“You can’t afford to miss this wave — and even more important, you can’t afford to do it wrong. Blogs represent an explosion of information, from inside and outside companies. Those who figure out how to mine this treasure while protecting their own gems will fare just fine in the new world. But it’s a risky world, full of hazards. Here are six tips for companies setting out into the blogosphere…”

“All leadership comes down to this: changing people’s behavior. Why is that so damn hard? Science offers some surprising new answers — and ways to do better.”

“But [Richard] Swartz, whose great-grandfather began [Mano Swartz, a luxury fur business in Baltimore] in 1889, had a tradition of excellent service to uphold. So when handling receptionist duties in-house became impractical, he didn’t even consider an automated phone system. Instead, he searched for a receptionist service in the US that would be able to care for his customers as he would. Of the dozen he found, Ruby Receptionists — so named to evoke images of 1950s-era receptionists — won him over. The Portland, Ore., firm now handles his customer-service calls — as well as various administrative tasks.”