Money Talks

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

The typical work day is dramatically changing. 9 to 5 is no longer the norm. With advances in technology over the past 10 years, time of day is no longer a factor in determining when business is conducted. Online shopping can happen at any time and so can business deals.

The October issue of Telecommunications Industry News tracks that trend. It says business people
are 42 per cent more dependent upon wireless technology and 51 per cent more reliant on mobile phones, PDAs, and PC data cards than they were just 2 years ago. This 24/7 approach puts extra demands on our time and with this added pressure comes the rise of a trend called "binge working".

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

Recently I was trying to find a good domain name for a client of mine that had just changed his corporate name. Unfortunately, almost every variation of the name he wanted was gone, and in particular, the ".ca" he wanted was being held by some company who wasn’t even using if for a website They had just grabbed it and parked it, waiting for a sucker to come along and offer them big bucks for it.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time I’d run into such devious companies – so I called a fellow I know who owns a hosting company to see what he thought we should do. I was quite shocked to learn that he said he too grabs names and parks them, holding out for some big fat offer from a desperate enough company.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

I bruise easily, and when it comes to leadership, self-discovery has provided me with my most valuable bruises. Whenever I talk to groups about the nuances of leadership or how to become an effective leader, I emphasize that my failures are the things that I learned from the most. What we discover for ourselves, as opposed to what we are merely told, makes the biggest impression on us.

I have learned to consider these bruises the growing pains of my personal development. What have you learned through trial and error? How are you helping to assist others in their own self-discovery?

When asked what I have learned to be the most significant issues effecting leaders and leadership, there are five that stand out above all others:

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

One can’t help but be amused by the spotlight being shone on Saudi Arabia this past week.
In case you missed it, 13 heads of the OPEC states are meeting there this weekend in the third OPEC summit.

The funny thing is that they are not the guys that will decide what to do about production. That’s the job of the oil ministers who will be meeting on December 5th.

So what’s this about, anyway?

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

There's a new scam making the rounds. You're given a cheque or money order to deposit and you're asked to wire money back to the donor. By the time you discover the fraud your bank account may be cleaned out.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

Just four weeks ago, I told you about how Cognos, Canada’s largest software company, would almost certainly be acquired because its closest rival had itself just gotten snapped up. Well, on Monday, it happened: IBM, always the most likely suitor, announced it was buying Cognos for $5 billion US.

It’s a big deal for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s the largest acquisition in IBM’s 96-year history, which shows the value it perceives in Cognos. Based in Ottawa, Cognos is a strategic partner of IBM in the area of business Intelligence software, a hot growth segment because it helps corporations mine their data and put it to better use.

But the more important aspect of this deal is that it darkens another of the brightest lights in Canadian technology.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

It is sobering to learn of the enormity of the profits that fraudulent telemarketing firms earn - and just how legitimate they can appear. Having done some research into the area, I thought I'd share some insights to help your business.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

If you were watching a bit of TV last night you likely saw 50commercials, and out of that 50, chances are you can’t recall a handful. And out of that small handful, I bet you can’t remember more than one product associated with any of those ads. Given the cost of advertising, that’s an advertiser’s nightmare.

Most advertising, whether in print or television, seems to be more for ego gratification of the ad firm than advertising’s main function . . . to persuade and sell. It’s time to start treating advertising as a business and as an investment.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

The mandate of this column is that we're supposed to be looking at green investing. Green is an awfully big area. Which subsector actually offers the most potential for investors? As I've talked before, it can really be divided into four areas. Earth, air, water and energy. And that's sort of the whole environment of green possible investing.

The only problem is that if you think about it, the expressions that we use all the time, expressions like cheap as dirt, spend like water and free as the air gives you some idea of the monetary value that people attach to the first three of these environmental areas.

So what I did was I thought about it and I said anything to do with the energy area, especially if it has to do with electrons is probably the single biggest area for investors today.

Money Talks is a collection of daily columns from The Business Network, which airs weekday mornings on CBC Radio One at 5:45 a.m. ET (6:15 a.m. ET in N.L.).

The recycling of old and obsolete electronics appears to be catching on. In my neck of the woods, there's more than one place you can take these digital dinosaurs to get them out of your storeroom - and if you could ever bear to part with any of it I might take them up on it.

But, did you ever wonder what happens to the stuff once your IT guys drop it off?