Dr. Steve Sherick wants to build the emergency-care business he started two years ago that now employs seven doctors and two part-time administrators. The $300,000 in student loans he and his wife carry makes that prospect difficult, he said. (Bloomberg)
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You're having a conversation with someone and suddenly his eyes drop to his smartphone or drift over your shoulder toward someone else. It feels like this is happening more than ever – in meetings, at the dinner table, even at intimate cocktail parties – and there are signs that the decline of eye contact is a growing problem. (The Wall Street Journal)
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This is what passes for good economic news in Europe: Spain just added 265 jobs. "Clearly encouraging," the nation’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, said of the development. Never mind that nearly five million people in Spain are out of work. The latest unemployment report from the government, issued on Tuesday, was held up by Mr. Rajoy as a sign that maybe, just maybe, the economy is getting better. (The New York Times)
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You're cross-eyed from monitor glare, comatose from lunch digestion, and you don't even realized you just opened up Facebook: It's 2:55 in the afternoon, the time of day when productivity dies. (Fast Company)
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You aced the interview, your résumé sings, but in the end, you didn't get the job. Chances are, you'll never know why. It is a painful conundrum of the job search process: Rejected candidates want to understand why they didn't get hired, but employers, fearing discrimination complaints, keep silent. And those who do speak up offer little more than platitudes. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Statistics show that a lot of people have been unemployed much longer than they would have ever expected. Perhaps your field has downsized so much that there aren't that many open positions. No matter why you've been unemployed so long, at some point, desperation begins to set in, and you wonder if you should try to get a job you would have thought was "beneath you," just to get back into the workforce and earning a paycheck. (AOL Jobs)
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Workers who don't do their fair share typically cost the rest of us an extra one to three hours a week at the office, a recent survey by corporate training firm VitalSmarts found. Covering for a deadbeat doesn't just get you home late for dinner, either: Four out of five respondents said doing so caused their own performance to slip. (CNN/Money)
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If you haven’t disclosed the details of a drinking binge, blasted music from your cubicle, or taken a mid-meeting nap at work recently, then you’re in better shape than many of the employees at a Fortune 500 healthcare company, where lately some business unit managers have asked the HR department for help teaching what they refer to as Millennial workplace etiquette. (Forbes)
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Although the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to render its ruling on the high-profile Fisher v. University of Texas before the justices' session expires at the end of June, the actual impact of their decision on employers' diversity initiatives appears far less distinct. (Workforce)
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The din of banging pots and pans reverberated late into the night across Istanbul’s narrow alleys at the start of June. Young professionals and older housewives alike stood on their balconies, clanging their kitchenware, in support of the tens of thousands of protesters across the country who took to the streets against Turkey’s government. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Did relying too heavily on mom-and-pop businesses hobble one of Europe's most imperiled countries? It's possible. (The Atlantic)
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In September 2000 the heads of 147 governments pledged that they would halve the proportion of people on the Earth living in the direst poverty by 2015, using the poverty rate in 1990 as a baseline. It was the first of a litany of worthy aims enshrined in the United Nations "millennium development goals" (MDGs). Many of these aims – such as cutting maternal mortality by three quarters and child mortality by two thirds – have not been met. But the goal of halving poverty has been. Indeed, it was achieved five years early. (The Economist)
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Call it a problem of supply and demand. With global operations becoming more complex, companies in manufacturing, retail and technology – and the consulting firms that service them – are scrambling to hire people with supply-chain expertise. But these experts are hard to come by. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Whatever you expected when you entered the degree programme, it all looks different ten years hence. An INSEAD case study draws lessons on career success and personal fulfillment from the lives and work of the MBA class of 2002. (INSEAD)
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Early Bird Discounts End June 30! Register Now for NBMBAA's 35th Annual Conference and Expo
Save big when you register now to join 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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Samsung Electronics Co.’s first U.S. patent victory over Apple Inc. may prove fleeting if the iPhone maker rolls out new products before the government’s ban on older devices takes effect. Apple has several avenues to string out, if not eliminate, damage from an import ban ordered by a U.S. trade panel yesterday on devices including the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G. (Bloomberg)
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Small and women-owned businesses are two of today’s most optimistic sectors of economic and professional growth. In an effort to help further the development and success of some of the most promising of these businesses, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott has launched ELEVATE fueled by Fairfield, a pilot empowerment program offering free space, connections and resources to 20 female entrepreneurs across the country. Enrollment ends June 30th.
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Some new stats are ugly: Nearly 70% of defecting customers would've stayed if a problem had been resolved with one call, instead of requiring multiple interactions. Here's Salesforce exec Peter Coffee on how to please the people you need most, and save your bottom line. (Fast Company)
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday that hourly compensation fell in the first quarter by the most since record-keeping began in 1947. Right away I got an e-mail from a colleague: "Recession redux?" The investing website Zero Hedge said the drop "poured cold water over all recent hypotheses that the U.S. worker’s plight is improving." (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Today, fewer than 40 percent of U.S. manufacturing employees actually work in factories. Our reporter travels to Milwaukee to see what that means for one company and its city. (The Atlantic)
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Financial security in retirement doesn’t just happen. It takes planning and commitment and, yes, money. According to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, the average American spends 20 years in retirement and fewer than half of Americans have calculated how much they need to save for retirement. In 2010, 30% of private industry workers with access to a defined contribution plan (such as a 401(k) plan) didn't participate, according to the DOL. The agency puts out a number of publications to support Americans in planning for their retirement, and offers these 10 ways to prepare. (MarketWatch)
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With airfares to Europe and Asia sky-high and high-seas breakdowns roiling the cruise industry, leisure travelers have plenty of reasons to put vacation plans on hold. But no need to restrain your wanderlust. We asked industry insiders and travel Web site editors to weigh in with their top tips and smartest strategies for getting good deals – without the nightmare scenarios – on airfares, cruises, hotels and vacation packages. (Kiplinger's)
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Amazon already delivers everything from toothpaste to televisions to your doorstep. Now, it wants to bring your berries and beer, too. The online retailing behemoth is planning a major expansion of , the home delivery service of meat, dairy and other fresh and frozen foods that it has been field-testing in Seattle since 2007. (NPR)
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Joe Carcello has a great job. The 59-year-old has an annual salary of $52,700, gets five weeks of vacation a year, and is looking forward to retiring on the sizable nest egg in his 401(k), which his employer augments with matching funds. After 26 years at his company, he’s not worried about layoffs. In 2009, as the recession deepened, his bosses handed out raises. "I’m just grateful to come here to work every day," he says. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Leaders must be firm and foster accountability, but they also must know when to forgive past wrongs in the service of building a brighter future. One of the most courageous acts of leadership is to forgo the temptation to take revenge on those on the other side of an issue or those who opposed the leader's rise to power. (Harvard Business Review)
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In our work with leaders on overplayed strengths, people sometimes object to the idea that every strength can be taken too far. For instance, an academic journal editor once held up publication of a research article stating flatly that "it is impossible for a leader to be too supportive, caring, and loyal." (Harvard Business Review)
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It never fails. After every recession, people (especially top performers) get restless, and their employers start fretting about how to keep them from jumping ship. This recovery, although it has come with a feebler job market than most, is no exception. Not only are recruiters noticing that it's far easier to get A-list managers to take their calls than it was a year or two ago, but companies seem to be more intent on poaching each others' star players. (Fortune)
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The next time you check into a hotel, don’t be surprised if the front-desk clerk and bellhop are the same person. Or if there is no clerk or bellhop at all. To cut costs as consumers cut their travel spending, some hotels are taking a page from airlines, adopting a no-frills policy. (MarketWatch)
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