Billionaire entrepreneur and innovator Niraj Goel is ready with his latest offering – the Singapore Innovation League. What is this league about and what is the purpose behind its launch? Well, Niraj, who has risen from the ground up all by himself, has strong views about giving back to the society. After making billion of dollars worth empire, he is all set to help others to nurture their own dreams!

Singapore Innovation League:

The Singapore Innovation League will be launched on 4th July 2014, coincidentally the Independence Day of the United States of America. This league is being launched with a view to make Singapore the innovation and technology capital of the entire world. In this way, Singapore will become a major hub of technology, on the lines of Silicon Valley of the US and other major technological and innovation hubs in the world.

More about the project:

The total corpus of the league has been set at around SGD 1.5 billion and is aimed at helping close to 500 companies with proven potential. Each company which is qualified will receive SGD 3 million or around USD 2.4 million as funding. Such a huge amount of capital will be enough to give them a major boost and catapult them into the league of who’s who of domestic as well as global business players.

Who knows that the next big technology company may come from Singapore? Well, with so much of funds in their kitties, mainly thanks to Goel, this might be even possible! He is making investment of SGD 1.5 billion from his personal capacity. By doing this, he has joined the list of world’s biggest billionaires who have donated oodles for charity.

More about Niraj Goel

Goel is an NRI entrepreneur, innovator and visionary based out in Singapore. He has multiple innovations to his name, mainly in the financial technology and insurance sectors. Thanks to his sustained efforts for several years, he has amassed a personal fortune worth billions of dollars. He has surpassed even some of the household names in India when it comes to the size of total personal wealth.

After reaching the top, Niraj decided to give back to the society. He has set up multiple trusts in order to help the poor kids, needy, and old age individuals. His latest offering to the society is a venture capital corpus, with which he intends to lend much needed help to the aspiring entrepreneurs! His support might prove to be crucial considering the fact that countless new ventures happen to struggle on account of paucity of funds.

We attempt to demystify this relationship between the most vital aspect of positive thinking, a theory that encourages one to sift through various voices in the head and only heed those that give a certain positive value to the person in terms of what it can do for improving the quality of life for them, and the main technique of bringing positive changes about.

A person depending on the power of positive thinking to see him or her through a difficult time in life also needs to understand that a certain amount of introspection, recognizing the truths one faces about one’s self, knowledge of better qualities and drawbacks faced in a positive manner are the key to enhancing positive thinking skills that are needed to check level of self-discipline. Keeping this aspect of positive thinking in control is very important for those needing to exert a calm, mature degree of control over their lives so they can achieve good things for themselves and succeed in life.

Doing away with negative vibes, voices in the head and staying away from people that evoke negative, depressing thoughts in you is another way to help the positive views come to the surface and self-discipline through various tools like self-talk, writing a journal, listening to soothing music and perhaps even taking up regular physical exercise is vital for boosting the psychic energies to burst forth and do their work! This is because negative thoughts restrict the mind from discovering feel good emotions that in turn lead to positive action while thinking positive helps the mind to open up new pathways, like flowers stretching towards sunlight that banishes the darkness of ignorance.

In the same way, positive thinking and focusing on one’s strong points, positive qualities and abilities help build a healthy self-esteem, which gives one the power to ignore negative thoughts and stay guided by the positive to emerge successful in life with the confidence they evoke.

Since saying or thinking, “Oh, this is not going to work, ” or “I’m not good enough,” actually works to weaken a person’s self-esteem and wears their armor thin, the logic points to positive thoughts working as affirmatives in helping one reach out to goals and find them achievable as they feel they have the power to conquer obstacles. The last can also be imagined away with powerful, positive thinking, feel psychologists – much like reaching for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Rewarding oneself after having achieved a particularly difficult goal through the power of self-discipline and positive thinking (such as keeping to a diet, not meeting with negative people, or quitting a bad habit etc.) goes a long way in reinforcing the power of positive thinking. It also helps one achieve a healthier mental and physical balance in life as it programs the brain into accepting change in a positive way with positive results achieved – so stick with it and go places! After all, connecting with your inner child may well reveal certain dark spots not visited in a long time and you just may discover sides to yourself you never remembered, but can actively work on to remove the kinks, pay attention to the positive character traits and emerge a newer, stronger and rejuvenated person – so why wait?

Property is mainly divided into two classes

1. Real Property

2. Personal property

When we talk about real estate we talk about land and anything attached to land permanently. Buildings, farmhouses, ranches, fixtures constructively attached to a building are some of the examples of real property.

Personal property is any property except real property. It includes livestock, furniture, automobiles, and money.

Real estate taxes and personal property taxes:

Real estate taxes are assessed on industrial property or residential property. The taxes are based on the fair market value of the property. Taking interest in the valuation of it is important. There is a direct relation between the value of the property and taxes. The higher the value of the property, the higher will be the taxes.

Owners of real estate have to pay property tax unless exempted by state law due to age or disability. If a leaseholder is leasing real estate from an owner whose property is exempt, the leaseholder is liable to pay taxes. Residential owners, agricultural property owners pay their taxes directly, whereas renters pay indirectly through their rent. Real estate value is assessed yearly by the assessor’s department, and each year in January the assessment notice is mailed to the taxpayer. The notice of assessment is mailed to the business owner also in January each year.

Personal property taxes are assessed only on property that is used in business. The tax payer is liable to file a statement for assessments related to personal property. The assessor has the right to asses the amount of personal property as reasonable and if a statement is not furnished. The local assessor provides a statement form to the business owner as he is required to report the value of the property according to the law.

Smart TV evolution

The expectation of our TVs have changed – we now expect our set to do a lot more than just flick through broadcast TV channels. Consumers have been given a taste of a vast array of online content made available through TV sets, allowing the viewing of programs that may have been missed through apps such as Plus7 and I-View, and “renting” of new release streaming video straight from the TV from apps such as Bigpond TV. Content that we traditionally only accessed on our PC is now made available to us through our TV sets, Blu-Ray players and Home Theatre systems – closing the gap between internet and TV.

Movies

One of the most attractive capabilities of Smart Televisions is the ability to stream movies via the internet straight onto our big screen. This has revolutionised the manner in how a lot of people are accessing their movies, with the video store rental industry starting to really feel the pressure. In fact Samsung have just announced they have signed a deal with blockbuster to bring more movies to Samsung devices. The new Blockbuster streaming service is expected to land in the US and Europe in early 2012, and in Australia by September.

Bigpond Movies has been available on Samsung and LG TV’s for a couple of years now, and this represents a collection of thousands of new release and back catalogue titles which are streamed to your TV via the internet. No more leaving the house to go to the video store, or amassing late fees for that disc you forgot to return.

Quickflix has been available on Sony TVs and Blu-Ray players previously, and thanks to a recent deal Samsung join Sony in partnering with the online DVD subscription service and developing an app that will allow Australian users to stream video content to their Samsung Smart TVs.

Sony also bring us their own streaming service – Video on Demand, offering late release movies in the option of HD or a cheaper SD version – for those of us who don’t have the fastest internet speeds available or just tightening our wallets.

Consumers are also beginning to take up services such as Telstra’s T-box and Optus’ similar service FetchTV, over traditional cable or satellite connections from Foxtel and Austar. This has developed into a billion dollar industry in Australia – with nothing but growth forecast into the near future.

There is also a plethora of Multimedia devices available on the market such as Apple TV, Boxee and WD Live so we now have the widest option of internet content made available for us to watch on our TV screens than we have ever had before. Two of the more powerful Media centres have emerged from Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox, with the latter also recently able to stream a wide selection of Foxtel channels including movies and sports via the internet. Both also have movie streaming services available.

Television

Smart connectivity also opens up many options for us with regards to television channels. Almost every major television manufacturer has ABC’s popular I-View app pre loaded into their menus. ABC iview is a catch up service featuring the best of ABC TV. You can watch your favourite programs in full screen at your leisure. Most shows are available to watch for 14 days and new programs are added every day.

Another ever present app in any Smart TV’s arsenal is PLUS7. Plus7, from Yahoo and Channel 7, offers video streaming of full length episodes as seen on Seven, 7mate and other content partners. High quality, full screen videos are available for immediate streaming. New episodes are added daily and are available for up to 28 days after the air. You can pause, forward and rewind programmes, and all available to watch on your TV in full screen. PLUS7 also includes an email reminder service so you don’t miss out on watching shows before they expire. There is also the option to share videos with friends via email and Facebook.

BBC’s Iplayer is another Video On Demand service which provides access to the bulk of the BBC’s massive television archives, with over 1000 hours being available at launch and “hours” of additional footage being “regularly added”. Content available include BBC News, Documentaries, Entertainment, Drama, Science and Nature, as well as Family and Kids, Music and Culture and Comedy and Lifestyle. There is also a collections of the BBCs best exports such as Dr Who, Little Britain, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Absolutely Fabulous and more.

Bigpond TV is available through LG Smart TVs and Samsungs connected TVs (with internet at TV function). This is also the same service made available through Telstra’s T-Box. Bigpond TV is a TV channel streaming service which provides us with channels like AFL TV, NRL TV, Bigpond News, Bigpond Sport and Bigpond music and more. According to a study undertaken by independent telecoms research company Telsyte, One in ten subscription TV services in Australia are delivered via broadband, and they predict that by 2015, one third of all Pay TV services will be over broadband networks.

This is an obvious concern for cable subscription companies Foxtel and Austar. Austar, in particular, has had a big dip in fortune as it faces increasing competition from cheaper Internet TV rivals like FetchTV, iiNet and Internode – available from as little as $10 a month. With the streamed Internet TV content available from Smart TVs like movies and new release TV shows, as well as many new free-to-air digital channels – compared to a cable subscription which starts at $45 a month plus possible fees for the box, consumers are voting with their wallets en masse.

Music

Television giants Sony and Samsung will both have music streaming services available on their Smart TVs, with Samsungs soon to be released “Music Hub” set to revolutionise the connection between our music and our devices like never before.

Samsung’s Music Hub gives us access to shared music without the need to download and transfer content from one device to another, with the service becoming available on Samsung smart TVs, Samsung smart home theatres and smart Blu-rays by mid-December. The music hub offers owners of Smart TVs, Smart Home Theatre and Smart Blu Ray players access to more than 10,000 music videos with the premium subscription.

The technology stores music playlists in a cloud, and music can be accessed from individual devices anywhere in Australia where there is an internet connection available. A neat function is the “follow me” feature, which allows users to begin listening to stored music through a mobile phone, before picking up the same playlist again when they get home through their TV.

Sony’s Music unlimited has been available for a couple of seasons now, on phones, Bravia Smart TVs, PlayStation 3, and Sony PCs and tablets. Over 10 million songs are available on demand, from independent artists to blockbusting superstars. Thousands of new songs are added weekly, and you can create and edit an unlimited number of playlists, as well as listen to any song you want as often as you want. There are internet radio channels categorised by Genre, Era or Mood. You can “Like” or “Dislike” tracks to customise channels to your personal taste, and you also have the ability to create new channels based on your favourite artists.

How Smarter will Smart TVs be this year?

Viewers will be able to control their TV using face recognition, plus gesture and voice controls and move away from the traditional TV remote control – in a similar vane to Microsoft’s XBox Kinect. LG and Samsung both demonstrated Voice and gesture controls in their next generation televisions at CES 2012.

Samsung’s new 8 series TV, the ES8000, has gesture recognition integrated – via a camera which recognises hand-gestures prompting it to change channel, adjust volume, move an onscreen cursor and more.

Samsung and LG both introduce voice control in some models in their 2012 line up. Current LG Smart TV owners may be familiar with the Magic Motion Remote, which allows you to control a cursor on the screen in a similar fashion to how a Nintendo Wii controller works. This year will see an upgrade to the Magic Motion remote which now delivers voice recognition functionality. A microphone in the remote sends your voice to your Smart TV – allowing the user to web-search, tweet and make Facebook posts all with spoken words.

Panasonic have developed a new “flick” technology, and they believe it will open up brand new ways of displaying content from our mobile devices in perfect picture quality on a Viera TV. This will revolutionise the connectivity between our devices, allowing us to simply “flick” content to remotely transmit photos, videos, and webpages from Android or Apple products directly to the TV.

Another important feature coming is the ability to upgrade your TV with future functionality, without the need to buy a new TV. This will basically be in the form of an upgrade slot at the back of the TV and you will be able to purchase upgrade “kits” as they become needed and available.

Google have announced that LG, Sony, and Vizio will be parading Google TV devices at CES 2012, with Samsung coming out with Google TV later in the year, with Apple also rumoured to be manufacturing TVs ranging from 37″ – 50″, and reported iTV features such as Siri-powered controls, iOS app support, AirPlay, iCloud support and deep iTunes integration.

Sony have announced two Google TV add-on boxes in the form of a Blu-ray player and a network media player. These will ship in America and Europe shortly, and other parts of the world can expect them to roll out afterwards. Both boxes have a completely new remote, featuring a backlit QWERTY keyboard with touchpad. The remote can also work as a universal remote for other devices, while the Blu-ray player also supports voice search.

Death of the idiot box

The aim and vision of television manufacturers has now progressed far beyond just delivering us a great picture quality. The ability to seamlessly link our media, whether it be on our phones, tablets or computers, with our Home Televisions has become of paramount importance. A plethora of new content, in the form of applications brimming with Movies, Television and Music is shifting us away from the traditional way we consume such content – placing heavy pressure on industries such as the traditional Video and Music Stores, and Cable / Pay TV companies like Foxtel and Austar. What we used to have to leave the house for, we now have at the wave of our hand. The days of the missing remote are fast disappearing, in fact the days of using a remote control are disappearing altogether. The idiot box has finally smartened up!

It seems the 800lb. Gorilla has escaped his cage and is joining many of my coaching clients in critical sales meetings. Other clients mention some interesting elephants making their way into the conference room. They are both sitting in the corner waiting for acknowledgement and hoping you will invite them to join the conversation. If you are like many clients, the last thing you will do is acknowledge their existence, and you certainly will not allow them to participate in your big sales call. I think Mr. Gorilla (or Mr. Elephant if you prefer) and his intentions are sorely misunderstood. We perceive him as mysterious foe that should be ignored at all costs rather than a friend who might actually help us to nail the big deal if we were to just give him a listen.

Who is this Gorilla and why is he joining your sales presentation? The Gorilla is your personal early warning system. If you pay close attention, you will notice that he usually shows up when something begins to go awry. There may be a sudden drop in room temperature as your questions illicit brief answers. Clients may begin to fidget in their seats, check watches, and shuffle papers. As for you, chances are that each fidget is a sign warning you to hurry up. The speed at which you move through your presentation increases in direct proportion to your rising personal pressure meter. You look up for a moment and there is the Gorilla in the corner, sitting at the table, or hovering somewhere near the ceiling looking down on the entire scene. In short, his presence is your active intuition kicking in trying to bring your attention to something that may be important.

What is he trying to tell you? He is trying to tell you that something is going unsaid causing discomfort for you and your client. The “unspoken” may be a question, concern or fear regarding the decision to purchase your product or services. There may be important factual information that was inadvertently omitted or that your client failed to hear. Have you provided them with the information they need to make an educated decision? Purchasing your product or service may be perceived as taking a modest or high level of risk for the organization or the individual responsible for the buying decision. Is there a sufficient amount of personal and professional trust established in this relationship to move forward? The probability of making your sale is most definitely linked to what you do when your Gorilla makes his appearance.

What should you do when he shows up? As with any other kind of warning system, its effectiveness is tied to our ability to hear it followed by our willingness to take an appropriate action once the warning has been acknowledged. Take car alarms as an example. Car alarms are great example of warning signs that we have learned to ignore and thus rendered ineffective and pointless.

Like a car alarm, you do have the option of ignoring the warning signal. Keeping with this analogy -there will be times when this choice yields no negative consequence. Perhaps no one is really stealing car and a shopping cart banged into it. You may still make your sale but you may have gotten a little banged up in the process. Your client may have enough confidence to move forward despite some underlying discomfort.

However, you may instead choose to acknowledge the warning signal. Acknowledgement will help you maintain control of the sales process and increase the probability of closing the sale you hope to make.

First, hit the “pause” button. What is he trying to call my attention to? However counterintuitive it may feel, you may even choose to verbalize the warning out loud and engage your client in acknowledging that something important needs to be thrown on the table. Second, ask the tough questions – the ones that your client is probably asking himself. Third, help your client work through their concerns by verbalizing the “hard truths” about their situation and their options. Contrary to undermining your sale and your credibility, introducing this level of authenticity and awareness almost always serves to build the trust and credibility that yields not only a sale but a strong relationship with your client.

Instinct and Intuition are just two skills associated with Emotional Intelligence at play in outstanding sales performance. Together they enhance communication and help foster strong relationships with clients, friends, partners or co-workers. Actively working on listening to the Gorillas and Elephants that show up in your sales interactions will help you to work smarter producing greater results for your efforts.

With the increasing awareness about health and toned body benefits, people are increasingly turning towards personal trainers for their fitness requirements. This in turn has fueled the demand for personal fitness training coaches. The fitness training world is seen as rewarding and glamorous and aspiring candidates want to make a mark in the shortest time possible. However, if you have decided to embark on fitness training, you should choose a course most tailored to your preferences. After enrolling to such courses, you should learn how to make the most of such opportunities.

The four ways to maximize your course experience:

1. The right match

Finding the right course is essential in getting the most out of your course. You should not hurry up and join the most advertised course. Look around for variety and different style of teaching. Before joining a course, you should verify the claims of the training institution. You can check out what certifications they provide and what the ones they themselves have. Top training institutions have current certifications. You should be wary of the ones whose certifications are expired or are past their dates. Current certifications mean that the institution has up to date training methods.

2. Clear goals

Join a course with clear goals in mind. Your objectives should be crystal clear as to what you should be gaining from the training institution. In this highly competitive world, getting certified is not enough. You should be knowledgeable on various aspects of fitness training. The numerous aspects may include balance, flexibility and theoretical knowledge. Only once you are clear on all aspects will you be able to convince and educate your clients. There are many fitness training courses available in the market that counsels you about the syllabus and other aspects.

3. Working relationship

You should be able to establish a good rapport with your faculty members at the training school. This will allow you to get additional tips apart from the regular course materials. Fitness is a combination of training and the right nutrition. By establishing the right rapport, you will gain access to privileged information about nutrition. There are many institutes which offer nutrition courses along with regular fitness training.

4. Dynamic training

If you follow a single training regimen, it will ultimately stagnate and you will only suffer. Hence, the training courses which you enroll should be dynamic in nature. They should instill different methods of training into your course regimen. This will keep you motivated and interested.

The above four tips will help you get the most out of your training programs and you will get the best value for your course money.

One of the key weaknesses most beginner network marketers have is know how and sales skills. After all, many of them actually joined the industry because of the potential for growth and good income but not all of them have the experience in promoting, selling and networking that are critical to MLM success. This is why it’s highly important that in choosing network marketing programs, you should zero in on the potential to get personal development training as well.

Getting the support you need

The best MLM programs work because there is a clear structure and standard procedures maintained. These are implemented and followed by all business units, such as those built by a team leader and his/her downlines.

Without the necessary support, it’s very easy for individual differences and preferences to come in, thereby diluting the system and even corrupting it. This is how many of the wrong practices and faulty procedures seep into a network marketing business unnoticed. Before long, the business will begin to suffer from the lack of discipline and cooperation among members.

A strong network marketing company understands the need to maintain a set standard of work and performance quality among its team leaders and their downlines. Only then can the structure of the business be maintained and the quality of service assured to its customers.

So how do you find a network marketing program that can assure you of personal development? Here are some signs to look out for:

Well-organized marketing campaigns

The MLM industry is a robust, multi-billion dollar industry. It has several major players and dozens of minor ones, each vying for a bigger segment of the market. Once you sign up for one program, know that what you’ll be up against are at least 5 or 10 others in the same field, whether it’s consumer goods, personal care or nutritionals.

If your MLM program cares about the personal development of its members, they should be able to provide you with professional quality marketing materials. These should contain sufficient information to promote the products and/or services to help drum up interest in the business.

Training

A good MLM company should be able to constantly provide training for their members. As mentioned earlier, most people join the industry with very little knowledge – all they truly have are good intentions. Your network marketing company should include affiliate seminars and training that is specifically geared towards improving the sales and marketing performance of all teams.

Community support

Another important clue to identifying a MLM company that offers solid personal development is one where strong community support is present. With all the income that can be potentially generated in network marketing, it’s quite easy to turn greedy. However, if a network marketing company is well structured, it should be able to promote and nurture community support among its members.

Customer support

Customer support is not just a goal for personal development in network marketing, it’s also a strategy. It’s a known fact that good customer support does more for a business than anything else. Of course, when customers feel taken care of and valued, they are more likely to patronize your business.

Fair compensation plan

Nothing does more for personal development than a program that offers a fair yet well-paying compensation plan. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why people sign up for a particular program. When you are presented with a network marketing opportunity, always check to see how well structured the compensation plan is. This, among other factors, will help determine how well you will get rewarded for your efforts.

We are fast approaching the very end of another interesting and challenging financial year. The buzz words in most organizations would soon be ‘Met Expectations’ and ‘Needs Improvement’. The atmosphere in some work places are reminiscent of school days when kids return to their seats collecting their mark-sheets or report cards, some elated and some crestfallen. However, the tension in the air during the appraisal season is sustained for a longer period, than what we experienced with report cards in our school days. The whole process can be extremely stressful to all parties involved. A better understanding of the objective, processes and key elements of a performance appraisal would make the experience for all more worthwhile and less stressful.

What is Performance Appraisal?

It is a formal and structured evaluation method to elucidate the performance of an individual or a group/team and the potential for development.

Objectives of Performance Appraisal:

There could be a plethora of objectives for conducting a performance appraisal based on the difference in job profile, profile of employee, organizational objectives etc. The following are the most common objectives for conducting a Performance Appraisal.

• Employee Confirmations: The idea is to evaluate the employee performance against the expectations set forth while the individual joined; and to find out if he is ready to be confirmed as a permanent employee.
• Employee Promotions & Compensation: Here the employee appraisal gives a clear insight on whether the individual is ready for taking up bigger responsibility and linking the performance to the percentage increase in compensation.
• Need for Training and Development: Performance Appraisals and performance dialogues identifies those areas which needs improvement in an individual/group and suggests action plans to address these gaps through Training and Development.
• Employee Feedback & Grievances: The appraisal is also used as a platform to understand the factors that contributed towards deviation from expected performance and understanding the support the employee requires in to meet future expectations.

The following table gives a simplistic view of the objectives of Performance Appraisal:

Individual Understanding

Feedback on performance

Identifying areas of improvement

Identifying areas of strength

Better understanding of future expectations

Organizational Understanding

Salary revision

HR systems evaluation

Retention/confirmation/termination/promotions

Identifying gaps that hinder achieving business objectives

Documentation

The Process of Performance appraisal

Step 1 – Objective Definition of Appraisal

Have a clear understanding of what the Performance Appraisal will achieve

Step 2 – Establish Job Expectations

Have clarity in what is expected both qualitatively and quantitatively from the job entrusted.

Step 3 – Appraisal Program Design

Create a plan with respect to the when and where and how the appraisal is going to be conduted. This includes the tools that are going to be used. Even 360 degree feedback and 360 degree performance appraisals are used

Step 4 – Evaluate

The information collated about the performance is now evaluated by comparing it to the established job expectations.

Step 5 – Performance Dialogue

This step involves meaningful conversations that both appraiser and the appraisee has towards understanding the evaluation and discuss action plans.

Step 6 – Final Data for Action

In this step the results of the appraisal are documented for further action.

The key to the success of any performance appraisal is in the quality of the performance dialogue. The performance dialogue determines the future relationship of employees/team with the management. This is critical for individuals/teams to be motivated to achieve the business objectives for the coming financial year.

Some Current Performance Appraisal Methods

1. Assessment Centers: This is a method of performance review that was first developed and used as early as 1943 in countries like USA & UK. The objective of this method is to put employees in simulated environments that require employees to display behaviours and patterns that are typical of a working environment in order to gauge employee performance. Trained assessors observe these displayed behaviour and rate them on set parameters. The results drawn from these observations and analysis helps the management to decide on the readiness of an employee to take up new assignments, higher responsibility and also the areas of improvement that needs to be addressed in doing so.
2. 360 degree Feedback: It is a method in which all stakeholders like manager, peer, customer, subordinate, other departmental staff, including self gives feedback on an individual’s performance. This technique gives a broader perspective to the developmental plan of the individual and allows them a 360 degree performance appraisal. Some of the areas that can be appraised through this technique are interpersonal skills, customer service skills, meeting timelines etc.

“It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality” – Harold S Geneen

Every manager would serve their organization well if they understood that the essence of performance appraisals does not lie in intimidating an employee but in mutually agreeing on what needs to be done to accomplish business objectives. This is also something that should be focused on in performance appraisal training.

People suffering from depression or despair have an acute need for therapy and counselling. How can therapy meet those needs, particularly when it is less a commodity and more a relationship? What does this mean exactly?

Therapy won’t do it for you; it won’t solve your problems, provide a cure or administer a corrective or medicine-like dose to change your state of mind or the conditions of your life. From short-term counselling, or symptomatic counselling, to depth or major psychotherapy, which takes place over many years, as well as all stages in between, this is the case. The client, or patient, cannot just appear and put time into therapy; they are required to participate in a real, motivated way with purpose, application and persistence. This is not a simple matter, because we are human beings with a mix of conflicts, sub-personalities, voices disagreeing and modifying other voices and different points of view; we are a melee, an Hieronymus Bosch picture of what the Buddha called suffering.

In the middle of all of these conflicting forces, the client has really got to want to change. One of the stock answers in the psychotherapy field when change does not occur is resistance. But it is rather simplistic, patronizing and belittling to offer up resistance as the great sine qua non of the therapeutic endeavor and aspiration, because it represents the obstacles or blocks without which therapy has nothing to work with. We need to have respect when an individual makes a choice, from whatever level of their consciousness, to persist in the emotional-behavioral patterns they have learnt as adaptation for survival.

It is always a matter of choice. Consciously or unconsciously, we are choosing all the time and that is one of the essential insights for effective therapy work. After all, if we weren’t responsible ultimately for what’s going on in our lives then we wouldn’t be able to change. Since we are ultimately responsible we can do something about it through therapy, self-discovery and awareness practices.

And this requires our conscious cooperation, because therapy does not provide a cure, like medication may claim to for instance, or exert an active force on us, the passive recipients of therapeutic healing. Rather we have to participate and do at least as much as the practitioner we are consulting. As clients we may have to do more. It’s a joint practice.

As therapists we need to evaluate ourselves in therapy practice from the point of view of personal involvement in the client’s healing process. When we are thinking in between sessions, or trying to problem-solve, or obtain insights, dreaming, fantasizing or envisioning our client’s recovery, we are probably taking on the responsibility for self-healing which rightfully belongs to the client. We have to stop doing it, because we are taking responsibility away from the client. It manifests in our tone, our attitude, how we approach, speak and interact with the client. Ultimately it can be disempowering for the client, although it may be the client’s transference that is provoking a reaction in us. This transference may be summarized as “Look after me”, “Do It for me” or “I can’t look after myself”. So it is essential that we challenge that in the client at the right time, as well as refraining from buying into it by reacting.

This article is an overview of common shoulder injuries in work injury and personal injury cases.

Rotator Cuff Injuries

The rotator cuff (“R/C”) is a common area for injuries that involve weakness, tenderness and pain. The rotator cuff is essentially comprised of the shoulder joint. Tendons are able to slide along an empty sac surrounding the rotator cuff called the bursa. It is also made up of four muscles that surround the shoulder joint. Below are some of the most common RC injuries.

Tendonitis and impingement syndrome

Tendonitis in the RC is caused by impingement. Impingement refers to the act of being squeezed. The RC tendons and bursa can get squeezed when the space between the bone and RC narrows. The result of such an impingement is usually tendonitis.

Calcific Tendonitis

Calcific tendonitis occurs when calcium deposits form in the RC. The formation of calcium deposits in the RC usually causes inflammation of the tendons and the bursa. Thus, calcific tendonitis is essentially the inflammation of tendons and bursa from calcium deposits in the RC.

Rotator Cuff Tear

Older people are more susceptible to RC tears because the RC weakens with age. Tears can occur during activities that put stress on the tendons. It is also possible for a RC to tear in the absence of activity from degeneration.

Arthritis

The shoulder joint is one of the many body parts that are susceptible to arthritis. Symptoms of arthritis include pain and sometimes swelling in the shoulder.

Labrum

The labrum is cartilage in the shoulder that functions to stabilize the shoulder and facilitate movement. The labrum is essential for allowing arm movement. Because the shoulder joint is an extremely shallow ball and socket joint, the labrum forms a cup inside the joint to keep the arm in place while allowing it to move freely.

Labral tear or Bankart lesion.

When a shoulder is dislocated, the labrum usually tears as the shoulder pops out of the joint. A Bankart lesion is specific type of tear when a specific area of the labrum known as the glenohumeral ligament is torn.

Treatment for Bankhart lesions varies depending on whether a patient has reoccurring shoulder instability. Aching, susceptibility to dislocation and catching are the common symptoms of Bankart lesions. Those who experience a Bankart lesion are more likely to dislocate their shoulder again in the future.

We are lawyers, not doctors, but after you’ve handled a few thousand of these cases you get a pretty good understanding of the medicine involved. You also get a good sense as to whether or not one of these injuries is related to an accident or is just the typical decline of the body over time.