Corporate profits may have shrunk in 2015. But an elite group of U.S. companies found a way to grab a bigger piece of the smaller pie. (USA TODAY)

You think of yourself as a pretty authentic person, so you reasonably assume you're likewise a pretty authentic leader. The "good leadership" thing to do would be to test that assumption, which you can start doing by answering these four questions. (Fast Company)

The market for child-specific devices tends to be small – and therefore not very profitable – meaning manufacturers tend to focus on innovations with more profitable potential. To help fill that gap, District-based Children’s National has begun hosting annual pitch competitions to find and fund promising pediatric devices. (The Washington Post)

The big mistakes many professionals make during the job-hunting process. (Black Enterprise)

So much for buyout titans. The current crop of M.B.A. students has a new dream job: Product manager. More business-school students are setting their sights on tech company product-management roles, which combine elements of marketing, design and problem-solving, students, faculty and recruiters say. (The Wall Street Journal)

Whether you’re bored or feeling unappreciated, sometimes your career can start to resemble a bad relationship. You may be at the point where you’re ready to throw in the towel and walk away for good. But before you write that resignation letter, consider these five strategies for finding out if the spark is really gone or if there’s a way you can reignite it before you kiss your current career good-bye. (The Muse)

Workplaces can be a key setting to prevent violence against women but prevention programs are often thwarted by some leaders who don’t see it as a workplace issue, research shows. (The Conversation AU)

Saudi shipments of oil into China jumped by 36% in February to the highest level in at least three years, according to ClipperData, a firm that tracks global crude shipments. The shipments accounted for a 75% increase in Chinese imports of Saudi crude from January. (CNN)

China’s diminishing economic momentum ebbed further in the beginning of the year, giving policy makers more reasons to ease credit and boost government spending to cushion the slowdown. Getting a handle on the performance of the world’s second-largest economy is tough at the start of the year, since the long Lunar New Year holiday sometimes falls in January and sometimes in February, as it did this year. (The Wall Street Journal)

Completing a post-graduate business school course leads to a $500,000 boost in cumulative salary in the 20 years following graduation, a new worldwide study shows. (Financial Review)

Four former Black College presidents have announced the launch of TM2 Education Search, which provides retained search and leadership development services targeting Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly Black Institutions. (PR Newswire)

The FBI-Apple encryption battle is just the beginning of an important debate this country needs to have about what to do when U.S. innovation outpaces American law. (USA TODAY)

It’s been a year since the Federal Communications Commission adopted the Open Internet Order, theoretically ushering in the age of net neutrality. Under the order, Internet service providers are banned from discriminating against certain types of traffic or charging deep-pocketed Internet companies to have their content funneled through so-called "fast lanes." (Wired)

According to #ProjectDiane, a major national report released this month by the group Digitalundivided, black women startup founders raise only $36,000 on average, whereas white males typically raise over $1 million in startup capital. In the past few years, black women received just .02% of funding. (Black Enterprise)

Nexercise, a D.C.-based technology fitness company, scored the largest tech startup funding in the history of the ABC television show Shark Tank.( Black Enterprise)

The oil and stock market's roller coaster ride this year could force the Fed to pump the brakes on its plans to raise interest rates four times this year. (CNN)

Millennials should, theoretically, be the highest-paid cohort of young adults in American history: They’re the most educated group of workers and have entered the labor market at a time of high and increasing productivity. ((The Atlantic)

It’s pretty obvious that preparing meals at home is cheaper than going out to eat at restaurants. But the price gap between cooking and dining out is growing larger. This means you’ll be saving more money than you used to by opting to stay at home, and – apologies, because this is a total bummer – paying more by comparison for the convenience and fun of dining out. (Money)

Every four years, politics and finance converge as Americans elect a president and investors try to figure out what the outcome means for their portfolios. A look back at history shows that presidential election cycles indeed correlate with stock market returns – although not in the same, clockwork way that, say, the moon pulls on tides. (Kiplinger's)

A recent study by Schlesinger Associates for Augure found that 75% of marketers consider finding the right influencers the most challenging aspect of an influencer marketing strategy. Perhaps that’s due to a misguided approach in which the size of someone’s following is treated as the primary benchmark of their influence. (Harvard Business Review)

Last week, IBM trumpeted its new alliance with VMware loud and proud. Under the agreement, the two companies are working to make it easier for businesses running VMware vSphere virtualization on their own servers to move those workloads to IBM’s SoftLayer public cloud, all in all assuring coexistence between vSphere running on-premises and on IBM’s cloud. (Fortune)

On Page 5 of a credit card contract used by American Express, beneath an explainer on interest rates and late fees, past the details about annual membership, is a clause that most customers probably miss. If cardholders have a problem with their account, American Express explains, the company "may elect to resolve any claim by individual arbitration." (The New York Times)

Governments around the world have built over the last few years a vast new system of rules that would allow banking giants to fail and shield taxpayers from bailouts. Though this new regulatory architecture is eye-numbingly complex, its builders contend that it has made the financial system much safer without having to resort to measures like forcing a breakup of the largest banks. (The New York Times)

Is Donald Trump an anomaly who is having a long run? Or does Trump represent a fundamental change in the U.S. political system? (Harvard Business Review)

One of only five black CEO's in America, Marvin Ellison has scored some early successes at the troubled department store, but there’s a lot left to fix. (Fortune)

Leaders know that they’ll occasionally need to give tough feedback to their employees, colleagues, and clients. And yet, no matter how skilled or experienced they are at it, most would also do anything to find a way out. (Harvard Business Review)

Huge lines at some airport security checkpoints are creating fear of a summer travel meltdown and growing tension between airlines, airports and a TSA beset by budget issues and a mandate to tighten up security. (The Wall Street Journal)