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For all my list loving friends …

TeuxDeux Demo from TeuxDeux on Vimeo.

How do you manage your to-dos? Thinking about, or already signed up for TeuxDeux?

the following guest post was written by Matt Wilson of Under 30 CEO

With the hype of Twitter everyone wants to know–how do I use this tool to successfully grow my business? The answer is public relations. As described by Wikipedia “Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.” What better tool to have than a platform where you can send messages out to the publics on behalf of the company?

But I’m a startup, nobody cares about my company

So, let’s start at stage one, it’s time to get press for your startup by forming valuable relationships on Twitter. (more…)

I recently started following Tom Ziglar, son of Zig Ziglar, and I thought his post about job attitudes is certainly worth referencing.

Walking away from the counter I started to think. In this tough economy does any company have to employ somebody with a lousy attitude? I think not! As customers we should be getting the best service of our lives right now. If you work for a company, or own your own, think hard about this – there is a long line of people who would love to have your job or work for you. Don’t settle for adequate competence and a bad attitude.

If you are hunting for a job right now and you have the good fortune of an interview, make sure you focus on both your competence and your attitude (you could even mention this post!), and how you are focused on solving their problems and their customers’ problems.

You can read his full post The Recession Attitude and I’d recommend subscribing to the feed.

I learned a new word today: demi-task

Jody Gilbert at TechRepublic asks, "Do you listen 100 percent of the time or are you usually mentally engaged in several things at once?".

In her article 10 great ideas from five great bosses Jody states:

Top dogs know that nobody can multitask effectively over the long haul. They’ve figured out how to focus with laser-like precision. And their team members come to know that their boss is really hot and can’t be bluffed. This makes the team better at being clear and precise in their communications to you, and it saves both time and energy for everyone.

I know I am guilty of multi-tasking on many occasions. What works for me is to set time limits – for one hour I will work on this project, without checking emails, and without stopping until the hour is up. Generally what happens for me is, 15 minutes into working on something I remember I was supposed to email someone back or ask someone else about a different project. I use the beginning and the end of the day to think about and handle all of those little reminders. For a great read on the side-effects of multitasking I recommend New York Times article, Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic. Time magazine also published an article in 2006 (ages ago according to internet time) stating that we are The Multitasking Generation.

Are you a demi-tasker? or a multi-tasker? Do you think multitasking is a generational trait?

Update: This post is also featured on Brazen Careerist, there are some great contributions in the comments.

Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, the media company is quoted in the New York Times saying "Hands down women are better [managers]. There’s no contest." She goes on to say

"In my experience, female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk. I’m so generalizing. I know I am. But in a couple of places I’ve worked, I would often say, ‘Call me 15 minutes after the meeting starts and then I’ll come,’ because I will have missed all the football. I will have missed all the ‘what I did on the golf course.’ I will miss the four jokes, and I can get into the meeting when it’s starting."

This declaration of managerial skill is very intriguing to me. However, upon reflection I realized I’ve yet to have a male manager. I’m not quite sure how that has happened but as the case may be, it’s true. Savvy Sugar has a poll that last I checked was leaning towards "Management skills have nothing to do with gender." But the comments were certainly less than neutral. According to the Boston Globe is may be more profitable to put women in charge. So what do you think?