By Samir Makarem – As Sami was getting ready to depart to one of the countries in the region for a training assignment, he posted a status on his Facebook page saying: “On the way to Kuwait for a training assignment”.  Within few minutes, he gets a message from a previous colleague, Jad, letting him know that he too, will be heading to Kuwait for…

Read More

By Lama Makarem – Thousands of new business books are published every year. While I truly appreciate the contribution of so many authors, and this article is by no means to underestimate the good books and literature out there…The interesting part is that you read on the cover of most of these newly published books “An International Best Seller”. With all due respect to all…

Read More

By Samir Roger Makarem – Companies spend extravagant amounts of money to market and promote their name brand through all kinds of advertisements. Hundreds of Billions of dollars are spent every year worldwide to market their goods and services and most importantly their brand. However, it just takes one silly mistake, by one employee, to cost a company tons and tons of money, if that…

Read More

By Samir Roger Makarem – Having been making frequent personal/business trips to Lebanon for the past year or so, I have been contemplating the idea of purchasing a vehicle instead of going with a car rental every time I visit my home country. So, on my last trip, it has been suggested to me to go check out and consider a specific popular brand, as…

Read More

By Lama A. Makarem – Hundreds and hundreds of articles are written about communication. In almost every soft skills training, no matter what topic we’re discussing, communication is addressed. Is communication overly communicated as a topic? The answer is a definite NO. Why? I believe lack of effective communication is still the number one reason for most of the problems in this world. However, the…

Read More

By Lama Makarem – Irrelevant of time and place, some stories would always ultimately hold true and relevant. They just become “timeless”. A classic example is over 2,500 years old!… Who hasn’t heard of the Tortoise and the Hare fable, whether in its original 7th B.C. century Greek version by Aesop’s, or whether in its 17th century French version by La Fontaine? While many may…

Read More

By Lama Makarem – The Appetizer Syndrome is a phenomenon that I’ve experienced often in business, and more specifically doing business in the Middle East, where resources of a specific project are typically consumed in the early phases of it. Why call it Appetizer Syndrome? Those who live in the Middle East and/or who are familiar with the Arabic ‘mezza’ will agree with me that…

Read More

As part of its educational consultancy services, “J&R” is proud to offer a new career guidance service to high school and university students. The Guided Search for Career Identity (GS4CI) provides an exploratory experience by taking a student, with the guidance of a counselor, into the world of career exploration through introspection and thorough reflection of the different aspects of the working personality. Go to…

Read More