Digital overload may be the defining problem of today’s workplace. All day and night, on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, we’re bombarded with so many messages and alerts that even when we want to focus, it’s nearly impossible. And when we’re tempted to procrastinate, diversions are only a click away. (Harvard Business Review)

A new kind of union is emerging, with very different ideas about what workers want. Big Labor was very much in the news this weekend as it presented a united front to "just say no" to greater freedom of global trade. It’s taken some time, but union leaders seem to have finally learned a few things. If a policy is bad for one group of middle-income people (think steelworkers) it is eventually bad for another group (think firefighters). (Fortune)

Companies are searching for future stars and they’re stumped. At a time when firms have more data than ever on employees’ habits and productivity, predicting which employees will excel in bigger jobs remains more art than science. These "high potentials" can help companies ensure they have leaders for the long-term, but managers say their picks don’t always work out. (The Wall Street Journal)

Research shows that our lives alternate between periods of stability and transition. For many people, midlife or midcareer is the most turbulent time of all. Once you’ve achieved a certain measure of success, you may be asking yourself whether you want more of the same or something different – and whether your work allows you sufficient room to experiment. If you’re in (or entering) a period of transition, marked by an increased sense of urgency for change, you’re ready to consider whether you’ve outgrown your role or organization. (Harvard Business Review)

It's amazing how many people work all hours of the day. And I mean all hours. We jump out of bed in the morning and check email. At night, we're still responding to social media comments. Yet, there's something special about that hour-hand clicking over to 5 p.m. (even if your clock doesn't have an hour hand). It signifies something. It's supposed to be the close of your business day. It denotes some finality. (Inc.)

Each year, research firm Universum USA surveys B-school students to see where they most want to work, for an exclusive CNNMoney list. Here's what hiring managers there are looking for. This is the ninth consecutive year Google (GOOG) has bested all other companies as the most sought after employer among MBA students. Wannabe Googlers are drawn to the opportunity to find "big solutions" to "big problems," says Kyle Ewing, the company's director of global staffing. (CNNMoney)

Of the countless writs and regulations that govern Europe’s currency club, one golden rule trumps them all: Membership is conditional. After joining the euro in 2001 and through the bailouts of the last five years, Greece has been told the same thing. To belong, it must satisfy the strict economic standards that underpin this community of 19 disparate nations. (The New York Times)

Last year it seemed that a Chinese invasion of American stockmarkets was under way. More than a dozen firms from the mainland floated shares in New York, raising $30 billion in total. Alibaba, an e-commerce firm, led the pack with one of America’s biggest initial public offerings on record. However, as rapidly as it rose, this red tide is now ebbing. (The Economist)

Turning law students into lawyers has traditionally been the job of law schools. One major New York firm has decided three years of traditional legal training is not enough to make its rookies practice-ready. At Skadden Arps, one of the country’s largest law firms, new hires must undergo five weeks of intensive business training, which they refer to as a mini-"virtual MBA." The approach is part of a growing push within the legal industry to equip lawyers with a deep understanding of finance and accounting at the start of their careers. (Bloomberg)

Earn a college degree, and you’ll set yourself up for life: a stable job, salary, and mortgage. That was the old adage for generation after generation, following World War II. Yet, both young and old workers no longer hold the same abiding faith in the power of four-year degree, according to the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll. (The Atlantic)

Register Now for The National Black MBA Association® 37th Annual Conference and Exposition 

Celebrating 45 years of Black professional development and executive leadership, The National Black MBA Association® (NBMBAA®), the nation's premier organization for Black business professionals, today announced early bird registration is open for  the upcoming NBMBAA® 37th Annual Conference and Exposition at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL where more than 9,000 attendees are anticipated to convene for networking, leadership development, and career opportunities.

Visit Conference Website
Register Now!

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If you’re going to achieve growth in the knowledge economy, your employees need to be able to quickly find people inside and outside the company whose expertise can help them solve critical business problems. That takes a highly effective communication tool. Oh, we already have that, you might say: email. Email is indeed good for enabling employees to communicate with colleagues they already know. But it hasn’t changed much in all these years, and it remains ill-suited for helping employees find experts they don’t know, particularly in other companies. (Harvard Business Review)

The blended learning revolution at business schools is gathering pace, with a clutch of top schools having announced plans to roll out digital MBA degrees. The blended form of learning has already been embraced by the likes of Harvard and Stanford. But as competition with disruptive online education providers – so called edtech companies – intensifies, others are rolling out the programs to keep pace with digital innovation. (BusinessBecause)

Even the best master's program can't magically turn you into an entrepreneur overnight. A diploma doesn't come with mystical qualities any more than slipping on that graduation gown instantly turns you into the next startup success story. Your master's program can however be the ideal training ground to hone your skills. Some entrepreneurs are born to start a company but most of them learn and grow into that role, flailing and adjusting their product as they go. A reputable master's program is often the factory where good businesspeople are made. (Inc.)

Successful chief executive Smruti Sriram has one strict rule at work - she never addresses her chairman as "daddy", "dad", or "father". The chairman in question is her parent, Sri Ram, and together they run Supreme Creations, the UK's largest producer of reusable shopping bags made from natural fibers. (BBC News)

More women business school applicants are seeking to become entrepreneurs, according to the results of an MBA applicant survey by AIGAC, the global network of admissions consultants. As women strive for gender diversity in the workplace more are leaving the corporate world to launch their own ventures – offering flexibility and control over earnings. (BusinessBecause)

Donte and Anjoli Hill postponed their honeymoon indefinitely and squirreled away cash wedding gifts in order to afford the down payment on the four-bedroom house they bought a few months ago in this Tampa suburb. In the process, they weren’t just securing a home where they could start a family one day. They were helping the United States housing market return to normal pricing after 15 years of yo-yoing insanity. (The New York Times)

The IRS recently released its latest income data on U.S. households. The numbers, which go through 2012, show that the top sliver of taxpayers recovered quickly from the recession. That's not what happened for everyone else. (Bloomberg)

The good news is that according to a survey conducted by real estate web portal Zillow, 15.4% of U.S. mortgage holders have ‘negative equity’ in their homes, meaning their mortgages are worth more than the market value of their homes. This is positive because in the first quarter of 2012, 31.4% of U.S. mortgage holders were in this situation. (Black Enterprise)

The first step: know your weaknesses. It’s summer, and now hardly feels like the time to "work" on anything. But some things – like boosting your credit score – can be worth some extra motivation. And if you’re looking to finance a large purchase after Labor Day, now’s the time to work on your score. (Money)

Three-day weekends feel like a treat when holidays fall on a Friday, but employees at several companies regularly say "TGIT" because four-day workweeks are their norm. According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, 43% of companies offer four-day workweeks to some employees, and 10% make it available to all or most employees. The reason? It positively impacts the bottomline. (Fast Company)

In 2010, Gap unveiled a new logo for their brand. It was nothing particularly shocking: Helvetica paired with a tinted blue square, referencing the familiar blue square used in its classic logo. But after a hailstorm of public criticism, an embarrassed Gap retreated to its former mark. Last year, Airbnb unveiled their company’s new logo – officially called a "Bélo" – to a similarly contentious reaction, amid criticism that the mark resembled unmentionable parts of the human anatomy. But unlike Gap, the company chose to proudly stand by its new logo. (Fast Company)

The government is going to try to keep the telemarketers and robo-dialers away from your phone. Again. The great Do Not Call registry effort of 2003 worked for a while, giving people some power to stop solicitors and scammers from ringing in over copper wires. But technological advances and the mobile-phone era brought the national annoyance back. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission gets more complaints about unwanted calls and texts than anything else, and is set to vote Thursday on new guidelines intended to curb them. (Bloomberg)

Low-hierarchy – or "flat" – management has been praised, questioned, and sometimes outright maligned. But it was the first and only choice for Rishi Shah and Shradha Agarwal. They run Context­Media, which creates and distributes health-focused programming on dedicated TVs and tablets in doctors’ offices, as well as educational tools for physician practices. While at Northwestern University, Shah and Agarwal built several student organizations using flat-management techniques, which, they found, created engaged, loyal teams with big ideas. (Inc.)

Many companies send workers overseas on assignment, but few have structured knowledge transfer systems to systematically harvest experiences from those repatriated staffers. Research conducted by an international group of scholars based on four continents shows that former expats can be an extremely valuable asset. They return with new operational knowledge, an understanding of cultural differences, a broader view of the "best" way to do things, and an international network of people to turn to for problem-solving. (The Wall Street Journal)