It has always been an either/or proposition: Either you go into charity and give up money, or you go into business and give up meaning. It's mutually exclusive, or so the story goes. Even cutting-edge thinking operates from a binary context: It ties itself in knots trying to figure out how you can have both. But there is actually another, mind-bending, soul-satisfying dimension in which possibilities are endless and the choices aren't mutually exclusive. (Harvard Business Review)
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When you take a job, they give you resources like money in exchange for your resources, like time. Here's how you can know if you're striking the right deal. (Fast Company)
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Retirement ads are everywhere these days. The Villages lures retirees to come live, love and golf in Florida. USAA offers financial counsel to retiring military personnel. Hollywood stars such as Pat Boone and Tommy Lee Jones dole out all kinds of retirement advice in 30-second sermonettes on television and the Internet. But the more talk there is of retirement – on TV, in pop-up ads, in news stories – the more you begin to wonder: What is retirement anymore anyway? (NPR)
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When Jessica Rodrigues moved to New York after four years of doing AIDS health work in Mozambique, she mostly relied on the Internet to look for work. She emailed her résumé in response to online job postings and waited. When that tack didn't net many offers, she sought help from New York career coach Melissa Llarena, who told her to get more face to face with her search. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Getting to know someone new can be daunting, especially when you don’t know the other person’s intentions. It takes time to peel back the many layers that may reveal a sweet heart or rotten core, alike. Many of us have learned – the hard way – to keep our guard up and set realistic expectations for a first date. And when it comes to business, being ready for a first date is equally important as it is in a romantic setting. (Black Enterprise)
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A new report finds that the groups fighting climate change and pollution tend to be staffed by wealthy white people – and focus on the issues that most affect them. (Fast Company)
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On the first day of banks being open for the first time in nearly two weeks, an air of orderly, if edgy, resignation pervaded the streets of Cyprus on Thursday. Having waited since March 16 for access to his money, Dimitris Dimitriou was willing to stand in line for 45 minutes to get into his bank, as it and others across this Mediterranean island re-opened after a seemingly interminable stretch. (The New York Times)
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Labor markets have for the past quarter century been at the center of the globalization disputes under the "off-shoring and out-sourcing" rubric. How many jobs were lost at home to cheap labor abroad? What were conditions for those overseas workers? But the rapidly changing nature of the global economy has changed much, though not all, of that "off-shoring/out-sourcing" debate. Today, cheap labor is only one of many factors leading global companies to choose where to do business in diverse nations across the world. (The Atlantic)
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A growing number of lawmakers across the country are taking steps to redefine public education, shifting the debate from the classroom to the pocketbook. Instead of simply financing a traditional system of neighborhood schools, legislators and some governors are headed toward funneling public money directly to families, who would be free to choose the kind of schooling they believe is best for their children, be it public, charter, private, religious, online or at home. (The New York Times)
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What weighs most on students and parents choosing among colleges? Is it premier faculty, a prestigious reputation or an engaged and exciting student body? According to respondents in the Princeton Review's "Hopes and Worries" survey, it's potential debt load. (The Huffington Post)
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Apps like Tingo, which after you book a hotel tracks the latest rates and rebooks you if the price drops. And unlike sites that just alert you when a rate changes, Tingo automatically locks in the savings. (Money)
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Betas, a television comedy from the producers of Heathers and King of the Hill, is Hollywood’s latest attempt to dramatize life in Silicon Valley. It’s about a pair of young startup founders and their ­larger-than-life venture capitalist (played by Ed Begley Jr., in a role the show’s writers based on quirky Facebook (FB) backer Roger McNamee). The pilot episode, filmed at a Santa Monica studio in March, includes the typical tech clichés, such as hopelessly nerdy engineers who can’t approach women and spend more time chatting over beers than keyboards. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Many small business owners are asking questions about navigating the coming changes in health insurance under Obamacare. That’s not surprising, given that major reform provisions begin taking effect this year and next. There is also widespread confusion among small business owners about the law’s implementation and requirements. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Everyone loves a David versus Goliath story. When we see the little guy win against all odds, we know that anything is possible. When it comes to business, that's absolutely true. History is full of upstarts who slugged it out with industry giants and won. Remember that Apple was once a little garage shop that took on IBM and software behemoth Microsoft – and ultimately came out on top. (Inc.)
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Many are hoping that, after dominating the headlines for almost two weeks now, the tiny island of Cyprus will soon return to virtual obscurity in the global financial media. For this to happen, the latest country rescue package needs to hold. Yet prospects are highly uncertain – confirming a gradual shift in power in Europe and fueling concerns for the wellbeing of other small European economies, as well as the broader economic and financial stability of the region. (Fortune)
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Confidence among U.S. consumers fell to a six-week low and claims for jobless benefits rose more than forecast, highlighting the risks to the economy posed by federal government budget cuts. (Bloomberg)
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If you have a refund check coming your way, consider using it to bolster your personal balance sheet. The average refund has been around $3,000 for the past two years (most people receive their refund within three weeks of filing their returns). That's a nice chunk of change. Here are ten good things you could do with the money. (Kiplinger's)
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Gone are the days when most Americans went into retirement with little credit-card debt and without a mortgage. Now, for a growing number of seniors, high levels of debt are threatening their retirement dreams. (The Wall Street Journal)
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The average American cashier makes $20,230 a year, a salary that in a single-earner household would leave a family of four living under the poverty line. But if he works the cash registers at QuikTrip, it's an entirely different story. The convenience-store and gas-station chain offers entry-level employees an annual salary of around $40,000, plus benefits. (The Atlantic)
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Two years after their merger, seated side by side in a corner conference room at AOL’s (AOL) Manhattan headquarters on March 20, Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington say they couldn’t be happier. "Our relationship is the strongest it’s ever been," Armstrong says, adding that he’d happily sign a new contract to keep Huffington past February 2015. She’ll re-up, she says, provided he stops throwing things at her. (She’s joking.) (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Since coming up short in the November elections, its fifth popular-vote loss in the last six presidential elections, the Republican Party has been engaged in an anguished discussion of what went wrong, and what needs to change. The latest example is the 100-page Growth and Opportunity Project (GOP, get it?) report that the Republican National Committee released last week. (Harvard Business Review)
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A company’s best employees should also be its happiest and most engaged, but that’s not always the case. A new study finds that, in 42% of companies, low performers actually report being more engaged – more motivated and more likely to enjoy working at their organization, for example – than middle and high performers do. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Truly horrible bosses have beliefs about work and management that are so dysfunctional that they can't even be measured on that scale. Based upon my experience and observation, the absolute worst bosses believe the following. (Inc.)
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I was running a leadership offsite at The Allison Inn and Spa in Oregon – one of my favorite hotels – and the food, as always, was exquisite. The carrot cake at lunch was so delicious that I ate two pieces. And when the staff brought out big, thick, gooey, homemade cookies during a break, I was already so far outside my circle of guilt that I ate three of them. The offsite was a success. But physically, I felt so full, it hurt. So why did I keep eating? The answer is simple: It's hard to resist temptation. (Harvard Business Review)
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Like Western democracy, Socratic philosophy, written histories, epic poetry, and every other foundational pillar of high culture, spring break began in ancient Greece. Called "Anthestreria" by the local teens, and their parents, it was a festival dedicated to Dionysus, the god of wine and whoopee and just about every excuse to party. (The Atlantic)
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