Nearly everywhere you turn these days, you are exhorted to innovate, disrupt, or otherwise prove yourself a game changer. It's enough to make you feel that if you haven't put a couple of Fortune 500 incumbents out of business this week, you've taken your eye off the ball. (Inc.)
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Have you noticed the rising chorus in the management literature proclaiming that work must have meaning? On this very site, for example, several authors have published research-based blog posts on how managers can create the conditions that support meaningful work. This is a very positive development, because work is a huge part of life, and meaning in life is not just a "nice-to-have". We need it in the way we need oxygen. There are few things more life-enriching and life-prolonging in human experience than a sense of meaning. (Harvard Business Review)
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After 50 years, legal segregation is a distant memory, and race in America is not the unbridgeable chasm it once was. The country has a black president. The sort of comity that King evoked, in which the descendants of slaves and of slave owners "sit down together at the table of brotherhood", can be found in many places, including the Deep South. The rate of marriage between blacks and whites is rising. But America has not entered – as many hoped it would at the time of Barack Obama’s election – a "post-racial" phase. (The Economist)
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Struggling to complete that big work project, painting or manuscript? These inspiring tips from creative masters (Shakespeare) and less likely sources (Rocky Balboa) can help. (Fast Company)
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Can how you stand or sit affect your success? New research shows posture has a bigger impact on body and mind than previously believed. Striking a powerful, expansive pose actually changes a person's hormones and behavior, just as if he or she had real power. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Many people envision the upper rungs of the corporate ladder as an inspired, innovative place where leaders spend their time on stimulating projects that shape the organization's future. But this vision is not always a reality. In many companies today, even the most tenured individuals are just as bogged down with policies and procedures as their entry-level colleagues, if not more so. In addition, the focus on producing short-term results often leaves little time for long-term strategy – the area where the expertise of experienced professionals is needed most. (Harvard Business Review)
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You may think you’re talking the language of your potential customers or clients, but in reality you may not be making your point any more clearly than a sign that reads: "Please use the escalator on your behind." (Fast Company)
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Many working fathers face similar pressures to conform to a traditional gender role that insists they be "all in" for work, regardless of achievement level and regardless of family responsibilities. (Harvard Business Review)
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As evidence continues to support the idea that a diverse workforce leads to more profitable and innovative companies, the next big challenge is to manage inclusion, something many organizations are struggling to deal with. Anyone not sure of the need for diversity and inclusion in our organizations just needs to walk down the street. (HR Magazine UK)
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High food prices, a currency in freefall, battered investors and slowing growth: India is facing a host of problems that have taken away the sheen from an economy that's had a decade of mostly strong growth. Some of those problems are also hitting other key emerging markets, including Brazil, China and Russia. (NPR)
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A few years ago a former student told me the first thing his boss told him his first day on the job: "Forget everything you learned in business school. Now you’re going to learn how things are done in the real world." That bothered me as a business professor. Would a hospital administrator say that to a brand-new medical doctor? (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Here's a quick quiz: Which college major is more likely to lead to a job waiting tables after graduation, business or drama? The latter is the obvious answer – especially if you spend much time in New York City or Los Angeles, where your average waitperson is just killing time between auditions – but it's business. (Fortune)
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NBMBAA Houston Chapter to celebrate 30th Anniversary and host 35th Annual Conference and exposition at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Sept. 10-14, 2013. (PR Web)
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It's getting close, but there's still time to register and join us in Houston for the 35th Annual Conference and Exposition. Get all the information you need by using the Conference website to secure your housing, see options for booking your travel and to register for discounted on-site coaching. View our full Pre-Conference Planning Guide for help planning your journey to Conference.
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Astounding just about everyone, July’s Web traffic for Yahoo surpassed that for Google for the first time in some time, according to digital analysis group comScore in its monthly ranking of U.S. web activity released Wednesday. (MarketWatch)
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That old iPhone sitting in the bottom of your sock drawer could be worth $300 – but only if you act now. Old iPhones hold their worth better than any other smartphone on the market. But iPhones' resale value takes a nosedive right before Apple announces a new version of its smartphone –and Apple is expected to do just that on Sept. 10. (CNN/Money)
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Your pricing strategy is the most critical aspect of marketing. Why? Because you can have the best customer list in the world and the best sales pitch in the world, but if your pricing strategy is lousy, you'll still go broke. Please understand, the money you get is only half the equation. The other half of the equation is even more important: How much value does the customer get? (Entrepreneur)
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Millennials are about to take over the workforce. That much you already know. The part you may not be prepared for? These potential new hires are judging your company by its technology – and for many of you, that's not a good thing. (Inc.)
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Companies say too many applicants just don't have the right skills. Partnerships between employers and community colleges are looking to fix that. (The Atlantic)
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The buying power of Americans continues to be weaker than it was when the recession ended four years ago, underscoring the lasting damage wrought by the downturn, according to a report released Wednesday. (The Washington Post)
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To understand how confusing wireless plans have become, just walk into an AT&T Inc. store. The second largest U.S. carrier offers far more plans than its rivals – nearly 30 combinations alone for individuals, and many of its packages contradict one another. For example, customers can sign up for 900 minutes of talk, unlimited texts and 300 megabytes of data for $100 a month. But a "mobile share" plan that is $30 cheaper offers unlimited talk and texts and the same amount of data. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Blacks and Latinos use their smartphones to do their banking more than any other race or ethnicity, according to a new study. The results of the Pew Research Center survey released this month serve to confirm a report from the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) last year, which found that Blacks and Latinos make up a "disproportionately high rate" of mobile-banking users. (DiversityInc.)
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NBMBAA Leadership Institute (LI) is an executive development program that offers cutting edge seminars facilitated by highly credentialed and experienced faculty. Designed for mid-and senior-level managers, and high potential employees, this program arms you with skills, ideas and innovations you can put to immediate use.
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If you need to pass the PMP® or CAPM® exam and want to get the best project management learning experience in just 3 days, then CertifiNOW is the right choice for you. This project management learning program provides the best learning experience in a condensed amount of time, while also satisfying most, if not all, of your professional certification, education, and training needs. The CertifiNOW certification course reduces exam preparation time from an average of nine to twelve months, down to 3 days.
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United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), one of the biggest U.S. employers, plans to drop health insurance coverage for about 15,000 working spouses of white-collar employees to curtail rising costs. Many spouses in the U.S. workforce will have access to employer-provided insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care-system overhaul, and UPS will remove them from its coverage, according to a copy of a memo to employees first published online by Kaiser Health News. (Bloomberg)
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It may not be long before companies finally have to disclose the ratio of how much their average worker makes in comparison to their CEO. Reports in recent weeks have said the long-delayed rule proposal, which was part of the Dodd-Frank law that passed three years ago, could finally arrive this summer. And speaking at a Senate Banking Committee hearing in late July, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White said she hoped the rule would be completed in the next month or two. (The Washington Post)
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For House Republicans in this year’s budget fight, it’s not all about the money. Republican leaders are poring over a list of potential sweeteners, such as approving the Keystone XL pipeline, to gather enough votes to present a united front when they face off with President Barack Obama next month. (Bloomberg)
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Innovation is all well and good in the abstract, but when it comes to actually changing things rather than just talking about changing them, people become strangely stubborn. Whether it’s a new process, a productivity-boosting tech tool or a restructuring of departments, you no doubt thought long and hard about the change you want to make to your business and how it will benefit both your staff and the bottom line. (Inc.)
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Much of what comes out of people's mouths in business these days is sugar-coated, couched, and polished. The messages are manufactured, trying to strike just the right tone. Genuine emotion stands in stark contrast. It's a real person sharing a real feeling. When we hear it, we're riveted – for one because it's rare, but also because it's real. Sometimes it's uncomfortable and a little messy. But that's what makes it powerful. No one is trying to hide anything. (Harvard Business Review)
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Buying something made in Detroit, in this calculus, is not much different than buying a fair trade Andean sweater. You’re buying a small piece of the revival of a great American manufacturing city gone to seed. Or at least, you’re buying into the liberal idea of what supporting a distressed economy means. (The New York Times)
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As we've talked to consumers in this age group about how they feel about owning the car, the car companies kind of think about this as, 'Well, that's sort of a silly question because of course everybody wants to own a car,' " says Jill Hennessy, clinical professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She studied the attitudes of millennials toward the car-buying process. The short answer: They're a lot different from baby boomers and Gen Xers. (NPR)
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