The sales year has four quarters in it — and the 4th Quarter is the most important of the year. “Q4” is the quarter that has a double impact to your performance. First, consider that sports coaches always teach their players to compete until the end of a play, a game or a season. Many sporting events are not won until the last minute or play of the game. Yogi Berra’s famous … [More]
Moving from a Bored Member to a Board Member
As a young professional 10 years ago, I was so excited to join my first board. It was one of those board positions that you just inherit when you get promoted, but you really have no clue what they are doing or why you should care. In my case, it was a city board for workforce development. My only training was a day-long session on Robert’s Rules of Orders. But, I did get to … [More]
Breaking Ground, Celebrating Community
On May 12th, nearly 200 community leaders, donors, volunteers, staff members and other special guests gathered to celebrate a milestone event in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s history — the first groundbreaking on a new building on the campus in more than 25 years. The event celebrated the first step in the construction of a new building that will house a relocated and … [More]
On The Board and In The Spotlight: Shelley Cohn
How long have you served on these boards? Fortunately for me, I have the honor of serving as the board chair of the Arizona Community Foundation and the board president of the Desert Botanical Garden simultaneously. I have also served as a board member for both of these organizations for more than ten years. What drew you to this organization? I am passionate about both the … [More]
“Who Has the Time” and Other Questions on Nonprofit Advocacy
Recently, a prominent nonprofit leader told an audience of people from public charities and private foundations: “Nonprofits have a duty to advocate on behalf of the people who have no voice, to demand social justice.” Many nodded in agreement while others waited for him to get onto something they hadn’t heard before. One audience member was heard muttering, “Yeah, but who has … [More]
The Nonprofit/For-Profit Connection: ICAN and Intel
The City of Chandler is known as a high-tech industrial city and a great place to live. What you might not know is that in the Downtown Chandler area, many families struggle to provide for their children and keep them safe from local gangs. For the last 25 years, ICAN: Positive Programs for Youth, a nonprofit established by Henry Salinas, has helped Chandler youth and their … [More]
Working With Nonprofits
There are many ways for a business to contribute to our great nonprofit enterprises. Some of the simplest ones are writing a check or gifting goods and services. One way we help nonprofits is by working with them and taking the time to guide them in the world of risk management. In most cases, the revenue we earn handling their insurance isn’t enough to cover our costs, but it … [More]
Impact of Minimum Wage Law
The impact of the new minimum wage law continues to unfold. The average of wages prior to Prop 206 was $9.25, 15 percent over the previous minimum wage. We will incur another 5 percent increase in 2018, 4.8 percent in 2019 and 9.1 percent in 2020 to get to the full $12 rate. Small increases to our contracted rates this year narrowed the gap between cost of service and rates … [More]
Translation Equivalency and Effective Foreign Communications
The success of any international company depends on how well its message is communicated across borders and languages to its employees, partners, clients and customers. High-quality translations are, therefore, of paramount importance. This article makes an attempt at defining high-quality translations and provides recommendations for clients of translation service companies to … [More]
Don’t Ignore These 10 Things as You Grow
Samrah Azam is an international business consultant and is executive director of Global Chamber® Islamabad. In addition to her work with Global Chamber, she provides HR consultancy, business improvement solutions and training modules for different corporate sectors. Working as an executive director at Global Chamber, with combined technical and commercial insight to craft … [More]
Member Success Spotlights
Global Chamber® has started a series of weekly articles about our chapters around the world, and one of the recent ones was on Jeffrey Campos, executive director for Global Chamber® Denver, Colorado, USA. We spoke to Campos about why he joined Global Chamber and what inspires him to help members and collaborating organizations to succeed. “Global Chamber protects and … [More]
Practical Suggestions for SMEs Working with Academic Institutions in the R&D Space
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need every edge they can muster to fund their growth. This article addresses several ways SMEs can approach academic institutions for funding. The research and development (R&D) funding climate in the United States can be challenging. Federal R&D appropriations for the next fiscal year are still under development and the … [More]
YSEALI, Global Chamber and Being Global and UNSTOPPABLE
My wonderful journey in the United States began when I got selected as one of the Indonesian “fellows” to have my professional fellowship program by the U.S. State Department and American Council through their program called YSEALI (Young South East Asia Leaders Initiatives). This remarkable program connects businesspeople from South East Asia to companies in the U.S. for work … [More]
Summer 2017 President’s Message
This question has been on my mind lately. We now live in a world where we hear from our president not in stately messages delivered from the Oval Office but in middle-of-the-night rants on Twitter. And they usually are filled with vitriol aimed at the lawmakers on Capitol Hill — on both sides of the aisle. And Congress is not much better. Instead of representing the will of … [More]
A Test for Tech
Being in the top 10 most definitely carries its rewards. However, there are no promises that such rankings are permanent. There is always something, somewhere that could take that away. That best describes the situation where it comes to Arizona’s technology industry and its role as a key exporter in the United States. Arizona ranks No. 8, with approximately $5.6 billion in … [More]
Not Just Whiskey Row
Not too many organizations can claim that one of its members is home to the College of Security and Intelligence, which trains professionals — cyber and otherwise — to work at the national and international level. And not too many cities can claim it’s home to this college. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott is one of the newest members of the Arizona … [More]
Going Global
Good news travels fast — and far. That’s what organizers of the Arizona-based Chief Science Officers (CSO) program learned when their promotional video was named winner of the Facilitator’s Choice Award in the STEM For All 2017 Video Showcase supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). (The video is at stemforall2017.videohall.com/presentations/907). Separately, the … [More]
Taking the Lead
After a decade of success as president of her own company, Kathryn Odland was looking for something more for her company — and herself. She found it in the Arizona Technology Council’s Transformational Leadership Program, which “provided tremendous self-reflection, so much that I became amazed at some gaps between my perception and the perception of others in my organization,” … [More]
