MS Word: Find & Replace tricks

I am sure that you 'recycle' text from the internet regularly. I am a cut and paste queen - though I do try very hard to say where I got information from (honouring my sources).

So, if you are like me, sometimes when you cut and paste, you get a whole load of other formatting that comes with your cutting and pasting, which may not be removed using a text only paste.

That is where Find and Replace in Word comes in very handy.

But there are some technical things that you need to know in order to get the most out of Find & Replace.

You can replace paragraph breaks - hard returns in typing parlance - with by keying in caret and p (ie, "^p"). Do the same for tabs ("^t") and soft returns ("^l").

You can replace double spaces with single spaces, or replace hard returns with a single space to get rid of unwanted line breaks in text that you have imported from a pdf.

It makes life a lot easier.


Sam

And if you want to know how to set up for text only pasting, read this.

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The Classic 4 Step Approach to Strategic Planning

Have you heard of the classic 4 step strategic planning model?

I heard about it from an old management lecturer of mine, and the model was so 'sticky' for me that I have never forgotten it, and have used it with great ease with clients. Clients like it too, because of its simplicity.

I pass it onto my current students, but am often surprised that my students have not heard of it before.

The model is very simple, and I know it as consisting of the following four questions:

1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we want to go?
3. How will we get there?
4. How will we stay on course?

Because of its time structure, the model walks us from the 'now' into our desired future.

When we first start to plan, we often forget to think about what our current state is. By the disciplining ourselves to benchmark the now, it gives us something to compare with our future achievement. Then we can see our progress as it happens.

Second, we put down our goals. That's usually the easiest part.

Third, we fill in the steps between the now and the future. The chunks that will tell us that we are on the right track.

And last, we write up our KPIs - all those little tell-tales that will let us know how we are doing - and decide how often we are going to monitor them.

In realising that a generation of management students haven't heard of this immensely simple planning model, I suddenly realised that I had no idea whose intellectual property this model was. The approach was so simple, I had assumed it to be generic, but someone must have put in the skull-sweat to think of it in the first place.

So I did some digging. Gamble and Thompson (2010) and Thomas (1996) both list the first three questions, but provide no source for the model itself. I have found no text or journal source for the model at all, unfortunately.

However, I found an online article by Schmidt, Enock & Laycock, who say this model was developed in the 1980s by the accounting firm, Price Waterhouse, for strategic and change management planning (presumably with PW clients).The questions that Schmidt et al list are very similarly worded to the questions which I have listed above, and included in my diagram.

As I have yet to find a "formal" name for the model, or a verifiable text source, I will keep looking and will update you at some stage in the future.

Any clues would be most welcome :-)


Sam

References:

• Gamble, J. & Thompson, A. (2010). Essentials of Strategic Management: The Quest for Competitive Advantage (Instructors ed.). McGrawHill
• Schmidt, J. C., Enock, K., & Laycock, M. (2009). Understanding the Theory and Process of Strategy Development: Theories of Strategic Planning. http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/organisation-management/5d-theory-process-strategy-development/strategic-planning
• Thomas, M. A. (1996). What is a human resources strategy? Health Manpower Management, 22(2), 4-11.

read more "The Classic 4 Step Approach to Strategic Planning"

Research Planning Tips

I have been starting my PhD planning, so I went looking online for a comprehensive list of project tasks. I was hoping to borrow the skull-sweat of others, and to get short-cut my own planning process; but I couldn't find a list. I have had to create my own, and through that process, I have revisited what good research planning and management entails.

Like all good projects, there are three aspects to be managed: ourselves, the research itself, and the process.

This article is focused on ourselves and the process. By getting these two things started, with self-discipline, the research takes care of itself.

To start with then, we need to manage ourselves. Our research project is all down to us, and if we are working at distance, then self-discipline and self-management becomes even more important.

We have to find tools and techniques that will work for us as individuals. I like to have two versions of my process, or, as I call it, my management plan. Those versions are a detailed copy of my entire plan, and an overview - a chunked down version showing the clusters of tasks in overview. A tool that allows me to see that easily is Excel, laid out like a Gantt chart (O'Donnell, 13 September 2011). Think Microsoft Project without the cost or complexity. The entries in my Gantt chart should read in exactly the same manner as the entries in my calendar.

Additionally, I find that my Google calendar (which is linked to my institution's Outlook calendar, my phone and my PC's Outlook) works for me. Even better: I can create my Excel sheet, then import the relevant cells into my PC's Outlook to create my calendar reminders, then use PPP Infotech's Calendar Sync Free to synchronise it with my Google calendar.


As we start our planning process, we need to think carefully about each of the following (Trinity College Dublin, 15 December 2015):

1. Researching and adopting planning tools to monitor our progress (eg, Google calendar and an Excel Gantt chart)
2. Estimating how long each task will take (NB: inaccurate estimates are better than none; we get better at estimating over time if we have previously gathered data and can use that for comparisons)
3. Entering start dates, milestones and completion dates into our chosen tools
4. Building in regular monitoring, both reviewing and revising
5. Recording everything so that we aren't reliant on short-term memory (NB: short-term memory reliance is called 'forgetting'!)

When we start to pull it all together, there are an additional five useful steps to aid our planning process, or our management plan. They are simple, but should not be skipped (O'Donnell, 13 September 2011) or scrimped on:

1. List all the activities to be completed
2. Estimate the time required for each
3. Put activities in order, prioritise, critical path
4. Cluster work into related tasks and categorise
5. Make it visual for easy reference

And, for me, point number five is where my two management plan versions come in: they are both entirely do-able if you use an Excel Gantt chart.

When I finished created my plan, I posted a link to it through Google docs for those of you, who, like me, went looking for a comprehensive PhD planning task outline (which is here). 

Then you can build off my skull-sweat :-)


Sam

References: 

• Trinity College Dublin (15 December 2015). Managing Your PhD. Retrieved 30 December 2015 from https://www.tcd.ie/Student_Counselling/student-learning/postgraduate/topics/self-management/phd/
• O'Donnell, Jonathan (13 September 2011). How to make a simple Gantt chart. Retrieved 30 December 2015 from https://theresearchwhisperer.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/gantt-chart/

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Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching

The saying, "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching" is often misattributed to C. S. Lewis, even referenced to his 1952 book, "Mere Christianity".

Not so. I have Lewis's 1952 book as an ebook, and have searched it. He does have the phrase "enough steam for doing the right thing. But..." on page 10. However, this is the only place in the book where this occurs, and the full phrase does not appear at all.

So not this book. And not C. S. Lewis, either.

Wikiquote, a great resource for 'who said what', lists this saying under misattributions, suggesting instead that a close version of it comes from the Journal of Clinical Psychology: Monograph Supplement, Issues 19-28, in 1965, on page 22, from an unknown writer.

And, as mentioned, the quote is not quite the same: "Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one else is there to judge".

However, I have always thought this saying had been translated from the works of the medieval monk, Thomas à Kempis. And that it came into English as "whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching" (though privately I always wondered if that might be "as if God were watching").

I got to thinking about this again today, and thought I would actually find out WHERE this had been written. So I scanned through some ebooks online - thank goodness for Project Gutenburg! 

Having searched through "The Imitation of Christ", "The Chronicle of the Canons Regular of Mount St. Agnes", "A Meditation on the Incarnation of Christ", "The Little Garden of Roses and Valley of Lilies", "St. Lydwine of Schiedam", and the Thomas à Kempis biography by Sir Francis Richard Cruise, I am no closer to finding the actual quote.

So I have emailed the Quote Investigator (actually the pseudonym for Professor Gregory F. Sullivan) to ask. Will update you all when I hear back.


Sam

References:

• Google Books (n.d.). Journal of Clinical Psychology: Monograph Supplement, 1965, Issues 19-28, Clinical Psychology Publishing Company. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=9rm1AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22integrity%22+%22doing+the+right+thing%22&q=%22doing+the+right+thing%22&redir_esc=y
• Gutenburg (n.d.) Thomas à Kempis. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Thomas+%C3%A0+Kempis
• Lewis, C. S. (1942). Mere Christianity. UK: C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd.
• Quote Investigator (n.d.). Facebook Page & Website. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from https://www.facebook.com/QuoteInvestigator & http://quoteinvestigator.com/ 
• WikiQuote (n.d.). C. S. Lewis. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis

read more "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching"

How do I write a blog post?

A colleague of mine asked me how to write an actual blog post. Good question!

We need to tell a story. Our story should have some shape to it, so our reader understands the type journey we are taking together, and for a run comes equipped with their running shoes... not their six inch stilettos.

With regard to that ‘shape’ in our writing, if posts were like shoes or clothes, we need to make our post from a logical material in a sensible shape that the reader can use for the intended purpose... that they can relate to.

Like a jersey, we need a neck (introduction), a trunk (body), two arms (support and application), and the ribbing at the bottom to help it stay in shape (conclusion).

Sentences should be short rather than long, so they are digestible. Each idea needs to be in a discrete paragraph. Paragraphs should only be bite-sized ideas for the reader to absorb, in around three sentences.

There are some simple tools we can use to create that understandable shape. We could crank up PowerPoint, and flick open the PowerPoint wizard, and walk through the wizard process in creating each of our early posts, because it will walk us through the introduction, the outline and then the conclusion to each one.

We can pose questions to our reader within our posts, just as we would in a conversation. However, we need to answer them, as our reader expects us to do that, within the post. Otherwise we leave the reader unsatisfied.

We could end a blog post with some questions, letting the reader know that the answers will be coming attractions. For example, “my head is swirling with questions which I am eager to answer, and hope you will join me in coming posts as I learn how […our questions here…] fit with creating a career blog”.

Some sites that can help us are:

• Dan Shewan details an outline here
• Yoast, the SEO app for WordPress, details post structure here (using this address prevents ‘sign up’ pop-ups)
• Corey Wainwright's post starts a different way, with sample sentence structure here

Sam
References:

• Shewan, Dan (9 February 2015). How to Write an Awesome Blog Post in Five Steps. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/02/09/how-to-write-a-blog-post
• Wainwright, Corey (20 June 2012). The Foolproof Formula for Writing a Solid Blog Post [Template]. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33295/The-Foolproof-Formula-for-Writing-a-Solid-Blog-Post-Template.aspx
• Yoast (7 November 2015). Science says lasting relationships come down to 2 basic traits. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://yoast.com/writing-blog-creating-clear-blog-post-structure/&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=nnieVuPFLsPh0gSzwKP4Bg 

read more "How do I write a blog post?"

A picture is worth...

All blog posts these days need an image.

This is so our posts can be tweeted, pinned or show up bright and shiny and ALLURING to the reader when reposted to Facebook or LinkedIn.

Images are what attracts others to click through to our post and read it. Straight text has nowhere near the same amount of eye-whammy.

So that's what goes on outside our blog. But when it comes to the internal size and position of our in-post images on our blog, we also have to decide where we want our image to sit, and set a consistent style as part of our brand.

Blogger allows me to set image display pixel sizes, position, wrapping and captioning when I import the images I have created (more on that here), and I would imagine that WordPress allows the same.

There are no hard and fast rules, we just find our own style, while being careful of the impact of an image on our writing flow, and that the image matches the writing around it,  amplifying what out text is saying. We have to also be careful that an image does not chop our writing in half.

My images are always at the top left of each post, using about 45% of the page width. I create landscape images as they show best on my blog summary page.

Career blogger Liz Ryan has small images embedded all the way through in her posts on Forbes and LinkedIn, but doesn’t on her own blog, where they lead off each story like a banner right across the page.

Use a picture. It's worth, to mangle Flanders (1911), using to get a thousand reposts.


Sam

References:

• Flanders, Tess (28 March 1911). "Use a picture. It's worth a thousand words", in "Speakers Give Sound Advice", Syracuse Post Standard (p. 18). Retrieved 20 January 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_picture_is_worth_a_thousand_words
• Ryan, Liz (10 August 2015). Smart Answers to Stupid Job Interview Questions the. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/smart-answers-stupid-job-interview-questions-liz-ryan
• Ryan, Liz (n.d.). Human Workplace Blog: Reinventing Work for People. Retrieved 20 January 2016 from http://www.humanworkplace.com/blog-2/reinventing-work-for-people/

read more "A picture is worth... "

Warm, warmer, warmest!

I read a very interesting Business Insider long-form post by Emily Smith recently (7 November 2015), about what predicts healthy relationships.

Emily reports on a two continua model being used to predict longevity in relationships. One continuum is passive to active, the other is destructive to constructive. Thus we get four types:

1. Active constructive: where one person is actively engaged in conversation with the other, is supportive and building on whatever the speaker sharing. This type is the predictor of successful relationships, where we 'turn toward' our partner.
2. Passive constructive: where one person is half listening to what the other is saying, often answering with platitudes, but  though not actively supportive, the feeling is positive
3. Active destructive: where one person actively undermines the other's news, minimising what the other person is saying or telling them how they are wrong, flawed or overreaching themselves
4. Passive destructive: where one party is completely disengaged from what the other is saying, and is only interested in telling their own story.

It was very interesting to read the examples that Emily shared for these types (7 November 2015):

Let’s say that one partner had recently received the excellent news that she got into medical school. She would say something like “I got into my top choice med school!”
If her partner responded in a passive destructive manner, he would ignore the event. For example, he might say something like: “You wouldn’t believe the great news I got yesterday! I won a free t-shirt!”
If her partner responded in a passive constructive way, he would acknowledge the good news, but in a half-hearted, understated way. A typical passive constructive response is saying “That’s great, babe” as he texts his buddy on his phone.
In the third kind of response, active destructive, the partner would diminish the good news his partner just got: “Are you sure you can handle all the studying? And what about the cost? Med school is so expensive!”
Finally, there’s active constructive responding. If her partner responded in this way, he stopped what he was doing and engaged wholeheartedly with her: “That’s great! Congratulations! When did you find out? Did they call you? What classes will you take first semester?”

Active constructive is the only kind and building type of relationship response. Emily (7 November 2015) terms the other three types as 'joy-killers', which I thought was stunningly appropriate.

So this type of active constructive communication is really important if we want our relationships to survive. Emily cites a 2006 study, by Gable, Gonzaga & Strachman, where newly established couples were interviewed twice, two months apart. The couples who were still together used active constructive communication.

If you want your relationships to survive, avoid the joy-killing approaches.


Sam
References: 

• Gable, Shelly L., Gonzaga, Gian C. & Strachman, Amy (2006). Will you be there for me when things go right? Supportive responses to positive event disclosures. Journal of personality and social psychology, November 2006, Volume 91, issue 5 (pp. 904-917). 
• Smith, Emily Esfahani (7 November 2015). Science says lasting relationships come down to 2 basic traits. Retrieved 17 January 2016 from http://www.businessinsider.com/lasting-relationships-rely-on-traits-2015-11?IR=T

read more "Warm, warmer, warmest! "

Extraverts only need apply

I was thinking about the word extraversion today.

I often seen it spelt extro-version, which I always thought was incorrect. I checked out the Oxford English dictionary (n.d.) and they spelled it with an 'o', saying that the 'a' version was now not in common use. however they also said that the 'a' spelling was used in psychology. So if you're talking about Jung, you're going to spell extravert with an 'a'.

So I did a bit more digging. Michael Quinion, he of worldwide words fame, explored the affix 'extra-' in his book, "Ologies and Isms", which some lovely people turned into a website called Affixes. Affixes says that 'extro-' is an error in translation from the Latin: 'extra-' means outside, or beyond, coming from the Latin, extra, which means outside. Thus extraversion should be spelled with an 'a' (Affixes, n.d.).

I got to wondering why this word was often spelt incorrectly.

But all was revealed when I stumbled upon a Scientific American article by Barry Kaufmann (31 August 2015). Barry got very technical and dug back to one of Jung's original publications on psychologische typen (psychological types) in 1917, "Die Psychologie der Unbewussten Prozesse". Jung spelled outgoing people as 'extravert'.

Kaufmann found some correspondence from when Jung was asked whether this should be spelt extravert or extrovert. Jung replied that it should be "Extraverted, because Extroverted is just bad Latin" (31 August 2015). Interestingly Kaufmann went on to find that the error comes from a 1918 paper written by Phyllis Blanchard, "A Psycho-Analytic Study of August Comte", where not only does Phyllis get the spelling wrong, she also mangles the meaning (31 August 2015). A stellar screwup.

So there we have it: nearly 100 years of getting it wrong, even the OED. Extraversion.


Sam

References:

• Affixes (n.d.). Extra. Retrieved 18 January 2016 from http://www.affixes.org/e/extra-.html
• Affixes (n.d.). Extro. Retrieved 18 January 2016 from http://www.affixes.org/e/extro-.html
• Kaufmann, Barry (31 August 2015). What's the correct spelling: ExtrAversion or ExtrOversion? Retrieved 18 January 2016 from http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-difference-between-extraversion-and-extroversion/
• Oxford English Dictionary (n.d.). Definition: Extrovert. Retrieved 18 January 2016 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/extrovert
• Quinion, Michael (n.d.) World Wide Words Search: extraversion. Retrieved 18 January 2016 from http://www.worldwidewords.org/

read more "Extraverts only need apply"

Folder and File Naming Conventions

When you are going to share files, the logical naming of them, and the folders which contain them, is important.

File names should clearly reflect the contents of the file, as this enables any and all users to predict with greater accuracy how to find what it is they seek.

An agreed naming convention also reduces duplication, and clusters like files together in directory folders.

For my own use, I put the author name first in the file title. This helps me sort out who the 'owner' of the material is. Additionally, because files are often emailed or downloaded, it helps to remind the recipient who the ‘owner’ is as well.

I name my files in the following way:

[Author/Organisation Name], then <space> <hyphen> <space>, then followed by – sometimes, if required – [sub-author or department], followed by a <comma>, followed by [Title of file, master process area/item/event], followed by – sometimes – [what form of document it is or document type/clarifier/version], followed by [the date] formatted as <comma> <space> Mmm YYYY, then lastly <dot> [file extension] or suffix.

For example:

NMIT
 -
Young,
Communications
Policy v2-0
,
Jun 2015
.pdf

Which looks like this: NMIT - Young, Communications Policy v2.0, Jun 2015.pdf

Or, a more simple example:

NMIT
 - 
Communications
Policy
, 
Jun 2015
.pdf

Which, when put together, looks like this: NMIT - Communications Policy, Jun 2015.pdf

Other examples include: 

• Young - PhD Pre-proposal Draft 1-1, Jan 2016.doc
• CDANZ - Exec Meeting Minutes Draft, Jun 2015.msg
• CDANZ - Exec Meeting Minutes, Jun 2015.doc
• TVOntario - Achbar, The Corporation movie, 2003.mp4 
• TVOntario - Achbar, The Corporation transcript, 2003.mp4 

If you are logical and consistent in your naming conventions, it makes finding and sorting files so much easier.


Sam

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Keeping up with Careers

Like most of us, I have a pretty full life. There is always lots to do, and not enough time to fit everything in.

I was thinking about how I keep up with what is going on in my various professions and passions - management, leadership, careers, business, technology; and realised that what 'currency' I have comes from reading articles, then testing those ideas contained within.

And that's not just any articles, but thoughtful and carefully written articles. It often means articles which have been peer-reviewed, and have been through an editing process; in which case we are talking about articles by thought leaders, by researchers, and those which are published in journals.

How do we know what 'quality' looks like in career thought leadership, research and journals? Largely, I think, through others in our field thinking they are... which is not very scientific.

In fact, it sounds remarkably like it could be an Emperor's New Clothes-type fail.

David Winter from the University of London ran a blog called "Careers - in Theory", containing a list of career-oriented journals. I have copied David's links below - NB: some links may be dated -  plus I have added some journals, from 25 onwards, which I felt that David had missed:

 1.   National Institute for Career Education and Counselling Journal (NICEC)

 2.   Career Development International (formerly “International Journal of Career Management”)

 3.   Journal of Vocational Behavior

 4.   International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG)

 5.   Education + Training

 6.   British Journal of Guidance & Counselling

 7.   International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling

 8.   Journal of Career Development (formerly "Journal of Career Education")

 9.   Career Development Quarterly

10.  Journal of Employment Counseling

11.  Journal of Organizational Behavior

12.  The Coaching Psychologist

13.  Journal of Vocational Education & Training

14.  Journal of Education and Work

15.  Human Resource Development International

16.  Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

17.  Human Relations

18.  Journal of Career Assessment

19.  Journal of Counseling Psychology

20.  Journal of Counseling & Development

21.  Journal of Management

22.  Work and Occupations

23.  Vocations and Learning

24.  Academy of Management Learning and Education

25.  International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring

26.  Australian Journal of Career Development (AJCD)

27.  Canadian Journal of Career Development (CJCD)

28.  Career & Technical Education Research (CTER)

29.  Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals

30.  Career Planning and Adult Development Journal

31.  Journal of Career and Technical Education (JCTE)

32.  Academy of Management Journal

33.  Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation

As there are a myriad of career journals, how do we know which ones are reliable? For my management, leadership and business interests, it is easy, because an awesome academic - Anne-Wil Harzing - compiles a journal rankings list each year. 

But to the best of my knowledge, no one does that for the career development field. It would be really useful if someone did.

However, based on the SCImago journal ranking tables, I have sorted the list above, jimmied some content aims from each journal's outline, and undertaken a rough calculation of the amount of career focus each journal has (5 being mostly career-oriented). 

My rough calculation is a simple ranking exercise, having undertaken a database search for all articles from a particular publication up to and including 31 December 2014 (in order to harmonise it with the SCImago list), then, on the same journal, doing a unique article keyword (nK) and title (nT) search for 'career'. I divide the resulting article count (N) by the count for ‘career’, and get an extremely rough count of career content: ie, (nK + nT) /N = %.

Click here to see my roughly-ranked list.

Hopefully you find it useful.

And if you have any error, omission and advice for me on the list, I would love to hear from you! 


Sam
 
References:

• SCImago (2014). Journal Rankings. Retrieved 17 January 2016 from http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php?category=0&area=0&year=2014&country=&order=sjr&page=2&min=0&min_type=cd&out=xls
• Winter, David (n.d.). Careers - in Theory: Journals. Retrieved 17 January 2016 from https://careersintheory.wordpress.com/journals/

read more "Keeping up with Careers"

Searching for people on LinkedIn

If you are like me and want to search for fellow travellers within groups you are a member of on LinkedIn, then you will have found that LinkedIn's general search function is fairly rubbish.

However, there is a better way to find and filter group member searches. Following is a great How To tip by Nick Manarangi (www.nickmanarangi.com) on search:



I hope that makes your life easier!


Sam

• Reference: Manarangi, Nicholas (16 November 2015). How to use #Linkedin to Search in Groups 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXSSxU3eVTw

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Lemon Moves from LinkedIn

I read a very interesting comment by Doris Schweppe on a LinkedIn thread recently.

The group statistics were a great function for the group managers. They provided health statistics which helped group owners ensure that their groups flourished (read more on the stats here). However, LinkedIn axed group statistics functions in a round of changes made in June 2015.

Narendra Babu posted a thread request to the LI Group Moderator Community group, asking how he could now find the statistics for the LI groups which he manages.

Doris replied "stats are no longer available because it would be too easy for Wall Street investors to see/track and measure the decline of LI groups, lack of time-on-site and the decline of overall page views across the LI platform--which are very important data points for how LI is priced as a publicly traded stock".

Doris's reply struck me as being a stellar insight. I had not thought about the statistics showing trends which could be interpreted by stock brokers, and therefore affecting the listed price of LI's stock.

It is a darn good point.


Sam

References: 

• Babu, Narendra (8 January 2016). Group Moderator Community: Help!! How to find Group Statistics?? Retrieved 12 January 2016 from https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8285624/8285624-6090731374321418244
• LinkedIn (n.d.). LinkedIn Statistics Search. Retrieved 12 January 2016 from https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/list/search/1/d/c/sort/active/topic/group+statistics

read more "Lemon Moves from LinkedIn"

Aus/NZ Share "Investor Centre" log in procedure: Epic Fail!

I am a very minor shareholder in a few publicly listed companies. Like most shareholders down here in the South Pacific, I manage my shares through the joint-venture website for Australia and New Zealand, Computer Share (https://www-au.computershare.com).
 
Yet, for some reason, EVERY time I go to log on to the computershare website, I am either (a) unable to log in, or (b) am told that the password or security question that I am using is incorrect.

Because I have had this happen to me EVERY SINGLE TIME without fail, I have recorded everything meticulously, and am very careful about entering my data.

To no avail. 

Each time this fails - ie, each time I go to the site - I have to go through an exhausting palaver every time of contacting these people (once I can finally get a real person) to be able get in to see my minute share results and dividends. It is a bit like buying consumer goods under communism: I am "procuring with great difficulty".

Today, yet again, I went to log on, and was told that the answer to my security question was - yet again - incorrect (and it isn't. It has not changed since I opened my computershare account).

My security question is so secure that I cannot get into my own account.

But what was different about today was that I got to wondering if I was alone in this difficulty. Perhaps this doesn't only happen to me. So I thought I would ask others if they too have problems.

So, South Pacific shareholders, can you please let me know if you too find that the Computershare log in procedure is flawed? Does it too score an epic fail for log ins from you?


Sam

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