New Office Management Certificate
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Joan Crespi and Peter J. Mladineo were published
in U.S. 1
Newspaper on September 16, 1998. All rights reserved.
Troubling Transitions
Life is change. Sometimes we have control over the
change
and sometimes we don’t, but how you handle the change is up to you,
says Joan Rose, president of the Rose Group, a consulting group
based in Princeton. Rose will be speaking on “Various Transitions
in Your Life: Dealing Effectively With Them” on Thursday,
September
24, at noon at the Dakota Chop House for the Montgomery chapter of
the Princeton Chamber.
Rose views transitions, whether large or small, transitory or
permanent,
“from a holistic point of view, and how these transitions impact
your work and your personal situation.” Holistic? “One
situation
doesn’t just affect us one way, it affects us totally — mentally,
physically, emotionally, financially,” she says.
Rose’s consulting practice specializes on career transitions and
outplacement.
“When you make a career change,” she says, “often you
change your friends, where you live, your lifestyle. One change
impacts
others.” To make $20 reservations call 609-520-1776, or fax
609-520-9107.
To reach Rose at the Rose Group, now part of Ayers and Career
Partners,
call 609-720-0554.
Rose has been through more than a few transitions herself. With a
BA in sociology from the University of Miami, Class of 1965, and an
MA in counseling psychology from Loyola in Maryland, she started out
as a social worker for the State of Florida, joined Head Start in
Maryland, moved to marketing, had her own practice, did career
counseling
at what’s now the College of New Jersey, and then did career
management
for an international outplacement firm.
Rose started her own business in Princeton, moved it to Newtown,
Pennsylvania,
and recently moved it back to Princeton. And now she is integrating
the Rose Group into a new office of the Ayers Group, part of Career
Partners International, an international outplacement, recruiting,
and human resource consulting firm.
Any life has many transitions, be they individual, family, or
health-related.
While many medical emergencies have an end to them and one recovers
fully, others — like lasting disease, divorce, death, and
relocation
— may never be complete. And aging is inevitable, but — as
Rose adds — “so much about aging is attitudinal.”
The most difficult transitions? “Aside from the death of a loved
one, probably career transitions,” Rose says. “They impact
so much — your health, your marriage or personal situation, your
self-esteem.”
Some of the transitions in life we can anticipate, Rose says.
“Most
of us will lose a job, get stuck in traffic, or will have schedule
changes — planes or trains — thrust upon us when we
travel,”
she says. “You can let a late plane ruin your vacation. These
are all minor changes, but how we react to them affects our mental
well-being.”
How should you deal with transitions? Be aware of the change, says
Rose, and then take control over it. It all comes from you — how
you look at it and what you need to do, she says. “If you always
do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always be what you’ve always
been,” she says. Or “you become someone else, become a fuller
person in a way. It’s a whole different way of looking at life.”
Rose, herself, is currently facing a lasting and difficult transition
that many people have today: dealing with an aging parent. “With
these difficult transitions,” Rose says, “there’s always the
process of letting go before you can move on to the next stage, and
once the next stage occurs, there are wonderful opportunities that
one may not have realized before. There’s a positive aspect to
transitions.”
In any transition, she advises, “reach out to friends who can
be an emotional support system. Exercise — even if it’s only to
take walks. Try to relax — read a book, go to a movie. Transition
is a difficult, painful, and often a confusing process,” she says.
“Be good to yourself.”
— Joan Crespi
Top Of PageBattling Stereotypes
So you think that, in 1998, gender stereotypes are a
thing of the past? Think again. Or listen to Diane Kobrynowicz,
assistant professor in the department of psychology at the College
of New Jersey when she speaks on “Subtle Ways Gender Stereotypes
Affect Judgments of Women” on Wednesday, September 23, at 6:15
p.m. at the Plainsboro Public Library at the meeting of the Central
Jersey Chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). The
meeting is free and open to the public. For information call
732-274-4607
or E-mail kajkowe@war.wyeth.com
Commonly accepted gender stereotypes, says Kobrynowicz, are that men
are aggressive, assertive, independent, and women are nurturing,
caring,
kind, like to take care of other people, that they are dependent,
passive, and not particularly competent.
Kobrynowicz says that her research shows that these stereotypes are
found worldwide, and while they are worse in some societies than
others,
they affect judgments of both men and women “just about all of
the time.” She cites a study that found these same sets of
stereotypes
held throughout 25 different countries.
“A lot of times we can think of stereotypes as expectations or
starting points,” she says. “So that, for instance, if you
know you’re going to meet a woman, you’re likely to begin with the
expectation that she’s kind and considerate and that she might not
be as bright as a man in a similar position.”
These stereotypes are not necessarily true, she says, but they create
expectations. For instance, she says, “people expect that people
in positions of power are men, and so if you meet a woman in a
powerful
position, you might not treat her as the same kind of authority as
a man in the same position.
`You know that old saying `A woman
needs
to be twice as good as a man to do the work of a man.’ Or `she must
work twice as hard to prove that she’s half as good.’ Then the next
part is `Fortunately that’s not difficult.’ That’s the part that I’d
have to disagree with,” says Kobrynowicz. “Living up to
steeper
expectations is a lot more difficult that witty phrases.”
But hasn’t there been a change? “Individuals are subtyped into
different kinds of gender stereotypes. As there have been changes
in our society, and different kinds of substereotypes and
mini-stereotypes
have developed — a career woman, a stay-at- home mom, the new
age, sensitive man.
“It’s one of the reasons why getting away from stereotypic
judgments
is so difficult,” she says. “You think about a woman who’s
acting in a way that’s not consistent with our expectations: one
example
is `she’s a woman scientist.’ That’s a gendered way of looking at
what scientists are like. One says `a woman doctor’ but one would
not say `a man scientist.’
“The expectation in our culture is that women don’t like science
so much, so it becomes a chicken-and-egg issue. Young girls in school
learn this expectation, and those girls who like science risk being
ostracized,” she says. Even the language, while not intentionally
chosen for boys’ likes, is set up in a way that excludes girls from
being particularly involved. Often the word problems are phrased in
the context of activities that boys are more likely to be engaged
in.
Sciences like biology, chemistry, physics, and math may not be
particularly
welcoming to girls, she says. Even the teacher may overlook a girl
who’s brilliant in science as she looks for people who fit the
expectations.
How does one overcome these stereotypes? It helps to be aware that
they exist and understand how they influence us and our judgments,
in however subtle ways, she says. “Then we need to be explicit
about calling people on their judgments, and try to circumvent the
process, if we think that stereotypes are operating. For a woman to
think that if you succeed enough, you’ll be judged accordingly, that’s
really naive. That isn’t what happens.”
What should you watch out for? “I think you can get a sense if
someone’s treating us in a way that’s sexist. If you have that inner
voice telling you that something’s not right here, pay attention.
Don’t think that you’re being paranoid. While you don’t confront the
offender head on, you can ask `If this were happening to a man, would
you — .’ Fill in the blanks.”
Kobrynowicz, born in Denville, New Jersey, did her undergraduate work
at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. She worked at Prudential
Insurance
in Newark doing employee management assessment. She earned a master’s
from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, then, using ideas gleaned
from her Prudential experience, wrote a thesis on “Stealthy
Stereotypes:
Revealing the Ubiquitous but Hidden Effects of Gender Stereotypes
on Judgments of Individuals,” and earned a Ph.D. in 1997.
Since she has joined AWIS, Kobrynowicz has noted one change in her
own language. She is much less likely to call herself “a woman
scientist.”
— Joan Crespi
The Labor Day power outage was not only inconvenient
to thousands of residents in central and southern New Jersey, it was
practically illegal. According to a the second edition of “You
and the Law in New Jersey: A Resource Guide,” utility service
may not be cut off on Saturdays, Sundays, or major holidays when the
utility’s payment office is closed.
Naturally, shut-offs resulting from natural disasters by fast-moving,
violent thunderstorms are excluded from that portion of the law, but
there are a surprising number of stipulations about utility shutoffs
for nonpayment. They are all revealed in the Resource Guide, published
by Rutgers University Press and co-written by Melville Miller
and Leighton Holness, the president and senior attorney,
respectively,
of Legal Sources New Jersey.
The book explains everything from employment law to utility bills
to auto insurance. There are sections on expungements, police
misconduct,
student records, gender discrimination, and the new public benefits
laws.
Miller, an attorney with a JD from Harvard (Class of 1969) and
Holness,
who has a law degree from Rutgers (Class of 1984), have prepared a
user-friendly tool that’s free of legalese. Holness signs the book
at Encore Books on Monday, September 21, at 7 p.m. 609-252-0608 for
more information.
Small can be beautiful but, at least for consulting
firms, it’s better to think about getting bigger. “How to Grow
or Start a Consulting Practice” will be the topic of the next
meeting of the Institute of Management Consultants Monday, September
21, at 6 p.m. at the Forrestal.
The evening’s discussion will focus on the evolution of small
consulting
firms from the one-person shop to firms aspiring to be the next
McKinsey.
Speakers are Tom Stapleton of Stapleton & Associates, a solo
practitioner based in Whitehouse Station, Jim Seber, of Seber
Logistics Consulting at 218 North Center Drive in North Brunswick,
and Garry Pettegrove, CEO of Ultrapro International, a
40-consultant
based in Gladstone. Cost: $55. Call 732-972-0549.
“A roller coaster” is how Paul Gondek, of Gondek &
Associates
and membership vice president of IMC’s Princeton Chapter, describes
the consultant’s life. “It’s a feast or famine business,”
he says, advising practitioners to clean up files, “market like
crazy,” and upgrade computer systems during the lean part of the
work cycle.
Gondek, in practice for the past seven years, offers some observations
to corporate types considering conversion into consultants. Spending
a lot of money on office furniture and location is one common mistake
made by neophyte consultants. Gondek looked on disapprovingly as
colleagues
left Quaker Oats, a past employer, and rented offices for their new
consulting practices in prime and pricey locations along North
Michigan
Avenue in Chicago.
Gondek also acknowledges that “the one thing I accidentally did
right” was to tell everyone he knew that he was hanging out his
shingle as a management consultant. It helped to
“cross-pollinate”
his business.
Consulting, like other entrepreneurial endeavors, is not the
profession
for those uncomfortable with selling. But he touts the profession’s
flexibility and lack of a numbing daily routine: “You can choose
to work any 24 hours in the day you like.”
The IMC has 2,500 members nationwide, reports Gondek. The central
New Jersey and Princeton chapter meets six times a year and has 55
members. The meetings allow consultants and consultant wannabes to
network, share experiences and vent.
“At our meetings, every time there’s a downsizing, we have a lot
of people come through,” says Gondek. But it’s an excellent place
to share trials and tribulations. “Spouses get tired of hearing
it after a while,” he says.
Plastics” was the famous advice given to Dustin
Hoffman’s character in the movie “The Graduate.” A quarter
of a century later, that same helpful Friend of Your Father might
declare, with equal authority, “Drug Delivery.”
“One of our focuses in biotech is on the drug delivery side,”
says Peter L. Ginsberg, senior research analyst of Piper Jaffray
Inc. in Minneapolis. He addresses the Biotechnology Council of New
Jersey at the Hyatt on Friday, September 18, at 8:30 a.m. Call
609-890-3185
for $40 reservations.
Drug delivery companies use existing effective drugs but in new
formulations
or delivery routes. “Typically they have a more limited risk
profile
and a fast delivery market,” says Ginsberg.
New methods of drug delivery are well represented in the Princeton
area lineup. Among those covered in U.S. 1 recently are Biodome
America
(May 13, 1998), Biomimetics (July 8, 1998), Bracco Diagnostics
(January
21, 1998), Delsys Pharmaceuticals (January 14, 1998, and also
mentioned
in the Life in the Fast Lane column of this issue), Hydromed Sciences
(March 11, 1998), Lavipharm Laboratories (July 15, 1998), Microdose
Technologies (January 28, 1998), Polytherapeutics (February 5, 1997),
Therics, (August 14, 1996), and U.S. Dermatologics (June 17, 1998).
Ginsberg started out at Princeton University, Class of 1987, as a
premed major, but ended up in economics. He worked as an investment
banker at Merrill Lynch in New York, went to Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck
business school for his MBA, was a healthcare analyst for USAA
Investment
Management in San Antonio, and was a biotech analyst at Vector
Securities
in Chicago.
Recently acquired by U.S. Bank Corp in Minneapolis, Piper Jaffray
has a national reputation for its investments in medical devices such
as pacemakers and heart valves. Ginsberg is charged with developing
the biotech area, particularly in the areas of drug delivery, cancer,
and neuro science. “I joined to build the biotech area from
scratch,”
he says.
He covers these smaller west coast firms: Inhale Therapeutics Systems,
Coulter Pharmaceutical, Pharmacyclics, Aradigm, Idec Pharmaceutical,
PathoGenesis, plus a major firm Chyron and a drug delivery firm, Dura
Pharmaceuticals. On the east coast he hovers over two drug delivery
firms, Guilford Pharmaceuticals and Emisphere, which converts drugs
formerly delivered by injection into pills.
“The most important thing for a biotechnology investor is to
diversify,”
says Ginsberg. “They are inherently risky investments, but the
opportunity can be quite large, and diversification is the best way
to reduce the risk profile.”
Snooping of a certain kind is perfectly legal and it
could be good business. That’s the message from the New Jersey chapter
of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals. They will
hold a vendor night on Wednesday, September 23, 6 to 9 p.m., at the
Somerset Marriott. Cost: $15, including a light supper. Call
703-739-0696
for information or contact Robert Bugai at 201-998-0173 or
102350.2103@compuserve.com.
Vendors will include Alan Lombardi of Lombardi Research
Associates
in Kingston and Kroll Associates on Plainsboro Road, plus such
national
organizations as Washington Researchers, Dow Jones, and Associated
Press. Other vendors: CI Supermarket, Fuld & Company, Mogee Research,
Iron Horse Multimedia, International Intelligence Associates, Pennside
Partners, Marketing Audit, IFI Plenum, Bureau van Dijk, Nautilus
Systems,
Phillips Business Information, Citizen 1, Knowledge Source, and the
Genesis Group.
The definition of competitive intelligence: “the legal collection
and analysis of information regarding the capabilities,
vulnerabilities,
and intentions of business competitors, conducted by using `open
sources’
and ethical inquiry.” The 12-year-old society’s 6,500 members
say they can provide management with “early warning of changes
in the competitive landscape (https://www.scip.org).
Nominate someone to follow Marcy Crimmins or
A.C.
Reeves Hicks as the 1998 recipient of the Leslie “Bud”
Vivian Memorial Fund award. The recipient gets to choose which
nonprofit organization or organizations receives a cash award from
an endowment that is now valued at more than $53,000. Vivian was
Princeton
University’s director of community and regional affairs, and the fund
was organized by members of the Princeton University Class of 1942
plus 16 organizations.
The deadline is October 15 to propose a member of the greater
Princeton
community with these qualities: the ability to see the need for
community
action to resolve a problem of human need, the ability to identify
and define a problem to make it understandable to those most able
to resolve it, the ability to bring various parties together in order
to generate constructive criticism, and the perseverance and
dedication
to carry solutions through to successful completion. Send nominations
with written statements of support to Princeton Area Community
Foundation,
188 Tamarack Circle, Skillman 08558. For information, call Judy
Feldman at 609-688-0300.
Crimmins was honored as former executive director of the Princeton
Housing Authority and Hicks was an attorney and long-time civic
leader.
Top Of PageNew Office Management Certificate
Mercer County College is offering a new certificate
program in office management and technology. It’s geared for
secretaries
and administrative assistants who want to advance in their careers
by learning the latest. This program requires an intermediate level
of proficiency at Word, Access, Excel, or PowerPoint.
Students will learn supervisory skills like managing conflicting
personalities,
writing, customer service, managing information, and adapting to
developments
in computer technology and telecommunications.
The program consists of seven courses which cost $90 each. Classes
meet
Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., beginning Wednesday, October
7. For more information call Yvonne Chang at 609-586-4800,
extension
3278.
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