Yes, there's still time. Since it fell on Wednesday, the business week won't likely get started until next Monday, which gives you a few days extra to get ready for the 2014 adventure ahead. Sure, you could simply nurse a hangover and relax through Sunday, but why not take the extra time to truly prepare yourself to create a desired future worthy of your time and energy? (Inc.)
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With the college football bowl season ending and the national championship game upon us, it’s time to say goodbye to the much maligned Bowl Championship Series and to welcome its eagerly anticipated successor: the College Football Playoff. The new system will be better in almost every conceivable way. Everybody wins! Or, almost everybody. The athletes who are going to make college football more popular and lucrative than it has ever been won’t earn a penny more than they did under the BCS system. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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After the holiday leftovers have disguised themselves in countless sandwich renditions, it'll be time to put 2013 behind us and look to a new year. Along with 2014 comes a new year for innovation, and where else to look for smart design than the budding projects on Kickstarter? (CNN)
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More than 10 years after the Oakland A's baseball team discovered the initial principles of Moneyball, the team's brilliant management has discovered – and capitalized on – yet another market inefficiency. (Inc.)
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Do any of these sound familiar? "I'm busy. Can you come back later?" "Thanks. We've got it covered." "We don't have the budget for that." You’ve probably heard all the above: par for the course when trying to sell our ideas, products, and services. But it can be demoralizing to keep running into people who run the other direction as soon as they see you coming. Here are three ways to motivate decision-makers to give you a chance in the all-important first minute. (Fast Company)
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I've often observed that great leadership is built on the mundane. But spending too much time on the mundane has precisely the opposite effect. It drains leaders of energy and bogs them down in irrelevant, granular detail. And yet I see it all the time – individuals who could, and should, be great leaders, constantly undermined by their own inability to keep on top of their day-to-day activities. (Inc.)
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No one likes to move beyond his or her comfort zone, but that’s really where the magic happens. It’s where we can grow, learn, and develop in a way that expands our horizons beyond what we thought was possible. Also, it’s terrifying. (Harvard Business Review)
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I just came from my year-end evaluation and, as usual, it was excellent, except for one thing, also as usual. My boss told me I often have great ideas for how to do things faster and cheaper, but I don't sell them enough. For example, I don't speak up too often in meetings and, when we were asked to do a self-evaluation as part of the review process, I listed my achievements for the year without saying what's so great about them. I've heard this from managers before, in past jobs, and as in the past, I really don't know what to do about it. (CNN/Money)
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Taking cues from wealthier counterparts in the U.S., European business schools are asking graduates to open their wallets. As the European schools gear up to compete with elite institutions overseas, they are expanding alumni-relations offices to forge stronger ties to graduates and build fundraising operations that the schools hope eventually will bring in steady, significant gifts. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Striding through a room-sized deep freezer in a chef's jacket emblazoned with his own name across the chest and his daughter's on the sleeve, Xevi Ramón is a bit of a rarity among Spanish businessmen. While many firms have been battered by the country's long downturn, revenues for Ramón's high-end bakery, Triticum (the name is Latin for "wheat"), are growing at some 25% annually, and his customer list includes three-star Michelin eateries like El Celler de Can Roca and the now-closed El Bulli. But in one way, he is very much like his brethren: He is turning his company outward and starting to export. (Fortune)
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Last week, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that a Rollins College MBA named Adam Hart owes the U.S. Internal Revenue Service more than $2,500 in back taxes after he improperly deducted more than $17,000 in tuition expenses from his 2009 tax return. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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But if 2012 was the "Year of the MOOC," as The New York Times famously called it, 2013 might be dubbed the year that online education fell back to earth. Faculty at several institutions rebelled against the rapid expansion of online learning – and the nation's largest MOOC providers are responding. (NPR)
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The National Black MBA Association® has launched "Educate a Thousand" – a giving campaign aimed at improving educational opportunities for African-American students at all levels. Start your New Year by making a contribution to the financial and educational support of students across the nation. Join us as we take action to ensure that African-American students are educated, empowered, and equipped to reach for the stars.

Think about our future. Think about our community. No contribution is too great or too small, $50, $100, $1,000 or more. Donate today! Donations to support "Educate a Thousand" are tax-deductible.
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When Amazon released its list of holiday bestsellers the day after Christmas, the second most popular laptop was the Asus Transformer, a Windows 8 laptop with a detachable keyboard that converts into a tablet. It's just the kind of portable consumer device that Microsoft (MSFT) desperately needs to be a hit. So was the Amazon announcement good news for Microsoft? Not quite. (Fortune)
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Netflix Inc., the largest subscription streaming service, is testing new prices based on the number of people who can use an account, a move that could force customers to pay more for additional family members. Netflix is offering some new customers plans that provide access on as many as four screens, letting household members watch different shows at the same time. (Bloomberg)
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Another year is upon us, and you may be wanting to kick off 2014 in a healthy way. But resolutions are like diets: they often fail. Usually because they don’t address your ingrained habits. In his book, The Knack, my friend and mentor, Norm Brodsky writes about the importance of developing strong mental habits to help drive your entrepreneurial success. (Inc.)
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Americans may as well start giving flowers to their computers, buying their business phones diamond encrusted cases and taking their briefcases on expensive vacations – our nation is having a love affair with work. For most entrepreneurs, this is not news. In fact, ABC News reports that Americans work more than anyone in the industrialized world. We work longer days, take less time off and retire later in life. But, is love really the basis of this affair? The answer is usually no. (Entrepreneur)
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When Congress reconvenes on Jan. 6, one of the first issues it will take up is whether to renew an emergency federal unemployment program that expired on Dec. 28, cutting off 1.3 million jobless workers. Enacted in 2008 at the start of the recession, it provided up to 47 weeks of benefits for those still looking for work when their state unemployment benefits ran out. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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There's a drive-thru ATM in Charlotte, N.C., that looks pretty standard, but it has an extra function: a button that says "speak with teller." The face of a woman wearing a headset sitting in front of a plain blue background flashes onto the ATM screen. "Good afternoon," she says. "Welcome to Bank of America. My name is Carolina. How are you today?" (NPR)
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In my experience, one topic doesn’t get enough emphasis in retirement planning: spending. I’m talking about the need to systematically spend less in the decade or so leading up to the moment when you wave goodbye to your colleagues. "People need to focus more on spending," says Ross Levin, a certified financial planner and president of Accredited Investors Inc. in Edina, Minn. "That’s where the real retirement gains lie." (MarketWatch)
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You’ve heard it before: Resolutions are for quitters. So don’t burden yourself with a list of useless declarations about not spending money in 2014. You’re not likely to keep them anyway, according to the University of Scranton, which has found that of the 45% of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions, a mere 8% actually achieve them. Instead, embrace tiny habits that may not necessarily help you lose weight, learn Mandarin or get organized but, with little to no effort, will fatten your bank account. (MarketWatch)
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Jamie Dimon has no problem finding skilled workers to hire. That’s true even though his bank, JPMorgan Chase, has run into all sorts of trouble with federal regulators, and it’s true even though the firm fills tens of thousands of jobs around the world every year. And yet – on a day last month when news broke that JPMorgan was preparing to spend $2 billion to settle a federal investigation related to Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme – Dimon came to Washington to unveil a five-year, $250 million effort to boost worker training around the world. (The Washington Post)
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Chrysler, the smallest of the three American automakers, is set to be completely absorbed by an Italian company, Fiat. Fiat said on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement to take full ownership of Chrysler in a $4.35 billion deal with the United Automobile Workers retiree health care fund. (The New York Times)
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The ugliest projection for 2014? Tighter seating. "Airlines will continue to reconfigure their aircraft with slim seats in super-snug seating configurations, in a bid to squeeze in more passengers and generate additional revenue," says Mark Kirby, founder of the Runway Girl Network website that tracks passenger experience. (CNN International)
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Bill Clinton made the North American Free Trade Agreement a cornerstone of his 1992 presidential campaign, saying it would help level the playing field for U.S. businesses trying to sell their products abroad. Candidate Ross Perot predicted Nafta would result in "a giant sucking sound going south" – the sound of American manufacturing jobs and factories being funneled into Mexico. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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The US Postal Service (USPS) has made it official: Anybody who wants to turn a quick profit at its expense will have an opportunity to do so come January. As of January 26 next year, it will hike the price of a first-class stamp from $0.46 to $0.49. Stamp prices are normally increased by about 1 or 2 cents a year to match inflation. This 3-cent increase, approved on Dec. 24 by the US Postal Regulatory Commission, is large enough that it creates an opportunity for arbitrage in so-called "forever" stamps, which hold their value regardless of changes in postage price. (The Atlantic)
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In some corner offices, the high-stakes job of CEO comes with even more pressure during the new year. Shareholders and boards have become less tolerant of slow turnarounds. So, investors likely will turn up the heat on certain U.S. CEOs, demanding improved results. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Looking ahead to 2014, one of the most urgent issues will be a new war for talent: not yesteryear’s broad-based need for all top talent but an increasing demand for the right kind of talent. For leaders, this means a new urgency in targeting, nurturing, and advancing top talent in their organization. Leaders have long recognized that an inherently diverse workforce – one that’s inclusive of women, people of color, and gay individuals – confers a competitive edge in selling products and services to diverse end users. (Harvard Business Review)
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Matt Hlavin, an entrepreneur in Cleveland who owns seven businesses, mostly in manufacturing, bought three Mercedes last year: a $237,000 SLS AMG and a $165,000 S63 AMG for himself, and a $97,000 GL550 sport utility vehicle for his wife. "I look at it as, I don’t have a boat," Mr. Hlavin said. "I feel confident about the economy and about my business." (The New York Times)
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Across the country, there's a wave of interest in local food. And a of young farmers is trying to grow it. Many of these farmers – many of whom didn't grow up on farms – would like to stay close to cities. After all, that's where the demand for local food is. The problem is, that's where land is most expensive. So young farmers looking for affordable land are forced to get creative. (NPR)
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