When it comes to the world’s Corporate Elite, it’s no secret that Harvard Business School wins hands down in claiming more CEOs in the corner office than any other institution. But what may well be more surprising is how far ahead Harvard is over any other business school in the world. A new analysis of the educational backgrounds of the chief executives of The Financial Times’ Top 500 global companies shows that nearly one in three (31%) now boast an MBA degree on their resumes. (Poets & Quants)

With the abundance of demands on our time today, it's easy to feel like we're losing control. Even if we've decided what really is important, we still require a few sensible suggestions to assist us in organizing our time more effectively. (Inc.)

The leaders of these companies, which rely on freelance labor, describe their workers as micro-entrepreneurs at the vanguard of a new, flexible future of work in which people only do the jobs they like, when they like. Yet a host of lawsuits, protests and forums organized by and for workers suggest that many flexible laborers feel less enthusiastic about the new model of work. (The Wall Street Journal)

The Super Bowl is the world championship of American football, but it's also US culture's premiere marketing opportunity. The 21 most-watched television programs in American history are all Super Bowls, and the 2015 Super Bowl is expected to make the list as well. This exposure comes at a price, $4.5 million for a 30-second spot, which naturally leads to the question: is it worth it? The answer, this year, may be no.(Vox)

Financial services companies have put the financial crisis behind them, but increased regulatory requirements have created a surge in demand for new hires that can tip-toe an increasing amount of red tape. At banks, compliance is in vogue. A number of careers officers and finance professors at top business schools, and senior bankers working in Europe, have told BusinessBecause that financial services companies are looking for new recruits with expertise in regulatory areas. (BusinessBecause)

When it comes to personal productivity advice for knowledge workers, one size doesn't fit all. In fact, an individual's cognitive style – that is, the way he or she prefers to perceive and process information – can have a dramatic impact on the success or failure of time management techniques and performance enhancement strategies. This assessment is designed to help you understand your own style – how you think, learn, and communicate best – and to guide you toward productivity tips that like-minded people have found most effective. (Quiz) (Harvard Business Review)

Regardless of our background, location, or profession, there is one language that is the same, and that language is the language of progress. Progress certainly comes from putting in the hard work, but working hard is not enough. To achieve our desired outcome, each one of us needs to find our own ways to work smarter. Working smarter requires a combination of critical thinking, discipline, and techniques that we can employ for making continual progress. (Fast Company)

The results from a new study might be filed under "easier said than done" for those on the job hunt: Attitude matters. Researchers from University of Missouri and Lehigh University studied the habits of 120 college seniors while they looked for jobs. The ones who approached the process as a learning opportunity – called "Learning Goal Orientation" (LGO) in the report—were more likely to find success in their careers. And, luckily for those not predisposed toward the sunny side, becoming learning-oriented is a skill you can... well, learn. (Fast Company)

When McDonald’s Chief Executive Don Thompson retires from his leadership role at the fast-food chain at the beginning of March, only four Fortune 500 companies will be steered by an African American leader. Thompson’s retirement, which was announced on Wednesday and came less than a week after McDonald’s reported a fifth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales in the U.S., will hurt CEO diversity among the top Fortune 500 companies. (Fortune)

Piotr Szczepaniak, an apartment manager here, had just finished work, checking faucets and making sure rents were paid. After making himself a coffee, he logged on to a Polish social network and noticed that someone had posted the current exchange rate of the Swiss franc. "I was frozen," he said, seeing that the franc’s value had soared that day. Like hundreds of thousands of other Eastern Europeans, Mr. Szczepaniak, 46, is paying off a mortgage he took out in francs, instead of his local currency, the zloty. In an instant, his monthly payment rose by more than 20 percent when Switzerland’s central bank unexpectedly removed a cap on its currency. (The New York Times)

African economies may be booming, but continued growth and quality of life are being jeopardized by lack of power. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates 585 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity, with the electrification rate as low as 14.2% in rural areas. The problem is most acute in East Africa, where only 23% of Kenyans; 10.8% of Rwandans; and 14.8% of Tanzanians have access to an electricity supply, according to the World Bank. (BBC News)

Business school could be considered your best bet to climb to the ranks of chief executive, according to new data of corporate chiefs compiled for the FT500. Nearly a third of the world’s 500 largest listed companies are headed by an MBA graduate, 31% in 2015 compared with 29% this time last year, most from high ranking programs. (BusinessBecause)

When Harvard Business School released its round two interview schedule for MBA applicants on Wednesday, there was one very big surprise. HBS set aside four separate days of interviews in Tokyo. That’s a lot of interview slots for a country that produces perhaps 100 applicants to HBS a year. It’s twice as many as those scheduled in Mumbai, India and one more than what’s on the docket for Shanghai, China, even though GMAT test takers from both China and India outnumber those from Japan by a factor of nine to one. For every person who took the GMAT in 2012-2013 from Japan, there were 8.8 who did so in India and 9.1 who took the exam in China. (Fortune)

After losing interest in attending the University of Chicago, high school senior Sarah Schmoller didn’t bother to apply before the Jan. 1 deadline. The university, though, wouldn’t take no for an answer. Over winter break, the school offered to extend the deadline to Jan. 5 so that Schmoller could "sleep in, and eat cookie after delicious cookie" and "take these extra days to relax a bit." When she didn't respond, an e-mail signed by admissions director Daniel Follmer popped up in her inbox on Jan. 7, giving her two more days. "We're Missing Your Application," the subject line read. This year, at least a dozen elite colleges, including Chicago, Duke, Dartmouth, and Columbia, have offered extensions of once-sacrosanct January admissions deadlines. (Bloomberg)

As Uber has grown to become one of the world’s most valuable start-ups, its ambitions often seem limitless. But of all the ways that Uber could change the world, the most far-reaching may be found closest at hand: your office. Uber, and more broadly the app-driven labor market it represents, is at the center of what could be a sea change in work, and in how people think about their jobs. You may not be contemplating becoming an Uber driver any time soon, but the Uberization of work may soon be coming to your chosen profession. (The New York Times)

FutureAdvisor, a site offering automated long-term financial and investment advice for free, launched on Tuesday with support from top executives at Square and Yelp. In a sense, FutureAdvisor is like a version of Mint for financial advice; it asks for read-only access to a user's bank accounts, IRA, and other investment accounts, even using the same third-party authentication scheme that Mint uses, according to Bo Lu, the co-founder of the company. (PC Mag)

It was the early 1990s, the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I was working as a sales rep for a prominent software company. Making the rounds of my Wall Street clients, I wished them happy holidays and thanked them for their business. As I was leaving an appointment with the CIO of a very large investment bank, I shook his hand and wished him a Happy New Year. He stopped me and went back to his desk, took out a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was an order signed by the CEO dramatically increasing their purchase of our software and renewing their contract six months early. (Harvard Business Review)

SWOT analysis is a widely used framework for strategic planning in which managers examine their company's internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats. However, companies that use this classic model run the risk of naval staring and favoring status quo strategies. (Inc.)

The emergence of a two-tiered U.S. economy, with wealthy households advancing while middle- and lower-income Americans struggle, is reshaping markets for everything from housing to clothing to groceries to beer. "It’s a tale of two economies," said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin, a real-estate brokerage in Seattle that operates in 25 states. "There is a high-end market that is absolutely booming. And then there’s everyone in the middle class. They don’t have much hope of wage growth." (The Wall Street Journal)

One aspect of the Millennial mythos is that young people love cities. They love bike lanes and ethically-sourced coffee and rooftop gardens. Last year, a Nielsen study appeared to confirm the cliché: The percentage of young adults who live in cities is higher than ever. In fact, 62 percent of the poll's Millennial respondents said they wanted to live near a medley of shops, restaurants, and offices. (The Atlantic)

The first rule of modern tax policy is raise taxes only on the rich. The second rule is that your family isn’t rich, even if you make a lot of money. President Obama’s State of the Union proposal to end the tax benefits for college savings accounts ran afoul of these rules, which is why he abandoned it, under intense pressure from both political parties, within a week. Tax-free college savings accounts, like the mortgage interest deduction and the state and local tax deduction, principally benefit people who range from affluent to wealthy. (The New York Times)

And the warning is: After paying $99 for your subscription, you're going to spend a ton of money at Amazon.com. Amazon rarely releases sales data to the media. Nonetheless, the idea that customers who subscribe to Amazon Prime wind up shopping and spending a lot more at Amazon is considered fact. After all, once customers are paying $99 for the service and know that express two-day shipping is available for free on nearly all purchases, it makes sense that they’ll stop shopping elsewhere and do most if not all of their online shopping at the site. (Money)

The real Yahoo can now stand up. Its $39 billion stake in the Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce behemoth – accounting for about 85 percent of the market value of Yahoo – has obscured both the weakness and the potential of the Silicon Valley stalwart. By spinning off the stake into a separate company, Yahoo will be judged by its core Internet businesses. (The New York Times)

McDonald's top executive Don Thompson is out at McDonald's. Mr. Thompson will leave his post effective March 1 and will be replaced by McDonald's veteran Steve Easterbrook, currently chief brand officer. The move comes as McDonald's makes sweeping changes to turn around its ailing business. (Ad Age)

No one wants to sit on a boring conference call, especially when they have other work to do. But that’s the reality for a lot of people, at least according to recent InterCall research on the rise of mobile conference calls and employee conferencing behavior. With 82% of employees admitting to focusing on other work while on a call (along with other, less tasteful non-work distractions), disengagement – at least during virtual meetings – has started to become standard practice. While some may argue that these employees are still engaged in other work, it raises questions about the productivity and value of these meetings. (Harvard Business Review)

Coaching and mentoring is more popular than ever – and for good reason. As individuals progress in their jobs and careers, they’re constantly challenged to build their skills and act outside their comfort zones. Timid executives are called upon to learn to deliver motivational speeches; conflict-avoidant managers need to learn to deliver bad news; and mild-mannered job seekers need to pitch and promote themselves at networking events. (Harvard Business Review)

Mastering any skill usually requires some element of fear-conquering. Leadership is no different. The first step in overcoming fear is being prepared. When my SEAL Team was operating in Baghdad in 2003, none of us knew how well trained we were until that training was tested in battle. During our first gunfight, not one man hesitated. Our team members were doing their best to get into the fight, not out of it. (Inc.)