The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is trying shift attention away from his business record and his tax returns with a fresh assault as Obama, anxious about losing his fundraising edge, turned to Republican-tilted Texas to raise millions of dollars from gay, Latino and big-dollar donors.

Speaking in western Pennsylvania, Romney framed the presidential contest as a battle for America’s soul.

“Do we believe in an America that is great because of government, or do we believe in an America that’s great because of free people allowed to pursue their dream?” Romney asked a cheering crowd of supporters gathered in the cement-floored warehouse of a local gas and oil services company.

He continued: “President Obama attacks success and therefore under Obama we have less success. And I will change that.”

Campaigning in San Antonio, Obama offered his familiar vision of a government that supports the middle class. He spoke of a nation in which hard work is rewarded for individuals and families, but also in which the government takes on endeavors that help everyone, from building roads to expanding educational opportunities.

As he put it: “We rise or fall as one nation.”

“I believe in bottom-up economics. I believe in fighting on behalf of working families,” Obama said. “Because when we do that, everybody does better. … That’s what built this country.”

Romney stepped up his criticism of Obama in Pennsylvania, which has been a tough presidential battleground for the Republican Party. He accused Obama of engaging in cronyism, citing federal grants and loan guarantees to alternative energy companies run by Obama backers and donors.

Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu, a Romney supporter, questioned Obama’s patriotism while criticizing Obama’s policies toward business. “The men and women all over America who have worked hard to build these businesses, their businesses, from the ground up is how our economy became the envy of the world. It is the American way, and I wish this president would learn how to be an American,” Sununu told reporters during a conference call arranged by Romney’s campaign.

Asked to clarify his comments, Sununu later said: “The president has to learn the American formula for creating business.”

In Texas, Obama was expected to sustain his offensive against Romney, claiming the Republican’s tax policies would benefit the rich and cost jobs. His re-election campaign continued to draw attention to Romney’s time at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded in 1984. But Obama’s central goal in Texas was to draw in money; he was holding two fundraisers in San Antonio and two in Austin, with an estimated haul of at least $4 million.

In the Pittsburgh area, Romney seized on a comment Obama made last week in which he suggested that government played a role in the success of private enterprise.

“Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges,” Obama said in Virginia on Friday. “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

Romney said the comment was “both startling and revealing.”

“I find it extraordinary that a philosophy of that nature would be spoken by a president of the United States,” he said. “To say something like that is not just foolishness, it’s insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator.”

The events came a day after a top Romney aide floated the possibility that Romney might name his vice presidential candidate by week’s end. But the timing was uncertain. The adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom, initially said the selection could be announced in the coming days although Romney had yet to settle on a candidate. Fehrnstrom later downplayed his remark, and suggested the decision could come any time between now and the Republican National Convention in August.

In choosing Texas to raise money, Obama ventured to a state that has not voted Democratic in a presidential contest since 1976. But Texas ranks among the states with the largest concentrations of wealth, along with New York, California, Florida and Illinois. Republicans typically raise more in Texas than Democrats. So far this election, Obama has raised $4.5 million from the state and the Democratic National Committee has raised $1.7 million, compared with $7.1 million for Romney and $5.3 million for the Republican Party.

Obama held one event in San Antonio aimed in part at Latinos, featuring actress Eva Longoria. Another event in Austin is co-sponsored by the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Council. He also is holding two smaller events with high-dollar donors.

The Obama camp was also airing an ad Tuesday in the Pittsburgh media market taking issue with Romney’s decision to only release two years of his personal tax returns. The ad questions whether Romney has avoided paying his share of taxes in certain years.

Romney has released his 2010 tax return, which showed he paid an effective tax rate of about 15 percent, and has said he will release his 2011 return later this year. But no more. The ad was only running for one day, a sign it was meant to drive media coverage rather than draw the attention of television viewers.

In its counteroffensive, the Romney camp contended that Obama’s Energy Department has steered loans and grants to several companies connected to the president’s political supporters.

“I’m ashamed to say that we’re seeing our president hand out money to the businesses of campaign contributors,” Romney said in Irwin, Pa.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Energy Department’s decisions “were made without regard to political connections.” She said some grants have gone to projects with “just as robust connections to Republican campaigns and donors.”

In an interview broadcast Tuesday, Obama defended his targeting of Romney and Bain Capital, saying the public should know if some companies the firm took over sent jobs overseas.

“That is hardly a personal attack. That goes to the rationale for his candidacy,” Obama said in the interview with WEWS-TV in Cleveland that was taped Monday.

Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said Obama’s questions about Romney’s finances are valid and that “the American people are getting a lens into” how the former Massachusetts governor would conduct national affairs in the White House.

“I think the American people want to know, is this a potential president who has been investing his money in offshore accounts,” she said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today.”

Article source : http://washingtonexaminer.com/romney-accuses-obama-of-insulting-business-leaders/article/2502409

Business leaders defend Angus King from US Chamber of Commerce

By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
State House Bureau

PORTLAND — A group of Maine business leaders spoke up in defense of U.S. Senate candidate Angus King on Monday, saying a national business group’s TV ad criticizing the former governor is way off base.

Angus King

Gregory Rec

“Whoever made that ad knows nothing about this person. They know nothing about his values and they know nothing about how this state works,” said Kevin Hancock, president and CEO of Hancock Lumber. “I actually think it will work for Angus. It just doesn’t jive with what everybody knows and remembers and believes about Angus.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce began airing the ad in Maine late last week as part of a national campaign targeting potential swing seats in the Senate. The chamber endorsed King’s Republican opponent, Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers.

King, an independent, is the front-runner in the race to replace Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe.

The chamber’s 30-second ad calls the former governor the king of spending and mismanagement, citing growth in the state budget during King’s tenure and the fact that Maine had a billion-dollar budget deficit after he left office in 2003. The ad ends by urging voters to oppose King because the state needs jobs.

Rob Engstrom, the chamber’s senior vice president and national political director, said the ad is factual.

“Instead of addressing his spending record as governor, King is looking to change the subject. Our ad … has obviously struck a nerve,” Engstrom said in a written statement.

King has criticized the chamber’s ad, but he did not attend Monday’s campaign news conference at the Holiday Inn By the Bay. The eight current and former business leaders who spoke did not challenge details in the ad about the state budget, but they said it was misleading to imply that King wasn’t a pro-business and pro-jobs governor.

“I think these ads are very misleading. He was one of the great governors,” said Dan Lafayette, owner of Lafayette Hotels. He said the state budget grew at the time because King “grew the economy.”

Lafayette, whose company owns the Holiday Inn by the Bay and a chain of other hotels and restaurants, said Maine’s tourism industry continues to benefit because the King administration stabilized the state’s tourism-promotion budget to avoid year-to-year swings.

King’s defenders said he improved the state’s roads and bridges, enhanced education and work force training, and communicated openly with the owners of large and small businesses.

Some in the group spoke about King’s personal efforts to bring the $1.2 billion National Semiconductor manufacturing plant to South Portland. The plant — which now is operated by Texas Instruments and employs about 500 people — was to be built in Texas until King stepped in and led efforts to speed up environmental permitting and train workers, they said.

“Without his commitment and his support, the facility would not be located in Maine,” said Paul Edmonds, former vice president of operations at National Semiconductor.

A few business owners said they launched or expanded efforts to export products because of King’s support or encouragement, which included leading annual trade missions.

“The business world truly went global during Angus’ term as governor,” Hancock said. King is now on the board of directors of Hancock Lumber.

“He gets it. He understands business,” said Lolisa Windover, general manager of Winderosa, a gasket manufacturer in Peru.

Windover said she is a member of the state and local chambers of commerce, but not the national group. “I’m really disappointed the U.S. chamber took this stance,” she said.

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce and Maine’s regional chambers are separate organizations from the national group and have distanced themselves from the ad.

The Maine Small Business Coalition, meanwhile, criticized the ad and said the national chamber represents large out-of-state and multinational corporations.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent $400,000 to broadcast the ad throughout Maine. If the commercial proves successful and polls show Summers gaining on King, the chamber and other groups are expected to spend more on anti-King ads.

Crystal Canney, a spokeswoman for King, said the campaign does not plan to counter with its own television ads “at this time.”

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Article source : http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/business-leaders-defend-king-from-chamber_2012-07-30.html

The bill would require property owners who hire contractors to retain the employees for 90 days if they dismiss the contractor. If a new contractor is replacing the old one, the new contractor must hire the employees.

Supporters of the bill — who including SEIU 32BJ, the union that represents service workers — argue that the bill protects low-wage workers from an unpredictable industry.

“This bill would enact a modest and temporary control that will provide stability to service workers who lives can be irreparably harmed by even short-term income interruptions,” said Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, D-Silver Spring and the bill’s lead sponsor.

But opponents of the bill — who include much of the Montgomery County business community — say the bill takes business decisions out of the businesses’ hands.

“The idea that the county should be able to dictate which employees a contractor should hire, philosophically it’s not what the government is meant to do,” said Marilyn Balcombe, president of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce.

Co-sponsored by five County Council members, the measure could apply to contractors providing a range of services, from building maintenance to nonprofessional health care, security or food preparation.

Affected properties could include private schools, hospitals, nursing homes, museums, airports, concert halls, convention centers, apartment buildings and office buildings larger than 75,000 square feet.

Both sides have been marshaling support in anticipation of a discussion at a County Council Health and Human Services Committee meeting on Monday.

Councilman and committee Chairman George Leventhal, D-at large, is not a fan of the bill.

“The county is facing lean times, and the days when we could solve every problem and just grow county government in an unlimited way, those days are over,” he said. “I understand that SEIU 32BJ represents janitors, but are we going to protect bartenders from getting fired? Are we going to protect cab drivers?”

At Monday’s meeting, Leventhal plans to introduce four amendments including one that would change the bill so that it only requires the leaving contractor to notify employees 90 days before the contract ends.

That particular amendment “completely guts the bill,” said SEIU spokeswoman Julie Karant.

Though lawmakers were scheduled to vote on the bill Tuesday, Council President Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda, has removed it from the agenda. Berliner could not be reached Friday for comment. If the bill is voted on, it will not be until after the County Council returns from recess in September.

rbaye@washingtonexaminer.com

Article source : http://washingtonexaminer.com/union-business-leaders-battle-over-montgomery-proposal/article/2503402

Seattle, Washington (PRWEB) July 30, 2012

Is it true that feminine traits are coming into vogue for the success of business? Do skills of intuition, empathy and collaboration affect the bottom line?

Dede Henley, Consultant and CEO of The Henley Leadership Group says, “Yes.” A champion for the “feminine” in business, Henley says that “competing with others isn’t her (a woman’s) first urge, being an insightful leader people trust is.” And since the downturn in the economy, trust is becoming the name of the game for building relationships that make money. Communication that builds trust is where a woman’s natural way of working, and living, brings her to the forefront of leadership.

WBE is all about expanding the wisdom, influence and leadership of women in the workplace, whether they are in business for themselves of part of a larger organization. “It is the balance of male and female that creates the best outcome in all situations and with more women holding key leadership roles we can realize this balance and its ensuing success,” says Victoria Likes, President of WBE.

If you’re about growing the future of women in business, this event is for you. Come light your leadership fire!

Event details:

September 13, 2012

6:00 – 9:00 pm; cocktail hour 6:00-7:00 pm, 7:00-9:00 dinner and program

Women’s University Club

1105 6th Avenue Seattle, WA 98101

The evening includes live music, wine and cocktails and a fabulous 3-course dinner. Professional business attire.

More about WBE:

WBE is a not-for-profit organization with an educational mission. We are run almost exclusively by volunteer members, with a program that brings powerful speakers to the podium and leadership to the table.

What WBE Provides:

o    Monthly breakfast events featuring influential speakers who provide insights, inspiration and    information on important topics along with networking opportunities.

o    Classes and workshops.

o    Leadership, volunteering, scholarship and mentoring programs to increase visibility and showcase expertise.

WBE Service and Offerings:

o    We provide a forum for more meaningful conversations about important working women’s issues and concerns

o    We provide business and career education and networking opportunities for all working women

o    We provide opportunities to develop skills, expand perspectives and grow professionally through our volunteering and mentorship programs

o    We donate membership, event and program scholarships for women in need

o    We offer a supportive community and friendship to help women achieve their own personal and professional transformation

WBE History:

WBE was founded in 1979 by Donna Nunn as a means to help working women develop better business and management skills at a time when women were still new to the professional workforce. Her approach—as unique then as it is now—was based on the belief that women are most successful when inspired by models of success and when empowered to bring their whole selves into their careers and businesses.

Three decades later, WBE continues to offer working women safe harbor, friendship, fresh perspectives, and the opportunity for business and professional growth. We believe that our work at WBE—and the success of working women in America—is as critical and relevant today, as it has always been.

http://www.wbex.org

Piper Lauri Salogga
Women’s Business Exchange
206 660-0995
Email Information

Article source : http://news.yahoo.com/where-inspiration-leads-women-choosing-leadership-business-life-070646248.html

My previous post described what a green business leadership mindset consists of. I argued personal buy-in among leaders is essential to establish, communicate and enact sustainable and socially responsible practices. Here, I describe how leaders can learn to build that mindset, and how that underlies successful and innovative practices.

I see two linked pathways to developing and applying green leadership: First, acquiring and learning relevant facts and evidence-based understanding about emerging global and workforce realities. These require new actions for long-term survival and success. The second is leadership self-development, through self-awareness awareness and other sources of learning. Both must become part of the leader’s “DNA” in order for sustainable practices to be successful.

Two Pathways To A Green Leadership Mentality

Learning Facts and Information

This includes acquiring information: Documented research findings; related, science-derived data; and evidence-based understanding and interpretation of current environmental and workforce realities. For example:

Climate Change — its implications, and the impact of related global upheaval.

A prime source is a recent, well-documented essay by Bill McKibben, who presents both a sobering description of existing facts regarding climate change and the role of fossil fuel dependence that are already highly damaging. He suggests what kind of shifts might possibly mitigate the damage already underway. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has explained that sustainability doesn’t mean “green”or “no growth,” but rather,

…behaving responsibly in the market and with Mother Nature so we can have growth that lasts. What ‘freedom’ was for our parents’ generation, ‘sustainability’ has to be for ours. If we do not bring sustainable values to our banking systems and ecosystems, we are going to end up more ‘unfree’ than if the communists had won the cold war — because without sustainable practices, repeated crises in the market and Mother Nature will impose more limitations on our way life than anything the Soviets ever could have.

Similarly, economist Paul Krugman has pointed out the economic and social damage from climate change deniers, who repeatedly block action to address it. He writes, …”large-scale damage from climate change is no longer a disaster waiting to happen. It’s happening now.”

A Changing Workforce

Learning and integrating knowledge of realities of today’s workforce. This includes shifting attitudes, values, and behavior regarding how people view their careers and management, shifts I’ve described as the emerging “4.0″ career. Prominent among the new features is a younger generation, “generation flux,” that’s both highly competitive and collaborative, and comfortable with rapid change and unpredictability. It’s also highly diverse across all demographic dimensions and impatient with old-style, position-based authority vs. authority derived from actual contribution and creative output. Leadership that understands and embraces these shifts reflects what management strategist Umair Haque describes as a “builder” rather than an old-style “leader.”

A Healthy Work Environment

These shifts are also visible in the expectation of a healthy psychological and physical environment. A “green” building is not enough; a “green” management culture is also necessary, because a psychologically healthy management culture is essential for long-term success and retention of a creative, energized workforce. There are visible consequences from irrational, narcissistic and destructive bosses. Such management stifles innovation and productivity. It doesn’t attract or retain a creative, energized workforce.

Moreover, research shows that an unhealthy, workaholic, high stress culture not only undermines productivity, but also diminishes creativity. Short bursts of intense work can be highly creative, but research shows that it undermines creativity and productivity when it’s the norm. For example, in such environments, people were 45 percent less likely to come up with a new idea or solve a complex problem. Moreover, a “pressure hangover” of lower creativity persisted for at least two days. Other research found that productivity actually rises when people can disconnect when away from work and not on call, constantly.

One illustration of leadership response to many of these new realities was described by management consultant Dov Seidman in his recent New York Times article about his own company, LRN. It’s experimenting with open, “self-managing” culture, which attempts to let the mission govern the company.

Leadership Exercises And Practices For Self-Development

The other pathway to learning and applying green leadership consists of exercises that help leaders learn about themselves and grow. They help build and teach the emotional attitudes and broad mental perspectives essential for creating and implementing successful sustainability initiatives. A few that I use and recommend include:

The Values Gap Exercise

List your core personal values, and then assess the gap between each of them and how they play out in your daily behavior. Then, describe what it would take for you to reduce the gaps in your actual conduct.

Building Inner Life Awareness

This focuses your attention on the true life “balance” — not between your “work” and “life” — both are on the same side of the coin, your external life — but rather, between all of your outer engagements and things you identify with and your inner life, including your true motives, deepest values and level of empathy towards others who occupy the global community — and whom your business product or service directly impacts. These links to several practices of mind-body-spirit are helpful, here.

Readings About Evidence-Based Practices And Perspectives

These are helpful for building capacity for honest self-awareness, seeing the link between outer success and your inner life, and other ways to support your self-development. For example, Chade-Meng Tan’s Search Inside Yourself, based on a popular course he teaches fellow Google employees; or Richard Branson’s recent book about joining financial success with solving social problems.

The Foundation For Sustainability Success

These two pathways — evidence-based knowledge and self-development — are the core “curriculum” for learning a green mindset. It underlies successfully creating, communicating and applying successful sustainable programs. A recent, jointly conducted survey of sustainability leaders that looked at the sources of successful strategies concluded that the key elements were interpersonal skills: the ability to quantify the value of an initiative and subject matter expertise. In my view, the personal element is the foundation for the other two. It’s much more extensive than interpersonal skill, as I’ve explained.

The green leadership mindset that emerges from these two pathways reflects both the head and heart; the whole person of the leader. Such leaders aren’t just looking for ways to hang on to existing practices. Rather, as CSR writer John Friedman has pointed out, they’re oriented to looking for ways to “…invest in new programs and models that reduce the use of energy and natural resources.” They are experimenting with technologies to deal with carbon output. Their companies tend to be more like those described in a recent report: That “disruptive” firms are likely to be more successful in sustainable efforts. An integrated green mentality is also more likely to build, for example, a data-driven sustainability program.

Similarly, the green leadership mentality leads to more success in creating “green teams” within companies. When successful, green teams can have a dramatic benefit on a company’s environmental and financial performance. They can realize reduced costs associated with resources and energy consumption, via collaboration across departments. But as environmental consultant Anca Novacovici has pointed out, employee engagement is not seen as a priority for many companies, She cites a frequent comment: “If we tell staff to do this, they will do it.”

That, alone, reflects an absence of buy-in from leadership. But when a green mindset is present, collaborative networks can become significant catalysts to effective action, through, for example, EarthShare’s forums that bring sustainability professionals together to build strong networks and share best practices. Or the UnConvention, an initiative convening corporate, NGO and political leaders to explore common ground on energy, innovation, and sustainable prosperity.

Such efforts, when successful, both reflect and further stimulate a growing, broader movement towards rethinking the role and purpose of business in society. That is, a shift towards enhancing business success through addressing social needs and challenges. Richard Branson has described this as a new approach to business, where “taking care of people and the planet are at the very core of all businesses everywhere in the world.” He adds that our current world of transparency and social media demands that “business reinvents itself and becomes a force for good in the world. Branson argues that it’s not really a case of social good over capitalism; “…it’s about social and environmental good becoming core driving forces of capitalism.”

With a green leadership mindset, leaders become equipped to create and act upon sustainable practices. And those, in turn, are likely to generate larger-scale actions: support for public policies that will ensure long-term success, wellbeing, and security for all segments of society. All members of an interdependent world. And all residing on the same planet.

Douglas LaBier, Ph.D., a business psychologist and psychotherapist, is director of the Center for Progressive Development in Washington, D.C. You may contact him at dlabier@CenterProgressive.org. To learn more about him, click here.

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Article source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-labier/sustainable-business-practices_b_1714525.html

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Rick Murray

Tim Gallen
Reporter- Phoenix Business Journal

Email

As Washington begins to debate new legislation that would bump the federal minimum wage to $9.80 an hour within the next few years, business leaders in Arizona are weighing in on the potential benefits and negatives such an increase would have on businesses and the economy.

Arizona Small Business Association CEO Rick Murray said such an increase would delay an economic recovery and serve as a hardship for some businesses in the Phoenix area.

“Adding another overhead expense would further delay the recovery we’re all wishing for,” Murray said. “Any kind of service business who may have a handful of minimum-wage employees out there, this is going to add several hundred dollars, if not several thousand dollars, every week to their payroll.”

Murray believes trying to figure out an appropriate minimum wage for each region of the country is a difficult task. He added that since the cost of living varies from region to region, market forces should determine minimum wage.

“I certainly think the market needs to be the one who determines what the minimum wage should be,” Murray said. “Whether that be in Phoenix or Washington.”

Even though an increase in the federal minimum wage would not directly affect his organization, Apollo Group’s founder and Executive Chairman John Sperling likens an increased minimum wage to the old adage that “a rising tide raises all boats.”

“It increases demand,” he said. “It’s not very difficult to see what its impacts would be.”

Sperling admitted a minimum wage hike would not affect those who work for Apollo Group, as most employees earn well above the minimum. But an increase would help those students of Apollo’s online universities, such as University of Phoenix, who may be working part-time jobs to pay for schooling.

Article source : http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2012/07/arizona-business-leaders-weigh-in-on.html

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Article source : http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20120729&id=15386995