As a partner and chief diversity officer at Thompson & Knight, Pauline Higgins was not afraid to press the issue of hiring minorities at the 126-year-old Texas law firm. But when she left in 2008, she was replaced by an associate with less influence. Now, current and former partners say, the diversity committee meets less often, and the firm has fewer black lawyers than before. It is a trajectory familiar in many elite realms of American professional life. Even as racial barriers continue to fall, progress for African-Americans over all has remained slow – and in some cases appears to be stalling. (The New York Times)
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This year, nearly 1.7 million students will graduate from college. Many of them are engaged in a new ritual of the digital age: cleaning up and polishing their online profiles. The demand is so great an entire industry has sprung up to help. (NPR)
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Texas is killing it. It dominated the recession, crushed the recovery, and in a new analysis of jobs recovered since the downturn, its largest city stands apart as the most powerful job engine in the country – by far. (The Atlantic)
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Houston is not only the nation's fourth-largest city, it's also seeing unprecedented job growth. Experience dynamic Houston by joining us September 10-14 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 in Houston.
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In salary negotiations, making the first move often reaps great rewards. Nobody knows this better than Shirli Kopelman, a professor with the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business who has done research on salary negotiations. Kopelman’s paper "Good Grief! Anxiety Sours the Economic Benefits of First Offers" shows how even though making the first move usually yields better financial results for employees, they feel worse about the process – and even the outcome. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Being right feels awesome. There's nothing quite like discovering that you had an idea or made a decision that didn't just work--it rocked. But while ending up in the right is lovely, stubbornly refusing to give up on being right is not good for business. (Entrepreneur)
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Most top athletes go through a preparation routine before every game which starts long before they get on the field. The best ones usually start the moment they awake. They follow this pattern with a fierce devotion because it activates all sorts of subconscious and autonomic systems that put that athlete "in the zone." "In the zone" describes a condition of readiness and awareness that helps prepare that person for success. (Inc.)
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Underneath the huge drop in demand that drove unemployment up to 9 percent during the recession, there’s been an important shift in the education-to-work model in America. Anyone who’s been looking for a job knows what I mean. It is best summed up by the mantra from the Harvard education expert Tony Wagner that the world doesn’t care anymore what you know; all it cares "is what you can do with what you know." (The New York Times)
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How many employed American mothers work more than 50 hours a week? Go on, guess. I've been asking lots of people that question lately. Most guess around 50 percent. The truth is 9 percent. Nine percent of working moms clock more than 50 hours a week during the key years of career advancement: ages 25 to 44. (Harvard Business Review)
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With the World Cup in 2014, the Olympics two years later and large discoveries of oil boosting the economy, Brazilians could be excused for looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses. The world's party country – home to samba dance and Carnival – is enjoying an economic cocktail of low unemployment and easy consumer credit, propelling many Brazilians into the country's burgeoning middle class. (CNN)
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Another sharp fall in Japan's stockmarket this morning (5.2% on the Nikkei, 3.8% on the Topix) raises broader questions about the euphoria that greeted the introduction of Abenomics. (The Economist)
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Some of the best business schools in the world now offer MBA degrees online. Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business will enroll its first online class this August. Online MBA programs are flourishing at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, IE Business School in Spain, Babson College's Olin School, and Arizona State University's Carey School. Every other week, a new business school seems to be announcing the launch of yet another cyber-MBA program. At several schools, including Indiana and Arizona State, incoming online MBA classes outnumber the new full-time students enrolled on-campus. (Fortune)
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Getting into Harvard Business School just got easier. At least, the application form did. HBS announced that applicants seeking admission for the Fall 2014 incoming class will no longer need to submit two 400-word essays, and may not even have to write anything at all. (The Wall Street Journal)
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One reality of professional life is, no one makes it to the top by themselves. To rise through the ranks and break the proverbial "glass ceiling," two things must happen: First, you will need people to guide you along the way. Secondly, someone already on the other side of that glass ceiling has to see your value and pull you through! For the sake of simplicity Mentors are those who "guide" you through, and Sponsors are those who "pull" you through. (BET)
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"We welcome Donald’s extensive business experience in marketing and organizational leadership to the NBMBAA. It’s another great compliment to a stellar Board committed to advancing our organization." said Jesse J. Tyson, Interim President and CEO. "Donald’s reputation of innovative thinking, technology breakthroughs and abiding passion toward creating opportunities for others, underscores another win that supports our strategic theme of advancement."
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The National Black MBA Association provides financial support to students pursuing careers in business, academia and related professions. Scholarship awards range from $1,000 to $20,000 however award amounts are contingent upon funding for the current year. The application period through June 30.
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Microsoft has confirmed a Start button is returning to the desktop mode's taskbar of its Windows 8 operating system. The lack of the facility - which had been in every previous version since Windows 95 – has been one of the most controversial aspects of the software. (BBC News)
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Gmail is like the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York – construction began in 1892, and it’s still unfinished. Some new features were announced recently and are gradually being rolled out to users across the globe. Perhaps most significant among them is the introduction of tabs to your inbox. Gmail (GOOG) will now automatically sort incoming mail into a few different groups. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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To be a successful entrepreneur - or really, a successful anything - you need to be able to recognize an opportunity when you see one. Specifically, you need to be able to identify a problem or gap, and come up with an innovative solution. (Of course you also need to be able to execute that solution, but without spotting the opportunity in the first place, you aren't going anywhere.) So how, exactly, does one become good at spotting opportunities? (Harvard Business Review)
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Congress will soon step in to help small businesses deal with the pain that trickles down to them from the federal government’s automatic budget cuts, known as the sequester. (Kiplinger's)
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American households have rebuilt less than half of the wealth lost during the recession, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve, hampering the country’s economic recovery. (The Washington Post)
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Credit bureaus and payment companies are testing ways to use social media – say, a Facebook Inc. (FB) post about a recently purchased Corvette – to verify a person’s identity and even assess consumer creditworthiness. (Bloomberg)
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Getting ready for a summer vacation abroad? Then you have a lot to anticipate: fine food, great wine, historical museums – and thousand-dollar cellphone bills. Actually, overseas cellphone bills do not have to be huge anymore, as long as you do some planning. (The New York Times)
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Mark Cuban is a billionaire, so it may be a surprise that the owner of NBA's Dallas Mavericks purchases everyday items like razor blades and toothpaste in bulk batches. It's stuff he knows he'll use in the future. Purchasing goods in volume is cheaper than buying them one at a time. You save on transaction costs like driving to the store. Here's the thinking behind bulk buying: Purchasing goods in volume is cheaper than buying them one at a time. (NPR)
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Motorola Mobility, once a pioneer in shifting manufacturing to China, is opening a smartphone factory in Texas, the company said Wednesday, joining a small but growing movement toward bringing technology jobs to the United States. The decision follows announcements by major tech firms, including Apple and Lenovo , planning to add U.S. manufacturing capacity after more than a decade in which the flow was almost exclusively in the other direction – with millions of jobs going to East Asian factories known for low wages and minimal labor protections. (The Washington Post)
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For years, it’s been a ritual at the country’s best colleges – students and recent graduates, especially those with strong "quant" skills in math and finance, being courted by big banks and other financial services firms. But even as banks and investment firms rebound from recession-era cutbacks, they’re now facing fiercer competition for promising candidates. (MarketWatch)
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William Pulte says the only way to truly save Detroit and get the housing market functioning properly again is to destroy large swaths of the city as quickly as possible. Pulte, a scion of the family that created PulteGroup Inc. (PHM), the largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, has already knocked down 10 blocks on Detroit’s Southeast as part of the proposed nonprofit Detroit Blight Authority program. It’s a preview of the effort he says is needed to get ahead of the metal strippers and arsonists devastating the city’s property values. (Bloomberg)
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Leaders should know everything about their project from top to bottom--except, that just isn't possible. Setting aside your pride and asking for help is the truest sign of dedication. (Fast Company)
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Typically, we choose our leaders for their skill at conveying messages clearly and powerfully. But, in my experience, it's their ability to receive messages that distinguishes the best leaders from the rest. That's because the better you are at receiving, the more likely people will talk to you. And that's precisely what every one of us needs: to be surrounded by people who are willing to speak the unspoken. (Harvard Business Review)
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In its contours, the conversation happens countless times a day among groups of women. This male version also touches on the challenges of getting home for bath time, showing up at recitals, and how all that must be reconciled with driving ambition. The only thing missing is the guilt and self-flagellation, which, if they were women, would be accumulating on the floor in puddles around their feet. (Bloomberg/Businssweek)
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Sleep-deprived employees are increasingly likely to nod off at work. But when it comes to addressing this potential productivity and safety issue, experts say, most employers have been caught napping. (MarketWatch)
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