Useful to read

Today some of our main issues are Energy, Health and Economy. Lot of people has different great ideas to improve in each area.   Like using solar and wind for energy. Exercise more to drive down the health care cost and it helps building stronger and better economy.  Some innovative green ideas or inventions are given below 1. Hotel offers free meal to guests who are willing to generate electricity The Crown Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, is offering a free meal to any guest who is able to produce electricity for the hotel on an exercise bike attached to a generator. Guests will have to produce at least 10 watt hours of electricity - roughly 15 minutes of cycling for someone of average fitness. They will then be given meal vouchers worth $36 (26 euros).  2. Disco pub gets electricity produced by people dancing at specially modified dance floor All the flashing strobes and pounding speakers at the dance club are massive consumers of electrical power. So Bar Surya, in Londo...

Editor's note: These remarks are from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos commencement speech to Princeton's Class of 2010, delivered on May 30, 2010.  As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas. I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially "Days of our Lives." My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, we'd join the caravan. We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I...

Feedback is a gift - when done properly.  The very word strikes fear into the hearts of millions of workers every day, because the only time they get feedback is when it is rolled by a manager who wants to criticise - yet put a bit of positive spin on it. Ever been there? I know I have and it sets off that internal groan, because you know just what's coming. Feedback is a gift - remember that at the start of this piece?  It can be a gift where used constructively, consistently and with goodwill. It is available to all of us, all the time, whether we are a manager or an employee with a manager.  It is available two-way and when used that way is a valuable tool for developing everyone in your organisation, department or team, however big you are, however small. In fact personal self-feedback can be the 'holy grail' of development, where we get to be thoroughly honest with ourselves about how we are doing (and accepting self-praise when it goes well). Back to others - how ...

A Japanese soap factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the soap inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Customers who come all the way to the supermarket would end up buying someone else’s product. Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the soap factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality ...

There are many companies / brands / products whose names were derived from strange circumstances. Mercedes This was actually the financier, Emil Jellinek's daughter’s name. The Spanish name Mercedes means "mercy". Adobe This came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock. Apple Computers The first slogan of this company was "Bite into an Apple", while its more famous slogan is "Think Different". Probably thinking differently, the founder, Steve Jobs, named this company "Apple Computers" while he was driving along with Steve Wozniak between Palo Alto and Los Altos. Jobs and his friends used to work on a community farm cultivating apples while he was working in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Jobs was three months late in filing a name for the...

Robin's new book "The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable On Real Success in Business and Life" will be published by Simon and Schuster in March. Many of the ideas below come from it. Remember that leadership isn't about your position. It's about your influence. Get fit like a pro athlete. Lift people up versus tearing people down. Protect your good name. An impeccable reputation takes a lifetime to build. And 60 seconds to lose. Surround yourself with positive, ethical people who are committed to excellence. Remember that even a 1% daily innovation rate amounts to at least a 100% rate of innovation in 100 days. Believe in your dreams (even when others laugh at them). Measure your success, not by your net worth but by your self worth (and how happy you feel). Take an intelligent risk every 24 hours. No try-No Win. Watch "Man on Wire". Regardless of your title at work, be a team builder. Remember that busines...

Find out what does your birthday say about you.. Just add the digits in your birthday (only the day) and find out what the numbers say about you. Number 1 You are smart, a straight talker, funny, stubborn, hardworking, honest, jealous on a competitive basis, kind hearted, temperamental, friendly, and popular. You always want to be on the top and most likely to be independent. You are most likely to fall in love at a young age, but will marry once you mature. You are likely to have problems with people who have opposite views and you are most likely to take revenge over your enemies on a long time basis. You are a spender, but you will have a good profession in the future. If you are guy you will be very popular. You can go anywhere from the local shop to the heart of the parliament because you are positive and talented in numerous areas. But in your life you will always have some people who will work hard to bring you & your name down. Because of your intelligence, some might h...