Super Halloween Festival in Second Life

And the great news :-)

Starting with the 29th of October (THIS THURSDAY) and ending on the 31st we'll host the greatest, biggest, most funny & spooky Halloween Party in Second Life. Colleagues from all over the world can pick their most suitable time zone and join us. Friends of IBMers, students, partners and families are more than welcomed :-) We'll have live music and costumes contests, give candy bars and take you for a trick or treat. Graveyard, huge pumpkins, ghosts and candles are already in place, so feel free to check them!

Are you new to Second Life?
Don't worry.Just download SL, install it and create an avatar www.secondlife.com. Then we can all meet at one of IBM's islands ALMADEN (copy and paste this link in your browser) :http://slurl.com/secondlife/Almaden/70/129/26

Of course if you have problems teleporting you can always ping me - ANTHI ARIDA (<<< that's me in Morticia's dress :-)).
Looking forward to seeing you there and give you some cool masks :-)

On Escalation

Recently I discovered this great blog written by Nigel Dessau -Chief Marketing Officer at AMD. The blog is called 3minutementor and has very very good tips on preparing for an interview, assignments and all the possible things you could ask a mentor. And of course all the answers come through 3minutes videos. Pretty cool!

What I really found useful for all the professionals out there was the video on escalations, how we escalate, who/ what, when and why. A brilliant video I must admit! I think it shows that all the people who see escalation as something mandatory, person related and as a great weapon are absolutely wrong (maybe we do that cause we have a Latin origin? :-)).

Escalations can be avoided and we must try avoiding it by discussing about it, trying to convince the person to do a job in a different way and most important if we proceed with it, then we be sure the person will be informed in advance. After all the purpose is not to make someone feel miserable but to get a job done. Then we don't escalate PEOPLE but PROCESSES, TASKS, etc. So before you write a bad email or make the call, think about what upset you and if there is really a need for escalating this. Ask for advice: escalations are not about punishing someone but about finding a solution. Check the video below for more tips. Really hope to see less silly&personal escalations and people focusing on facts and goals.