Church

Differences Between Black and White Christianity/Church Martin Luther King Jr. was once quoted to say, â€Å"Sunday is the most segregated day in America†. When I was thinking about this statement , I was disturbed to discover a truth that is very real. I will not pretend to know a lot about the religions of other cultures. All that I know comes from the text readings that we’ve had is class. My experiences in a formal church setting come only from services I’ve regularly attended at an ELCA Lutheran church and a Presbyterian church. Both congregations are made entirely of white families. In fact, I only saw one black person enter the doors of the Lutheran church (to witness a friend’s baptism) in 10 years of attendance, and never at the Presbyterian church. So when I talk about the white church, I have only those experiences to draw from. I’ve been to one â€Å"black church† in my life. During a Sunday School class in high school we organized a trip to a Baptist church a couple blocks away. When we got there, the pastor of the church greeted us warmly as we had called ahead of time to let him know we were going to be joining them. He lead us to some seats close to the front of the church, giving us a good view of the things we didn’t get to experience in our rigid, elderly, white congregation. Music was played almost constantly, the sermon was lively, and the people were acting happy to be there. By the way, the four members of my class were the only white faces in the crowd. An easy thing to do is to draw a stereotype about a certain culture. Everytime we watch TV or a movie, there is some sort of stereoype occuring.. Currently on the radio, I would hazard to guess that half the songs are in hip-hop style. The lyrics of these few songs often lead to negative stereotypes of blacks. (â€Å"It’s getting hot in here...so take of all your clothes.†- Nelly, a black male.) I also would... Church Free Essays on Differences Betweeand Black and White Christianity/Church Differences Between Black and White Christianity/Church Martin Luther King Jr. was once quoted to say, â€Å"Sunday is the most segregated day in America†. When I was thinking about this statement , I was disturbed to discover a truth that is very real. I will not pretend to know a lot about the religions of other cultures. All that I know comes from the text readings that we’ve had is class. My experiences in a formal church setting come only from services I’ve regularly attended at an ELCA Lutheran church and a Presbyterian church. Both congregations are made entirely of white families. In fact, I only saw one black person enter the doors of the Lutheran church (to witness a friend’s baptism) in 10 years of attendance, and never at the Presbyterian church. So when I talk about the white church, I have only those experiences to draw from. I’ve been to one â€Å"black church† in my life. During a Sunday School class in high school we organized a trip to a Baptist church a couple blocks away. When we got there, the pastor of the church greeted us warmly as we had called ahead of time to let him know we were going to be joining them. He lead us to some seats close to the front of the church, giving us a good view of the things we didn’t get to experience in our rigid, elderly, white congregation. Music was played almost constantly, the sermon was lively, and the people were acting happy to be there. By the way, the four members of my class were the only white faces in the crowd. An easy thing to do is to draw a stereotype about a certain culture. Everytime we watch TV or a movie, there is some sort of stereoype occuring.. Currently on the radio, I would hazard to guess that half the songs are in hip-hop style. The lyrics of these few songs often lead to negative stereotypes of blacks. (â€Å"It’s getting hot in here...so take of all your clothes.†- Nelly, a black male.) I also would...

How To Plan A Blog Schedule That Will Crush Your Goals

How To Plan A Blog Schedule That Will Crush Your Goals So you know how to write awesome blog posts. And you know how to increase your blog traffic. The next step, then, is to  define a blog schedule that will help you publish  those awesome blog posts super consistently to increase your: Social media shares Social media subscribers Traffic Newsletter subscribers Customer conversions And all that, done in a way that helps you reach your goals. No sweat, right? How To Plan A Blog Schedule That Will Crush Your GoalsHere's exactly how you can do all of that with a blog schedule that really works: Begin By Defining  Your Blogging Goals Chances are, you're looking to create a blog schedule because you've heard publishing consistent content can help you grow your blog. It's true! Actually, folks who publish consistent content get as much as 30% more traffic for every post they publish, all while saving about an hour per post. And not only that, it makes your life a whole lot easier to look at a calendar full of blog post ideas instead of a blank slate and wondering, "What am I going to write today?" But- defining your blog schedule or even planning to publish more content isn't  your goal. Start first with a few measurements that'll help you focus your efforts on the right kinds of growth for your blog: Social media shares, social media subscribers, traffic, newsletter subscribers, and customer conversions are great goals to start with. Before  you even think about your optimal blog schedule, where would you like these numbers to be? I've seen first hand how social media shares influence all of these metrics in this order to grow customer conversions. 63% of 's blog traffic comes from social media, so you can see how all of these metrics are super important to us. These are good goals to have for your blog: ...Essentially, think of 10x growth. This mindset is what drives every decision we make at on how we use our time, and it's a good model for you, too! When you add something to your plate, ask yourself, "Will this help us drive 10x growth, or is this just a nice-to-have?" Takeaways: At this point, define goals for each of these metrics using the formula: social media shares, social media subscribers, traffic, newsletter subscribers, and customer conversions. If other measurements are more important to you, apply the formula to those to define your goals. It's possible that you're not looking for 10x growth for a certain goal (and maybe that is unachievable for certain measurements). Determine a figure for every goal that you will measure- just make sure there is really a number to which you will compare your results to understand how you're making an impact. Train Your Blogging Goals to Be... Well... SMART. Great goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and  time sensitive. You just figured out exactly what you'll measure, so at this point, just define your goals a bit further with a format like this: And you can do your own with a structure like this: Know How You Will Really Meet  Your Blog Schedule Chances are, you're one of the 70% of B2B marketers who plan to create more content this year. So, before you just jump in, let's get your resources figured out to make executing your blog schedule that much easier once you get going. 1. Roles You'll Need to Write Your Blog Posts: For blogging, there are only a handful roles  you need to fill: Writing Designing Publishing Promoting Recommended Reading: How to Set SMART Marketing Goals 2. People You'll Need to Fill Your Roles: That said, you  could probably get started with as few as  3 people: Author who writes the post. Designer who designs inline graphics. Editor who publishes and promotes the post. You only need three people to publish awesome content. #blogging3. Tools Your Team Will Need to Complete Their Roles: The second part of knowing your resources involves understanding what tools you'll use to create and manage your posts. For the minimum viable post that only includes text, graphics, and promotion, you may look at tools like: WordPress for the author to write the post. Photoshop  for the designer to design the post (or even a few free tools to design it yourself for you solo content creators out there). If you're low on budget but need a full-powered solution, GIMP is a free alternative  comparable to Photoshop. for the editor to manage the entire content creation process with  your author and designer, while publishing and promoting the post. Recommended Reading: How to Structure Your Content Marketing Team to Create Your Best Content 4. Time Commitment to Create Your Blog Posts: And the last part is understanding how much time each of these things takes to do. That will help you plan backward based on the amount of effort needed for your blog posts. Here are a few things to look into for that: Understand how long your average posts will be. That will  give you some indication for a time commitment from your author (maybe multiple). For example,  writing a 1,500-word post for the blog takes me about 4–5 hours with research, ideation, and actual writing. Estimate  how many graphics you'll include with every post. This may vary, but your designer  can probably estimate how much time she needs for every post, which will help her understand her commitment to the process. Know  exactly how you will promote your content so your editor can estimate his time commitment for social sharing, repurposing, syndication, and any other content distribution you're planning. Find your  people, tools, and time to know exactly how you'll execute your blog schedule.This knowledge will help you plan ahead far enough with your blog schedule to help your entire team have the time they need to create awesome content. It'll help you avoid rushing folks who actually may need a bit more time, while also helping everyone on the team understand when they should start executing their responsibilities. Takeaways: Figure out the names of everyone who will help you out. Meet with  those folks and their managers to agree on their time commitments and responsibilities. Know exactly what tools you need to be successful. Then get those tools in working order. Define a  task-based workflow  that will help your team complete their responsibilities on time once you get started with your blog schedule. Plan Your Blog Schedule Um, finally?! You could skip here, but if you don't know the goals you're trying to reach, and you have no one and no tools to help you get here, it's a little tricky to plan  your blog schedule! 1. Understand Your Optimal Publishing Frequency (What You'd Like  To Do) It's always helpful to understand your dream before you get started: How many posts would you like to publish every week? How about every month? That visualization is a great place to start just so you know how you'll ramp up your efforts. It's easy for the team to see  how much content you'd like to publish down the road. But for now- start with a minimal posting frequency to build your momentum. 2. Start Slow I've heard of folks starting their blog and publishing tons of content right off the bat: @njellering actually I did it the opposite way, started blogging more 3/4 per week and now working more on seo and distribution #cochat Cristina Hontanilla (@CHontanilla) May 7, 2015 What I fear for newbies starting that way, especially when working with a team new to blogging, is that there is tons of room for burnout by publishing too much content too quickly.  Instead, in the first months especially, focus on publishing enough content to work through the awkward newness of blogging, without overwhelming your team. Give your team time after every post in your first two months to walk through what went well, what you should do differently next time, and what you should stop doing entirely. After that, you could shift those meetings to once a month. Here's what a beginner's first six months' blog schedule could look like: At this point, you've worked though a ton of content with your team, and it's a good chance to measure your results to improve your content. 3. Measure the Success of Your First Posts You Published You know your goals. Quickly review how an average post contributes to your goals. Now that you've worked up a consistent blog schedule, that's as easy as looking at a week's (or possibly a month's) worth of measurements for your content and averaging the numbers. Plan time to measure the success of your posts. Use that knowledge to make quick improvements.Fill in the entire team on how you're doing. That way, everyone can figure out ways to improve their areas of responsibilities that will improve all of the content you publish (which  will also help you reach your goals). Recommended Reading: How to Make 2017 Super Organized With an Easy Content Calendar Template 4.  Calculate a Publishing Frequency to Reach Your Goals From the previous step, you've figured out how an average post contributes to your goals to increase: Social media shares Social media subscribers Traffic Newsletter subscribers Customer conversions From here, use those figures to determine the amount of posts you'd need to publish in your blog schedule to reach your goals: 5. Is that Publishing Frequency Achievable? When you use this algorithm, some goals may require a lot more content than others. That's fine. It's just a tool to help you gauge how much content to publish to reach your goals. And keep in mind, this is only accurate if your posts don't get more traction, which they all certainly will as you increase your publishing frequency and  maintain consistency. A consistent blog schedule will help you grow your audience and get better  results from every post.Now it's time to take a hard look at your goals, the resources you have available to you to create content (specifically, the time involved from everyone on the team dedicated to creating your awesome content), and determine a super achievable publishing frequency. Here's what to look for: How much time does it take to write, design, publish, and promote a single  post? Is it possible for your team to scale to a happy medium amount of content publishing that either hits your goals or is really close? What could you quit doing to dedicate more time to creating awesome content? What improvements could you make in your content creation process to spend less time developing your  content? Finding efficiencies to publish content quicker will  help you scale- but be wary of the boogeyman saying, "Don't sacrifice quality for quantity." Don't sacrifice quality for quantity.6. Plan Content Improvements to Increase Success of Every Post Chances are, you're able to publish a decent amount of content that helps you nearly hit your goals. From here, some of the best ways to reach your goals are to improve every piece of content you publish. That way, every post delivers more results to your goals, which means you can get more results by publishing less content. Considering our major goals, here are a few quick wins to increase your efficiency with each: Social media shares. Write social media friendly content to help people want to share your content. Use social media buttons in your content in the best places to help people share your content. Plan a social media editorial calendar to boost your shares of your content to quadruple your traffic. Social media subscribers. Curate content to share with your subscribers to bring them the best of the best from your niche. Encourage readers to subscribe to your social accounts to get the latest and greatest from your blog. Include a way for readers to follow you when they sign up for emails (an easy automatic opt-in in their settings works well). Traffic. Publish really useful, helpful, educational, or entertaining content worthy of sharing. Optimize your posts for search engines to get long-term traffic. Share your content on social media more than once. Newsletter subscribers. Build an email list and community around your content. Be clear and honest with your opt-ins by telling your subscribers exactly what they'll get. Trade free content for email addresses. Customer conversions. Map out your customers' journey from a newbie to a veteran, and write content for all stages of the marketing funnel. Test different email  templates, subject lines, and more while including calls to action to convert. Ask readers to purchase what you're selling. You're providing helpful content with the goal to convert readers into buyers, so include calls to action in appropriate places throughout your content (without being overwhelmingly salesy). Recommended Reading: This is the Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts 7. Publish Your Optimal Blog Schedule For example, if you decide to boost your blog schedule to publish two posts a week, here is a game plan to increase your blog schedule publishing for your next 6 months: Note that the first two months involve finding the best times to publish your blog posts. That's something you'll do no matter if you're looking to publish two posts a week or more. Use  a content marketing editorial calendar template to map out your publishing frequency like this example. 8. Iterate and Try New Things This is the fun part: Execute your plan. You just planned  out an entire year blog schedule for your content! Measure your goals, improve your content, and repeat, repeat, repeat. Congrats on setting up your annual blog schedule! How To Plan A Blog Schedule That Will Crush Your Goals So you know how to write awesome blog posts. And you know how to increase your blog traffic. The next step, then, is to  define a blog schedule that will help you publish  those awesome blog posts super consistently to increase your: Social media shares Social media subscribers Traffic Newsletter subscribers Customer conversions And all that, done in a way that helps you reach your goals. No sweat, right? How To Plan A Blog Schedule That Will Crush Your GoalsHere's exactly how you can do all of that with a blog schedule that really works: Begin By Defining  Your Blogging Goals Chances are, you're looking to create a blog schedule because you've heard publishing consistent content can help you grow your blog. It's true! Actually, folks who publish consistent content get as much as 30% more traffic for every post they publish, all while saving about an hour per post. And not only that, it makes your life a whole lot easier to look at a calendar full of blog post ideas instead of a blank slate and wondering, "What am I going to write today?" But- defining your blog schedule or even planning to publish more content isn't  your goal. Start first with a few measurements that'll help you focus your efforts on the right kinds of growth for your blog: Social media shares, social media subscribers, traffic, newsletter subscribers, and customer conversions are great goals to start with. Before  you even think about your optimal blog schedule, where would you like these numbers to be? I've seen first hand how social media shares influence all of these metrics in this order to grow customer conversions. 63% of 's blog traffic comes from social media, so you can see how all of these metrics are super important to us. These are good goals to have for your blog: ...Essentially, think of 10x growth. This mindset is what drives every decision we make at on how we use our time, and it's a good model for you, too! When you add something to your plate, ask yourself, "Will this help us drive 10x growth, or is this just a nice-to-have?" Takeaways: At this point, define goals for each of these metrics using the formula: social media shares, social media subscribers, traffic, newsletter subscribers, and customer conversions. If other measurements are more important to you, apply the formula to those to define your goals. It's possible that you're not looking for 10x growth for a certain goal (and maybe that is unachievable for certain measurements). Determine a figure for every goal that you will measure- just make sure there is really a number to which you will compare your results to understand how you're making an impact. Train Your Blogging Goals to Be... Well... SMART. Great goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and  time sensitive. You just figured out exactly what you'll measure, so at this point, just define your goals a bit further with a format like this: And you can do your own with a structure like this: Know How You Will Really Meet  Your Blog Schedule Chances are, you're one of the 70% of B2B marketers who plan to create more content this year. So, before you just jump in, let's get your resources figured out to make executing your blog schedule that much easier once you get going. 1. Roles You'll Need to Write Your Blog Posts: For blogging, there are only a handful roles  you need to fill: Writing Designing Publishing Promoting Recommended Reading: How to Set SMART Marketing Goals 2. People You'll Need to Fill Your Roles: That said, you  could probably get started with as few as  3 people: Author who writes the post. Designer who designs inline graphics. Editor who publishes and promotes the post. You only need three people to publish awesome content. #blogging3. Tools Your Team Will Need to Complete Their Roles: The second part of knowing your resources involves understanding what tools you'll use to create and manage your posts. For the minimum viable post that only includes text, graphics, and promotion, you may look at tools like: WordPress for the author to write the post. Photoshop  for the designer to design the post (or even a few free tools to design it yourself for you solo content creators out there). If you're low on budget but need a full-powered solution, GIMP is a free alternative  comparable to Photoshop. for the editor to manage the entire content creation process with  your author and designer, while publishing and promoting the post. Recommended Reading: How to Structure Your Content Marketing Team to Create Your Best Content 4. Time Commitment to Create Your Blog Posts: And the last part is understanding how much time each of these things takes to do. That will help you plan backward based on the amount of effort needed for your blog posts. Here are a few things to look into for that: Understand how long your average posts will be. That will  give you some indication for a time commitment from your author (maybe multiple). For example,  writing a 1,500-word post for the blog takes me about 4–5 hours with research, ideation, and actual writing. Estimate  how many graphics you'll include with every post. This may vary, but your designer  can probably estimate how much time she needs for every post, which will help her understand her commitment to the process. Know  exactly how you will promote your content so your editor can estimate his time commitment for social sharing, repurposing, syndication, and any other content distribution you're planning. Find your  people, tools, and time to know exactly how you'll execute your blog schedule.This knowledge will help you plan ahead far enough with your blog schedule to help your entire team have the time they need to create awesome content. It'll help you avoid rushing folks who actually may need a bit more time, while also helping everyone on the team understand when they should start executing their responsibilities. Takeaways: Figure out the names of everyone who will help you out. Meet with  those folks and their managers to agree on their time commitments and responsibilities. Know exactly what tools you need to be successful. Then get those tools in working order. Define a  task-based workflow  that will help your team complete their responsibilities on time once you get started with your blog schedule. Plan Your Blog Schedule Um, finally?! You could skip here, but if you don't know the goals you're trying to reach, and you have no one and no tools to help you get here, it's a little tricky to plan  your blog schedule! 1. Understand Your Optimal Publishing Frequency (What You'd Like  To Do) It's always helpful to understand your dream before you get started: How many posts would you like to publish every week? How about every month? That visualization is a great place to start just so you know how you'll ramp up your efforts. It's easy for the team to see  how much content you'd like to publish down the road. But for now- start with a minimal posting frequency to build your momentum. 2. Start Slow I've heard of folks starting their blog and publishing tons of content right off the bat: @njellering actually I did it the opposite way, started blogging more 3/4 per week and now working more on seo and distribution #cochat Cristina Hontanilla (@CHontanilla) May 7, 2015 What I fear for newbies starting that way, especially when working with a team new to blogging, is that there is tons of room for burnout by publishing too much content too quickly.  Instead, in the first months especially, focus on publishing enough content to work through the awkward newness of blogging, without overwhelming your team. Give your team time after every post in your first two months to walk through what went well, what you should do differently next time, and what you should stop doing entirely. After that, you could shift those meetings to once a month. Here's what a beginner's first six months' blog schedule could look like: At this point, you've worked though a ton of content with your team, and it's a good chance to measure your results to improve your content. 3. Measure the Success of Your First Posts You Published You know your goals. Quickly review how an average post contributes to your goals. Now that you've worked up a consistent blog schedule, that's as easy as looking at a week's (or possibly a month's) worth of measurements for your content and averaging the numbers. Plan time to measure the success of your posts. Use that knowledge to make quick improvements.Fill in the entire team on how you're doing. That way, everyone can figure out ways to improve their areas of responsibilities that will improve all of the content you publish (which  will also help you reach your goals). Recommended Reading: How to Make 2017 Super Organized With an Easy Content Calendar Template 4.  Calculate a Publishing Frequency to Reach Your Goals From the previous step, you've figured out how an average post contributes to your goals to increase: Social media shares Social media subscribers Traffic Newsletter subscribers Customer conversions From here, use those figures to determine the amount of posts you'd need to publish in your blog schedule to reach your goals: 5. Is that Publishing Frequency Achievable? When you use this algorithm, some goals may require a lot more content than others. That's fine. It's just a tool to help you gauge how much content to publish to reach your goals. And keep in mind, this is only accurate if your posts don't get more traction, which they all certainly will as you increase your publishing frequency and  maintain consistency. A consistent blog schedule will help you grow your audience and get better  results from every post.Now it's time to take a hard look at your goals, the resources you have available to you to create content (specifically, the time involved from everyone on the team dedicated to creating your awesome content), and determine a super achievable publishing frequency. Here's what to look for: How much time does it take to write, design, publish, and promote a single  post? Is it possible for your team to scale to a happy medium amount of content publishing that either hits your goals or is really close? What could you quit doing to dedicate more time to creating awesome content? What improvements could you make in your content creation process to spend less time developing your  content? Finding efficiencies to publish content quicker will  help you scale- but be wary of the boogeyman saying, "Don't sacrifice quality for quantity." Don't sacrifice quality for quantity.6. Plan Content Improvements to Increase Success of Every Post Chances are, you're able to publish a decent amount of content that helps you nearly hit your goals. From here, some of the best ways to reach your goals are to improve every piece of content you publish. That way, every post delivers more results to your goals, which means you can get more results by publishing less content. Considering our major goals, here are a few quick wins to increase your efficiency with each: Social media shares. Write social media friendly content to help people want to share your content. Use social media buttons in your content in the best places to help people share your content. Plan a social media editorial calendar to boost your shares of your content to quadruple your traffic. Social media subscribers. Curate content to share with your subscribers to bring them the best of the best from your niche. Encourage readers to subscribe to your social accounts to get the latest and greatest from your blog. Include a way for readers to follow you when they sign up for emails (an easy automatic opt-in in their settings works well). Traffic. Publish really useful, helpful, educational, or entertaining content worthy of sharing. Optimize your posts for search engines to get long-term traffic. Share your content on social media more than once. Newsletter subscribers. Build an email list and community around your content. Be clear and honest with your opt-ins by telling your subscribers exactly what they'll get. Trade free content for email addresses. Customer conversions. Map out your customers' journey from a newbie to a veteran, and write content for all stages of the marketing funnel. Test different email  templates, subject lines, and more while including calls to action to convert. Ask readers to purchase what you're selling. You're providing helpful content with the goal to convert readers into buyers, so include calls to action in appropriate places throughout your content (without being overwhelmingly salesy). Recommended Reading: This is the Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts 7. Publish Your Optimal Blog Schedule For example, if you decide to boost your blog schedule to publish two posts a week, here is a game plan to increase your blog schedule publishing for your next 6 months: Note that the first two months involve finding the best times to publish your blog posts. That's something you'll do no matter if you're looking to publish two posts a week or more. Use  a content marketing editorial calendar template to map out your publishing frequency like this example. 8. Iterate and Try New Things This is the fun part: Execute your plan. You just planned  out an entire year blog schedule for your content! Measure your goals, improve your content, and repeat, repeat, repeat. Congrats on setting up your annual blog schedule! How To Plan A Blog Schedule That Will Crush Your Goals So you know how to write awesome blog posts. And you know how to increase your blog traffic. The next step, then, is to  define a blog schedule that will help you publish  those awesome blog posts super consistently to increase your: Social media shares Social media subscribers Traffic Newsletter subscribers Customer conversions And all that, done in a way that helps you reach your goals. No sweat, right? How To Plan A Blog Schedule That Will Crush Your GoalsHere's exactly how you can do all of that with a blog schedule that really works: Begin By Defining  Your Blogging Goals Chances are, you're looking to create a blog schedule because you've heard publishing consistent content can help you grow your blog. It's true! Actually, folks who publish consistent content get as much as 30% more traffic for every post they publish, all while saving about an hour per post. And not only that, it makes your life a whole lot easier to look at a calendar full of blog post ideas instead of a blank slate and wondering, "What am I going to write today?" But- defining your blog schedule or even planning to publish more content isn't  your goal. Start first with a few measurements that'll help you focus your efforts on the right kinds of growth for your blog: Social media shares, social media subscribers, traffic, newsletter subscribers, and customer conversions are great goals to start with. Before  you even think about your optimal blog schedule, where would you like these numbers to be? I've seen first hand how social media shares influence all of these metrics in this order to grow customer conversions. 63% of 's blog traffic comes from social media, so you can see how all of these metrics are super important to us. These are good goals to have for your blog: ...Essentially, think of 10x growth. This mindset is what drives every decision we make at on how we use our time, and it's a good model for you, too! When you add something to your plate, ask yourself, "Will this help us drive 10x growth, or is this just a nice-to-have?" Takeaways: At this point, define goals for each of these metrics using the formula: social media shares, social media subscribers, traffic, newsletter subscribers, and customer conversions. If other measurements are more important to you, apply the formula to those to define your goals. It's possible that you're not looking for 10x growth for a certain goal (and maybe that is unachievable for certain measurements). Determine a figure for every goal that you will measure- just make sure there is really a number to which you will compare your results to understand how you're making an impact. Train Your Blogging Goals to Be... Well... SMART. Great goals are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and  time sensitive. You just figured out exactly what you'll measure, so at this point, just define your goals a bit further with a format like this: And you can do your own with a structure like this: Know How You Will Really Meet  Your Blog Schedule Chances are, you're one of the 70% of B2B marketers who plan to create more content this year. So, before you just jump in, let's get your resources figured out to make executing your blog schedule that much easier once you get going. 1. Roles You'll Need to Write Your Blog Posts: For blogging, there are only a handful roles  you need to fill: Writing Designing Publishing Promoting Recommended Reading: How to Set SMART Marketing Goals 2. People You'll Need to Fill Your Roles: That said, you  could probably get started with as few as  3 people: Author who writes the post. Designer who designs inline graphics. Editor who publishes and promotes the post. You only need three people to publish awesome content. #blogging3. Tools Your Team Will Need to Complete Their Roles: The second part of knowing your resources involves understanding what tools you'll use to create and manage your posts. For the minimum viable post that only includes text, graphics, and promotion, you may look at tools like: WordPress for the author to write the post. Photoshop  for the designer to design the post (or even a few free tools to design it yourself for you solo content creators out there). If you're low on budget but need a full-powered solution, GIMP is a free alternative  comparable to Photoshop. for the editor to manage the entire content creation process with  your author and designer, while publishing and promoting the post. Recommended Reading: How to Structure Your Content Marketing Team to Create Your Best Content 4. Time Commitment to Create Your Blog Posts: And the last part is understanding how much time each of these things takes to do. That will help you plan backward based on the amount of effort needed for your blog posts. Here are a few things to look into for that: Understand how long your average posts will be. That will  give you some indication for a time commitment from your author (maybe multiple). For example,  writing a 1,500-word post for the blog takes me about 4–5 hours with research, ideation, and actual writing. Estimate  how many graphics you'll include with every post. This may vary, but your designer  can probably estimate how much time she needs for every post, which will help her understand her commitment to the process. Know  exactly how you will promote your content so your editor can estimate his time commitment for social sharing, repurposing, syndication, and any other content distribution you're planning. Find your  people, tools, and time to know exactly how you'll execute your blog schedule.This knowledge will help you plan ahead far enough with your blog schedule to help your entire team have the time they need to create awesome content. It'll help you avoid rushing folks who actually may need a bit more time, while also helping everyone on the team understand when they should start executing their responsibilities. Takeaways: Figure out the names of everyone who will help you out. Meet with  those folks and their managers to agree on their time commitments and responsibilities. Know exactly what tools you need to be successful. Then get those tools in working order. Define a  task-based workflow  that will help your team complete their responsibilities on time once you get started with your blog schedule. Plan Your Blog Schedule Um, finally?! You could skip here, but if you don't know the goals you're trying to reach, and you have no one and no tools to help you get here, it's a little tricky to plan  your blog schedule! 1. Understand Your Optimal Publishing Frequency (What You'd Like  To Do) It's always helpful to understand your dream before you get started: How many posts would you like to publish every week? How about every month? That visualization is a great place to start just so you know how you'll ramp up your efforts. It's easy for the team to see  how much content you'd like to publish down the road. But for now- start with a minimal posting frequency to build your momentum. 2. Start Slow I've heard of folks starting their blog and publishing tons of content right off the bat: @njellering actually I did it the opposite way, started blogging more 3/4 per week and now working more on seo and distribution #cochat Cristina Hontanilla (@CHontanilla) May 7, 2015 What I fear for newbies starting that way, especially when working with a team new to blogging, is that there is tons of room for burnout by publishing too much content too quickly.  Instead, in the first months especially, focus on publishing enough content to work through the awkward newness of blogging, without overwhelming your team. Give your team time after every post in your first two months to walk through what went well, what you should do differently next time, and what you should stop doing entirely. After that, you could shift those meetings to once a month. Here's what a beginner's first six months' blog schedule could look like: At this point, you've worked though a ton of content with your team, and it's a good chance to measure your results to improve your content. 3. Measure the Success of Your First Posts You Published You know your goals. Quickly review how an average post contributes to your goals. Now that you've worked up a consistent blog schedule, that's as easy as looking at a week's (or possibly a month's) worth of measurements for your content and averaging the numbers. Plan time to measure the success of your posts. Use that knowledge to make quick improvements.Fill in the entire team on how you're doing. That way, everyone can figure out ways to improve their areas of responsibilities that will improve all of the content you publish (which  will also help you reach your goals). Recommended Reading: How to Make 2017 Super Organized With an Easy Content Calendar Template 4.  Calculate a Publishing Frequency to Reach Your Goals From the previous step, you've figured out how an average post contributes to your goals to increase: Social media shares Social media subscribers Traffic Newsletter subscribers Customer conversions From here, use those figures to determine the amount of posts you'd need to publish in your blog schedule to reach your goals: 5. Is that Publishing Frequency Achievable? When you use this algorithm, some goals may require a lot more content than others. That's fine. It's just a tool to help you gauge how much content to publish to reach your goals. And keep in mind, this is only accurate if your posts don't get more traction, which they all certainly will as you increase your publishing frequency and  maintain consistency. A consistent blog schedule will help you grow your audience and get better  results from every post.Now it's time to take a hard look at your goals, the resources you have available to you to create content (specifically, the time involved from everyone on the team dedicated to creating your awesome content), and determine a super achievable publishing frequency. Here's what to look for: How much time does it take to write, design, publish, and promote a single  post? Is it possible for your team to scale to a happy medium amount of content publishing that either hits your goals or is really close? What could you quit doing to dedicate more time to creating awesome content? What improvements could you make in your content creation process to spend less time developing your  content? Finding efficiencies to publish content quicker will  help you scale- but be wary of the boogeyman saying, "Don't sacrifice quality for quantity." Don't sacrifice quality for quantity.6. Plan Content Improvements to Increase Success of Every Post Chances are, you're able to publish a decent amount of content that helps you nearly hit your goals. From here, some of the best ways to reach your goals are to improve every piece of content you publish. That way, every post delivers more results to your goals, which means you can get more results by publishing less content. Considering our major goals, here are a few quick wins to increase your efficiency with each: Social media shares. Write social media friendly content to help people want to share your content. Use social media buttons in your content in the best places to help people share your content. Plan a social media editorial calendar to boost your shares of your content to quadruple your traffic. Social media subscribers. Curate content to share with your subscribers to bring them the best of the best from your niche. Encourage readers to subscribe to your social accounts to get the latest and greatest from your blog. Include a way for readers to follow you when they sign up for emails (an easy automatic opt-in in their settings works well). Traffic. Publish really useful, helpful, educational, or entertaining content worthy of sharing. Optimize your posts for search engines to get long-term traffic. Share your content on social media more than once. Newsletter subscribers. Build an email list and community around your content. Be clear and honest with your opt-ins by telling your subscribers exactly what they'll get. Trade free content for email addresses. Customer conversions. Map out your customers' journey from a newbie to a veteran, and write content for all stages of the marketing funnel. Test different email  templates, subject lines, and more while including calls to action to convert. Ask readers to purchase what you're selling. You're providing helpful content with the goal to convert readers into buyers, so include calls to action in appropriate places throughout your content (without being overwhelmingly salesy). Recommended Reading: This is the Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts 7. Publish Your Optimal Blog Schedule For example, if you decide to boost your blog schedule to publish two posts a week, here is a game plan to increase your blog schedule publishing for your next 6 months: Note that the first two months involve finding the best times to publish your blog posts. That's something you'll do no matter if you're looking to publish two posts a week or more. Use  a content marketing editorial calendar template to map out your publishing frequency like this example. 8. Iterate and Try New Things This is the fun part: Execute your plan. You just planned  out an entire year blog schedule for your content! Measure your goals, improve your content, and repeat, repeat, repeat. Congrats on setting up your annual blog schedule!

Short story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Short story - Essay Example Normally, two spoons are enough for me. However, that day I needed more. It was like I felt that that one extra spoon would give me the confidence and courage for the grand adventure that was just about to begin. That morning I was going to ride my bike to the top of the highest mountain in the neighborhood. The steep twisted roads leading to the top were considered dangerous even for the more experienced riders than I was. The challenge seemed to be a tough one. However, I had been crazy about reaching that summit for almost a year, and I had to do it. Otherwise, my desire would not leave me alone. I finished my super energetic drink and headed for the front door. Although my courtyard was lit with the sunlight, it was still quite chilly outside. The whiff of fresh air against my face cheered me up as I moved towards the mountain. I was as excited as never before. After I crossed the railroads, my challenge was officially on. When the first corner was complete, I found that my vigor had gone somewhere. The feeling was like myriads of invisible needles were stuck into my legs. Sweat was streaming down my face. I could feel how it gets into my eyes. It was like someone stuck a finger straight into my eye socket. I stopped to remove my glasses just for a moment; then went on again. As I turned around the fifth corner, I realized how close to the top I was. My heart was jumping out of the chest. The sound of it was ringing in my head like a bell; I could practically hear it pumping blood throughout my exhausted body. The summit was very close. I was nearly there. However, I was starting to flag. My legs moved slower and slower. It was harder to press the pedals. I felt like I was underwater. Climbing up on the last hill, I saw a beautiful glade through the trees. Obviously, it was my final leap. At that moment, it was rather a mental challenge than a physical one. That was the point when I had to question myself how much I wanted to reach the top. I

The Octogon House Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Octogon House - Essay Example e house is credited for hosting one time president, James Madison, and First Lady Dolley Madison following the burning of the White House in 1812 during the War. Today the building has found a completely new use. It is used as a museum and hosts several galleries and architectural and design exhibitions. This paper will analyze the Octagon House in light of its design and features and will compare it to architectural designs of the 1700s and early 1800s. The Octagon House is has three stories, its plan featuring a triangle, two rectangles, and a circle. It was so designed such that its symmetrical wing meshes properly with its lot that is triangular in shape. The building has several rooms including the dining room, treaty room, kitchen, and parlor. The building which has six sides has chimneys and a furnace located on the basement as noted by Lonely Planet (2014). From these features, it is beyond doubt that the artwork was meant to be a residential house for a rich family. Its flat roof is made of cedar-shingle roof and balustrade is surmounted by a cupola as noted by Lonely Planet (2014).Furthermore, the building has its rooms so arranged that they seem to be symmetrical with a spiral staircase situated at the centre of the building. Figure one shows part of the Octagon House. The Octagon House building is simply designed although it is a slight departure from the traditional Georgian design that was common in Washington DC it the late 1700s and early 1800s. According to AIA (2014), the building partly is inspired by the Greek style for its interior while its exterior is partly inspired by the federal style. In this respect, the building is a fine example of the kind of architecture that prominently featured in federal buildings at the time. The building is also partly inspired by English architecture of the time. During the 18th and 19th centuries, many buildings in England were circular or octagonal in shape (Brown 2009). Such houses were perceived to be

Tyranny of Teams Essay Example for Free

Tyranny of Teams Essay Some alternative perspectives on team behaviour elucidate the ways in which the prevailing paradigm ultimately hinders groups and tyrannizes the individual team member mdash; by camouflaging coercion and conflict with the appearance of consultation and cohesion. Examination of the limits and effects of the ideology provide the basis for an alternative understanding of the strengths, constraints and complexities of group work. Introduction Teams in various forms have become ubiquitous ways of working. As task forces, committees, work groups and quality circles, they are used to provide leadership, accomplish research, maximize creativity and operationalize structural flexibility (Peters and Waterman 1982; Payne The 1988) . prescriptions of much contemporary management thinking are based on a dominant ideology of teamwork. While teams have been narrowly construed as a tool of the Organization Development Model, the ideology is much more pervasive. Teams are embraced as tools of diverse models of organizational reform from organization development (Dunphy 1976) to work restructuring (Poza and Markus 1980), from quality management to industrial democracy and from corporate culture and Japanese management approaches to complex contingency prescriptions. 611 Beliefs about the benefits of teams occupy a central and unquestioned place in organizational reform. It is all the more surprising that, despite some differences in context, the team ideology has been espoused with such consistency. The hegemony of this ideology has been supported by researchers who offer the ’team’ as a tantalizingly simple solution to some of the intracDownloaded from http://oss. sagepub. com at Massey University Library on June 28, 2010 612 problems of organizational life. Teams appear to satisfy everything individual needs (for sociability, self-actualization, participative management), organizational needs (for productivity, organizational development, effectiveness) and even society’s needs for alleviating the malaise of alienation and other by-products of modern industrial society (Johnson and Johnson 1987). However, do work groups deserve the status they have acquired as multipurpose panaceas for organizational problems? As has been powerfully argued in organizational analysis (Burrell and Morgan 1979; Astley and Van de Ven 1983; Reed 1985; Alvesson 1987), the dominance of a particular paradigm has substantial costs in the institutionalization of table at once: mechanisms of control. The purpose of this article is to scrutinize the ideological basis of the prevailing team paradigm. Four sets of assumptions which underpin the ideology are identified: 1. Narrowly conceived definitions of work groups and group work are based on the assumption that mature teams are task-oriented, and have successfully minimized corruption by other group impulses. 2. It is an individual motivation formula and a ’unitary view’ of organizations which assumes confluence, not conflict, between individual, group and organizational goals (Burrell and Morgan 1979: 204). 3. Simplistic views of the superiority of participative leaders are held. 4. The views are also held that power, conflict and emotion are subversive forces which divert groups from work. Research from some alternative critical, psychoanalytic and other perspectives is used to suggest some areas in which the paradigm requires overhaul. A premise of this paper is that teams can contribute to getting work of all kinds done, but not when their application is informed by a narrow framework that nurtures inappropriate expectations. Further, and more critically, the team ideology embraced by these assumptions tyrannizes because, under the banner of benefits to all, teams are frequently used to camouflage coercion under the pretence of maintaining cohesion; conceal conflict under the guise of consensus; convert conformity into a semblance of creativity; give unilateral decisions a co-determinist seal of approval; delay action in the supposed interests of consultation; legitimize lack of leadership; and disguise expedient arguments and personal agendas. Definitions of Teams and Group Work theorists have defined a ’team’ as a distinctive class of which is more task-oriented than other groups, and which has a set group, of obvious rules and rewards for its members (Adair 1986). According to this view, high-performing teams substitute collective goals and an inter- Management Downloaded from http://oss. sagepub. com at Massey University Library on June 28, 2010 613 est in the task at hand for individual agendas and inter-personal conflicts. Group theorists have noted the parallels between therapeutic groups and other types of work groups (Foulkes 1964: 110). However, the emphasis of team ideology on the task-orientation of teams has tended to idealize and resist recognizing that groups with a task still experience anti-task behaviour, and indeed have much in common with other types of groups. Seeking to understand both individual and group work, researchers have, on the whole, been dogged by the search for discrete or measurable outputs of work. Work has many forms. Some definitions of individual ’performance’ and ’effectiveness’ in administrative and managerial (Likert 1967; Sorenson 1971) with creativity and innovation in research or scientific contexts (Gordon 1961; Sch6n 1963), yet such experimental measures often seem to bear little resemblance to individual experiences of work (Terkel 1974) . Efforts to define group work by researchers in the team ideology tradition have produced a range of measures referring either to the output or to the quality of group process.

Essay example --

In comparison to parallel economically advanced democracies, the United States in particular is prone to uniquely adversarial and legalistic means of policy formulation and implementation, constructed by the process of judicial review. With the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, common law, or using precedent as the basis of judicial policy making, has been a staple for American society. This British adaptation to U.S. lawmaking has evolved into an interest-driven persuasion tactic as opposed to statutory interpretation and democratic mechanisms. Americans frequently rely on legal threats and lawsuits, in which the laws that pertain, generally, are more complicated and prescriptive. In idealistic democratic models, the relative institutional relationships among the legislature, the executive state, and the courts. Yet, it is a false truth of the current U.S. governing system, in which author Robert Kagan theorizes is due to the American way of law known as adversarial leg alism. Although a thesis in this form is hardly a new discussion, Kagan’s treatment of it ranges throughout the political spectrum, targeting both the atmosphere surrounding policy making as well as its political actors within. Kagan provides a chief explanation for adversarial legalism as a mode of policy making, implementation, and dispute resolution characterized by frequent resort to highly adversarial legal interests, that conclusively infiltrate American democracy and ironically isolate branches of government, discrediting its merit of freedom and equality. Through this examination of politics, it is apparent that the system is at fault, perhaps inevitably, to the continuously growing problem of fragmented government that align with various other... ... and reform. Yet, it is in my opinion that his article is of such significance because of its logistic explanation of such frequent and high volume Court case reforms. Author Mark Graber in The Lessons of Dred Scott, claimed that decision rendered by Supreme Court Chief Justice Taney in 1865 was unavoidable, simply because the decision was consistent with the times of the era (Graber, p.7). This conditionality of politics concerning political environments is evident in Kagan as well, providing both political scientists and students alike with the knowledge that Courts do and often will act not only for the majority, but also more explicitly towards the persuasion tactics of every outlet of both private and public political participation, which provides a necessary and comprehensive evaluation of the American way of law unknown to many, including myself until today.

Executive Coaching Intertwines Multiple Practical Theories

All complement each other in understanding the client's needs and helping them reach their goals. Executive Coaching Theories Executive coaching is not a one-size fits all profession. There are a multitude of different approaches that one can take to help the client identify and reach his goals. However, one of the key commonalities of any good executive coach is to understand the human psyche. One has to know how to not only ask good, probing questions, one must also comprehend the psychological and situational barriers that prevent the client from reaching his goal.Then, he coach must be able to work with the client to identify action steps that will follow a path to reach the client's desired outcomes. There are many theories that abound with regards to executive coaching. No one approach is better than another. Some approaches are applied in compliment with others. The goal is to bring a toolkit of assorted and appropriate tactics to help the client understand barriers to success , and to assist the client with framing the goals necessary to move forward, and finally, to motivate the client to take specific action steps.The goal of this paper is to identify three of the theories that a coach might use to assist a client. These are not necessarily implemented mutually exclusive from each other, but are just several of the approaches that are available to a coach. Action Frame Theory This is a theory that was developed by two psychologists, Tracy Coverer and Steven Crossbow. Coverer is a leadership and organizational development consultant at Canadian, Tire in Canada (as of 2004, when this article was published). Crossbow is a professor of psychology at the university of Gullah in Ontario.They state that it is not intended to be a stand-alone new concept, UT is derived from the synthesis of existing theory, plus social action and functional analysis. The goal is to make the translation from generalities of â€Å"mediated focus† to specifics of executive behavior, which was an idea of R. R. Killing, who proposed a â€Å"holistic and integrated model† within the executive coaching process. (Coverer & Crossbow, 2004) Action Frame Theory encompasses five specific processes to provide a deliberate approach for the coach to assist the client identify and achieve his desired end-state or goals.The processes include the following: conditions, means, action, result, and consequence. These steps help the client move from the generalities mentioned in the previous paragraph to a specific outcome for definitive results. (Coverer & Crossbow, 2004) Condition: The coach must first help the client identify his current status to be able to correlate where he is now with where he wants to be at the end of the journey. A coach must understand the current climate and atmosphere and conditions that the client exists within before he can evaluate how to move forward.Part of this assessment is to identify barriers that may be reverting the client from progress, or any organizational barriers as well as personal hindrances. This includes the organizational culture, as well as its management style and where the client fits within this. It includes those constraints where the client may not have any actual control to change. Means: This includes personal resources that the client possesses that he can employ to resolve the situation and/or reach his goal. Included within the means can be the client's interpersonal skills, leadership talents, and ability to resolve issues.The author also mentions integrity in the case that they illustrate where the client was dealing with a troublesome employee who was spreading rumors. This is, in essence, self-reflection of one's personal tool kit. Action: These are the voluntary action steps that the coach helps the client agree upon to take to work toward attaining the end-goal. These should be a set of defined processes that had deliberate purpose and correlation toward a forward motion to ward the desired result. Similar to the F. O. C. U. S. Del, (Harms, 201 1) (Ellis & Bernard, 2006) the coach must ensure the steps are meaningful and have validity toward a specific outcome. Especially with a emitted coaching contract, it is important to maximize these action steps to avoid wasting precious time. This also involves mentally focusing the client toward defined action steps so that he sees a clear roadman toward reaching his destination. There is nothing worse than wandering aimlessly without direction. Result: This is the end-state that the client hopes to achieve through the result of the actions.The authors state that there are actually two results: the starting result and the end result. Although the end result is the ultimate final goal, there is what are known as milestones whereby the client achieves mailer results on the path to the larger goal. Consequence: The consequence is the normal evaluation of the result that is present over an extended period of time. It is what becomes the new current status, or also known as the condition, which was the first component of the Action Frame Theory. This essentially becomes that new normal state as a result of achieving the set-out goals. Coverer & Crossbow, 2004) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Theory This is a more widely known theory that was developed by Albert Ellis, who developed this based upon inspiration of teachings of Asian, Greek and Roman philosophers. Ellis originally began a career in clinical psychology in the 1 adds. During the course of his progress toward earning his doctorate in clinical psychology, he leaned toward and practiced psychoanalysis. In the early sass, he transitioned from psychoanalysis toward his new approach of a more proactive and direct form of psychotherapy, which he called Rational Therapy (ART).His goal was to help the client adjust their thinking and behavior to lead more positive and productive lives. (Ellis & Bernard, 2006) Ellis' premise is that people are rarely affected emotionally by external influences; UT, rather by their personal perceptions, attitudes, or internal thoughts about outside things or events. He states that people get upset and are affected by how they construct their views of reality through language, beliefs, meanings, and philosophies about the world, their self, and others.By understanding these meanings, people can learn to identify the issues and challenge and question them to work toward a more constructive outcome. (Hag & Davison, 1 993) The assumption that this theory incorporates is that people have both rationale and irrational tendencies and learning. Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory places emphasis on changing the current thinking and helping the individual to behave how they wish to be. The theory postulates that people unconsciously construct their own emotional pitfalls such as self-pity, blame, etc. That prevent them from achieving their goals. The goal of imparting REST is to assist the clie nt how to identify these self- defeating tendencies so that they can achieve what they wish to do. (Ellis & Bernard, 2006) (Ellis & Bernard, 2006) A major process for the REBUT therapy is to help the client overcome these self-defeating thought processes so that hey can see that they have a choice not to be fearful or scared or the like. This is critical in the coaching process because executives may feel that they are alone at the top of the food chain and have nowhere to turn.When they have these fears, they may simply internalize them without actually dealing with the feelings for fear of appearing human in their role as a senior leader. This may prevent the executive from being able to be successful in leading the organization, and can lead to self-defeat. Although the coach is generally not a therapist, understanding Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy concepts s key to working with these executives that may show signs of needing this assistance. The primary tactic for assistin g clients through this process is to help them see their fears that are prohibiting them from being successful or moving forward.Ellis said that people cannot move forward and get better except through continual work and practice in finding their core beliefs and irrationality. Then, they need to replace them with healthy, positive feelings that will enable them to move forward and succeed. (Ellis & Bernard, 2006) Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy is one of the most widely studied harries in the field of psychotherapy. From the time of his inception of this theory through his death in 2007, his work laid the groundwork for much Of today's modern cognitive therapy approaches.Cognitive therapy is a direct outcome of the results of Ellis' theory'. Counselors or coaches use cognitive theory to help clients identify the negative thoughts that occur automatically and teach them to replace these with happy, positive thoughts. Since the premise of REBUT is that people?s negative and irrat ional thoughts to these situations are automatic, cognitive therapy teaches clients to alter their thinking. Coaches or therapists teach the clients to consider a variety of alternative ideas for why things occur. They then teach them to restate things in terms of ways they can control the situation. Rational emotive behavior therapy, 2011) Adult Development Theory Being an executive coach means that we have the power to influence and develop our clients. A key component of being able to achieve this is to understand human development theory. People at different stages Of life construct their understanding of the world and self, which shapes their interpretation of their surroundings and how they will react or make decisions. Adult Development Theory involves areas such as moral, intellectual, emotional, relational, and spiritual development. Demoded, 2007) All of these factors have an impact on how an executive sees the world and makes decisions. For a coach to be effective, he nee ds to have a basic understanding of this Adult Development Theory. One of the most exciting elements of coaching is being able to have an influence upon an individual, and to help them achieve success and improve their situation at work. A key to the success is the relationship between the coach and client, which is contingent upon the coach asking the right questions, and also understanding where the client is coming from.One of the most overlooked elements to success is the personal life development stage that the client might be at in their adult development. This correlates to the modern Adult Development Theory by Robert Egan. He states that as people develop through life, they have gained insight through learning. This learning content does not change, but the context in which we see the world does change. (Hope, 2007) As coaches, we need to understand how people develop so that We can impart better listening skills and impression to better understand where people are coming f rom.For the coach, one of the critical tools that we have is understanding of the client's way of thinking, his challenges, his situation, and the context in which he interprets things. This is where the understanding of adult development is crucial. Egan first presented his theory of adult development or social maturity in his book â€Å"The Evolving Self' in 1982. He then wrote a follow-up to this in 1994 called â€Å"In Over Our Heads: The Demands of Modern Life. † In these books, he posits that people progressively become more socially mature as they go wrought life.This affects how they interpret life's events and how they react at different stages of the game. (Hope, 2007) (Ellis & Bernard, 2006)Being a good coach means understanding how people evolve and can interpret life's events based upon their social maturity and place in the organization. One of the factors that new coaches may need to learn is that not everyone will see the world as you do. In â€Å"Evidence B ased Coaching,† the author states that it is human tendency for people to expect that everyone will see things that way you do.The authors claim that if coaches have a better understanding of human development that it enables them to be better listeners, and identify connections that one otherwise might not have done. The author describes four types of clients: the prince or princess, journeyman, chief executive officer and the elder. Understanding each personality in an executive will make the coach have a higher likely. Prince or Princess The princess and prince have very ego-centric personalities that are focused on them.They don't have a comprehension that other's viewpoints are valid, and only see things from their perspective. These people are not great team layers, and will only follow the organization rules to the extent that they meet their needs. Journeyman Transitioning from princess or prince to journeyman usually occurs once the client begins to understand that it is not all about them, and they take into account the interests of others and the organization. This is the person who realizes that they and the organization need each other to be successful.It brings about a sense of loyalty in the journey. A coach can work with a client who was originally in the prince or princess realm and bring them more in- tune with the organization to be a team player. The approach with the person in the journeyman stage is to help him form a commitment that helps to benefit the organizational as a whole. CEO Working with the Coos is much different because they are more likely to have a very definitive concept of how the organization should function, and will have plans for how to achieve this.They don't necessarily need direction, but are looking for professional development to help them become better leaders. They are at the top where they often don't have the luxury of bouncing ideas off of others. Elder The elders are very in-tune to all elements of the organization, and are very enforceable with interpreting the feedback from all levels. The difference from the elder to the CEO is that this person is less ideological, and is more focused on the leadership process. So, where does this adult development theory fit into the executive coaching process?The coach who understands this theory and the dynamics can better focus the questions, suggestions, and be more in-tune with the client's form of understanding. Each coaching relationship is unique based upon specific personalities and developmental stages. Along with AEGON's four stages is another aspect of adult development hurry which ranges from people moving from dependent, to independent to inter-dependent. The further people develop and evolve from the former to the latter; they ultimately become able to be transformational thinkers. Hopper 2007) The dependent level is similar to the prince or princess, where they only see things from their perspective. These clients tend to see things through their lenses and apply their values, traditions, and practices without regard to other. They perceive difference from their views as confrontational. The independent levels are those who have learned from their experiences, ND are more willing to be open to growth. They become curious about others' thoughts and perspectives. These are like Coos who are willing to listen to staff to develop process improvement that benefits the entire organization.The inter-dependent clients are those who are most comfortable with their positions and look for the global vision, and make decisions based upon the greater good. They embrace fresh ideas and concepts and seek continuous improvement. A coach who understands where the client is at in this path of development will have a better opportunity to help the executive on the right ND most appropriate path. Each client is unique. AEGON's theory of adult development has been the leading research as of recent years.However, he bases muc h of his premise off of the work off Swiss psychologist, Jean Pigged, who invented modern developmental psychology. Essentially, the adult development theory of Egan evolved from Piglet's descriptions of how children developed from early childhood through adulthood. His theory was that kids go through various stages of psychological development that affect how they adapt, learn and react to situations. (Hope, 2007) Conclusion An executive coach must bring myriad skills to the table with a client.

Common Law and Equity

The Development of Common Law and Equity Common Law has been functioning in England since the 1250’s, two centuries after William the Conqueror defeated Earl Harold Godwinson in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and became King. It was then in 1066 that Law began to be standardised. There were, however, problems with the Common Law system and people were becoming dissatisfied with the remedies distributed by the Court. As a result, the Court of Chancery was established and could provide whatever remedy best suited the case.This type of justice became known as equity. When William the Conqueror gained the English throne in 1066, he constituted the Curia Regis, an instrument he used to govern the country and a court for deciding disputes. Representatives from the Regis were sent out to the different localities of the country to check local administration and were ordered to make judgement of the effectiveness of the custom laws functioning in their designated locality and report ba ck to the King in Westminster.When the representatives were summoned back, they were able to discuss the various customs of each locality and were able to form, through rejecting unreasonable laws and accepting those that appeared to be rational, a consistent body of rules. During the process of sifting, the principle of ‘stare decisis’ was created, which translates to ‘let the decision stand’. Whenever a new problem of law was to be decided, the decision formed a rule and it was mandatory that the rule was followed in all similar cases. By 1250, a common law had been established, that ruled the whole country.However problems soon arose regarding the remedies distributed by the Common Law Court and people soon became dissatisfied with the system. One of the first complaints was concerned with the writ system. In the common law courts, civil actions had to be started by a writ. Early on, new writs were created to suit new circumstances, however this stopped in the thirteenth century. Litigants had to fit their circumstances to one of the available types of writ. If the case did not fall into the existing writ, the case could not be taken to court.Many people found their cases to be rejected for the reason that there was no writ to satisfy their case and so they were not given justice. A second complaint was related to the remedy of damages. What the court did not realise was that money was not always an adequate solution to every problem. A final problem that arose with the system was that it was inflexible. The principle of ‘stare decisis’ meant that when a decision was given in a case of a certain kind, the same legal principle had to be followed in subsequent cases, no matter what the situation of the claimant.As a result, people started to petition the king who was thought of as the ‘fountain of justice’. After a while, the king passed on these petitions to the Chancellor who was usually a member of the cl ergy and was thought of as ‘the keeper of the king’s conscience’. Before long, litigants began to petition the Chancellor himself and by 1474 the Chancellor had begun to make decisions on the cases on his own authority rather than as a substitute for the king. This was the beginning of the court of Chancery.In the court of Chancery, litigants appeared before the Chancellor and he would deliver a verdict on the presented case based on his own moral view of the situation. Unlike the Common Law court, the court of Chancery could provide whatever remedy best suited the case and this type of justice became known as equity. Before equitable rules could be applied, equity devised maxims, developed to certify that the verdicts made were morally fair, which had to be contemplated prior to a final court decision.One of these maxims, â€Å"He who comes to equity must come with clean hands†, states that claimants who have in some way been in the wrong in the past will not be granted an equitable remedy. An example illustrating this maxim would be the D+C Builders v Rees (1966) case, were the Rees was denied an equitable estoppel as they had taken unfair advantage of the builder’s financial difficulties and therefore had not â€Å"come with clean hands†. A second maxim, â€Å"He who seeks equity, must do equity†, articulates that anyone who seeks equitable relief must be prepared to act fairly towards their opponent.In the Chappel v Times Newspapers ltd (1975) case, newspaper employees applied for an injunction to prevent their employers from carrying out the threat of sacking them unless they stopped their strike action. The court said that in order for them to be awarded the remedy, the strikers should withdraw their strike action if the injunction was granted. The employees refused and so the injunction was not granted. Another maxim is â€Å"Delay defeats equity†. This maxim states that where a claimant takes an un reasonably long time to bring an action, equitable remedies will not be available.This is exemplified in the Leaf v International Galleries (1950) case where the claimant, Leaf, had bought a painting for a considerable amount of money however he found, five years later, that it was not the genuine constable he thought it was. When he claimed the equitable remedy of rescission, it was refused as the delay had been too long. In response to the complaints regarding the remedies offered by the common law courts, equity increased the number of remedies available to the wronged party.Instead of just being given then remedy of damages, claimants could now be granted an injunction, which is an order given to defendants to do or not do something, specific performance, which compels a part to fulfil a previous agreement, a rescission, which restores parties of a contract to the position they were in before the contract was signed and rectification, which is an order that alters the words of a document which does not express the true intentions of the parties to it.These remedies offered by the court of chancery are discretionary. A claimant who wins a common law court case is given the remedy of damages as of right, however the courts may choose whether or not to award an equitable remedy. Equitable remedies are therefore not given as of right. Due to the improvements made by equity regarding remedies, the court of chancery became very popular and caused some resentment amongst the common law courts.The lawyers of the common law courts argued that the quality of the decisions made in the court of chancery varied with the length of the chancellor’s foot, meaning that the outcome of each case depended on the qualities of the individual chancellor. The tension between the two courts grew to an all-time high in the Earl of Oxford’s case (1615), where a judgment of Chief Justice Coke was allegedly obtained by fraud. The Lord Chancellor issued a common injunctio n of the Chancery prohibiting the enforcement of the common law order.The two courts became locked in a stalemate, and the matter was eventually referred to the Attorney General. The Attorney General upheld the use of the common injunction and concluded that in the event of any conflict between the common law and equity, equity would prevail. Equity’s primacy in England was later enshrined in the Judicature Acts (1873-75), which provided that equity and common law could both be operated in the same court and there would no longer be different procedures for requesting remedies from equity and the common law.To conclude, it was William the Conqueror who came up with the initial idea of establishing a common law and after two centuries of sifting through the custom laws of the numerous localities of the country, a common law had been established that ruled the whole of the country. However problems in the common law system soon arose regarding the writ system, the inflexibility of the system, and the remedy of damages. The court of chancery was established and it is here that equity functioned.Equity brought in new equitable remedies such as injunctions, specific performance, rescissions, and rectifications however before these remedies could be granted, the case being presented had to conform to the equitable maxims which were developed to certify that the verdicts made were morally fair. The court of chancery became very popular and caused some resentment amongst the common law courts, whose lawyers argued that the quality of the decisions made in the court of chancery varied with the length of the Chancellors foot.As a result of the Earl of Oxford case, whenever there is conflict between the common law courts and equity, equity will prevail, which allows for the further development of equity today. The Judicature Acts of the 1870’s provided that equity and common law could both be operated in the same court and there would no longer be different procedures for requesting remedies from equity and the common law. In short terms, if it was not for common law and the faults found in its system, equity would cease to exist.

Terrifying Tales of Terrible Terror! (4 Tips on Writing a Scary Story)

Terrifying Tales of Terrible Terror! (4 Tips on Writing a Scary Story) Terrifying Tales of Terrible Terror! (4 Tips on Writing a Scary Story) If you’re too old for trick or treating but want to have fun on Halloween, trading ghost stories with friends is a great alternative (it’s also how Mary Shelley came up with Frankenstein). I feel so pretty. But what if you and your friends are all too brave for old yarns about ghosts and ghouls to rattle you? Well, you could invent a scary story to set spines tingling using these (terrifying) writing tips. 1. Not Peanut Butter! Anything but Peanut Butter! We’re all scared of something, whether it’s the dark, giant spiders or getting peanut butter stuck to the tops of our mouths. (We’ll confess that the last of those is quite niche.) The horror! The horror! A good place to start with a scary story is therefore your own fears and anxieties, since it’s far easier to find the dark corners of a situation when it’s based on something personal. 2. Don’t Panic, Guys, It’s Just a Kitten. What? No! Get Off Me! AAAAARGH! Another possibility is to make something familiar from everyday life threatening. Examples include Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and roughly 75% of Stephen King’s written output. Try considering things in your environment that you usually take for granted, then use â€Å"what if?† style questions to come up with a situation in which they suddenly become deadly! Questions like: What if kittens had laser eyes? 3. We’re Trapped! One very effective way of adding tension to a story is to trap your characters somehow, such as being locked in a haunted building or lost in a forest with something that is hunting them. Alternatively, you could â€Å"trap† your characters by stripping them of something they rely on. Being chased by a serial killer? It’d be a terrible shame if your phone didn’t work and you couldn’t call for help. Something wicked lurking in the shadows? I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as the lights don’t go out†¦ *fzzzt-pop!* Oops. Should have changed that bulb before opening a portal to the dark realms, shouldn’t you? 4. WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE! An important aspect of telling a scary story – and storytelling in general – is â€Å"show, don’t tell.† This means that you shouldnt be too direct, like openly stating that a character is scared: â€Å"Upon feeling the peanut butter on the top of his mouth, Duncan started to panic.† Instead, you should try to bring situations to life by describing them as they are experienced by the characters: â€Å"Duncan bit into the sandwich and immediately froze. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead as he felt the sticky, nutty evil spread through his mouth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Open wide! Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Telling the story this way can also make your characters seem more real, thereby encouraging your audience to care about them and what they’re feeling. Get this right and you should have a scary story that will haunt the dreams of even the bravest reader!

Italian Phrases for Your Day Out at the Beach

Italian Phrases for Your Day Out at the Beach The sun is shining, and you’ve just arrived at your seaside resort hotel in Taormina. Before you even reach your room, you’re already thinking about what the ocean breeze is going to feel like once you roll out your towel and lay underneath the big umbrellas lining the shore. Even if you’re just going to relax on your travels, you’re going to need to use some Italian, so here is a list of basic vocabulary plus a sample dialogue to help you navigate the beaches in Italy. Vocabulary Beach - La spiaggiaOcean - Il mare Even though you’re  going to the beach, you’ll hear Italians refer to it as â€Å"il mare - the ocean. Also,  prepositions will vary. You’ll say â€Å"Vado IN spiaggia - I’m going to the beach and â€Å"Vado AL mare - I’m going to the sea.​ Sand - La sabbiaShore - La rivaBoardwalk - Il lungomareBig umbrella - L’ombrelloneBeach club - Un locale sulla spiaggiaBeach chair - La sdraioLifeguard - Il bagninoBoat - La barcaSpeedboat - Il motoscafoPaddle Boat - Il pedalà ²At the store  -  Al mercato What youll do there Take a dip - Fare un bagnoTo swim - NuotareSuntan - AbbronzarsiRelax - RilassarsiSqueeze in a nap - Schiacciare un pisolinoBuild a sandcastle - Costruire un castello di sabbiaWatch the sunset - Vedere il tramontoSpend time with friends - Passare il tempo con amici Youll want to bring Sunglasses - Gli occhiali da soleSunscreen - La crema/protezione solareSwimsuit - Il costume da bagnoFlip-flops - Le infraditoTowel - Il telo mareBathing suit cover up - Il pareo/il copricostumeA good book - Un bel libro Sample Dialogue L’uomo: Il tempo à ¨ bellissimo, andiamo al mare? - The weather is really nice, let’s go the sea? La donna: Volentieri! Quando partiamo? Voglio mangiare sulla spiaggia, quindi devo fare la spesa. - Definitely! When are we leaving? - I want to eat  on the beach, so I have to do some shopping. L’uomo: Partiamo alle 10, allora tra due ore, e va bene, ti porto al mercato. - We’ll leave at 10, so in two hours and all right, I’ll bring you to the store. La donna: Allora, compro del pane, un po’ di prosciutto cotto, e poi della frutta. Che altro? - So, I’ll buy some bread, a bit of cooked prosciutto, and  then some fruit. L’uomo: Del formaggio, magari pecorino? - Some cheese, maybe pecorino? La donna: Perfetto, e non possiamo dimenticare la pasta fredda che ti piace cosà ¬ tanto, quella con i pomodorini! - Perfect, and we can’t forget the cold pasta that you like so much, the one with the little tomatoes. {a casa - at home} La donna: Non riesco a trovare il mio costume da bagno. L’hai mica visto? - I can’t find my bathing suit. Have you seen it by chance? L’uomo: Mhhh, no, perà ² qua ho le tue infradito, la protezione solare, i teli mare, il tuo copricostume, le mie pinne e la maschera! - Hmmm, no, but here I have your flip-flops, the sunscreen, the beach towels, your cover-up, my flippers,  and the diver’s mask! La donna: Non fa niente, l’ho trovato. Andiamo! - It’s okay, I found it. Let’s go! {in spiaggia - at the beach} La donna: Vorremmo due sdraio in riva al mare, per favore. - We would like two beach chairs near the shore, please. Il bagnino: Va bene, seguitemi Signori. - Okay, follow me, sir and maam. Note: The bagnino uses formal speech with the couple while the couple uses informal speech with each other.   L’uomo: Oh, Grazie! - Oh, thank you! Il bagnino: Se avete bisogno di qualsiasi cosa io sono là ¬ alla torretta. Godetevi la giornata ed attenti alle onde! - If you need anything, you’ll find me on my turret over there. Enjoy your day, and beware the waves! L’uomo: Aaah, si sta benissimo sotto l’ombrellone! Vieni anche tu! - Aaah, it’s wonderful here under the big umbrella! Come! La donna:   No, non ci penso nemmeno, io voglio abbronzarmi! - No, forget it, I want to suntan!

Differences between Islamic Financing Methods and Conventional Research Paper

Differences between Islamic Financing Methods and Conventional Financing Methods - Research Paper Example The purpose of this study is to highlight the differences between the conventional financing methods and Islamic financing methods. The growing stature of Islamic financing methods in different parts of the world has offered different options to customers. It needs to be mentioned that Islamic financing methods are different from the conventional financing methods in terms of interest and profit elements. However, very few people are aware of that and often consider Islamic financing methods as similar to conventional financing methods. The study aims at highlighting the basic difference between these two financing methods along with analysing the overall importance and significance in the economic environment. The research also highlights the significance of the study in the current business and social environment. There is no doubt that Islamic financing methods are driven by religious teachings and preaching while conventional financing methods are based on modern and practical el ements of the economic environment like earning profit for every investment. The research encompasses a thorough analysis of differences between Islamic and conventional financing methods, assessment of advantages and disadvantages in the economic environment and preference of customers driven by religious issues and personal proclivity towards the financing methods. Financial institutions are often considered as the heart beat of any nation and smooth operation of these institutions often flourishes the perfect balance between the demand and supply of funds. There are a number of banks having different styles and perceptions of operating in a particular business and social environment. Islamic capitalism was based on Islamic principles where interest was prohibited in every sense. Islamic capitalism can be traced way back in 8-12th century but this has very little significance to this study. The primary purpose of this study is to highlight the differences between the conventional financing methods and Islamic financing methods. The growing stature of Islamic financing methods in different parts of the world has offered different options to customers. It needs to be mentioned that Islamic financing methods are different from the conventional financing methods in terms of interest and profit elements (Hassan, Kabir, Lewis, (2007). However, very few people are aware of that and often consider Islamic financing methods as similar to conventional financing methods. The study aims at highlighting the basic difference between these two