Cook-Wissahickon eighth-graders visit Esherick Museum

The staircase, hand-carved from a single tree.

The staircase, hand-carved from a single tree.

Cook-Wissahickon students gather outside the Esherick Museum.

Cook-Wissahickon students gather outside the Esherick Museum.

A large group of eighth-grade students from Cook-Wissahickon School recently took a fun-filled and fascinating tour of the Wharton Esherick Museum on Horse Shoe Trail, in Malvern, courtesy of PBP.

Esherick was a prolific 20th Century sculptor who worked primarily in wood creating furniture, utensils, interiors, buildings and more.

The students were divided into three groups to tour the museum, which consists of Esherick’s studio, living area, and bedroom.  The students were most intrigued by the staircase Esherick carved from a single huge tree. They carefully made the climb from level-to-level.

The day concluded with the traditional and much-anticipated lunch at Margaret Quo’s Mandarin restaurant, where many tried their hand at chopsticks.

 

Two IT techs hired full time

Sam Strauch

Sam Strauch

Melissa Commodore

Melissa Commodore

Two familiar faces in IT have made the transition and are now full time PBP employees.

Please officially welcome Melissa Commodore and Sam Strauch to the IT team.

Originally from Harrisburg, PA, Melissa now lives in the South Philadelphia area. She attended King’s College in Wilkes Barre, studying computer information systems.

Her  interests include reading and participating in nightly events with her church.  Melissa’s signature color is purple!

Sam grew up in Wisconsin and attended Haverford College where he graduated in 2012.  He currently enjoys living in the East Falls area of Philadelphia.

His hobbies include reading, playing board games, and “general code/computer” stuff.

Sam surprised us by sharing a secret about himself …

“I hunt dragons.  It’s not something I’ve told many people before, up to this point. It’s the kind of thing one keeps to themselves. Yet every night I take out my crossbow and rocket-powered hang glider and take to the skies.”

Ed Satell talks up Corporate Responsibility at LeBow

Ed Satell sits alongside LeBow professor Daniel Korschun

Ed Satell sits alongside LeBow professor Daniel Korschun

If the topic is Corporate Social Responsibility, then you can bet PBP Founder & CEO Ed Satell is probably somewhere nearby.

And that was exactly the case during a recent panel discussion on that very topic sponsored by Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.

The event was moderated by Daniel Korschun, a nationally recognized expert on the topic, and attended by more than 300 MBA candidates and professors.

Ed was a member of the panel of distinguished business leaders discussing whether corporate social responsibility efforts improve the bottom line.

Among other things, Ed stated that: “In today’s world, sustainability is a great marketing concept. It’s in businesses’ self-interest. All wealth comes from the community; to be successful, businesses need successful communities.

“You can’t say if I had the time and if I had the money, I’d do it,” he continued. “Everybody’s got some time and everybody’s got some money. Get involved in something you’re passionate about.”

The discussions serve as a focal point for the exchange of theory and best practices among business leaders, professors and researchers.

A daughter in the scrum: Katie Walston earns playoff MVP

katiewalstonrugbyKatie Walston, daughter of Senior Group Publisher John Walston, is a standout rugby player at West Chester University.

Katie, a junior majoring in biology/ecology with a minor in environmental health, is a high-scoring member of the WCU Women’s Rugby squad. This year’s team is an enormously talented group and is headed to the USA Rugby Division I Collegiate Women’s Final Four in Palo Alto, CA, on May 9.

Katie’s team breezed to victory in late April at the early rounds of the national playoffs in Marietta, GA, crushing both Georgia Tech and New Mexico. Katie was named MVP of those first and second rounds.

In its 10th season since gaining NCAA status, the WCU Women’s team has won more matches (12), notched its first Mason-Dixon Conference title, and has advanced further in the Division I play than ever before.

WCU will be tested in its semifinal game against undefeated Penn State, a women’s rugby powerhouse with eight National Titles to its name. The games will be streamed live on www.usarugby.com.

Win or lose, Katie heads off to a 10-week summer  internship at the El Verde Field Station in the El Yunque National Forest of Puerto Rico, where she will be doing tropical rain forest ecology research.

Congrats, and many good wishes to Katie!

 

Welcome Audra Lombardo to Editorial

Audra joined PBP on May 15.

Audra joined PBP on May 15.

Please help us welcome Audra Lombardo to PBP’s Editorial team.

Audra joins us after a stint at Hibu Custom Websites, in Gulph Mills, where she was a content writer and SEO specialists, working one-on-one with customers to create their desired customized business websites.

Prior to that, Audra worked for News Headquarters, part of the online reputation management firm, producing news stories, blog posts and many other types of content at a prodigious rate of 10 to 14 stories a day!

Audra is a 2010 graduate of Eastern University in St. Davids, with a BA in English & Creative Writing. She is also a fan of the Belle of Amherst, whose work she likes to quote.

Her first day on the job was Monday, May 5.  Audra is eager to learn more about about PBP’s fast-read/reader focused style.

Cook Wissahickon golf outing supports students

Pat, Dan, Nicole and Jon lead a caravan of golf carts at C-W outing.

Pat, Dan, Nicole and Jon lead a caravan of golf carts at C-W outing.

April 25th was a special day as it marked the Cook-Wissahickon School First Annual Golf Outing.

Beautiful weather, good golfing and a great cause all combined to mark a special fundraising event for PBP’s favorite city elementary school.

The outing was held at the secluded Walnut Lane Golf Course in Fairmount Park, which is just a well-struck 5-iron from the school.

Cook-Wiss, as PBPers’ fondly refer the school, provides a well-rounded education to students in grades K-thru-8. But like many Philadelphia public schools, C-W took a big hit with budget cuts.

Funds from the golf outing, which was sponsored by the Cook-Wissahickon Home & School Association, are used for basic supplies and funding for essential personnel to keep students safe in the building.

PBP came through in a big way by sponsoring two foursomes in the outing as well as becoming a Platinum sponsor.

While neither foursome scored low enough to win the tournament, PBP finance specialist Patrick Schuman brought home the trophy in the long drive competition. Congrats to Pat, who also happens to be a mentor in PBP’s 19-year-old school mentoring program.

Progressive Business Publication Scam Alert: Phishing, Vishing & SMiShing

Progressive Business Publication Scam Alert

Identity thieves are constantly creating new ways to scam unsuspecting people. That’s why it’s essential to recognize the three most common technology-related scams known as Phishing, Vishing and SMiShing.

Phishing scams use email, while Vishing attacks come over land telephones. SMiShing scams target the users of mobile devices.

The common element to all three scams is to collect confidential personal and financial information.

Here’s a closer look at how they work.

Phising is an attempt to get your password or credit card number by sending out phony email that looks like it comes from a trustworthy entity, usually a bank but possibly also a social website, an online payment processor or even an IT company. The phony email contains a link to a site that looks and feels like a real company.

If you click the link and go to the site, you’re directed to enter financial or other details, even to log in if it’s a mock up of your real bank site.

But even if you do none of these, the site has probably already downloaded malware onto your computer to try to capture your private information.

The term Phising is derived from fishing, and is a reference to baiting a victim into biting on a malicious link, etc.

Vishing scams use Internet-based telephone systems to gain access to private and personal data. The term comes from “voice” and phishing. It goes like this: You answer the phone and an automated recording informs you your credit card, or maybe your bank account, had suspicious or fraudulent activity and you need to call a certain number right away.

The recording tells you the number to call and says your account or card has been deactivated until further notice. When you call, you get another recording telling you to enter your bank or credit card number on the key pad to confirm who you are. Don’t do it.

This kind of scam is also used to get a security PIN, expiration date, date of birth, etc.

 

SMiShing is similar to the other scams, but uses cell phone text messages to deliver the bait and get someone to divulge personal information. The name is a combination of Short Message Service technology and phishing.

The hook in this scam is a website or phone number the user is required to connect with.

SmiShing often involves something that needs immediate attention, such as confirming you’ve signed up for a discounted subscription, and you’ll be charged $8 a day unless you cancel the order. Then it gives you a phone number to call to cancel.

Of course, you can’t cancel without entering your vital personal and financial information, which is the raison d’etre behind the scam in the first place.­­­­

A recent variation of this involved retail giant WalMart, which issued a fraud alert regarding a large number of SmiShing texts that offered a phony $1,000 gift card as bait.

The key to handling all three of these scams requires the same reality check: If you feel a need to contact your bank or credit card company, use the number on the back of your credit card or call or visit a branch office you know for sure is real!

Team building: It's really trust building

Adapted from Safety Compliance Alert.

Just say the words “team building” and most managers who’ve been around a while want to roll their eyes. That's understandable. Many team building exercises deserve the bad rap they get.

Consultants will try to sell you on the notion that people playing “tug of war” or having “amoeba races” are also having fun and laughing, and that makes them open and receptive to one another. Right?

Maybe, at least while they’re tugging on the rope. And don’t misunderstand. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a day of fun, if that’s all you really want.

But team building takes more than that. What happens the next day when people are back on the job? Are relationships strengthened? Or does everyone just go back to their old habits, grumbling over perceived snubs and practicing passive-aggressiveness until they get what they want?

For real team building results, a day of shooting paint balls at each other may be fun, but it’s a hit or miss exercise — pun intended. And mostly it’s miss.

What does work? Trust building! And the best thing about trust building is it hasn’t changed over time. Trust still comes from the same place it always has, it starts on the inside.

Consider this very practical example from the field of workplace safety. People need to be able to trust that those around them will do their jobs safely. To help foster trust quickly, good companies use techniques that encourage people to get to know one another personally, and to recognize the things they have in common.

For instance, nothing brings people together faster than a common enemy, like a serious safety hazard. Assigning employees to come together to identify and eliminate hazards is an excellent trust builder.

Many managers are surprised to learn that one of the of the most well-established and proven trust building techniques available is the employee newsletter. Publishing and sharing items on a regular basis, like employee birthdays, graduations, weddings or anniversaries, hobbies and interests, and adding personal touches to these stories, provides the basis for trust building and teamwork.

It lets people see they have a lot in common, that they share many interests, and that they’re all in this “work thing” together. It makes them one, like a good team.