We all have to work to live. Work can be enjoyable and even fun at times. But work is mostly something we do because we have to do it. That doesn't mean you should give up one third of your life and wonder every day if what you do for a living is worth the trouble.

If your company does not engage its employees - recognizing and rewarding measureable contributions by everyone in the work force to the company's success and profitability - you feel like your efforts are wasted or no different than any other person in the office.  If you’re in management, you may wonder if the people working for you even care if you succeed. Your company's future is at stake - and that's the message of the MacLeod Report.

In May I wrote an article about the 2010 Census and the extraordinary difficulties that will be involved in the national survey this time around. I talked about the difficulties that Census Chief Robert Groves will encounter with this undertaking. I mentioned that the costs will be higher, district restructuring will be more heavily contested, some minority groups are planning to resist being counted, and countless other headaches involved.

However, I did not discuss the potential dangers derived from negative feelings towards the federal government in these difficult economic times.

Many times rural areas are hit the hardest by a recession. If you think it is tough to find a job in New York, Dallas, or Los Angeles these days, try Manchester, Kentucky. Hard times make for hard feelings. Imagine trying to feed your family while the government is handing out billions in free money to organizations that have proven themselves unsustainable in the current economy.

Innovation can take many forms. An organization develops a new product or service. A new business model offers customers a new brand experience. A new strategic partnership is formed, resulting in new customer segments and new distribution or communication channels.

More than ever before, organizations view innovation as a strategic priority, giving them a competitive advantage over others, at a time in which most employees are asked to do much more with much less. Who has time to innovate? It’s tough enough to slog through daily operations without having to think up new ways of doing business, too.

Making innovation a strategic priority often requires that stakeholders make a shift in their thinking to make innovation a consistent, repeatable part of their daily business routine.

Need to gather stakeholder feedback about customer or employee attitudes, behavior and satisfaction but can’t justify the fees of a full service survey research firm? Consider using Survey Software Online (SSO) at www.SurveySoftwareOnline.com where you get a strategic, discriminating product at an affordable price.

Survey Software Online is several cuts above existing online survey software systems. SSO differentiates itself because it was developed and written not by software writers and developers, but by survey research professionals; their in-depth focus and expertise make the difference.

Advertising and marketing communities have clamored for our auditory attention on the radio; they have directed our visual attention to store shelves, billboards and television. In the United States, an average child is exposed to more than 30,000 television commercials a year; the average adult to approximately 86,500. In recent years, advertisers and marketing communities have used sensory branding to bombard our other senses of smell, taste and touch, luring us into trying over 1,000 new brands each year.

Researchers understand that the human brain rarely processes sensory input in isolation. Advertisers and marketers understand that consumers are most receptive to a product when that product appeals to and engages consumers’ multiple senses.