You’re always assessing your career situation, right? You yourself are changing and growing, and despite your best hopes, history does not always move forward to a "more perfect" future. So what are you thinking? Will you decide to stay with your current employer and make the best of it, or have you been thinking about moving on to fresh pastures? It’s highly likely that you’re not sure what to do and have let career inertia set in. (Forbes)

During the first weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump expedited executive orders that fulfilled campaign promises. The response to his orders engendered massive marches domestically and globally. The administration’s actions offended sovereign countries dignitaries, including a number of our allies. In conjunction with the orders, Trump generated significant backlash by enacting a travel ban on Muslims — only to see it halted by our judicial process as unconstitutional. (Black Enterprise)

We’re all probably a little too familiar with this feeling: You know you have piles of stuff to get done, but you can’t quite bring yourself to get started. Your inbox is overflowing and your to-do list is miles long. But, just the thought of sitting down and starting to chip your way through it is almost too much to bear. Your motivation is at an all-time low. However, that doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way. Here are four science-backed ways to give your motivation a much-needed boost and get moving on those tasks of yours. (The Muse)

The holy grail of today’s workplace is high employee engagement. According to Gallup’s oft-cited research on the topic, just about one-third of U.S. employees are engaged on the job. That number drops to 13% worldwide, and has held steady for years. Many companies are investing heavily to identify what leads to high engagement in order to motivate employees, thereby increasing their happiness and productivity. (Harvard Business Review)

Many people go to work contentedly enough day after day. Thoughts of change come only after a bomb drops in the form of a bad review or layoff, or boredom or frustration saps all the fun from your job. Don’t let this happen. We should all have a career fitness plan. Making a fitness plan should be a quarterly discipline, and it doesn’t have to be a daunting chore. What works best isn’t trying to draw a 20-year road map. A better approach is taking a series of small steps and pilot projects to keep expanding your skills and network. Here are some signs your career plan needs a workout. (The Wall Street Journal)

For this writer of Fast Company, a few career pivots actually made sense, and when she looks back, she see a through-line to her career. It's not random; it makes sense — and ultimately made her a more interesting and appealing job candidate. Here's how she pulled it off. (Fast Company)

Millennials have a different approach to the workforce compared to previous generations. They are career explorers, trying different things and always developing new skills. Whether they have a desire to travel, want to explore different avenues that play to their strengths, or are going through a life change, millennials generally gravitate towards the new. And with new come a lot of changes. Some are great and exciting, but there are also practical matters and financial factors to consider before making a change. (Mashable)

Diversity is probably the top quality jobseekers look for in a company, along with work-life balance. But how do top companies diversify their workforce? (Silicon Republic)

Windhoek-Minister for Economic Planning and Director General of the National Planning Commission, Tom Alweendo, has stressed the need for effective partnerships and cooperation that are beneficial for African economies. Speaking during the second German-African Business Summit, which took place from February 08 to 10 in Nairobi, Kenya, Alweendo noted that "for far too long Africa has been seen through the eyes of those who do not always have Africa’s interest at heart." (New Era)

Business schools play a crucial, undervalued role in the successful long-run implementation of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. A growing number of schools and specific initiatives around the world are worth not only celebrating, but replicating. (GreenBiz)

The mascot at César E. Chávez High School in Houston, Texas, is the lobo, Spanish for wolf. Most of the pupils are Latino. The school is not the traditional pipeline for black colleges, yet last week Texas Southern University (TSU), a historically black university, visited the place to pitch the benefits of its institution. The university, which was founded in 1927 to educate black scholars when they had little access to higher education, has seen a steady increase in Latino enrolment. Over the past six years the share of Latinos at TSU has doubled, from 4% to 8%. Austin Lane, the university’s president, expects that figure to double again inside ten years. (The Economist)

NBMBAA celebrates those that have inspired our professional and personal journeys.

In today’s digital world, change is inevitable. The technology and processes that are currently working for your business aren’t guaranteed to work for you in the future. Because of this, it is imperative that you are always planning ahead. Below are seven ways technology can future-proof your business. (Forbes)

Amazon.com Inc. has patented technology that allows delivery drones to deploy packages mid-flight and steer them to their destination on the ground. Fly-by drone delivery would save time and energy by eliminating takeoffs and landings for each package. It's the latest patent to come out of the Seattle-based company's futuristic Prime Air delivery program. (Puget Sound Business Journal)

Entrepreneurs are unique. Some come from wealthy families with strong networks while others start with much less and find a way to climb to economic ladder. Whether it was the awkward, hyperactive teenager that loved videogames or the straight A band-orchestra-choir student, the entrepreneur in your social network is undoubtedly one of a kind. However, all entrepreneurs have one thing in common. They all share the same underlying fear that leads some to discover the road of success and self-mastery, and leads others to a series of disappointments. The one fear all entrepreneurs have is the fear of failure. (Inc.)

From Oprah Winfrey to Magic Johnson, many successful black entrepreneurs are already household names. What's more, black-owned businesses are on the rise: Companies owned by black women, for example, are emerging at a rate six times the national average. But there's still more work to be done to level the playing field — like increasing access to capital and upping the number of blacks in tech leadership positions. (Mic)

On Wednesday, the news for the US economy was stellar across the board. A batch of data released at 8:30 a.m. ET showed that retail sales, inflation, and manufacturing activity all topped expectations. (Yahoo Finance)

Americans are split almost evenly on their views of President Donald Trump's handling of the economy, with 48% approving and 47% disapproving. Of four key focuses of the new administration, the economy is the only issue with more Americans approving than disapproving. (Gallup)

Throughout U.S. history, black women have founded businesses, transformed industries, revolutionized television and media and created jobs — often without recognition. Black women are the second fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, after Latina women. (CNBC)

Over the past few decades, black Americans have gained on whites in a lot of areas, including education, two-parent families and employment. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to have helped them erase what may be the most important disparity: wealth. (Bloomberg)

What do your shower moments have in common with both Keith Richards’s and Albert Einstein’s discoveries? When you got into the shower, you unknowingly switched brain modes. Previously, you had been consciously focusing on the problem. But in the shower, your mind was probably drifting, idly daydreaming or seemingly "thinking about nothing." Neuroscientists have recently discovered that the secret to breakthroughs lies in our ability to switch between these two modes, the focused and the meandering. (Fortune)

This year marks the 10th edition of Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies ranking. Our reporting team sifts through thousands of enterprises each year, searching for those that tap both heartstrings and purse strings and use the engine of commerce to make a difference in the world. Impact is among our key criteria. (Fast Company)

Time has shown us that corporations and their high profile executives usually remain neutral on political issues as it is in corporations’ interest to represent all customers, no matter what their political affiliation is. Taking a stand on controversial issues might imply serious revenue loss for the company. (Huffington Post)