In some respects, 1988 has the feel of an alien, distant era. There was no such thing as the World Wide Web then. The Soviet Union was still around; the Berlin Wall still standing. Americans elected a Republican president who would raise taxes to help tame the budget deficit. (The New York Times)
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Former Buddhist monk and current leadership coach and best-selling author Christine Comaford reveals how anyone can learn to stop reacting – and start becoming their smartest selves. (Fast Company)
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A new Census report shows that income and poverty have barely improved since the end of the recession. But even the finances of the 1 percent are worse off than than during the dotcom boom. (The Atlantic)
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With so many distractions in our daily lives, from Breaking Bad binges to Twitter tweetathons, it's increasingly difficult to get things done. While advances in technology are often to blame for always-on TV and never-ending news, there are also many digital tools that can help us work smarter. After all, we wrestle day in and day out with the greatest equalizer in the world: time. With 24 precise hours in a day, we're often left falling behind on work and home tasks. (Fast Company)
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There is no secret recipe for landing the corner office, but leadership lessons from the former chiefs of Campbell Soup Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. have helped many to the top. (The Wall Street Journal)
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I had just finished a talk at a leading technology company when an engineer approached me. "I liked your ideas about personal branding, and I can see how they’d work," he told me. "But most of them aren’t for me – I’m an introvert. Is there anything I can do?" What he didn’t realize is that (like an estimated one-third to one-half of the population) I’m one, too. (Harvard Business Review)
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Paralympic medalist Bonnie St. John explains how she has found the strength to accomplish more than she ever thought possible. (Video) (Inc.)
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From how you make decisions to what you decide to eat – everything in your day has power-sapping potential. Here's how to fight back against fatigue. (Fast Company)
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Every year, when New York's real-estate industry gathers for the annual Real Estate Board gala, the ballroom is filled with hundreds of black ties but mostly white faces. Commercial real estate has been a relatively late comer to embracing diversity as a workforce goal. CBRE Group Inc. first hired an executive in charge of increasing diversity in 2004 and Jones Lang LaSalle added the position in 2007. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Helene Gayle must be one of the few chief executives who dreams of a world where her job doesn't exist. In fact, the president of one of the biggest poverty charities on the planet – CARE USA – would probably prefer it if there was no need for her organization at all. Yet on any given day there will be a humanitarian disaster unfolding across the globe – from violence in Somalia, to flooding in Pakistan, and chemical warfare in Syria. And all of them need CARE. (CNN/International)
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Getting a Wharton MBA involves taking off from work for two years, moving to Philadelphia, and spending about $200,000 on tuition and expenses. Now, with the addition of three new courses on the online learning platform Coursera, you can get much of the course content for free. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Public colleges and universities were established largely as a way to provide an affordable education. But analysis of new data shows that many public schools are pricing themselves out of the picture for students who need it the most: those coming from low-income families. (DiversityInc.)
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We'd like to thank all of our members, sponsors, chapters, staff, volunteers and everyone who made the 35th Annual Conference and Expo last week in Houston such a great success. If you joined us in Houston, we hope you enjoyed the week. Plan now to join us in Atlanta, September 16-20, 2014.

 

Talented MBA candidates from more than 30 of the nation's leading business schools competed for $50,000 in scholarships in the 2013 National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) Case Competition, sponsored by Chrysler Group LLC. The NBMBAA®/Chrysler Group LLC Case Competition is an annual event designed to give high-powered student teams an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and problem-solving skills in a formal competition. (PR Newswire)
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Apple’s doomed. This is what you hear and read. Sure, it was a hell of a run – iPhone, iPad, all that – but it’s about to end, and fast. If you need any proof, just look at China: the world’s largest smartphone market, flooded with ever-cheaper handsets and tablets from domestic manufacturers that didn’t even exist when the iPhone was first announced. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Can't wait to get the new iPhone 5S or 5C, but can't stand the thought of camping out for days or waking up at dawn? Instead, you can pay someone to hold your place in line. (CNN/Money)
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Inc.'s Scott Gerber goes one-on-one with FUBU creator Daymond John on building an effective pitch, a killer brand and a profitable business. (Video) (Inc.)
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To be an entrepreneur you have to be willing to jump into the deep end. And that takes courage. But courage is just the beginning. At a fundamental level, most entrepreneurs need to repeatedly overcome adversity and pursue opportunities with very limited resources. (Fast Company)
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Daniel Pink, former chief speech writer for Vice President Al Gore and best-selling author, joins our "Micro Management Stories" video series. He speaks to The Washington Post’s Mary Jordan about the leadership lesson that came in the form of a memorable call from the White House. (The Washington Post)
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The annual long-term budget outlook from the Congressional Budget Office is an incredible document and, at least ostensibly, a moment to reflect on U.S. government spending and taxing. Instead, every year, it acts more like a magic mirror, somehow perfectly reflecting the previous biases of each reader. (The Atlantic)
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It was the growing rate of default on home mortgages in America that precipitated the financial crisis five years ago. These delinquencies, although not enormous in themselves, became impossible for some investment banks to bear, thanks partly to their own heavy debts. As the contagion spread throughout the financial sector in 2007-08, nervous or cash-strapped banks and other creditors stopped lending, thereby infecting the rest of the economy. (The Economist)
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Kenyatta Harper, a freelancer for advertising agencies, is trading the one-bedroom Brooklyn, New York apartment she’s renting for $1,600 a month for a two-family home nearby that cost her about $600,000. "I can pay about the same as I would for rent and own a house," said Harper, 37, who will subsidize her 5 percent mortgage payments on the 100-year-old Bedford-Stuyvesant property with income from tenants. (Bloomberg)
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Turns out, it’s the dates on food expiration labels that are bad. A lack of regulation of food labels is a major factor leading to 40% of all food going to waste in the U.S., a new study finds. (MarketWatch)
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Digital natives don't have anything on these gen-Xers and Boomers who crafted new careers with social media savvy, storytelling chops and a dynamic approach to reinvention. (Fast Company)
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The coffee chain Starbucks has asked its customers in the US to stop bringing guns into its outlets. Starbucks has not imposed a ban, but says guns "should not be part of the Starbucks experience". The firm has recently become a focus for the pro- and anti-gun lobby, with supporters of the right to carry arms holding a Starbucks Appreciation Day. (BBC News)
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As the economy sputters and health-care costs rise, businesses large and small are eliminating benefits they consider nonessential and shifting more costs to employees for the benefits that are offered. The freebies that proliferated during flush times – from tuition assistance to free snacks – are steadily disappearing, while perks that don't cost anything, such as allowing employees to work from home, are becoming increasingly common. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Elections are supposed to give us choices. We can reward incumbents or we can throw the bums out. We can choose Republicans or Democrats. We can choose conservative policies or progressive ones. In most elections, however, we don’t get a say in something important: whether we’re governed by the rich. By Election Day, that choice has usually been made for us. (The New York Times)
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After weeks of listening to lawyers, the judge in the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy plans to spend Thursday hearing from another group: the worried residents of this financially stricken city. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes granted an unusual audience to 93 people, most of them retired city workers who fear the bankruptcy will mean Detroit won't pay their pensions in full, but some with other grievances. (The Wall Street Journal)
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There’s no denying it: Millennials have a bad rap. From flitting from job to job to shying away from using the phone, many younger workers have left older managers confused and exasperated. But while managers may have a less-than-stellar view of their young hires, a new survey shows that most twenty-something employees like their managers. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Don’t look now, but all of a sudden the topic of compassionate management is becoming trendy. A growing number of business conferences are focusing in on the topic of compassion at work. There’s the International Working Group on Compassionate Organizations. There’s the Changing Culture in the Workplace Conference. Then there’s Wisdom 2.0, dedicated to "exploring living with greater awareness, wisdom and compassion in the modern age." (Harvard Business Review)
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As your company grows, you will (or you should) give some important responsibilities to others. You may have to rely on someone else to accomplish mission-critical tasks. This is especially true if the job they do is created by the employee or is in an area outside your comfort zone. Sometimes an employee will become "indispensable" in your mind. (Inc.)
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