Breitling’s Superocean Heritage '57 Supports Frontline Workers

A Prudential Financial associate based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Taylor Hallman has a longstanding interest in watches. Active attending horology events in the Franklin Lakes area, Taylor Hallman stays current on the latest trends in timepieces. One of the most noted issues of 2020 has been Breitling’s Superocean Heritage '57 Limited Edition II in support of frontline healthcare workers.

This timely release follows soon after the Superocean Heritage '57 Capsule Collection, which was announced through digital summit, due to the impact of COVID-19. Priced in the $4,500 to $5,000 range, the original Superocean '57 Limited Edition featured a black dial. It was accompanied by a 250-watch Superocean Heritage '57 Limited Edition that nodded to mid 20th century style while offering the “pop vibrance” of brightly colored dials.

Only a month later, the same design was expanded to a 1,000 watch edition, with a portion of proceeds from each sale going to frontline health care workers in countries most impacted by the pandemic. A total of $500,000 has been earmarked to be divided evenly between a half dozen organizations worldwide, including Direct Relief in the United States.

Ancient Methods for Keeping Time

A Franklin Lakes resident, Taylor Hallman’s profession involves assisting clients with preparing business continuation plans in case their businesses are closed because of some event. While at home in Franklin Lakes, Taylor Hallman enjoys studying time and how timepieces are made.

Horology, or the study or time and making clocks, has its origins in ancient Sumeria, where it is believed time tracking began, but the first actual record was in ancient Egypt. Today's digitized timepieces that track time to the nanosecond are a major evolution to ancient timepieces that are great records of history but are very antiquated in their function.

Historians mark 1450 BC as the first time that Egyptians used the Earth’s natural circadian rhythms to denote time. The Egyptians used this method to devise a day that would be divided into two 12-hour intervals.

Egyptians contributed significantly to the field of horology. Egyptians invented water clocks used in the Precinct of Amen-Re, which the Ancient Greeks then later adopted. The Egyptians also created the sundial, also known as shadow clocks. These clocks divided time into two ten-hour intervals and two twilight hours.

The entire world, at some point, devised some method for keeping track of time. Ancient civilizations in China, Japan, and England used candle pieces to denote time. India and Tibet used the hourglass and the time stick. Finally, Mayan civilizations used large stone constructions and pyramids to track the equinox and solstice.

The Pros and Cons of Three Tennis Serves

Based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Taylor Hallman has spent nearly eight years as a business continuation associate with Newark’s Prudential Financial. Taylor Hallman achieved his business continuation certification in 2015. An avid tennis player and former country club instructor, the Franklin Lakes native is an active member of the NYC Tennis League.

The nature of the tennis scoring system means players must hold their serves to win a set. If a player’s serve is not broken, they cannot lose the match. When it comes to diversifying serving strategy, players should review the common types of tennis serves, evaluating both their strengths and deficiencies.

For power players with big serves, the flat serve represents an important weapon. These serves are delivered with as little spin as possible, resulting in a relatively flat trajectory at high speed. Placed correctly, a well struck flat serve is often impossible to return. Of course, the speed and lack of spin makes a flat serve a much riskier prospect than other serves, with serves potentially going long, wide, or into the net.

Slice serves are a safer strategy, while the lack of speed along with considerable spin can still be used to offensive ends: when a right-handed player serves to the deuce court, or a left-handed player serves to the ad court, slice serves swing wide and pull the returner off the court. This opens the entire court for servers to hit a likely winner. Of course, a poorly placed or predictable slice serve is essentially a sitting duck for a competent returner.

Finally, the kick serve represents an effective blend of flat and slice serves. Unlike the flat serve, kick serves make use of large amounts of top spin, giving the serve greater margin for error. That said, these serves maintain more pace than slice serves and can also “jump” high off the court, making it difficult to return the ball. Like the slice serve, however, the kick serve is best utilized as a surprise tactic.

Why Business Impact Analysis is Important

A certified business continuity professional from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Taylor Hallman has served as a business continuation associate at Prudential Financial since 2012. One of Taylor Hallman’s responsibilities includes performing business impact analysis (BIA).

A business process, BIA involves identifying business functions and predicting the consequences if one of those functions is disrupted. BIA allows for the collection of the needed information to develop recovery strategies that would minimize potential losses. Some of the most common causes of disruption include failure or delay of suppliers in delivering supplies, delay in delivery of purchased services, utility failures, labor disputes, cyber-attacks, and natural or man-made disasters.

Analyses surrounding BIA includes operational and financial impacts of disruptions in business functions and processes. These impacts include delayed sales or income, lost sales or income, increased expenses, contractual penalties including loss of contractual bonus, regulatory fines, customer dissatisfaction, and delay of new business plans.

BIA is important to businesses because it leads to thorough planning to minimize risks. It also allows businesses to execute due diligence. While risks are inherent to businesses, BIA helps the business to survive in the eventual occurrence of unforeseen disruptions.

Earning CBCP Certification from DRI International

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A Franklin Lakes, New Jersey resident, Taylor Hallman serves as a business continuation associate at Prudential Financial, where he is responsible for ensuring business continuity in an event of a disaster. A graduate of Washington College, Taylor Hallman of Franklin Lakes supplements his hands-on experience and formal education with a DRI International certification in business continuity.

Since 1988, DRI International has provided accreditation, education, and leadership services to professionals working in the business sector. To this end, the organization offers a wide range of certifications to individuals at all levels of their career, including the Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) designation.

The CBCP certification is available to professionals who have at least two years of significant experience in business continuity and disaster recovery areas within their organizations. This experience must include familiarity with risk assessment, crisis communications, and other relevant subject areas related to business continuity management as laid out in the Professional Practices for Business Continuity Management.

As long as professionals meet the initial requirements, they are allowed to sit for the certification’s qualifying exam. To pass, professionals must score at least 75 percent on this exam, thus allowing them to complete an application for professional certification and submit application essays about their responsibilities and accomplishments in the field. At least two references per subject area must also be submitted alongside the application to validate each professional’s experience in the field.

Theta Chi Fraternity's Alumni Mentor Network

As a business continuation associate with Prudential Financial, Taylor Hallman of Franklin Lakes, NJ, assists businesses with advance planning efforts to secure operations in the event of an incident or disaster. Prior to joining the company in 2012, Taylor Hallman earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Washington College, where he was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity.

Established in 1856, Theta Chi is one of the oldest fraternities for male students in North America. Its 159 active chapters have a combined membership base of approximately 8,100 students, who gain valuable friendships and support through their respective chapters. In addition to assistance from fellow members, Theta Chi members are granted the opportunity to receive insight and feedback from past members through the Alumni Mentor Network.

The Alumni Mentor Network is an online platform that pairs volunteer alumni with current members for one-on-one conversations concerning academic and career development opportunities. Mentors can assist mentees with mock interviews, job searches, choosing a major, and writing a thesis, among other things. In addition, prospective mentors can choose to make themselves available for job shadowing or volunteering opportunities.

How Improv Can Boost Your Confidence

The recipient of a bachelor's degree in business management from Washington College, Taylor Hallman of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, is a business continuation associate with Prudential Financial. Outside of his professional pursuits, Franklin Lakes resident Taylor Hallman enjoys performing stand-up comedy and acting in improv groups. 

Improv, short for improvisation, is a form of comedy that involves groups of people creating spontaneous scenes with no script and allowing the natural progression of conversation and movement to dictate where the scene goes. Because it requires the actors to think and respond appropriately to random situations on the fly, it's a great exercise for building confidence. 

It's not uncommon to be unsure of what to say in different situations, but regularly performing improv can help you become more articulate in a variety of settings. It can also help you expand mundane conversation to include other topics by noticing more hooks and associations. 

Another reason improv can bolster your confidence is due to the lack of control you feel when participating. Even if you have an idea about where a scene might be going, another actor can easily step in and completely change the direction. This translates to everyday life by making you better suited to cope with unexpected conversational shifts as well as new life experiences.