The times they are a changin' - YouTube

There are two types of bosses: the one that changes as a continuous learning experience and understands the motivation of the others, those who do not (yet).

And in these two basic attitudes one can also reflect the success with their employees. It can be simplified to identify the following two types of managers:

• Those who accept change as something continuous vs. those who see it as a one-time task.
• Those who see their success as something temporary vs. those who strive constantly to maintain it.
• Those who believe that anything is possible vs. those who think their future depends on the past.
• Those who allow change vs. those who hide behind operating procedures, to keep everyone under control.
• Those who see life as a permanent and lasting learning experience vs.. those who think they have reached their "target" and will no longer move.
• Those who keep their teams alive and alert to changes vs. those who allow their teams to "doze off".
• Those who view change as an impetus for dialogue, and a potential insight to see improvement vs. those who see change and dialogue as intrusive, annoying and /or bothersome.
• Those who radiate energy and personal motivation vs. those that show fatigue and negative emotions.
• Those who think they can gain something vs. those who are afraid of losing something.

Ten Myths About Social Networking For Business - Forbes

Here is a short guide to social networking misconceptions. Each is accompanied by a tangible action plan that you can take right now.

Myth 1: Everybody is on social media.

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Why it’s perpetuated: Experts will show you pretty statistics on how more than 80% of people heard of a product through social media. This is a scare tactic to get you to hire them. The truth is social media is not on every one’s radar–not yet, anyway.

Action plan: Even if your target demographic is not on social media, you can harness the power of the Web by making it easier for search engines like Google to find your website (known by geeks in the trade as “search engine optimization”). Remember that this approach takes some time to gain momentum.

First step: Pepper your website with well-trafficked key words. How to pick them? Go to the Google Keyword Tool and enter about 20 or more generic terms that relate or describe your product or service; look for relevant terms that get several thousand monthly queries but it’s not enough to find popular key words.

You have to find ones where your site can compete–that means finding words that, if typed into Google, will spit out a page of results where your site ranks nice and high.

The key to ranking high on a search results page is to have as many high-quality sites as possible pointing links to your site (this goes for articles, information graphics and other forms of content, too).

A high quality website is chocked with content and follows Google’s Quality Guidelines. How many high-quality links do you have to attract? There’s an easy way to get a feel for that number.

For each key word, copy web addresses of the top sites that pop up in Google when you search on those key words. Then paste each of those web addresses into www.MajesticSEO.com and click “Explore.” Instantly you will see how many other sites are pointing to each particular web site.

If the first 10 addresses you chose are each attracting tens of thousands of links, it’s probably not worth your time to try to compete on that particular key word to get quick exposure on search engines.

However, if the third or fourth site down from the top of the search results page is only attracting a few hundred links, you just might be able to hoist yourself onto that top search page in a few months or less with some concerted effort.

How to increase the number of links to your site quickly? Start by courting relevant bloggers. Find the most active scribes by searching relevant keywords on Google Blogsearch.

Send each blogger a short, not-too-sanctimonious email saying you’re a fan of their work, and that you might have some content you think their readers would really enjoy; include a link to your site in the message.

Interested bloggers will refer to your link in their articles, making it more popular in the eyes of the search engines.

The adaptive management style

Generally, from the outset of a project, it’s a good idea to approach it's management from an enlightened perspective, even if your natural tendency is towards a more agressive approach.

Give the people you’re working with some credit and believe that they genuinely want to do a good job. When things go wrong, listen to what they are saying and examine all the factors. Take the appropriate actions with a positive attitude and an encouraging tone.

You must nurture your people but you don’t have to baby them. You do have to remember that they are thinking and co-operative human beings that deserve the respect of being treated as such.

If problems persist and you feel that work is actively being avoided or approached halfheartedly, then it may be time to adopt a more assertive approach.

However, this does not mean resorting to belittling comments and ad hominem attacks! It simply means that you shouldn’t live in denial of ineffective workers and must take steps to either push them into action or replace them.

There are many people that may respond much better to a direct and assertive management approach. Sometimes a considerate, forgiving boss simply isn’t respected in lieu of a strong and powerful leader.

The key to good management is being able to effectively take on either style when a situation calls for it. The adaptive manager will always be more effective than the fixed approach adopted by both the stern and understanding managers.

Awesomely Simply: Video overview of six core principles of good management

10 Minutes of good Sense! Thanks to John Spence, John Cunnigham, Polar Unlimited and Guy Kawasaki