There are some people who viewed the news that the economy shrank toward the end of the year as a bracing wake-up call, a gloomy foreshadowing of what could happen if even bigger automatic reductions start March 1. But don't count on it changing the dynamics of the current debate over the so-called sequester. (NPR)
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A trillion dollars in spending cuts nobody wants are coming, and they won’t even fix our real deficit problem. The "sequester" will drag down the economy, impair the functioning of the government across the board, and do nothing to improve America’s fiscal sustainability over the long run.(Slate)
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Trying to be more productive? An explosion in technology aimed at helping people manage their time and tasks may actually be making it harder. New productivity products "have skyrocketed in the last couple of years. There is way too much out there to make sense of it all," says Whitson Gordon of Los Angeles, editor in chief of Lifehacker, a website on using technology to be more productive. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Some people have a knack for creativity. They spark ideas all the time. Unfortunately, that’s not me. I keep running lists on my iPhone, on Google Drive, in journals, and on fluorescent Post-it Notes to capture ideas for my business, my family – and even this column. And for some bizarre reason the best ideas pop into my head while I'm drying my hair, applying makeup, driving, or exercising. (Inc.)
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Office workers have grown accustomed to knowing the intimate details of each other's lives – from a colleague's favorite cat video to a boss's vacation fiasco. Now a small but growing number of private-sector firms are letting employees in on closely held company secrets: revealing details of company financials, staff performance reviews, even individual pay – and in doing so, walking a tightrope between information and TMI, or too much information. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Words are powerful. The language we use influences how we think, feel, act, and interact with the world. That’s why I propose a new kind of dictionary. One founded on the belief that we do not have to live how the world expects us to. (Fast Company)
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Business life has always been about connections. Business leaders spend decades building and cultivating those relationships. They cherish their networks because they know it's their most valuable asset. And they're not about to do anything stupid to jeopardize them. Unfortunately, you may be doing just that. If your networking strategy is simply to grow it, then you're likely doing more harm than good. Contrary to popular wisdom, bigger networks are not necessarily better networks. There are pitfalls I see too many of you falling into, these days. (Inc.)
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The rapid growth in emerging markets over the past decade has made them fertile ground for the development of new approaches to attracting and managing talent. Among the biggest beneficiaries: Ambitious, educated women in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). Following the trend in developed nations, BRIC women are graduating from university at rates equal to or exceeding men. (CNN International)
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The euro rallied to a 13-month high Wednesday, as fears of a financial meltdown in Europe continue to abate, thanks in large part to the European Central Bank. (CNN/Money)
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The crisis mood is gone, but that doesn't mean you can slip back into your old ways – that weas the message from top international finance officials as they wrapped up the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They warned governments last week against letting their relief over an improved economic climate turn into complacency over reforms many want to see in order to sustain a still-uncertain recovery. (Huffington Post)
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Soaring tuition costs, a weak labor market and a glut of recent graduates are upending the notion that M.B.A.s and other professional degrees are a sure ticket to financial success. WSJ's Ruth Simon reports on the News Hub. (Video) (The Wall Street Journal)
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Harvard Business School has more in common with capital than labor. It is, after all, the school that launched thousands of executive ships, including those of Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase, Jeffrey Immelt at General Electric, and Meg Whitman at Hewlett-Packard. But when the world’s capitalists-in-waiting convene at the B-school mecca in September, they’ll have a "traitor" in their midst: Domonique Foxworth, the president of the NFL Players Association and former cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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A look at what happens behind closed doors as the University of Toronto's Rotman School's separates the B-school applicant wheat from the chaff. (Fortune)
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Last week, the new Boston Chapter NBMBAA President Gary Morton convened a Leadership Retreat for more than 40 members with the temperature outside at a brisk 15 degrees. He was ably assisted and supported by newly elected Vice President of Operations George Best. Gary was a high school member of the Boston Leaders of Tomorrow Program in 1992. Now he has two masters degrees, is married with two children, is a real estate developer, and a director at Liberty Mutual. Read his words to the Boston Chapter.
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The local chapter of the Black MBA Association is raising its profile and efforts to help minority-owned businesses. The National Black MBA Association of Western New York is about 30 years old and focuses on assisting and strengthening African-American businesses. The chapter has about 200 members and covers a broad area, including all of Western New York, plus Rochester, Syracuse, Corning and Ithaca. (Buffalo News)
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During my first semester of the Tulane MBA program I traveled to Indianapolis with several of my classmates to attend the National Black MBA Association Conference. This annual event allows MBA students from all over the country to connect and interview with a variety of companies and organizations that hire MBA graduates every year. (Tulane MBA)
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Carrington & Carrington, Ltd. (CCL), a retained, diversity-focused, executive search firm, is proud to have been selected to identify the new President and CEO for the National Black MBA Association, one of the most significant professional associations in the nation. The NBMBAA and CCL have been linked for more than 30 years, which makes it more gratifying that we have been selected to search for the President and CEO at such a critical time in its history.
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Once dominant, the BlackBerry has slipped to a single-digit percentage of the smartphone market. The company’s stock has crashed almost 90 percent from its 2008 peak. In the last two years, the BlackBerry’s maker, Research in Motion, released a disastrous tablet, laid off thousands of employees and fired its C.E.O.’s. The whole operation seemed to be one gnat-sneeze away from total collapse. (The New York Times)
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Apple Inc. debuted an iPad with twice the memory of existing models, offering users more space to store movies, videos and books amid mounting competition in the tablet market. The new iPad with 128 gigabytes of storage will be available starting Feb. 5, priced at $799 for a Wi-Fi version and $929 for a device that also offers a cellular connection, Cupertino, California-based Apple said Wednesday in a statement. (Bloomberg)
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What Ritz did not know when he first tried to buy his own repair shop several years ago was how difficult it would be to pin down shop owners on the actual value of their businesses. Few owners seemed even to know how to make a good guess. (The New York Times)
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Across cultures, dining together is a common part of the process of reaching negotiated agreements. In Russia and Japan, important business dealings are conducted almost exclusively while dining and drinking and in the U.S., many negotiations begin with "Let's do lunch." But are business deals actually improved when people discuss important matters over a meal? (Harvard Business Review)
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In his inaugural address, President Obama talked about a country where even "a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else." But in reality, that's not always the case. A new report finds that one of the biggest obstacles for many Americans is that they don't have the savings or assets they need to help them get ahead. (NPR)
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Mortgage rates today are very low, but U.S. borrowers have a very short memory. They forget that the rate on the 30-year fixed, which sits around 3.6 percent today, was a full percentage point higher a year ago, and above 5 percent in January of 2010. The purchasing power gained through today's low rates have arguably helped fuel the recovery in home sales. Low rates have also sparked a boom in mortgage refinancing, which in turn has put more spending money in consumers' pockets. Still, the slightest move higher has dramatic effects. (CNBC)
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This paper presents new survey evidence on workers’ response to the 2011 payroll tax cuts. While workers intended to spend 10 to 18 percent of their tax-cut income, they reported actually spending 28 to 43 percent of the funds. This is higher than estimates from studies of recent tax cuts, and arguably a consequence of the design of the 2011 tax cuts. (New York Federal Reserve)
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With your airline ticket, would you like to add "Ascend" or "Lift?" Perhaps you prefer "Choice Seats" or "Choice Plus?" Or maybe you're a "Main Cabin Select," "Main Cabin Extra" or even "Main Cabin Express" traveler? Air passengers increasingly are facing such choices when they log in to carriers' websites. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Defining "rich" is usually a numbers game. Is it $400,000 a year in income, or $5 million in net worth? Is $250,000 rich in New York? In Peoria? But wealth is just a vehicle for greater ends. So when asked about their broader definitions of wealth, a majority of investors surveyed in a recent study by the Spectrem Group said wealth meant "greater security." (CNBC)
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More companies are revealing their big Super Bowl ads online before the big game. Here's why the practice is working. (Fortune)
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From the rise of social impact investing to new advances in triple-bottom-line accounting, here is a look at ways that capitalism is shifting to make a better world for all of us in the coming year. (Fast Company)
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Big data. The term itself, verging on overuse, is leaving some with a bit of skepticism about its benefits. But that doubt isn’t such a bad thing, according to Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management. It serves a purpose by furthering the discussion around the validity of fundamental changes being shaped by data and analytics – one that calls into question the age old management art of gut, intuition and experience. (MIT/Sloan Management Review)
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"If you like your health-care plan, you can keep your health-care plan." That was what Barack Obama promised, time and again, to voters nervous about his plans to shake up America’s health-care system. It was an empty promise, a bit like saying: "If you like your husband, I promise he won’t divorce you." (The Economist)
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There's gotta be a better way to run a post office. The U.S. Postal Service's deep financial problems obscure a little-known fact: It actually does not draw on taxpayer dollars for its regular operations. But even though it operates more like a private business than a government entity, it still labors under tight restrictions from Congress. (CNN/Money)
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Spend a day with any leader in any organization, and you’ll quickly discover that the person you’re shadowing, whatever his or her official title or formal position, is actually in sales. These leaders are often pitching customers and clients, of course. But they’re also persuading employees, convincing suppliers, sweet-talking funders or cajoling a board. At the core of their exalted work is a less glamorous truth: Leaders sell. (The Washington Post)
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Avoiding negative feedback is both wrong-headed and dangerous. Wrong-headed because, when delivered the right way, at the right time, criticism is in fact highly motivating. Dangerous because without awareness of the mistakes he or she is making, no one can possibly improve. Staying "positive" when doling out feedback will only get you so far. (Harvard Business Review)
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