China has cut its key interest rates for the first time since 2008, in an attempt to boost its slowing growth. The benchmark one-year loan rate was cut by a quarter of one percent to 6.31% while deposit rates were cut from 3.5% to 3.25%. (BBC News)
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The bargaining has begun over a deal to rescue Spain’s ailing banks, confronting Europe with urgent choices about whether to try to enforce onerous bailout terms on Madrid as the crisis spreads to the region’s largest economies. (The New York Times)
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After 4 1/2 months of meetings, interviews and hand-holding, personnel recruiter William Rowe thought he had sealed the deal. The senior executive of a major corporation Rowe had been courting finally agreed to take a top post at a venture capital- backed technology firm in California. Then four days after giving notice, the mid-to-late 40-year-old executive had second thoughts about leaving the security of his company and returned to his old job. (Bloomberg)
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If you feel sucked into a bottomless guilt vortex every time you look at your email inbox, this post is not for you. If you struggle to keep up with a deluge of 50, 100, 400 emails every day, go away. If you've clicked on this looking for tips in curtailing this incursion of correspondence, leave now. This post isn't for you. It's for the other guy. The one who responds immediately to every message. The one who sleeps with his smartphone. The one who checks email on vacation. (Harvard Business Review)
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With only 69,000 jobs created in May – roughly half the bare minimum needed to keep pace with U.S. population growth – and the official unemployment rate stuck at 8.2%, you wouldn't think employers would be complaining about labor shortages. Yet hundreds of thousands of jobs are going begging, either because applicants lack the necessary skills or, more strangely, because no one has applied at all. (Fortune)
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Legend has it that when Napoleon's second-in-command asked his boss if he preferred a courageous general or a brilliant general he replied: "What I want is a lucky general." Napoleon knew what others have noted – on a rapidly changing battlefield, there are the things you know you know, the things you know you don't know, and the things you don't know you don't know. It's in this last category that fortunes are so often made or broken. (CNN International)
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Few CEOs today would admit to being "ruthless," much less brag about it. But plenty of them are still operating from that old-school playbook. The classically ruthless leader is a take-no-prisoner competitor, a scorched-earth cost-cutter, even a push-the-ethical-envelope negotiator. With all the power in his hands, he leads from the top, with a simple message: "Get it done." If this sounds like you, stop now. (Wharton Magazine)
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Germany holds all the cards in the euro power struggle: It prospers even as countries around it collapse, and that means it will likely end up with even more control over the eurozone after this is all over. (Fortune)
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From Italy, Greece, Spain and other countries in the European currency union, the affluent these days are moving money into hard assets valued in something other than euros, which have been plunging in value. (The New York Times)
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Career-services offices at business schools have a new job these days: catering to executive M.B.A. students. Traditionally, companies sent promising up-and-comers to business school, paying for their executive M.B.A. degrees and then installing them in managerial positions. But as companies pull back on sponsorship for education, executive M.B.A. candidates are footing a bigger share of the tuition bill – and are less willing to stick with their employers. The change has created new expectations for career-services offices, and many are jumping to meet the challenge. (Wall Street Journal)
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Adam Kalamchi, an MBA student at Columbia Business School, looked to his pants for inspiration when he first started thinking about where to intern during the summer after his first year of business school. The pants were from Bonobos, an e-commerce men’s online fashion startup founded by two MBAs. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Visit the new site for the 34th Annual Conference & Exposition this September in Indianapolis! And get ready for registration and housing, which opens Monday, June 11.
2012 Conference Site

 

Wells Fargo & Company announced that it has named Yvette Hollingsworth chief compliance officer. Hollingsworth, who most recently served as managing director and global head of Operations Compliance and Financial Crimes Compliance & Risk Management for Barclays Corporate & Investment Bank, began her new role on June 1, 2012. Hollingsworth is a member of the Board of the New York Chapter of the National Black MBA Association. (Black PR Wire)
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kea changed the world of furniture forever by making a slightly lower quality product a lot cheaper. Flimsier material, some assembly required, and rock-bottom prices turned out to be something consumers were hungering for. Now Ikea has a compelling idea for altering the TV set industry by doing something similar. (Slate)
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Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. Sadly, that is not always the way it works. Sometimes, technology’s promise of an easier, more productive life is lost behind layers of jargon, settings and hardware adjustments. (The New York Times)
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In business, we're often all about the numbers--occasionally to a fault. I'm not saying statistics and metrics aren't useful tools. Sometimes, however, the success or failure of an enterprise comes down to individual interaction--say, a handshake or a phone call. (Inc.)
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While Europe and the U.S. struggle with economic challenges, growth – albeit at a slower pace – continues on in emerging markets. Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa, whose nations are starting to coalesce into a massive market of more than 900 million consumers. (Knowledge@Wharton)
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Kristi Taylor can pinpoint the precise moment she let go of the dream of homeownership. It was a few months ago, as she and her husband and infant son were driving through a neighborhood of homes near their apartment in Athens, Ga. "As we were passing through, I realized that I don't really look at houses like I used to, when we would point out homes and say, 'That can be ours someday,'" says Taylor, who is 28. Now, she says, "the idea of homeownership is so vague, it doesn't even strike me as something that's in our future." (NPR)
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We all know why the dollar has just had its best month for the year. As any pundit will tell you, talk of a euro-zone breakup is driving nervous investors into the "safety" and "liquidity" of the world's dominant reserve and commercial currency. (SmartMoney)
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Small businesses are waiting longer for commercial customers to pay their bills as many big companies continue to hoard cash to bolster their own working capital. The trend, which began in the recession and has worsened in recent years, is putting growing pressure on people like Nirav Sheth, who owns a Web-development company in Washington. (Wall Street Journal)
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In our monthly survey of Kiplinger's readers, we asked which fees were the most bothersome. You told us that travel fees bug you the most, followed by bank, cable, cell-phone and credit-card fees. If you're tired of being eaten alive by these pesky charges, we'll show you how to avoid them – or at least ease their sting. (Kiplinger's)
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The rest of the economy may not be doing great, but airlines are expecting a banner year. Profitability is up and fuel prices are declining, but that's not necessarily great news for consumers. (NPR)
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This year Gillette debuted a 30-second television spot that will go down in the annals of razor blade marketing. Actor Brandon Quinn begins by telling the audience that Gillette sent him around the world to see how long he could shave with a single ProGlide cartridge. After gallivanting through what looks like the African Savanna, Paris, and some Asian rainforests, he tells viewers what Gillette never had: That the company's blades last up to five weeks. (Fortune)
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Washington awoke with hair on fire Wednesday after media reports – many of which later required corrections – suggested that the Democratic Party was suddenly split over extending the Bush tax cuts. (CNN/Money)
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There's no shortage of folks who say that President Barack Obama – our first black president – hasn't done enough for African Americans. So to help them out, I'll sum up exactly what Obama has done for black people: Nothing. And that's exactly the way it should be. (The Root)
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I once hired a developer who had more experience in his field than I did in mine. His rèsumè touted roles at companies I one day hope to emulate, and his Rolodex read like a who’s who of tech startups. I was excited by the possibilities of having someone like this on our team, and I anticipated a long and rewarding career for him at our company. (Fast Company)
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We've all met them. That one person who is not just a great leader, but who also makes a lasting impression. We remember them, quote them, and refer to them long after our interaction has ended. These are the leaders who become our mentors and role models. (Inc.)
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"We never talk anymore" is no longer just the refrain of nagging mothers: People are dropping the traditional voice call in favor of texting and messaging. But experts say there are still some phone calls that can’t – or shouldn’t – be avoided. (SmartMoney)
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