Registration Now Open for the NBMBAA's 35th Annual Conference and Expo
Join us September 10-14 in Houston for our 35th Annual Conference and Expo, "Courageous Leadership: Owning Your Own Success." Register today to take advantage of early bird pricing, get first crack at hotel rooms and set yourself up for an unforgettable networking, career building and professional development experience.
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Larry Summers and Glenn Hubbard have shadowed each other for decades. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, they were young academic stars, part of a revolution in economics taking place at Harvard. New computer technology and large data sets allowed them to explore with unprecedented precision how government policy affected the economic behavior of people and companies. (The New York Times)
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The numbers are pretty discouraging. It’s still a few weeks before Gallup’s latest "State of the American Workplace" report, but the research firm is already previewing some of the data. The report, which draws on interviews with more than 150,000 U.S. workers in 2012, examines employees’ engagement with their jobs. (The Washington Post)
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Although it doesn't show up explicitly in any personality test, some people seem to be more prone to creating complexity than others. Instead of cutting to the heart of an issue, they tangle it further; rather than narrowing down projects, they allow the scope to keep expanding; and instead of making decisions, they defer until there is more data and better analysis. (Harvard Business Review)
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How do you handle working for someone who constantly rips apart everything you do or say? I was really excited to get hired eight months ago at this company (I've always wanted to work here), but my dream job has turned into a nightmare. The reason is my boss, who is never satisfied with anything. (Fortune)
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We spend most of our waking hours at work, so when it comes time to find a new job, you’d think we would take our time, carefully reviewing job descriptions and thoughtfully weighing whether a position might be a good fit. But it turns out we’re not as methodical as we’d like to think. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Your inbox may be causing you more stress than you realize. According to Linda Stone, a former Microsoft researcher and tech executive, some 80% of people either hold their breath or breathe shallowly as they work through their email. She uses the term email apnea to describe this. (Inc.)
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You probably think of stress as a normal part of your work day – most of us do. And while a small amount of stress is part of every job, if you're getting seriously stressed out you should stop and give it some serious thought. Studies show a distinct connection between workplace stress and increased risk of such deadly ailments as heart disease, digestive disorders, sleep disorders, and obesity. If you have 15 minutes to spare, you can avoid these disorders. (Inc.)
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Sheryl Sandberg's self-described feminist manifesto is provoking thought, challenging paradigms and causing women everywhere to ask, "what does this mean for me?" I was no exception. As an MBA educated black woman, I couldn't help but finish the book and wonder, "what exactly does Lean In mean for women of color?" (Huffington Post)
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When Monique Bell receives her Ph.D., she will become one of only 171 African American marketing business school professors in the United States. The PhD Project has announced that Bell is the first recipient of the $10,000 Melvin and Patricia Stith Marketing Dissertation Grant. She is defending her dissertation titled, "Self-Enhancement and Self-Transcendence Organizational Values’ Effects on Customer Satisfaction and Corporate Reputation" at Drexel University. (Politic365)
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Ever since a building with garment factories collapsed in Bangladesh last week, killing more than 400 people, Western apparel companies with ties to the country have scrambled to address public concerns about working conditions there. (The New York Times)
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Not so long ago, if you believe what you read in the papers and see on TV, Mexico was the next Afghanistan. It was poor, lawless, and plagued by drug violence, a failed-state-in-the-making whose problems and people would soon cascade over the border. In the last year, however, Mexico’s image has witnessed a dramatic transformation. In the eyes of U.S. media and policymaking elites, the country’s gone from being the next Afghanistan to the next China. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Forget what you know. Business schools increasingly want to know what you feel. Schools are trying to choose from a crowded pool of well-qualified applicants and get a sense of the human being behind the application by adding personality tests and scored, standardized in-person interviews to the traditional battery of essays, transcripts and recommendations. Now, prospective M.B.A. students need to shine by showing emotional traits like empathy, motivation, resilience and dozens of others. (The Wall Street Journal)
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If you're interested in studying in China, a new scholarship program could help you on your way. Rivaling the prestigious Rhodes scholarships, the new program was announced recently by Stephen Schwarzman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone Group, one of the world's biggest private-equity firms. (NPR)
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FedEx Corporation, the world's premier provider of transportation services, has developed one of the most unique MBA programs available, the FedEx Scholars Program. FedEx sponsors top candidates to obtain their full-time MBA from the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis while gaining valuable work experience directly at FedEx. FedEx provides students with full tuition payment and a $36,000 stipend during the program resulting in a debt-free MBA experience.
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Travelers hitting the road with their mobile electronic devices have three questions about staying connected away from home: will there be Wi-Fi, how much will it cost and how well will it work? Increasingly, it is that last question that matters most. (The New York Times)
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Supporting black-owned businesses is a great way to stimulate economic advancement of the African American community. Up until now, however, locating or identifying businesses with black owners was difficult to do consistently, especially outside of familiar areas. Now, consumers can more easily find black-owned businesses thanks to an innovative app designed for the purpose. (The Network Journal)
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Are women and minorities seen as riskier when it comes to small business lending? Banks seem to think so, according to a study released Tuesday by the Small Business Administration (SBA). According to the findings, even when controlling for factors like industry and credit score, African American, Hispanic and women business owners were less likely than white male business owners to have their loan applications approved. (Fox Business)
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Pet rocks. Cabbage Patch Kids. The Rubik's Cube. The marketplace, like the Billboard charts, is full of one-hit wonders—products that come out of nowhere, capture the national imagination, then just as quickly turn into punch lines and trivia answers. But what about the entrepreneurs behind these creations? What do they do after the novelty of their novelty products wears off? (The Wall Street Journal)
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During the housing bust, taxpayers were forced to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But thanks to the real estate recovery, Fannie Mae could end up paying tens of billions of dollars back to the Treasury this summer. That's just one of the factors behind a better bottom line for the federal government. This week, the Treasury Department announced it will pay down some of its debt for the first time in six years. (NPR)
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This is what you call kicking 'em when they're down. Consumers who don't have a lot of cash to put down when buying a house usually have to pay a higher rate than typical borrowers for the first few years of their mortgage. Now, thanks to a change at a government program, they will have to pay that elevated rate for as long as 30 years. (Fortune)
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he traditional thinking is that having more than one liquid savings and checking account can help with saving, letting people segregate money and take advantage of different types of financial tools. But in fact, according to Promothesh Chatterjee, an assistant marketing professor at the University of Kansas, "if you have a single account, you spend less." (MarketWatch)
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It's conventional wisdom that you should delay tapping your IRA as long as you can. There's also the tendency of most retirees to claim Social Security benefits as soon as possible. The unintended consequence: You're likely to shorten the life span of your nest egg. (Kiplinger's)
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Ever since Starbucks had the business acumen to make free WiFi as defining to its brand as "grande frappucinos," workers have delighted in leaving their offices in favor of brighter, more caffeinated workspaces. As the traditional office undergoes a global demise, hotels are starting to change their function to accommodate the new wave of mobile workers. (CNN International)
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One of the big fads in corporate America is the "passive candidate" craze. I use quotes on the word "passive" because these job candidates could be considered passive only when they’re viewed through an employer’s self-centered lens. They aren’t passive at all, of course; these folks are busy at their jobs, blissfully unaware of the existence of whatever corporation has them in its sights and its Passive Candidate database. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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In the sparse office he now occupies in the Seagram Building in Midtown Manhattan, Robert E. Diamond Jr., the former C.E.O. of Barclays, paced in circles and tried to explain how he had gone from being one of the highest-ranking and highest-paid bankers in Britain to a guy who takes the subway to this office in exile and waits in line for his coffee at a cart on Park Avenue. (The New York Times)
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Central bankers can be hard to understand. For one, they speak their own language, littered with words like "modest" and "moderate" or "a number" and "a few." For another, why aren't they doing even more with job growth stagnating and inflation falling? And just how does Ben Bernanke manage to keep his beard so meticulous-looking? (Okay, that last one isn't such a mystery anymore). But there's one thing about the Fed that's not hard to understand: Like 87 percent of the rest of America, it does not approve of Congress. (The Atlantic)
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Starting in October, Americans without access to affordable health care coverage through their jobs will be able to shop for insurance for themselves and their families through state-run exchanges. (CNN/Money)
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Given the ubiquity these days of 360 assessments, rounded feedback, and executive coaching, you'd think that there would be little room for unexposed flaws in a business leader. You'd be wrong. (Inc.)
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I admit that I'm prone to an optimistic outlook, a belief that most problems can be tackled with hard work and the right mindset. I've read the research that indicates that positive thinkers tend to do better in school, work and life. Perhaps I even assumed that optimism was infectious and that people wanted to work with a confident, hopeful leader. In the true spirit of optimism, how could this possibly go wrong? Then I found out from a colleague that he didn't find my optimism nearly as reassuring as I did. (Harvard Business Review)
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New York University business school professor David Yermack routinely teaches students how executives and major corporations have managed to skirt the law. By exposing students to questionable legal and ethical behavior, he says, the goal is to help them "formulate their own response when they encounter similar situations." (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Years ago, when I worked at Holt, Rhinehart & Winston Educational and Professional Publishing, my female superior and I attended a national teacher's conference in San Antonio, and were forced to share a hotel room because of a late booking. What could have been a profoundly awkward experience – my boss! in her pajamas! – turned out to be one that strengthened our relationship, allowing us to get to know each other in a way that can rarely be found in the frenzy of daily work. (Harvard Business Review)
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