text:
Anna Counselman views operations through the lens of the customer – that is, understanding the customers' pain points and ensuring solutions make it onto the product and engineering roadmap.
It's all about uncovering how to make your product or service better by rallying the relevant teams—product, engineering, and ML—around the single goal of empathizing with the user and solving their problems.
As the Co-founder and Head of People & Operations at Upstart, Anna Counselman knows this process intimately. She shares how Upstart approaches product development and navigates the new era of hybrid work.
Anna's journey to Upstart
The importance of understanding the customer problem in creating cohesive product and operations teams
Innovative approaches to hybrid work
Key lessons learned from Google
Cultivating Operations and Culture in a Digital-First Environment with Anna Counselman
And then we came across this somewhat jarring statistic, which is that for every document, every additional document, we asked for, you saw about a fifteen percent drop off. You are listening to leaders and lending from upstart, a podcast dedicated to helping consumer lenders grow their programs and improve their product offerings. Each week here, decision makers in the finance industry offer insights into the future of the lending industry, Best Practices around digital transformation and more. Let's Gett into the show. Welcome to leaders and lending. I'm your host, Jeff Keltner. This week's episode features my conversation with in a councilman, the cofounder and head of operations at upstart. So I've known Anna for a while. I really want to have an on because and it was part of the team that the left Google to found upstart and I think really brings a lot of insight both from her experience managing very large consumer support and operations on Gmail, for instance, at Google, and the lessons they learned and applied to running operations here at upstart, in particular her belief that, as opposed to building support around a fixed product, there's a given take between operations, support and the product and engineering process. That's kind of helps you actually optimize the product, not just build support around it, and that's kind of deeply embedded and the upstart culture and is also kind of serves as our howd of people in culture and so that we dive a little bit into the way of start is moving towards a digital first workplace and the structuring of the company around vertical working teams. It's a, I think, a really interesting and innovative approach to kind of breaking up a big company too smaller units without actually becoming a business unit gem type culture. So a lot of interesting topics, a lot of things I think you can take away about how I'm start is leading the way and is applying lessons from the technology world into the financial services sector. So please enjoy this conversation with an accouncilman. Anna, thanks so much for making the time to join us today on the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm looking for this conversation, but I you know, I started asking everybody at the beginning of the podcast to kind of you know, I don't think any of US grow up dreaming of being in the finance industry, you know, Dr Lawyer, astronaut, whatever it might be. What was the path that led you to coming into the financial services industry? And then a little bit about, you know, what it is you do here. It upstart. Yeah, thank you so much. So actually, interestingly, I studied finance and Entrepreneurship and college. So in a way I'm like exactly applying my major. We're supposed to be start up is like exactly, you know, exactly according to plan. But of course it wasn't a straight line and by any means so. I've always worked on operation. So I started my career actually in industrial operations, working for a company called McMaster car, like shaving seconds off of the assembly line and like trying to figure out logistics and things like this, and then I kept trying to do these like cultural initiatives there, and let's just say, they were not met with a whole lot of enthusiasm in an industrial supply setting. So when Google hit thee in two thousand and seven as the best place to work and I read about their like approach, which at the time was completely revolutionary, nobody fed their employees, nobody was that transparent, nobody was doing all the things like I've got to just find a job there. So I found some role. I was an operations manager who was managing like managers and people underneath them and all the stuff, and I found a job that said that. So I was like, Oh, I'll apply to that job and halfway through my interviews they were like, you know, this isn't a management role. I was like, Oh, okay, that's fine, but honestly, if they had told me to like sort paper clips, I would have taken the job anyway. So, anyway, that's how I got to Google and then I spent five years there managing various operations teams, probably most notably the Gmail operations team, as they skilled substantially at that time. And that's how I met Dave and Dave and I got to work on a couple of really hard google wide problems. That's how I got to know him, and so when he started to think about upstart and this idea of there's got to be a better way to...
...give people access to credit than's being done today, before that I was like I'm going to retire from Google. I love this place. I've never lived I'm never leaving here. And sort of after those conversations. I was like okay, I can't not do this so quick Google and have been here ever since and it's coming up on ten years, which is so crazy, which you of course no, because you've also been here since like the first week. Yeah, this may not air until our ten anniversary or something like that. Right, best to yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, and so sorry. My role here is just I'm responsible for our people in operations functions and then, of course miscellaneous. Found her stuff, miscellaneous found you what we can dive into Miscellaneou founder stuff. But yeah, what does operations mean at UPSTIR? I feel like you know, there's the finance company version of operation. I don't think they call it operations at most banks are crediting as. There's the tech version of operations, which I feel like is like the redheaded step child that nobody wants to do or like. How do you think about the role of operations out up started, what you guys are really focused on achieving? Yeah, so it would say the way that we thought about modeling our operations team is very much in like the tech version of operations. So kind of the way I think operations works at some of the like more established financial institutions, as you have products and then you have a support team and they do customer service around like this fixed product that's over here, the way that it's done in a tech company. So, as an example, when I was managing the Gmail operations team, Gmail was scaling from a hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty million users and we had a team of twelve to support them. So when you do operations like that, it's of course, not customer service. You can't call me and ask me a question about how to log into your Gmail. It's really all about trying to understand where the customer pain points and try to make sure that they those the solutions of those pain points make it onto the product and engineering road map alongside all of the, you know, big features that the engineers are dreaming APP and so when we started upstart, that was very much the model I had in mind. So, you know, particularly in the early, early days, like we did everything in house, we processed like every single document by hand and then we sat in the same room as engineers and, like side by side, would build this product and figure out how to how to make it better, make the features better, etc. So obviously the team is much bigger now. We're not all in the same room with engineers, but that ethos of like the job of operate like really, there should be no customer service because all customer issues can and should be fixed in the product. That's the starting point. Now, of course you know that doesn't doesn't work a hundred percent of the time. But really, this idea of how do you obviously you have to serve your customers, but how do you use those opportunities to really understand how to make your product better and then get your engineering teams to think creatively about how to solve those problems? Is really how we think about operations. What operations? I got to say I think you're giving all the operation staff PTSD, thinking about a thirty million to one. If I did my math right on the Gmail ratio, it's thirty million customers to one support for that, doesn't it doesn't seem like a good ratio. Yeah, but if you do it right, if you have the right if you have the right online content, if you do the right Google had another advantage which we don't unfortunately have at upstart, which is they just have this fanatical group of super users that just like love the products and want to be on Google groups like talking about how to prove them someone. We couldn't quite port that over there's not as many fanatical users of upstart and to support customers. So we have to do that work directly. So what are examples of operation, like the things your operations team would do that you ended up working with products to in some way automate or scale in a different way than by human bidies? That I take your answer to mean something like we want to scale the operation staff slower than scale the business like we should be, you know, causing their staff fewer and fewer people per whatever unit of output might be over time by bringing things into product. What are examples of things that have you partnered with product to take from the kind of human approach to the, you know, more in the product approach? Yeah, well, probably the most like...
...notable and illustrative example of this is when we started doing loans, we would verify every document that you submitted and because we use alternative data, was actually more documents than you would in it with a traditional lender. So in addition to your driver's license and your pay stuff, we were also ask you to like email us your diploma copy and like yeah, different things, and sort of the one of improving that customer experience was, okay, customers are sending us a wrong document. Can you get more precise about the document you ask for? So when I need to verify an income, if you know, for some people that might mean a pay stuff, for another person it might mean tax document. So let's get really precise in the product on what is needed. So cut there's less back and forth. Then we kind of iterated on that front for a little bit and then we came across this somewhat jarring statistic, which is that for every document, every additional document we asked for, you saw about a fifteen percent drop off, which, of course makes sense and we like to think it first principles at upstart. So we were like, okay, hold on, like if you start with a blank sheet of paper, what's the right way for this to work? And so then we got on this journey of like well, realistically, the starting point should be the customers should provide no additional information. You should be able to verify everything on the back end. So it took us a couple of years to get there, but what we ended up doing is integrating with a whole bunch of third party services, building a bunch of ML models to to predict risk around the verification, continuing to we build some other like secret custom stuff ourselves in the process, like we bought data, build our own databases, found a way to verify employment by email, like all kinds of things and sort of it was probably a couple of year journey of like working really closely with operations and product but now we're you know, seventy percent of the loans that we originate are fully automated, which means you just fill out the form and then we do everything on the back end and then it's thank you, you know, the money will being your break account the next day. Now, of course, we have to do that journey again with our auto product it as we will out new products. We're going to have to continue to iterate, but that's probably the most illustative example of like really working side by side and figuring something out. There's two really interesting elements of that story I want to dig into because I think they're, you know, lessons people need to figure out how to apply their business. And one is the data that you started with the idea that the operations team was really looking at the core, at a deep set of analytics around the dropoff by document request, which I bet is a tosic that many peop will haven't actually looked at. So I want to digging that one first. And segments you can start thinking about. Uten too is this sense of iteration, and you talked about having like hey, you uploaded the wrong document information in the product first before you got to wait. Why Are we asking you to upload a document? So it seems like there's both a deep looking at data to help inform the direction you're going and then a, I think, first principles, but paired with rapid iteration through like hey, we're going to do something and we're learn something new and we're going to like do something else, approach that, I think, is quite different than what often an operation seemed todge, was just kind of scale the support that's being provided. So can you talk about how you think about providing the infrastructure and approach to making data the center of that and then how iteration and there and that way kind of leads the path to where you're getting? Yeah, I think theres are great questions and what I would say is there's a couple of components. They are. So on the data side, what I learned at Google is it's not even just about the data. It's about getting product engineering and ML to care about the problem and the user. There's this famous quote that we used to refer to, which was Henry Ford, and it was if I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said it faster Horseh so in the case with these documents and and other things, I think what we were doing, and I'm few you going back many years now, is we were we were analyzing the data that was at our fingertips, which was use of the number of documents. This is how much delay there is because of documents. And it wasn't actually the operations team that figured out the connection with the fifteen percent drop off. It was that we made our machine learning team really care about this problem and as they obviously...
...have much better capability and much better visability into the fine grain data and they were the ones who uncovered that statistic. And like the magic was in the sort of human version of the story. And then the ML the application that said generally, as a rule you should have a practice of measuring everything you can in your product, both on the operation side and on the product side, and at upstart we have a value around being one of our values is make clever use of numbers. So we're probably on the extreme end of whenever we're trying to understand a problem, we try to get very, very precise about the numbers, like which exact number am I trying to influence? Is it the speed to funding? Is it the dropoff? Is it the conversion, like, what is it? So we just have a habit of spending a lot of time on understanding the problem in the metric you're trying to move. So our systems are fairly well set up for that. But that said, all of that work doesn't need to happen in operations. You do have to have like an analytically minded, business savvy operations team to drive the conversation. But I think the magic is in the kind of the flywheel of product, engineering, machine learning operations all working together to find these opportunities. How do you so you then know you got me a third area, which is like how do you make that magic happen? Like how do you get a machine learning or an engineering or a product team to really care about an operations team experience, and I think that's not only just at an emotional level but at a career and, like you know, I feel like so many product teams are incentive a ship shiny new object and not to solve back end problems. And so how do you actually get a team to care about solving these kinds of problems? Feels like a nontrivial challenge for, more so, most organizations. I would say. One one fine point there is our operational improvements are almost never about operational efficiency, meaning and what meaning like the efficiency of the operations team. So we don't start with the okay, we're processing these applications, how do we do that faster? And we have obviously, like done some improvements to our own internal tools, but that's like a good idea but not a great idea. The great ideas like how do I make this process better for the user, like the end user, and the sort of by product of that as it makes life and operations easier also, but that's not the starting point. And actually, particularly at up start, it's quite easy to get people to care about the end user because we tend to attract a more kind of mission oriented crowd. That kind of intuitively gets that, like access to credit, as access to opportunity. So I think it's a minor point but a really important one. Getting somebody to care about the efficiency of like someone going through a manual process is one thing, but getting someone to care about, you know, the success of their product, like the ability of users to get access to it. Like you can have the best loan in the world if people can't get through your process, it doesn't really matter, right. So I think that's that's a really important component of it. And then the other important component. I mean early days it was really easy to build relationships between the different functions as we're all like in the same shoe box of a room. So it's like hey, product, what do you think about this? I have this problem. As you scale, that gets a little bit harder to do, of course, but I think being intentional about building relationships between those teams. So, for example, we have like a slack channel with product and engineering and now not everybody in operations, sorry, is able to post it that product. There's like a smaller group that is kind of live talking on that. We have product like operations verticals that work with the different product teams. When we go to launch new products so they can be part of the up let, the conversation and the design and like really thinking hard about the user experience from day one, so that those relationships are there. We do hackathons, but once a year, so during those times it's an opportunity for teams to come together. So I think you have to in order to have a true like tech quality operations team. You have to burst the like bubble around engineering and product but like not so...
...much that it becomes disruptive for them. So you have to find a way to build those relationships and make those conversations happen. I want to ask you one more question this space and I do want to get onto the the HR part of what you doc I think that's an interesting part of the story. But as the group has grown in operations, you talked without the tension between not not everybody can like call the product manager, but at the same time I think you you want to continue to encourage people to feel like I kind of reminder the old toyta management system for our toy to productions is where anybody could pull the chain is to the ruction. Even a even a first year credit analyst doesn't have a lot of experience can say hey, this process is broken, we need to fix it. How do you encourage a culture where that's true, where I feel like it's often intimidating, particularly a larger organization that's been around for a while ago, Hey, these guys know what they're doing. I must just be crazy to think this is wrong. I'm not going to raise my hand because they're going to it, going to show that I don't understand the problem well. Is opposed to saying hamming to raise my hands. I think there's a better way to do it. How do you keep that as a company grows, that kind of, you know, incentive and willingness of even junior employees were on the front lines to raise those issues so you can can try and resolve them or make make the product better. Yeah, I think that's a great question and there's no perfect answer. And one thing we tend to do, and it was funny because I was I was having this conversation with someone yesterday and they were like, I just had the same conversation with Jeff. So I think you have this conversation also, which is when New People Start, we have this like the phrase I use is don't be afraid to call my baby ugly everything and up start as a work in progress. And, by the way, what you have right now is the value of fresh perspective and in a little while that's going to wear off and you're not going to see all the things that we should be doing better, different etc. So we definitely try to build that into our kind of onboarding process and the conversations that you know, managers are have having when people start. And the other component of it is like, of course you have to do stuff, like you have to actually do something with the feedback and then you have to celebrate it when it happens. So that's how you kind of encourage that that again, fly wheel effect of people seeing their words and we definitely try to celebrate, you know, when there's like really good breakthroughs between like on the product and engineering side that really impact our users. We celebrated at Tgif we post about it in the KUDO's channel, and we try to really reward people for for doing this kind of work, recognize and reward for for that kind of behavior. So I forgot. We did. We did forget my second original point, which is it this kind of value of iterating through changes, you know, kind of like, do you view that as a weakness? Because there's a perspective I could take which is like hey, you had to iterate through because you didn't spend enough time figuring out the right answer up front and now you screwed it up and so you fixed it ten times this because you just like you know, it's like my kidderings Manwork, and I got to fix it ten times. It's like you were supposed to get it right first time, big guy. Do you view it that way, or is the iteration from point a through a bunch of series too point see, more of a feature than a bug? I'd say absolutely more a feature than a bug. In fact, sort of back to this values, like our first value is like make every second count, and we really try to be a default go versus default weight company, and what we find is you are going to learn more when you get the product out in front of users then you will in any kind of whiteboarding session where you're trying to so of course you're in a financial services industry, there's a lot of regulations, you're a bank partner platform, so of course you can't be irresponsible about these things, but this idea of like launch an iterate. Just because it doesn't work yet doesn't mean it work. That's very much part of the kind of upstart culture and experience and I think when we turn to a tour will probably talk more about how I think there's a the advantage that startups have is being able to move quickly and iterate. And like now the name of the game is like how do you do that as a bigger company? But so far speed is like definitely a feature and definitely something that we work really hard to protect and encourage, and it feels like you also then have to build your systems to to iterate rapidly, to say hey, we're not right...
...going to do a five year release cycle or a three year release cycle. We're going to figure out. You've got to be ready for hey, we're going to figure stuff out along the way, and then we got to be ready to like adopt those learnings in a pretty rapid fashion. Yeah, and I think we're in a like daily release psychle now right, like maybe getting to let a couple couple times a day, like that, times a day sometimes, if you can do that. So it's yeah, but that's the kind of the other flu side of that is are you? Are you engineering the systems, both processes and technically, for like adapting to learnings on the fly. Right. So let's switch hats a little bit, because you run the operations, you know show here, but also think Dave sometimes calls you the heart and soul the company. You run the kind of people operations where, you know Paul and Dave to default more on the purely analytical and maybe forget some of the you know, it's not as natural to them to go into the people's side of the equation where. I think that's kind of where where we rely on you a lot. You know, talk to me a little bit about why. I guess the most obvious question for some one of people's like, Hey, we went to pandemic and went to pure remote work. We were a pretty in person and culture pre pandemic. Where are you landing on what the future of that kind of dynamic looks like in terms of where and how people will be coming into an office in the future? Yeah, it's a great question. In Gosh, what a what a difference a couple of years makes on that front. But yeah, so upstart approach to back to office. Is this model that we sort of invented, which is called digital first, and the idea is you can live or work anywhere in the United States. However, we want you to have in person collaboration with your teammates. So on a cadence of about once per month, more for some teams less for for others, you're encouraged to come to one of our three offices and have do in person collaboration stuff and we pay for all of your expenses to do that. So it's really kind of open ended, and the idea there was to really maximize for two things. One is flexibility. It became very, very obvious at what people really want from this, like at home remote experience, is flexibility. It's not necessarily that people only want to work out of their bedroom, but this idea of like driving to the office and spending three hours in traffic like that died somewhere during one of the variances, I feel like, around Delta Ish. I feel like that idea kind of kind of died. However, in office collaboration is so important for so many reasons, like the kind of relationships that you can build, facetoface, the kind of problem solving you can do like the serendipitous interactions, like all that. That stuff is really, really, really important to the underlying fabric of how a company works and we didn't want to lose that and we felt like people actually didn't really want to lose that. So this model we landed is really aspiring to solve for the best of both worlds. You have all the flexibility. However, you also have these in person interactions and some of them will be highly scripted, so they'll be, you know, traditional off sites where you know you have a deck and you you're trying to solve the problem, and some of them are going to be like you're just in the office, like working near Your Co workers and you all go out to dinner that evening or something like this. It's going to be kind of a variety of different models, but our hope, as you know, this allows us to recruit the best talent from anywhere and our priors the best talent is going to have a choice. But at the same time, protect we think like a couple of days in the office, done right, can get you most of the benefit that you get from an in office experience without dealing with kind of all the other constraints so that's our digital first approach. That's the digital first approach. I want to ask you two things about that. I mean it's a I think it's pretty early days. Like the the continue wave of variant seems to have held off the actual implementational that. We recently did have the exact staff on site for an in person day or two, which was like it didn't feel so good, so good to be back, and I was coming profit of a conference where I saw a bunch of bankers in person who went man, this is people like it's you forget how much you miss it. But how do you think about what changes in the dynamic the way people communicate? You know so much of what happens in office is like...
...water cooler and informal channels of communication, and obviously that that breaks down if you're there a couple days a month. You you don't have those anymore. How are you thinking about how you try and build the right pathways and communication styles or protocols or, you know, habits for people when they're trying to maintain a culture over remote working environment? Yeah, I think it's a great question and I don't have a perfect answer for it. Our hope is that what happens is you build these relationships and kind of these deeper and personal in our actions. They tend to be a combination of work and funds. So you're like kind of trying to accelerate both like the trust aspect and the collaboration aspect. And then when your remote, we of course use like all the Google collaboration tools, all of that. You know. We use zoom, of course. You know, just like everyone else, we are a very heavy slack culture, which I have found does a pretty good job getting pretty close to water cooler conversation because it somehow it just drops the overhead of like an email like feels like such a formal interaction versus to fire off a slack as a lot easier. So we use that really extensively and kind of early in the pandemic we were doing a lot of like, you know, in person virtual events and happy hours, and we of course have our standing company Tgif meeting where we all get together and and kind of answer questions and give updates. So so there are a few touch points. I've to say it feels to me like people have such fatigue over zoom events that like that trend it's going to be like, people are just not going to want to drink wine over zoom with each other for that much longer. They're going to prefer to do that in person. But those are a few of the the irons we have in the fire. And what's been kind of remarkable to me is when we went into the pandemic upstart was maybe four hundred people and now we're like northe off fifteen hundred or so. And during that time so vast majority of people, you know, haven't haven't worked together in an office yet are like culture. Ample results, which is the way that we measure engagements, have just gone up and out during this time. So somehow, between the slacks and the meetings in person, it's working and people, people are holding those relationship together. But I'm really, really excited to see, as these on Syes happen, how much stronger we become as a company. And lastly, just leaving aside the kind of digital nature in the shifting concept of work, I mean going from four hundred or you know when I join, for to what is the company's size now? It's like one thousand fifteen hundreds. Of last public notice it oneous five hundred issh it. So I want to ask you make any nown public announcements? Yeah, let's not make any the announcements, but yeah, that's a massive rate of growth. Mean, four hundred or something like one five hundred during the last two years of the pandemic is kind of a crazy rate of growth. What are lessons learned or things you've found to help maintain a culture as you grow through? I mean whether you're in person or digital, it's still like a massive amount of growth and you have the opportunity for the culture to really shift you and I'm curious what you found is effective ways to kind of manage through that transition and that growth. It's this kind of astounding thing when you think about how many new people all have joined the company the last two years. Yeah, so I get this question in interviews a lot and the biggest thing I point to is our values. I know it sounds so right, but you were there when we were like twenty four people. I made everybody sit in a room and like talk about who we are and who are we not. Who are we the right fit forward, who are we not? And we revisited those values like every couple of years since then and they've largely remained unchanged and we word Smith like every word of those things were very precision oriented culture right, and so I think what's been really helpful is to try to attract people for whom those values kind of naturally resonate. So, you know, every second counts. Like we look for people who want to be in a fast paced environment, who want to grow. Like, if worklife balance is really important to you, if you want to have a job versus a career upsets, probably not...
...the right place for you, because we're really fast paced. It's always up into the right however, if you want to learn, grow, have an impact for probably, you know, a better fit. Not to say we don't have like worklife balance. I think we actually do a pretty good job on that, but that shouldn't be the primary motivation here. We actually we have a value around be smart, but know that you might be wrong, and that was a nod to there are a lot of brilliant jerks and Silicon Valley and we're not trying to hire them here. You know, we want people that are going to learned from each other, grow, etcetera. So I won't go through the whole list, but we were extremely precise and how to define like who is upstart the right culture for and then when we interview screen people, we really try to bring in people that are going to thrive here and be really transparent about who we are and who are not. So I think that's been a really important continuum because we've had to steal so rapidly. Know, there was a day where Dave Paul and I interviewed like every single hire. Like those days are long gone. So I think the continuity and the cultural threat has been a lot about getting kind of likeminded people to work on these problems. And then we try to be really transparent as a company. Like back before we were a public company, we do this every Friday meeting where we were, you know, teams present on various school launches and things, but then the founders host to Qa and you can ask us any question on any topic. I found that to be a really healthy practice at Google. We back before were public, we used to actually do monthly presentations of like all of the numbers we presented to the board, would present to the whole company and like answer all the questions about the good, bad and the ugly, like all the things we can't do that anymore as a public company, but we do do that meeting right after we do our earnings announcement in the window that we have. And I think, like people think that Google culture is about like the puppies and the Yummy food and the whatever, but it's actually to me it wasn't about that. It was about making sure that like, everyone at Google connected with their mission and was like going in the same direction, excited to find problems that they wanted to fix, had like took on ownership for the kind of company they tried to build, and I think those things have kind of been really nicely important to upstart where it's very you know, you get like minded people who really believe in this mission, who have a certain cadence of work, and it just kind of continues to scale nicely that way. I think that concept of like hiring to maintain the cult I don't this maybe the wrong way to describe it, but that the way you maintain the cultures, hiring the people who who agree with the approach, I think is a really fasciname was opposed to trying to like teach everybody a different way of thinking or approaching things. That's a fasten well, and something we say to people when they join is like culture. One of the things that I think is really important is to have an ownership culture. So if you see something you don't like it up start, like you will fix it. And this concept of like cultures and something that's manufactured by your HR team and actually, as founders, you can't like wish a culture upout an organization. Like the culture is your people, and those people are either like uplifting your culture or they're not. And, by the way, inertia is going to pull you in the other direction. So, like, as you get bigger, naturally you're going to get slower. You need people inside your organization to like kick and scream when that happens and force change. And I get to be on the receiving end of some of that kicking and screaming and like I love it. I really, really appreciate it, because that's how you kind of perpetuate the culture that you aspire to have. So might ask you one more question. I know if you're prepared for but you know, I feel like I'm started. Imported a lot of practices from Google. Actually think that in many ways, Google is the cultural grandfather or godfather of mini Silicon Valley companies that, more than most of the ore other large set, kind of is that kind of exported their cultural practices in DNA, even the words things like perf for performance reviews and okay, oursman, I feel like they're kind of the one whose cultural practices have been most widely adopted, and obviously with a lot of ex Google and our founding team. That's true here too. So I when I ask you the inverse, which is like, are there things you consciously wanted to not bring or lessons to learn...
...and the negative from the experience as a google? Not that I want to bash Google, but like things you said, hey, here's something that we saw that we feel like we can do better in the context of upstarters, were building from scratch again, versus the things you just brought over because they were working well. Yeah, I think it's a great question, and I would say the biggest element like that was speed. So a lot of US early, early upstarters, which just like good number, including yourself, experience Google at their like really cast fast execution phase, but started to see some of the problems that come from scale, and I think we were really deliberate about like actively watching out for that and like building a company that was going to somehow like resist getting slower as they got bigger and in the early days, what that meant is like making sure your decisionmaking is fast, not having like committees that slow things down, not feeling like you have to have the perfect answer, kind of like all those things. Right now we're trying to hack like, okay, what can we do differently now as we scale during this next phase? And our kind of a little creative solution here, which I didn't see it Google, is we broke up the company into round tennis vertical teams, and they're interesting because they're not all product verticals. They're basically a summary of our like important priorities as a company. So some of them are verticals like auto or personal loans, and some of them are operational scalability or learning advantage. They're just kind of company priorities of teams that work together and the ideas. Can you basically create many small startups with an upstart that can operate almost independently with their own leadership team, their own resources, their own road maps and like, can we keep sprinting at the speed of a start up as we operate this bigger public company, and that was probably in a lot of ways informed by some of our PTSC around experiencing Google so fast and then feeling it kind of start to slow down as it got to scale. Well, as I remember it too, part of this came, I think, can joined with the experience of the on sites and the three days a month, because it's kind of like you don't need just a functional team in the office, because most of our teams are cross functional and you the Right Cross functional people there at the same time to get this and so we go went well, it's like it's like a vertical team that's doing stuff and we kind of like said, hey, maybe we should think about organizing more consciously around those projects that have legal and compliance and growth and product and engineering and sales and and but they're working on the same problem and that's I think it's also much like the digital first initiation. Up Or is quite different than, I think, how most companies were organized, in a pretty different approach, but put a quite interesting one. Yeah, we have the staying at upstart, where statements like we can't do this because nobody else does it this way, or we have to do it this way because everybody else does it that way. Aren't good answers to any questions that up start you should really start with like if I had a white cheat of paper, how would I do it? And so some of these this digital first meets vertical teams is really are like first principles approach to scaling upstart for the next you know, five to ten years, three to five years, I don't know, five to ten, it seems like a really long time. Let's call it three to five. Only been ten off to bring you back in three to five and see how vertical teams and digital first is going to feels like they're both pretty early in their life cycle, but but pretty bold departures from what I think the common wisdom in, you know, either financial services or technology is about about how you organized companies or how you kind of I think. I think coming into the digital like I did three days a week or remote, there's not this kind of interesting different structure. So I'll be very curious to see how they play out. Optimistic, consciously optimistic and you know, will be a work in progress. So you can call this baby ugly and well, it'll like rapidly. You don't get better. Yeah, right, and we'll record a new podcast and tell people where it goes exactly. Yeah, and I have the same three closing questions I ask everybody in the podcast. So I'm going to throw a match you now and just get your quick takes. One, what is the best piece of rear advice you've ever gotten?...
You've had some great mentors. I know many of them, so I'm really curious what you're going to answer with here. The one I like most is use ever every opportunity to prove how good you are, no matter how small. Can you give me an example of how what that means to you? Yeah, I mean one example is so, when I was at Google, I raised my hand for project I had no business raising my hand for, which was managing basically creating a system from managing outages, which was like a big, big problem there and plot out back in the day Google. I remember this. Yeah, and so it's kind of a long story of how I got to own this problem for Google. But what it practically meant is for two years I was on call for any product that broke down a google ever and I would be like the one in the early days. I was be the one to like handwrite the email, like okay, we're having an out of. Here's what's going on. But through those emails, like a lot of people got to know me. We ended up building a really cool product. That's how I met Dave and you know, that was the only interaction those people ever had with me. Like I never met the you know, our VP of engineering, but he would see Anna one gate at the time, not Nanna councilman, you know, answering these out of emails and like he started he to form an opinion about who I am and, you know what I needed to switch teams. He was helpful or whatnot. So you never know, like who's watching what you're doing and what next opportunities kind of come from the work that you're doing. But if you just you use every opportunity to do the very best that you can. I believe in careers, but stuff will happen and sound like the other half of that is to raise your hands a little more off raising terms before you ready is number two. That's good. I got like those are kind of together. Yeah, I got that from Sheryl Samberg when she before she was like Sheryl Samberg, which she was just the manager a Google and it's a really great one. Raise your hand before you ready. I like are my second question. What's the best piece of device about consumer banking or consumer lending? You've gone figure out WHO's not going to pay you back and don't lend to them. It sounds pretty simple. It's very simple, but it's hard to do. But if you do that, like everything else, gets better, raids for everybody else get better. You know, I know we haven't seen like a ton of time like making the perfect recovery process, like just figure out who's not going to pay you back. Yeah, I think it's a underinvested in area and lending, if that can be believed, because it's it feels like the crux of it, but I feel like the whole company's been built around that. It's a crux of it. But yet like, how many companies are really edit iterating at the or innovating at the underwriting step? Yeah, but not as many as you think. Yeah, I think that's that's true. And lastly, what's one bold prediction for the future? You give me a pewter day, but I would say in ten years every financial institution is going to use machine learning in AI and they're underwriting is just going to be the only way to do it, the one that makes the most sense, the one that results in the best outcomes for consumers, and we're just getting started on that journey. We are just getting start to think it's a great place and the conversation and thanks for taking the time and joining us today. Of course, thanks for having me. Upstart partners with banks and credit unions to help grow their consumer loan portfolios and deliver a modern, all digital lending experience. As the average consumer becomes more digitally savvy, it only makes sense that their bank does too. UPSTARTS AI landing platform uses sophisticated machine learning models to more accurately identify risk and approve more applicants than traditional credit models. With fraud rates near zero, upstarts all digital experience reduces manual processing for banks and offers a simple and convenient experience for consumers. Whether you're looking to grow and enhance your existing personal and auto lenning programs or you're just getting started, upstart can help. Upstart offers an into in solution that can help you find more credit worthy borrowers within your risk profile, with all digital underwriting onboarding loan, closing and servicing. It's all possible with upstart in your corner. Learn more about...
...finding new borrowers, enhancing your credit decisioning process and growing your business by visiting UPSTARTCOM Ford Banks. That's upstartcom forward banks. You've been listening to leaders and lending from upstart. Make sure you never miss an episode. Subscribe to leaders and lending in your favorite podcast player using apple podcast. Leave as a quick rating by tapping the number of stars you think the show deserves. Thanks for listening. Let's for next time. The views and opinions expressed by the host and guests on the leaders and lending podcast are their own and their participation in this podcast does not imply an endorsement of such views by their organization or themselves. The content provided is for informational purposes only and the discussion between the host and guests should not be taken as financial advice by companies or individuals.


In a recent article in the guardian online, Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at Public Health England, said: "This vaccine will save lives and prevent permanent disability. Meningitis can be deadly and survivors are often left with severe disabilities as a result of this terrible disease." You can read the full article by clicking here!!
Meningitis Now have released a great video on how to spot the symptoms in older children and adults and we HIGHLY recommend you download their lifesaving mobile app to help keep your whole family safe!!!!
Act FAST, be aware of Stroke!
Every year there are approximately 152,000 strokes in the UK. That's one ... Read more!


Always a favorite around our dinner table, Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole is a meal that can be easily customized from Mexican to Italian, just by switching the cheese!
1Stir soup, water, rice, onion powder and vegetables in 12- by 8-inch shallow baking dish.
2Top with chicken. Season chicken as desired. Cover.
3Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes or until chicken and rice are done. Top with cheese.


text:
Eumeralla expects exploration permit
Published: Tuesday, 01 November 2016 03:12
EUMERALLA Resources expects the exploration permit for its tungsten project in Kayah State to be granted by Myanmar's Union Government by the end of the year. The company expects this will be the final step in the approval process.
Eumeralla's 70%-controlled Myanmar subsidiary Mawsaki Mining Co Ltd received State Government approval for its exploration permit in October 2014. Mawsaki progressed with the process towards being granted the required approvals to clear the way for consideration of the proposed exploration terms and conditions by Cabinet of the Union Government.
This was the next step following successful negotiations over the licence area with the Office of Chief Minister, Kayah State Government, Chief Minister, Ministry of Forest and Mines, both the State Forest Department and State Land Records Department in Loikaw and Office of Township Administration, Hpahsaung.
Eumeralla has been encouraged by the smooth progress of the Myanmar National Election on November 8, 2015, and the formation of a new government. In addition, reforms to the Myanmar Mines Law (1994) continue to move ahead in Parliament and the final version of the laws was passed in the first half of 2016.
In its June quarterly report Eumeralla said it continued to hear that progress was being made towards the Union Government approval. It said it was also encouraged that the first licences had started to be awarded, indicating that the process of licence issuance had commenced.
Eumeralla is also working with other local partners to acquire high quality tin and tungsten concessions.
In July 2013, the company, in conjunction with local partner Myanmar Energy Resources Group (MERG), jointly applied to the Ministry of Mines for an exploration lease of approximately 400sqkm in Kayah on the basis of 70% Eumeralla and 30% MERG. The lease is in an established tin and tungsten producing area and based on historical data and geological mapping, the company believes it has potential for a primary tin or tungsten discovery.
Meantime, negotiations continue for three additional exploration properties. This transaction is subject to Southern World Mining (SWM) confirming issuance of the 'licence to explore' by the Ministry of Mines. The JV will see SWM assist with exploration, approvals and other local permissions.
Eumeralla also signed an MoU with Two Palms in December 2012 for exploration which is subject to Ministry of Mines approval. One potential exploration site has been identified.
Eumeralla Resources tungsten project Kayah State Myanmar's Union Government
Eumeralla exploration licence extended...
Eumeralla expects Myanmar licence soon...
Drilling extends Yegon Lode for Myanmar Metals...
INDONESIA - Lanna looks for acquisition...
Eumeralla confident permit is imminent...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Business News›Corporate›Infosys to create 2,000 tech jobs in North Carolina by 2021
Infosys to create 2,000 tech jobs in North Carolina by 2021
In May, Infosys had announced its commitment to hire 10,000 locals for its US ops in the next 2 yrs. The first hub is being set up in Indiana and will hire 2,000 American workers by 2021.
IT firm Infosys will create 2,000 tech jobs in North Carolina over the next few years in a bid to woo the Trump administration that has been critical of outsourcing firms for "unfairly" taking jobs away from the US workers.
In May, the Bengaluru-based firm had announced its commitment to hire 10,000 locals for its US operations in the next two years. The first hub is being set up in Indiana and will hire 2,000 American workers by 2021.
"Infosys will open its next technology and innovation hub in North Carolina and hire 2,000 American workers in the state by 2021," Infosys said in a statement.
This is the second key milestone in Infosys' strategy to help drive American innovation and create the next-generation of American innovators, it added.
Infosys, which employs about 2 lakh people globally, will expand its local hiring in the US as it battles visa curbs imposed by the Trump administration that has made sending engineers to the US costly.
The move would also mean increase in labour costs for the company in the US. The North American market accounted for over 60% of Infosys' $10.2 billion revenue in the 2016-17 fiscal.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a growing sentiment of protectionism across various markets, including the US, that is seeking to safeguard jobs for locals and raising the bar for foreign workers.
The US had also accused Infosys and its larger rival, Tata Consultancy Services, of "unfairly" cornering the lion's share of the H-1B work visas by putting extra tickets in the lottery system. Every year, the US grants 65,000 H-1B visas while another 20,000 are set aside for those with US advanced degrees. Other companies like TCS and Wipro have also announced similar moves of increasing local hires.
Infosys said the first 500 of the 2,000 North Carolina workers will be appointed by the end of two years, with the remainder to be hired in the state by 2021.
"These new hires will include recent graduates from the state's prestigious network of colleges, universities and community colleges, as well as local professionals," it said.
North Carolina is also contributing a $3 million grant towards upskilling these workers. "North Carolina was a clear partner for us, and we are really excited to announce one of the largest jobs commitments ever in North Carolina state history," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said.
The North Carolina Technology and Innovation Hub will focus on areas like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, user experience, emerging digital technologies, cloud and big data.
It will also facilitate greater collaboration and advancement in key North Carolinian industries like financial services, information technology, life sciences, clean technology, advanced manufacturing and others.
InfosysJobsGovernmentIT jobsNorth Carolinaus govtVishal Sikka


I was SO excited to see all the okra in this week's box! In my opinion, It is the tastiest of all veggies. This is my favorite go-to okra recipe and my families' favorite. This comfort food does not have to be unhealthy; in fact it can be great for you! I fry with coconut oil because it is the best at withstanding high heat and is loaded with health benefits. It contains high amounts of a saturated fat called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which actually help with weigh loss. Also coconut oil can normalize blood sugar and insulin production. It also strengthens the immune system. Who knew how beneficial this saturated fat could be! See, fat is not all bad, but, rather, a very important part of our diet.
In addition to the coconut oil I use almond flour, which is pure almond meal and naturally gluten free.
Start by slicing your okra into rounds or longs.
Soak the okra in the 3-4 beaten eggs for about 15 minutes.
Heat the oil in the pan over med high heat. Transfer a handful of the okra at a time into the almond flour and coat. Once coated, place into the hot oil to fry.
Once the okra is in the pan cooking I sprinkle all my seasonings to taste. I use salt and pepper and some red pepper flakes. Let fry until tender. Its best to taste as you cook and remove from heat when it is to your liking, because cooking times always vary. It does cook pretty quickly so make sure your flip them every couple minutes to avoid burning the almond flour. Also, feel free to keep adding oil as it cooks if you notice the okra burning or sticking to the pan. Lay the finished okra on a towel covered plate to absorb the extra oil before you serve.
Enjoy this southern comfort food without an ounce of guilt!
I am always looking for new ways to cook my favorite veggies. These fritters are such a great change! I have a veggie spiral cutter that I have not used in awhile, and I was so excited to pull this fun appliance back out. The spiral cutter is an awesome kitchen tool that I use for making veggie pasta noodles, homemade curly fries, veggie slaws, and much more. It is so fun and easy to use. If you don't own some type of spiral cutter, you can use a julienne cutter or a grater.
Grate or spiral cut your zucchini and squash. Use whatever zucchini and squash you have on hand; it doesn't have to be 2 zucchinis and 1 squash. I have made them with all zucchini and also with all squash and both are delicious.
Put the grated veggies into a strainer and place the strainer in a large bowl. Salt the veggies generously and mix to thoroughly coat. Let sit for about 20 minutes. This allows moisture to drip out from the veggies into the bowl, so that your fritters are not soggy. After the 20 minutes, take a towel and squeeze out all the remaining liquid from the veggies.
Now, beat the egg in a separate bowl and mix in the finely chopped onion and pepper.
Combine everything in a mixing bowl and sprinkle in the almond flour.
Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. When the skillet is nice and hot, form the veggies into balls (they will be runny) and drop onto skillet. Cook for about 3-5 mins on each side. Make sure they are nice and crispy and not falling before when you remove them from the skillet.
To make the sauce, simply whisk all the ingredients together.
These are amazing with or without the sauce….enjoy!


text:
Daily Event for July 11, 2008
A short life, but a spectacular end, that was the destiny of the Liberty ship Robert Rowan. She was built at
the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina and she was built fast. Laid down on
Mar. 3, 1943, launched Apr. 6, 1943 and delivered to the Isthmain Steamship Company seven days later on
Apr. 13, 1943. Her maiden voyage on May 14, 1943, took her from Hampton Roads, Virginia to Oran, Algeria
in convoy UGS-8A. Once in the European theatre her first assignment was to re-supply Patton's 7th Army
during the invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky.
She arrived at Gela, Sicily on July 11, 1943 with holds full of ammunition and decks full of soldiers, three
hundred and thirty-four men of the 18th Infantry, fourteen U.S. Navy personnel, thirty-two U.S. Navy armed
guards and forty-one crewmen, four hundred and twenty-one men in all.
Just before 14:00 German Ju-88 bombers appeared overhead and attacked the ships in the bay. During the
attack the Rowan was hit by three 1,000 bombs, one passed through the ship, but the other two exploded in the holds. Because of the nature of the cargo the ship was abandoned without any attempt to put the fire out. All of the four hundred and twenty-one men on the ship got off alive and were picked up by PT boats and transferred to nearby destroyers. Twenty minuets later the fire reached her munitions and there was a tremendous explosion, tearing the ship in half. The burning ship came to rest on an even keel and burned for two days.
One of the destroyers, the USS McLanahan DD-615 attempted to sink the ship because the fires were lighting
the area at night giving the Germans a good view of all activity, but this failed as the water was too shallow.
The rotting hulk laid in the waters off Gela until 1948 when it was finally sold to Italy and scrapped.
© 2008 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com
The explosion of SS Robert Rowan.
2005 Daily Event
Today's Daily Event
Complete Vessel Index


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As a former schoolteacher/NFL player, John Simon is hands on in his teaching style, which has made an early impact on the Tigers receivers.
John Simon's voice was loud but urgent during a drill at a recent practice.
The receivers listen and react, but it's not just a game of Simon Says. It's learning what Simon does, too.
At another practice, the first-year Memphis wide receivers coach showed how he wanted his players to hit a football sled, demonstrating proper hand and body placement that would help with blocking.
It's part of Simon's three-fold approach to coaching. Hands-on, high energy and focus on getting better instead of just finishing a task.
The last part stems from his favorite word: kaizen. It's a Japanese business philosophy meaning continuous improvement, and it's something Simon lives as well as preaches on the field.
The approach is needed with a Memphis receiving corps that struggled despite breakout seasons from Damonte Coxie and John "Pop" Williams. The next leading receiver who wasn't a tight end or running back? Kedarian Jones, who had just nine catches.
So for Simon, who was hired in January from Arizona State, his teaching style relies on reinforcing fundamentals and showing the why behind every drill.
Being hands-on also comes from his NFL stints with Tennessee and Washington as well as being a former schoolteacher. If his words are going to change behavior, the actions must back it up too.
For veterans such as Coxie, Williams and Jones, who are on their third receivers coach in three years, it's a welcome adjustment seeing Simon's energy and style.
During another drill with the defensive backs, Simon stressed that he wanted his receivers to win with technique instead of just winning. It's a reminder to apply and refine something new.
Simon said it goes back to the philosophy of kaizen. Improving the details leads to a bigger payoff, and he wants his receivers to think that way in the spring and later in the fall.
"You'll always be able to add the salt and the sugar and a little bit of spice and gravy to your routes and so many other things, but right now we're just focusing on the fundamentals of the game," Simon said.


Running a successful advertising campaign on any search network can be challenging.
But let's face it, search advertising is much easier to understand, follow and optimize compared to display advertising. Don't get me wrong, search campaigns can be a pain to deal with as well, but overall they are more accessible and offer a much clearer view of your progress and results.
Display advertising, on the other hand, hides many secrets. Making sense of what's actually going on can be quite difficult. Measuring the direct performance of a display campaign can be misleading because giving credit based on first or last click ignores the impact of other customer touch points during the path to conversion.
Focusing on metrics like CTR and direct conversions can give you a false view. These metrics provide limited insights into the benefits of multi-channel marketing.
Metrics like "View Through Conversions" can make measuring the return on investment (ROI) for your display campaigns easier, offering better insights that will help you optimize your campaigns based on how your users interact and respond to your display ads.
A smart banner will get you attention. But is it enough?
It's true that the right banners can make your campaign stand out. A good design has the potential to spread your message to a large audience. If you have access to a professional designer then you are ready to go, and you might get it right from the start.
Cheaper alternatives are also available. For example, tools like Bannersnack offer a large variety of ready made banner templates for various markets. All display campaigns need to test a lot of banners. Having the ability to quickly create and modify banners is a big plus.
A correct way of A/B testing is done by making slight variations of your banners. Testing elements like CTA, colors, images and backgrounds or value proposition against each other one by one.
For example, you can test 2 different CTAs, wait until you have enough data to determine the winner, implement that change to all banners, and move on to the next test.
Having an outstanding banner set is for sure a key element in your display campaigns, but ignoring all other aspects of the campaign can hurt you more than you think. Banner design plays a relatively small role in the setup and optimization process. A slight increase in your CTR won't give you the necessary edge over your competitors.
Rising above your competitors won't be an easy task. That's why I've prepared a list of steps that you'll need to pay attention to before and after launching your campaigns.
Targeting the right audience is vital to your campaign's success. If you are just starting with display advertising, I strongly recommend that you start with a remarketing campaign first. By doing this you can be sure that your ads will be displayed to people already interested in your product or service and the chance of converting will be much higher.
One of the reasons why retargeting works is because you have a much better control over your audience. You can segment them as much as you want. You might be surprised to hear that 98% of your paid ads could be a colossal waste of money. A big part of that waste is due to poor targeting.
Having different segments will be a big plus when setting up your landing pages. Customers interact with your site differently and expect different things. That's why you need to customize your landing pages in a way where everyone gets exactly what they want.
For example, if a customer came to your site looking for running shoes but left without buying, you can create a segment to target them. Then, you can send them to a landing page that offers them running shoes (instead of hiking shoes) when they come back to your website through a remarketing ad.
Your banners are only as good as your landing page. As I said before, you might get it right and create an amazing ad that has all the right qualities to grab your customer's attention – a clear and visible logo, a clever message, and a clear CTA – but if you don't align your banners with your landing page your efforts will be in vain.
It needs to be clear that the ad they click accurately represents what they get once they see your landing page.
Keep a close eye on your ad placement reports.
Exclude placements that aren't appropriate and are eating through your budget.
Don't exclude too many placements when dealing with remarketing campaigns. Remarketing isn't as much about showing your ads showing on relevant sites, as it is for targeting based on the user's behavior.
However, if you see a site that generates a lot of impressions/clicks, but no conversions, you can exclude those and focus more on better-performing placements.
Running your campaigns based on the best performing hours can save you a lot of money. Identify the best performing hours and run your ads accordingly. This will further increase your chances of conversion and lower your cost-per-acquisition.
You can establish your best performing hours and days of the week by tracking conversions with Google Analytics.
Even though mobile and tablet devices have a huge role when it comes to advertising, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are right for every business. Mobile devices can generate a lot of traffic but you need to be sure that your website is mobile-friendly and can actually convert mobile visitors.
Although it's already 2016 and mobile usage has surpassed desktops and laptops for some time now, there are still many businesses that are not prepared to cope with the increasing number of visitors from mobile devices.
Not all businesses need a strong mobile presence. Spending too much money on mobile advertising can be ineffective for certain businesses and markets.
For example, a B2B SaaS product that's used mainly on desktops/laptops might not benefit as much from mobile advertising. Of course, there are exceptions. You need to test and find out if mobile advertising works for your market.
By now it should be clear it's not all about banners and visuals. Display advertising can be as complex as you want it to be, and you should always look for ways to improve and expand.
There are no shortcuts to success and getting to the desired performance can take a long time. So my piece of advice for you is to go out there and try new things. Your ads and the way they look is important, but sometimes knowing how to target and how to be relevant it's all it takes to have a successful campaign.
This applies to ads too.
Good article, Display Network still looks to me like a campaign that attracks more useless than useful trafic. Especially automatic placements. Instead of sieving through poor placements and blocking them it's far better to write attractive ads for Search Network. At first GDN is impressive, so many clicks, so many new visitors, but once we get that result is not following and we do not see hords of new customers, it becomes clear that GDN is good for clicks but not conversions.
Insightful article. Display advertising is still very new to me but it has more worth my money benefits for my business. I think for a campaign to succeed it requires well planned laid out set up to leverage most of these professional search engine optimization services and digital marketing.


Now it's time to look at some Power Factors pertaining to hot chow.
Start with a planning factor of 50 Soldiers. In this case each "M" in the ration cycle will equal 50 MREs.
Yes, that was insultingly simple. Now comes the unpopular act of multiplying and dividing by 12.
1x Case of MREs = 12 MREs.
Divide the number of Soldiers by 12 and you have number of cases necessary for each "M" in the cycle.
1. 50 divided by 12= 4.1666666 Which means 4 cases and 2 single MREs.
If you have a ration cycle of M-U-M and you are picking up MREs for two days how many cases will you need to pick up?
But MREs have more relevant numbers. The number 23 for example is the approximate weight in pounds for each box of MREs. What will be the total weight of the two day supply you have been tasked to receive?
Another important number for MREs is .9 which is the amount of cubic space needed for a single case. Your MRE supply mission will require just over 15 cubic feet of space.
That's all interesting but moving out to a mission or field exercise with one Unit Basic Load (UBL) will probably be closer to the standard. The UBL for MREs is defined as 9 MREs per Soldier. Consider the numbers we just calculated based on this standard.
These are just some things to consider when it comes to transportation, loading, unloading and storage… And that's just fifty people.
BONUS: How to Calculate Your Current Stock of MREs at a Glance Using the Sofa Method.
Most of us walk into the company CP and see what appears to be a mountain of MREs. We simply think, 'wow, we're set.' Or are we? The Sofa Method will give you a more discerning eye.
Can I counsel a Soldier that is not in m...Can I counsel a Soldier that is not in my Chain of Command or NCO Support Channel?
I was late for duty but no one ever told...I was late for duty but no one ever told me I had CQ. Don't my leaders have to inform me I have duty?


Sure, I hold on to loosely, and I have so much to be grateful for already. If a goal is in between the two categories, label it a B goal. One of the most fulfilling habits in life is finding a way to give to others. These will be the benchmarks for your five-year business plan Executive Summary Prepare an executive summary. Start living overseas again, possibly for part of the year, with the remaining part of the year back in the U.
What things would I need to accomplish in my life for that statement to be true? But, they are also harder to manager. Work plans, whether used in professional or academic life, help you stay organized while working on projects. Organize the tasks, and develop a strategic plan Writing goals are easier to manage when they are broken down into small chunks: three-year, one-year, monthly, weekly, and daily. Anticipate and prepare answers for questions that may come from readers. What would tighten your family bond. Have any of these likes or dislike changed? This is an amazing way to identify the priorities in your life as well — as you may think of loads of things you want to have achieved within the next 5 years — but some will clearly stick out as more important to you than others.
For example, does my five year career development plan allow for a healthy balance between family, personal and career development goals. Writing a mission statement Having a personal mission statement can be helpful to people who want to be able to evaluate the purpose of their actions and activities. Also, make sure you clearly explain to everyone involved what they're accountable for. I will submit the book for printing. Having milestones allows you to break a goal down into several sub-goals.
Because after spinning my wheels and wasting my time for years, I had finally cracked how to get my life together once and for all…and success in my career, building my health and body, and even deepening relationships with friends and family finally was no longer just something I desired…but were goals I had accomplished step-by-step. One benefit is that you will be confronted with the sometimes daunting question where you want to go. For years one and two, show Income and cash flow Statements on a monthly basis. Step 5 Complete the financial section. What do you like least about your job? In the wind-down weeks of Spring, we will focus on big-picture planning for your career trajectory in the immediate and longer term.
They include start and end dates and appointing a person responsible Are your action items comprehensive enough to achieve your goals? Compiling Your Plan Once the brainstorming is done, organizing and completing your plan will give your ideas shape. So, make a commitment to yourself and your writing career — develop a plan and put it into action. They enable us to understand clearly how you use the site and track how you are using our website what you have signed up for, for example. My hubby and I are due for a talk about our 5 year plan. In fact that's a good indication that you are working in your area of natural giftedness, everything happens quite effortlessly and work becomes a genuine pleasure. You should thoroughly understand business plan components and your company to complete a winning blueprint for success. Preparing a Five Year Plan Many successful people achieve success because they set for themselves a few very clear goals and then strive to achieve them.
If the company has been operating, include its last three years of financial statements, which should have been audited or at least prepared by a firm of certified public accountants. It can be hard to save and to invest. Some have an abundance of money. Values guide the organization in its daily business. Grand goals can seem unreachable, but when broken down into steps, those goals suddenly seem realistic, especially when you allow yourself a few years to achieve them.
Then go through all of the actions and see how they might be combined or organised to make things easier for you. Determine your goal s and objectives. It requires you, to be honest with yourself and the situation you find yourself in. I also loved your one paragraph per year descriptions. I want to let my readers into the process, and I love the graphic you created with the Ramsey quote. To find creative solutions to big problems, we need an alternative: respectful questioning -- You can learn a lot from the failure of an innovative project, but you need to ask the right questions.
Specify a hard end date for the project. She has connections with Worldview center on the campus on Western Seminary. How committed are you to implementing the plan to move your organization forward? I have always been curious — do you move a lot because you like to move or are there other things that influence your decision? What needed to have happened the previous year? Keep your five year plan somewhere easily accessible and cross each item out when you're finished with it. Step 6 Write the executive summary. About the Author Charles Crawford, a former commercial banker, has been a business writer in New York since 1990.
Of course your long term plans will have to adapt to fit into your change of life. In order to find out what your priorities are, be as honest as possible. Short and long-term planning When developing a personal development plan it is crucial to separate your plans into short, medium and long-term sections. At the end of every period, you should look at how much you have achieved and make relevant changes to help you do even better in the following stage. I love the idea of establishing a five year plan for our settled life.


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Current Page: Restaurants
Going out to a restaurant always feels like somewhat of a little celebration.
January 17, 2022 by Brian Todds Restaurants
Have you ever gasped at a bill at the end of a night out? Most of us have, and normally it's more the result of one too many shots or drinking in some overpriced chain restaurant. But there's a certain calibre of people who could never imagine worrying about a bar tab, the type of people for whom $40 is a relatively standard price for a drink.
There are very few industries as innovative yet divisive as the hospitality industry, at the high end, no two restaurants are truly the same. From ultra luxury to exquisite design and some traditional cultural thrown into the mix, these are the top four restaurants in the world right now.
December 13, 2021 by Brian Todds Restaurants
Are you the consummate foodie? Do you find that your TV is glued permanently to the food network or that you adapt every travel itinerary around the best gourmet adventures in a city? Do you think about dinner while you're eating lunch and then base your dining selections on Michelin stars, emerging celebrity chefs or wine-pairing dinner menus?
November 3, 2021 by Brian Todds Restaurants
https://ausvegas.xyz/ – Most of the world's people prefer to eat at fast food joints, with one of the prime reasons being the low cost of the items on the menu.
But as with most things in life, there are economic tiers to everything, and the restaurant business is no exception. In fact, some eateries are so expensive that most people could never hope to dine in them and are usually reserved for the world's elite.
September 20, 2021 by Brian Todds Restaurants


Available in many shapes and sizes, industrial ovens and furnaces are used to heat objects in design, manufacturing, quality control, and other processes. Based on intended use and the kind of material to be treated, an oven or furnace may employ various internal atmospheres, from air to nitrogen. Intended use also determines what temperature range an oven will have, with heat provided by gas burners, electric elements, microwaves and other sources. Their uses can range from tempering metal to surface curing and the baking of ceramics. Batch ovens are used where load size or production volumes vary significantly. Conveyor ovens are used to ensure steady thermal exposure times for every single part in high-volume production applications, Conveyor ovens also allow for many distinct operations to be combined, lowering material handling and boosting throughput.
Once submitted, we will try and place you in contact with a suitable Industrial Ovens & Furnaces supplier within 48 hours.


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Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques
- Feb 11, 2021 01:00 pm
Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques - Feb 11, 2021 01:00 pm
We are excited to bring you a series of Technique classes for the Designer Epic, Designer Epic 2 and Epic 980Q machines. This is something that has been asked for time and again and we are now going to do the classes via Zoom. Each month we will present a new topic. The first half of the class will explain how to do a technique(s) and the second half will discuss the project provided using the technique.
Cost: $ 20.00
- Mar 11, 2021 01:00 pm
Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques - Mar 11, 2021 01:00 pm
- Apr 08, 2021 01:00 pm
Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques - Apr 08, 2021 01:00 pm
- May 13, 2021 01:00 pm
Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques - May 13, 2021 01:00 pm
- Jun 10, 2021 01:00 pm
Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques - Jun 10, 2021 01:00 pm
- Jul 08, 2021 01:00 pm
Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques - Jul 08, 2021 01:00 pm
- Aug 12, 2021 01:00 pm
Designer Epic 2, Designer Epic and Epic 980Q Techniques - Aug 12, 2021 01:00 pm
Sew-Jo's Clubs
Software Club
- Feb 14, 2021 09:30 am
Software Club - Feb 14, 2021 09:30 am
This club is to help you learn how to use your Husqvarna Viking Embroidery software. The exchange of information will be limited to Husqvarna Viking Embroidery Premier+2 and Premier+ Embroidery Extra software modules. Each month we will create a project using one of the many features available. This club is $15/class, however the fee can prepaid in advance for a reduced cost.
Software Club - Feb 19, 2021 07:00 pm
- Mar 14, 2021 09:30 am
Software Club - Mar 14, 2021 09:30 am
Software Club - Mar 19, 2021 07:00 pm
Software Club - Apr 16, 2021 07:00 pm
- Apr 18, 2021 09:30 am
Software Club - Apr 18, 2021 09:30 am


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[January 26, 2023 12:00 pm ET] Etihad Airways Signs Agreement for Climate Neutral Operations
[ News ] January 27, 2023 10:00 am ET
By Fangzhong Guo
ZeroAvia Completes First Hydrogen-Powered Flight
ZeroAvia's modified 19-seat Dornier 228 twin-engine aircraft took to the sky in testbed configuration for the first flight as part of the HyFlyer II project. The airplane was retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain on the aircraft's left wing. The flight took place from the company's R&D facility at…
Over the past few weeks, a number of airlines around the world have made announcements about their onboard catering offerings.…
Virgin Atlantic Airways recently announced that its brand-new Airbus A330neo will be named "Queen of the Skies" with royal registration…


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Зеленина капли — лекарственное средство, состоящее из настоек майского ландыша, валерианы и белладонны с ментолом. Применяют главным образом при неврозах сердца. Предложены врачом-клиницистом В. Ф. Зелениным

Фармакологическое действие
Комбинированный препарат растительного происхождения. Белладонны лист оказывает м-холиноблокирующее и спазмолитическое действие. Препятствует стимулирующему действию ацетилхолина; уменьшает секрецию слюнных, желудочных, бронхиальных, слёзных, потовых желез, поджелудочной железы. Снижает тонус мышц желудочно-кишечного тракта, желчных протоков и желчного пузыря; вызывает тахикардию, улучшает AV проводимость. Расширяет зрачки, затрудняет отток внутриглазной жидкости, повышает внутриглазное давление, вызывает паралич аккомодации. Настойка ландыша оказывает кардиотоническое действие. Валерианы корневище с корнями обладает седативным и спазмолитическим действием. Облегчает наступление естественного сна. Седативный эффект наступает медленно, но достаточно стабилен. Оказывает желчегонное действие, увеличивает секрецию слизистой оболочки желудочно-кишечного тракта, замедляет сердечный ритм, расширяет коронарные сосуды. Действие на деятельность миокарда опосредовано через нейрорегуляторные механизмы и прямое влияние на автоматизм и проводящую систему сердца. Ментол — местнораздражающее средство, оказывает венотонизирующее, анальгезирующее, рефлекторное коронародилатирующее и антиангинальное действие.

Показания
Вегето-сосудистая дистония, спазм органов желудочно-кишечного тракта, почечная и печеночная колики, снижение аппетита, гипо- и анацидный гастрит; хронический холецистит; дискинезия желчевыводящих путей; повышенная возбудимость.

Противопоказания
Гиперчувствительность, закрытоугольная глаукома, гипертрофия предстательной железы с нарушением оттока мочи, гиперацидный гастрит, язвенная болезнь желудка и 12-перстной кишки, возраст до 12 лет.

Побочные действия
Аллергические реакции; изжога, гастралгия, сонливость, парез аккомодации, мидриаз; тошнота, рвота, диарея, аритмии, миастения, головная боль.

Способ применения и дозы
Внутрь, по 20—25 капель 3 раза в день.

Особые указания
В период лечения необходимо соблюдать осторожность при вождении автотранспорта и занятии др. потенциально опасными видами деятельности, требующими повышенной концентрации внимания, быстроты психомоторных реакций и хорошего зрения.

м-Холинолитики

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Reflections on fear, vulnerability, and persistence.
Mid-March, I set up a spreadsheet to track my content and make these month-in-review posts easier to generate. Scrolling through March's spreadsheet, I see "persistence" tagged in post after post.
In this post about how to respond when someone hits you square in your most vulnerable spots.
In this post about self-care when you're totally overwhelmed.
In this blog post about self-care in post-secondary and professional environments.
In this post about celebrating small successes, and in this post about the drudgery of self-care.
In March, I was trying to survive.
In all these posts about persistence there is a stubborn refusal to give in to the exhaustion and hopelessness of the last (long) while. And there is a recognition that self-care is not always about getting to happy, or about thriving, or about living your best life. Sometimes self-care is just about living this life, despite the fact that you can't even picture your "best life" at the moment. Sometimes self-care is just about persistence.
Do what you need to do to get to tomorrow.
I felt a lot of hopelessness in March – some of the "plot twist" transitions that inspired me to start this work have gotten heavy. Stepparenting is so challenging. Trying to navigate the learning curve, and trying to also integrate my new parental identity (one that does not sit easily or comfortably within my previous narratives).
Day 3: Sometimes you really are as vulnerable as you feel. How to get through those moments of vulnerability and pain.
Day 4: Invisibility and hypervisibility, and how to hold onto the complex true stories of yourself.
Day 5: Let yourself fail.
Day 6: Recognizing how fear feels in your body, and knowing when fear is disguised as other emotions.
Day 7: Allowing yourself to feel and process fear even when you can't move past it.
∞ Sharpening the double-edged sword." The second quarter, from the Spring Equinox to the Summer Solstice in June, will focus on the mental self, and the element of air. Inspiration for this campaign comes from the Tarot suit of swords, particularly the Queen of Swords, with her self-awareness, focus, and melancholy. Posts will explore narratives of mental health and neurodivergence, with a series of posts on cognitive traps and maladaptive thought patterns, and how to shift them. This campaign will also focus on healthier approaches to the "positive thinking" trap, and on skills that help us become aware of how our thoughts shape our interpretation of reality.
I've shared the first couple posts that fit directly into the theme, in this post about "double-edged sword" traits and accepting both sides, and in announcing the Spring online course (the first in a series of online courses that will follow the seasonal themes for the rest of this year).
If you would like to register for the Spring course – a 6-week course on the topic of expressive writing for mental self-care, at a cost of $60 with sliding scale available, send me an email!
Looking back over the posts for the month of March, I'm struck by how often I talked about persistence, and survival.
This time of year is often challenging – even though the new growth of full spring is on the horizon, we're still slogging through the mud. Those of us in post-secondary settings (or with kids in school) are struggling with end of term. Papers are due, grades are coming in, everything seems to critical and so final and so urgent.
Many of us are still struggling with the sticky tentacles of seasonal affective disorder, and although the sun returning brings some relief, we're tired.
And, this year more than most, we are continuing to watch the world dissolve into chaos.
I see the impact of that in my self-care content, and in all the content that I started to write and never finished – the darker posts written on the darker days.
I hinted at some of the darkness and overwhelm in my own life in this post about taking up space. This continues to be a challenging theme in my own personal life, and although I am not really enjoying the challenge presented by constantly having my identity invalidated and erased, I am using it as an opportunity to expand my self-care repertoire and my understanding of how identity threat, and stereotype threat, influences the resources we have available for self-care.
This work is starting to show up in other spaces, and has informed my approach to the duoethnography I'm co-authoring with Mel Carroll, on the topic of non-binary identity formation and expression in relational contexts (both personal relationships – partnering, parenting, befriending – and professional relationships – service providers, colleagues, employers).
In April, starting this coming week, I will be launching Thinking Through Thursdays, a series of posts that focus on "healthier approaches to the 'positive thinking' trap, and on skills that help us become aware of our thoughts shape our interpretation of reality." This series will run until the end of the season. If there's a cognitive trap or bias that you'd really like to see on addressed on a Thursday, let me know (and give me a week's notice). Patreon patron requests will be given priority.
I also shared a bunch of links in March. They're rounded up below.
Keaira LaShae's workout videos are fun and energizing (and a favourite of my best friend) and this video is multigenerational.
This excellent article on how the author is using self-care to survive while waiting to get into a therapy program. The advice is practical, achievable, and specific.
"But self-care is important – especially for those of us whose mental health isn't 100%.
It's basically just committing to look after yourself, treat yourself kindly, and make your wellbeing priority.
This post, titled "Despair is Not a Strategy: 15 principles of hope," hit me hard in the feels the day I shared it.
And this set of links, shared on Trans Day of Visibility, about self-care for trans and non-binary folks.
This post from the Audre Lorde Project includes further resources and a worksheet. This is not trans-specific, but is trans-inclusive.
Teen Vogue's article is specifically for trans and non-binary students, but the tips are broadly applicable for non-students.
This list of four resources from Colorlines is excellent, and I included the Colorlines link rather than a link to each resource individually because Colorlines is, itself, such a valuable resource. Only one of the listed resources is trans-specific, but because trans people of colour face experience visibility in such a heightened and vulnerable way, each of these resources is worthwhile if that's the intersection you're standing at.
This post from Everyday Feminism is specifically about self-caring through dysphoria, which can be triggered hugely by in/visibility.
This is one person's list of self-care tools as a non-binary trans person.
If you would like to support this work, consider visiting and signing up for my Patreon!


Inspire customers to stay longer, buy more, and tell others about you.
Our clients are inspired leaders who take action well beyond the "lip service" most companies offer when it comes to customers. We lead clients through a process to maximize value for their customers—in other words, enabling customers to meet or exceed their business goals—which motivates them to stay longer, buy more, and tell others about it. As an expert with one career—customer experience—I provide companies with specific customer strategy and approaches overlooked by most companies, which opens the door to a definitive competitive advantage.
I'm passionate about the business side of customer experience for companies because I know the value of loyal customers. Your brand is what your customers say about you. When companies create realized value for customers that are supported by customer-centered experiences, they stay longer, buy more, and tell others about it. Do you know that "up to 80% of your future business will come from current customers"? This understanding—supported by hundreds of analytics and concrete evidence—fuels my passion to assist clients all over the world to create value—seemingly out of thin air— which is absolutely thrilling for all of us.
We specialize in a variety of industries, with a focus on high technology and cloud companies, health systems, and financial services, to name a few. As business executives, are you concerned with declining customer loyalty and how it's affecting your brand image or bottom line? Do you see the revenue you worked so hard to acquire slipping away? Do you struggle with maximizing the value of your customer asset while creating alignment in your company? These are the tough challenges our clients face and that we seek out because we know exactly how to fix them.
Receive exclusive Customer Experience insight!
"Through journey mapping the patient process, the Center uncovered many "moments of truth"—i.e., those instances during interactions with patients that form or change their impression of the Wellness Center—all along the patient lifecycle."


Think of your favorite movie and play a scene in your head. How bright is the image? How loud are the words? Now think of a dream you have had recently. How bright are the images? How loud are the voices? Have you ever stopped to think about how things recorded in the brain playback with the same clarity. When we dream does our soul detach and wander into some abstract realm of dream? Can our lost loved ones visit us when our minds relax in sleep when we can handle the notion? When I am dreaming the emotions, and people seem so real. When I think back on them, it is as if I am thinking upon my favorite movie with colors fading and the voices going silent.
Logic is lost, in the swirl of night dreams. Silent moments when the brain heals, dancing carelessly in gray shadows. Hours pass. Warm yellow sunlight spills through the frosty cold glass of a bedroom window. Exceptional tales of the night are lost in waking moments.


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De FIVB World League is een internationale volleybalcompetitie.

De competitie werd in 1990 opgericht als onderdeel van een marketingstrategie om volleybal wereldwijd te promoten, en is de langste en grootste competitie van alle internationale competities georganiseerd door de FIVB. De competitie wordt jaarlijks gehouden en is uitsluitend voor mannen. De vrouwelijke variant is de FIVB World Grand Prix.

De World League dient niet de worden verward met het wereldkampioenschap volleybal of de FIVB World Cup.

Erelijst

Medaillespiegel

Externe link
 Officiële website

Volleybalwedstrijd


The SADC Lawyers' Association (SADCLA) has received disturbing reports of the 8th September, 2014 arrest of Outsa Mokone, the Editor of the Botswana Sunday Standard, on the charge of "seditious intention" contrary to section 50 (1) read together with section 51(1)(C) of the Penal Code of Botswana for an article printed on 1st September, 2014 in the Sunday Standard titled, "President hit in car accident while driving alone".
While Mokone has now been released from police custody on bail, the SADCLA is gravely concerned over reports that 1) while in police custody Mokone was denied access to legal counsel from the afternoon of 8th September, 2014 until the early morning hours of 9thSeptember, 2014; and 2) the Senior Editor of Sunday Standard and author of the article in question, Edgar Tsimane, has fled – in fear for his life - to the Republic of South Africa where he has been granted temporary asylum.
Access to, and assistance of, legal counsel to protect and establish the rights of an accused and to defend them in all stages of criminal proceedings, and the freedoms of conscience and expression are universally recognised rights, which are respectively guaranteed in Articles 10(d), 11 and 12 of The Constitution of the Republic of Botswana. From all appearances, Mokone's arrest and the subsequent criminal charge are contrary to these rights and freedoms. In this regard, the SADCLA calls upon the authorities in Botswana to accord Mokone his constitutional rights before, throughout and after his trial.
In the same vein, a democratic state promotes, upholds and protects the unfettered enjoyment and exercise of rights and freedoms – this includes the free exchange of ideas, open debate and even criticism of the establishment. So as the country prepares to go to the polls in October 2014, the SADCLA further calls on authorities in Botswana to respect the Constitution and to work towards fostering an enabling environment for the free exercise of rights and freedoms in Botswana.