FEBRUARY 2010

Welcome to the first issue of Agility Update for 2010. To kick off the year on a positive note, we feature three articles with a central theme of success: in new product development, enduring family businesses and social signals. Finally, as public internet hot spots and Wide Area Networks expand, we offer a timely reminder to secure your Wi-Fi enabled Smart Phones and other personal technology to keep your information safe.

The Path to Successful New Products
Businesses with the best product-development track records stand apart from their less-successful peers in three crucial ways say management consultants McKinsey. After surveying more than 300 employees at 28 companies across North America and Europe, McKinsey found that successful companies:

1. create a clear sense of project goals early on
2. nurture a strong project culture in their workplace
3. maintain close contact with customers throughout a project's duration.

The teams in the McKinsey study that embraced these tactics were 17 times as likely as the laggards to have projects come in on time, five times as likely to be on budget, and twice as likely to meet their company's return-on-investment targets.
https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com

Family Businesses That Endure
Less than 30% of family businesses survive into the third generation of family ownership. However, according to recent McKinsey research, those that do survive exhibit two key attributes - professional management and the ability to keep the family committed to, and capable of, carrying on as the owner. McKinsey also identified the five dimensions of activity that must work well and in synchrony:

1. harmonious relations within the family and an understanding of how it should be involved with the business,
2. an ownership structure that provides sufficient capital for growth while allowing the family to control key parts of the business,
3. strong governance of the company and a dynamic business portfolio,
4. professional management of the family’s wealth, and
5. charitable foundations to promote family values across generations.

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com

Face Time: Predictor of Success
Research at MIT is confirming that it’s not what you say but how you say it that has a greater influence on success. In the study, the researchers outfitted their subjects with devices that recorded data on their social signals – tone of voice, gesticulation, proximity to others, and more. And in all the situations, these social cues – also known as “honest signals” – were powerful indicators of success, as much as 2.5 times as important to success as additional access to information. The more successful people are more energetic, talk more, listen more, pick up cues from others, draw people out, and get them to be more outgoing. Although results aren’t final, the researchers think productivity can be increased by 10% at no cost just by rearranging the environment to promote more employee interaction e.g. by putting more energetic, positive people on a team to raise the team’s performance. http://hbr.org/2010/01/defend-your-research-we-can-measure-the-power-of-charisma/ar/1?cm_mmc=npv-_-DAILY_STAT-_-JAN_2010-_-STAT0121&referral=00204

Secure your Wi-Fi
The increasing availability of free public wireless hotspots is making it more convenient and cheaper to access the internet with your Wi-Fi enabled smart phone and laptop. However, as free public hotspots are by nature "open" and unencrypted, you can reduce your exposure to unwanted risks by:

• Configuring your device to not automatically connect to an open network without your approval.
• Making sure that you are connecting to a legitimate hotspot. Those that require a password have more protection than those that do not.
• Using your employer-supplied virtual private network or VPN as this establishes a private connection across the public network.
• Surfing the web and sending e-mail is fine, but not financial transactions like banking.
• Disabling sharing when using hotspots, if your Wi-Fi enabled devices automatically open themselves to sharing / connecting with other devices in your office or home networks.

For more security tips, go to: http://www.wi-fi.org/secure_your_wi-fi  An International Airport Wireless Internet Guide is available here: http://www.travelpost.com/airport-wireless-international.aspx