Sunday, April 25, 2010
Chapter Ten "Business Women And Men Are Different"
I learned that if women are going to rise to the top, that we need to build communities of other high-achieving women and learn to ask for help from one another. Building these can help women learn to help each other. We can also get rid of some of the jealousy and stereotypes that have been part of the previous paths of successful women.
Accounting change lifts Apple fiscal Q1 2010 results to over $15.6 billion

Written by Joe Wilcox and published January 25, 2010
This article is about how Apple had one of its highest earnings in the first of the fiscal year ever. The CFO Peter Oppenheimer described it one of Apples best quarters. Apple instituted new reporting rules for this quarter's results. The accounting change gave Apple's results huge lift. Before Apple deferred a huge portion of the iPhone under older subscription accounting rules. The Financial Accounting Standards Board revised new rules in September. The new change means that Apple can immediately recognize the revenue instead of deferring it for 24 months.
The new accounting method explains why Apple exceeded expectations by such a large amount. Apple revised two years of results in support of the accounting change. This added at least another $110 million revenue which was previously deferred over the past 24 months. So the quarter got two lifts: Previous unrecognized revenue is calculated at $25 for every iPhone sold over the last two years and revenue recognized in this quarter that was deferred before and now the revenue jumps, but its more because of the accounting.
For fiscal first quarter, Apple reported $15.68 billion revenue and net profits of $3.38 billion, or $3.67 a share, under the new reporting method. A year earlier, Apple reported revenue of $11.88 billion and $2.26 billion net quarterly profit, or $2.50 per share. I believe that this is a huge difference for the Apple company.
Chapter Nine " The Not-Always-So-gentle Art of Coping"
Chapter Nine is 101 on how to prevent stress in workplace and home. In this book we learn a lot about keeping stress out of you life. Stress can be controlled. In this chapter she gives helpful facts about certain area's that causes stress. Guiliano gives us her stress list and traveling in on the top.
The main stressful thing about traveling is luggage. You have to worry about your luggage getting lost. This can make your trip or vacations more stressful. So if you are traveling on business you should pack lightly. If you do this you can just take your bag as on the airplane. This also makes arrive a lot easier. Another think to keep in mind it always have your trick passport in a safe place where you know you have everything. Safety is also key when traveling. Have a usual security checklist: "Stay at a good hotel, don't give out your address, don't go out after dark alone. Know where the emergency exits are. Check in with someone periodically. Carry a phone and remember to pack the battery charger." This can all make traveling less stressful. Guiliano recommends reading Colin Cowie Chin. "He is wonderfully fanatical on travel preparation and compartmentalization."
Clothing can complicate ones life. Women mostly blaming being late on not being able to decide on what to wear in the morning. You don't need this in the morning. I can say that I have this problem every morning. So maybe picking out mentally or physically what you’re going to wear the night before. You can also clean out your closet and get reed of the clothes you don't wear. If you haven't wore it in a year you might want to get reed of it. This will help you keep your clothes out easier and faster.
Sleeping and eating well can prevent stress. Sleep is something your body has to have to run. A good night of sleep can change the way to feel and act. Most people need at lease seven or eight off sleep. You should have a time that you go to bed at everyday so your body knows when it needs to wake up and work. Finding out how much sleep you need every night can help you get enough sleep. Don’t forget about eating well. Food is energy for your body. This energy is what keeps you going. Eating breakfast is key to eating well. Eating well makes your body strong and you happy. This makes life less stressful.
Life will always be some what stressful. I stress about school sometimes but I just need to find away to get threw it and make things better. So if you have stress just the best way you can make the situation better.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Chapter Eight "Zen and The Art of Business(life)"
“With the Internet, smartphones, desktop video-conferencing, and other communication technologies, you are seemingly always connected with work, 24/7.” So when trying to find the right balance for your life you should consider making a little out of your week for yourself or your loves ones. Couples have to make an effort at finding balance and the time to be together. Just making a date night once a week or just go for a walk or rent movies at home. Just spending time together will make your relationship better. Guiliano and her husband made a rule that they would not be apart more than five consecutive days. Just making a little rule like this will make it a little easier.
The four elements that take to support a work life balance. 1) Good health, 2) a functional social network of friends and family,3) a solid employment situation and 4) time, space, principle, and policies for yourself. Stress and health are key to the balance too. Your health is very important because as you get older you are at a higher risk at being sick. Being stressed out is not being in good health. This may cause impaired judgment, poor performance. Wight gain is another big thing. “Current research on Americans show that nearly one out of two deals with stress by overeating or eating unhealthy food.” This can cause even more stress. So I would just try to keep stress out of your life.
Your personal Zen is another key thing in balance. Just make time for yourself. You can take a walk, read a book or have a spa day. This is the time that you can lose your self-consciousness and clear your mind.” You can feel the stress melt way. It’s your time .In almost any activity you enjoy, you can lose yourself and find yourself.” So from reading this I hope you learned a little about making your own balance in life.
Chapter Seven "Fire Your Boss: Leaders and Managers"
“One of the characteristics of a good leader is a calculated lack of fear that translates into making tough and even risky decisions and inspiring confidence”. Having good leadership skill can come naturally but you can always learn more. Guiliano learned lot of good leadership skills form what not to do by observing others- mostly men. There weren’t lot women role models that she could look up too.
To be a good leader you need to have great communications skills. You need to be able to communicate your ideas effectively and can motivate. Good leaders don’t complicate things. They keep the vision clear and simple. A good leader always builds loyalty and takes care of their employees. Your employees are very important. You need employees that are on the same page as the company and understand their purpose in the company or business. Showing them your loyalty, integrity and honesty is very important. Knowing your employee is key and showing them that they should be happy at work. Another thing to keep in mind is “knowing and accepting the leadership and management style of your boss. At the minimum, respecting it,if not loving it. Or find another boss.”
Managers are not the same things as leaders. Managers do a little leading but mostly manage people and outcome. The first principle in being a manager is hiring the right people. It’s the most important thing that the manager does. Always know the employees and make sure they have the right skills for your company or business. Managers keep everything together. I learned a lot in this chapter that can help anyone that wants to make the next big step up to management or a leader.
Chapter Six "Whose Success"
“People care about success, though, and want it. But what is it?” This is a good question to ask your self? I think success means having a stable career and a happy life. Success can mean a different thing to everyone because it’s what you believe is success. Guiliano feels that success means “it’s about managing expectations-you expectations and likely those of the people closest to you.” I totally agree with her.
Making goals is a good way to help you become successful. “Setting and managing our own expectations defines success and the path to balance and happiness.” You should make short-term goals because long-term goals can become frustrating, depressing or even worse. Making benchmarks are more realistic and can be accomplished in a reasonable time. When accomplishing the short-term goal or benchmarks you feel better and can make a new goal or go farther with you first goal.
As your life goes on our definition of success will change with the phases in your life. It may change when you start your career or start a family. You will have to change your goals as you move forward in life. Like if you start your family your goals will change because you have to think about your family’s best interest first. This means your idea of success might change now to maybe like buying a new house or saving for your children. All that matters is that you feel that you have been successful because success can mean anything.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Wal-Mart's State Tax Evasion Ploy: Paying Rent to Itself
This article is by Jesse Drucker and first published by The Wall St. Journal, February 1, 2007. The picture to on the left is the cycle Wal-mart pays its taxesThe article is about Wal-mart and other large companies that have gotten away with not paying millions of dollars in taxes through a loop hole that states have not caught on to. This is how they did it, a Wal-Mart subsidiary pays the rent to a real-estate investment trust, or REIT, which is entitled to a tax break if it pays its profits out in dividends. The REIT is 99%-owned by another Wal-Mart subsidiary, which receives the REIT's dividends tax-free. And Wal-Mart gets to deduct the rent from state taxes as a business expense, even though the money has stayed within the company. Wal-mart has only paid half of the state taxes in the last decade. Some corporate state tax planners say arrangements like these are smart business choices. I feel that companies should get out of paying taxes. It isn't fair to the small businesses that have to pay all their taxes and big companies don't. All businesses should have sit rule have to pay a set tax. This will make thing fair. If you want to read the whole article go to this web sit http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/2007/state_tax_dodge_rent.php