One of the most ubiquitous aphorisms in business is that the best leaders understand the need to "walk the talk" – that is, their behavior and day-to-day actions have to match the aspirations they have for their colleagues and organization. But the more time I spend with game-changing innovators and high-performing companies, the more I appreciate the need for leaders to "talk the walk" – that is, to be able to explain, in language that is unique to their field and compelling to their colleagues and customers, why what they do matters and how they expect to win. (Harvard Business Review)
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Last week the Federal Reserve released a disturbing report (PDF) on the financial state of U.S. households. The report’s main findings, that Americans don’t save very much, weren’t that surprising. For the last few decades middle- and lower-middle-class families have been pinched by stagnant incomes and higher spending. But even the many members of the upper middle class are hardly saving. Low or no savings leaves them, and everyone else, in a risky position. (Businessweek)
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In our always on, always busy work culture, it always seems there’s never enough time to get everything done. That's why at some point, most of us will find shortcuts to maximize our efficiency to get ahead. After all, if we all need to get to the same destination, you don’t want to be the one taking the long road. Unfortunately, sometimes we’ll adopt systems and strategies that don’t actually propel us forward the way we think they do. (Fast Company)
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There is a difference between being rich and having wealth. Wealth is the abundance of something in such surplus that no conditions can destroy it. Making a lot of money is one thing, getting rich another. Creating wealth, well, that’s what very few people ever learn. You have heard the expression "get rich quick," but you will never hear "get wealthy quick." (Entrepreneur)
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First, here’s the good news: U.S. companies’ salary budgets are growing, up an average of about 3% for 2014, so everyone has a shot at a slightly better raise this year and next than they did in 2013. That’s nice, of course, but not everyone will have cause to celebrate. Instead of being doled out more or less evenly across the board, as they used to be, salary hikes at most companies will be all over the map. (Fortune)
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How do you encourage someone whose deeply held beliefs are at odds with yours to support and collaborate with you – or, at least, not obstruct you? Obviously, directly challenging their convictions will backfire. My research suggests some effective strategies. Negotiations 101 teaches us to find something that is valuable to our opponents yet not costly for us to concede in order to encourage concessions from our opponent. (Harvard Business Review)
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Napoleon Bonaparte said, "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in." This is a great lesson to remember when we're at war with ourselves; when we know what we should be doing but can't seem to help putting it off. Maybe we put if off for an hour. Maybe for a day. It could even be weeks. But we're not getting it done. (Inc.)
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The world of face-based negotiation research has not been good to women of late. First, a study showed that having a fat face can be great for men in negotiations, but not for women. Now researchers say that women may be suffering from another physical feature over which they have no control: looking like women. (Businesseweek)
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While an to have this kind of time with a new child, Chandran is among a lucky few who actually do. In the U.S., paternity leave is a luxury. It's the only developed nation that doesn't guarantee paid time off, even for new mothers. (NPR)
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From the aerospace sector to Silicon Valley, engineering has a retention problem: Close to 40 percent of women with engineering degrees either leave the profession or never enter the field. Conventional wisdom says that women in engineering face obstacles such as the glass ceiling, a lack of self-confidence and a lack of mentors. But psychologists who delved deeper into the issue with a new study found that the biggest pushbacks female engineers receive come from the environments they work in. (NPR)
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There is no better symbol of the benefits of globalization than the container ship. More than 9 billion tonnes of goods and materials were transported by sea in 2012, with trade helping to lift global growth rates. An ever-expanding web of links connects rich and poor; developing countries now account for around 60% of seaborne trade. (The Economist)
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What is the most remarkable economic success story of the last quarter century? Most people would probably say China. A few might vote for India, or Brazil, or Turkey or Dubai. In fact, however, it is probably a country that few people would immediately think of – Poland. (MarketWatch)
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My story is all about the numbers, though sometimes they don’t make sense — even to me. I’ve always considered myself financially savvy, but credited most of my success to hard work, with a little bit of luck mixed in. I’m a serial entrepreneur with ten startups to my credit. (Businessweek)
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With just 40 days to go before the first round deadline for MBA applications at the Harvard Business School, the month of August is going to be a pressure-filled month for thousands of hopeful applicants. And after Harvard’s Sept. 9th date for early bird applicants, the deadlines quickly fall onto the calendar for one school after another. So what are smart and ambitious applicants doing right now? (Poets & Quants)
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Entrepreneurial Institute (EI), is a "must attend" day long series of business development workshops and breakthrough training sessions. The EI attracts new entrepreneurs, current business owners and small business professionals seeking the knowledge and tools of success. EI provides professional development via workshops, panels, discussions, networking opportunities and insights from local and national entrepreneurs who have achieved success in their businesses.
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When Amazon’s Kindle Fire phone debuted last month, the engineers at Google’s Mountain View headquarters probably weren’t clamoring to get their hands on one. Exactly zero of the search giant’s mobile apps are available on the Fire. No Gmail, no Maps, no Play store, no Docs. Even the default search engine is set to Microsoft’s Bing. Amazon might be the first company since Microsoft to announce a major phone completely devoid of anything Google. (Money)
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Stitch Fix is a women’s clothing retailer that sends its customers boxes of clothes that are picked by a combination of personal stylists and big data. It is one of a handful of start-ups making aggressive bets that highly personalized online shopping, in which sites choose items for you based on your preferences and their algorithms, can deliver a better e-commerce experience. (The New York Times)
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As an entrepreneur you have no limits or restrictions. There is nothing that you can’t achieve. Well, except for freezing time. Time is the most valuable commodity to an entrepreneur. Most of us would do anything to have another hour in the day. But until someone creates an app to manipulate time, we are forced to manage our time extremely efficiently. Here are 13 tips to help make your days more productive. (Entrepreneur)
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Steve Blank explains why business schools have missed the mark yet again and what students can do about it. He reveals the red flags you should watch out for in your B-school consideration set and the three classes every MBA should take. (Poets & Quants)
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Like increasing numbers of low-income mothers and fathers, Ms. Navarro is at the center of a new collision that pits sophisticated workplace technology against some fundamental requirements of parenting, with particularly harsh consequences for poor single mothers. Along with virtually every major retail and restaurant chain, Starbucks relies on software that choreographs workers in precise, intricate ballets, using sales patterns and other data to determine which of its 130,000 baristas are needed in its thousands of locations and exactly when. (The New York Times)
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Economic growth in the eurozone sputtered to a halt in the second quarter, official data showed on Thursday, as Germany contracted and France stagnated again. The gross domestic product of the 18 nations that share the euro did not expand at all from the first quarter of this year, when it grew 0.2 percent, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency in Luxembourg. (The New York Times)
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Summer is a time to relax, kick back and make dumb financial decisions. That's how financial advisers see it, when their clients get a hankering for a summer house after returning from an idyllic trip. Sales of vacation homes in the U.S. rose 30 percent last year to 717,000, the National Association of Realtors estimates, based on a survey. But owning a second home is often far more expensive and stressful than buyers, or dreamers, imagine. (Bloomberg)
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Workers often think signing up for their 401(k) is all they need to do. But millions fail to enroll right away or raise their contributions, and they'll pay a heavy price. (Time)
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A recent study indicated that certified employees tend to earn 10-25% more in annual salary than their non-certified peers... and 1.2 million new project management jobs will be created, on a yearly basis, for the next 10 years... If you need to pass the PMP® (Project Management Professional) or CAPM®(Certified Associate in Project Management) certification exam and you 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 of classroom instruction.

CertifiNOW is being offered September 14-16 on-site at the NBMBAA 36th Annual Conference and Expo. NBMBAA members receive even deeper discounts on this amazing course, so register today!
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One of the more hopeful consequences of the 2008 financial crisis has been the growth of a group of small companies dedicated to upending the status quo on Wall Street. Bearing cute, Silicon Valley-esque names such as Kabbage, Zopa, Kiva, and Prosper, these precocious upstarts are tiny by banking standards, and pose no near-term threat to behemoths like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, or Citigroup – banks that between them control much of the world’s capital flow. (The Atlantic)
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Smear campaigns, sabotage, and dishonorable drivers aren’t helping the transportation startups win over customers. (Fortune)
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For the last six decades, presidents have treated the treasurer position as a low-risk, high-visibility job that promotes the appearance of diversity while rewarding a loyal supporter. (The Atlantic)
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All successful organizations have their own language – whether it be a shared vocabulary or shared beliefs – that helps motivate people and create a sense of community. (Inc.)
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A few weeks ago, we were asked to analyze a competency model for leadership development that a client had created. Its was based on the idea that at different points in their development, potential leaders need to focus on excelling at different skills. For example, in their model they proposed that a lower level manager should focus on driving for results while top executives should focus on developing a strategic perspective. (Harvard Business Review)
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Picture this. You’re on a beach in the middle of the Caribbean with no Internet access, no phone reception, and no text messages. You return from your vacation well rested, and want to continue some of these healthy habits "– like not sleeping with your smartphone on your pillow. But how does that work when you’ve been tethered to your phone, and your coworkers and boss expect you to answer 24/7 because that’s what you’ve always done? (Fast Company)
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Last week I challenged readers, and myself, to wake up what they considered to be "insanely early"--a time earlier than when they would normally wake up, whether it be 6:30 a.m. or 4:30 a.m. The idea is that having a time in the day where there is no pressure and no expectations from other people would result in better focus and more creative thinking. (Fast Company)
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