A new book released in the Philippines tackles leadership skills women should develop. 5 Leadership Essentials for Women compiled by Linda Clark (distributed by OMF Literature Inc.) was written by women in leadership roles with fellow women in mind.

According to the book, these are the five skills women need to hone:
1. Communication
2. Relationship
3. Time management
4. Group building
5. Conflict management

One aspect of good communication is effective listening. To do so, Dr. Harriet Harral, a communications professional and the writer of the chapter on communication, says one should take out the barriers to effective listening: focus on self, wandering mind, leveling (simplifying the message to the point that critical details may be omitted), sharpening (emphasizing some points leaving out other important details), assimilation (shaping messages to confirm our opinions or attitudes), hearing what is expected that your mind is not open, passive listening, and missing the meaning.
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IT is impossible for anyone who has been to Angeles City in Pampanga at one time or another to miss the Nepo Mall or Holy Angel University, or not use up electricity from the Angeles Electric Corporation (AEC), which supplies power to Angeles City as well as parts of the Clark Special Economic Zone.

There is one family behind all these: the Nepomucenos.

A well-researched book by UST professor Erlita P. Mendoza called A Cofradia of Two: Oral History on the Family Life and Lay Religiosity of Juan D. Nepomuceno and Teresa G. Nepomuceno of Angeles, Pampanga reveals the story of how that family changed the face of Angeles.

Juan was a lawyer while Teresa, although having finished only third grade due to poor health, had business acumen. They had 12 children. The couple started an ice plant, the Angeles Ice Plant (later renamed Teresa Ice Plant), in 1921 at a time when hardly anyone owned a refrigerator.
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LAST WEEK, my friend Jenny wrote on her Facebook status that she ate at an Italian restaurant and found a cockroach in her pasta. Judging from the number of comments posted by her friends, that Italian restaurant has just lost about 10 possible customers as of today. And if each one tells her friends and family about it, tsk tsk, that restaurant may be doomed sooner or later.

This is one example of ‘badvocacy.’ According to a new e-book released by Weber Shandwick called The Good Book of Badvocacy (downloadable for free at http://www.webershandwick.com/Default.aspx/Insights/Advocacy?DivID=7), badvocates are “people who stand on a virtual soapbox to criticize or detract from companies, brands or products. They represent a considerable segment of the global online adult population (20 percent). They are passionate enough to share opinions. Their influence reaches far and wide…on average, they tell 14 other people about a bad experience.”
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NOW THAT we have started a new year, you may have already declared your New Year’s resolutions—lose weight, exercise more, balance work and family, work more or work less, avoid tardiness, learn a new skill, etcetera. For those aged 40 and above—the halftime or Life II as termed by author Bob Buford—it may be wise to add another item to your list: Ponder what to do with the rest of your life.

“It’s the season of ‘now what?’” writes Buford in his book Finishing Well: Is There Something More?, published locally by OMF Literature Inc. Buford is also chairman of the board of The Buford Foundation and Leadership Network, and founder and former chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. “Halftime used to be the beginning of the end. Now it is the beginning of a whole new beginning—a season that for me and many others has turned out to be the richest and most meaning-filled season of all,” writes Buford.

Have you ever noticed why some men and women approach aging with grace and purpose? They have realized that there is more to life than just meeting quotas and bringing home the bacon. “Far from just wasting away by themselves, they are deeply engaged in contributing to the lives of others. It’s what I call socially productive aging,” writes Buford.
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WHAT WAS your first job? Mine was as junior auditor at an accounting firm in Makati and I was paid P700+ a month. Yeah, I am no spring chicken now since that was back in 1987 when I was fresh out of business school and raring to make a mark in the working world.

I’ve been through many other jobs since then, finally settling on a career I love: journalism. I have learned many things on the job that I didn’t learn in school, from doing what it takes to meet your goal to handling office politics and difficult bosses, among others.

New graduates are more fortunate now to have a plethora of information available to them as these can help them hurdle the challenges of their working life better. One of these is the little book Your First Job: A Practical Guide to Success by Nelson T. Dy published last year by OMF Literature Inc.
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