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Ron Paul is a breath of fresh air to the republican party.  His republican ideals are on par with those of the founding fathers, that the constitution should be a document of the people limiting the amount of control the government can have, not the other way around.  His ideals have garnered quite a loyal following.  So much in fact that ‘Paulites’ as they are called have funded a recount of the New Hampshire primary.

Supporters of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul are helping to bankroll the re-count of votes in New Hampshire’s Jan. 8 Republican presidential primary.

GOP candidate Albert Howard of Ann Arbor, Michigan, requested the re-count, which began Wednesday and was continuing. Howard got 44 of the more 200,000 votes cast.

Because Howard wasn’t close to the leaders, he had to pay the nearly $60,000 cost of the hand re-count. Howard said a group of Paul supporters called the “grannywarriors” is paying for the re-count.

 To read more about this story, click here.

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In tennis, a seemingly individual sport, the majority of players have a coach (or coaches) behind the scenes that help them with their training and conditioning, etc.  These coaches act as a motivational catalyst that can drive the athlete along the path to success.  Many of these athlete’s, while naturally skilled, would be lost without a professional coach.  There is one player, however, who is the epitome of success, and he has continued to be even without a bevy of coaches.  That man is Roger Federer who is currently playing towards winning his 13th Grand Slam event at the Australian Open.  He exudes a kind of confidence and drive that has been unseen in the game.

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In an expected leadership switch Meg Whitman, current CEO of eBay will be stepping down at the end of March. This move was expected as Whitman and voiced at her inauguration that she didn’t think a CEO should stay for more than 10 years at one company. It was the fact that eBay expects disappointing guidance in 2008 that made the stock fall 5 percent in after-hours trading.

EBay announced Wednesday that, as expected, CEO Meg Whitman will be stepping down on March 31st.

The company also reported fourth-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street’s estimates but eBay issued disappointing guidance for the first quarter and all of 2008. The stock fell 5 percent after-hours on the news.

Whitman’s decision to step down was expected. This March will mark her ten-year anniversary at eBay, and she has said that a CEO should not stay in his or her post longer than ten years.

Click here to read more about this article.

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Managing people in general is a difficult task in and of itself.  But there are certain managerial tasks that are even harder.  One of these tasks is attempting to manage and organize a major sporting event, such as the Australian Open.  There are many different companies involved and a manager needs to keep track of them all and when and where to deal with each vendor.  Also, there are all the internal groups of people that need managing such as the recruiters, advertisers, maintenance crew, etc.

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Amusing story about a congresswoman trying to find out who to blame for the credit crunch.  Shows that if you are trying to mount an attack you better know who you’re dealing with.

A congresswoman at a House of Representatives Budget Committee hearing was seeking to pin down which Wall Street firms were responsible for the securitisation of sub-prime mortgages.

She began: “Seeing as how you were the former CEO of Goldman Sachs …”

A bemused Bernanke interrupted: “No, no, no, you’re confusing me with the Treasury Secretary [Hank Paulson, the former Goldman Sachs bigwig] …”

To read more on this story, click here.

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In recent days Hilary has cast aside policy issues and chosen to focus on her experience and leadership styles and Obama’s lack thereof – at least according to her. If Obama and Hilary were stocks i’d put my money in Obama, using an online stock service, because i feel this tactic will come back to bite Hilary.

In a Democratic presidential campaign turning largely on personal qualities rather than policy differences, Hillary Clinton has now seized on an off-hand comment Barack Obama made suggesting his management style is not detail-oriented to press an advantage she has in voter perceptions of her preparation for the presidency.

To read more about this story, click here.

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It is often said that leaders are born, but new studies show that this age old mantra may in fact be debunked.

Now, research at the London School of Economics may show that leaders are very rarely born. Instead, they are the ones who are willing to make the decision to lead in situations when it is most expected of them. This confirms an earlier theory by leadership thinker Bernard Bass that leadership is primarily a function of the situation, and that anyone could be a leader in the right conditions.

Leaders are rarely born because they often do not carry any legacy, nor are they necessarily from great families. People who have initiated and propagated great changes are seldom there because of a birthright. They emerged as and remained great leaders through their own merit; beginning with a decision to take on leadership and a determination to lead a cause that they believed in.

To read more on this story, click here.

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Kadoink, a web telephony service for social media that enables enhanced group communication and mass distribution of SMS, live and recorded voice messaging and audio file streams over the voice channel, has closed $7 million in financing with Sutter Hill Ventures.

Arthur Trueger and his venture capital company, BerkeleyVC, usually invest in later stage funding and help build a solid foundation from which the new management of a start up can grow and succeed.  To read more about this story, click here.

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People in management need to make sure that their demeanor is professional at all times.  This may result in a lack of “friends” in a manager’s subordinates, but it is necessary to maintain a neutral work environment, without playing favorites.

Here is a story chronicling a situation when a manager left her professionalism by the wayside and gossiped with her subordinates about one of their peers.  It left the gossiped about peer feeling very uncomfortable and hurt.

When a start up company receives funding from a venture capital firm, like Arthur Trueger‘s BerkeleyVC, they also get the management expertise of seasoned professionals, who can help maintain a positive work environment.  To read more about venture capital news visit Arthur Trueger‘s blog.

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Venture capital firms, like Arthur Trueger and BerkeleyVC, aren’t always looking to invest in start up companies; sometimes they invest in the take over of established companies.  This is the case with Jana attempting to take over  Cnet’s board with the help of a VC company.

Hedge fund Jana Partners LLC of San Francisco and New York said Monday it plans to collaborate with other investors to take over the board of San Francisco-based Cnet in the hope of making the company more profitable.

Sandell Asset Management Corp., the venture capital firm Spark Capital and Paul Gardi of Alex Interactive Media are working with Jana in the takeover attempt. Jana holds 8 percent of Cnet’s stock and claims another 8 percent of “nonvoting economic interest.” Sandell claims 5 percent of “nonvoting economic interest” in Cnet.

To read more about this story, click here.

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With iPods seemingly everywhere these days, it was only a matter of time before they invaded the work place.  Some people claim that listening to their favorite band helps them focus on the task at hand.  Yet a manager has to ask – Do iPods and similar gadgets really increase productivity.  Some experts are mixed on the notion.

The most wonderful and irritating thing about iPods in the office, says author Barbara Pachter, is their ability to cut workers off from the real world. “The ‘pro’ part of it is that their music doesn’t really bother other people, and it may help some people focus.” she said. “The downside is that people get so caught up in what they are listening to that they don’t hear others talking to them.”

It comes down to what type of job the person is undertaking.  For some more monotonous jobs or jobs where the employee is not working directly with other people listening to music can be a definite benefit.  But in hazardous jobs where people need to be alert of, say, a forklift iPods can be a dangerous item.  To read more about the debate of iPods at work, click here.

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I came across another good website that gives a lot of great resources on how to better your management skills in a wide array of situations: Management For The Rest Of Us.  The advice the site can provide is applicable to virtually any type of work environment whether an individually home based business or medium sized company with a few hundred employees.    This versatile website contains all types of tools and articles to help anyone become a better manager of their work.

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People are bombarded with stress signals everyday; whether it is from that annoying boss at work or a crying baby in the apartment above you while you are trying to relax, stress will find you.  It can, however, be managed just like your time and people can be managed.  I came across an interesting website that seems to be a great resource for stress management.  It offers information, both brief and in depth, about individual stress, stress from clients or stress from the workplace.  It gives suggestions on how to build defenses to stress, as well as ways to ‘think’ stress away.

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Whether you like it or not office politics exist in virtually every form of business today.  You can fight it and most likely hinder any career advancement or you can play it with the best of them.  Here are some tips to help  you succeed.

1.   Identify the power holders -  These are the people that other people look up to – find them and know why people look up to them.

2.   Tailor your work style -  How is success measured in your company, and what types of approaches and behaviors are most rewarded? The better your working style fits the organization, the more influential you will be.

3.   Be an expert – Develop an indispensable set of knowledge and skills—things that are not available elsewhere—and you gain expert power.

4.    Recognize others – Be generous with recognition and rewards, as well as opportunities for involvement.

5.    Use your influence wisely – You do have influence—and, yes, power—even if you don’t realize it. Whether that influence is formal or informal, use your power to give to—not take away from—the people around you.

To read the rest of these great office politics tips, visit ManageSmarter.

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