1384_ 5/15/13 -
The 40th annual World Trade Day features technology from some of the world’s most innovative firms like Google, IBM, IHS Global, Microsoft, SAP, SDL, aWhere, and eCustoms. More than 400 expected participants will also have the opportunity to hear high-profile speakers—like Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide's Chief Information Officer Yuri Aguiar and Visa's Global Head of Network Processing Judson Reed—who work at the apex of international business and technology, as well as other Colorado-based thought leaders, like the professional hackers at One World Labs. International business experts from top global companies like Jeppesen, Arrow, MWH, and Hitachi will also be on hand to share how they're using new technology to better their sales and increase their profits. Thursday, May 16, 2013
RELATED LINKS:
World Trade Center - Denver, CO ||
Straight Talk about the Ups and Downs of the Coming Market 1378_ 4/24/13 -
At the 'Straight Talk' Luncheon Series, program last week, Chris Pelley, CEO & Managing Director of Capital Investment Management (CIMCO) introduced an old friend and today's keynote speaker, Mike Robertson, 'an experienced investment advisor'. Chris says, "Mike wants to share his wisdom and advice gathered over the years - he enjoys complex problem solving and helping people see there are better ways of doing things." Mike's radio show has been very successful in Texas for the past few years - they're now opening up in Denver, broadcasting weekdays from 7:00am to 8:00am on Denver radio, AM-1060 on your dial. Larry was really interested and surprised at some of the things Mike talked about that maybe coming up in this year and in the next few years... Robertson said, "Well, I'm really happy, like everyone, that we've done so well these last couple of years. You roll back the clock and talk to somebody about this time in 2009 - the market was just beginning to turn around. We'd gone through a devastating loss, the market was off by 57% and people were really depressed. Okay, it's recovered now. One of the things that's great about Americans is we wake up in the morning ready to conquer the world, but we also tend to forget history a little bit. So my concern now is that people are not preparing for the next time it's going to happen. I can't say when it's going to happen, the pull back in the market - There will be a pull back. How deep will it be? Who knows. Obviously we've done very well, we've come back a very long way. We have some systemic problems in the U.S. - We have way too much debt. We've got interest rates at zero, you have people that are investing in investments like stocks that have never been there before. There are people that literally used to invest in CDs that could get 7 - 8 - 10% on their CDs... they're actually going to invest in stocks now because that's the only place they can get in." The bond market? Your interest rates are practically zero - they peaked on September 30th of 1981 - interest rates have been dropping since that time. They've pretty well hit the floor now and there is really only one way to go now. They can stay where they are now, at zero. Or, they're going to go down in price as interest rates rise - at some point interest rates will rise... that's just the way it is, everything goes in cycles. The important thing to remember is to prepare for those cycles in advance. Mike's favorite quote, by John F. Kennedy, 'The best time to prepare the roof is when the sun is shining.' ...listen for more valuable information... Chris Pelly, Capital Investment Management, Securities offered through First Allied Securities, Inc. A Registered Broker/Dealer (Member FINRA/SiPC) Advisory services offered through First Allied Advisory Services Inc., A Registered Investment Advisor. Mike Robertson, Robertson Wealth Management, Securities offered through First Allied Securities, Inc. A Registered Broker/Dealer (Member FINRA/SiPC) Advisory services offered through First Allied Advisory Services Inc., A Registered Investment Advisor RELATED LINKS:
CIMCO ||
Community Reach ||
Social Entrepreneurs ||
Straight Talk Event Photos ||
KEYWORDS: Mike Robertson, Wealth Creation, Chris Pelley, Capital Investment Management, CIMCO, Straight Talk, Jeffrey Hartmann, CDs, Bonds, Interest Rates, John F. Kennedy, Ben Bernanke, Federal Debt,
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LISTEN TO: Mike Robertson, Robertson Wealth
Employees are being called upon to become caregivers 1379_ 4/23/13 -
One of the biggest challenges for companies today is that employees are increasingly being called upon to become caregivers for elderly and/or ill relatives. Almost 66 million Americans, or one in every four, is a caregiver and it is estimated that over 16 million people in the U.S. who serve as primary caregivers are also employed full time. The cost to their employers in terms of absenteeism, lost productivity and turnover is estimated at over $30 billion annually. We are speaking with Debby Henkens, director of business development for IngeniumCare, a health IT company that develops advanced technology solutions to help individuals with health concerns living at home or in facilities to be as safe and independent as possible. Many Americans with health issues, whether they are elderly, have a chronic illness, disability, or other condition, need help staying connected to their family and caregivers. The impact on businesses is likely to increase as several population and health trends converge. Every day, approximately 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65, with a total cohort of 75 million people. The incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease increases with age and as many as 50% of individuals over age 85 may develop the disease. People are living longer with more chronic illnesses and due to the healthcare funding crisis, there is more pressure to provide healthcare services in the home. All of this adds up to more employees being actively involved with care giving, which can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Long-distance care giving, a situation many adult children find themselves in, can be extremely stressful and take a great deal of time away from work. One of the biggest opportunities for companies today is to support their employees who are care givers so that they maintain their productivity, energy, and creativity. Companies that do this will build employee loyalty, reduce healthcare costs if they are self-insured, and attract talented new employees who appreciate these benefits...there is more great advice...
RELATED LINKS:
Ingeniumcare Info ||
TiE Rockies ||
Innovation Pavilion ||
Software Channel ||
KEYWORDS: Debby Henkens, IngeniumCare, Health IT Company, CareGivers, CareGo Connected Care, TiE Rockies, Innovation Pavilion, Software bytes=7022866
LISTEN TO: Debby Henkens, IngeniumCare
JumpStart 2013 Denver's economic development strategy continues 1376_ 4.17.13 -
There are more than 25,000 Denver businesses and enterprises, approximately 420 of which have more than 100 employees. However, the 420 firms with more than 100 employees represent nearly 50 percent of the total jobs in Denver. Compared to the U.S. economy, Denver has a significantly higher concentration of persons employed in the energy, healthcare, information technology, finance and professional/business services fields. These firms generally produce high-value products and services. Employees of these firms tend to receive higher wages and are required to hold advanced educational training. Top concerns of Denver’s employers include a strong educated workforce, safe and energetic business areas, and reasonable operating costs as compared to other parts of the state and country. In 2013, OED will continue to focus on retaining three groups of businesses: (1) the largest private and nonprofit employers; (2) high-growth sector companies; and (3) firms with soon-to-be expiring leases. A continuous outreach campaign to owners and C-level executives will demonstrate the city’s commitment to the business community while identifying issues and highlighting the benefits of operating a company in Denver. We are setting focus on the best strategies to advance economic prosperity for the city, its neighborhoods, residents and businesses. The 2013 JumpStart strategy provides a clear signal to the community as to how we are working to build a stronger Denver, with jobs and housing opportunities for all. And, JumpStart 2013 is a road map for our staff — it drives the work plans and priorities for all OED staff divisions. Because economic development is a continuous, multi-year task, this year’s strategic plan also includes a separate longer-term plan that sets forth our strategic direction for the next three years. You’ll see that our 2013 initiatives relate directly to this broader three-year plan. Similarly, our future annual plans will also support the long-term strategy. JumpStart 2013 clearly builds upon our successes from last year. We again have seven main sections, or what I refer to as “pillars” of economic development. Each of our pillars for 2013 includes a series of bold, forward-thinking strategic initiatives to help us accomplish our important mission. The OED will continue to engage in partnerships with business industry groups, including better support for renewable and traditional energy companies located in downtown Denver. This heightened focus will result in more business leaders choosing to live, work, play and stay in Denver.
RELATED LINKS:
Denver OED ||
JumpStart 2013 Denver ||
Greenprint Denver ||
Entrepreneurs ||
KEYWORDS: Paul Washington, Denver, Office of Economic Development, Jump Start 2012, Business Retention, Small Business Advocacy, Business Recruitment, Sustainable Neighborhood Development, Business Lending, Workforce Development, Key Strategic Projects, bytes=6260927
LISTEN TO: Paul Washington, Executive Director, OED, City & County Denver
Enlightened Empowerment, a term Fitzgerald got from a favorite client 1370_ 4/12/13 - Laurie Fitzgerald, PhD and senior practitioner for The Consultancy, Inc. has been providing guidance for business leaders in their efforts to navigate the hyper competitive and increasingly turbulent market place. Larry asked, "Although you have a long list of American organizations, I've noticed that it's been almost a decade since you've worked with U.S. clients. Where have you been and what have you been up to in the interim?"
Well, Fitzgerald's been out of the country. A number of years ago she published some articles on the Transformation of Dynamical Complex Systems, [that's organizations]. That captured the attention of business executives in Australia, India, South Africa and also in Europe. When Laurie was invited to join them in implementing and facilitating a change process within their organizations, she leaped at the opportunity.
Laurie's background is in the social sciences. In particular sociology and psychology. That's her life's work, getting into the minds of people and the minds of organizations, and organizations do have minds. And helping them to change the way they think and the way that they see the world.
Enlightened Empowerment? A term Fitzgerald got from one of her favorite clients, the Marel Company. they are a combined Dutch and Icelandic firm that is the world's largest producer of poultry, meat and fish processing equipment, their machines are located all over the world. In 1999, Laurie met Theo Hoen, CEO of that company. He had been working for a long time trying to bring about profound change in the company by the old outside-in approach. When we talked about inside-out transformation, he jumped on the bandwagon. He said," this is the way we're going to have to do it. What I want to do is to enlighten empowerment." Which means he wanted everyone in the company to be empowered to make decisions, to take action within the company. In order to do that he knew they needed to be enlightened. Their minds needed to be evolved to a higher level so they could see the organization as a whole. And that would be everyone, secretaries as well as managers and executives.
Larry said, "You deal with organizations worldwide, and I hope you'll be doing more in the U.S. What do you think are the biggest business challenges today?" The biggest business challenge in Laurie's mind is the fact that organizations are built on the hierarchical model. In that model, as you rise through the hierarchy you are vested with power. The problem comes when a person who is not enlightened, who does not look at things as whole but only looks from their own perspective, is given power. And as Lord Acton, a famous British historian said, "Power corrupts!". That is true and in order to avoid that problem...
RELATED LINKS:
Lessons from Jurassic Park ||
Economy Builders ||
Mastering Change ||
Blog || KEYWORDS: Enlightened Empowerment, Laurie Fitzgerald, The Consultancy, Guidance for Business Leaders, Global, Turbulent Market Place, Inside-Out Transformation, bytes=6744088
LISTEN TO: Laurie Fitzgerald, PhD, Senior Practitioner, The Consultancy, Inc.
Autism incidence increasing, you can make a difference 1375_ 4/11/13 -
A few weeks ago Kevin Custer spoke to us about his work with the Colorado Autism Society and their new CEO, James Buckles. This is a topic we need to be much more aware of. When we refer to autism, we refer to it as Autism Spectrum Disorder, because there is a wide range of developmental disabilities that cause impairment in the areas of social interaction and communication and behavior. So for that reason we may have somebody that is very high functioning and capable of doing really incredible things and maybe socially awkward - but you may have someone on the spectrum that is non-verbal and can't really communicate. So you have those two variations and everything between. It really is very challenging to understand autism.
The autism rates have gone up. The CDC says it basically comes down to two things. We have a better educated, better informed population of medical providers, doctors, people who know and can recognize it. The other is there is just more autism - the incidence rate has increased. Autism is one of the few disorders that is not race specific, it has nothing to do with geography. The only unique element of autism is that it is four times more likely to occur in boys than girls. The incidence rates are the same in the U.S. as they are in all countries, developed and undeveloped.
Kevin said, "For businesses wanting to get involved and support, the website, AutismColorado.org is the place to start. The biggest thing we see is to train your employees to understand what's going on. If you have more than seven employees, one of them has a family member with autism. If that is the case, you're going to want to understand how you can better support that employee. With our Autism 101 program, we'll come into your business and explain about it. Then contacting James to figure out how we can help your business give support back to the community as far as being an autism friendly business."
The ASC has a 'Walk' coming up June 9th, and James said, "We'd love companies to think about getting involved in the Walk Program. What we find is once their employees get involved, they'll come forward and be excited about this opportunity, create a team around supporting the disorder of autism. It's just a valuable way for a company to give back and at the same time will see benefits from being involved." Listen for more information....
RELATED LINKS:
Autism Society of Colorado ||
Walk ||
ASC Programs ||
Donate ||
Arc Capital Development ||
KEYWORDS: Walk for Autism, Kevin Custer, James Buckles, Autism Society of Colorado, autism spectrum disorder, autism friendly business. sensory friendly films, CDC, Beau Jo's, autism friendly environment, bytes=7426615
LISTEN TO: Kevin Custer & James Buckles, CEO, Autism Society of Colorado
Developing Colorado's Science and Technology Leaders of Tomorrow1372_ 4/9/13
Watch this short but important video. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter. FIRST was founded on partnerships with businesses, educational institutions and government. Many Fortune 500 companies provide funding, in-kind donations and volunteers to support the program. The key to FIRST's success is the work of thousands of volunteer mentors, professional engineers, teachers, and other adults working with youth across the country. In addition to the volunteer team mentors, FIRST competitions and other events were organized and staffed by over 5000 event and committee volunteers. FIRST programs are growing rapidly in the United States and Canada, and demand is accelerating in other countries...VIDEO to watch...
RELATED LINKS:
Colorado FIRST Home ||
FIRST Impact ||
ColoradoFIRST Robotics Competition Photos 2013 ||
Channel: University of Denver on w3w3.com ||
PodCast Directory ||
KEYWORDS: Colorado FIRST, Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,
Student Competition, Volunteers, Mentors
Michael Hamers, logo design, branding, excellence 1370_ 4/8/13 -
We're talking with Michael Hamers, a long time associate in the Colorado business community and founder of Lightspeed Design & Branding Group. Larry asked, "How did you get your start?" Mike replied, "I Went to commercial arts school and was hired by Harley Davidson based on the strength of my line art. They taught me how to read blueprints. I spent many years as a technical illustrator doing cutaways and exploded views of engines and transmissions. When I moved to Colorado I went to work at Ball Aerospace and moved up to laser communication devices and infrared telescopes and the space station. After working there for about six years, I started my own company, LightSpeed Commercial Arts." Larry said, "It's an interesting name why did you pick that name and what was your business like back then?" Besides thinking it was a cool name, Mike said, "people kept telling me how fast I was compared to the other illustrators and designers working whatever projects I was working on. Back then I was still primarily an illustrator doing work for Xerox, Metronics, working on cold laser and heart catheters, a lot of technical manuals for Mobil Oil, their emergency management plan - how to deal with a terrorist attack or helicopter safety... so very technical back then." Larry asked, "When did you start creating logos and branding?" Mike replied, "Pretty much from the start. My first logo was for a company Calling All Cars, some of the first cell phones for the car - it was about the size of a shoe, had a little antenna on the back window." Then Mike did a logo for Larry - the Institute for Change Research and Mike received his first 'award for excellence', he's been hooked ever since. "What do like most about logo design and branding?" "I just love the story telling aspect. I just love bridging the company name and tag line and the mark [the logo] into a homogenous whole - giving it a stable base. People love stories. So if you're able to get the branding story out, you're more apt to be remembered." So Mike really enjoys helping to do the telling and the selling of the branding message for these companies. Mike also produces a wonderful newsletter - extremely informational, easy to read and it can help you to build your business - the name of it is 'Good Design is Good Business: The business builder update'. Mike said, "It's just a great way for me to express myself, share my opinions about design and marketing." Topics covered in Mike's newsletter to this point, and available on his website newsletter archives are ...listen for more great ideas...
RELATED LINKS:
Lightspeed ||
Economy Builders ||
Mastering Change ||
Institute for Change Research ||
KEYWORDS: Michael Hamers, Branding, Design, Commercial Arts, Logos, 'Good Design is
Good Business, Harley Davidson, Ball Aerospace, Xerox, Metronics, Calling All Cars, Institute for Change Research, bytes=6461965
LISTEN TO: Michael Hamers, Lightspeed Design & Branding Group
CTA represents Colorado’s technology industry, one of the fastest growing segments of Colorado’s economy. Their focus on advancing the industry, to be a globally competitive nucleus for innovation, technology and economic growth -
to foster growth and opportunity for the technology industry, encompassing technology organizations and professionals in Colorado. PHOTO Event:
March 21, 2013 C-Level @ A Mile High 2013, to Meet CIO's; Learn what they need; Share your solution, the potential is endless... RELATED LINKS: C-Level Home || C-Level Agenda || Software Channel || Colorado Technology Association || Check out these photos || KEYWORDS: CTA, Colorado Technology Assoc., CIO, C-Level @ A Mile High, Steve Foster,
auction, Go To: Photo Album for C-Level @ A Mile High 2013
Kourtney Nelson - Alandi Ayurveda, solutions to healthcare crisis 1366_ 3/21/13 -
We've been discussing some of the issues with our healthcare system, one of which is the shortage of doctors, and ballooning healthcare costs. We are talking with Kourtney Nelson, Dean of Alandi Ayurveda, a school in Boulder. In a brief overview Kourtney tells us, Ayurveda, "is a holistic medicine developed in India 5000 years ago. It's a full medical practice. Ayurveda looks at the root cause of disease and imbalance in the body instead of just treating conditions. That's a different mind-set. Western medicine doesn't look at a disease until it's in a pathological state. Holistic medicine looks at it as you're coming out of balance, several stages before it comes into a pathological range. So we're looking for optimal wellness - vs. being below a pathological marker. We'll interpret blood tests differently and catch things at an earlier stage and help to work on them - or help to reverse or minimize the damage of a chronic condition. Alandi Ayurveda is the first school in the U.S. that offers a four year advanced level training. Once the national standards have been established for practice level and the national exams for practitioners ar established, the graduates of our program will qualify to be Ayurvedic Doctors - so they'll be the first Ayurvedic Doctors in the U.S. that have been trained here. It is really exciting, to be able to build our school and to increase the number of well trained Ayurvedic physicians out there. That way we can also expand our offering such as clinic in the community and some of the modalities. Currently we do have a clinic at our school and we offer a sliding scale. So we're able to see lots of different people from all ends of the economic spectrum - which is one way we can give back to the community. We'd like to expand that and give more and also be able to provide other classes to the community like cooking classes, simple kitchen herbs and other things people can use to take care of their health. Kourtney believes that western / allopathic medicine and alternative medicine, such as Ayurveda work well together and believes this will be the future of medicine for our country. It's a matter of having a bigger tool box and knowing when you need the hammer or the chisel - they both operate very differently. Having more access and more well trained Ayurvedic physicians, and other modalities, providing more preventative care options, will help decrease the shortage of doctors we're seeing now and also decrease the national cost of healthcare. The Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula is raising money to expand the school, looking for a new location and to establish a larger presence in the community.
RELATED LINKS:
Alandi Ayurveda ||
Donate ||
Course Descriptions ||
PodCast Directory ||
KEYWORDS: Kourtney Nelson, Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Medicine, Doctors, Physicians, Practitioners, Holistic Medicine, India, Allopathic Medicine, Boulder, Doctors, Physicians, Practitioners, Healthcare, Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula, bytes=11796984
LISTEN TO: Kourtney Nelson, Dean, Alandi Ayurveda
