The U.S. Postal Service plans to stop delivering and collecting letters and other first-class mail on Saturdays beginning Aug. 5, although packages will continue to be delivered. (CNN/Money)
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You know how when you play Tetris for awhile, even after you stop, you can still see those little falling blocks in your mind's eye? The persistence of Tetris isn't simply an annoying effect of a cleverly designed game, according to scientists. Instead it's a reflection of something deeply positive about our brains – their plasticity. (Inc.)
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A combination of luck and skill contributes to every aspect of our lives, from the people we meet, to how much we earn, to how long we have to live. But understanding the role that each element plays is the tricky part. (Fortune)
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Business-school professors are making a morality play. Four years after the scandals of the financial crisis prompted deans and faculty to re-examine how they teach ethics, some academics say they still haven't gotten it right. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Creativity is key to innovation. So how do you expand your own creative capacity and that of your business? Through social engagement, argues Bruce Nussbaum. (Fast Company)
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Business letters aren't a quaint thing of the past. Write them well, and you'll create a lot of goodwill with clients, partners, and vendors. You'll increase your profits, too – by getting key customers to renew large orders, for example, or persuading service providers to charge you less for repeat business. (Harvard Business Review)
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After two generations of paid-leave policy driven by gender equality and pregnancy, the conversation is expanding. Flex schedules are becoming a top-priority perk for office workers of all ages, family situations, and genders. Oh, let's just say it: men. (Fast Company)
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European Union leaders are arriving here Thursday afternoon for the start of a two-day summit where they hope to hammer out a nearly €1 trillion budget to support farming, transportation and other infrastructure, as well as big research projects for the 27-nation bloc. (The New York Times)
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The biggest Wall Street banks have spent more than $93 billion dealing with the fallout from the housing bust, settling disputes with the U.S. government and homeowners. Now they must face the Germans. HSH Nordbank AG, DZ Bank AG and Sealink Funding Ltd. are among firms that filed more than 30 lawsuits against Wall Street lenders in New York state court last year claiming they were sold flawed mortgage products. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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U.S. business schools have spent years courting international students. Now that they've arrived – more than a third of M.B.A. students at many top schools hail from overseas – the institutions are struggling to keep up with their diverse demands. (The Wall Street Journal)
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As companies seek individuals who can work anywhere in the world, plenty of U.S. business schools claim they’re "going global," adding weeklong jaunts to China, Korea or Brazil and increasing the share of international students in their classes. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Established in 1970, the National Black MBA Association is dedicated to develop partnerships that result in the creation of intellectual and economic wealth in the black community. In partnership with over 400 of the country’s top business organizations, the association has inroads into a wide range of industries as well as the public and private sector. Yet all of NBMBAA’s partners have one thing in common: they are all committed to the organization’s goals and values.
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In the fall of 2012, Sally Ike, a senior at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., heard from a friend about a hilarious new app you could download on your smartphone. Snapchat was free, her friend explained, and allowed you to share photos. And like a lot of photo apps, it was simple: just shoot and send. The hook was that when your friend opened the message, the photo self-destructed within 10 seconds. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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A quarter million desperate email haters have signed up for Mailbox, the email-as-to-do app. CEO Gentry Underwood shares his plans to repair our relationship with the inbox. (Fast Company)
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In late October, researchers at North Carolina State University alerted Google to a security flaw that could let scam artists send phony text messages to Android phones – a practice called "smishing" that can ensnare consumers in fraud. (Washington Post)
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A trailblazer is a special breed in business. Fortune set out to identify entrepreneurs whose very young companies – they had to have been officially launched in the past five years – are already disrupting industries or changing the way businesses or consumers behave. But this isn't just a group of innovators. They're business leaders: Each of these founders is also the CEO (or equivalent) of his or her company. (Fortune)
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Certain industries are known for overly bureaucratic procedures. Health care, telecom, and power companies, come to mind. Indeed, every company has some bureaucracy and people who behave like bureaucrats. The challenge for growing companies is to implement just enough processes and procedures to allow them to scale their business while maintaining a culture that encourages entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility, and adaptability. (Inc.)
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The Economic Census is the U.S. Government's official five-year measure of American business and the economy. It is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, and response is required by law. Forms go out to nearly 4 million businesses, including large, medium and small companies representing all U.S. locations and industries. Respondents are asked to provide a range of operational and performance data for their companies. Help compile the data by returning your form (or requesting an extension) by Feb. 12.
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Business leaders involved in homebuilding, oil drilling or automaking are happy about the way 2013 has kicked off. Lower- and middle-income consumers, on the other hand, are feeling like the year has kicked them in the head. (NPR)
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As the U.S. jobs market continues its slow, not-very-impressive-but-nonetheless-forward march, one area of the economy still lags. Banks have only very recently begun to lend. Both individuals and small businesses have faced tight credit standards enforced by risk-averse banks; mortgages have been hard to obtain, and small business credit has been tighter yet. From 2008 to 2011, loans to small businesses fell 20 percent. The net effect has been to mute an already muted recovery. (The Atlantic)
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Like much of America’s infrastructure, its ports, locks, dams and inland waterways are old, underinvested in, and too often ignored – to the cost of the businesses that depend on them, and the consumers both in America and abroad who buy things that pass through them. Some 70% of America’s imports and 75% of its exports go through its ports. (The Economist)
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You keep a sharp eye on your budget. You buy ultra-low-cost index funds instead of actively managed ones, and you know that, unless you're behind the wheel of a Maserati, you can skip the premium gas. (Money Magazine)
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The fiscal cliff is still causing headaches for taxpayers. Technically, the IRS kicked off tax season Wednesday – a week later than expected, as a result of Congress’s 12th-hour deal – but tax pros say it could be weeks before many Americans can actually file their returns. (MarketWatch)
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For Dell, a $24.4 billion deal to take itself private is a bold move out of Wall Street’s harsh spotlight as it tries to remake itself in a world where personal computers are no longer the big business in technology. (The New York Times)
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Every morning David Kirchhoff springs out of bed, grabs the exercise clothes he’s laid out the night before, works out, and has breakfast. Every single morning, the same routine, the same breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries and banana, a non-fat Greek yogurt, some grapes, and coffee. "I’ve learned to make myself a creature of habit," he told Off the Cuff. (CNBC/Yahoo! Finance)
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The government may not send anyone away in handcuffs for helping to create the financial crisis, but it's not about to give up on collecting huge sums. S&P may be the tip of the iceberg. (CNN/Money)
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America managed, more or less, to avoid tumbling over (running into?) the fiscal cliff, but there is still an awful lot of fiscal tightening programmed for 2013. The tax deal struck to start the year extended most of the Bush tax cuts and delayed the sequester, but the stimulative payroll tax cut was allowed to expire, and is now taking a hefty bite out of paychecks. The delayed sequester is now scheduled to hit in March; its impact could cost the economy up to a percentage point of growth in 2013. Should America be worried about the rapid pace of fiscal consolidation? (The Economist)
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Thousands of business books are published each year, most of which are destined for the remainders bin. However, there are a handful of business books that have literally changed the world. (Inc.)
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Even if you've never operated a cash register or made a cold call, you probably spend much of your time persuading or influencing others to take an action or make an exchange – what journalist Daniel H. Pink calls "non-sales selling." In his latest book, To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, Pink explains the new art of persuasion, in which buyers have the advantage, solving problems is less important than finding problems, and the aggressive pitch yields to harmony and attunement. (Inc.)
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$9 for a loaf of bread in Tokyo? $2,100 for a dinner bill in Paris? To see which cities are the most expensive for employees and travelers, the Economist looked at the prices – in U.S. dollars – of everyday items in cities worldwide. (CNN/Money)
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From satellite TV to baseball tickets and bacon to dairy products, here's what you'll be shelling out more cash for this year. (CNN/Money)/
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