Worried that a jittery market will lead to jittery employees, some chief executives are scrambling to ease workers' worries about a potential new recession. From company memos to "town hall" meetings, corporate leaders are looking at how they can jack up morale in the work place. (Wall Street Journal)
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MBA grads are shouldering record levels of debt as tuition rates head skyward, making the degree a risky investment that's not often approached with caution or restraint. (Fortune)
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When the government announced in April that the economy had grown at a moderate annual pace of 1.8 percent in the first quarter, politicians and investors saw evidence that the nation was continuing its recovery from the depths of the financial crisis. The White House called the news "encouraging" and the stock market extended its bull run. (New York Times)
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Unemployment in the African American community continues to hover devastating highs with a reported 16.2% unemployment. It is time for action on the most important issue of our time – economic opportunity, jobs! Members of the Congressional Black Caucus will travel the country for the CBC’s For the People Jobs Initiative. Look for us in Atlanta today, Miami next Monday and Tuesday and Los Angeles, August 30-31.
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There is a gulf between our idealized picture of how jobs are filled, and a hard but often unstated reality: in any market, no matter how transparent on the surface, a large proportion of jobs are either not advertised or already have someone’s name on them before the first interview. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Venezuela will nationalize the exploration and mining of gold and recall $11 billion in gold reserves from foreign banks, President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday. (CNN International)
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The pattern has grown tiresomely familiar. Bond markets shift sharply against weak euro-zone members. Leaders hold a crisis summit to save the euro with more forceful rescue measures. The initial euphoria lasts a few weeks, a few days or even just a few hours – and the cycle begins once again. Can Europe’s politicians ever break it? (The Economist)
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Katy Daugherty enrolled at Tennessee State University because of the school's flexible daytime, evening and online classes and its new urban-studies program. Once on campus at this historically black college, where more than 70% of the students are African-American, Ms. Daugherty, 29, who is white, became the minority. (Wall Street Journal)
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Borrowing looms large in American life from homes to cars. But the explosion of student debt in the last decade is a pernicious trend that the colleges themselves are encouraging. (The Atlantic)
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Join us for a day of golf and fun Saturday, October 8, during the National Black Masters Golf Tournament at the NBMBAA 33rd Annual Conference & Exposition in Atlanta, GA. This event, benefiting the Leaders of Tomorrow® program, begins at 10am with a four person scramble with many challenges followed by an award reception. A DJ and celebrity sightings make this a can't-miss end to Conference.
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The deciding factors of my return, as is the case in most such battles, have nothing to do with the underlying technology. The PlayBook, by many counts, is a superior machine to the iPad. It is thinner, lighter, has a better camera, and it runs Flash (the iPad doesn’t). On the surface, there is no reason RIM should lose a loyal customer like me. But they did. And if they do not address the reasons why, I fear the company is in for a rough, potentially disastrous, few years, especially in light of the recent Google-Motorola acquisition. (Fast Company)
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It didn't help that Best Buy asked it to take back its tablet which was a dud with consumers. But its core businesses aren't doing well either. (Fortune)
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In this Q&A with Inc.com, SBA chief Karen Mills talks about loan levels, a $1 billion injection of capital in small business – and numbers-centric leadership. (Inc.)
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Lining up buyers in advance of launch can be challenging for a new company. But finding the right ones – and capitalizing on them – can go a long way toward ensuring early success. (Entrepreneur)
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New research shows that investors may lose out on potential returns by waiting too long to capitalize on new opportunities, seeking assurance in others' taking the first risk. (Columbia Ideas at Work)
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While younger investors can afford to take more risk investing in gold, retirees and soon-to-be retirees have less room for error as they have less time to recover from losses. So, SmartMoney.com asked a few advisers their thoughts on gold and its place in older investors’ portfolios. (Smart Money)
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Many older investors are spending their summer stewing over the government's budget dust-up and the stock market's gyrations. But even as chaos rules Washington and Wall Street, investors who keep a cool head have opportunities to review spending plans and portfolio risk – and make the tweaks needed to keep retirement plans on track. (Kiplinger's)
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There's some evidence that companies are becoming more lenient – even encouraging – toward at-work napping. What's fueling the shift? (Fortune)
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If receipts could talk, what would they say about how you travel on the company dime? Business travelers are eating well, spending an average $39 per meal when dining alone, an analysis of corporate expense reports shows. They're also flying in style. (Wall Street Journal)
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From Roman aqueducts to Chinese rail, enormous infrastructure has the potential to transform a society. To fix these economic doldrums, the government should partner with the private sector to solve society's problems.(Fast Company)
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America's postal service is elegant, efficient, even amazing, given the enormous size of the country and the low cost of stamps. But the U.S. Postal Service is a hulking, foundering, money-hemorrhaging bureaucracy. (Slate)
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According to our research, little breaches of trust over time are a big deal. Ultimately, employees pull back, withholding their full energy and talent. Leadership, too often oblivious, wonders why. For both individuals and organizations, it’s like death by a thousand paper cuts. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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