The dollar’s sharp rise in recent months has left Robert Stevenson and Eastman Machine, his family’s 127-year-old Buffalo company, feeling the heat on both sides of the Atlantic. Confronted with a steep drop in the value of the euro against the dollar, customers in Europe warn that they can no longer afford to buy Eastman’s American-made cutting equipment without deep discounts. (The New York Times)

When people feel sleep-deprived, they point fingers at many things: long hours and work stress; young kids; travel. All of these may play a role, but if you keep track of your time for a week, and you may discover a hidden culprit: how much me time you have (or lack). (Fast Company)

The six-month rule applies to numerous aspects of business and life: What you learn today, you can fully apply in six months. Think of health and fitness. For most people, six months of healthy eating and exercise will enable a stunning transformation in both looks and well-being. The decision to get in shape takes six months to manifest. (Inc.)

As technology puts new tools into companies’ hands, advertising agencies and the marketing departments of tech companies are desperate for new talent. Marketing groups are struggling to find the right balance of strategic expertise and technological insight in new hires, say industry executives, and business schools report growing demand for students in the media industries. (BusinessBecause)

Want your colleagues to stop texting and start paying attention in meetings? Here's some suggestions for getting the attention off the small screens and back on what you're trying to say. (Video) (Money)

When email was novel 20 years ago, managers began asking us if it should be used for sensitive conversations, such as performance problems or salary negotiations. For years we said "no way." But as work became more and more virtual, the question changed. People no longer asked, "Should I?" Instead, they demanded, "How can I?" (Harvard Business Review)

We’ve all had a forehead-slapping career moment – or two. You blanked on an important meeting. You got caught badmouthing the boss, thanks to an unfortunate "reply all" situation. You were, shall we say, overserved at the office party. Unfortunately, we can’t turn your blunder into just a bad dream, or give you the power to travel back in time and do things differently. (Sorry!) But what we can do is help you gain enough perspective to transform your stumbling block into a stepping stone. (Fast Company)

In the past year, alleged assaults on passengers by Uber drivers in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and other cities have called into question whether Uber’s employment screening procedures are keeping their customers safe. As allegations of driver misconduct mount, a growing consensus has emerged: Private background checks are not good enough. Uber, like most companies, currently screens job applicants using background checks run by private consumer reporting agencies (CRAs). These checks are compiled through manual searches of local court records. (The Atlantic)

Ruth Porat may have to relocate her exclusive dinners to Silicon Valley once she takes the finance chief seat at Google Inc. The Morgan Stanley CFO is known as a strong advocate for women in the investment and corporate worlds, with events that bring together female leaders. She’ll replace Patrick Pichette at Google in May. (The Wall Street Journal)

The "9/11 millionaire" is how Afghan entrepreneur and businessman Fahim Hashimy is often described. He made his fortune, which he modestly calls "small-sized", from contracts supplying Americans in the wartime years. Before the international involvement in Afghanistan, Mr Hashimy - born and raised in Kabul - was a young English-language teacher and owned a bicycle. With the arrival of American boots on Afghan soil he was one of the first to be recruited, in his early 20s, as an interpreter on a US military base. (BBC News)

Brazil, an emerging-market darling just a couple years ago, is crumbling amid economic stagnation and political turmoil. But there's a far brighter story – one most investors are missing – elsewhere in Latin America. Four countries – Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile—three years ago formed a free-trade bloc called the Pacific Alliance. Tiny Costa Rica joined the club in 2013. Together, they're a bigger economy than Brazil, and they're expected to grow three or four times faster than their huge neighbor over the next few years. (CNBC)

Loads. Of. Debt. That's the story of graduates today. But $100,000? Or more. Any debt counselor will tell you that's insane. It's a choke-hold on young people starting their lives -- It means putting off getting married, having children, and buying that first home. (CNN Money)

GMAT scores at the top business schools keep inching higher. The average score on the Graduate Management Admission Test rose at 10 of the Top 25 MBA programs in the U.S. last year and some of the largest increases were at public universities. The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flager Business School led all Top 25 in posting a 14-point rise in GMATs to 697 for its latest entering MBA class. The University of Washington’s Foster School reported a 12-point jump to 682 last year, while UCLA’s Anderson School of Management saw an equally impressive nine-point increase to 715. (Poets & Quants)

As a valued supporter of the National Black MBA Association’s legacy, we invite you to join us on Friday, June 12, as we celebrate 45 years of creating economic, educational and employment opportunities for Blacks in the business world. Plan now to attend this extraordinary event. Buy early and take advantage of discounted tickets!

Apps like PayPal, Square, Breadcrumb, Apple Pay and Facebook’s new payment feature are supposed to be making paying for things easier. Want to figure out a complicated dinner tab among five friends? Just tap a few buttons on your smartphone. (The New York Times)

In spite of their cultural significance, ATMs recede into the noise of everyday memory. Few stop to reflect on how they – and the computer infrastructure that supports them – became the backbone of contemporary retail payments. The cash dispenser was born almost 50 years ago, in 1967. For many, this was the first tangible evidence that retail banking was changing; the introduction of the ATM marked the dawn of contemporary digital banking. (The Atlantic)

As a business owner, it's important to understand that a key driver of business growth and lasting success is effective product development. To most, that means coming up with innovations that improve upon existing products. A good example of this is the Apple iPhone. By adding the power of computing to cell phone communications, Apple created a product that has changed how and what much of the world communicates. This kind of evolutionary development is referred to as incremental innovation. (Inc.)

"If I don’t do it, who will?" That’s the mantra of today’s social entrepreneur. While disruptors like Craigslist and Uber have overhauled stale models and created new markets, Social entrepreneurs seek an entirely different outcome: To change society itself. Make no mistake: Social entrepreneurs aren’t do-gooder dilettantes who form third world cooperatives as a hobby. Instead, they are often leading business graduates with a vision to stem growing inequality and environmental degradation. (Poets & Quants)

The new Census population estimates are out today, and only two metros added more than 100,000 people between July 2013 and July 2014. Houston and Dallas – both in Texas. Only one metro with a population greater than 1 million people grew by 3 percent last year. It's Austin – also in Texas. (The Atlantic)

A rebound in home prices is good news in the wake of the housing crash -- but there can be too much of a good thing. Home prices are rising 13 times faster than wage growth nationwide, according to a report from RealtyTrac. From 2012-2014, median home prices climbed 17% while median wages rose 1.3%. (CNN Money)

Mac McKerral knew something was wrong when he recently got a letter from the IRS stating that it was unable to electronically deposit his refund into his bank account. "I never get money back," he says. Plus, he had yet to even file his 2014 federal tax return. (Kiplinger's)

The first thing to know about miscellaneous itemized deductions is that if they don’t amount to very much, you probably won’t get any tax-saving benefit. If all you have in your miscellaneous category is a random work-related subscription, forget about it. The only way you’re allowed to deduct miscellaneous items is if they total more than 2% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). (MarketWatch)

First it was Budweiser beer. Then came Burger King Whoppers. Next up was Heinz ketchup. Now 3G Capital, a Brazilian private investment group that already owns a suite of America’s most prominent food and beverage brands, has struck a deal to take control of Kraft Foods, the maker of macaroni and cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Planters nuts and Jell-O. (The New York Times)

In a Brooklyn courtroom last year, American Express Co. Chief Executive Kenneth Chenault portrayed the firm he has led for almost 15 years as a scrappy enterprise that must scratch and claw to gain ground on its much-bigger rivals. "We are fighting every single day to persuade our customers to use our card," he testified. Lately, AmEx has been suffering some defeats. (The Wall Street Journal)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday unveiled a new plan that it said would help rein in the $50 billion payday lending industry and prevent low-income borrowers from facing spiraling levels of debt. The proposal, which still must face months of review, marks the first attempt by the federal government to regulate payday lenders, whose loans – designed to help borrowers in a pinch – often come with triple-digit annualized interest rates. (The Washington Post)

In 2010, when David Nish was promoted from CFO to CEO at Standard Life, he knew the scale of the challenge his company faced. The 185-year-old giant had just embarked on a sweeping transformation from an insurer to a long-term savings and investment company. Nish also knew that as the person leading the change, he would be tested by decisions and management situations he hadn’t encountered in the past. Certain that he could benefit from the perspective of someone who had been down similar roads before, Nish turned to a somewhat unusual adviser: Niall FitzGerald, a former chairman of Unilever. (Harvard Business Review)

Look around you. How many of the man-made objects you see have come from one of the world’s explorers? As a former Arctic expedition leader, and now innovation researcher, I began to notice some years ago that most things, from a simple shirt collar to the most sophisticated computers, originated with someone with extreme needs pushing the boundaries of human ability. And having been in these positions myself, I began to explore why. (Fast Company)