TOW#13: Increase the Odds of Your Start-Up's Success

Successful business owner Vineet Nayar, who owns the billion-dollar business HCL Connect, wrote an article to inform small business owners on the steps necessary for survival in this economy. In his piece, “Increase the Odds of Your Start-Up’s Success” he discussed his business over time and the vital mindsets and actions for a business to develop. The first three paragraphs of the article was to describe the success of his start-up business which allows his audience to see him as a credible source that clearly knows what it takes to run a business. Once he developed respect and trust from his audience, Nayar listed out the five most important and essential aspects to running a prosperous company: create a purpose, prioritize employees, maintain flexibility, pay attention to timing, and empower all employees. By using this descriptive list set up, Nayar was able to approach the audience in a clear-cut way to have the greatest impact in a simple way. While simplified, each of the five points were sure to provide a depth description of exactly what he meant as well as why it is important. By including an in depth but not overwhelming list of necessities he encouraged the audience of small business owners by making success tangible. Had he included a long list of intense steps, small business owners would have feared the future of their business and possibly given up on their dream. Nayar does not sugarcoat business owning but he does not make it seem impossible to achieve success; he provides a nice balance of harsh reality and encouragement. In attempt to inform business owner on what it takes to be successful, I believe that he was able to achieve this. He made an obvious list of the steps necessary for success and was very clear in how to achieve each step, however he did not stray from the reality and difficulty of it. By being clear, realistic, and encouraging Nayar was able to achieve his purpose.

Article: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/increase-the-odds-of-your-startups-success/

Building Success
URL: http://linkedintobusiness.com/businesssuccessisgameofinches--i-248.asp

TOW#12: The Most Controversial Decision

Wilson D. Miscamble wrote the book The Most Controversial Decision after the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing in response to the revival of the worldwide controversy. So far, the book has simply recapped the entire development and decision making about the bombing to provide readers with a straightforward description of the events leading up to the bombing. Miscamble uses an extremely vast amount of renowned resources throughout the book; this is to demonstrate that there was an extensive amount of research done before the text was written. By providing multiple quotations for each page he allows the audience, intellectual adults interested in this controversy, to have faith in his credibility. Miscamble approaches the first section of the book with an unbiased tone, stating facts and integrating quotes without posing an agreement or disagreement with the decision of dropping atomic bombs in Japan. By maintaining an unbiased viewpoint he gains even more credibility with the audience. It is important in a research-based text to keep personal opinions form being incorporated into the piece because it eliminates the possibility of alienating the audience and leads to a more accurate description of what happened. It is through these educated and accurate portrayals of the events leading up to the dropping of the bombs that Miscamble achieves his purpose. Had he taken a biased and less factually based approach to the topic, the text about such a controversial topic would have been too controversial in and of itself leading it to be less impactful to the readers. Retelling such a huge topic must be strictly fact based, since he did this the audience is able to trust this text as a source of credible information providing a well-rounded view of the event. I am interested see how he uses this credibility to argue whether it was or was not a justifiable act, the next chapter is, “Necessary, But Was Is Right?” so I am assuming he will make an argument in this chapter.

Debris
URL: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/levine/bombing.htm

TOW#11: "Too Much, Too Young"

David Whitebread, a developmental psychologist as the University of Cambridge, and Sue Bingham, an early childhood education consultant, recently wrote co-wrote the article, “Too Much, Too Young” in regards to the United Kingdom’s debate on whether schooling should begin at the age of two. In response, these two wrote this article to warn against the negative effects of early, formal education. They provided a large variety of statistics and the results of studies to support their reasoning, arguing that play-based learning at a young age is necessary for proper brain development. It allows children to gains linguistic skills as well as become more independent at an earlier age. Along with the personal effects of formal education at too young of an age, statistics support that countries that provide greater time for play-based education often have higher test scores when the children age, proving that the argument of trying to, “get ahead” does not work. School also causes a lot of stress; so forcing young children into formal education are exposing them exposed to stress at an early age, which can cause mental health problems. Whitebread and Bingham use vast amounts of facts to support their argument that young schooling negatively affects the children’s academic and emotional well-being. They are indirectly writing to the UK Minister of Education and the Office of Standards in Education to prevent the UK from lowering the age of formal schooling; they are also writing to inform parents of the dangers of putting excess pressure on young children and enrolling them in formal education style preschools. I believe that these purposes were achieved because they overwhelming amount of statistics and facts illustrate that Whitebread and Bingham both recognize and understand the opposing argument but have factual evidence to dispute other claims. By providing so much evidence they are proven to be extremely well-educated and trustworthy in these field giving the audience no reason to dismiss their points.

Article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029435.000-too-much-too-young-should-schooling-start-at-age-7.html#.UpyWrBY2mfQ

Advantages of Play
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029435.000-too-much-too-young-should-schooling-start-at-age-7.html#.UpyWrBY2mfQ