On September 22, 2015, the Community Foundation of Central Illinois opened the doors of its new location to share with members of the community. CFCI’s office is now located within the Life Together Center at 3625 North Sheridan Road in Peoria, a building that once housed the Great Central Insurance Company. Now owned by the First Federated Church of Peoria, the Center also houses the offices of the Central Illinois Youth Symphony and Look. It’s My Book!, as well as a large space available for community events.
Following a ribbon cutting, more than 150 community members attended an open house to view the collaborative space, with food prepared by South Side Mission’s Culinary Arts Program. “We look forward to utilizing our highly visible new home as a springboard to furthering CFCI’s mission throughout central Illinois,” noted CFCI CEO Mark Roberts. For more information, visit communityfoundationci.org or call (309) 674-8730.
Leading to Empower Others
Leadership training firm Virtuali and WorkplaceTrends.com recently announced the results of its Millennial Leadership Study, a national survey of 412 millennial workers. Among its top findings:
- Nine out of ten millennials aspire to be a leader. 63 percent want to be “transformational” leaders, challenging and exciting others with a sense of purpose.
- Nearly half define leadership as “empowering others to succeed”; just five percent said “money” and one percent said “power.”
- The top leadership skills according to millennials? “Communication” (58%) and “the ability to build relationships” (55%).
- Eighty-three percent of millennials would prefer to work for a company with fewer layers of management, and 28 percent said that “work/life balance” was their biggest reservation about becoming a leader.
Finally, 55 percent of the millennials surveyed are dissatisfied with the leadership development opportunities offered by their own company, while 39 percent believe their company suffers from poor leadership. The biggest problems with their company’s leaders, according to the survey, are communication (50%) and their ability to develop others (39%).
11/11: Happy Singles Day!
What’s the world’s largest online shopping day? Black Friday? Cyber Monday? In fact, the answer is Singles’ Day or Guanggun Jie, a day for people who are single, celebrated on November 11th. Though little known in the U.S., the holiday has become popular in China, where young singles organize parties and karaoke to meet new friends. Last year, the Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba recorded sales at its sites Tmall and Taobao at $9.3 billion, up from $5.8 billion in 2013.
Innovation + Big Data = Big Yellow
Effective November 1, 2015, Caterpillar Inc. announced a reorganization in its dealer and customer support divisions, with added emphasis on data analytics and innovation. The changes include:
- The Mining Sales & Support Division will be integrated into the existing Global Mining machine business divisions. The surface mining sales and support teams will join the Hauling & Extraction Division, which will be renamed the Surface Mining & Technology Division, led by Vice President Tom Bluth. The underground mining sales and support teams will join the Material Handling and Underground Division, led by Vice President Denise Johnson.
- The Distribution Services Divisions will be reduced from three to two: the Asia Pacific, CIS, Africa & Middle East Distribution Division under Vice President Raymond Chan and the Americas & Europe Distribution Division, under Vice President Phil Kelliher.
- The new Global Aftermarket Solutions Division, under Vice President Nigel Lewis, was created to accelerate the growth of aftermarket sales and service solutions.
- The new Wear Components & Aftermarket Distribution Division, under Vice President Doug Hoerr, merges the design and manufacturing of components and aftermarket distribution into one division.
- The new Marketing and Digital Division, under Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer George Taylor, builds on the current Analytics & Innovation Division.
- The new Sustainable, Work Tools & Industry Solutions Division, under Vice President Greg Folley, brings together the sustainable businesses of Cat Reman and Caterpillar Safety Services with the company’s machine attachment business and includes two external sales groups, Cat OEM Solutions and Defense and Federal Products.
- The Global Construction & Infrastructure Division, led by Vice President Paolo Fellin, will assume sales responsibilities for work tools, industrial and waste, paving and forestry products, as well as responsibility for heavy rentals.
The Problem Isn’t Sitting
In recent years, standing desks have grown in popularity as numerous studies suggested a link between sitting and mortality rates. However, a large study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology refutes the simplicity of that conclusion, noting the problem isn’t sitting per se—it’s the lack of physical movement and exercise. “Any stationary posture where energy expenditure is low may be detrimental to health, be it sitting or standing,” states Melvyn Hillsdon of the University of Exeter, co-author of the study. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cancel that standing desk order—just be mindful that it’s no replacement for exercise. iBi
