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CFOs looking toward 2010 anticipate positive increases in a number of areas. Key areas of expected increases include:

• Net earnings expected to rise by 22 percent (more than double anticipated Q3 mean increase of 11%)
• Revenue anticipated to grow by 10 percent
• Capital spending expected to grow by 8.9% (compared with an increase of 1.1% in Q3)
• Technology spending anticipated to increase by 6.1 percent
• Inventory anticipated to increase by 2.5 percent (compared with Q3, where CFOs predicted reductions of -1.9%)
• Hiring expected to grow by 2.9 percent (up from 1.7% in Q3)
• Price of products expected to grow by 1.13 percent (up from the Q3 projected increase of 0.7%)

When CFOs were asked this quarter to identify areas for increases in 2010, marketing and advertising and business acquisitions were also top of mind, with 39 percent of CFOs planning to increase marketing and advertising and 33 percent of CFOs planning increases in business acquisitions. In addition, while 37 percent of CFOs reported they will cutback on executive perks, a small number of respondents remain (4%) who plan to increase executive perks in the coming year.

Efficiency is the New Norm

"The return to a place where CFOs are anticipating increased earnings and revenue provides encouragement that those companies that have endured the downturn are ready to come back strong," said Marie Hollein, CEO and President, Financial Executives International. "As far as the new normal is concerned, efficiency is the name of the game."

When asked what their organizations would continue to do as they begin to emerge from the recession, nearly nine out of ten CFOs reported that they would continue process efficiencies put into place during the downturn.

Two-thirds (66%) said they will continue technological efficiencies, and one-third (34%) plan to continue the restructuring of their business.

CFOs Taking Steps to Be "Greener" but Debate Continues Over Regulation

As the global conversation on sustainability heats up, this quarter's survey examined what steps companies are taking to become more environmentally responsible, and why they may be taking them.

The most frequent "green" action among respondents' companies is

• reducing energy consumption in company facilities (48%).
  

This was followed by

• reducing waste in production and packaging (30%)
  

promoting incentives and initiatives encouraging customers to be "greener" (21%).

Least popular initiatives were reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from factories and plants (6%), and supporting legislation on environmental issues (7%).

Support of Environmental Legislation is Split

While few are actively supporting legislation on environmental issues, sentiment toward governmental regulation of environmental responsibility is split among CFOs.

49% believe regulation a bad response,

37% support government incentives to spur innovation,

14 percent support limits on emissions,

9 percent support cap and trade and other financial incentives.

Perhaps disappointingly, 28 percent of CFOs indicated that their companies are not taking any actions to make their companies more sustainable. With regard to those companies who are taking actions, the survey revealed a number of motivators. More than one-third cited cost efficiencies as the main driver, 31 percent refer to personal priorities of their leadership as the cause, 29 percent say enhancement of public perception is the reason, and 24 percent point to a desire to emerge as a committed leader in the industry.

More than 1.2 million students and professors nationwide are now using McGraw-Hill Connect - an advanced all-digital teaching and learning exchange for higher education.

Customize Instruction, And Engage Online

Since the online platform was introduced last fall, colleges and universities across the country have embraced this 21st century learning tool, which enables professors to easily customize instruction and allows students to master content and succeed in courses.

With Connect, students are now engaged with course content outside the classroom - from wherever they are and from whichever device they use to access the Internet. In fact, a recent survey of Connect users shows that more than 90 percent of students access Connect frequently at home or in their dorm rooms, helping them remain engaged with class content throughout the day, week and semester.

With this increased access to course content, nearly 3/4ths of the students using Connect feel better prepared for exams and assignments, according to a McGraw-Hill research study.

"Connect is an extremely effective and powerful tool for 21st century teaching and learning," said Ed Stanford, president, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. "We're very pleased that Connect is yielding excellent results in college classrooms across the country, enhancing faculty productivity and driving greater student achievement."

Instructors and students cite key benefits of Connect:

• quality of content,
  
• ease of use,
  
• integration with text,
  
• the ability to reinforce classroom material 24-7
  

Of the professors surveyed by McGraw-Hill, 80 percent stated that they are using Connect to improve student learning and retention.  

Surveyed students said that Connect helps

• reinforce classroom concepts through practice tests and quizzes,
  
• prepare them for success on assignments and exams,
  
• master course content.
  

"Connect is a great product, and now I cannot imagine teaching my class without it. My students like the feedback and the practice they get from doing the homework," said Jerri Buiting, Professor of Marketing at Baker College in Flint, Mich. "Connect really helps keep my students engaged."

26 academic disciplines

Connect currently covers 26 academic disciplines and about 15 more will be added this year. To view more information about Connect, visit www.mcgrawhillconnect.com.

About McGraw-Hill Higher Education:

McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a provider of teaching and learning solutions for 21st century post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide. Through a comprehensive range of traditional and digital education content and tools, McGraw-Hill Higher Education empowers educators and prepares professionals and students of all ages to connect, learn and succeed in the global economy. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP) , has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com/.

Source: McGraw-Hill Higher Education; McGraw-Hill Connect

This new report by the National Academies is broad, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary to see how the rapidly developing tehcnologies and masses of data can be merged to address the four key challenges ahead of us:

• Climate
• Food
• Energy
• Health

  What's different is the scale of the challenges and problems facing us, as well as the collaboration in a multi-faceted world. The report is also downloadable for free.

  PDF Summary
  Download executive summary in PDF.
  
  Report In Brief
  Download report in brief in PDF.
  
  Full Text
  Jump to this book's table of contents to begin reading online for free.
  
  

Who creates middle-skill jobs?  Who researches and innovates, who sells, manages, takes out loans to build a business, and saves for a rainy day.  Who pays for the education of employees in middle-skill jobs?  Those hard questions have to be asked at the same time the call goes out to give everyone an equal chance at a good paying job.

The truth is that middle-skill jobs, which require more than a high school
education but less than a four-year degree, currently make up the largest segment
of jobs in the U.S. economy, and will continue to do so for years to come.

Why look at California's jobs?  With a gross state product of $1.8 trillion dollars, California is the eighth largest economy in the world, ahead of global powerhouses like Russia, Canada,
India and Mexico.  That's a lot of Americans!

California faces deep, systemic economic problems today that threaten to undermine the programs, policies and industries that have long made us strong. Ranking as a national innovator is slipping. With layoffs, state budget cuts, housing foreclosures and business shutdowns dominating headlines for the past year, some may believe California's economy has gone into a permanent decline.

The way out is to keep the workforce ready for tomorrow's jobs.  Which jobs?


Addressing the need for middle-skill workers will require attention not only to educational opportunities for young people, but also for those already in the workforce.

Fifty-eight percent of the people who will be in California's workforce in the year 2020 were already working adults in 2005--long past the traditional high school-to-college pipeline.

About 2.7 million "middle-skill" jobs will be created in the state by 2016, according to the study, "California's Forgotten Middle-skill Jobs"  (Oct 2009)  by the Workforce Alliance, Skills2Compete and the California EDGE Campaign. 

Who are middle-skill workers?

The term middle-skill refers to the level of education required by a particular job. It should not be confused with the actual competence and capacity of workers and occupations--many middle-skill occupations require highly skilled trade and technical workers with several years of training and on-the-job experience.

Middle-skill jobs refer to those that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree. They include jobs in construction, healthcare, law enforcement and many other fields.

"Federal funds from the stimulus bill are expected to create new jobs and many of these will be middle-skill, especially in green jobs, construction, manufacturing and transportation," the report says. "Matching the skills of our workforce to meet this demand will help our economy recover more quickly and prepare us for better times ahead."

The report calculates that about HALF OF ALL JOBS  in California fell into the middle-skill category in 2008, and predicts that about 43% of all job openings in the next seven years will be middle-skill.

Low-skill jobs will account for a quarter of all job openings over the same time period,

High-skill jobs will make up 32% of openings.

The problem: A shortage of middle-skill workers could develop because the state has cut back on the training of those skills. State budget cuts have drastically reduced funding to community colleges and adult education centers, for example.

STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Policymakers have become increasingly concerned about U.S. global competitiveness in recent years, and a broad consensus has developed about the need for a strong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce to support innovation industries and emerging technologies. In particular, business and political leaders have called for increasing the number of students receiving bachelor or advanced degrees in these fields.

However, these highly skilled professionals aren't the only STEM workers in short supply. Employers have indicated there is a significant shortage of the technicians and middle-skill workers needed to implement the new technologies developed by highly skilled innovators. In California between 2006 and 2016 among STEM occupations that are expected to have worker shortages, there will be 18,460 job openings annually that will require an associate degree and 3,590 that will require some other level of postsecondary vocational education short of an associate degree.

This adds up to 44.2 percent of all STEM jobs  in occupations with expected shortages.

Recommendations

• The study urges the state to ensure that every Californian has access to the equivalent of two years of education or training past high school that leads to a vocational credential, industry certification, or one's first two years of college.

• This training must be available at whatever point and pace makes sense for individual workers and industries.

• It must be designed to serve not only those who transition directly from high school to college, but also those who enter postsecondary education and training while working or after spending time in the workplace.

• Best practice research about institutional and program practices that have proven successful should be used to boost participation and success rates.

• Design and deliver programs that ensure that every Californian has access to the basic skills needed to pursue postsecondary education.

As federal economic recovery funds are invested, a large share of the jobs they create will be middle-skill jobs building and repairing roads, manufacturing renewable energy products and caring for our aging population. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's, projects that by the fourth quarter of 2012, stimulus spending from ARRA will substantially improve employment nationwide in several industries dominated by middle-skill jobs, including

• construction (802,800 jobs),
• manufacturing (589,700) and
• transportation and warehousing (129,600).

Despite these numbers, policymakers at both the federal and state levels have increasingly
focused on college and university education, without proportionate attention to middle-skill jobs, and the education and training investments needed to ensure that workers have the skills they need to succeed in these vital occupations. This represents a lost opportunity to invest in our economy, both the immediate recovery and our long-term economic future.

High Growth, Local Jobs

The report predicts above-average growth in positions including dental hygienists, respiratory therapists, emergency medical technicians and industrial machinery mechanics through 2016.

Middle-skill workers are the police officers and fire fighters who keep us safe. They are the medical technicians and echnologists who keep us healthy. They are the air traffic controllers, electricians, and mechanics who keep our infrastructure up and running. They are local, hands-on jobs, meaning they are unlikely to be outsourced to other countries.

Creation of a "green economy" and "green jobs."

But what are those jobs? the skills needed in the green economy closely mirror the middle-skill demands of the labor market as a whole. Greener Pathways examines emerging opportunities in the energy efficiency, wind, and biofuels sectors, and urges stakeholders to scale up green job training by leveraging existing state and local workforce development systems

One study from the University of California-Berkeley found that "The renewable energy sector generates more jobs per megawatt of power installed, per unit of energy produced, and per dollar of investment, than the fossil fuel-based energy sector."15 That study further found that environmental protection laws are not the reason why jobs in the fossil fuel industry have declined in recent years.

California has been experiencing a shortage of middle-skill workers.

In 2007, about 50% of all jobs were classified as middle-skill, but only 38% of California workers had the education and training required to fill those positions.

In reality, the gap was likely even greater in certain industries because many workers trained to the middle-skill level--and even those with bachelor's degrees--did not have the specific technical skills needed. This means that thousands of well-paid and rewarding jobs were going unfilled in the state, in industries that are and will be essential to California's economic portfolio.

A Growing Middle-Skill Challenge

But our state will see a significant change in these trends over the subsequent fifteen years, when the proportion of low-skill workers in California's workforce is likely to increase at the same time that the percentage of high-skill workers is projected to decline.

HIGH: The number of workers prepared for high-skill jobs rose by 4% between 1990
and 2005. However, their ranks are expected to fall by 3% by the year 2020

MIDDLE: Workers prepared for middle-skill jobs fell slightly between 1990 and 2005. Their numbers are expected to drop more rapidly through 2020, for a fall of one percent. California educational projections  suggest the shortage of workers to fill middle-skill jobs that our state saw in 2007 is likely to worsen. During the fifteen years between 1990 and 2005, the California saw an increase in residents with educational attainment at the high-skill level.

LOW:  After falling by 3.7 percent since 1990, the number of workers educated at the low-skill level is expected to rise by 3.9% by the year 2020

Meanwhile, California's share of the nation's immigration is falling at all levels.  As more California-born residents stay and fewer people migrate to the Golden State, we must make greater investments in preparing our workforce for the jobs that are available here.

Basic Skills Are at Emergency Levels!

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) indicates only a slight increase in quantitative (math) skills between 1992 and 2003, and no improvement at all for prose and document literacy. Nationally, 93 million adults lack the literacy to participate in postsecondary education and training. This means that tens of millions of Americans cannot access middle-skill education and training programs because they lack basic English and math skills, or do not have a high school education. Even for those who enter postsecondary education, basic skills can be a barrier to success.

Remedial Education



Like the nation as a whole, California faces substantial challenges when it comes to basic skills, only on a much greater scale than many states.

 

The national version of this report, America's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs, is available at www.Skills2Compete.org.

To learn more about the Skills2Compete-California campaign, go to
www.Skills2Compete.org/California.

Biomimicry Institute, Autodesk Announce World's First Database of Nature-Inspired Design Strategies

Imagine if buildings were as self-sufficient as living organisms: if they could gather water, filter air, and adapt to local climate conditions. Imagine if the natural world could teach us everything we need to know about sustainable, efficient design.

AskNature.org

Now for the first time, a new online database called AskNature.org will bring nature's best design ideas to design tables around the world. The new project, created by the Biomimicry Institute and sponsored by Autodesk, was announced on Nov. 21 at the Greenbuild 2008 conference in Boston.

AskNature.org is a free, public-domain online library of nature's best design ideas, organized by function and explained with illustrations and in language relevant to designers.

AskNature.org is a project of the Biomimicry Institute, founded by Janine Benyus, the renowned author of the book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. AskNature.org is collaborating with the Smithsonian Institute of Natural History and E.O. Wilson's Encyclopedia of Life as a source of data for the portal.

The portal explains in nontechnical language and enhanced with illustrations to explain how things work. The portal helps architects, designers, and engineers access and understand sustainable design concepts so they can use them in their own products and projects.

Biomimetic Information

Autodesk believes that biomimicry, as a design paradigm, can provide our customers with design intelligence to help them make smarter design decisions - whether they are designing a building, a train, a shoe or a city. Looking ahead, Autodesk's goal is to make biomimetic information accessible to a wide range of users globally. Autodesk product teams are investigating technology intersections, including those with the Autodesk® Seek web service, which has already made select biomimetic products available to designers.

Architects, designers and innovators can use this resource to study life's approaches to sustainable design--for example, how butterflies create pigment-free color, or how plants split water to release hydrogen.

"The core idea is that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has already found the solutions to the sustainability challenges humans face," said Janine Benyus, founder of the non-profit Biomimicry Institute and author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.

AskNature.org--part search engine, part social network--is a place where biologists and innovators can meet, exchange information and design together.  The site also has a feature called "Thank a Genius," which encourages the investment of a portion of profits derived from bio-inspired innovations to go toward preserving the organisms and ecosystems that inspired the breakthrough.

AskNature.org is sponsored by Autodesk, a world leader in design innovation technology. With a user base of 9 million architects, designers and engineers around the world, Autodesk sees biomimicry as a revolutionary design concept that can help influence better design decisions.

A growing number of businesses are using biomimicry to solve their design challenges. As one example, the architectural firm HOK is planning a community development in India that seeks to mimic tree roots with its foundation structure, as a way to deal with soil stability problems. They are also designing roofs that shed water during monsoon season and also store water for use in the drought season--just like trees do in that environment. 

Biomimicry at Greenbuild 2008

Janine Benyus, along with renowned Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson  announce the launch of AskNature.org. on November 21, 2009.  Wilson's Encyclopedia of Life is integrated with the AskNature.org database.

For more information about the Biomimicry Institute: www.biomimicryinstitute.org.

For more information about Autodesk's role: www.autodesk.com/biomimicry

Green jobs and green careers are based on a new set of job performance tools -- they could be called the "ecometrics" of the new green economy.  As explained by a professor of mechanical engineering...wow!... the same new tools being used by businesses to measure their environmental impact, are also the new tools needed by employees in the green economy.

"Interface CEO, Ray Anderson, developed 'Ecometrics' as the term for their measurement system to track their progress. These indicators include waste reduction, renewable energy, carbon emissions, water and energy usage, and percentage of recycled and biobased materials in products. Much more detail on their site includes data on the reduction of energy used per unit of product manufactured, waste diverted landfills, etc. They are green manufacturers and one of the leaders of developing a business strategy for green manufacturing and, eventually, sustainability," says David Dornfeld,  a mechanical engineering professor.

The New Career "Ecometrics"

Environmental indicators include

• waste reduction
• renewable energy
• carbon emissions
• water and energy usage
• percentage of recycled materials in products.
• biobased materials in products

How do you add these new career tools to your credentials?  Some of them come from field experience ... knowing the core operations of your business.  But some are new methods of accounting, product design, and marketing strategies that weight different features and factors in new ways. 

Waste reduction is an example.  In sustainability and green manufacturing, nothing is defined as "waste".  It's kind of like "Prince" who changed his name to ... "the person formerly known as 'Prince"!

Waste materials are now either reduced into non-existence...or seen as valuable resources to be reclaimed and reused in your own operations or by someone else.  Energy is one of the most widely affected "waste".  Energy efficiency reduces wasted energy.  Heat reclamation can use wasted energy in internal processes.  And used petroleum can be recycled or reclaimed.  Packaging can use recycled content and use manufacturing and printing processes that make the material more easily recycled in a future generation. 

Certifications can help you learn these new job skills, and industry metrics.  New certifications are being developed by many trade associations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to help expand these new skills, and share them with the workforce in the field.

Our new website, "GreenJobWizard.com" is a directory of certification programs that help you upgrade your career skills to today's cutting edge green, sustainable and high-performance metrics... you could call them the "ecometrics" of the new economy.  

The human is a capable critter...but we use tools to make things happen.

Eyeglasses.  Computers. Vehicles. Laws. Measuring devices.  Certifications.

We use many kinds of tools to accomplish our work, our family life and living together in communities.

What tools are involved in your career?

You can make a mindmap, a list, or a pictogram...but it is important that you know what tools you can use productively ... and what tools you are not qualified to use.  Those skills largely control which job you are qualified to do.  And not do.

The CEO of a company doesn't even know how to work the tools of the cashier.  And the cashier doesn't know what tools the CEO uses, or how to use them.   Each career -- both level and specialty...and industry... has its own "tools of the trade".

What tools are your good at using to your advantage (and your employer's advantage)?  Rules?  Systems?  Software?  Vehicles?  Repair tools?  Diagnostic tools?

Make a list of the tools you are competent at.
Make a list of the new tools expected by employers for new hires.
Make a list of the tools required for the next job you aspire to.

These lists will help you identify the training, purchases, and certifications you need to focus on in your career plan.

And don't leave out the rules and regulations that shape your industry and job.  Some of the most powerful tools of our civilization are laws.  They stabalize, shape and birth the jobs available in commerce, manufacturing, infrastructure and yes, government.

Master the tools of your trade.  Then you can apply them to productivity... and your unique vision and goals!