Mashable

This is Baxter, a $22,000 humanoid robot that can easily be programmed to do simple jobs that have never been automated before.

The company behind Baxter, Rethink Robotics, says the robot will spark a “renaissance” in American manufacturing by helping small companies compete against low-wage offshore labor. Baxter will do that by accelerating a trend of factory efficiency that’s eliminated more jobs in the U.S. than overseas competition has.

Read more: http://on.mash.to/13DV71e

Do you think robots such as Baxter could help save small factories?

He's a contrast

Rolls-Royce cheapest model sets a customer back $272,000

The Nano, the world's cheapest car is $2000 new

The juxtaposition is that both are sold in the same Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Surat.

One is designed for the emerging Asian middle class the other for the 175,000 new Asian millionaires born every year!

 

Nano: world cheapest car @ £1600 - NEW!

They said it couldn't be done!

The world’s cheapest car has a starting price of about $2000 in its home market of India. Pictured is a more expensive version for already-emerged markets.

Tata, owner of Jaguar and Land Rover, would like to establish its own worldwide brand. Hence, the Nano.

It’s a rear-driver with the engine tucked behind the rear seat. Tall but almost two feet shorter than a Mini Cooper, the Nano is very light and will have to be beefed up to meet U.S. regulations.

In India, the Nano has a 35-hp two-cylinder engine. European and U.S. versions are likely to get a 60-hp, 1.0-liter three-cylinder with a five-speed manual.

Did you know that an Indian firm own Jags and Rover? TATA was not even in the car business 6 year ago! That's the speed of the game these day. 

But come to think of it Branson (above) owned a record shop; then an airline and now he's a Galactic space cadet (flights to the States from Gatwick for 99 dollars - don't put it past him)!

Can you see Richard Branson in the Window?

In the 1970s he was beginning his tour de force entrepreneurial life. 

Layed-back, yet thinking forward!

My quetion is: are you out of work? Have you left University with a degree but are now working behind a Bar or Waiting Tables?

Branson took years to get his breakthrough, turned up to meeting with bank mangers with holes in his pullover; and has had all kinds of difficult times during is journey this far.

Now his capital worth is $22 billion and Emperor of the Virgin Empire!

So pick your path: become a Copper on the beat; or sit in a window and contemplate your future!

And now look are the Virgin Emperor 2013

Teresa M. Amabile

Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration Director of Research

Teresa Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. She is also a Director of Research at the School. Originally educated and employed as a chemist, Dr. Amabile received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1977. Her research investigates how life inside organizations can influence people and their performance. Originally focusing on individual creativity, Dr. Amabile's research expanded to encompass individual productivity, team creativity, and organizational innovation. This 35-year program of research on how the work environment can influence creativity and motivation yielded a theory of creativity and innovation; methods for assessing creativity, motivation, and the work environment; and a set of prescriptions for maintaining and stimulating innovation. Dr. Amabile's current research program focuses on the psychology of everyday work life: how events in the work environment influence subjective experience ("inner work life") and performance (creativity, productivity, and commitment to the work).

1. TED x Atlanta
   Investigating how life inside organizations can influence people and their performance
   Teresa Amabile draws from her new book The Progress Principle to explain how companies can overcome the "crisis of disengagement" occurring in the workplace.
2. The Progress Principle
   Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work.
   By  Teresa M. Amabile, and Steven J. Kramer.

   Harvard Business Review Press, 2011.

   The most effective managers have the ability to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives-consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly. As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in The Progress Principle, seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees' inner work lives. But it's forward momentum in meaningful work-progress-that creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in seven companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day. The book shows how to remove obstacles to progress, including meaningless tasks and toxic relationships. It also explains how to activate two forces that enable progress: 1) catalysts-events that directly facilitate project work, such as clear goals and autonomy and 2) nourishers-interpersonal events that uplift workers, including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality. Filled with stories from the companies studied, The Progress Principle equips aspiring and seasoned leaders alike with the insights they need to maximize their people's performance.
   
   
3. Teresa M. Amabile (mailto:tamabile@hbs.edu) is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and the author of Creativity in Context (Westview Press, 1996). Steven J. Kramer(steve@progressprinciple.com) is an independent researcher, writer, and consultant in Wayland, Massachusetts. He is a coauthor of "Creativity Under the Gun" (HBR August 2002) and "Inner Work Life" (HBR May 2007). Their book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, is forthcoming from Harvard Business Review Press.