Welcome to Mastery in the New World of Work

Our aim is to Rebuild America's intellectual and human capital. The latest brain research supports accelerated learning techniques. Our clients are corporations, not-for profit organizations and individuals both employed and out-of-work. 'Mind Chi' helps you rewire your brain in 8 minutes a day and offers 50 strategies for business success. We provide Coaching for Career and Life transitions. We Coach Boards, Teams, Managers and Executives and run innovation workshops. We help you achieve Well Being & Work-Life Balance.

Apart from our own news, it is our aim to gather the latest information to help you and I become Expert, Succesful and Fulfilled and to share this with others. Enjoy the journey.

Clive Digby-Jones
President
Retraining America Now, LLC

www.retrainingamericanow.com


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Management Rewired - Why Feedback Doesn't Work

From Publishers Weekly

Management Rewired Book Cover

Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn't Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science (Hardcover)


Jacobs, founder of the Amherst Consulting Group and managing partner of One Eighty Partners, debunks management myths in this provocative, counter-intuitive volume, demonstrating how relying on emotions—rather than logic—leads to better business decisions. Jacobs draws on the latest research showing that positive and negative reinforcement don't improve performance, quantifiable objectives cause workers to fixate on the short term and sacrifice long-term focus and certain common management practices produce the opposite of the intended effect. He examines the limitations of current organizational strategy in light of brain science, using layman's language to map out how the brain interprets experience and responds to feedback, reward and punishment. He asserts that organizations that are able to apply brain science to their businesses will have a decided advantage over the competition, and he shows how his findings can enhance performance at every level of a company. Well argued and substantiated, this book turns prevalent management theory on its head and will have lasting impact on how it is taught in business schools and implemented in organizations. (May 2009)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Available from Retraining America Now's Magical Mastery Store. www.retrainingamericanow.com

Monday, October 26, 2009

Groovy News - 'The Genius Groove' published

I am happy to announce the launch of my new book, The Genius Groove: The New Science of Creativity. It is finally here. Check out the website for exclusive extracts from the book and where to buy it, videos with top entrepreneurs, and details of launch events starting with The London College of Spirituality on 30th October and Chester on 4th November. See you there. It is time to get Groovy! Manjir Samanta-Laughton http://www.thegeniusgroove.com/

The Genius Groove: The New Science of Creativity The Genius Groove charts the revolution from outdated ideas that only people with high IQs and good genes can be called a genius, to the exciting new worlds of quantum physics, the New Biology and the Black Hole Principle, revealing the scientific basis of the genius within us all and how to tap into your infinite creative source. The author, Dr Manjir Samanta-Laughton, an ex-medical GP, found her Genius Groove after a series of extraordinary events. Follow her amazing story and learn some fascinating principles along the way. *Why is it that many people are not in their creative flow? *What is the new scientific definition of genius and how do you get into your Genius Groove? *How to become your authentic self and experience New Paradigm Living. *Explore your true multidimensional nature in an infinitely creative cosmos. *How these principles can transform organizations and the way in which we work. YOUR LIFE JUST GOT GROOVY!

Available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Retraining America Now also has the book available through its Magical Mastery Store at www.retrainingamericanow.com






Sunday, October 18, 2009

Swine Flu worries - Mind Chi Combats Stress

Mind Chi well placed to combat stress and meet the needs of companies which have more than doubled healthcare spending:

Mind Chi, the process that helps you rewire your brain in less than 8 minutes a day, specifically targets the brains power to regulate and direct the body, emotions, actions and thought (BEAT). Early adopters report dramatic changes in their stress levels and their ability to function efficiently at work and achieve work-life balance. As this report from the UK shows, The Swine Flu pandemic has increased concerns about health and well being and Mind Chi are seeking Trainers, HR professionals and Coaches interested in becoming Mind Chi Mentors to teach the basic Mind Chi process and the 50 strategies for success in Business and Life. Go to www.mindchi.com for more information and to pre-order your copy of the book.

Clive Digby-Jones
President
Retraining America Now, LLC

www.retrainingamericanow.com

Saturday, October 17, 2009

99 Mind Mapping Resources, Tools and Tips



http://www.collegedegree.com/library/college-life/99-mind-mapping

So, there you are staring at that black sheet of paper again. Or perhaps it's a black Word document on your computer screen. Whichever it may be, it's obvious you're about to take notes for that big essay assignment or group project, and you're not too excited about getting started!

That's where a different kind of note taking comes in to play, one that is actually fun to do and will also help you to understand your notes better. It's a technique called mind mapping, and is based around a strong visual method of taking notes. Whether your using colorful markers and paper or using state-of-the-art computer software, you'll find using mind maps are a much more interesting way to take notes than you ever have in the past!

Learn how we help people manage information overload and teach advanced learning skills, including Mapping, see our website www.retrainingamericanow.com



Blind Learn to Mind Chi


Blind Learn to Mind Chi


"When will it be available in braille?" was the question posed to Richard Israel when he presented Mind Chi to the Miami Chapter of The National Federation of the Blind on October 15th at their monthly meeting. An appreciative audience took to the Mind Chi activities as a duck to water. Why? Simply because the Mind Chi, activities being mental do not require the sense of sight in order to do them. In the picture, Richard talks to Sandy and guide dog, Biscuit


Mind Chi - Rewire your Brain in 8 minutes a day, 50 Strategies for Business & Life, Become a Mind Chi Mentor, Eliminate Stress, and more... The book is available now on pre-order - go

to the 'Magical Mastery Store' on our website. Clive Digby-Jones

www.retrainingamericanow.com.


If you are interested in becoming a Mind Chi Mentor, go to www.mindchi.com.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Mind Chi Mentor Profiles - Welcome RICHARD HERTAN


Richard L. Hertan has been responsible for extensive and varied assignments in domestic and international executive search, management consulting, and merger and acquisition projects. Concurrently an executive career coach certified bythe prestigious Franklin Covey Company, he continues to guide and assist professionals and organizations to increase their performance and effectiveness in leadership and productivity. He was highlighted for his recruiting expertise as one of the top retained search consultants in the executive search field in James Siebald’s book, “The Career Makers”. Rick is a graduate of Jacksonville University, and serves on the Auxiliary Board of Directors of Imperial Point Hospital. He is VP of Coaching & Development for Retraining America Now, LLC; A Partner in EPIC Executive Coaching and President, Executive Manning Corporation, CFCC.

Mind Chi Mentor Profiles - Welcome CLIVE DIGBY-JONES


Clive Digby-Jones as a top Leadership Coach, NLP trained, is also a consultant,author, and mediator. President of Retraining America Now LLC, he has over 30years of US/European experience leading, facilitating and mentoring companies,Boards and individuals. He has helped them increase market share, launch technical innovations, achieve brand supremacy and enhance their performance. As a Consultant in Innovation, Digby-Jones studied WaltDisney and designed trainings in the management of creativity for Disney Institute and other companies. He also teaches ‘Authentic Excellence’ and speaks and writes on the subject of ‘RAPSI tm’ a leading edge psychological model

Become a Mind Chi Mentor


If you are a teacher, trainer, coach or searching for a new career, then becoming a Mind Chi Mentor offers a unique business opportunity. Now is the time to get in on the ground floor of what may well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For more details visit our website www.mindchi.com. Richard will be visiting the following cities to talk to interested parties: Frankfurt - October 19th; Cape Town - October 22nd & 23rd; Toronto - November 7th; Johannesburg - February 27th2010; Shanghai - March 4th & 5th, 2010.
RichardChi

http://retrainingamericanow.blogspot.com

NYT Article - Fed Stimulus Funds Distribution Skewed


Businesses with federal stimulus contracts have created few jobs in states with the worst unemployment rates, according to data released Thursday by the federal government.


By MICHAEL COOPER and RON NIXON

Published: October 15, 2009 New York Times

Skip to next paragraph

Multimedia

Jobs From Federal Stimulus Contracts

Related

Times Topics: Economic Stimulus

The new jobs reported Thursday come from a small slice of a sliver of the $787 billion stimulus program: the roughly $16 billion worth of stimulus contracts that were awarded directly by federal agencies, of which about $2.2 billion has been spent so far. But the preliminary data represented the first time that the federal government has reported actual job figures, and not just job estimates, and they provided the most complete snapshot yet of how one component of the sprawling program — direct federal contracts — was shaping up.

One thing was clear: while the federal contracts have created or saved 30,383 jobs, they were not directed to states with the highest jobless rates. Businesses in Michigan, whose 15.2 percent unemployment rate in August was the highest in the nation, reported creating or saving about 400 jobs. Businesses in Nevada, which had the next highest unemployment rate, reported 159. And businesses in Rhode Island, which had the third-highest unemployment rate, 12.8 percent, reported the fewest jobs: just six.

More jobs, by contrast, were reported in some of the states with lowest unemployment rates. Businesses in North Dakota, whose 4.3 percent unemployment rate was the lowest in the nation, reported creating or saving 219. The most jobs were reported in Colorado, whose 7.3 percent unemployment rate was below the national average that reached 9.8 percent last month, and where businesses reported creating or saving 4,695 jobs.

In many cases federal agencies could not steer their contracts to high-unemployment areas: the stimulus act gave the agencies money for existing federal programs and priorities. So the roughly $6 billion that the Department of Energy was given to clean up nuclear sites, for example, which was the biggest source of federal contracts, must be spent where the nuclear waste is.

The data yielded some interesting political tidbits. While no Republicans in the House voted for the stimulus bill, the five Congressional districts that appeared to be getting the most money in federal stimulus contracts so far are all represented by Republicans. And though Democrats control the House, it appeared that more money was being spent for work in districts held by Republicans.

The new jobs figures by themselves did not shed much light on the question of how well the stimulus program was accomplishing President Obama’s goal of saving or creating 3.5 million jobs over two years. The administration estimates that the program has already created or saved one million jobs — a figure that includes jobs from money that went through states, which will not be reported until the end of the month; layoffs that were averted when the stimulus gave fiscal relief to states; and jobs that were created or saved when people spent their tax cuts or other aid. But with the unemployment rate at 9.8 percent, Republicans are asserting that the program is failing to create enough jobs.

The data posted Thursday on the stimulus Web site, recovery.gov, was preliminary; recipients can still change errors, and government officials said that based on past experience there were likely to be many. But the Web site is part of a pledge by the Obama administration and Congress to make the stimulus spending transparent. It has a map allowing people to see how many contracts were awarded in their states, their Congressional districts, or even in their ZIP codes, and how many jobs the recipients of those contracts are claiming.

White House officials were sensitive to the gulf between the 30,383 jobs in the report and the goal of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs. Jared Bernstein, the chief economist for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who oversees the stimulus, issued a statement saying that the jobs figure exceeded their expectations but cautioning that “it is too soon to draw any global conclusions from this partial and preliminary data.”

Passion for the Planet - Radio/TV & More


Passion for the Planet - If your are interested in personal development, health and the environment and want to listen to great World Music and positive news... go to www.passionfortheplanet.com.

Some years back, when our friends Chantal & Kenny launched their bid for a Digital Radio station for London based on positive news and world music, Digital Radio was only an idea with two makes of digital radio on sale in the UK. Eileen and I invested to help launch the station. None of us expect a financial return but boy has this been a rewarding and uplifting venture. Winning many awards, Passion now has a club on Ecademy and the USA could learn from their success. Podcasts are available. Clive Digby-Jones

www.retrainingamericanow.com

iMindMap October 09 Newsletter: V4.1 Update + Free Presentation Pack

For those of you who are interested in Mind Mapping information - Here is the latest Newsletter from Tony Buzan's organization and news of version 4.1





October 2009

This month's issue of our newsletter is packed with information on our latest launch, iMindMap V4.1, advice on creating perfect presentations with a FREE pack to get you started, and save 10% with our exclusive early bird discount for our upcoming training courses...and with lots of other news bites, all you need to do is sit back, take a break and read on.

Version 4.1 is Nearly Here

FREE for all V4 users, learn how you can get your upgrade to iMindMap V4.1.


Become Buzan Accredited

Effectively teach others how and when to use iMindMap.


Perfect Presentations

Pack a punch with our FREE Presentation Pack.


FREE VIDEO: Paper or the PC?

Choose the right tool at the right time to Mind Map effectively.


Improve Your Memory

Become a World Memory Champion with our FREE article.

Message from Chris Griffiths, CEO

I hope you enjoy reading this month's newsletter as much as we have enjoyed working on all the exciting developments here at Buzan Online. We're delighted to be able to offer all of our Version 4 users a free upgrade to V4.1 upon its release. The software is packed full of new features and enhancements based on valuable feedback from you, our readers and users.
Over the last year our training courses have received positive praise and feedback, so much so that 100% of course attendees Strongly Agreed that the concepts and skills presented were helpful for their job/business; the course was good value for money and there was a good use of practical illustrations. To learn in detail about Buzan's iMindMap and its features, and to be able to effectively and successfully train others in these areas, I would recommend our next training courses to be held in Cardiff next month. Which if you book now and pay for your place before 26th October you will receive 10% off!
For all of you out there who are eagerly awaiting iMindMap for iPhone, we have good news! It's due for release very soon - we'll keep you posted...
Many Thanks

Chris Griffiths
CEO In other news

Did you know?
Fascinating facts about your amazing brain.
iMindMap Training Courses

Follow us on Twitter

Forward
Know someone who might be interested in this email?

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Latest Brain Research - IBM's Blue Brain

The Blue Brain Project is the first comprehensive attempt to reverse-engineer the mammalian brain, in order to understand brain function and dysfunction through detailed simulations.

Computer simulations in neuroscience hold the promise of dramatically enhancing the scientific method by providing a means to test hypotheses using predictive models of complex biological processes where experiments are not feasible. Of course, simulations are only as good as the quality of the data and the accuracy of the mathematical abstraction of the biological processes. The first phase of the Blue Brain Project therefore started after 15 years of systematically dissecting the microanatomical, genetic and electrical properties of the elementary unit o f the neocortex – a single neocortical column, which is a little larger than the head of a pin. From the data gathered from 15,000 experiments in rat somatosensory cortex, it became possible to begin constructing a model of this part of the brain.

The project has focused, however, not only on building a model of the neocortical column, but on developing a generic facility that could allow rapid modeling, simulation and experimentation of any brain region, if the data can be measured and provided according to specifications. The facility has been used to build the first model of the neocortical column, which consists of 10,000 3D digitizations of real neurons that are populated with model ion channels constrained by the genetic makeup of over 200 different types of neurons. A parallel supercomputer is used to build the model and perform the experiments so that the behavior of the tissue can be predicted through simulations.

With the present simulation facility, the technical feasibility to model a piece of neural tissue has been demonstrated. The next steps will involve expansion of the project in two directions. First, the Blue Brain team is intensifying its efforts to extend the facility t o support modeling of the subcellular domain, which will integrate additional levels of biological detail into the existing neocortical column model. Incorporating the molecular level structures, processes and effects is an important step towards pharmacological and medical research 0in silico”. Second, the facility will be extended to integrate details of larger portions of cortex and other brain structures. Ultimately, given additional resources, the facility can be extended to permit whole brain modeling, simulation and experimentation.

More detailed information and a glimpse into the future of the Blue Brain Project.

Blue Brain Video archive: http://ditwww.epfl.ch/cgi-perl/EPFLTV/home.pl?page=channel_one&lang=2&connected=0&channel_id=29

If you're interested in the Brain, check out PersonalBrain a way of mapping your thoughts and a different take on mind mapping.



http://www.thebrain.com/