Watch out for a growing number of trust fund babies in Asia

The opportunities for private banks in Asia Pacific are big, and still growing. The region is home to more than a quarter of the world’s high net worth individuals (HNWIs) - the industry jargon for people with $1m of investable assets. Their wealth is growing by 8.5% a year. By 2011, their combined riches will total $12,700bn.

The difference between North America and Europe? The wealth management business in Asia is a lot more diverse than in Europe or north America - in terms of providers, legal jurisdictions and customers. Potential clients might be a Japanese aristocrat whose family has been rich for generations, or a Malaysian entrepreneur who grew up in a kampong (village) and now wants to invest the proceeds of an IPO according to Islamic shariah principles.

China continues to boom - there are estimated to be at least 300,000 Chinese HNWIs. Foreign private banks are setting up branches as quickly as they can. They are starting to move inland from the wealthy cities along the coast to service the growing number of entrepreneurs in China’s West. India is also showing enormous promise too. Asian HNWIs tend to be more mobile than their counterparts in Europe or north America. That diversity may mean opportunities in providing specialist tax services, for example.

Asian clients may have very different ideas about what private bankers should do for them. A western approach based solely on analysing risk tolerance in accordance with modern portfolio theory, and recommending appropriate products, may not sit well with a customer who is just looking for share tips. It takes time to build trust with such clients, and help them to understand that wealth preservation and growth is more complicated than betting on shares on China’s overheated stock market.

The need for private banking is likely to intensify as a big wave of wealth starts to flow down the generations. “In Asia people may not be as open with me as western clients about all of their investments, so I can’t always make appropriate recommendations,” says one private banker.  The “rags-to-riches” ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs of south-east Asia are beginning to die off. Many left home to seek their fortunes as manual workers in the tin mines of Malaya, or fled China when the communists took over, to start small businesses that grew into family conglomerates. Such patriarchs learned about business the hard way. Many may not have been educated past primary school. But their grandsons - and granddaughters - may well have been to top international business schools, and have very different ideas about how the family business should be run. They may even consider whether the business should be sold off, and the cash invested instead. Watch out for a growing number of trust fund babies in Asia.

Research suggests that many rich families in Asia are ill-prepared for generational change. Only half of the 33 families surveyed in Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Taiwan said they involved the next generation in managing the business. Many young graduates even felt that inheriting the family company would be a burden, as it constrained their career choices.

Asia, outside of Japan, and the Middle East would need 10,000 new private bankers by 2010. Private bankers need more than quantitative skills. They must watch the markets, in case the client asks their opinion. It also helps to speak a few languages, especially Chinese dialects. Such people are rare and no bank seems happy with the recruitment situation. Publicly, managers talk about providing staff with friendly environments and great career opportunities to win the battle for talent.  93% of customer relationship managers in private banks in Asia said they had been approached by rivals in the past year.  One in seven private banks risked losing a third of its staff or more. It is not unusual for entire teams to follow a talented manager and take their clients with them. 

The boom in private banking is sharpening traditional rivalries between the north and south-east Asian hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore. Both have trustworthy reputations as financial centres. Wealth managers have traditionally clustered in Hong Kong. But Singapore, which has the world’s fastest growing population of dollar millionaires, has been catching up.

If you love each other, shouldn’t you be able to live and work together, right?

For many couples, this major decision is the ticket to wealth, self-actualization and happiness. For others, it can lead to severe financial and relationship stress. Such a move takes more than planning; it requires a full assessment of your personalities and your money issues to determine whether working and living side by side is right for you. Your first step should be a visit to a trusted certified financial planner. Here are some key steps to consider:

Give yourselves a timetable to startup. You might be tempted to give notice tomorrow morning, but it’s much wiser to lay out a timetable over the coming months with specific tasks, goals and objectives.

Study the viability of your business model. Talk about worst-case scenarios. Bring in trusted advisors to ask tough questions about what you’re planning to do and the viability of your idea. Convincing each other you’ll make it work isn’t enough.

Draft a business plan. Even if you don’t anticipate the need to seek outside financing, it is always a good idea to formalize your ideas with a business plan. Include profit and loss projections, so that you have a benchmark for evaluating your progress at a given point in time. Factor in both best- and worst-case scenarios, which could help with decisions down the road.

Understand how your tax situation will change. Depending on which business structure you choose, you may need to plan for income taxes, self-employment taxes and payroll taxes. You want to make sure you have reserves set aside for these liabilities. 

Set a spending plan for your business and personal life. Since startups have unpredictable cash inflows, you will want to establish adequate emergency funds–both business and personal–to carry you through the startup phase.

Set boundaries. Couples who live and work together need to assess whether they want to keep their work and personal lives separate. Some people are comfortable discussing their personal lives at work, while others make it clear that during working hours, they are at work and won’t discuss personal matters.

Make sure your legal documents are in order. If you haven’t had your estate planning documents updated in a while or don’t have them at all, this is a great time to have them drafted. Don’t forget to tell your attorney about your new business venture, which should be factored into the equation.

Plan for your kids in the business. There may be good opportunities to employ children for work commensurate with their skills.

 How Well Are You Dealing With Stress?

One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half of Americans (48%) believe that their stress has increased over the past five years. Stress is taking a toll on people — contributing to health problems, poor relationships and lost productivity at work, according to a new national survey released today by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Money and work continue as the leading causes of stress for three quarters of Americans. Nearly half of all Americans report that stress has a negative impact on both their personal and professional lives. Stress causes more than half of Americans (54%) to fight with people close to them. One in four people report that they have been alienated from a friend or family member because of stress, with 8% connecting stress to divorce or separation.

Stress in America continues to escalate and is affecting every aspect of people’s lives — from work to personal relationships to sleep patterns and eating habits, as well as their health. Physical symptoms of stress include: fatigue); headache; upset stomach; muscle tension; change in appetite; teeth grinding; change in sex drive and feeling dizzy.  Psychological symptoms of stress include: experiencing irritability or anger,  feeling nervous, lack of energy and feeling as though you could cry.  In addition, almost half (48%) of Americans report lying awake at night due to stress.

While many Americans recognize that stress has a negative impact on their health, they may lack the motivation to make lifestyle and behavior changes. Only 35% report that they would modify their behavior following the diagnosis of a chronic condition. Encouragement from a spouse or partner would motivate 38% to make behavioral changes.

A busy workload means less time at home and therefore less time for housework, regardless of income.

A new University of Massachusetts Amherst study finds married women do about one less hour of housework per week for every $7,500 they earn as full-time workers outside the home, regardless of the husband’s income. Married women who work full time may be looking largely at their own salaries — not those of their husbands — when deciding which routine chores can or should get done in their home. So why does the wives’ higher income translated into less time on housework? The reasons could include the financial freedom to hire a housekeeper; the time demands of some higher-paying jobs; different standards of tidiness; more outside activities and therefore less wear and tear to clean up in the house; or other factors.

How Could You NOT Judge This Guy? 10 Popular Myths About Wealth and Luxury

1. The Wealthy made their money easily and spend their money easily. Most wealthy individuals spend far more hours working, embrace far more risk, and create far more value for society than their mainstream counterparts. Even today, for most, it still takes years of immense sacrifice to achieve wealth. Wealthy consumers are therefore very value conscious and discerning when they buy luxury goods and services.

2. The Wealthy are conspicuous consumption machines living in another reality. The minority of wealthy individuals who live ostentatious, opulent lifestyles are often portrayed as stereotypical wealthy consumers. In reality, most wealthy consumers are value creators, who seek quality and value, including authentic prestige, in luxury goods and services. Like many of us, some of their biggest concerns include taking care of aging parents and raising well-educated, generous children. When marketing to them, acknowledge their basic human values and show you understand them as the well rounded and balanced individuals they really are.

3. The Wealthy can’t really define luxury. Put a list of brands in front of the typical wealthy consumer and she, or he, will not only be able to articulate the attributes that constitute a luxury brand, but will also discern differences between brands better than any luxury marketer. The ability of wealthy consumers to define true luxury, individually, and as a group, is laser-accurate.

4. Luxury goods are a far larger industry than luxury services. Luxury goods such as couture fashion, watches and jewelry, get all the attention, yet, are dwarfed by the size of luxury services such as wealth management, travel and leisure, security, etc. Innovative services, including those as basic as nanny services, concierge services, and medical services, aimed at the wealthy, will grow faster and more profitably in the future. Many luxury goods firms are busy transforming themselves into services, or adding services to add value.

5. The Wealthy don’t participate in consumer satisfaction surveys. Wealthy consumers provide feedback and respond to surveys, sometimes more that the general population. Most wealthy consumers are highly educated businesspeople. They recognize the value of feedback and will provide theirs candidly to brands they trust. No metric is more highly correlated with financial success than customer satisfaction. Brands that fail to solicit and measure their customers’ feedback and continuously seek to improve customer satisfaction will become extinct.

6. The Wealthy don’t go online. A recent survey by the Luxury Institute found that the vast majority of wealthy consumers are regularly online. The wealthy work long hours, are more time-starved than the general population, and use the internet more heavily for researching luxury goods and services, and conducting transactions.

7. The Wealthy don’t use ratings and reviews to make purchasing decisions. A recent survey by the Luxury Institute found that over 80% of wealthy consumers use ratings and reviews sites to facilitate purchasing decisions. While the wealthiest may rely on a few trusted experts, many have middle class values and lead regular lives that include seeking information from ratings and reviews sites and publications. The difference is that these savvy consumers steer clear of biased websites and publications and “Best of” lists that pretend to provide non-conflicted advice.

8. Luxury marketers should be targeting only the wealthiest clients. Luxury brands that seek to serve only the $100 million plus net-worth consumer are usually small and often have fairly low profit margins. The truly under-served wealthy, in luxury goods, and, especially in luxury services, are households with a net worth from $ 1 million to $50 million. Their lives are busy, and often complex, and require many types of trusted advice. There are far more of these individuals globally, and growing in numbers.

9. Wealthy clients do not give referrals. Research with wealthy and ultra-wealthy consumers indicates that the vast majority are willing to refer trusted brands to friends and family. Yet, ask luxury goods and services CEOs what their client referral rates are, and the answer is usually well below 50%. This disconnect is due to the fact that most luxury goods and services firms rely on individual salespeople for referrals rather than creating a company-wide referral program. It is one of the greatest revenue opportunities in luxury today.

10. Wealthy consumers are not very loyal since they can go anywhere. The majority of wealthy consumers are among the most loyal customers. Their loyalty must be earned with great service. Ratings show that most luxury goods and services firms have yet to internalize what brands such as Ritz-Carlton, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Bessemer Trust inherently know: That the entire customer experience, from A to Z, must be at a level that makes customers happy to do business with the brand. This is the greatest, and easiest to implement, opportunity for luxury goods and services brands globally today.

10 Nightmare Handshakes: Which One Are You?

Handshakes have been around since the birth of civilization. In fact, they were originally a way to prove you had no weapons in your hand when meeting someone new. Nowadays, we use handshakes in meetings, greetings, offering congratulations, closing a business deal or sometimes just to say, “How’s it goin’?” No matter the basis of your handshake, it should become part of your repertoire. Handshakes are a sign of trust and help build strong relationships. Prospective employers said they’re more likely to overlook visible body piercings and tattoos than an ineffective handshake, according to a 2001 survey of human resources professionals. Plus, when you shake hands with people upon meeting, they’re two times more likely to remember you than if you didn’t shake hands. The time has come to find out if your grip is powerful, pathetic or just plain bad.

To evade making a bad first impression, losing a business deal or simply embarrassing yourself, take heed of 10 terrible grips to avoid:

1. The “Macho Cowboy”… is the almost bone-crunching clasp many businessmen use to shake hands. What are they trying to prove, anyway? There’s no need to demonstrate your physical strength when shaking another person’s hand.

2. The Wimp… is usually delivered by men who are afraid to “hurt the little lady” when shaking women’s hands. Modern female professionals expect their male counterparts to convey the same respect they’d show their male colleagues.

3. The “Dead Fish”… conveys no power. While there’s no need to revert to the macho cowboy death grip, a firm clasp is more powerful than one that barely grabs the hand.

4. The “Four Finger”… is when the person’s hand never meets your palm, and instead clasps all four fingers, crushing them together.

5. The Cold and Clammy… feels like you’re shaking hands with a snake. Warm up your hand first before grabbing someone else’s.

6. The Sweaty Palm… is pretty self-explanatory, and pretty gross. Talcum powder to the rescue.

7. The “I’ve Got You Covered” Grip… happens when the other person covers your hand with his or her left hand as if your shake is secretive.

8. The “I Won’t Let Go”… seems to go on for eternity because the other person won’t drop his or her hand. After two or three pumps, it’s time to let go.

9. The “Southpaw”… happens when the person uses the left hand to shake because the right hand has food or a drink. Always carry your drink and plate with your left hand to keep your right one free for meet and greets.

10. The “Ringed Torture”… occurs when the person’s rings hurt your hand. Try to limit the number of rings you wear on the right hand to only one or two and be mindful of any that have large stones.

Six Steps To An Effective Greeting:
1. Stand up
2. Step or lean forward
3. Make eye contact
4. Have a pleasant or animated face
5. Shake hands
6. Greet the other person and repeat his or her name

Once I’ve read a book I keep it. It becomes a part of me.

Serious leaders who are serious readers build personal libraries dedicated to how to think, not how to compete. It is impossible to put together a serious library on almost any subject for less than several hundred thousand dollars. Perhaps that is why — more than their sex lives or bank accounts — chief executives keep their libraries private.

Few Nike colleagues, for example, ever saw the personal library of the founder, Phil Knight, a room behind his formal office. To enter, one had to remove one’s shoes and bow: the ceilings were low, the space intimate, the degree of reverence demanded for these volumes on Asian history, art and poetry greater than any the self-effacing Mr. Knight, who is no longer chief executive, demanded for himself. “I’m always learning.”

Forget finding the business best-seller list in these libraries. Students of power should take note that C.E.O.’s are starting to collect books on climate change and global warming, not Al Gore’s tomes but books from the 15th century about the weather, Egyptian droughts, even replicas of Sumerian tablets recording extraordinary changes in climate.

Personal libraries have always been a biopsy of power. The empire-loving Elizabeth I surrounded herself with the Roman historians, many of whom she translated, and kept one book under lock and key in her bedroom, in a French translation she alone of her court could read: Machiavelli’s treatise on how to overthrow republics, “The Prince.” Churchill retreated to his library to heal his wounds after being voted out of power in 1945 — and after reading for six years came back to power.

It took Dee Hock, father of the credit card and founder of Visa, a thousand books to find The One. Mr. Hock walked away from business life in 1984 and looked back only from his library’s walls. He built a dream 2,000-square-foot wing for his books in a pink stucco mansion atop a hill in Pescadero, Calif. In his library, Mr. Hock found the book that contained the thoughts of all of them. Visitors can see opened on his library table for daily consulting, Omar Khayyam’s “Rubáiyát,” the Persian poem that warns of the dangers of greatness and the instability of fortune.

It’s All About Goals. Don’t plan to fail by failing to plan.

Most people don’t have goals. They have dreams instead. Some 97% of people don’t take the first step, writing down goals. They just keep dreaming. Millionaires, on average, read their written goals daily. This cements them (the goals) into their minds. Billionaires use “the power of three.” Billionaires read their written goals an average of three times daily, three times more often than mere millionaires.

Here’s how millionaires differ from middle class people, according to author Keith Cameron Smith, in his book “Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires And The Middle Class:”

1. Millionaires think long term, middle class people think short term.

2. Millionaires talk about ideas, middle class people talk about things and people.

3. Millionaires embrace change, middle class people are threatened by change.

4. Millionaires take calculated risks, middle class people are afraid of risks.

5. Millionaires continue to learn and grow, middle class people stop learning after they’re finished with school.

6. Millionaires work for profit, middle class people work for wages.

7. Millionaires believe in being generous, middle class people believe they’re unable to be generous.

8. Millionaires have multiple sources of income, middle class people have one or two income sources.

9. Millionaires focus on increasing net worth, middle class people focus on increasing their paychecks.

10. Millionaires ask questions that empower, middle class people ask questions that disempower.

By all means, even if you’re broke, the first thing to do is to get rid of your middle class mindset, which confines you to a life term in your own mental prison of self-limiting beliefs and the low expectations paupers accept passively. Whether you succeed or not, whether you are financially blessed or dirt poor, it’s up to you (not an employer and certainly not the government) to make yourself financially successful. If you’re poor, don’t blame God. Look in the mirror instead. Then get to work.

Brett Steenbarger’s Top Ten Reasons Traders Lose Their Discipline

10 ) Environmental distractions and boredom cause a lack of focus;

9 ) Fatigue and mental overload create a loss of concentration;

8 ) Overconfidence follows a string of successes;

7 ) Unwillingness to accept losses, leading to alterations of trade plans after the trade has gone into the red;

6 ) Loss of confidence in one’s trading plan/strategy because it has not been adequately tested and battle-tested;

5 ) Personality traits that lead to impulsivity and low frustration tolerance in stressful situations;

4 ) Situational performance pressures, such as trading slumps and increased personal expenses, that change how traders trade (putting P/L ahead of making good trades);

3 ) Trading positions that are excessive for the account size, created exaggerated P/L swings and emotional reactions;

2 ) Not having a clearly defined trading plan/strategy in the first place;

1 ) Trading a time frame, style, or market that does not match your talents, skills, risk tolerance, and personality.

When Profanity is a Plus

Profanity in the workplace can be a morale booster and inspire a sense of team spirit. “Social” or “annoyance” swearing can be effective in many office and workplace environments while vulgar or abusive cursing should never be allowed, according to a recent study. By no means should employees ever use profanity in front of customers, according to the study published in the U.K.-based Leadership and Organization Development Journal. Taboo language, study says, can manifest itself in solidarity that helps create a much more pleasurable and productive place to work.

Men:  That’s not surprising to many workers who find toiling in droll environments far more exciting than passing the hours in a hear-a-pin drop workplace. The study points directly to all-male or male-dominated cultures — think about a football locker room or the factory floor — in which the “competitive nature of men’s speech” creates a sense of harmony and oneness. Often, workers will be within earshot of “annoyance swearing,” what the report describes as a “relief mechanism” for stress and tensions. Maybe more important, however, is that annoyance swearing replaces “primitive physical aggression.”

Women:  Female swearers are often perceived to be of a low moral standing. Men, on the other hand, can generate reverence from swearing, though they tend to tone down the use of profanity in front of women. It turns out that women tend to swear more in mixed company as a means of asserting themselves and preventing the conversation from being male-dominated.

The authors warn that repeated occurrences of swearing, threats and verbal abuse can lead to depression, stress, low morale, absenteeism, retention problems and sluggish productivity. What’s a manager to do? Banning swearing might be thought of as a form of strong leadership, but the researchers cautioned that it could tear apart that sense of solidarity or seriously decrease morale and work motivation. So swear away!

The Psychology of Profanity
Words and phrases used in profane swearing may be divided roughly into seven classes:

1. Names of deities, angels, and devils.
2. Names connected with the sacred matters of religion.
3. Names of saints, holy persons, and biblical characters.
4. Names of sacred places.
5. Words relating to the future life.
6. Vulgar words.
7. Expletives.

The occasion of profanity in general is a situation in which there is a high degree of emotion, usually of the aggressive type, accompanied by a certain feeling of helplessness. The most striking effect is that of a pleasant feeling of relief from a painful stress.

Good Looking = More Money? That’s Right. This is the real world. Most people are prejudice.  

Being overweight or sloppily dressed is worse for your career than being a poor performer. So manage your weight, and manage the image you project at work, and you’ll do wonders for your career. According to a 2005 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, good-looking people make more money than average-looking people for doing exactly the same work. 

Consider that there may be some rationale behind it. If you’re overweight, you’re probably not exercising every day. But regular exercise increases peoples’ ability to cope with difficult situations in the workplace and might even make people smarter. And the same self-discipline we use to make ourselves exercise regularly and eat in moderation carries over into other aspects of our lives. People who exercise regularly were found to be better at time-management and more productive than those who don’t. It’s sort of like people who have messy desks: The perception is that they’re low-performers, poor time-managers, and not clear thinkers. This might not be true at all, but the only thing they can do to overcome the perceptions of their coworkers is clean their desks. Here’s something else: Dress like you care. Building a strong brand for yourself is the only way to create a stable career in today’s workplace.

We’re stressed out, we can’t sleep, we’re drinking too much - and it’s getting worse. 48% of Americans say they’re more stressed now than they were five years ago, and the same percent report regularly lying awake at night because of stress, according to a new study by the American Psychological Association.

What is it we’re worrying about while we stare at the ceiling all night? Primarily two things: money and work, the main woes for nearly 75% of Americans. We’re also worrying about making the rent. More than half of people polled say paying the landlord or making the monthly mortgage causes great stress.

According to the report, all that stress and worry is taking a big toll on our lives, leading us to fight with family members, drink, smoke and give up on working out. As a result of stress, 54% of people have fought with loved ones, and 8% say stress has led to separation or divorce. More than three-quarters of respondents say stress is making them sick, from headaches (44%) to upset stomach (34%) and grinding their teeth (17%). 43% claim they eat - or overeat - unhealthy food to deal with stress, while a third say they lose their appetite and start skipping meals. Sad…

It’s difficult to imagine a trader taking advantage if he or she did not truly experience themselves as worthy and efficacious.

A fascinating study tracked 7000 young people over a 25 year period to examine their success during the middle of their careers. The researchers found that young people who exhibited positive core self-evaluations earned significantly more than their lower self esteem counterparts. Family socioeconomic status and academic achievement were also positively correlated with career success decades later.

Perhaps the most striking finding was that self-evaluations facilitated success by enabling young people to take advantage of their socioeconomic and educational advantages. In this study, self-esteem was one element of core self-evaluations. Also included were self-efficacy (belief that one can achieve one’s goals); emotional stability; and locus of control (the degree to which one perceives an ability to control life outcomes).

The authors stress that we need certain advantages to achieve success (socioeconomic advantages, educational attainment), but that we also need to view ourselves in ways that enable us to make use of these advantages. Those with low core self-evaluations may avoid opportunities, simply because these could be threatening to their self-views. Perhaps this is why research finds that the four dimensions of core self-evaluations are highly correlated with job satisfaction and job performance. When we think we can make a difference, we are most likely to pour ourselves into our work and find it fulfilling.

The 9 Types of Bosses You’ll Encounter in Life

Boss #1 The Energizer Bunny   This unstoppable trooper keeps going and going and going, working late every night and getting in early the next day. Known to send work-related e-mails on weekends at 3 a.m. (marked URGENT), and always arriving at the office despite the snowstorm/transit strike/earthquake/appendix operation — whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, or New Year’s Eve.

How to handle: You can’t compete. Just keep a positive attitude and don’t feel obligated to work late nights, weekends, or holidays without overtime.

Boss #2 The Sponge  Not just open to a few good ideas — open to all ideas, so long as they’re new. Whatever the financial, managerial, or social trend, this boss has heard about it, thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread, and wants you to get on it right away.

How to handle: Treat the experience as a resume builder with each new cutting-edge application or technique (however short-lived) boosting your employability.

Boss #3  Attila the Hun   This boss appears to enjoy setting impossible goals, then publicly berating staff for not delivering. Not content with idle threats, this sadist loves to follow through, as if feeding on fear and cultivating it with a revolving door.

How to handle: These bosses typically have short corporate shelf lives. Stay under the radar and wait for the inevitable office coup.

Boss #4 The BFF   This boss, better known as everyone’s “best friend forever,” would have you forget all those silly job titles. Whatever your corporate rank, everyone’s equal and you’re all buddies in this boss’s workplace — whether it’s in the boardroom or a night on the town. Try to escape online, this boss will “friend” you.

How to handle: Friends or not, business isn’t always fun and games. The key here is to strike your own balance between professionalism and camaraderie.

Boss #5  The Flip Flopper  This boss gets weekly revelations about what’s going to save the company, changing directions so often no one pays attention anymore. Remember that top priority project launched last month? Well, forget about it. Like a duck hunter, this boss shots down anything as it takes flight, then scares up new game.

How to handle: Don’t put too much stock in any one project, but don’t dismiss it, either. Unlike the boss, you’re judged on execution, not results.

Boss # 6  The MIA   An absentee landlord, this boss cultivates a mythical status in the office that instills both fear and loathing among employees. In her absence, rumors fill the void: Is she lunching with Bill Gates? Skiing in Vale? Running a developing country? Who knows?

How to handle: Be a team player. Oddly, missing bosses can unintentionally cultivate tighter workplaces, as employees band together to get things done

Boss # 7 The Keeper of the Flame    Whatever the tangled course of world history, this boss stays true to the “original vision” of the company, which is continually resuscitated by quoting chapter and verse of some unwritten founding document ostensibly responsible for “leading the business to where it is today.”

How to handle: Endurance. This boss is irreplaceably loyal and likely to be around for a while.

Boss #8  Dr. Jekyl-Mr. Hyde   This boss will praise your hard work in an annual review and promise a year-end bonus, then flat-out deny having ever said anything of the sort — in fact, won’t even remember having met with you about this or any other employment related topic.

How to handle: Get everything in writing.

Boss # 9   The Cheerleader   You’re down seven runs in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, but the team’s doing just terrific far as this boss is concerned. Apparently, however gloomy the outlook, a positive attitude and enough team spirit will see the company through and land Christmas bonuses, a new dental plan, and free sodas in the vending machine. Go team! Go!

How to handle: It’s easy to feel good about work when you’re always pumped up on positive feedback. Just be sure to keep your feet on the ground with a reality check.

Money doesn’t trump independence. At least not for the majority of American entrepreneurs.

61% of the small-business owners surveyed said they would not give up the independence of running their own business to make more money working for someone else.

46% of entrepreneurs said they started their own business to have more freedom or more flexible work schedules.

19% of respondents admitted starting their own company to earn more.

About 7 of 10 business owners said they do not want to grow their businesses much larger.

Still, even though running your own business may mean working when you want and on your own terms, it also often means keeping longer hours than the average American, the survey found.

28% of business owners work at least six days a week

52% took off seven days or fewer for the year, compared with 36% of the overall population.

Futhermore, the poll found that only 36% of the small-business owners described a day off as “not working at all.”