Would more racial diversity on Wall Street make financial bubbles less likely to develop? That’s the intriguing possibility raised by an experiment that helps explain what factors lead markets to become subject to speculative booms and busts. And while its answers are far from definitive in offering conclusions for the world as a whole, at the least they offer a fascinating study in bubble-ology, or why markets seem so perpetually prone to excess. (The New York Times)

When I ask David Cook, a pastor from North Carolina, how often his work life seeps into his personal life he laughs a bit as he answers, "All the time." That seems to be a pretty common response when you ask people about the boundaries, or lack thereof, between work and home. In fact, most people I spoke with for this story let out a resigned chuckle when it came time to assess where exactly the distinction between work time and personal time was, if there was one at all. (The Atlantic)

More U.S. residents will travel for Thanksgiving this year than any other year since 2007, but holiday travel will be pricier for some, travel and leisure group AAA said Thursday. AAA predicted that 46.3 million people in the U.S. will travel 50 miles or more during the holiday, a 4.2% increase from 2013. (MarketWatch)

Netwire will be taking next week off for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday. Look for our next issue on December 4.

Much of my work as a coach involves helping people wrestle with an important decision. Some of these decisions feel particularly big because they involve selecting one option to the exclusion of all others when the cost of being "wrong" can be substantial: If I’m at a crossroads in my career, which path should I follow? If I’m considering job offers, which one should I accept? If I’m being asked to relocate, should I move to a new city or stay put? (Harvard Business Review)

It’s easy for someone who does a great job as a No. 2 to get pigeonholed as the boss’s sidekick. Star Fischer, 33, stepped out of the long shadow of her outgoing, entrepreneurial boss and shook off her old image as an able lieutenant by finding unconventional ways to document her achievements. Here’s how she did it. (The Wall Street Journal)

We love incorporating interesting productivity tips into our daily work lives. But what if we incorporated all of the interesting productivity tips we find into one single day? The result would be your Perfect Productive Day, a day where every moment, every meeting, every sip of coffee was executed in a flawless dance of efficiency. (Fast Company)

The German economy has narrowly avoided recession, growing by 0.1% in the third quarter of the year, figures show. With the economy having shrunk 0.1% in the previous quarter, another negative figure would have implied a recession. Germany's growth, together with stronger-than-expected expansion in France of 0.3%, helped the eurozone as a whole to grow by 0.2% in the quarter. (BBC News)

While no researcher that I'm aware of has formally tested Europeans or Americans on African geography, tourists' collective response to the Ebola epidemic – which is concentrated in West Africa – provides plenty of evidence that their obliviousness is not restricted to the Northern Hemisphere. For fear of catching Ebola, would-be tourists have been avoiding countries such as Tanzania and South Africa – even though they're farther away from the outbreak than many European capital cities. (The Atlantic)

"Discount MBA degrees. Get 'em while they’re cheap!" It’s not a sign you’ll see hanging from any respectable business school, but highly regarded institutions across the U.S. are increasingly providing deep MBA discounts as they fight ferociously over the most talented applicants. (Fortune)

The number of recent graduates who completed an internship that applied what they were learning in college has ticked up only slightly from a previous generation, a survey showed, even as employers are putting increasing value on real-world experience. (The Wall Street Journal)

KeyBank and The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business have announced the 11th Annual Minority MBA Student Case Competition, February 27-March 1, 2015 in Cleveland, OH. Team registration is open now through December 19.

Save the Date
Learn More...

Kristen Geil, a writer for an Internet marketing firm in Chicago, heard about Venmo for the first time two summers ago. Her new roommate, who had just arrived in town from New York, was raving about this app that allows users to send and receive payments over their smartphones. There was also a social media component to the app that made the mundane act of splitting bills kind of fun. (Businessweek)

Cellphones long have doubled as tracking devices, capable of revealing your location to police, paramedics, even grocery stores looking to deliver coupons to nearby customers. But there’s a measurement cellphones once struggled to make: altitude. No more. (The Washington Post)

As any entrepreneur knows, failure is an inherent – and indeed likely – risk of the startup life. Let’s be honest: that’s one of the reasons we love it. The stakes are high and worth fighting for. We believe in what we’re doing and in the change that a new solution can accomplish. Call it "disruption or death." Yet being truly disruptive can be a double-edged sword. (Fortune)

Funding for health IT has reached more than $956 million in 2014, according to an October 2014 study by HIT Consultant, bringing with it an explosion of startups. Additionally, changes in our healthcare system have brought opportunities to grow health-tech startups in many fields. Many of them don’t make it. Check out these tips from three successful health-tech startups. (Entrepreneur)

Seven million Americans are stuck in part-time jobs. They are unable to get full-time work and the benefits and stability that come with it. It's a constant struggle for these families and a worrying sign for America's recovery. Overall U.S. unemployment has fallen steeply in the past year (from 7.2% in October 2013 to 5.8% in October 2014), but too many people can only find part-time positions. (CNN/Money)

The U.S. economic expansion, now in its sixth year, shows no sign of flagging as home sales climb, factories pump out more goods and the labor market strengthens. Existing homes sold at a 5.26 million annual pace in October, the most since September 2013, the National Association of Realtors reported today in Washington. (Bloomberg)

In my work as a consumer psychologist and author, I’ve read countless studies about consumer behavior, and I’ve conducted plenty of research on my own, interviewing hundreds of shoppers about how, when, and why they shop. Here’s what I’ve learned about how to avoid piling up too much stuff and how to stop making unnecessary, excessive, and ultimately unsatisfying purchases. (Money)

For some of us, money is vital and crucial but not paramount. It's simply a tool, a source of power used in service of others and a life well lived. Others are consumed with such a hunger for money that it destroys them and everyone around them. Some are even willing to give up things that are far more valuable to get it: their health, their time, their family, their self-worth, and, in some cases, even their integrity. (Inc.)

On weekday mornings, Daria Demina rises at 5AM in Moscow with a thirst for knowledge. The financial bachelor’s student, enrolled at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, is at her peak of activity from 6AM. The only problem is that her classmates and lecturers are all still fast asleep. "I... Have a weird regime," says Daria. The ambitious Russian financier won’t wait for them to wake. Like a growing number of MBA candidates, she plugs into cyberspace to supplement her learning in-between degree studies. (Business Because)

Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees are growing in prevalence amongst c-suite executives. In fact, a recent Harvard Business Review list of the best performing CEOs indicates more than one in four has completed an MBA. However, the decision to complete an MBA can be daunting. It requires a high level of dedication and commitment, with many courses requiring students to leave their job or take a sabbatical to complete their degree. (Australia Business Review)

Global financial services group American Express will scoop up 250 MBAs to drive its digital growth. Brian Ruggiero, a vice president of recruitment, says MBAs need leadership skills to be hired. (Business Because)

Uber’s latest scandal is a doozy: A top executive of the ride service reportedly described a Nixonian plan to dig up dirt on journalists who criticize it and sully their reputations. But there is a bigger story here that goes far beyond Uber: With the power that comes from being a big, important company comes great responsibility. And the culture of technology start-ups sometimes has trouble recognizing that. (The New York Times)

The Patriot Center at George Mason University, half an hour west of Washington, is a popular place to watch concerts, college athletics, professional wrestling and other events that command the attention of the adult world. But no event in the 29-year history of the arena has attracted as many people or earned as much money as last month’s performances of "Disney on Ice Presents ‘Frozen.’" (The New York Times)

Moscow needs the West. One of the axioms of global geopolitics is that a country can project power only as far as its economic might allows. There is good reason why the United States, by far the world’s largest economy, has been the dominant force in all things political and military for the past 60 years. And we can see China now rising to superpower status on the back of its spectacular economic ascent. (Time)

Into each life some rain must fall, as the saying goes. But sometimes that rain is actually a monsoon-size personal crisis that can affect your ability to lead. It might be a serious illness, the loss of a loved one, or some other significant personal problem that drains your energy and affects your focus. However, you still have responsibilities that need your attention. (Fast Company)

We all want great leaders to admire. Many of us want to become great leaders ourselves. And all of us want better leadership for our institutions and our society. Let me continue to argue in this space that one of the biggest obstacles to cultivating better leadership is the way we cling to sentimental and sanitized notions of leadership, complete with wishful thinking and warm fuzzies. (Forbes)

The more she thought about eating healthy, the more intrigued she was by a new store: Whole Foods, which had just opened in Detroit. "It was on the news. People were talking about it at church," Ruff said. "Everybody was talking about it." That included people outside of Detroit, too. As the city neared bankruptcy, national media questioned why a grocer derided as "Whole Paycheck" – a nod to the chain’s longstanding strategy of charging a premium for organic, local, and sustainable food – would open a store there. Whole Foods’ answer was even more surprising: The store, said company leaders, was about social equity as much as profit. (Slate)

When you’re a kid, making new friends is fairly easy. There’s school, sports, and a slew of extracurricular activities where you meet other kids and form relationships. When you’re an adult, however, the process isn’t quite so effortless. Commitments such as work and family limit free time and – unlike during childhood – it can feel awkward to ask someone, "Do you want hang out?" "Professionals who accomplish amazing goals like starting companies often admit that they have a hard time making friends," says Shasta Nelson, author of Friendships Don’t Just Happen. (Fast Company)