The foreign takeover of Cobham, a world-leading expert in air-to-air refuelling, has been widely criticised. Photograph: Reuters

The new US owner of the UK defence company Cobham has pledged to keep jobs and investment in Britain as the government faces increasing criticism for allowing the 4bn takeover to go ahead.

The world-leading expert in air-to-air refuelling said its private-equity buyer, Advent International, had committed to maintaining a UK headquarters and to continue funding research and development at its Dorset offices. It has also vowed to keep using the companys name, which references Sir Alan Cobham who founded the firm in 1934.

The deal had been delayed for months after fears were raised that Advent Internationals acquisition could undermine national security, because of Cobhams sensitive military contracts. It has extensive deals with the British military and also manufactures electronic warfare and communications systems for military vehicles.

Advents offer to purchase Cobham was approved by shareholders in August, but delayed in September when the government intervened on national security grounds.

The business secretary, Andrea Leadsom, approved the deal on Friday. Cobhams founding family criticised the decision and said the government had timed it before the Christmas break to avoid scrutiny.

On Monday, Advent pledged to maintain UK employee numbers at 90% of the current level for five years. Cobham employs about 1,700 UK staff of a worldwide headcount of 10,000.

It also said it would keep Cobhams communications and connectivity business in the UK. This includes its missions systems unit on air-to-air refuelling technology.

Advent also pledged to continue spending on UK-based research, committing to invest at least 4.4% of revenue from its UK communications division.

Shonnel Malani, a partner at Advent, said: Advent takes its custodianship of Cobham seriously, and we are confident the transaction and undertakings being given on national security, jobs and future investment, provide important long-term assurances for both Cobhams employees and customers, particularly in the UK and also globally.

Lady Nadine Cobham, the daughter-in-law of the companys founder, said: This is a deeply disappointing announcement and one cynically timed to avoid scrutiny on the weekend before Christmas. In one of its first major economic decisions, the government is not taking back control so much as handing it away.

In Cobham we stand to lose yet another great British defence manufacturer to foreign ownership, through a takeover that would never have been approved by the Americans, French or Japanese, all of whom have taken steps recently to raise protections for their own defence sectors.

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Cobhams US buyer vows to keep UK jobs and investment - The Guardian

Technology giants are increasingly designing their own semiconductors to optimize everything from artificial intelligence tasks to server performance and mobile battery life. Google has the Tensor Processing Unit, Apple Inc. has the A13 Bionic, and Amazon.com Inc. has the Graviton2.

What the titans all lack, however, is a factory to build the new chips they are dreaming up.

Enter Samsung Electronics Co., which is planning a decade-long, $116 billion push for their business. The South Korean company is investing heavily in the next step in miniaturizing semiconductors, a process called extreme ultraviolet lithography. It's by far the priciest manufacturing upgrade Samsung has ever attempted, a risky bid to move beyond its established business of cranking out commoditized silicon and to leapfrog the incumbent leaders in the $250 billion foundry and logic-chip industry.

"A new market is opening up," Yoon Jong Shik, executive vice president of Samsung's foundry business, said at a forum recently held in Seoul. "Companies like Amazon, Google and Alibaba, which lack experience in silicon design, are seeking to make chips with their own concept ideas in order to boost their services. I think this would bring a significant breakthrough for our non-memory chip business."

Samsung is a relative underdog in this growing field. The foundry business -- the name for the manufacturing of chips for companies like Google and Qualcomm Inc. -- is dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. with more than half the market, according to TrendForce Corp. data that puts Samsung at 18%.

Taiwan Semiconductor also took over Apple's A-series processor manufacturing from Samsung, which was the original production partner. Samsung plans to spend about $10 billion per year on equipment, research and development over the next decade, but Taiwan Semiconductor is even more ambitious, with capital expenditures of around $14 billion for this year and next.

"It is not just a matter of willingness," said Changwon Chung, head of pan-Asia technology at Nomura Financial Investment Co., in assessing Samsung's chances of success. "Chip-making is like a composite art. Unless there are enough supports for all-round social infrastructures, it'd be a scarcely achievable goal."

To win over clients, top Samsung executives are touring major cities from San Jose to Munich to Shanghai, hosting foundry forums and negotiating deals. E.S. Jung, president and general manager for the foundry business, is the frontman delivering Samsung's "can-do" pitch at every gathering, where his practiced joke is to suggest that his initials stand for "engineering sample."

"The complexity of the lines drawn by the [extreme ultraviolet] equipment is similar to building a spaceship," said Jung while unveiling a $17 billion extreme ultraviolet lithography plant in Hwaseong earlier this year, flanked by Samsung heir and de-facto boss Jay Y. Lee and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The plant is planned to start mass production in February.

A single extreme ultraviolet lithography machine from ASML Holding NV costs $172 million, and Samsung is setting up dozens of them in Hwaseong in an effort to be first with the technology. Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung are both expected to reach 5-nanometer production processes with extreme ultraviolet lithography in the new year -- by contrast, a human hair is about 60,000 nanometers thick. When those two companies reach the 5-nanometer level on semiconductors, they'll have only each other to compete with in a market that's only set to expand.

And once they ramp up and achieve economies of scale, the overall process cycle time is likely to decrease by 20% and the foundry capacity output will increase by 25%, according to a Citigroup Inc. research report.

" [Taiwan Semiconductor] is too busy with orders pouring in for new products as we enter into the 5G era," said Greg Roh, senior vice president at Hyundai Motor Securities. "For Samsung, that's bringing a good chance to expand their market share by offering lower prices and delivery schedules to meet clients' needs."

Samsung is collaborating with its biggest clients on designing and manufacturing custom chips, and that work is already starting to add to its revenue, according to one Samsung executive who has direct knowledge of the matter. The push toward bespoke processors in Silicon Valley and China is opening up fresh opportunities, and Samsung already has established relationships, as demonstrated by its recent announcement that it'll produce an artificial intelligence chip for Baidu Inc. early next year.

Officials at Samsung believe the company has a competitive edge from its experience building both the chips and the devices that they go into. It is thus able to foresee and address the engineering requirements of its clients. Samsung believes its other trump card is an ability to package memory and logic chips into a single module, improving power and space efficiency.

Analysts do warn, however, that some companies are wary about outsourcing production to a direct competitor in the consumer electronics market -- lest Samsung learns and copies their chip designs in its own products.

Information for this article was contributed by Debby Wu of Bloomberg News.

Business on 12/25/2019

Link:
Samsung investing $116B in semiconductor production - NWAOnline

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It happens every year. January 1: Youre feeling motivated. This is the year youll go to the gym every day, meditate and prep meals like a boss. February 1: Yeah, not so much.

This year, pick some New Years resolutions that will stick. Here are five investing moves that will get your portfolio in order so fast, it might still be 2019 when you finish.

Most investors know they should diversify their investments, but did you know you can diversify your investment accounts? If youre contributing to a 401(k) at work, its a good idea to contribute at least enough to earn any matching dollars from your employer. After that, you should consider putting any additional retirement savings into a Roth IRA.

A Roth IRA provides tax diversification alongside a 401(k). 401(k) contributions are typically made pre-tax and then distributions in retirement are taxed as income. But Roth IRA contributions are made after-tax, which means your money grows tax-free and you dont pay taxes on retirement distributions.

If you havent yet started investing for retirement, a Roth IRA is also a great first account, especially if you dont have an employer retirement plan like a 401(k). If you do, be sure to max out that employer match before you invest elsewhere. You can open an IRA at any online brokerage.

In a recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll for NerdWallet, more than a third of investors said they wish they wouldve invested more money in 2019. One easy way to ensure youre saving the amount you want is to set up an automatic deposit into your investment account.

If you can, send that money directly from your paycheck. If you never have the cash in your checking account, you never have the temptation to spend it. If your employer cant split your direct deposits into more than one account or doesnt offer direct deposit, schedule automatic transfers to occur from your checking account after your paycheck is deposited.

Automating your investment contributions takes just a few minutes and saves you the time youd spend moving your money manually. Saving the same amount on a regular basis makes it easier to budget for your contributions instead of stomaching larger deposits all at once. If you feel like going the extra mile, try to raise your contributions by 1% every year. You might not even miss it.

Account fees, transaction charges, high investment expenses: All of these costs eat into your portfolios return. If you put $500 a month into a brokerage account for 30 years, earn a 6% average annual return and pay fees of 0.50% of your balance each year, youll end up sacrificing over $44,000 in returns.

While fees are hard to avoid completely, there are certainly ways to reduce them. Start by looking through your investment account statements to find what fees youre being charged by your brokerage or account provider. If youre invested in mutual funds, also take a look at each funds prospectus. These documents are available on your brokers website, and the first few pages will outline the fee, called an expense ratio, charged by the fund.

You should question any mutual fund or exchange-traded fund that has an expense ratio greater than 0.50%, said Spencer Stephens, a certified financial planner and owner of Rooted Interest Financial Planning in Holladay, Utah, via email.

If youre investing through a 401(k), you might not have an alternative fund, as these plans have small investment selections. But in any other investment account (like an IRA), you can shop around for lower-cost funds. Most online brokerages offer fund screeners, which you can use to sort available mutual funds and ETFs by expense ratio. And if your brokerage is still charging you a trading commission, consider switching to one of the many online brokers now offering free trades.

A 401(k) is a valuable employee benefit, which means you dont want to leave it behind when you leave a job. If you have old 401(k)s lingering at past employers, take a bit of time to roll them over into an IRA.

Its important to do the rollover correctly, though; otherwise, you could trigger taxes. Dont cash out your balance or have your provider write you a check directly. Instead, ask your 401(k) plan provider to do a direct rollover into an IRA. You may also be able to roll your balance into your current 401(k).

When youre in the throes of planning a wedding or dealing with swollen ankles from pregnancy, the last thing on your mind is updating the beneficiaries on your investment accounts. But these selections are important, and new years resolutions are a good reminder to make them.

A beneficiary assignment (on an IRA, 401(k) or otherwise) supersedes the will of the deceased. So whoever the beneficiary is will receive the money, regardless of what the will says. This applies to both retirement and non-retirement accounts, Ian Bloom, a CFP and owner of Open World Financial Life Planning in Raleigh, North Carolina, said in an email.

Maintaining up-to-date beneficiaries makes the transition smoother and ensures your money will go where you intend it to.

Read more here:
Got 15 Minutes? Use It to Up Your Investing Game in 2020 - NerdWallet

On Mar. 29, Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) began trading on the NASDAQ and became the first ride-hailing company to go public in a much-anticipated market debut. For some investors, it was a warm-up for the Uber (NYSE:UBER) IPO, which would take place in May. There was a lot of hype surrounding both IPOs, as this was the first time that investors could buy shares of the popular ridesharing businesses.

Lyft priced its offering at $72 per share, good for a valuation of $20.6 billion, and that was already up from the original pricing range of $62 to $68 per share. Demand for the stock remained strong, and Lyft ended up opening the day at a price of $87.33. That's the price at which most investors would have been able to buy the stock when it first began trading.

Image Source: Getty Images.

But day one didn't end particularly well. The stock would decline during the day to close at $78.29, offering a tepid 9% gain for such a highly-anticipated IPO. Unfortunately, things only got worse for the company and its shareholders. The stock shed 12% on its second day of trading, falling below the initial offering price, and by the time Uber made its own debut, Lyft would be struggling to stay above $50.

The stock is trading a little below that mark as of this writing, and those who invested $5,000 in Lyft at the first-day opening price of $87.33 would own 57 shares, which today would be worth a little more than $2,700. That's a loss of 45%. Even if you were lucky enough to buy in at the $72 offering price, your stake would still be down over 33% as of this writing.

Part of the problem for Lyft was that it debuted just before some other major IPOs. Uber was a little more than a month away, whilePinterest and Zoom would both begin trading in April. Given Lyft's disappointing start, investors likely shifted their focus to chase the newer offerings, especially with rival Uber being the much bigger fish in the ride-hailing market. And while timing was one problem for Lyft, an even bigger one was the company's poor financials.

Just days before the Uber IPO, Lyft released its first quarterly report as a public company, and it wasn't pretty. Although the company beat analyst expectations on the top line with revenue of $776 million, its net loss of over $1.1 billion called into question just how profitable the ridesharing business is. It led to such significant apprehension in the markets that even Uber felt the effects of the sudden bearishness, and its IPO struggled as well.

Things have not gotten a whole lot better for Lyft. The company has gone on to post net losses of $644 million and $464 million in the second and third quarters, respectively.

In September, California passed Assembly Bill 5, which could force Lyft and other ride-hailing companies to classify their drivers as employees rather than independent contractors. That means the companies would incur many employee-related costs and have to deal with minimum wage laws as well as benefits, training, and labor laws. In short, it's a headwind that the companies are still fighting. Lyft and Uber are hoping that a ballot initiative for November of next year, the Protect App-Based Drivers & Services Act, will provide ridesharing companies an exemption from the new law.

The danger is not only limited to California, however, as other states could follow suit, and the problem could become a nationwide one for Lyft.

So is the stock a buy at these depressed trading levels? Despite its decline since the IPO, Lyft still presents too big a risk. The company is nowhere near breakeven, and if it has to classify its drivers as employees, that's only going to make it more difficult for Lyft to turn a profit. This has been a stormy year for the company, and things might not get any easier in 2020. For now, this is a stock investors should stay far away from.

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If You Invested $5,000 in Lyft's IPO, This Is How Much Money You'd Have Now - The Motley Fool

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been spending the run-up to Christmas checking his Wikipedia page.

"Just looked at my wiki for 1st time in years. It's insane!" Musk tweeted on Sunday, saying the page was "a war zone with a zillion edits."

The tech billionaire also took issue with some of the language in the article. "Can someone please delete 'investor.' I do basically zero investing," he wrote.

"If Tesla & SpaceX go bankrupt, so will I. As it should be," he added, implying that most of his wealth consisted of his stock in the two companies. He made a similar argument during his legal fight with the UK cave diver Vernon Unsworth, during which he said he was cash-poor.

A Twitter user asked Musk whether Tesla counted as an investment, to which he replied that he'd rolled the proceeds of all his companies forward into one another. "These are all companies where I played fundamental founding role. Not right to ask others to put in money if I don't put in mine," he said.

Another Twitter user suggested that the term investor could be replaced with "business magnet," to which Musk replied "Yes" followed by a laughing emoji and a heart emoji. Musk has previously joked he would like to be known as a business magnet, as opposed to a business magnate.

At 8:11 p.m. on Sunday an edit was made to Musk's Wikipedia page that replaced investor with business magnet, "as requested by Elon Musk," according to the page's history. "Business magnet" has since been erased, but the "investor" edit was left unchanged.

Musk has been known to invest in companies: He was an early investor in the artificial-intelligence research startup DeepMind before it was bought by Google's parent company, Alphabet, in 2014. Musk told Vanity Fair in 2017 that he invested in DeepMind to keep an eye on the progress of AI rather than for financial return.

Continued here:
Elon Musk fact-checked his own Wikipedia page and requested edits including the fact he does 'zero investing' - Business Insider

The UK Oil and Gas (LSE:UKOG) share price has endured another turbulent month, after declining in value since October.

For investors looking to put money into stable investments for long-term growth, UKOG is not the answer. It has a market capitalisation of 65m, there is no dividend yield and earnings per share are negative.

In September 2017, the UKOG share price hit a high of 8.7p and for a lucky few, a lot of money will have been made. The UKOG share price had been trading around 1.4p on December 20 2016, and is hovering at 0.9p today. Those who bought three years ago and still hold, will not have seen their investment grow it will have declined by 37%.

If youd bought 1,000 worth of UKOG shares in December 2016, they would now be worth around 630.

Back in 2015, UKOG began testing for oil at its West Sussex site, called Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport. Its rumoured to contain as much as 158m barrels of oil per square mile, which has understandably excited investors and exciyed interest in the venture.

In September, the company increased its stake in the field to a controlling 85.6% and flow testing was due to start imminently. However, earlier this month the firm was driven into an emergency 2m fundraising effort after its joint venture partners Doriemus and Alba Minerals ran out of money. An institutional investor fully funded this placing at 0.85p per share, but the UKOG share price fell 8% on the news.

UKOG has the misfortune of being both an oil and gas share and a penny share listed on AIM. Oil & Gas is a notoriously risky and volatile investment sector, while AIM is the Wild West of the share-dealing arena and comes with its own additional risk.

Long-term investors should know the pitfalls of trading shares on AIM. The AIM index is much less heavily regulated than the major FTSE indices. As such its suspected to be home to relentless shorting, pumping and dumping, price manipulation through bulletin board ramping and other dodgy dealings.

Share prices in Oil & Gas hinge on the price of oil, but that price depends on more external influences, such as the trade war between the US and China, decisions made by OPEC, the risk of war or terrorism and the world economy at large. Therefore, although the quality of the company, its funding, management integrity and decision-making processes are all paramount, oil company share prices are constantly affected by many uncontrollable factors too.

I can see why investors are enticed by UKOGs potential, many fortunes have been established in oil booms, but the risks should not be overlooked. Many more fortunes have been lost on AIM than won.

In mid-December, UKOG unveiled plans to install two exploration drills at privately owned sites at Arreton and Godshill on the Isle of Wight. This will require planning permission, but if granted, flow-testing should start in Autumn 2020. UKOG expects the sites would be in operation for 25 years and if successful, each site might generate 0.5bn during its lifetime. Its very early days and there are many factors to consider, including environmental concerns.

The risks surrounding UKOG mean it doesnt interest me. There is a lot of speculation, plus funding worries and external pressures to consider. Ill continue to avoid the share.

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Kirsteen has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Motley Fool UK 2019

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This is how much 1k invested in UKOG shares 3 years ago would be worth now - Yahoo Finance UK

In October, TRILLER vowed to give TikTok a run for their money and it is keeping itsword. The music-driven social video platform has secured strategic investments from major music industry figures totaling more than $10 million.

TRILLER has 26.5 million monthly active users in the U.S. and more than 75 million active users worldwide. According toReuters, the app is set to surpass TikTok, which currently has 26.5 million users domestically.

Two monthsafter raising $28 million, TRILLER unveiled a heavy-hitting roster of investors and strategic partners. Snoop Dogg, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Kendrick Lamar, Pitbull, and TI are among TRILLERS top investors, raising more than $15 million + for the app.

To have the biggest names in hip hop and music join TRILLER validates the genuine need for a radical shift in the way the music industry has operated, Ryan Kavanaugh, Founder of Proxima Media said in a press conference. As were moving into the next decade, TRILLER is the MTV for todays generation.

TRILLER is taking itself seriously by licensing partnerships with Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group, all of which are believed to own a minority piece of the company. Partners are not only investing in the app, but artists are producing exclusive content for TRILLER.

Popular music managers like Gee Roberson, Co-CEO of the Blueprint Group, whose client list includes Lil Nas X, Jill Scott, and G-Eazy also put their hand in the pot and invested in the app.

We are incredibly fortunate to work with some of the largest artists on the planet, and todays announcement about our increasing portfolio of partnerships and collaborations with top labels and artists marks perhaps the most significant shift in music since the creation of streaming, Mike Lu, CEO of Triller, said in a statement. We are truly putting the music business back together, and artists recognize the importance of Triller to the future of the industry.

Under the licensing agreement, users can create content using the catalog of music and share across several platforms without the worry of licensing fees. The app creators say it has the highest engagement rate of any music social platforms on the market, stating its users spend an average of 20 minutes per day while creators spend an average of one hour.

TRILLER users can also stream full-length songs from any labels in-app for free instead of just a 30 to 60 seconds clip. Its feature also includes saving songs to their own playlists.

Read the original:
Goodbye TikTok. Hello Triller: Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and The Weeknd Invest Millions in This New App - Grit Daily

Earlier this month Ilookedat how successful $20,000 investments in a number of popular ASX shares had been over the last 10 years.

Whilst picking market-beaters is no easy feat, I believe the three shares listed below have the potential to achieve outsized returns over the next decade.

Heres why I would invest $20,000 into them in 2020:

Nanosonics is a leading infection control specialist. At present it is best-known for its industry-leading trophon EPR disinfection system for ultrasound probes. Its global market share has been growing an a rapid rate in recent years, leading to it recording a 17% share at the end of FY 2019. Given its quality, I expect this trend to continue in the coming years, driving strong unit and consumables sales growth. This should be supported by the release of new products in the near term that are targeting unmet needs. If they are half as successful as the trophon EPR product, then the future will be very bright for Nanosonics.

I think that this property listings company would be another top option for investors to consider buying. I think it is one of the highest quality companies on the local market and believe it is well-positioned to deliver strong long term earnings growth over the next decade. Especially given new revenue streams, price increases, and the rebounding housing market. The latter could drive increasing demand for listings over the coming years.

Finally, I think this job listings giant would be a great place to invest $20,000 in 2020. I believe SEEK is well-positioned to deliver above-average earnings growth over the next decade thanks to its dominant position in the ANZ market, its growing international operations, and its high level of investment in growth opportunities. The latter is expected to play a big part in helping SEEK achieve its aspirational revenue target of $5 billion by FY 2025. This will be a significant increase on the revenue of $1,537.3 million it posted in FY 2019.

The post Where to invest $20,000 in ASX shares in the 2020s appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

As well as Nanosonics, REA Group, and SEEK, I think these top shares could beat the market in the 2020s.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of SEEK Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Nanosonics Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended REA Group Limited and SEEK Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The Motley Fool's purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool's free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson. 2019

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Where to invest $20,000 in ASX shares in the 2020s - Yahoo Finance Australia

Getty

This time of year, many are establishing goals and plotting their course for the new year and the decade ahead. But in their quest for career growth, they may have ignored the one factor hiding in plain sight: how, where, and from whom they derive their energy.

Though it may seem inconsequential, your energy powers all that you do. When youve filled your tank with energy, that fuel helps propel you to leave your comfort zone and tackle new challenges. It gives you that extra boost to go after your dreams and persevere, even when the going gets tough.

Making career progress becomes exponentially more difficult when youre operating from a place of low energy. It negatively affects your mood, your drive, and can leave you feeling unmotivated and uninspired.

Knowing how, where, and from whom you obtain your energy can make the difference between a career that soars and one that stagnates. Heres how to identify your sources of positive energyand fix those that are notto create an environment of career success:

Tap into yourself-awarenessto home in on your feelings about where you spend your time, what youre doing, and with whom. Maybe youll notice that you seem to be more productive in a favorite coffee shop rather than in your cubicle. Or perhaps youll observe that you feel a sense of flow in creative activities but seem to dread repetitive or detail-oriented tasks. And you might be surprised to learn that you leave every conversation with a particular colleague feeling pumped up yet deflated after interacting with another. This can be especially important to note when youreempatheticand tend to absorb the energy of others.

We all have people, places, and activities that either bolster us or bog us down; its wise to get to know how each makes us feel.

Once youve gotten into the habit of payingattentionto the elements of your careerenvironment(which includes your friends, colleagues, location, patterns, and lifestyle), youll begin to see that they impact you far morefor better or for worsethan you realize.

Ask yourself these two questions to better assess if your career environment is helping you grow or holding you back:

Who is in my top five?

Jim Rohn famously said, Youre the average of the five people you spend time with.

Rohns assertion was rooted in the law of averages, which is the theory that the result of any given situation will be the average of all outcomes, and suggests that the five people youre around the most shape you.

Said another way, when youre trying to grow into the person you hope to be, its helpful to surround yourself with people who demonstrate those qualities you aspire to achieve.

Where do I hang out, and what do I do while there?

Its not just thewho, but also thewhat, that you surround yourself with that can either propel you forwardor hold you back.

Where are the top five places where you spend your time? For most, this includes an office and home base, as well as additional locales: commuting in your car or on the train; the gym or a bar; networking events or your sofa; walking through a park or surfing the internet.

Consider, too, your habits and lifestyle: are you intentionally placing yourself in situations and locations that spark growth? Or have you fallen (perhaps unconsciously, out of fear) into a stagnant comfort zone of the familiar but uninspiring?

Ideally, you want to surround yourself with those who inspire you, are passionate and enthusiastic, and are motivated, grateful, and open-minded. These people might include mentors from whom you can learn new skills, colleagues who cheer you on when you get discouraged, or friends who hold you accountable to your goals. Having positive, encouraging people who lift you up and support your dreams will dramatically improve your chances for career progress.

Conversely, if your environment contains negative people threatened by your choices, youll have a much harder time trying to make let alone maintainsignificant change. Make a point to eliminate (or significantly reduce the amount of time you spend with) energy vampires that suck the life right out of you, leaving you feeling empty and uninspired.

Likewise, no place or activity is inherently good or bad, but you should pay attention to how you feel while youre within those spots and doing those things, and note if that feeling changes when you leave them or stop doing them. Are you motivated or drained? If its the latter, and you want to make progress, somethings gotta give; itstime to make a change.

Real career growth happens when we understand whom and what energizes us and best supportswhat we want, and then align ourselves with those people and places that do.

View original post here:
How To SpotAnd FixThe Most Overlooked Factor In Your Career Growth - Forbes

Here are a few 'tools' that you may want in your professional kit.

Not long ago, there wasnt much complexity involved in mapping an organisations structure. Organisations slid into ready templates as easily as a knife into a scabbard. With the increasing complexity of the business environment challenging them to be more agile, organisations now assume rather unusual shapes during their lifetime just to address emerging situations. What does this mean for employees? Kannan Hariharan, former senior director, human resources, PepsiCo India, who is now associated with social enterprises, says it means resilience and agility have become indispensable.

Kannan explains, Those are two abilities any employee would do well to carry into 2020. Companies are changing the way they do business. Organisations are changing the way they are structured. In this climate, an employee cant afford to be fixated on how they would want to work. Certain skills are required to work in a matrix organisation. Working in a global organisation will come with its own demands. New technology ushers in new ways of working. Resilience and agility are two abilities that are absolutely necessary to navigate this VUCA business environment.

Naresh Purushotham, co-founder, Crestcom India, believes that most professionals procrastinate over issues that are important because there is no need to deal with them immediately. They let things slide till they are forced to attend to it, and sometimes, they realise to their chagrin that they are well past the golden hour. In his book First Things First, Stephen Covey discussed the four quadrants of time management in the context of work that comes with varying degrees of urgency and importance. Quadrant I (urgent and important) and Quadrant III (urgent but not important) are where we expend most of our time, because they are external reminders pushing us to attend to them. Quadrant II (not urgent but important) is the most ignored, because usually, the motivation has to come from within.

Naresh gives two examples of how we fail to live in Quadrant II, professionally.

We may not ask ourselves How do I reinvent my leadership style? as we are not threatened in any manner, in the present. Let us take the question of performance appraisal. There is the option of making it proactive, by not waiting to do it only at the end of the year. Every quarter, managers can provide their team members with feedback about their performance in the previous quarter, and directions on how to work in the next quarter. Doing so allows team members to make course corrections. If a culture of informal performance appraisals is built into a team's functioning, there won't be any surprises at the end of the year.

Though workplace conflicts are commonplace, efforts to develop the skills necessary to resolve them are rare.

Vidhya Srinivasan, adjunct faculty and advisor, XIME Chennai, believes the ability to universalise the conflict so as to take the sting out of it, and listen empathetically can help defuse tension in the workplace, and make for a happy and engaged team.

Vidhya explains, Universalise conflicts by creating empathy about the issue. Conflicts often lead to burnout so being inquisitive, asking questions, listening deeply helps to keep the attention on the other person and focus on what is being said. Understanding another perspective builds trust and influence. One participant described how sharpening his empathic listening skills has enabled him to foster greater collaboration with his colleagues. His response de-escalated the conflict and led to a healthy, less stressful conversation.

A culture of learning can make an organisation competition-ready, as it can adapt to any changes that new market realities may impose on it. K.S. Raja Rajasekar, deputy general manager, human resources, KONE India, says organisations should seek to promote a culture of learning at every level of their workforce, even if it may sometimes mean welcoming the possibility of failure.

In learning, there is no hierarchical factor.

There are only two kinds of employees: the learner and the non-learner, who will be characterised by a progressive mindset and a fixed mindset respectively. Leadership competence is centred around humility, which is about the ability to learn from everyone, says Raja Rajasekar.

With the world shrinking considerably, working with distributed teams will become the norm. In such a working environment, employees will have to make sense of culturally diverse situations far too often, and respond appropriately.

If you are looking to add a super-strategic skill to your armoury in 2020, you just cant go wrong with cultural intelligence! We live in a world today that is not only incredibly diverse, but also one where our identity is linked to socio-cultural anchors. You can take me out of Chennai, but you can never take Madras out of me! The ability of individuals, teams and businesses to be mindful of the varying cultures around them and respond with understanding, respect and inclusiveness is what one would call cultural intelligence. How do we build this skill? Simple. Read up on people, habits, customs and traditions. Interact with people who are very different from you. Develop an attitude of acceptance, rather than tolerance. Add a dash of friendly humour and voila, you will display cultural intelligence!" says Saundarya Rajesh, founder-president, Avtar Group.

In this VUCA world, the speed of operations can be so intense that one day blends into another, with no distinguishable difference between the two. Self-awareness is one of the casualties in this situation. However, ironically in the VUCA world with challenges coming from many quarters, being self-aware becomes extremely important, especially in the context of leadership.

We have to practise pausitivity. When our work is punctuated with meaningful and purposeful pauses, there will be greater self-awareness. If employees are to be reflective, the output in their work will be higher, says Naresh.

Without the transformative power of a reflective mind, an experience will be just an experience: It cant turn into a lesson. Journaling can be a handy tool in a leaders or any professionals toolkit, as it can help them put their work in perspective and make necessary changes.

There is an increasing number of HR professionals who believe in technological tools that can help employees take care of themselves, and their organisations to assess individual performance on a daily basis. Shradha Puri, corporate head, human resources, Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic, says In todays fast-paced world, there are huge demands, especially on our time, and in the process of meeting them, we often neglect our health. A personal health app that monitors our physical and psychological well-being, by reminding us about the breaks we need to take during a work-day, will be a great workplace ally to have. In our organisation, we are in talks with those who can make such an app for our organisation. Our interest in such an app is driven by our awareness of the benefits resulting from using a customised resource-management app that has been tracking employees daily productivity levels.

Artificial Intelligence tools can study continuous engagement of employees through a method that cuts out a laborious and boring feedback and processing mechanism, says Poonam Sharma, global organisation development head, Alkem Laboratories Ltd. The cloud-based AI tool can be put in employees mobiles and laptops. It will call the employee for feedback, and if the employee specifies a different time, it will call back then. Having an analysis done on the basis of the feedback is easier. Using some cloud-based tools will help the analyst arrive at the right picture. One doesnt have to sit on an Excel sheet, says Poonam.

It should all begin with a career map marked by actionable steps, between the dream and the destination, says R. Sridhar, founder, IDEAS-RS, and this is how he explains it: There are three questions one has to ask. One, what would I like happening in my career in 2020? Two, what is currently happening in that context? Three, what should I change or what should I do differently, do more of, or less of, to get where I want. Anybody can do this. It will give a roadmap to 2020. Everybody has a dream, but most of them dont do anything about it. They had a dream in 2019 and in 2020, it remains a dream. They start and stop with the dream, and they don't follow the next steps.

Read more:
Nine things every professional would need in 2020 - The Hindu