Business Protocol: In the office, just say ‘no’ to being like Joe Biden

Don't be the office Joe Biden.

Too much touching can land you in the human resources office faster than you can say, "Give me a hug."

The trend of having more open workspaces with big kitchens, free food and lots of "team spirit" doesn't mean you can intrude on personal space.

Colleagues still need their comfort zones. Biden felt the heat recently for getting too close to Stephanie Carter, the wife of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. Nuzzling her neck from behind while grabbing her shoulders was, well, invading her space.

Comfort zones change from country to country, culture to culture, and there are different office cultures. For example, a Silicon Valley startup might encourage lighthearted casual physical contact versus a more professional setting in, say, a buttoned-down investment firm.

Generally speaking, we here in the U.S. prefer one arm's length distance for our comfort zone, while those in England prefer more like two arms' lengths of distance, and those in Asia and Arab countries prefer more like three arm's lengths of distance for their comfort zone. Latin countries prefer more like 3 inches. (American businesswomen: Please be aware of this. It's just their way.)

Remember, the all-embracing goal in business is to get to know, like and then trust. You need to earn the right to cross that line to kiss, hug and embrace and (technically) violate unspoken boundaries of personal space.

Be careful, as some advances are unwanted, and sexual harassment issues are real. Be conscious of this and condition yourself to read body language before it's too late.

If the action is already underway, go with it — you can't really push them away. Also, especially go with it after a big project completion, huge sale, a major life announcement or a personal loss.

Here's how to avoid unwanted intimacy:

• Take Control. Extend a rigid handshake to keep someone at arm's length.

• Just say you're not a touchy person.

• Maintain a barrier — a desk, even a portfolio — until the moment passes.

If you must, here's how to embrace, safely:

• Ask for a "big hug" and just give a warm squeeze.

•   Don't close your eyes.

•   Don't hug from behind.

Just ask Joe Biden how breaking that rule went.

Judith Bowman is president and founder of Protocol Consultants International and author of "Don't Take the Last Donut: New rules of Business Etiquette" and "How to Stand Apart @ Work … Transforming 'Fine' to Fabulous!" Email her at Judith
@protocolconsultants.com.

12.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Asia stocks gain after Fed official signals slow rate rises

BEIJING — Asian stocks rose Tuesday after Wall Street gained on a jump in crude prices and expectations the Federal Reserve will put off an interest rate hike until late in the year.

KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.8 percent to 3,933.49 and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 1.3 percent to 19,653.15. Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok also rose. Seoul's Kospi was steady at 2,047.11 while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.1 percent to 5,961.10. Hong Kong was closed for a holiday.

U.S. ECONOMY: U.S. investors were reassured by a comment from William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve's New York branch, that rate increases will be "shallow." That helped to buoy sentiment that was dented by Friday's weak employment numbers.

ANALYST'S TAKE: Dudley's comment that a negative reaction by stock markets to an interest rate hike would "slow us down" was confirmation the Fed has used monetary policy to create a "wealth effect," said Evan Lucas of IG Markets in a report. "It's a simple idea: make people feel wealthier and they will consume more," Lucas said. "It is why the market is pricing in an October move and why most now believe, as Mr Dudley himself stated, that the rate rise will be shallow."

WALL STREET: A jump in the price of U.S. crude set off a rally in energy stocks. Transocean, an operator of drilling rigs, soared 10 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 13.66 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 2,080.62. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 117.61 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,880.85, and the Nasdaq composite rose 30.38 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,917.32.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude sank 35 cents to $51.79 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1 on Monday to close at $52.14. Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 57 cents to $57.55 per barrel in London after soaring $3.17 on Monday to $58.12.

CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 119.64 yen from Monday's 119.48 yen. The euro edged up to $1.0941 from the previous session's $1.0937.

12.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pension board eyes diversity stipulation

The state's pension board is considering a plan to use its shareholder muscle to press companies to include more women and racial minorities on corporate boards. A board vote on the plan is expected in Boston tomorrow.

A committee of the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board oversees the state's $61 billion pension fund and has recommended the board adopt the guidelines. Under them, the board would use its shareholder status in a company to vote against all corporate board nominees unless at least a quarter of them are women and racial minorities.

The rule was proposed by Democratic state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who chairs the nine-member board. The group's administration committee unanimously backed the policy last month.

It also seeks to use the board's proxy voting to push companies to adopt wage equality, renewable energy and human rights standards.

Additional items on the board's agenda tomorrow includes new committee members, a report from executive director Michael Trotsky, an investment report, an audit and tax services recommendation, a draft fiscal 2016 operating budget, and updates on legal and legislative matters, travel and staff development.

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

Seth Moulton urges rollback of Obamacare device tax

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is joining the push to repeal the Obamacare tax on medical devices today, claiming it's a hit to small startups trying to develop the next big thing.

"So much of our innovation and new medical devices come from startups and small companies, the last thing we want to do is hurt them most," Moulton (D-
Marblehead) told the Herald. "It's important and it's the kind of innovative industry that will only grow in the future, it's the kind of innovative industry that we want to support and encourage."

The tax, implemented as part of Obamacare, levies a 2.3-percent excise tax on medical device revenue, regardless of whether the company is profitable or not. There are more than 400 medical device companies in Massachusetts with nearly 23,000 workers, Moulton's office said — many of them in his North Shore district. The state trails only California in medical device venture capital per capita, and medical devices account for 14 percent of all exports from the state.

"Our district is populated with medical device manufacturers that all share a common goal of delivering better health care solutions for patients, yet the medical device tax is stifling, especially for small companies," said Michael R. Minogue, CEO of Abiomed.

The medical device industry is already highly regulated, with many devices requiring FDA approval. But especially for small companies, the cost of compliance can be more than the tax itself.

"This is really having a disproportionate impact on small- to medium-sized companies, and that's because there are many regulatory requirements that come with enforcing the tax," Moulton said. "A small company or a startup face hiring a lot of lawyers and accountants just to manage the implementation of that."

The medical device tax has come under fire from Republicans and Democrats, including Sens. Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren. Markey introduced a bill last month that would repeal the tax. Moulton is co-sponsoring the House bill. The bipartisan bill will hit the House floor soon, and is expected to pass. Still, with so much attention on the budget deficit, any bill that does not replace the revenue likely won't make it far.

Even if the tax is repealed, the medical device industry will have to try and rebound.

"There have been serious ramifications because of this tax, we've seen companies that have not fully expanded their facilities, they've cut R&D," said Tom Sommer, president of MassMEDIC, a medical device trade group.

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

Verizon to contribute total of $1.5M to three local startups

Three local startups will receive a total of $1.5 million this month as winners of Verizon's Powerful Answers Award.

Vaxess Technologies of Cambridge will receive $1 million, and Aldatu Biosciences and School Yourself, both of Boston, will each receive $250,000 at the Saturday grand opening of Verizon's Boylston Street store for their part in a challenge that encourages entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions in education, health care, sustainability and transportation.

"These winners were chosen by panels of industry experts based on their ability to leverage cutting-edge technology to create solutions that deliver social good," said Michael Murphy, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless New England.

Each year, about 2.4 million people around the world die from vaccine-preventable diseases. And every vaccine on the market has to be either refrigerated or frozen. Vaxess Technologies hopes to either eliminate the need for refrigeration — or expand the range of temperatures at which vaccines could be kept — by combining them with fibroin, a protein found in silk, via the work of Tufts University researchers David Kaplan and Fiorenzo Omenetto.

"The nice thing about the (Verizon) money is that it allows us to pursue vaccine candidates, such as ones for polio, that will be very impactful from a global health standpoint," said CEO Michael Schrader, who co-founded Vaxess in 2012.

Eventually, the company may also use the same silk protein to make orthopedic screws, instead of titanium ones, that could dissolve in the body over time, as well as a micro-needle patch, similar to a postage-stamp-sized piece of velcro, that could be used for drug delivery, eliminating the need for a needle and a syringe, Schrader said.

Aldatu Biosciences will use its award money to help grow the company as it prepares to move to Cambridge and develops a kit to detect HIV drug-resistance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"It will not only improve health outcomes, but it will also help health care systems save money," said Iain MacLeod, Aldatu's co-founder and chief scientific officer.

The company hopes to start a clinical trial in Botswana by the end of this year, MacLeod said.

School Yourself, an online learning platform developed by MIT alumni Zach Wissner-Gross and John Lee, this spring launched AlgebraX and GeometryX, which have become the highest-rated interactive math courses on edX, with a combined 25,000 students enrolled.

"Personally, I think how a scrappy, four-person startup, rather than a huge university with unlimited resources, has created the top two math MOOCs (massive open online courses) is an interesting story," said Wissner-Gross, School Yourself's CEO. "We'll be using the prize money to release a public version of the powerful authoring tools we developed along the way, so that anyone can make interactive, personalized lessons like ours."

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

Area hospital to use new security device

Newton-Wellesley Hospital will be rolling out new, non-lethal devices for its security staff in the coming weeks, as hospitals across the country have seen an increase in violent attacks by patients.

"As the services in the community decrease, more folks turn to the emergency room for their needs," said Dave Corbin, director of public safety at Newton-Wellesley. "(Hospitals are) all saying we're seeing more violence, and if any hospital turns around and says they're immune to it, they're either in the middle of nowhere or they're lying. It's certainly a trend across health care."

Violent crime in U.S. hospitals increased by 25 percent from 2012 to 2013, according to an International Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation report, and disorderly conduct has increased by 40 percent over the same time period. In January, a cardiovascular surgeon was shot and killed in his office at Brigham and Women's Hospital by the son of a former patient.

Newton-Wellesley is training its officers to use the Pro V2, a high-tech device designed specifically for security staff.

"It was built with this layered defense concept in mind, as the situation intensifies it is able to escalate and meet that threat, without getting carried away," said Paul Hughes, chief operating officer for Guardian 8, an Arizona-based company that sells the devices.

Guardian 8 will be at the ASIS International Boston Security Expo 2015 on Thursday in Boxboro to show off the Pro V2.

The Pro V2 has three phases to respond to escalating threats.

The first phase simply records audio and video — Newton-Wellesley will only record video thanks to the state's wiretapping laws. The second stage emits a strobe light and a siren, intended to catch an aggressive person off-guard. The last phase shoots a concentrated stream of pepper spray, which the company says is more reliable and precise than traditional pepper spray canisters.

"This is purely a defensive tool," Hughes said.

Corbin said the decision to use the device was not based on a single incident, but was part of a regular evaluation of the hospital security practices. Newton-Wellesley had planned to get pepper spray canisters for its security staff, but decided the Pro V2 was a better fit for the hospital.

"It takes the old-school pepper spray can, which is a dumb device," Corbin said, "and wraps it in technology."

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Ticker

Report: Disney to give DraftKings $250M

Boston fantasy sports startup DraftKings reportedly is getting a $250 million shot in the arm from the Walt Disney Co.

In return for the investment, DraftKings will spend more than $500 million in advertising on ESPN platforms in the coming years, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources. The company is now valued at about $900 million, according to the report.

DraftKings lets fans play fantasy sports online and win money if the players they pick do well in games.

Fortune.com last month reported Disney and DraftKings were in talks. Both companies declined to comment on the Journal's report.

Previous investors in DraftKings, which launched in 2012, include Atlas Venture along with Boston Seed Capital, Hub Angels and Angel Street Capital.

DraftKings earlier this week announced a multi-year expansion of its exclusive partnership with Major League Baseball, making it the league's "Official Daily Fantasy Game."

Snow takes bite out of tax revenue

Roads, public transportation and patience weren't the only things stressed during this winter's punishing snowfalls.

The state's tax revenue also took a hit.

Revenue Commissioner Mark Nunnelly said yesterday that the state's sales and use taxes are lagging "undoubtedly due to weather-related sales losses."

Revenue collections for March totaled just over $2 billion. That's $82 million — or 4.2 percent — more than last March, but $99 million below projections.

Nine months into the fiscal year, revenues are $132 million above projections.

Nunnelly said that despite strong performance in estate tax collections, March revenue collections were more than offset by the release of tax refunds that had been held up in February for additional scrutiny.

He said corporate and business taxes were up $103 million over last March.

Tesla sets quarterly delivery record

Tesla Motors yesterday said it set a new company record for the most cars delivered in a quarter, with 10,030 vehicles in the first three months of 2015.

This is the first time the company has disclosed deliveries within three days of a quarter's end, a practice Tesla said it would continue. Most auto manufacturers report vehicle sales on a monthly basis.

The company said the first-quarter global delivery figure marks a 55 percent increase from a year earlier. But it is still a long way from Chief Executive Elon Musk's estimate of 55,000 deliveries in 2015.

"Ten thousand is the best he's done yet, but it's not going to get him to 55,000," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. "He still needs to get the rate of production and sales improved to a pretty good chunk between now and the end of the year."

• Canton Co-operative Bank announced that Bela Vasconcelos, left, has been promoted to 
assistant vice-president/director of residential lending. 
Vasconcelos joined Canton 
Co-operative Bank in 2012.

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

Church to host conversion

A landmark Beacon Hill church has been sold, and early redevelopment plans call for a conversion to residential condos and office space.

Boston real estate investment firm Ad Meliora and Rhino Capital managing principal Michael Olson bought the Church of St. John the Evangelist and rectory at 33-35 Bowdoin St. for $4.5 million.

Two condos and an office for Ad Meliora are under consideration for the church, along with three or four condos in the rectory, according to Ad Meliora president Jan Steenbrugge.

"It's a historical building, so we're working together with the Massachusetts Historical Commission and Beacon Hill Commission to find something that everybody can be happy about," Steenbrugge said. "We want to keep the church space as open and authentic as possible, so that limits what we can do there. We are absolutely not planning any high-density project. We want to use the space without causing a nuisance in the neighborhood with parking issues."

Members of the Church of St. John the Evangelist and Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Tremont Street voted to merge in 2013, and the combined Episcopal congregation is using the Bowdoin Street church for a few more months under a lease deal with Ad Meliora while St. Paul's undergoes renovations.

The Church of St. John the Evangelist was designated a national historic landmark in 1966. It was built in 1831 for the Bowdoin Street Congregational Society, which was led by the Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, the paternal grandfather of American abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Parishioners of note have included poet T.S. Eliot and Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The granite Gothic Revival-style church was designed by architect Solomon Willard, who also designed the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. The adjacent four-story brick Greek Revival row house that serves as the rectory was built around 1843.

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

Marty Walsh, Stephen Lynch want feds to nix local pipeline OK

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and elected officials representing West Roxbury are asking federal regulators to reconsider their approval of a natural gas pipeline proposed near an active quarry, saying it's a potential public safety nightmare and they won't stop fighting it until the plans are changed.

"We can't compromise the public safety, we've got to fight," U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch said. "Most people, even a layperson, would understand that it's not a wise decision to locate a high pressure gas pipeline in an active blast zone."

The officials yesterday filed for a rehearing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which last month issued a final environmental impact statement to allow the expansion of Spectra Energy's Algonquin pipeline. In West Roxbury, the pipeline would run along Washington Street and Grove Street, with a metering and regulation station next to a quarry that uses dynamite.

"I think they've got a very dangerous three-legged stool between a high pressure pipeline in a residential neighborhood next to a highly active quarry," said Andrea Carlson, a West Roxbury resident and member of Stop the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline.

Spectra Energy defended the safety of the pipeline.

"Spectra Energy takes safety very, very seriously," said spokeswoman Marylee Hanley. "Spectra Energy spends $1 billion a year on integrity management on our pipelines."

But Walsh said the pipeline "poses real public safety risks," and Lynch said he and the mayor have met with the attorney general to discuss legal options.

"I said (to Spectra), think of us as plaintiffs, because that's where we're going," Lynch said. "We know we're going to have to get lawyered up here."

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

B.R.A. joins digital world

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has converted its 108 property leases into digital files and is preparing to audit if it has received all of the money it was owed after a scathing report last year faulted the agency for losing track of delinquent rent payments and having no centralized way to track them.

Some 100,000 pages of lease documents — most of them with tenants of BRA-owned property at the Marine Industrial Park in the Seaport District and the Charlestown Navy Yard — have been scanned and will be entered into a property management system the BRA has purchased.

The system will send agency staffers automatic reminders when lease payments are due, when deals are expiring, and if tenants owe money and are up to date on insurance. Previously, the complex lease agreements were only on paper and housed in a variety of locations.

"It's going to bring us into the 21st century," BRA Comptroller LeAnn Coleman said. "We're going to be able to proactively manage it to look at what leases have option dates that are upcoming, so we can make better decisions about what's happening with our lease portfolio."

The agency, for instance, will be able to use the system to ensure new rental rates are negotiated in advance of leases expiring, Coleman said.

In an audit last year, accounting giant KPMG found that the BRA and its subsidiary, the Economic Development Industrial Corp., had allowed a combined $5.1 million in delinquent rent to go uncollected as of last April because of the agency's lax, archaic record-keeping. By November, the BRA said it had brought the outstanding rents down to $950,000.

The audit also faulted the agency for not having a "central repository" for its documents and for lacking "internal controls" and standard business "document protocols."

The new system — which the BRA will pay $30,000 a year to license, in addition to startup costs — will also allow the BRA to easily track the hodgepodge of different payment clauses contained in leases.

Once the system is up and running, Coleman said the BRA will perform an audit to ensure it is properly billing for and collecting all payments.

"There will be no detail left unturned, believe me," Coleman said.

12.32 | 0 komentar | Read More