turn to networks of their countrymen for training, financing, advice and customers. Surprising trust develops.

Lesson 6: Despise Debt, Scrimp and Save
People who have witnessed economic catastrophe firsthand tend to squirrel away money. Anatoly makes $51,000 a year, yet he estimates he saves at least 40% before taxes. His wife can’t yet work — she’s waiting impatiently for a green card. Still, they bought a house last year, just five years after he began his job, using a down payment earned partly from reselling garage-sale finds on eBay. Dergham says he has capable American friends whose success is undermined by spending habits: “They make half of what I make but live 10 times better than I do.”  Starting from scratch is tough anywhere, yet it can be done. “You must be your own boss to make money,” Dergham says, “and this country gives a great opportunity. There is no country in the world like that.”

History Repeating Itself

Homeowners whose loan rates are soaring may want to head for the exits. Many of them may find no way out.  If they sell their home or refinance, they will face a penalty of thousands of dollars for paying off their loans early. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, these exit fees, called prepayment penalties, were added to more than two-thirds of the adjustable-rate loans. Those loans initially carry a very low interest rate, known as a teaser because it is below the market rate and rises sharply over time. The lenders say the trade-off is the only way to offer low monthly payments initially because otherwise borrowers would flee when rates adjust upward and make the loan a losing deal. The fees usually equal several months’ interest, and they decline over a few years before disappearing altogether.

Homeowners often think they can keep up with their rising payments or that they will simply refinance later, but the penalties can dash that hope. State governments, regulators and members of Congress are considering whether to rein in prepayment penalties. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, said this week that he would introduce legislation to eliminate the penalties and make other changes in home lending practices. When interest rates were high in the 1970s, states took steps to protect consumers from onerous prepayment penalties. Such fees generally disappeared from standard loans. In the late 1990s, though, subprime loans to people with weak credit blossomed, and with those loans came a resurgence in prepayment penalties. A number of states limit the penalties, but only state-regulated banks are generally subject to those restrictions; mortgage companies and national banks are not. Experts say that many borrowers do not really understand the implications of prepayment penalties (if they are aware they have them at all) and fall prey to sophisticated marketing.

In a 2002 lawsuit by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn) on behalf of a group of borrowers against Household Finance, Acorn said that lenders referred to the practice as “closing the back door” by making it too costly for borrowers to get out of loans with rising rates. The art of finding borrowers was carefully honed, according to the lawsuit. Among the techniques was sending a check and telling recipients they could have access to a small loan by cashing it. Those who did went on a hot list of prospects in a strategy referred to as target practice, according to the suit.

 A study by the Center for Responsible Lending shows that borrowers in minority neighborhoods received a disproportionate share of loans with prepayment penalties. The Pew Hispanic Center reported in 2002 that African-American families had a median net worth of just under $6,000. Hispanic families had nearly $8,000.  For white Americans, the median net worth was $88,651.

Ever have a desire to really separate yourself from the pack when trying to get a job?

We’re not talking using creme paper for your resume versus standard white, but something much more extreme. Job hunters feel compelled to use creative tactics to stand out, but while a rare few succeed, most fail miserably. A junior marketing professional tried sending his resume to a company hiring manager via homing pigeon, says Cynthia Shapiro, a job-search coach. “It’s really disheartening when you send your resume out there and you get nothing in return,” she notes. “It just makes people feel like they have to do something crazy to get noticed.”

What are some of the extremes people have gone through for recognition?

• Ms. Shapiro says a job hunter in a gorilla suit once dropped off his resume at her office at a construction company. Then, she recalls, he burst into a song describing why he would make a strong candidate. Approaching recruiters in a social setting about job opportunities is also unwise.
• One recruiter was cornered by a job hunter as she was searching for a seat at her daughter’s high-school volleyball game. An acceptable alternative would have been to ask to meet in a business setting at a later date.
• Another strategy sometimes used by job seekers is to send a recruiter a cover letter inside an unsealed envelope with no resume. The goal is to make it appear that the person’s resume fell out, prompting the recruiter to personally follow up, but this can also leave the impression that the job seeker is deceptive, incompetent or careless.
• Some job seekers regularly email recruiters jokes, goofy photos or other unprofessional items just to stay on their radar.
• Others send their resumes about once a month, noting that they made a change to the document even though the edits are usually minor.
• Job candidates have also been known to offer recruiters free tickets to concerts or other events during interviews. Others send thank-you letters with a fruit basket or a bottle of champagne attached. Such actions are tantamount to bribery, which can be an automatic knock-out factor.
• One recruiter once received a resume with two Pepto-Bismol tablets attached and a note that read: “I’m one candidate that won’t nauseate you. However, since I don’t know how the rest of your day is going, accept some relief, compliments of me.”

If you decide try something risky in order to stand out, it’s recommended that job seekers research recruiters’ personal interests to identify ways to grab their attention using resources like the networking Web site or simply Googling. Recruiters in creative industries like advertising, marketing and public relations may be more receptive to gimmicks than others. One easy way to stand out is to include a link to a personal Web site or blog in an email resume. Just be sure the content on the site is appropriate. Consider sending recruiters a card for a nondenominational holiday such as New Year’s to remind them about your interest.

Here are six tell-tale conversation flags that indicate you’re dealing with a telephonic scam artist:

1. Promising that you can win money, make money, or borrow money easily
2. Demanding that you act immediately or else miss out on this great opportunity
3. Refusing to send written information prior to your purchase or donation
4. Trying to scare you into buying something
5. Insisting you wire money or a courier will come by to pick up your payment
6. Refusing to stop calling after you ask them to stop.

The best defense against telemarketing fraud? Just hang up. It’s not rude.
Know a senior citizen who can’t hang up? Show them this article. 

Brett Steenbarger’s two cents

Responding to his column on creating change through powerful emotional experiences, Brett Steenbarger’s reader indicated that his dreams of trading riches had died and that he had to “just be happy with the person I am“. Here’s what good ‘ol Brett had to say:

So let me start by saying that I have felt much the same feeling. There’s a part of me that would love to be a super-successful trader, even as I know deep within myself that this is neither where my greatest talents nor passions lie. It must be how many decent college basketball and football players feel. They’ve excelled in high school and made it to their university teams, but they never quite make it to the pros. They’re good–but they’re not among the elite. Those dreams of success in the “big leagues” can be difficult to put aside. Some of those competent college players–Bob Knight, Dean Smith, and Jim Boeheim in the basketball ranks come to mind–end up becoming superlative at coaching.

They’ve made the transition from mourning the loss of a dream to crafting a new one. Most important, they’ve brought something from their first, sports endeavors (discipline, competitive drive, self-development) to their new pursuits. So, hopefully, it can be with trading.When the trading dream dies, it is a loss and that can feel depressing. The challenge is to figure out how that trading experience is going to equip you for the next dream, the next pursuit that may be better suited to you and your talents and interests.

My experience, particularly with young traders, is that trading often doesn’t express a dream. A dream is what motivates an entrepreneur: someone who founds their own business, develops their own products, and spends long hours refining those, marketing them, and finding financing for growth. For many young traders, however, trading is a fantasy. It is not connected to a concrete business plan, and it certainly is not accompanied by long hours of dedicated effort. What makes it a fantasy is that it is an effort to achieve success without such effort. When that fantasy dies, it opens the door to reality. That is sobering, to be sure. But it is also the first step in finding oneself: discovering a career and calling that are so meaningful and stimulating that the real work necessary for success won’t feel like work at all.

Take A Good Look At Your Industry And See What Needs Some Innovating

Mature companies understand that to compete today they need to innovate. But finding sources of innovation while still paying attention to the current business can be a struggle. The good news, says Harvard Business School professor Lynda M. Applegate, is that one of the forces that threatens established companies can also be a source of salvation: disruptive change.This excerpt from a recent presentation encourages executives to leverage disruptive change as a platform for innovation. Innovation is not an option today. This interest in innovation is confirmed by an IBM study in 2006 that asked over 750 CEOs of the world’s largest and most respected firms, “What’s the extent of change that you need to make in the next 2 years?” The answer surprised them. They knew that innovation was important, but 65% of the CEOs said they were planning significant change over the next 2 years, and another 22% said they planned to implement moderate change. Clearly, jumpstarting innovation is a critical business imperative. Executives realize that radical change is needed, and they do not feel equipped to make those changes. Almost 50% of the CEOs surveyed in the IBM study said the source of innovation was from changes in the business environment. Disruptions in the business environment cause economic shifts that destabilize industries, companies, and even countries.

What are some of the disruptors that innovators are exploiting to create value? As you review the list below, take a moment to stop and think: What are some of the disruptive changes in your industry that might serve as the source of innovation for you and your company? Each topic can pose as an opportunity or as a threat.

Technology: What are the key emerging technologies, and how are they being used inside and outside your industry, company, and region to create proprietary advantage?

Business Models: Are there new business models emerging that you can adopt or adapt to deliver radical improvements in the way you and others do business? Can you expand not just your “share of market” but also your “share of wallet” by adding new business models? Can you expand into adjacent businesses by either taking over activities that used to be done by someone else in your industry, expanding into new markets, or adding new products?

Industry Dynamics: Are there fragmented industries where significant value can be delivered through consolidation?

Globalization: What’s happening in another part of the world that you could adopt or adapt in your environment? What are the proprietary advantages that you have based on your access to people, information, materials, or capital?

Offshoring and Outsourcing: Are there opportunities to create value by outsourcing or offshoring activities that you currently perform inside your organization?

Different Approaches
Entrepreneurs often view disruptive change as a source of opportunity. When they see a disrupted business environment—whether that disruption is from new technologies, new business models, or new regulations—they ask, “How can I leverage these changes to create value?” Established companies often approach innovation and disruption much differently. Having worked hard to align strategy and organization to support the current business, they develop tunnel vision, encouraging employees, customers, suppliers, and partners to work together to deliver today’s business results. As a result, executives in established firms often frame disruption as a threat. When they see changes happening, they work to defend their existing business model and ask, “How can I insulate against these disruptive threats and preserve my current business model?”

As disruptive technologies, business models, regulatory environments, and societal norms destabilize markets, industries, and organizations, executives are finding that incremental innovation is not enough. The good news is that these disruptive shifts are the perfect place to search for opportunities. The key is knowing where to look, how to interpret what you see, and then how to manage uncertainty as you exploit opportunity.

“Senior Experts” Who Claim To Help Manage Money For An Outrageous Commission

Less than a year before he died, an ailing, wheelchair-bound Arthur Moyer, 79-year-old former machinist, converted his $500,000 life savings into a complex investment he could not tap for a decade without incurring steep fees. He poured his money into a deferred annuity at the urging of a salesman who collected a hefty commission and presented himself as a retirement expert, according to Moyer’s son and a family adviser. They said Moyer spent the final weeks of his life slumped with his head between his knees, fending off depression. On the day Moyer was buried, a letter arrived, saying that the insurance company had agreed to the family’s demands to unwind the deal and return his life savings.

State and federal authorities say the Moyer case reflects the kind of misleading sales pitches that are directed at senior citizens, who control more than $14 trillion in assets, according to AARP’s Public Policy Institute. Government officials worry that unscrupulous financial advisers are preying on retirees by calling themselves senior experts, using fancy titles to lure the elderly to marketing seminars and then locking up their savings in investments that carry high commissions and withdrawal fees. Federal regulators and authorities in seven states are set to release the results of an investigation of firms that run “free lunch” investment seminars, which draw large numbers of retirees. The results have produced multiple law enforcement referrals. SEC leaders and their state counterparts will host a daylong summit Monday to discuss a nationwide approach to combating bogus yet official-sounding titles that salesmen use to curry favor with older investors. The nerve of some people…

Due To Labor Shortage

Chinese wages are on the rise. No reliable figures for average wages exist; the government’s economic data are notably unreliable. Factory owners and experts who monitor the nation’s labor market say that businesses are having a hard time finding able-bodied workers and are having to pay the workers they can find more money. All this due to China’s one child policy.Chinese companies are already passing along some of their higher costs to overseas customers. Prices for goods from China, after years of gradual decline, have risen 1.2% since February, according to the Labor Department.

Chinese companies and contractors are also passing on the cost of the rising value of their currency, the yuan, up 8.8% against the dollar in the last two years. For decades, many labor economists said that China’s vast population would supply a nearly bottomless pool of workers. So many people would be seeking jobs at any given time, this reasoning went, that wages in this country would be stuck just above subsistence levels. As recently as four years ago, some experts estimated that most of the perhaps 150 million underemployed workers in the countryside would be heading to cities. In interviews, factory executives across the country complained of being forced to give double-digit raises in order to find and keep young workers at all skill levels. Now those shortages have spread to factories up and down the Chinese coast. Who’s the most effected? Plant owners’ refusal to hire blue-collar workers over 35 or 40 is colliding with the demographic reality of China’s one-child policy. The number of workers in the 20-to-24-year-old range is already shrinking as more of them go to universities instead of entering the work force after high school. Rising overall incomes in China also affect American inflation indirectly. Higher incomes in this country contribute to soaring demand by Chinese for cars, air-conditioners and other energy-consuming products.

Ads On Your Cocktail Napkins, Tray Tables, Overhead Luggage Compartments and Barf Bags

As airlines look for new sources of revenue to offset rising fuel costs, more carriers are turning planes into marketing vehicles, installing advertising in hard-to-miss places. Several American carriers, including US Airways and AirTran, recently started selling advertisements on napkins or stickers that appear on open tray tables. Over the summer, Ryanair, the European low-cost carrier, has gone further, installing advertising panels on the covers of the overhead luggage compartments and on the backs of closed tray tables. The overhead bins have had a slightly faster uptake than the seatbacks at Ryanair, with advertisements being placed by companies like the Dutch bank ING; Red Bull, the energy drink; and Meteor Mobile Communications, an Irish cellphone operator. Several carriers have even experimented with advertisements printed on airsickness bags. Hey, it works. You’ll always remember that time when you puked in a Red Bull barf bag.

Will other advertisers and airlines climb aboard? Even though marketers are eager to connect with consumers in new ways, they are also wary about annoying them. They’re guaranteed to annoy flyers who forgot to bring a book/DVD player and are just starring at the ads for hours.

Simple And Straight Forward Career Advice

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, reflects on his own career (which includes majoring in economics, picking up an MBA, and working at a bank and a phone company before becoming a world-renowned cartoonist) and gives his thoughts on what it takes to develop a successful career.

For every person who studies something specific, such as the law or medicine, and actually ended up in that sort of career, I think there are five who let chance pick their careers. That works out more often than you’d think, but you can’t recommend it as a career strategy. Instead, I recommend a general formula for success. Allow me to explain.

If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:

1. Become the best at one specific thing.
2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.

The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try. The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort.  I always advise young people to become good public speakers (top 25%). Anyone can do it with practice. If you add that talent to any other, suddenly you’re the boss of the people who have only one skill. Or get a degree in business on top of your engineering degree, law degree, medical degree, science degree, or whatever. Suddenly you’re in charge, or maybe you’re starting your own company using your combined knowledge.

Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix. At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. And it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world. That’s one. Now add to that whatever your passion is, and you have two, because that’s the thing you’ll easily put enough energy into to reach the top 25%.