High-stakes decisions – which can range from starting a business to consummating a joint venture to hiring or firing someone – have something in common: they involve high levels of uncertainty. When so much is unknown or unknowable, trying to decide what the right course of action might be triggers anxiety. In response, many of us seek the counsel of others to help us make these weighty decisions. (Harvard Business Review)
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The Red Sox slugger known as Big Papi hit nearly .700 during the just-concluded World Series, leading his club to victory. But his innovative style on the field and off may have been the difference. (Fast Company)
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Six months into his presidency, Barack Obama promised that his proposed health reforms wouldn’t force people who were happy with their insurance to change. "If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period," he said. But hundreds of thousands of people are finding out that’s not the case. Insurance companies are terminating policies for many people whose insurance doesn’t meet the standards of the new health law. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Every Halloween, millions of surrogate zombies, vampires, and goblins take to the streets, looking to fill the fluorescent orange brainpans of their plastic pumpkins with individually wrapped, fun-sized candies. It seems like a custom immemorial, but trick-or-treating wasn't always an inseparable part of Halloween: in fact, little more than 60 years ago, many Americans had never even seen a trick-or-treater. (Fast Company)
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Optimism is starting to spread. People who stayed glued to their jobs during the downturn are starting to dip their toes in the water to see if there is a new position out there for them. But while they have been hunkered down waiting for the recession to pass, the job market has been changing. If you have been at the same organization for five or more years, you are in danger of making some big mistakes that can completely derail your job search. Here’s a handful of those pitfalls and how to avoid them. (Harvard Business Review)
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Linio, an e-commerce startup based in Mexico City, couldn’t afford Bain or McKinsey when it needed help pricing new products ranging from vintage wines to billiard tables. So this summer it farmed the work out to Anya Rasulova, a 2013 Wharton School MBA who was looking to make some money before starting a full-time job at EBay. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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When all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In business, that hammer is money and the nail is employee productivity. Employees at most companies are offered higher salaries or year-end bonuses in exchange for better output. Businesses better get some new tools quickly, because this hammer is not enough to get the job done. (CNN International)
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Let's begin with a story of our time. Joe is a recently unemployed IT specialist who is a whiz at network infrastructure. O irony of ironies. He is about to attend a meeting of a local professional group to "network" with people who might help with his job search. He has 500+ LinkedIn contacts and he tweets every day, but let’s watch him as he tries to mix and mingle. (Fast Company)
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When I was an undergraduate at Stanford University and decided to "go natural" with my hair, it was more of a lifestyle and financial choice. But in returning to my corporate internship the following summer, I quickly realized it was also a career issue when my (white, male) supervisor told me my hair was "too short and militant" for the company culture. (DiversityInc.)
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The US has criticized Germany's economic policies, saying that its export-led growth model is hurting the eurozone and the wider global economy. In its bi-annual report, the US Treasury said that domestic demand growth in Germany had been "anaemic". (BBC News)
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Although investors are now less jittery about a possible default by the American Treasury, they are rightly still nervous about a drama unfolding in the market for state and local debt. Since May, yields on bonds issued by Puerto Rico, a self-governing American territory, have shot up to between 8% and 10%, despite their (barely) investment-grade rating and tax-exempt interest. (The Economist)
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Columbia Business School would like to remind prospective applicants of three things: location, location, location. The elite school’s new tagline, "At the very center of business," highlights its location in a major business hub, but school leaders say it also gestures at its practical curriculum and influential global network. (The Wall Street Journal)
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The question: Where would you advise an accomplished, idealistic graduate with a degree in physics, engineering or mathematics to hypothetically spend his or her career: Wall Street or Silicon Valley? (Inc.)
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A daylong conference to help launch new small businesses and encourage existing ones to grow is being held Saturday in Newark. Fired Up! New Jersey Business Empowerment Summit is sponsored jointly by the New Jersey chapters of the National Black MBA Association and the Spelman College Alumnae Association. It will be held at the PSE&G headquarters at 80 Park Place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (NJ Biz)
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Last month, 34 Penn State Smeal MBA students attended the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) 35th annual Conference and Exposition, which features the largest master of business administration career fair in the country. (Penn State News)
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Airplane travelers will soon be able to watch videos and play games with their electronic devices throughout their entire flight – and not just above a certain altitude – the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday in a long anticipated announcement. (CNN)
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Workers get an average 15,000 messages a year and spend 13 hours each business week emailing. Here are four tools to manage the electronic deluge. (CNN/Money)
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At first, I thought it was my imagination. Around the time the iPhone 5S and 5C were released, in September, I noticed that my sad old iPhone 4 was becoming a lot more sluggish. The battery was starting to run down much faster, too. But the same thing seemed to be happening to a lot of people who, like me, swear by their Apple products. (The New York Times)
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Since the financial crisis hit five years ago, there aren't as many Americans starting new businesses. In uncertain economic times, it's harder for entrepreneurs and investors to take the risk. And if you look back over the past 25 years, it turns out the overall trend is toward fewer new businesses getting started, too – and that's not good at all when the country needs more jobs. (NPR)
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Every year, Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator holds a one day event called Startup School, where rookies come to learn how to start their own company. Last week, attendees were treated to advice from entrepreneurs like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey, and Evernote's Phil Libin. (Inc.)
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Bill de Blasio, the soon-to-be-mayor of New York, made the rich-poor gap the core of his campaign. He faces a city still torn in two by the aftermath of the hurricane. (The Atlantic)
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The Grand Bargain is off the table. Thank goodness for that. Even before representatives of the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-run House sat down to their first official budget reconciliation meeting on Wednesday, it was hard to find anybody in Washington who believed a deal could be reached to bridge the chasm between the two parties’ tax and spending plans. (The New York Times)
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In the United States, we are generally told that poverty is a deeply complicated problem whose solution requires dozens of reforms on issues as diverse as public schooling, job training, and marriage. But it’s not true. High rates of poverty can, as a policy matter, be solved with trivial ease. How? By simply giving the poor money. (The Atlantic)
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Shopping at warehouse clubs, such as Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club, is a great way to save money. They have good per-unit prices on nearly everything they sell. However, consumers often make the mistake of assuming they’re getting the best price at a warehouse club or of buying things they don’t need just because the price is good. (Kiplinger's)
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American workers stash over $300 billion a year into 401(k) accounts and other employer-sponsored retirement plans, if you include employers' matching contributions. This may sound like a lot of money, but it still may not be enough for many Americans to be able to retire. (CNBC)
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The schedulers, gatekeepers and caretakers of the corporate world are rarely seen, but they have a profound effect on the daily lives of the executives they serve. They do everything from booking business trips, ordering anniversary gifts and arranging pet care to attending high-level meetings and deciding who can and can't meet with their boss. The work can be thankless and often comes at a cost to their own personal lives, but these workers wield subtle influence at a company's highest levels – and no small amount of power. (The Wall Street Journal)
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John Legere smiled, the kind of smile reserved for a man who knows he has already won and is just waiting to announce it. Legere, chief executive officer of T-Mobile US, the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the country, was giving an interview to Bloomberg TV in July to introduce a program that would allow customers to upgrade their phones twice a year. The smile appeared when he was asked about other carriers, which had complained off the record about the cost of the phones they sold to their own customers. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Eight years ago, Mignon Clyburn was feuding with her sister about their ice cream and popcorn shop in Charleston, S.C. That’s when their father, James Clyburn, one of the most powerful lawmakers in Congress, forced the sisters to sit down at a table, close the door and stay in the room until they worked out their differences. (The Washington Post)
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Look around. Do you see much inflation? Gas prices are down more than 7 percent from last year. Grocery costs haven't budged lately. And – just in time for Halloween – the price of candy is down 2.3 percent from last year, according to the government's released Wednesday. (NPR)
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Great leaders tell it like it is. In other words, they focus on reality, no matter how painful or unpleasant it might be, and then figure out what to do about it. In contrast, less effective leaders sometimes avoid hard truths, argue with the data, and delay tough decisions. While it’s easy to be critical of leaders who can’t face the facts, the truth is that most of us engage in denial at one time or another, usually without even knowing it. (Harvard Business Review)
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Here's a hard fact I've observed over thirty years of working with world-class leaders: Your biggest strength ultimately becomes your most glaring weakness. Joanne's ability to execute relentlessly turns her into a micromanager. Juan's an incredible Visionary, but it leads him to miss out on important small details. Miranda's stellar sales skills prevent her from seeing the importance of world-class delivery and service. Simon's energy, determination and persistence burn out everyone he works with. (Inc.)
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The prospect of getting free candy from strangers isn’t the only reason to participate in Halloween this year. National retailers are promising free (or nearly free) donuts, Legos, pancakes, burritos, corn dogs, and more on October 31. (Time)
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