Vivo

2011 marks my 3rd economic recovery in the IT consulting and staffing world.  Last year, candidates were humbled. Amazing employees were laid off. Egos were bruised. Relationships– based on need– were solidified.

Not surprisingly, among job seekers, a lot of new promises were made.

Of the promises that we continue to hear, these stand out the most:

• I will network more. Regardless of how busy and “heads-down” that I am at work, I now recognize the value of networking. When I land my next great role, I will continue to network so that I have plenty of peers to connect with for job referrals moving forward—particularly during the next economic downturn.
• I will pay it forward. I am lucky to have had friends and acquaintances who hand-delivered resumes for me in a tough job market. I will do the same, and once I am well-employed again, will go out of my way to help job seekers in need of an extra hand. 
• I will focus more on my personal brand. I was told I am too scattered and that I need to solidify the message that I am trying to portray about myself in order to build a consistent personal brand. I will further my development in this focused area, and build my profile around the associated skills and experience. This includes building, and honing, my personal brand through social media and other online channels.  

 For employers, we still hear that..

• I will reward loyal employees. It was a tough year, and I will take great care of those employees who went without raises and those who worked harder to compensate for the void left by laid off team members. 

 With a recovery, unfortunately, comes broken promises. We quickly forget how bad it really was, resume our regular activities and just like that, our promises become yet another victim of the recession and its aftermath.

 Does the same go for you or not? What promises have you kept, now that the recovery is upon us and the recession is a (knock on wood) mere “distant memory”?

Michael Parish’s article got published in CTO Edge!

“Facts are facts. Due to the decrease in IT spending and demand for IT scalability and flexibility, and coinciding attraction of Linux, we have a perfect storm brewing for resource shortages.

Additionally, more technical operations teams outside of IT are competing for the resources with IT organizations that do actually boast these skills. So how will Linux-ready enterprises approach finding these talented individuals in the meantime?”

Read the rest at: http://www.ctoedge.com/content/coming-linux-admin-shortage

Here is a sneak peak of Marilyn’s article:

“So as one of those women in a position of ownership, the question I am probably asked the most is—how do I find time for my family? How much balance do I have?

Here are the four steps for anyone else, male or female, who may be interested in achieving my skewed version of balance.”

http://wemagazineforwomen.com/how-a-ceo-accomplishes-work-life-balance/

Check out our funny video creatively made by some of  the folks at Vivo. Here is the link from our YouTube Channel

Do you know all your "friends" ?

I have 742 Linked In Connections and 373 Facebook friends. One of my employees has 6000 Facebook friends (He is in a band. I do want to keep this in proper perspective.) Some of my employees are “Open Networkers” and have thousands of Linked In Connections. 

So, what guesses can you make about me when you compare and contrast me against someone with thousands of Friends and Connections?

At first blush, you may assume I don’t visit either site very often.  You may also guess that I do not value either for professional and/or personal interactions.  Both assumptions would be incorrect. I am just a “less is more” person. 

Interestingly, my 6000-friend employee said it best last evening. A friend (an “IRL” friend, for those of you needing test/web speak) said to him, “you may have 6000 Facebook Friends. But how many would be there for you if you had a flat tire?”  Now, I’m not going to pretend that all 373 Facebook “friends” would get out of bed for me on a rainy night. But, to be fair, I have triple A and would never put that to the test. But, I can tell you that I know all 742 Linked In connections enough to feel comfortable to reach out and ask for professional assistance. If you tell me you would like to meet someone in my network, I am comfortable enough to ask all 742 personally if they would let me facillitate that introduction.

My own rule: If you wouldn’t enjoy my sense of humor (pure snark), I am not friends with you on Facebook. If I don’t know you enough for me to be comfortable saying “hey, gotta sec?”, I don’t connect with you on Linked In. The former has no professional relevance. But, the latter is huge in my ability to help the other 741 people I am connected to. Rest assured if you see some way I can help you, that I feel 100% comfortable asking the other 741 to help. But please don’t ask me for 2nd level assistance. That’s a whole ‘nother story.

San Francisco Business Times Honors Vivo for Exceptional Year-Over-Year Growth

Pleasanton, Calif. – October 25, 2010 – Vivo, the premier IT consulting and staffing firm for Silicon Valley companies, today announced that it has been named to the San Francisco Business Times’ annual “Top 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.” Of the 100 companies on this year’s list, Vivo is ranked #25.

Each year, the San Francisco Business Times partners with PriceWaterhouseCoopers to research the region’s fastest-growing private companies. The list ranks Bay Area-based companies by revenue growth from 2007 to 2009. 

“We are proud to have made the Fastest-Growing Companies list this year,” commented Marilyn Weinstein, Vivo’s CEO.  “The key to our success and growth is our amazing team of talented IT professionals. I’m extremely thankful to work with such exceptional people every day.”

About Vivo

Vivo is the Silicon Valley-based IT consulting and staffing firm that solves complex technology challenges efficiently, effectively and with gracious simplicity.  The firm specializes in successfully aligning the business and technical needs of IT with the expectations and cost requirements of the CFO.  Regardless of a company’s market focus and unique business challenges, Vivo’s IT specialists optimize processes to accelerate business results.  Client-focused, nimble and precise—Vivo’s commitment is to constantly and consistently deliver the most responsive, highest-quality results possible.  For more information, please visit www.vivoinc.com.

Contact:

Keri Bertolino

fama PR

617-758-4148

vivo@famapr.com

Who doesn’t love a good economic indicator?  Some fall into the category of bizarre, some clever, some gloomy or even funny.  In the business world, it seems every profession has at least one.  

Some indicators are under the bright lights for all to see…  
For example, a week-to-week increase in NFL games being blacked-out on television, means less people are buying tickets.  Lower ticket sales can mean lower consumer confidence and less discretionary income.  This can be an indicator of deteriorating economic conditions.

Some are hidden deep within the global supply chain…  
At a recent conference of Supply Chain Management professionals, the District Manager for a global logistics provider shared an interesting observation.  Recently, he began to notice a distinct shift in the nature of his sales team’s conversations with their customers.  

Over the past few years, it seemed every customer conversation centered around negotiating lower prices for moving goods and materials around the globe.  In the logistics profession, this is an indicator of a down economy.  

By contrast, more recently customer conversations have begun centering around capacity.  In other words, finding enough space on ships, planes, trains and trucks to efficiently move their goods and materials from one location to another.  In the logistics profession, this transition can be seen an indicator of improving economic conditions.

Let’s hope this economic indicator falls into the category of accurate.

Marilyn Weinstein and Mike Parish are quoted in the latest blog entry from Christine Louise Hohlbaum. In this entry Christine (who regularly writes on the Power of Slow) explains how even the most time-crunched folks agree that slow is bettter.   Read ‘Even in IT, the Tortoise Wins the Race’  and share us your thoughts.

I am a Woman, so what?

I’m a Woman. So What?

Does it hurt or help to call attention to the study-cited differences between women and men? I mean, am I a strong woman CEO or a strong CEO? Or am I strong for a woman?

At some point, it is this non-Stanford, non-researcher’s contention, that attending meetings, seminars, lectures, reading papers, etc., on what we lack as women, and how we – as women—must change, devalues me as a person.

If someone decides not to join Vivo because we have a woman CEO, and “Women Lack Ambition” then so be it. But the loss is theirs, because the way the company is run is in direct contrast to that study. The boldness with which we assert ourselves into the marketplace, and among our competition, and within our clients, proves aspiration, drive, and a handful of other synonyms for “Ambition“
To be fair not all reports are bad. Some report that “ Women are Better Managers “.  But, I ask you whose hackles that won’t raise. Am I a good manager because I’m a female or because I’m 100% dedicated to the cause – because I want people to succeed? Could it be because I invest in employees, and believe in being as honest as I can with both their positive and negative attributes, traits and behaviors.
I like women’s groups. I’d like to continue to be invited to them. But, I don’t want to concentrate on being a woman. I was born this way. And frankly, it’s gotten a bit old. I’d like to talk about the traits of being a great manager. I’d like to discuss when ambition is a positive trait, and what modern examples of ambition exist in our workplace. I’d like a woman – or man—who can see what s/he thinks I’m lacking, to tap me on the shoulder and offer me counsel. Not on how to be the best woman executive I can be – but how to be the best leader I can be.

New name. New office. New offerings. New website. Needless to say, the last couple of months have been a little wild. After three successful years under the iTalent Solutions banner, we wanted to celebrate our growth by re-branding—taking a good, strong look at our past success, past challenges, our culture, and what we as a company need to do to in order to remain true to the values that have gotten us to this point. Vivo was an obvious choice from a naming and broader marketing perspective; Vivo translates from Spanish to mean nimble. The re-brand exercise has been great for the whole team here. Getting a new office helps, too. San Francisco was great for our beginning—and we’ll miss it—but Pleasanton welcomes us with open arms and no marine layer—it is almost 40 degrees warmer here than in San Francisco during summer months!