Sports crowds usually go wild when the air cannon shows up to pop prizes – usually T-shirts – high into the crowd.
But a Denver company, Air Cannons Inc., is trying to popularize a new use for its personalized devices, such as the guitar launcher pictured, positioning them as golf ball launchers.
The company is working with Advantage Golf to provide cannons at golf tournaments, primarily charity events. Players could use a cannon to make their opening shots instead of teeing up, helping those worried about their swings. The cannons can launch a golf ball farther than a human swing, which could create interesting battles between man and machine.
Teens feeling less entrepreneurish
A stronger job market could be the reason a recent poll shows a decline in the percentage of teens wanting to become entrepreneurs.
Two-thirds of teens surveyed said they would like to start their own business someday, according to the sixth annual Junior Achievement Worldwide “Interprise Poll on Entrepreneurship.” That is slightly lower than the nearly 71 percent who wanted to become business owners last year.
The poll was administered in early 2007 to more than 800 teenagers, ages 13 to 19.
“Starting with the 2001 recession, the job market experienced considerable weakness for several years, and teen interest in becoming entrepreneurs climbed,” said Gerald M. Czarnecki, president and chief executive officer of JA Worldwide.
When the job market improves, interest in starting a business seems to dip, he said.
In 2003, when unemployment remained high, the percentage of teens wanting to own their own businesses climbed to 75 percent; 41 percent of teens thought owning a business was more secure; 32 percent thought working for a company provided more stability.
No light-up ties, really
As the holiday season approaches, gift-giving anxiety mounts. Working in a large firm multiplies the issue: One must decide who gets a present, what to buy, how much to spend and whether the gift carries even a hint of impropriety.
According to an unscientific Time Inc. Giftscriptions survey, 31 percent of people are throwing away their co-workers’ presents. Setting up a “Secret Santa” gift exchange between randomly selected officemates doesn’t necessarily help: 41 percent of respondents still bought additional presents for co-workers, and more than half report disliking the gifts they received.
Instead, keep gifts small, inexpensive and personalized, said Leah Ingram, an etiquette and gift-giving consultant. And when feeling pressed to churn out treats for a large number of co-workers involved in a project, from assistants to managers, “there is nothing wrong with baking cookies … packaging it up and giving it to everyone,” Ingram said. “You can get creative.”
The Giftscriptions phone survey, conducted in September, questioned 1,000 random Americans by phone.
Team-build with laughter
For a more productive office, forget glaring bosses and co-workers who are buried in the books. To improve workplace performance, jump-start creativity, increase communication and office bonding, tell a joke or a funny story instead, said University of Missouri-Columbia management professor Chris Robert.
“For individuals who can produce or appreciate humor – that seems to be associated with both intelligence and creativity,” said Robert, who wrote a theoretical paper on humor in the workplace with graduate student Wan Yan.
