See It, Believe It, Do it

“What does every self-help book teach? Think it, believe it, do it. See video by Stevie Rae, a Wizard of Ads partner who reiterates this message with passion. I’ve come to realize that everyone, even great leaders, have self-depreciating thoughts. It seems the great leaders choose to remove those thoughts when they appear. Don’t tolerate negative thoughts about yourself or others. And if that doesn’t work, then as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Do the act, and the attitude follows.'”

From Decker Marketing.

online database of business case studies

“CasePlace.org is an online database of business case studies and supplementary materials for faculty seeking to integrate discussion of social and environmental issues into the MBA curriculum. CasePlace.org is also a free online service for business school faculty, students and businesses. They can help you find some of the best cases, references, and commentary published by and for business educators and business executives. For business materials that incorporate social impact management, corporate social responsibility, and business ethics, you’ve come to the right place.

CasePlace.org is a service of the The Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program (BSP). Aspen BSP staff’s extensive and ongoing searches of teaching materials, with guidance from discipline experts produce the material. They also rely on you to provide new content, to react to ideas, and to send ideas.

Via Marcus P. Zillman.

Best of E M E R G I C on Entrepreneurship

“Rajesh Jain, one of India’s better known blogging entrepreneurs, has summarised some of his best entrepreneurship articles from 2004. My three favourites are –

– From Employee to Entrepreneur (Aug 2004)
– An Entrepreneur’s Growth Challenge (Sep 2004)
– My Life as an Entrepreneur (Nov 2004)

There are so many nuggets of wisdom in those three articles alone that no aspiring entrepreneur should deny themselves the time to read them.”

Visit EirePreneur for links to the articles.

ESOPs as an Attractive Financing Source

“While a defined contribution plan may not seem like the most obvious method to raise cash, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) can be an attractive financing source for companies seeking liquidity to make an acquisition. By allowing a company to borrow money and to repay the loan with pre-tax dollars, an ESOP can dramatically improve a company’s cash flow and borrowing capacity.

ESOPs are employee benefit plans that invest primarily in the stock of their sponsoring company. Like traditional profit-sharing plans, the sponsoring company makes tax deductible contributions to an ESOP for the benefit of its participating employees. Unlike traditional profit sharing plans, however, ESOPs may borrow to purchase stock from company shareholders or newly issued stock from the company – enabling the company to raise needed capital.”

From VC Experts.

Prayer for Those Affected by the Tsunami Disaster

Father/Mother Creator,

Please heal those who have been affected by this quake and tidal wave. Let those who have died now be in peace and in happiness.

Please comfort the peoples affected by this disaster. Bring their communities together in love, in prayer, and help them care well for each other.

Let the world community pray and assist the people who were affected by this disaster with much compassion and show their caring in practical and abundant ways.

Let those affected by this earthquake and tidal wave rebuild better than before. Let them be strong. May good come out of this time of sorrow.

Bless the earth. Bring peace and harmony to the lands, to the sky, to the waters… If there be a need for the earth to release its tensions in the future, let it do so in a way that is gentle and harms no one. Let the waters return to their natural ebb and flow. Let the earth be calm.

Peace, Peace, Peace… Be calm. Be still. Let the healing begin…

From Beliefnet member WhiteHeron

Bizz Bang Buzz Blawger Bowl Best

In a close matchup, Bizz Bang Buzz overcame a last minute switch to the Houston defense who scored 24 fantasy points, and went on to defeat the Tech Law Advisor in the inaugural Blawger Bowl fantasy football Championship game.

For the coal miner’s son from Scranton, PA, it was That Championship Season all over again.

In the runner up bowl, the Invent Blog, who had dominated the regular season, triumphed over CRC’s Inducers.

Other blawgers who participated in the league and made it a swell experience for all concerned, despite, the infamous “Waivergate Affair” (as it has come to be known) were (in no particular order):

actualmalice
Promote the Progress
The Importance of…
ErnieAttorney
Libertarians
Loosely Coupled
UnbillableHours
Patently Obvious

Ways to Organize a Business

“Based on their needs and intended business activities, entrepreneurs may choose from a variety of legal structures. The general, or ‘C,’ corporation continues to be the most common entity type, as it allows for an unlimited number of shareholders and usually limits a stockholder’s liability to the extent of their investment in the company.

The limited liability company (LLC), which combines the corporate advantage of limited personal liability with the pass-through taxation advantage of a partnership, is also gaining popularity.”

But if a general corporation or LLC is not suited to your business needs, there are other options.

Rust Belt Arts Mecca

A hatted passerby is dwarfed by
sculptor James Simon’s
‘Liberty Avenue Musicians’in
the Pittsburgh Cultural District
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

“Pittsburgh reaps the benefits of its 20-year investment in a downtown cultural district – and in the vitality of its young people.

Cultural districts are popular ways for cities to reinvent themselves, especially older cities past their heyday as centers of industry. Nowhere has this been truer than in Pittsburgh, home of Big Steel. Now, the city is seeing impressive results from its 20-year experiment in designing such a district.

Unlike some cities that had to start from scratch, Pittsburgh already had a core of national-caliber institutions, and a philanthropic base laid by the Heinz and Carnegie families, among others. The 14-block Cultural District was spearheaded by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in 1984. By buying up derelict historic properties, the trust’s first steps were to make the area viable. Now the goal is to nurture future audiences and young artists, and to do that, the trust will have to overcome some residents’ resistance to the new.

‘We’re the town of Mr. Rogers and Andy Warhol, which speaks of what we are and what we’re becoming,’ says Bill Peduto, a city councilman.”

Read the full article at Christian Science Mmonitor. PHOTO BY ANDY NELSON – STAFF

Rust Belt Arts Mecca — Pittsburgh

p11a
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

“Pittsburgh reaps the benefits of its 20-year investment in a downtown cultural district – and in the vitality of its young people.

Cultural districts are popular ways for cities to reinvent themselves, especially older cities past their heyday as centers of industry. Nowhere has this been truer than in Pittsburgh, home of Big Steel. Now, the city is seeing impressive results from its 20-year experiment in designing such a district.

Unlike some cities that had to start from scratch, Pittsburgh already had a core of national-caliber institutions, and a philanthropic base laid by the Heinz and Carnegie families, among others.

The 14-block Cultural District was spearheaded by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in 1984. By buying up derelict historic properties, the trust’s first steps were to make the area viable. Now the goal is to nurture future audiences and young artists, and to do that, the trust will have to overcome some residents’ resistance to the new.

‘We’re the town of Mr. Rogers and Andy Warhol, which speaks of what we are and what we’re becoming,’ says Bill Peduto, a city councilman.”

Read the full article at Christian Science Mmonitor. PHOTO BY ANDY NELSON – STAFF

Delaware Court Holds Directors With Specialized Expertise to a Higher Standard

“A recent decision by the Delaware Court of Chancery found a director who was a former investment banker with experience in a particular industry held to a higher standard than non-expert directors in the context of mergers and acquisitions.”

From McDermott Will & Emery via Mondaq.