• Study Finds Vast Amounts of Illicit Alcohol Consumed Around the World
• A-B's Sports Marketing Chief to Retire
  
• New Jersey Lawmakers Plan Study of College Drinking
• Share Our Strength Launches Private Label Wine
• Admiral Imports to Rep Berentzen Apfel
• Russian Solon Says Bev/Al Firms Should Pay for Addicts' Treatment
• Stericycle to Replace A-B on S&P 500
• NYC Wine Report Ceases Publication

Refreshment Beverage News

• Eldorado Artesian Springs Revenue Up 17.3%, Loss Narrows in 2d Quarter
• NBI Juiceworks Extends Drenchers Line with Heart Healthy
• Pepsi Names TBWA\Chiat\Day, Arnell Agency Assignments

Who & What

Luck and key decisions have enabled Click Wholesale Distributing to grow from a six person Seattle, Wash., start-up with first year revenue of just $2 million to what is expected to be a $20 million operation next year with 64 employees.

Just a few weeks ago, it was named the Craft Beer Distributor of the Year by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Brewers Association.

To hear Rick Steckler, president, tell how the company did it, click the button to the right.

Rescuing America's Economy

What to Do About Housing

We dont think the government should be in the mortgage business.  But extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

This economic collapse began with mortgages, and it won't come to an end until the mortgage mess is resolved.

We think -- in addition to ramping up spending on long-deferred infrastructure project -- ending the mortgage crisis is essential.  Thus far, the private sector has done virtually nothing, and government's actions have been little better.

We have a plan.  If you think it's a good one, please share it with your elected representatives.  (And, if you have ties to President-elect Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, please share it with them.)

Replace a Lot of Mortgages

We would set up a new temporary government agency to issue new mortgages to people whose current mortgages for owner-occupied housing are in foreclosure, underwater, have usurious interest rates or where the payments account for more than 38% of income.

Our plan essentially expands actions currently being taken by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.  What's different is that it's not restricted to mortgages held or, sometimes, serviced by banks that have failed.  Rather, it proactively seeks to remove the mortgage cancer before it metastasizes to other banks.

In a nutshell, here's what we propose:

A new, temporary federal agency would stand prepared to issue 30-year, self-amortizing rescue mortgages for owner-occupied housing.  Monthly payments would be set at not more than 38% of a family's income.  If necessary, the mortgage term would be extended to 40 or even 50 years. 

The only qualifying financial condition for these rescue mortgages would be that the borrower must have at least 3% equity in the property, or have a net worth -- excluding the home -- of at least 10% of the face value of the mortgage.

What about those mortgages that are currently underwater -- where the value of the property is less than the mortgage amount, but the borrower is currently making payments?  We would make rescue mortgages available to these people, on the same terms and conditions.

How would it be funded?  The new agency would issue mortgage-backed securities, where the principal of each mortgage is 100% guaranteed by the federal government.  The guarantee would end once a borrower has a 10% equity in the property.

Problems

But what about the borrower who has neither a 3% equity in their house, nor a net worth equal to at least 10% of the mortgage but could make payments equal to 38% of their income?

We'd give that person what amounts to a zero-down mortgage.  But until that person has 3% equity in the property, it would not be a mortgage, but a lease-to-buy contract, under which the person would be a tenant, and could be simply evicted, if payments aren't made.  Once he has achieved a 3% equity, the contract automatically converts to a conventional rescue mortgage.

There is little that is radical in this plan.  It simply represents a conventional refinancing arrangement, with very generous terms intended to make the mortgage affordable.  The agency should be restricted to refinancing existing mortgages on owner-occupied housing. 

This plan solves a large part of the problem, refinancing mortgages that are dragging down the U.S. economy, and insures people can remain in their homes if they can make the payments.

Making the Right Small Changes Can Inspire Passionate Performance

By Jay Forte

 The more closely an employee is connected to his role (he likes what he does) and the more personally the employee is connected to his manager (has a strong relationship) the better he performs. These "connections" are the power behind all millennial performance.

Today, service is king; service events are passionate or connective events. The more passionate a customer is about a brand, product or company, the more he buys. The more passionate an employee is about his work and his manager, the better he performs. Feeling connected is the key to igniting passion; by looking at connections we see how to make the right management changes to drive performance and results.

 The industrial age ended as much of manufacturing moving offshore. We now have a very different "service" economy. Managing in today's economy is not effective with industrial age command-and-control methods; today, managers must inspire and engage to create powerful connections with their employees. All performance is based on these connections.

 There are many things in current management methods that need to change to ignite passionate performance and connections in todays workplace. However, no workplace likes significant change, even if the change is for the better. The process to bring about significant performance changes through a modification of management methods must be approached gradually. Too much change too quickly will send employees running and inhibit their performance instead of encourage it.

 Therefore, remember the mantra of change: implement incremental changes that yield exponential results. Assess the magnitude of the change, the degree of connection and its performance impact. Most great connection ideas involve very gradual or small changes yet have significant effects on performance. Consider these five incremental changes that yield exponential results:

  Spend time with each employee. This is critical to building personal connections. Here is a great phase worth remembering: "people quit people before they quit companies."  That means when a personal connection does not exist between the manager and employee, the employee is less loyal, performs less and is less committed. Take an employee to lunch. Spend five minutes before the day starts or after the day ends just catching up. Ask questions that indicate your employee's values, interests and talents. The more you know about the employee, the stronger you can make his connection to his role. Spending time to get to know your employees is a small, simple change that yields significant results.

  Match the employee's talents to his role. In today's intellectual workplace, employees contribute "thinking and ideas." The closer the employee's natural thinking (called talents) matches the thinking required in his role, the more capable the employee feels and the greater his contribution, effort and performance will be. To assess employee talents, access a questionnaire like Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath, and have each employee complete the questions. This helps introduce the language of "talents" and helps all employees learn and articulate what they are intrinsically good at. The more an employee uses these talents in his role, the more passionate he becomes about performance because talents also represent areas that we enjoy. If an employee is not suited to or dislikes his role, his performance will suffer. Once known, start to realign employees to roles that are a better fit for their talents.  A review of talents is a small step that yields exponential results.

 Give the employee a problem or project to handle on his own. Now that you are aware of the employee's talents, show that you trust him or her by giving the employee a problem or project to manage, solve or complete. This encourages ownership, engagement and passionate performance, so long as the project or problem is in the employee's talent area. Besides getting the problem or project off your desk, it activates employees to step up and contribute in a more significant way. In their talent areas, employees are capable of significantly more performance than they currently offer.

Make small changes -- nobody likes too much change at once. But assess each of your changes and their impact on results. Today, we are in the age of "connection." Be sure to make small improvements that help connect employees to their work (brain connections) and manager/workplace (people connections). Being human (passionate) at work, is the key to performance. To be passionate, humans need connections -- intellectual and emotional, mind and heart. The stronger the connections, the more employees perform. Make these incremental "connection" changes for exponential results.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

 Jay Forte is a speaker, consultant and founder of Humanetrics, LLC. He applies years of research, along with his training as a CPA, in his work with managers who want to be more successful in activating and inspiring exceptional employee performance. Renowned for producing results, Jay is working on the forthcoming book, "Sparks! Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition; Invite, Incite and Ignite Performance." For information on keynotes, speaking, consulting or to see the daily "BLOGucation," visit: www.humanetricsllc.com or www.FireUpYourEmployees.com or call: 401-338-3505.