From Deathbed Confessions Come Five Great New Years Resolutions For A Happier Life

“Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”

Good Morning Folks,

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season with friends, colleagues and family. For those who continue to work straight through to support our clients - we extend a very heartfelt and appreciative thank you. 

On my time-out last week I was catching up on reading from some of the social bookmarks I save for all of us (please follow me) on my Twitter feed to catch when/if we have time. You will always find a GREAT read among them “a Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed.”

She blogs “For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.”

“People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them. When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

You can read he details behind # 1-4 at the source article HERE. 

With regard to #5, as your Chief Happiness Officer, I must say is a surprisingly common one. 

The Nurse noted, “Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”

“When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.”

As you make your new year’s resolutions, these 5 commitments would be a great place to start.

Always remember folks, life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness. Look in the mirror, because the only thing stopping from realizing your true human potential to be happy is you.

Thanks to everyone for their great efforts this year - we are blessed to have such dedicated and employees - look out 2015!!! 

Have a GREAT DAY as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

   

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“You only live once-but if you work it right, once is enough.”

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Cheers to You and A Happy Holiday Season

"Our FSO spirit is very contagious. From Fashion to Healthcare to Hospitality to our daily bread in Legal, ITS ALL ABOUT GROWTH.. when we service our clients.. the clients love us, they love the employees and tell their friends."

Good Morning Folks,

Tuesday night we hosted our Headquarters holiday party and wanted to thank you all for coming. 

I hope you enjoyed yourself and the time with our FSO family. I had a ball and our tradition at Sevilla was a huge SUCCESS. Revel in the memories and look forward to next year. 

On my way home from the party, I was reflecting on that we have accomplished a lot in 2014 and it is due to the effort that each and every one of you put in on a daily basis. It's your efforts that led to three new site openings this week.

• We are responsible for the Business Operations Management of the mailroom and facilities for fashion-forward brand. 
• We are responsible for the Business Operations Management of the hospital supplies at a major NY healthcare patient facility. 
• We went LIVE today at one of our newest and  prestigious hotel and resort client.  From Tysons Corner in Virginia to Memphis, Tennessee, FSO is the partner of choice to deliver our amazing services, hospitality and a complete (re) imagine across office services for this industry leader among those logos pictured below.  

Our FSO spirit is very contagious. From Fashion to Healthcare to Hospitality to our daily bread in Legal, ITS ALL ABOUT GROWTH.. when we service our clients.. the clients love us, they love the employees and tell their friends at their client events, golf games, their kids soccer games. GREAT WORK TEAM.

Please join me to provide a warm welcome to the new members of the growing FSO family and please congratulate Larry Wallace, Lissette Umpierre and Brittany Weaver who have been a tremendous team to launch our newest client!!!!

2014 is coming to an end, full of accomplishments both at HQ and in the field. Let’s begin 2015 with a stronger sense of accountability, let’s manage our clients business operations with an innovative and cost sensitive mindset. 

We have to continue delivering on the promises we have made to our clients and it is our responsibility to provide the best service with a smile. 

For many others we have our holiday luncheons and gifts starting next week. Our awards ceremony on January 7th. Then our leadership and management meeting to kick off 2015 the week later. And the reintroduction in 2015 of ALL our monthly recognition awards including my CHO club. 

Great stuff ahead in 2015. 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family Peace, Joy and Happiness during this Holiday Season and throughout the New Year. 

Give to others. 

And help one another.  

Love life and hugs all around.

Have a GREAT DAY as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

   
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"Nothing ever goes away until it teaches you what you need to know."

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2015: It's All About Believing. Attitude And A Strategy. (and btw, We're Hiring!)

"I want you all this Monday morning to look in the mirror and say. I am thankful for what I have in life. I want you to know we care. We love all of you. I am always here for you. I am Always around for you. And I am always thinking of you and how to make FSO the best place too work."

Good Morning Folks,

It is hard to believe for me that 2014 is coming rapidly to a close. 

Daniel Burrus said, "Give your customers the ability to do what they would want to do if only they knew it was possible."

If you think about it, this is what FSO does every day. We do this through a productive combination of people, solutions and technology.

And as the business world around us changes, we evolve too. Yet the one constant that never changes is service and the high bar we set for ourselves, then jump over every day.

I got an email from a customer this weekend which is a case in point. He writes about our folks, you folks, "They go above and beyond when they're doing their job. They are amicable in their approach & the professionalism is excellent. They are the first ones in office and last to leave, and did it all with a smile. I've never had this type of great Customer Service and experience from the Office Services department before."

See, if you’re serious about engaging the customer, you realize that the most valuable moments you have are when the customer is using your product, on the phone with you, actually engaged with you. If we over invest in that, or do what feels like over investing, we are far more likely to lead to the other sorts of interactions that we can’t buy, that we can’t control, but that we need desperately to happen.

The companies that develop a great technology, product or service and execute the right growth strategy, must also hire the right people and then forge a winning chemistry to achieve consistent success. A company that has done these things but starts to hire too many of the wrong people will slow down. Continually identifying, hiring and retaining highly talented and intelligent people is absolutely critical. We need your help to find folks just like you, the FSO DNA that makes us who we are. And we only need a few thousand across the USA. The skip. The fire. The twinkle. Meanwhile..

Love life. Be thankful. Think how blessed you are and more. Your Chief Happiness Officer is here to do all that is possible to ensure happiness including the recent establishment of the happiness team lead by Missy and many others. 

In 2014 we had and continue many messages. But the important message is belief. Believing in FSO. Believing in one another. Caring about one another and being a team. Being grateful for all we have. 

I want all of you, this Monday Morning, to look in the mirror and say: "I am thankful for what I have in life." I want you to know we care. We love all of you. I am always here for you. Always around. And always thinking of you and how to make FSO the best place too work.

Together we hold Hands and find the positive energy to effect our great company today and into the future but being a team that is thankful. Blessed and envisioning the greatness ahead. We have our health. We have our work family and our personal family. We have one another. 

Happy holidays folks. 

Hugs and kisses to your family at this time of year. 

Give to others. 

And help one another.  

Love life and hugs all around.

Have a GREAT DAY as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

   
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"Thank you is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. 
Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding."
~~ Alice Walker

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Surviving Digital Darwinism: Keeping Pace With Technology Change in The Practice of Law

"It's a simple but often forgotten principle - how does technology add value to the advice you provide? Successful technology for lawyers will allow you to make better decisions that ultimately benefit your client."

Good Morning Foks, 

Information technology is the backbone of the modern organization.

For organizations to remain credible in today’s world, you need an innovative partner like FSO to look to the future and help to constantly improve IT and software capabilities. FSO helps you meet this challenge with an integrated, holistic view of technology that combines infrastructure support, application development and strategic.

Competing for relevance is now a mission of every business and as such, it should be relentlessly pursued. The future of business is not about technology, greed, or short-term deals. It’s about people, purpose, and experiences.

It takes vision.

It takes empathy.

It takes courage.

The future of business lies in the shift from a culture of management to that of leadership and it begins with you.

Blogs Brian Sollis, "We live in an era of "digital Darwinism," a time when technology and society are evolving faster than the ability of many organizations to adapt. It is for this reason (along with a myriad of other problems of course) that in fact killed Borders, Blockbuster, Polaroid and the like. Not only did digital Darwinism cost us close to a half billion job, it's only accelerating. As Leon C. Megginson once said in paraphrasing Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

Over the years, Brian's studied how disruptive technology affects consumer behavior and decision-making. He's also researched how businesses react (or don’t) to these changes. What he learned is that barring a few exceptional instances of complete ignorance, organizations are open to adaptation if there’s indeed a case made for it and a path outlined to safely and cost-effectively navigate change.

Without vision or direction, businesses will always miss the true opportunity...

Here's what you need to know...

• Digital Darwinism is already here and it's only going to accelerate.
• Business as usual doesn't stand a chance.
• You're not too big to fail, you're not too small to succeed.

There is no shortage of technologies available to the legal community. The need for change is widely recognized, but many firms don’t yet have a framework with which to evaluate ‘solutions’.

According to Tanya Gleeson's "Legal Technology Buyer’s Guide", these three questions very quickly distill the merit of new technologies and the impact it will have on you, your firm and your clients:

1. Who really benefits?

The recent surge of automation and practice management solutions has meant that many support staff hours are saved... but what is the real value of this time saving? Is your firm measuring where these savings are occurring?

It's critical to understand who the time and cost savings are realised by; the two hours saved for a support person are significantly different to the two hours saved for a practitioner.

2. What is the problem being fixed?

Speak to your people. What are their frustrations, annoyances or pains experienced trying to achieve their goals? It can be as small as having to turn a light on or as big as understanding massive corporate structure in large scale M&A transactions. 

Solving a problem by looking into the business is far more effective than waiting to be approached by providers solving problems you never even knew about.

3. How will your client benefit?

The pressure for legal practices to remain competitive is higher than ever, which means as a legal management professional, you need to be the advocate for your client in the evaluation of a new technology.

It's a simple but often forgotten principle - how does technology add value to the advice you provide? Successful technology for lawyers will allow you to make better decisions that ultimately benefit your client. 

FSO has invested millions of dollars to date in the development and utilization of cutting edge CRM, operational and cloud based software and technology and we will continue to do so in our commitment to keep our clients ahead of the curve.

Our FSO Tech Center – a dedicated team lead by our CIO – Thomas Pategas provides comprehensive IT services. Whether your support needs are contract or on-demand based, FSO can provide professional onsite and offsite certified technicians to service all your Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 service needs.

Call me for a free evaluation of your current technologies, and ideas for new products and services to drive efficiency and profitability in the future.

Thanks to Brian Sollis and Tanya Gleeson for inspiring me today and to you, for listening,

Call me personally at 212.204.1193 and I’ll show you how to take technology headaches off your mind and plate, put the fun back into work and a smile on your face.

Have a GREAT DAY as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

   
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Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.

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On Cyber Monday FSO Salutes TECHNOLOGY i.e. "Better Service and Support, At Lower Cost"

"Listen closely and you too will hear the thumping, pulsing heart of a new economy. And now creativity, "the ability to create meaningful new forms," as The Random House Webster's Dictionary puts it--has become both the driving force of economic progress and the decisive source of competitive advantage."

Good Morning Folks,

Welcome to December. I hope you enjoyed the holidays. But the season of joy is just beginning.

Have you noticed that people everywhere at the holidays seem nicer, except at FSO where we serve to please and aim for daily smiles every day of the year, in everything we do, wherever you find us.

But while our people shine, people alone can not rise to the tough challenges facing businesses everywhere to compete successfully and profitably into the 21st Century and beyond.

As you know, the Executive Leadership team and I and more specifically our IT team are always thinking about how technology can drive out costs and cycles, making possible what was not before. This includes new products and methodologies to identify opportunities for improvements and help resolve critical IT issues that affect business performance for greater efficiency and productivity.

On this day, the first Monday in December otherwise known as "Cyber Monday" — Online commerce gets a lot of headlines. 

Many people talk about it as a very exciting element of what is happening on the Internet, and clearly it is. 

But I think one area that doesn't get enough recognition is service and support. Look at Dell, as an example. They get 100 million visitors every year to their Website. If you imagine the physical infrastructure that a company would have to have to support 100 million customer contacts, you can begin to see the efficiency that comes from working online with customers in the way the Internet does. Customer service will be a key differentiator in the future of e-commerce, and one of the most sure-fire methods of acknowledging customer queries is by answering e-mails.

This was high-tech in 1867— the innovation that drove Wall Street. The inventor Edward A Calahan unveiled the world's first stock price ticker system in 1867, but it used morse code and was essentially a glorified telegraph receiver. Two years later, Thomas Edison launched the Univeral Stock Ticker machine (pictured). It used alphanumeric numbers and printed one character per second. (Picture from the Museum of American Finance)

In his book titled "Creativity Is the New Economy" economist Richard Florida argues that "it's common to say we are now living in a post-industrial information or knowledge economy. And now creativity, "the ability to create meaningful new forms," as The Random House Webster's Dictionary puts it--has become both the driving force of economic progress and the decisive source of competitive advantage. He writes:

The Creative Age has been distinguished by the rise of two great social classes. The first is the Creative Class, workers in science and technology, arts, culture and entertainment, healthcare, law and management, whose occupations are based on mental or creative labor.

The second and larger one is the Service Class, whose members prepare and serve food, carry out routine clerical and administrative tasks, provide home and personal health assistance, do janitorial work, and the like. The Service Class has grown alongside the Creative Class, rising from twenty percent of the workforce in the late nineteenth century and thirty percent in the 1950s to almost half of the workforce, 60 million plus workers, today. 

The Creative Class, which comprised less than ten percent of the workforce in the late nineteenth century and no more than 15 percent for much of the twentieth, began to surge in the 1980s. Since that time more than twenty million new Creative Class jobs were created in the United States. 

This epoch-defining class now numbers more than forty million workers, a third of the workforce, and it generates more than $2 trillion in wages and salaries--more than two thirds of the total US payroll. An additional seven million or so Creative Class jobs will be created over the next decade, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections.

Members of the Creative Class engage in complex problem solving that involves a great deal of independent judgment and requires high levels of education. Interestingly enough, however, the Creative Class is not simply another name for the college educated.

While nearly three quarters of college graduates belong to the Creative Class, four in ten of its members do not have college degrees, but still engage in work that is creative by definition. 

At the worst of the crisis, in the first half of 2009, the rate of unemployment for the Creative Class barely topped five percent, even as the rate of unemployment for the nation crested over ten percent and the unemployment rate for blue-collar production workers surged above 15 percent or more. Creative Class unemployment is roughly four percent today, a little less than half the rate for the nation as a whole."

In helping our clients meet the changing demands of business, FSO has and will be launching innovative technologies and hiring and training personal so that your team is comprised of both service and creative-class minds. The best example of this is that only FSO gives you the white glove onsite service backed by the creative-class staffed (re) imagination team. It's all built around a strategy customized to the needs and opportunities of your business.

My friend Jay Turo at GrowThink.com blogs about Jessica Simpson, Renée Zellweger, and Bold Predictions.

As we usher out the present and get ready to usher in the new his ideas and predictions from when FSO was just getting started are worthy of reexamination. IHe predicted...

"The prototype of a breakout technology company will continue to evolve from “geeks in a garage tinkering with transistors” to loosely - coupled gangs of media - savvy trendsetters that get the game of viral and cross - platform brand and buzz-building. 

According to Jay, America is getting its mojo back. Once one quiets the mind to the drumbeat of negativity that passes as business and economic news, one can hear the sound of the nation’s entrepreneurial and risk-taking wheels turning.  

He predicted: It Will Be the Year of the Young (and the Young at Heart).
The best qualities of youth – enthusiasm, flexibility of mind and spirit, and the over-riding desire to be inspired will continue to shape the brave new economic world order. 

From youth by the millions leaving the countryside (smart phones in hand) to find their dreams in Shanghai, in Mumbai, in Sao Paulo, in Nairobi, to the young technocratic of Palo Alto, of Manhattan, of Santa Monica, of Moscow, the youth like Renée Zellweger’s unforgettable character in the movie Jerry Maguire, are not so much looking for jobs as they are looking to be inspired.  

And that inspiration, and it is a credit to their more open-minded than ever parents, is found in BOTH making a difference AND making a buck (and/or a rupee or a ruble).
Anti - business do-gooders they are surely not, but nor are they faceless and dreamless company men. Rather, their spirit is raised by big ideas.  

By clean energy for all. By friendship and professional networks not limited by nationality, race, and creed. 

By eliminating hunger in the world not via charity but via a combination of venture philanthropy, technology, and always - on global communication and awareness. 

By healthcare breakthroughs of all types - diagnostic, prescriptive, and in cost and efficiency so that everyone gets great care when and where they need it. 

And it will be the young and the young at heart that will move all of the above and more from dream to reality.  

Not all of it without setbacks and heartaches along the way. But a lot of it.  

This will be the REAL story of the decade- listen closely and you too will hear the thumping, pulsing heart of a new economy."

Not only do these life-changing inventions benefit all of humanity, they promise high employment at good salaries contributing to the economy. And that's why I recently decided to get more involved as I joined the Board of Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools who operates one of the largest Research & Development and Training centers for science and technology education in the world. It develops innovative curricula for robotics, nanotechnology, biomedical engineering, teaching-learning methodologies and online pedagogy for implementation in Israel and export to education systems and hundreds of schools around the world.

On this Cyber Monday, as we shop and pay by mobile phone with applications and possibilities we never dreamed possible, let's give homage to these "Anti-business do-gooders they are surely not, but nor are they faceless and dreamless company men. Rather, their spirit is raised by big ideas." For they have made possible all that we are realizing on our smart phones, and smart TVs today.

The Internet is changing the way business is conducted, at a speed unprecedented in human history. As interconnectivity and information flow increase exponentially, the old "rules of the game" no longer apply. Geographic proximity and established name-brands no longer assure sales or customer loyalty. The ability to instantly compare prices and features empowers buyers and puts new pressure on suppliers to compete on other levels. Business ethics become more important than ever before, as do service and the ability to integrate inputs from a multitude of sources around the globe.

Opportunities to globalize, engage customers and suppliers in real time and facilitate knowledge sharing and best practices can now be achieved in much less time than anyone could have imagined, thanks to the emergence of the Internet.

This New Economy is being driven by a profound development: Individuals and companies worldwide are being electronically linked, a process as significant as an organism developing a nervous system. It's the new platform for business, with the power to trim costs and create sales opportunities by connecting every corner of the corporation with partners and customers.

So it's no surprise that the rules of the game are changing. Many of these principles have been stated before. But taken together they constitute a revolution in the rules of business. Companies that recognize and harness these trends will profit. Companies that do not will shrink or disappear.

FSO has been prepared from the beginning. Readying for 2015 brighter minds, better ideas and breakthrough technology to drive them.

If you aren't familiar with what FSO is up to lately, I hope you'll give us a fresh look.

Have a GREAT Cyber-Monday and a wonderful week!

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 
"Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning"
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*(Now to my sales team please stop shopping and get back to work!)

Throw Back Thursday: Once Upon A Time You Couldn't Do Business Without "White-Out" Correction Fluid

White-out reminds me of that esurance commercial— Beatrice: Instead of mailing everyone my vacation photos, I'm saving a ton of time by posting them to my wall. Friend replies... That's not how this works. That’s not how any of this works!

Good Morning Folks,

A blogger advises newly hired law firm associates...

On your first day at a law firm, you will…
…train with an 18-year-old Harvard freshman who somehow manages to be more put together looking than you are.
…embarass yourself trying to use the unnecessarily complicated “coffee system.“
… go to a two-hour, three-course lunch, at the end of which the associate you ate with will say, with genuine pleased surprise, “hey! only $90 for lunch! not bad!”
…spend two solid hours being trained on the use of Outlook. (Who knew email was so complicated?)
…learn that all summer associates are going to be attending next week’s Beyonce concert in a luxury box, courtesy of the firm.  and...
…walk into your newly-issued office and discover that it is stocked chock full of office supplies, including a glue stick, an “envelope moistening wand”, White Out (now available in legal pad yellow! who knew!), and brand-new, still in their packaging tape dispenser, stapler, and scissors. (The teacher in me nearly swooned.) 

Yes, even in a computer age where word processing programs with spell check have made error correction automatic, White-Out, as it is known, is still used widely.

Directs one law firm to its clients:

When you deliver documents to our office, it helps if you can do the following: 

We rarely need originals.  Please deliver clear copies unless we specifically request the original. 

We want to protect you from identity fraud. Many bank and credit card statements, tax returns, and other documents have your social security number or account number on every page.  Please redact (use White Out) all but the last 4 numbers of any account numbers."

Then again, this is one area of the law where enthusiastic use of White-Out and CIA-grade black highlighters is encouraged.

According to Wikipedia: "White-Out "correction fluid" as it is known generically, is an opaque, white fluid applied to paper to mask errors in text. Once dried, it can be written over. It is typically packaged in small bottles, and the lid has an attached brush (or a triangular piece of foam) which dips into the bottle. The brush is used to apply the fluid onto the paper.

Before the invention of word processors, correction fluid greatly facilitated the production of typewritten documents.

One of the first forms of correction fluid was invented in 1951 by the secretary Bette Nesmith Graham, founder of Liquid Paper.

The best known brand of correction fluid,Wite-Out dates to 1966, when George Kloosterhouse, an insurance-company clerk, sought to address a problem he observed in correction fluid available at the time: a tendency to smudge ink on photostatic copies when it was applied. Kloosterhouse enlisted the help of his associate Edwin Johanknecht, a basement waterproofer who experimented with chemicals, and together they developed their own correction fluid, introduced as "Wite-Out WO-1 Erasing Liquid".

In 1971, they incorporated as Wite-Out Products, Inc. The trademark "Wite-Out" was registered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 5, 1974. (The application listed the date of "first use in commerce" as January 27, 1966.)

Early forms of Wite-Out sold through 1981 were water-based and hence water-soluble. While this allowed simple cleaning, it also had the problem of long drying times. The formula also did not work well on non-photostatic media such as typewritten copy.

The company was bought in 1981 by Archibald Douglas. Douglas, as chairman, led the company toward solvent-based formulas with faster drying times. Three different formulas were created, each optimized for different media. New problems arose: a separate bottle of thinner was required, and the solvent used was known to contribute to ozone depletion. The company addressed these problems in July 1990 with the introduction of a reformulated "For Everything" correction fluid.

In June 1992, Wite-Out Products was bought by the BIC Corporation. BIC released a number of new products under its newly acquired brand, including a Wite-Out ballpoint pen (November 1996) and dry correction tape (1998)."

Today, corporate clients have shifted priorities for law firms. Tired of high hourly rates and a no-bid mentality, corporations are demanding changes in the way law firms bill their clients. And the law firms are responding. There's no room for errors let alone non-billable time spent correcting errors. 

Law firms also are facing the same forces that have driven other industries to become leaner and meaner, namely globalization and technology. Law firms today must compete across borders for business while technologies, such as Internet search engines and online law libraries, call into question the need for legal associates and researchers poring over hard-cover law books and documents.

Once upon a time White-Out was a major innovation and a staple of the legal profession. But today it's going to take more than White-Out to "Wipe Out" competition.

Back office business practices have to change. And though law firms have been slow to change, I think we’re going to see even more innovations in the future. Like outsourcing.

As a result, many law firms are adopting new business models and doing what once seemed almost unthinkable in the industry: cutting hourly rates, bidding for corporate work against rival firms, capping prices, and keeping a sharp focus on the corporate client’s bottom line. In turn, the firms are cutting their own costs in a drive to become more efficient, using fewer attorneys on cases, and moving back-office operations to lower cost,more efficient processes like outsourcing.

I launched FSO with a vision, a dream of changing the outsourcing business in a way that was never done before. At FSO we are driving change and ushering law firms into the 21st Century and beyond. In a sense we are "Whiting Out" the past and delivering the future.

If you’d like to explore how FSO can bring your firm into the digital age, contact me personally at 212-204-1193.

With gratitude to Wikipedia and the Boston Globe for their insights that contributed to this post, and most of all to you for listening.

Have a fabulous, sunny, productive day filled with love and inspiration.  

Hugs all around.

 

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

ABOUT FSO:

• The fastest growing and most successful national onsite outsourcing in the U.S. focused on 1) improving services, 2) reducing costs, and 3) giving employees  an opportunity to grow.
• We outsource functions like: Mail, Copy, Reception, Switchboard, Office Services, Records, Messenger, IT, Concierge, Front & Back Office and much more.
• 1600+ employees, operating in 60+ cities, 225+ operational sites, 98% employee retention & 100% client retention.
• Ranked #24 in Crain’s magazine’s fast 50 and listed to the Inc 5000 list two years in a row.
• We (re)imagine the ways businesses are run.

VIDEO:

Brief "corporate portrait" video shows who we are and what we can do for you HERE

Ted Tuesday: Easily Learn 100 TED Talks Lessons In 5 Minutes Part Two of Two

You Can Easily Learn 100 TED Talks Lessons In 5 Minutes 

Which Most People Need 70 Hours to Absorb

Good Morning Folks,

The other week a friend watched 70 hours of TED talks; short, 18-minute talks given by inspirational leaders in the fields of Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED). He watched 296 talks in total, and he recently went through the list of what he watched, weeded out the crappy and boring talks, and created a list of the 100 best things he learned.

This article isn’t entirely about productivity, but I guarantee you’ll learn a thing or two. Here is the second and last post showcasing 100 incredible things my friend learned watching 70 hours of TED talks last week!

==> Race

55. Every day, homeless people are completely ignored, abused, and made to feel invisible.Take it from someone who used to be homeless.

56. According to data, women “systematically underestimate their own abilities”, particularly at work. According to Cheryl Sandberg, women need to sit at the table, make their partner a real partner, and not “leave before they leave” (step back from opportunities because of their family life).

57. Some of the best designs not only look great, but also accommodate your other four senses. They should also feel great, sound great, smell great, and even taste great.

58. We live in the one of the most peaceful times of humanity’s existence, even though it might not seem that way. This talk has the fascinating stats to back that up.

59, 60. Good design has the potential to make people incredibly happy. And some of the best designs are the ones that tell stories.

61. A little danger is good for both kids and grown-ups, and it makes you into a more versatile, well-rounded person.

62. If you want to help people in developing countries, you better have a deep understanding of the values of who you’re helping. Take it from a condom saleswoman in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

63. There may be another way to run a successful, modern economy: the Chinese way. Even if you disagree, this talk is fascinating (it’s given from a Chinese perspective).

64. The language you speak affects your ability to save money. Studies have shown that languages that are more future-oriented motivate people to save more money.

65. Hard work is sometimes degraded in society, but unjustifiably so. According to Mike Rowe (the host of Dirty Jobs), hard work is worth it.

66. The way we think about charity is dead-wrong. We reward charities for how little money they spend, instead of for the difference they actually make.

67. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change”, and it’s one of the most powerful qualities you have.

68. 4 a.m. is the most mysterious hour of the day.

69. 30 is not the new 20. Some people see their 20′s as a throwaway decade, even though it’s one of the most formative decades of a person’s life.

70, 71. Additional choice can make people either happier or less happy. Choice can make someone happy when the choices legitimately suit their needs better, and it can make someone less happy when it makes them more paralyzed (which happens a lot more than you think).

A Year of Productivity is my full-time job for a whole year, and I have no ads on the site. If you find what I make valuable, please pitch in a few bucks! You don’t have to any means, and I hate asking for money, but it truly helps me build my site up and pay the bills. Here are 8 awesome reasons to pitch in!

==>Technology

72. It turns out you can use two slices of pizza as a slide clicker, make music with ketchup, and make a piano keyboard with a banana!

73. If your medical data could anonymously be used by any researcher seeking a hypothesis, there would be a “wave of healthcare innovation”.

74. Since more and more websites are trying to tailor their content to you, you may get caught up in a digital “filter bubble” and not get “exposed to information that could challenge or broaden [your] worldview”.

76. Google is working on a car that drives itself, and it actually works very well.

77. A trend to watch: 3D printing. The ability for you to be able to print 3D items at home isn’t that far away.

78. Incredible things happen when you create an open encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Here’s the story behind Wikipedia.

79. There are a lot of videos about cats and twerking, but web video is also an incredible tool for learning and global innovation.

80. Everywhere you go online, you’re tracked; a lot more than you might suspect. Web tracking isn’t 100% evil, but websites certainly track you a ton, so it’s worth informing yourself what they use that information for.

81. Every electronic device you own is incredibly complex, with parts sourced from all around the world, so rebuilding anything you own from scratch is nearly impossible, as one guy found out.

82. You might put in orders on Amazon without much thought, but after you place an order, an incredibly intricate, hidden world of box-packing churns away to deliver your order.

83. Computers keep getting smarter; so fast that they often seem to be approaching (and exceeding) how smart humans are. But although they may be getting faster, they’re not as clever or creative as humans are.

84. Electrical sockets used to be shaped like lightbulb holders, because that used to be the only thing we plugged in.

85, 86. You can make plastic out of mushrooms, and the process is very good for the environment. This is great, because plastic has huge, surprising consequences for the environment.

87. It’s possible to stream wireless data from a light bulb (though it requires a line-of-sight between your device and the light).

==> Earth (and beyond)

88. Fish are delicious, but the way we’re farming them is unsustainable, not to mention bad for Nemo. Luckily, there’s a revolutionary (and fascinating) fish farming system in Spain that solves this.

89. Some fish and other ocean critters are positively enchanting. Want to see what I mean? Here is 5.5 minutes of footage of fascinating underwater creatures, including fish that change colors, creatures that camouflage to fit their environment, and fish that light up in the black of the ocean.

==> Flower

90. 80-90% of undersea creatures light up.

91. In my opinion (after watching this TED talk), one of the most interesting underwater creatures is the octopus.

92. Bees have been around for 50 million years, but they recently started dying en masse because of “parasitic mites, viral and bacterial diseases, and exposure to pesticides and herbicides”.

93. Flowers play beautiful tricks to attract insects to spread their pollen.

94. How a fly flies is fascinating, and according to Michael Dickinson, “perhaps one of the greatest feats of evolution“.

95. An asteroid 6 miles wide could end civilization on Earth in an instant.

96. The scientific odds are not against, but incredibly in favor of alien life.

97. One of Saturn’s moons has a giant volcano that shoots out ice instead of lava. And that’s just one cool part about the planet.

98. You can run a program on your computer that helps the University of California, Berkeley analyze radio telescope data for aliens.

99. Curiosity-driven science pays for itself, and drives incredible innovation for years to come.

100. Embrace the mystery that exists in the world. J.J. Ahrams has a mystery box that he hasn’t opened in 35 years, because the potentialof what’s inside the box is unlimited. which is worth way more than what’s actually in the box.

Have a GREAT day, be happy and…

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

*TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference on the West Coast each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.  More at Ted.com