Information is everywhere. The challenge is making effective use of it.

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Smart Solutions Education Division Smart Solutions K12 is the Education Division of Smart Solutions, Inc., a 27-year-old company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Smart Solutions’ goal is to help schools and school districts increase IT efficiency and enhance student achievement. Our multi-disciplinary team includes experienced educators, highly skilled engineers and technicians, and other specialists who work to ensure that all technologies systemically advance the academic and business goals of our clients. Our products and services include professional development programs, technology solutions, managed technology services, e-rate support, data solutions, and instructional and productivity tools.

Nitin Julka, Vice President

njulka@smartsolutionsonline.com

I could not be more proud!

Bill Julka, founder of technology company, donates $6 million to Cleveland State University for scholarships

By Karen Farkas, The Plain Dealer

May 26, 2010, 4:50PM

View full sizePlain Dealer fileThe Cleveland State University campus east of downtown Cleveland.View full sizeCourtesy of Cleveland State UniversityAnand “Bill” Julka says he donated $6 million to Cleveland State University so that Cleveland’s public high school graduates will have opportunities for success.CLEVELAND, Ohio — An area businessman, who enrolled atCleveland State Universitydecades ago because the price was right and he could take classes at night, has donated $6 million to provide scholarships — and opportunities — to graduates of Cleveland’s high schools.

Anand “Bill” Julka’s gift, the largest in CSU history dedicated to scholarships, is for students who pursue degrees in teaching, nursing, engineering and computer science.

“I want to make sure that financially disadvantaged students can finance their education and when they graduate have a job waiting for them,” said Julka, 60, the president and founder of Smart Solutions Inc., a technology company in Beachwood.

It is unknown how many students will be helped by Julka’s gift because the tuition scholarships will fill gaps not met by grants, work-study and other financial aid, said CSU President Ronald Berkman. He said the gift is expected to provide about $300,000 annually for scholarships.

“One of the things we are learning nationally in higher education is that even a small deficit of $1,000 to $1,500 is one of the main reasons a student decides not to enroll or not return to college,” Berkman said. Tuition at CSU is currently about $8,000 a year.

Berkman said that since he arrived on campus last year he has spoken to Julka and as many other CSU alumni as possible of the need for scholarship money. In recognition of Julka’s donation, CSU will name its new Education and Human Services building Julka Hall.

Julka said he is honored.

“I feel very grateful and fortunate that I am able to give back to the community that has given so much to me,” he said.

Julka ended up in Cleveland almost by chance and never left.

After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology in India, Julka came to the United States with little more than his degree, seeking a master’s in industrial engineering.

“Three schools had the program I was interested in, but Cleveland State had the lowest tuition and was the only one who offered all their classes at night so students could work during the day,” he said.

So he chose Cleveland over campuses in Minnesota or California.

“I fell in love with the city the moment I set my eyes on it,” he said.

He worked at Eaton Corp. while attending CSU and stayed there after receiving his master’s degree in 1974. He founded Smart Solutions in 1983.

Julka, who lives in Moreland Hills, serves on the board of the CSU Foundation, which will administer his gift. He donated $100,000 for scholarships about four years ago, he said.

He said the current gift was prompted by the tremendous financial need of students, especially during the current recession.

“The president approached me and the development office approached me and they impressed on me to act now versus later,” he said.

While the $6 million gift will not be used until it generates interest after being invested, Julka plans to give a cash donation so some scholarships can be awarded this fall, Berkman said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: kfarkas@plaind.com, 216-999-5079

9. Meetings aren’t action. This is a common mistake in management. They hold meetings to get things done. Meetings, unfortunately, almost always get in the way of actual doing. Stop holding those meetings!

Meetings are an easy target for criticism because so many of them are badly run. But that’s not a good reason to dismiss meetings entirely. If an organizational executive or business leader is trying to execute a complex strategy that touches several different divisions, meetings can be the most efficient way to drive things forward. The act of preparing for a big meeting helps clarify one’s thinking on a topic. Also, asking others to prepare for a meeting is a good method for understanding other division’s planning and strategizing. Finally, the meeting is a great way to ensure that stakeholders are aligned in a particular direction. Meetings are some of the most critical leadership “actions” that someone can do.

10. Talking (usually) isn’t action. Well, unless the action you need to take is a presentation or speech or something. Or you’re a television broadcaster. But usually, talking is just talking. Communication is necessary, but don’t mistake it for actual action.

I believe a leader’s most important role in an organization is articulating (ie talking about) a vision and aligning the stakeholders within the company, outside partners, current clients, and prospective clients around this vision. I am not sure of any method of achieving these leadership goals apart from doing a lot of talking. Talking is also a highly efficient way of brainstorming and problem solving. Again, if someone is just talking about sports, weather, or non-constructively whining about particular aspects of a company, then perhaps it is a waste of time. But just because a lot of people waste time talking does not make talking inherently non-action oriented.

11. Planning isn’t action. Sure, you need to plan. Do it, so you’re clear about what you’re doing. Just do it quickly, and get to the actual action as quickly as you can.

What!? If a business leader is responsible for directing and managing an organization where he or she is not directly responsible for the coding, product, delivery, or service, then planning is perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT thing that a manager can do. Also, if you are a programmer or engineer doing a complex project, then planning is the absolute most critical action that you can be doing. It’s hard for me to think of any circumstance where it makes sense for someone to “just do [the planning] quickly” outside of simple tasks like doing laundry (and even then you’d want to plan enough so you’re not washing two pairs of socks every day!).

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The future of business isn’t about leveraging Twitter or weathering the storm, or even finding the next great groundbreaking product. The ones who really change our world for the better will be the ones most passionate about doing it.

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A Radical Plan for Helping Poor Countries

Romer, an economist, is a leading expert on the dynamics of economic growth, and he sees the tale of Hong Kong not merely as a historical irony, but the answer to one of the knottier problems of our time: the great global chasm between rich and poor. And to close that gap, he argues that the world needs not one but a hundred Hong Kongs, what he calls “charter cities.” In his vision these would comprise a global archipelago of economic powerhouse city-states, located in the world’s poor nations but built and run by wealthy ones.

Self-driving Electric Concept Car

For the Autonomobile, by contrast, Mike and Maaike “set out to design a concept car which questions current obsessions of speed, styling and driving in search of an optimistic new future.” As Dezeen notes, this search for new performance measurements led the designers to “focus on quality of time while in traffic and transit.”

What they came up with is a seven-seat lounge pod meant to allow comfortable productivity or social time while you’re stuck in traffic or rolling along at moderate speeds. The premise is that it’s rare that we use our cars’ max acceleration or MPH, so we might as well give up some of that performance in favor of a more relaxing, efficient ride. The Autonomobile has no steering wheel, brake pedal or driver seat, and to provide more interior space, Mike and Maaike envision electric motors in each wheel and energy (some of it generated using rooftop solar panels) stored beneath the vehicle floor.

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Hi,

Today, New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning announced his partnership with Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope – a goodwill program designed to minimize the technology gap in the U.S. educational system – by announcing a 100-word essay contest that calls upon parents, students, and teachers across the U.S. to improve technology in classrooms by submitting an essay for the chance to win a portion of over $1million in technology from Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope.

You can submit your 100-word essay by going to: www.fourseasonsofhope.com/education (it can be written in English or Spanish)

The philanthropic initiative will reward winning writers with a Samsung GO Netbook and their local schools with cutting edge Samsung products, Microsoft software, DIRECTV educational television programming and cash grants as well as special @15 gift cards supplied by Best Buy.  To date, Samsung and it’s education partners (Microsoft, Best Buy, DIRECTV) have provided more than $9million in technology, software, TV programming donations and cash grants to K-12 schools in the U.S. over the past 5 years.

100-word essay question:

“How consumer electronics, computer equipment and software awarded through Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope could benefit your school?”

Rules:

• Contest Opens: 9/15
• Contest Closes: 11/1
• To view all rules and submit for essay – www.fourseasonsofhope.com/education
• Follow contest on FSOH Facebook – www.facebook.com/fourseasonsofhope
• Twitter: @SamsungTweets

Hope this interests you, and please let me know if you’d like any additional information.

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In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.

In the following years they replicated the experiment in other parts of India, urban and rural, with similar results, challenging some of the key assumptions of formal education. The “Hole in the Wall” project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who’s now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it “minimally invasive education.”

1) Be insanely optimistic in the long-term.
Long-term optimism is a prerequisite for being highly productive and achieving great things. In percentage terms, assume that there is only a 1% chance that a company will grow to become the leading company in its industry. Even if the percentage chance of huge success is minimal, there is still a chance. Therefore, assuming anything except the best will only diminish the chances of the company capturing that possibility.

A long-term optimistic mindset also provides tremendous guidance in working through short-term challenges. If Harry is working in an entry-level position at a software company, then he needs to believe that he is capable of running the company. This will inspire him to work hard, persevere, develop relationships across the organization, continue self-development, learn the marketplace, and in the end – will dramatically increase his chances of achieving his insanely optimistic goal of running the company.

The same mindset can be applied to people. If I have the absolute highest expectations of my subordinates or peers, then they will feel inspired to work and achieve at their highest level. Each short-term obstacle or hurdle should always be viewed within context of the long-term insanely optimistic goals.

2) Be 100% consistent with 100% follow through.
As stated by Maren Hogan on Brazen Careerist, consistency and follow through are two of the most underrated skills. You should never drop the ball on anything! If you find yourself dropping the ball, then you may be over-complicating the issue, not listening enough, or trying to accomplish too much. It is much better to aggressively take things off your plate (habit 5), and be 100% reliable rather than trying to do too much. Being consistent and reliable helps develop the utmost trust and respect with the people around you.

3) Single task, but multi-project. Do not multitask.
Multitasking is one of the worst developments in the “blackberry” age. Numerous studies have shown that trying to do two things at once diminishes the quality of work on both activities. The brain cannot physically process two things at once, and instead rapidly switches between the two disparate activities causing under-performance on both items. It is extremely important to deeply focus on the single item in front of you, fully complete it, and then move to the next item. This does not mean to not work on multiple projects. Once you finish sending that e-mail and following through on all the action items related to that e-mail, it is appropriate to move to the next task or project. But, writing that e-mail while someone else is talking to you in a meeting is not effective. Interruptions and multitasking are only appropriate in emergency situations.

4) Be Proactive
Nobody plans to be reactive. Unfortunately, a lot of projects, people, and organizations operate in “reactive” mode where everyone is extremely busy, but nobody has the time to plan, improve processes, or coach others. If your organization or project is always working in emergency mode, then there is likely an organizational or structural problem. It is essential to take a step back, analyze the operational bottlenecks that are causing everyone to be too busy, and start reorganizing the work flow to create more slack in the organization.

5) Choose 1-3 very clear MITs (most important tasks) per day, per week, per month, and per year.
It is far too common to assume responsibility for 10-20 projects and allow each of them to drag on for months without fully completing them. This is not an effective way to productively complete work. It is much better to focus on achieving 1-3 absolutely key MITs each day, each week, each month, and each year. These MITs should be fully completed from start to finish. This methodology of choosing 1-3 goals to accomplish each day will lead to a much more satisfying and productive completion of work.

6) Outsource, delegate, delete, and aggressively take things off your plate (while still accomplishing your goals).
One of the most important characteristics of being a highly productive individual is understanding what not to do.

Do you subscribe to newsletters that you never get a chance to read? Unsubscribe! Do you get CCed on e-mail chains that clog up your inbox? Politely ask people to stop CCing you on e-mails that are not relevant to your work. Are there 3-4 e-mails being sent back and forth about a project? Pick up the phone and give the person a call to talk through the issue. If you meant to get to something, but never seem to have the time, create a “some day” list and remove that item from your “active” projects.

An office assistant or virtual assistant are also an excellent asset for doing administrative tasks such as making reservations, checking time sheets, and preparing reports. Actions that can easily be created into a process or automated, should be automated (using elance.com, rentacoder.com, or BrickWork India)!

A key tool to leading a highly productive lifestyle is learning to automate, outsource, delegate, or take things off your plate effectively.

7) Always work in action steps, with a single owner of a task, process, or responsibility, and with an expected completion time.
A variation of Habit 2 (be 100% consistent and reliable), is to learn how to break everything down into actionable steps.

Any time someone is assigned a task or responsibility, make sure there is a single owner. Too often, a “team” is expected to complete a project, but there is not a single project manager. It is critical to assign one person who is ultimately responsible for delivery of a project or action.

There should always be an expected timeline on completing the project or task. If a manager assigns three individuals to create a marketing plan for the business, then the project team should assign one single person responsible for delivering the overall project, assign owners to sub-tasks, and create timelines.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, before missing an expected deadline, it is critical to communicate that to the requester before the deadline passes.

These three things: owner; action; deadline – are the fundamental components of effective project management and stellar customer service.

8 ) Respect everyone’s time by facilitating good meetings.
Meetings are an extremely important vehicle to drive forward certain initiatives. At the same time, they are often one of the most wasteful, unproductive uses of time if they are not effectively facilitated.

The key to effective meeting facilitation is: assign a facilitator; do adequate preparation; do adequate debriefing; and start and end on time. In addition, the bare minimum number of people should attend a meeting.

The meeting facilitator should have a clear purpose, agenda, ground rules, and targeted goals for each meeting. If the goal of the meeting is to brainstorm, then that should be explicitly stated and attendees should be given the topic in advance so that they can bring ideas to the table. If the goal of the meeting is to reach decisions or consensus, then that should be explicitly stated.

The facilitator should also do everything possible to understand the points of view of the meeting participants before the meeting begins. This prevents the meetings from devolving into endless back and forth and unnecessary conflicts. Constructive discussion about key differences during the meeting is healthy. But repeated back and forth about minor points is a waste of time.

There should be implied or explicit ground rules for each meeting. If a discussion between two individuals is going for too long, assign a “follow up action” for a sub-committee to solely tackle the one issue that is holding people up.

Finally, clear notes and follow ups (with owners, actions, and deadlines) should be communicated to all meeting participants as part of the debrief.

9) Follow Inbox 0
Inbox 0 is a fundamental concept in e-mail productivity. The idea is to bring your inbox down to 0 each day. The is accomplished by understanding that e-mail is not something to do in between tasks. E-mail processing time needs to be focused and uninterrupted. You do not want to browse e-mails on your blackberry, send half-hearted responses saying “I will get to that tomorrow” without recording that action into a trusted system.

E-mail should typically only be touched once, and fully processed.

If there are actions or deadlines related to e-mails, then those actions should be stored in your trusted system. (My preference is: nowdothis.com and Google Calendar.)

Then, the e-mail should be filed, typically in a “done” folder. I only use one folder – “done.” I touch each e-mail once, fully process it, and move it into “done.” This way, your “inbox” should easily be able to reach 0 once / day, or minimally, once / week.

10) Have a weekly review to go over your projects, and clear your inbox, action steps, and follow ups.
Finally, the habit that ties everything together is the weekly review. In your trusted system, you should have a list of your projects, MITs, “some day” projects, inbox, personal errands, and action steps. This list should be fully reviewed once / week such that you review each of your active projects, and come up with “next action” steps at least once / week. The “some day” list should be reviewed to see if you want to move a project to an active project. The daily, weekly, monthly, and annual MITs should be reviewed to make sure your daily priorities are aligned with your monthly and annual goals. Finally, you should follow up on each of the items that you have delegated to others to ensure that other people’s projects are happening at the same level of quality and consistency as your own projects. Most importantly, your inbox must be returning to 0 at least once / week. I recommend conducting this “weekly review” each Friday afternoon. If you are unable to keep up with everything, then there is too much information coming in, and you need to aggressively take items off your plate until the amount of work coming in is manageable.

Putting It All Together.
These habits can be applied to your personal life as well as your professional life. If your home life is becoming stagnant, then try creating MITs related to your personal life and reviewing them on a weekly basis. Do not talk to your fiance on the phone while you are e-mailing a colleague. Be eternally optimistic with your friends and family no matter what the circumstances.

Also, remember that these habits are a constant struggle and challenge for anyone. Nobody can follow all of these items all the time. Trying to follow these habits is a process, and some days will be great, and some days will not. No matter what – enjoy the journey, and as Leo Babauta from Zen Habits reminds us, “smile, breath, and go slowly.”

Book References:
Getting Things Done by David Allen
4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Poras
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin
The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Link References:
Inbox 0 Video
New York Times on Multitasking
Guy Kawasaki’s 10 Things
Ben Casnocha
Productivity Zen
Seth Godin
Brazen Careerist on Consistency and Follow Through