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Articles Power Electronics

Electrical Power Generation Distribution sees Seismic Changes

electrical-power-generation-seismic-changes

Electrical power generation and distribution took a big leap in 2007 when the trajectory for electrical use in America peaked and started down a different course, declining for reasons we don’t fully understand yet. No, this wasn’t a one-time drop but a clear shift, moving in a new downward direction that continues to this day. While the seismic forces in electrical power generation are occurring, there should have been celebrations and parades, even dancing in the streets, but no one noticed.

In much the same way animals, not humans, are able to pick up on weak signals for an impending earthquake, our ability to sense an industry’s peak still mystifies us. To make matters even more complicated, it may not be the peak.

Seismic Forces in Electrical Power Generation

 

 

Electrical-Power-Generation-Seismic-ChangesThe future of electricity can best be broken into four fundamental categories – power generation, power distribution, electric storage, and changes in demand.

After looking at some of today’s most important trends, it was easy to uncover a few emerging trends that analysts haven’t been considering.

While some of these may only represent a miniscule probability over the next few years, the interplay between emerging technology and social acceptance, coupled with an exponential growth curve or two inserted into the mix, will make electrical power generation and the energy industry a truly dicey market to predict over the next 2-3 decades.

Our emerging electric car and trucking industries coupled with plummeting battery prices, solar roofs, IoT devices, industrial automation, artificial intelligence, home battery packs, and energy efficient everything are just a few of the interrelated issues that will turn virtually every prediction about our future electrical power generation and distribution needs into a low probability forecast before its even mentioned.

Full article on Seismic Forces Change Electrical Power Generation

 

The electrical power generation industry has already entered a state of disruption, but is ripe for much more. Today’s politics will be a distant memory 2-3 decades from now.  At the same time, wind and solar have proven to be a lower cost form of electric power generation across some parts of  the U.S., even without subsidies. Renewables are already at grid parity and will continue to drop in price.

Electric power will endure to be a battleground industry for decades to come. Our shifting base of technology, startups, lifestyles, culture, and politics will continue to make this a highly unpredictable landscape for the foreseeable future.

Read the full article on seismic forces changes in Power Generation and Power Distribution from the futurist Thomas Frey

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Articles Talent Acquisition - Assessments

New Hire Impacts Team Dynamics and Overall Productivity

How-New-Hire-Impacts-Team-Dynamics

Loads of companies and recruiters use some type of screening tests but few look at the all important concept that faster productivity + team dynamics in whether a potential new hire is both a role fit AND a team fit   We know that a new hire impacts team dynamics.  While some have a one-size-fits-all behavioral analysis testing for the candidate only, what are the recruiter or hiring manager comparing the candidate to?

Some measure job skills, others measure interpersonal and communication skills, planning and organizing, and some measure aptitudes, and still others cognitive ability.  There are even some that test applicants on their ability to make presentations or on their behavior pattern in a simulated meeting, however they still fail to consider profiling hiring teams in order to form a target candidate profile as part of measuring team fit to make a new hire impacts team dynamics positively.

 

Productivity in how New Hire Impacts Team Dynamics

 

One way to understand the first part of performance based recruiting is in the discovery step prior to planning a search strategy. Sadly too many internal recruiters and HR managers put too much emphasis on matching potential candidates to a “one-size-fits-all” corporate culture.  They fail to take into account that EACH TEAM is UNIQUE.

Each team has it’s own culture that is not a clone identity to the corporate culture.  If you want to achieve faster productivity, recognize how new hires impact team dynamics in recognizing the positives and negatives.  You must take that individual team culture the new hire will work within as part of your search strategy.  What the executive search consultants at NextGen do is to ask the stakeholders (listed below) to take a brief less than 10 minutes online survey that can be taken 24/7.

  1. his/her direct report/hiring manager
  2. at least 2-3 internal customers
  3. for sales, product management, product marketing, and sales engineering roles, we recommend at least  1-2 key external customers on whom this position will have an impact.

This is where many internal hiring managers miss the boat.  Many in Human Resources and even some executives fear asking external customers (who can be direct customers, partners, or vendors) to participate.  Their immediate thought is to perceive this as negative.  Rather it is completely positive as those external stakeholders value and appreciate you have included them on designing a target candidate profile.  It makes for better customer interaction because you are taking into account how not only how they interface with this role, but also the impact the potential new hire will have on productivity + team dynamics.

Achieving Longer Retention | New Hire Impacts Team Dynamics

 

It is designed to gauge and measure each respondents view of the role and team in terms of values and motivations, relational communications traits, decision making and conflict resolution skills.  These questions in the survey, combined with how each stakeholder views the OBJECTIVES of the role instead of the requirements and responsibilities, is used to create a Composite Team Profile.

New-Hires-Impacts-Team-Dynamics-and-Business-GrowthWith the information gathered the original job spec, the discovery step, and the composite team profile, the recruiter can effectively construct a Search Strategy including a Target Candidate Profile for screening and assessment.

The end goal is to identify, recruit, assess, and determine a shortlist of candidates that are both a role fit and team fit, meaning that they have a high likelihood of achieving the objectives of the role.  In other words, new hire impacts team dynamics becomes a positive impact. NextGen’s award-winning Leadership Vault search process has resulted in 94% of our placements still working for the company we staffed at 3.5 years of employment.

In addition, the most common feedback is that the candidates we presented not only met, but exceeded client expectations.  Combined with an industry leading 24 to 36 months replacement guarantee and performance based recruitment fees, we are often called upon when other search firms have failed to deliver.

 

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Articles Talent Acquisition - Assessments

Improve Talent Acquisition with a Competitive Edge

Improve-Talent-acquisition

How do you improve talent acquisition to be more efficient, less costly, and produce results when it comes to executive management and functional leadership roles?  Today companies have a hectic schedule due to keeping up with the competitiveness of the industry. Resources and time becomes constricted and companies do not have the time to implement a thorough recruitment and screening process.

Relying upon job boards, LinkedIn, focusing on branding and “social responsibility” on web site career portals brings in hundreds of applicants, but rarely the right applicants and most of those applicants are “C players”, the 55% of the workforce that  can show up to do a job but don’t add to increasing revenues, lowering cost, or creating new intellectual property.

Many companies employ internal recruiters of contract recruiters, and while they can produce more applicants, the quality of the candidates is at best “okay”.  Contingency search firms are internally measured on the number of sendouts (resumes) emailed each day, the focus in on quantity, not quality. If a company must conduct a phone screen, simply put the recruiter failed to do a good job in screening and assessment.

Companies engage a retained search firm to manage the recruitment process and to get down to a shortlist of highly qualified candidates ready for in-person interviews.  Retained search firms that are niche or boutique working in the company;s industry NEVER look at active job seekers who dominate job board and Linkedin job postings, but instead use their vast internal rolodex, identify and cold call, and reach out to those contacts to being them an opportunity and a challenge.

  • Client-focused in time management – retained search improve talent acquisition as we only work on only a few select searches at a time per executive search consultant. Because the lead recruiter has a team behind him, each task from sourcing to pre-screen to deep interviews is assigned.  Since the focus is on quality, retained executive search consultants are not measured by the contingency search firm focus on sending out x number of resumes daily.
  • Industry Expertise in Your Market – possess a higher level of proficiency when it comes to finding potential candidates for a specific niche industry and market.  These firms specialize in what are the trending news in the market, recruiting, executive changes at your competitors, and news about the current and future strategy of your market and your competitors.

 

Improve-Talent-Acquisition-by-Elevating-your-RecruitmentRather than using a typical job description quoting responsibilities and requirements, the approach is to identify team dynamics and documenting KPIs to ensure potential candidates can meet the objectives of the role.

Instead of focusing on a checklist of x number of years’ experience and skills, retained search focus on what the potential candidate will do with those skills to meet the performance objectives of the role rather than just having x years of experience with that skill.

The costs are much lower in the Long Run –  utilizing the expertise of a good recruitment team shows that retained search lowers the expenses used to screening applicants and potential sourced candidates.

 

Improve Talent Acquisition with Onboarding Tools

 

A custom onboarding tool that works is one that uses a psychometric composite team profile with the corresponding candidate profile and performance objectives of the role.  No lengthy involvement of time and effort by multiple executive staff members.  It is customized and easy to use.  It should include a personal action plan for the new hire that identifies his/her strengths and weaknesses and provides the designated mentor with an effective coaching and evaluation tool.

Retained search improve talent acquisition like NextGen Executive Search as clients has shown that the 72% who use the custom onboarding tool realize quick assimilation into the corporate culture and team dynamics, faster productivity, and longer retention.

Final Thoughts on How to Improve Talent Acquisition

 

 This relieves the company’s HR department of the expenditures that are used in screening processes such as background information, investigating previous employment records, filling up Hiring Managers inboxes with unqualified flypaper (resumes).  Searching for the ideal candidate for the job can take a lot of time and expense if the company does it alone.

Much Higher Retention Rate with Low Turnover – retained search improves talent acquisition with a much higher retention rate for candidates they’ve placed (NextGen Global has a 93% retention rate for placed candidate still working after 3.5 years of being hired and 87% still there at 5 years).

Retained search improve talent acquisition with a competitive edge as the people they place outperform, meet, or exceed your expectations and significantly contribute to the success of the organization.  Hiring the right staff, not just at the senior executive level, can propel the company towards success and development, but hiring the wrong ones stagnates the progress.  Improve Talent Acquisition by Elevating your Recruitment on Improve Talent Acquisition by Elevating your Recruitment to improve talent acquisition.

 

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Articles Internet of Things

Embedded Wireless Devices IoT Security Vulnerabilities

Embedded-Wireless-Devices

Embedded Wireless devices, once thought to be too small to include their own security, undergo a more thorough analysis beginning with firmware testing. The software inside the chip is just as important as the application controlling it. Both need to be tested for security and quality. Some of the early IoT botnets have leveraged vulnerabilities and features within the device itself.

“Embedded wireless devices really are one of the most common devices on the Internet, and the security of these devices is terrible.” Those were the words of network security expert H.D. Moore, the developer of the penetration testing software Metasploit Framework, when discussing an illicit attempt to survey the entire internet.

Consumer Based Embedded Wireless Devices

 

Dan Goodin of Ars Technica tells the tale of a guerrilla researcher who collected nine terabytes of data from a scan of 420 million IPv4 addresses across the world. “The vast majority of all unprotected devices are consumer routers or set-top boxes which can be found in groups of thousands of devices,” wrote the anonymous researcher in his 5,000-word report. “A lot of devices and services we have seen during our research should never be connected to the public Internet at all.”

embedded-wireless-and-IoT-devicesHackers can do a lot of damage, and with billions of IoT devices forecast to be connected in the next few years, embedded devices security should be more than an afterthought.

In 2015, two white hat hackers demonstrated that they could break into late model Chrysler vehicles through the installed UConnect, an internet-connected feature that controls navigation, entertainment, phone service, and Wi-Fi.

By rewriting firmware on a chip in an electronic control unit (ECU) of a Jeep Cherokee, they were able to use the vehicle’s controller area network (CAN) to remotely play with the radio, windshield wipers, and air conditioning — even kill the engine.

The cybersecurity risks are real.  Alan Grau writes on the IEEE Spectrum website about three significant incidents affecting the health care industry. A report by TrapX Labs called “Anatomy of an Attack–Medical Device Hijack (MEDJACK)” describes how hackers were able to target medical devices to gain entry to hospital networks and transmit captured data to locations in Europe and Asia. “Stopping these attacks will require a change of mindset by everyone involved in using and developing medical devices,” says Grau.

Another notorious embedded wireless devices security intrusion is described in an article on The Verge, “Somebody’s watching: how a simple exploit lets strangers tap into private security cameras” . Strangers were able to watch live streams of unwitting security camera owners within their homes. The vulnerabilities of existing firmware allowed for egregious invasion of privacy.

Embedded Wireless Devices and IoT Vulnerabilities

 

Many of the hackable embedded wireless devices now on the market were created without much consideration for security. “Security needs to be architected from the beginning and cannot be made an option,” says Mike Muller, CTO of ARM Semiconductors, at a seminar he gave at the IoT Security Summit 2015.  Muller believes that very few developers have any real understanding of security. ·“We cannot take all of the software community and turn them into security experts.  It’s not going to work.” The answer is that best practices for embedded security must be established and followed. That includes splitting memory into “private critical and private uncritical” and creating device-specific encryption keys. “You have to build systems on the assumption that you’re going to get hacked,” warns Muller.

 

Identifying potential IoT vulnerabilities requires robust testing before putting devices into production. In 2014, the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) published a list called Internet of Things Top Ten:  A Complete IoT Review. They recommend testing your IoT device for:  

  1. Insecure Web Interface (OWASP I1)
  2. Poor Authentication/Authorization (OWASP I2)
  3. Insecure Network Services (OWASP I3)
  4. Lack of Transport Encryption (OWASP I4)
  5. Privacy Concerns (OWASP I5)
  6. Insecure Cloud Interface (OWASP I6)
  7. Insufficient Security Configurability (OWASP I8)
  8. Insecure Software/Firmware (OWASP I9)
  9. Poor Physical Security (OWASP I10)

 

As with any testing, well-written test cases will help manufacturers ensure the security of embedded wireless devices. Better to run through possible scenarios in the lab that to have major issues with customers later.   In November 2016, Dan Goodin of Ars Technica reported that a “New, more-powerful IoT botnet infects 3,500 devices in 5 days”. Goodin writes that “Linux/IRCTelnet is likely only the beginning of what could be a long line of next-generation malware that steadily improves its capabilities.” And he laments the defenselessness of IoT devices that proliferate across the web. It’s a sentiment that’s shared by many.

What about your experiences with IoT security and embedded wireless devices? Any stories to tell? What are your recommendations for making things safer? Feel free to post your comments here.

 

Categories
Articles Wireless Ecosystems

LTE and 5G compete or compliment IoT?

lte-and-5g-compete-or-compliment-iot

Curious – can LTE and 5G compete or compliment IoT networks or the other way around? The big cellular companies have heavily invested in Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks and the coming 5G network. They are saying it can compete with the Internet of Things (IoT) network that smaller companies are putting their bets on.

“Despite the prospect of new networks that reach farther than cells and let IoT devices communicate for years on one battery charge, many of the power-sipping networked objects to be deployed in the coming years will use LTE and future 5G cellular systems,” reports Stephen Lawson in Computerworld.  Lawson’s article depends largely on information from the LTE and 5G network developers..

ZDNet took a look at IoT investments stating that “Investors in Sigfox’s  fund raising included major cellular network operators NTT Docomo, SK Telecom, and Telefonica, so it seems that some at least are hedging their bets,” wrote Stuart Corner. Verizon has not made that kind of investment, but it is investing in its own IoT tech. Looking at the Category M1 tech Verizon is working on, it’s hard to see major differences between that and the IoT networks under development, and in place, by the LORA Alliance, Sigfox and others. Cat M1 runs on a 1.4mhz bandwidth with speeds capped at one meg a second. It promises to come in under $10 for consumers.

Verizon is saying LTE and 5G compete or compliment IoT networks and in fact they will exist together. Rosemary McNally, Verizon’s VP for mobile devices and operating system technology, told RCR Wireless that “the Cat M1 network they have in mind will run on the LTE. It will offer more security than IoT”, she promises. So the question needs to be reframed. Instead of asking if the two networks can compete, ask instead do LTE and 5G have to compete on the same grounds as IoT? No, because they don’t have to.

Will LTE and 5G compete or compliment IoT networks?

 

The IIoT and 5G merge in places like over-the-road shipping. IIoT sensors inside the truck feed data into the 5G and LTE networks, which hand it over to controllers and monitors. Decisions can be made within minutes.

The agriculture industry is also using the IoT. Modern tractors are embedded with sensors that provide regular feedback to the manufacturer. A farmer in South Georgia recently got a call from the tractor dealership. The sales rep said he’d received a message that whoever was driving one of the farm’s tractors was “riding the clutch.” Riding the clutch can cause it burn out, a costly repair. By having IoT in the tractor, the maker was able to monitor use and save the owner money.

Another reason LTE and 5G compete or compliment IoT networks is radio frequencies. The Verizon Cat M1 is going to run on licensed bands. Once those bands hit maximum transmission traffic, Verizon is either going to have to get new bandwidth, which can run to the millions of dollars, or scale back some traffic.  If that happens, will Verizon continue to support Cat M1, which appears to have low profit margins? Or, will the company discontinue its IoT investments?

LTE-and-5G-compete-or-compliment-IoT-networks-now-and-in-the-future

Where 5G and LTE have an advantage is security. Current IoT is running on unlicensed spectrum. Anyone can use it. Turf wars may erupt. Two companies next to each other decide to use the same frequency for their IoT. The signals interfere with each other, causing minor to major problems. With licensed frequencies, this is not a problem.

So can LTE and 5G compete or compliment 5G and LTE complement Iot networks?  In truth they compliment each other. Each has strengths and each has weaknesses. Using each system’s strong points to cover the other’s weak points will create a much stronger network than either could be independently.

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

Doug Brake takes a long and hard look at IoT, 5G, LTE and nextgen wireless in a report for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.  The industry has gone from 1G (analog) in the 80s to 2G, 3G and now 4G in the past few years. He points out the industry goes through a major upgrade every 10 years. Each upgrade has required big investments. With 2020 a short four years away and 5G already being discussed, AT&T, Sprint and the rest are planning major investments to upgrade the wireless network. The smart ones are planning upgrades that allow IoT.

Can LTE and 5G compete or compliment IoT networks?

 

The questions that should be asked are:  

  • How can IoT be merged into higher-speed transmissions to let on-site and remote operators make better decisions? SugarCreek is one example of how this merger works. Modern tractors are another.
  • What will be the standard? IoT must have a standard just as smartphones do today. A Verizon phone can call, SMS, MMS and so forth to an AT&T phone. Consumers will demand the same for IoT. A homeowner will buy a fridge from General Electric, get an HVAC from Trane and a home entertainment system from Crutchfield. He will demand all the systems function seamlessly on the same IoT network. The IIoT is making inroads on standards, but much more work needs to be done. Equipment needs to move seamlessly from plant to plant. Just installing the hardware is expensive enough. The wireless controls should be plug and play.
  • Is a frequency “land grab” ahead as regulators look at the unlicensed frequencies and increasing demand for them? How much is needed?
  • What kind of security protocols are needed? Yes, it may take a day to hack into a microwave, but someone is going to do it. That’s an annoyance. Hacking into the smokers at SugarCreek could shut down production for a day or more and cost the company plenty. How can this be stopped? Since IoT is going to be largely low-speed, small data, could each device have a limiter? Perhaps once a certain amount of data is sent, the device takes an action to alert the owner or disconnection from the IoT.

 

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Articles Leadership - Ethics

Top 3 Leadership Skills Desired by Board of Directors

Top-3-Leadership-Skills

Investors are usually attracted towards companies that have great potential, not only in the present, but also in the future. That means, business organizations are always on the lookout for talented and skilled leaders who possess the top 3 leadership skills most desired and can contribute greatly to their goals. When it comes to interviewing leaders, Executive hiring managers are keen on how you value yourself in terms of potential to be a part of their organization. The competition is fierce; as a potential candidate, you need to stand out.

Most candidates have earned degrees that are complimentary for the role he / she seeks, but if you are looking for a way to put yourself in a new level from your competition, you need

Top 3 Leadership Skills include Social & Organizational

 

In every profession you take, communications skills are crucial. Being articulate is the top skill that executive hiring managers seek in candidates. Effective solutions, innovative concepts, and new techniques may not do any changes when you cannot get your ideas into words to relay to senior executives, investors, and/or colleagues. Communication skills also include attentive listening, speaking fluently, and organized writing. As such, social skills are at the forefront of the top 3 leadership skills most desired by the Board of Directors.

Executive hiring managers need leaders who can explain what others are talking about and also arrange these thoughts, ideas, and concepts in a comprehensive manner. Even if you are working remotely and your connection to your company is through the computer, you still need efficient communications skills to interact with your colleagues, clients, and team through chats, video conferencing, phone, and emails.

Social Skills

Top-3-Leadership-Skills-300x170Working in a business organization means that you will be working with people. Communication does not only mean relaying what you want to express through words, but through your actions as well. Most, if not all jobs require effective social skills to interact efficiently with their colleagues, clients, suppliers, and senior management.

Working within teams needs competent social communications that can maximize productivity and resolve issues.

Knowing when to engage in interactions that is either casual or professional with colleagues and clients, because senior management want their leaders and employees to have good relationships with everyone.

Organization Skills

Being organized leads to being efficient and transparent. Organized documents, efficient schedule management, coordinating resources, and effective task designation. When you follow an organization, it is easier for not only senior management, but for the team you lead to know and understand how you work. Being organized can mean from how well you arrange your desk and files, how you send reports at a certain period of time, and how often you have team meetings to update on everyone’s progress. As one of the top 3 leadership skills desired, companies need leaders who can stay focused on projects and remain organized until it is completed. One of the most important organization skills is to meet deadlines. Using time wisely makes all the difference between success and failure of your company.

Top 3 Leadership Skills includes Motivations

Senior management needs people who can identify problems and solve them. Critical thinking helps in seeing beyond the information presented all the time. Analyzing allows you to think up of new angles on how to approach a problem. There may be better ways to solve this particular problem that hadn’t been tried yet previously. Problem solving helps us make decisions amidst challenges. Whether problems are big or small, you have to analyze it in different angles and solve problems as quickly as possible.  This why motivations is one of the top 3 leadership skills desired.

Motivations

Motivation skills are important when you are interacting with colleagues and clients. People do better when they love what they are doing. When you are motivated, you find it easier to get up during the morning and look forward your day in the office. The compensation, including options and/or equity, can motivate you, but senior management and investors / stakeholder want to hire leaders that can contribute to their organization’s goals and success. Motivation can help you cope with stress and handle problems in the workplace well and is ideal in succession planning.

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Articles Leadership - Ethics

Leadership Traits Growing the Leader From Within

Leadership-Traits-Growing-the-Leader-From-Within

Leadership traits are defined by what we do, not the role we are in. Leadership is action, not a position. Some people in leadership roles are excellent leaders. But too many are bosses, “snoopervisors,” technocrats, bureaucrats, managers, commanders, chiefs, and the like. Whether in enterprise mobility, manufacturing, or consumer devices, strong leaders are well-rounded and constantly expanding their personal leadership traits across these key areas.

Leadership Traits in Functional Management Roles

 

Leadership-Traits-Leader-within-Us-300x225To lead is to show the way by going in advance. To lead is to guide or direct a course of action. To lead is to influence the behavior or opinion of others. We all need to be leaders, regardless of our formal title or role.

This starts with inner leadership traits in self-leadership and moves outward to influence, guide, support, and lead others.The process of becoming a leader is the same as the process of becoming a highly effective human being. Leadership development is personal development.

Effective leadership traits ultimately shows itself in what we do “out there.” But it starts “in here.”It would be easy if we could all become leaders by following a simple set of steps.

But the journey of personal growth means finding our own way. There are, however, critical areas of personal development based on timeless principles. The distance we need to grow along each of the leadership traits dimensions will differ for each of us, but defining and continually growing along each of these paths is the way of the leader.

Expanding Key Personal Leadership Traits

 

 

Strong leaders are well-rounded and constantly expanding their personal leadership traits across many areas, however these areas are key:

  • Choose Not to Lose. Whether we choose to focus on our problems or our possibilities is a key leadership issue. When we are faced with obstacles and failure, those with the leadership traits who can overcome adversity and learn from their experiences, turning them into opportunities, are the ones who will be truly successful.
  • Focus and Context. The core of my being: This is central to our growth along all the other leadership traits dimensions. Our Focus and Context is shaped by three vital questions: Where am I going? (my vision); What do I believe in? (my principles and values) and; Why do I exist? (my purpose or mission).
  • Responsibility for Choices. If it’s to be, it’s up to me: Good leadership traits means accepting responsibility for our choices in life. Leaders realize that life accumulates, that choice more than chance determines their circumstances. They refuse to succumb to the “Victimitus Virus” (“it’s all their fault” and “there’s nothing I can do”).
  • Authenticity. Getting real: Leadership isn’t just what we do, it’s something that we are, which then drives what we do.  Great leadership traits are authentic, and based on honesty, integrity, and trust. We must ring true to ourselves by exploring our inner space, gathering feedback on our personal behavior, and ensuring consistency with our stated values and principles.
  • Passion and Commitment. Beyond near-life experiences: Successful people are energized by a love for what they do because it brings them ever closer to who they are. They have the leadership traits that overcome apathy and cynicism, develop a burning commitment to their cause, and with discipline achieve their dreams and desires.
  • Spirit and Meaning. With all my heart and soul: What is the purpose of our work? Of our lives? Material success alone is not enough. Leaders seek within their leadership traits and find something more. In what is too often a mad dash from cradle to grave, we need to take time in work and life to nourish our inner selves.
  • Growing and Developing. From phase of life to way of life: The popular goals of security, stability, and predictability are deadly. The closer we get to these dangerous goals, the more our growth is stunted. Good leadership traits will reflect true and lasting security comes from constant growth and development, based on regular reflection and renewal.
  • Mobilizing and Energizing. Putting emotions in motion: Leaders don’t motivate with rewards and punishments. Whether at home or in the workplace, they energize people to motivate themselves. Highly effective leaders who possess ethical leadership traits boost the energy of others with their passion and appreciation. They engage people’s hearts as well as their minds.

 

Effective Leadership Traits Make a Difference

 

The more the world changes, the more leadership principles stay the same. And effective leadership traits apply to all of us; no matter what role we play in society or organizations.  NextGen Global Executive Search uses a proprietary Performance Based Retained Search to recruit exceptional executives with good leadership traits. Contact us today for a free consultation or demo of our proven executive recruitment process.

 

Categories
Aerospace - Aviation Articles

Renewable Jet Fuels Viability in Commercial Flights

Renewable-Jet-Fuels-Future

Renewable jet fuels changed in 2016 when regular flight operations of United Airlines started using RjF.  This marked the beginning of commercial-scale usage of the alternate jet fuel by aviation industry.  As of today the commercial viability has been achieved for renewable jet fuels through demonstration of techno-economic feasibility for production path-ways (processes) namely HEFA (Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids) technology and FT (Fischer-Tropsch) technology.

Next in the line is DSHC (Direct Sugar to Hydrocarbons) which is currently undergoing pilot projects for demonstration of its viability. Similarly, development work is under way for renewable jet fuels production through other technologies like HDCJ (Hydro-treated Depolymerized Cellulosic Jet), ATJ (Alcohol to Jet) and APR (Aqueous Phase Reforming).

Renewable Jet Fuels Development

 

Such development projects are now receiving funds from the governments and additional support may be forthcoming in the form of government incentives regarding tax breaks and mandatory use obligations) essentially required for reducing the production-cost-differential of renewable jet fuels and petroleum jet fuel for commercial aviation and aerospace by the EPA has established procedures for analyzing submitted petitions for life cycle GHG emissions associated with new fuel pathways.

Specifications for jet fuels are defined under ASTM D1655 and they mainly focus on performance properties like heat content (BTUs per lb), combustion properties, freezing point, viscosity, thermal stability, material compatibility and related safety hazards.

For standardizing purposes ASTM D7566 is the standard for certification of Synthetic Fuels, which also include renewable jet fuels, in consultation with ASTM D4054 for guidance related to testing as jet fuel alternative RJF. The drop-in RJF need to be additionally certified for equivalence in specification to jet fuels under the ASTM D1655 for direct mixing in aircrafts with being separately tracked for approval.

Renewable-Jet-Fuels-1-300x201

RJF is now available as a “drop-in” alternate fuel with performance and safety specifications equivalent to petroleum jet fuels. As such, RJF use does not require any modification in jet engines and this provides an opportunity window for the aviation industry to contribute towards reducing emission of greenhouse gases.

After proving its technical viability, the remaining major obstacle for viability of renewable jet fuels is related to production and consumption “scale-up”. This is expected to be overcome soon as commercial airlines start making medium to long-term fuel supply contracts with commercial producers of renewable jet fuels.

Commercial use of RJF will also get a boast as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has agreed global market based measures (GMBM): “Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to address any annual increase in total CO2 emissions from international civil aviation (i.e. civil aviation flights that depart in one country and arrive in a different country) above the 2020 levels, taking into account special circumstances and respective capabilities.”

Investments in Renewable Jet Fuels

 

Blending is another area where RJF power generation producers are actively engaged with RSB (Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels) for certifying blended fuels which are a mix of petroleum fuel and biofuels from special crops grown for the purpose. In South Africa Sunchem’s nicotine-free tobacco plant Solaris is an example of producing RJF through blending of biofuels with petroleum Jet-A fuel.

Such efforts will standardize the production and use of blended RJF while ensuring economic, environmental and social concerns of the society. The biofuel industry is targeting to achieve a 50% reduction in GHG emissions over the life-cycle through use of blended RJF in a ratio of 30% biofuel mixed with 70% of petroleum fuel.

An innovative approach to achieve the economy of scale and to reduce the financial costs in production of RJF is manifested by equity investment by United Airlines and Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific in Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc., Nevada, California.

Both the airlines, Cathay Pacific and United Airlines, in addition to equity investment have long term renewable jet fuels RJF supply contracts with Fulcrum BioEnergy. The Nevada based production facility having a capacity to produce 11 million gallons of fuel is expected to be operational in 2018. It is evident that aviation industry is gearing itself to implement the GMBM by the year 2020 for which renewable jet fuels is the light on the horizon.

Categories
Articles Talent Acquisition - Assessments

Avoid Common Pitfalls that Harm Recruiting Efforts

avoid-common-pitfalls-to-recruiting

The HR recruiting process with the highest business impact often has a failure rate of 50 percent according to  Dr. John Sullivan on ERE in his article “The 6 Ugly Numbers Revealing Recruiting’s Dirty Little Secret”      In this article we will address the problems in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition and how to avoid common pitfalls that harm recruiting efforts.  For the company’s senior executives and board of directors, the dependence and overhead on HR internal recruitment and Talent Acquisition groups does not produce the results desired for the company to achieve success.

 

Stop treating every potential candidate as active job seekers and applicants

 

In a soaring economy where the supply of good candidates is far outweighed by the demand to fill jobs (7.5M jobs currently remain open), the company and the recruiters are the seekers, not the other way around.   Posting job openings on job boards and social media by and large generates applicants who are underemployed or unemployable.  Most good potential candidates are happy with their employer, their current role, and are paid well.  These successful people are not looking at job postings and are so inundated by emails and social media messaging from HR, TA, contingency, and RPOs they don’t read or respond.

 

Avoid Common Pitfalls That Harm Recruiting in the HR Process

 

Forcing potential candidates that you’re looking for to go to your website to fill out an application is untenable.  Just because you have an HRIS or ATS process that governs every candidate perform this, remember it is you that came looking for him/her; they are NOT applicants.  And demanding potential candidates at the very beginning to reveal their current compensation is unethical or in many states, illegal.

Avoid-common-pitfalls-to-recruiting-effortsIf you want to attract the ideal candidates, first HR must stop the age old process of creating job postings and messages that don’t work.

The same old blah-blah corporate culture, responsibilities, requirements, and benefits overview is boring to successful people, whose actual interests will be one of the following: a new challenge, more authority, a particular product or service where they can make an impact on the market, location, company and team size, and a competitive compensation package.  Appeal to their desires to attract them.

 

Failure to build relationships with professionals who can become future candidates

 

The HR recruitment process focuses on building a resume database rather than real relationships.  Good executive recruiters are successful because they consistently foster relationships based on common interests with professionals – not by approaching them as potential candidates but as peers and colleagues within an industry by sharing ideas, making introductions, and asking for their advice.

 

Many Hiring Managers assume they are great recruiters

 

All hiring managers like to think they are excellent recruiters.  But the track record is such that only “A players”, the top 10% of the workforce can claim that distinction.  Think about it – regardless of title your primary time is focused on building sales, engineering, product management, operations, etc.   How can you possibly excel at something you spend very little time doing when retained executive search consultants spend most of their time on actual recruiting.

 

Avoid Common Pitfalls That Harm Recruiting in Dual Role Reality

 

Those dual roles of being a CXO or VP with outstanding capability to lead strategy, manage a team, and deliver while at the same time having the skills and time to conduct recruiting is very, very rare.  Want further proof?

About one-third of the hiring managers today just want a few notes and a resume.  The resume is by far the worst presentation tool ever created.  It is generally a one-size-fits-all document.  It reveals experience, skills, education, and accomplishments.

It is generalist in nature and rarely delves into how a person used those skills and expertise in relation to the objectives of the role you need to fill.  Worst of all…and the reason to always avoid looking at the resume as a presentation tool, is once a hiring manager views the resume, 75% of their mind is already made up.

Makes no matter if you provide comprehensive interview notes, measured KPIs, numbers, relevant details of similar accomplishments, and depth of industry relationships to prove the candidates can meet and exceed the objectives of the role; often their mind is already made up based solely on the resume.

 

Salary ranges and corporate culture fit ignore the rule of supply and demand.

 

Many companies have this set-in virtual stone salary ranges.  Thinking that a cyber wireless engineer or AI architect are just software engineers and must fit within the SW engineering salary range is not reality.  Ask Google, Uber, Microsoft – many of these types of engineers make higher compensation that their boss.  It is reality with the law of supply and demand.  Some companies even offer candidates less than they are making now, believing that the in-person interview revealed how much the candidate liked the company and team and expressed desire to come on board.  It is simply absurd and insulting to offer someone less if in same location where cost-of-living makes no difference.

 

Having HR or TA make offers to candidates is not the right way to go

 

The person who has built a relationship of trust, usually the recruiter or hiring manager, should always be the person to make the initial verbal offer.  When someone in HR or TA group makes an official offer, it is usually someone who has no real relationship with the potential new hire.  The results can often be negative as the candidate feels his/her value is not appreciated and they are negotiating and speaking with someone they do not know. Avoid common pitfalls to recruiting where the HR process often fails by causing the recruiter or hiring manager to have to come in and save the day while the damage has already been done.

 

Low retention rates cause teams to not develop properly

 

Most companies have some type of on boarding but, it is more orientation and documentation.  And even expensive one-size-fits-all on boarding plans fail because they require too many people to be involved.  A custom on boarding plan should always consist of two parts: a self-development plan for the new hire and a mentor / coaching plan for the person the new hire will report to.

This simplifies the on boarding process by focusing on utilizing the strengths the new hire brings to the team creating action plans to address potential weaknesses.  This ensures the new hire’s impact on team dynamics is positive by ensuring the objective of proper on boarding is met, which is to promote quick assimilation into the team, faster productivity, and longer retention.  If you adapt your HR process and learn to avoid common pitfalls that harm recruiting, you will make a positive impact on your business growth.

Categories
Aerospace - Aviation Articles Artificial Intelligence

Ai Impacts Aerospace Power Management Systems

AI Impacts Aerospace Power Management Systems

Ai impacts aerospace power management in the way it can collect data and make decisions on conversion, generation, and distribution.  In our modern technological society, controlling the flow of electricity is necessary to powering buildings, maintaining efficient computer systems, and providing energy to vehicle accessories. And it is critical to operating systems on airplanes and spacecraft. Engineers are turning to efficient design to conserve and control power by looking to how Ai impacts aerospace power management systems for smart solutions.

Perhaps the best example of this quest for improved aerospace technology through Ai is being done at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2015, The Boeing Company joined with the university to establish the Boeing/Carnegie Mellon Aerospace Data Analytics Lab. Boeing’s CIO called it “a unique aerospace partnership”.  And the company sank $7.5 million into the project.

 

​​​​​​​​​Boeing studies Ai impacts Aerospace Power Management

 

“The goal is to find ways to use artificial intelligence and big data to capitalize on the enormous amount of data generated in the design, construction and operation of modern aircraft,” according to a Carnegie Mellon news release. The author Byron Spice writes that aircraft are constantly generating data.  He calls aeronautics “one of the most data-intensive industries”.

In coverage of this partnership, Wired Magazine proclaimed:  “And now, Ai invades the skies.” James Carbonell, project leader and a computer scientist at the university, sees great promise in this endeavor.  “We’re working to develop algorithms that can process all that, understand it, and create a unified way of analyzing information,” he said.

The implementation of Ai impacts aerospace power management systems on airplanes and space ships extends to all areas and subsystems. Just as car makers have entrusted much of the decision-making to onboard computers, the aerospace industry is installing smart technology into air and space vehicles. In fact, the European Space Agency (ESA) is developing space applications for the same Controller Area Network (CAN) technology being used in automobiles. In the ESA paper “Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications”, the authors identify the subsystems of a spacecraft, all of which may be guided by Ai:

​Where Ai Impacts Aerospace Power Management

 

  • attitude determination and control
  • telemetry tracking and command
  • command and data handling
  • power
  • thermal structures and mechanisms
  • guidance and navigation

Load Shedding and Ai

 

 So, what can artificial intelligence do to improve the power subsystem, both in planes and spacecraft?  Perhaps the most important task in learning how Ai impacts aerospace power management is making sure you’ve got enough to get home safely. And to do that, sometimes you must turn off everything except the most critical of systems. In aviation — as well as in the electric power industry — that process is called “load shedding”.

Ai-impacts-aerospace-power-management-300x220That’s how NASA brought the Apollo 13 crew home. Smart people used intelligent methods to limit the power consumption in the spacecraft to direct energy to where it was most needed. Many people credit the contracting firm Kepner-Tregoe and their problem analysis method for saving the astronauts. And who hasn’t seen the movie “Apollo 13” directed by Ron Howard?

In dramatic fashion, astronauts in a mock lunar module simulated actions required to control the use of onboard power.  What if a computer system could make all those calculations and decisions for you? That’s the principle behind AI-based load shedding. One aviation blog defines load shedding as “reducing demands on the aircraft’s electrical system when part of that system fails”.

The author gives us three principles that apply to the process (which he believes will also work in load shedding our personal workload):

  • Know when to load-shed
  • Know what to load-shed
  • Know how to load-shed

The journal Air Facts says that using AI in the cockpit is nothing new. “In fact,” writes author John Zimmerman, “many pilots have been flying with very primitive forms of Ai for years, even if they didn’t realize it: autopilots, FADEC, and load-shedding electrical systems all use computer power to make intelligent decisions.”

​

​​​​Smart controllers/ smart software

 

Making aircraft and spacecraft smarter requires advancements in both hardware and software. Just as innovations in drones and unmanned vehicles are making strides, innovations for manned and unmanned aircraft continue to get show promise.

A power controller from Data Device Corp offers smart system management. A company spokesman says, “DDC’s new high-power density SSPC offers a reliable and efficient solution, optimized for aircraft mission systems that can benefit from the functionality provided by smart aerospace power management,”

Space News writer Debra Warner tells how NASA is putting artificial intelligence into everything. In the article ”Beyond HAL: How artificial intelligence is changing space systems”, she quotes NASA scientist Kelly Fong:  “Work we are doing today focuses not so much on general intelligence but on trying to allow systems to be more independent, more self-reliant, more autonomous.”

Current Ai impact on aerospace power management systems may not be as smart as the HAL 9000 unit in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. But the smart software being developed and used today is still capable of predictive analytics that could help prevent future disasters like those experienced in the Apollo and Challenger space programs.

Conclusion

Of course, how AI impacts aerospace power management systems in other ways besides load shedding. Just as the electric smart grid keeps the lights on, intelligent power systems on planes and space ships can keep pilots, astronauts, and passengers moving toward the completion of their journey. Whether it’s improved power distribution, error control, load shedding, or guarding against disaster, artificial intelligence shows great promise for continued advancement in aerospace system control. It seems that we are just getting started.

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