If you still haven’t heard of billionaire Robert F. Smith, it’s time to start paying attention. The Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners has lived his life mostly under the radar, granting limited interviews about how he’s built a private equity empire and net worth of $2.5 billion. He is No. 274 on the Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans and is richer than basketball legend Michael Jordan and BET founder Bob Johnson. Although the 54-year-old Smith has kept his life and work mostly behind the scenes, his business moves to support the black community are hard to ignore. (San Diego Voice and Viewpoint)

Business folks know that technical skills are merely the tip of the iceberg. People skills are invaluable, and building relationships is as much a part of good business as managing cash flow (and in many ways, vastly more important). So why do some of us choose to send signals that push prospective business away? If you choose to network, if you believe that building and maintaining relationships is important to building your business-- you should act that way. (Business.com)

Given how important mentoring is, there’s surprisingly limited guidance about how to become a good mentor. This is perhaps even more the case in the world of management outside of academic medicine — whether it is finance, consulting, or technology — as the path from professional to senior executive requires more than individual success. (Harvard Business Review)

There are countless habits and hacks that can help, including exercise, expressing gratitude, or starting a side project, but how do you know what will really make you feel happy in your career? (The Muse)

To align intent and impact for more powerful D&I results, first get crystal clear about your goals and intentions. Diversity is a means to an end. Inclusion is a means to an end. They are not the end! "Doing diversity" for its own sake — to look or feel good, comply with regulations, avoid lawsuits, or do the right thing are old school reasons that are incomplete at best and misguided at worst. (Workforce)

Looking at the executive teams we work with as consultants and those we teach in the classroom, increased diversity of gender, ethnicity, and age is apparent. Over recent decades the rightful endeavor to achieve a more representative workforce has had an impact. Of course, there is a ways to go, but progress has been made. (Harvard Business Review)

For years advocates have called on companies to hire and promote a broader range of employees and managers. Now a growing body of research is starting to demonstrate that diversity is actively good for the bottom line. (Financial Times)

Facebook Inc. has increased the number of its African users to 170 million and plans to expand further by adding wifi hotspots and laying fiber-optic cables in a bid to spread its reach outside of developed markets.The figure is 42 percent higher than when the U.S. social network first opened an African office in 2015, The rollout of wifi in Nigeria and Kenya will be done via partnerships with international wireless carriers such as Emirates Telecommunications Group Co., known as Etisalat, and closely held Surf. (Bloomberg)

Millions of Indian farmers who borrowed from banks to finance their crops no longer have to pay their loans back. The country's biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, has announced that it will forgive debts worth about $5.6 billion. (CNN Money)

Economic growth in Japan may be tepid, but a buoyant Japanese stock market--a 13% rise in the Nikkei index over the 12 months through late March 2017--resulted in bigger fortunes for nearly three-quarters of those on our list of 50 Richest over the past year. Big upticks came from a mix of companies in telecom, technology and videogames. In total, Japan's top 50 are worth $152 billion, up from $137 billion a year ago. (Forbes)

Many prospective business school students confront whether now is the right time to get an MBA, particularly when they become bored or frustrated with their current professional trajectory. But how do you know whether you're really ready to tackle the intense demands of a full-time MBA program? (U.S. News & World Report)

Kynadei Abrams and about 400 students enrolled in Kimball’s Academy of Hospitality and Tourism program are optimistic about their chances of securing a summer job. They recently participated in two 30-minute mock interviews led by business and community leaders. Academy officials believe the annual mock interviews help students prepare for real life experiences. In April, the students will have an opportunity to meet potential employers when they attend a job fair hosted by the Dallas Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program. The job fair at the Dallas Hyatt Regency will feature about 200 companies ready to hire at least 400 high school students for the summer. (North Dallas Gazette)

The lab–a 1,500-square foot space across from Oakland’s Fruitvale BART station–is particularly designed to reach black and Latino students, in 8th to 10th grades, about half of whom don’t have access to computer science classes in school. It’s one part of a larger strategy to help solve tech’s diversity problem. (Fast Company)

Suuchi Ramesh was born and educated in India. But her New Jersey-based clothing startup has one core goal: keep all of the manufacturing in-house and in the United States, by making it faster and smarter. (CNN Money)

As an entrepreneur, you have the opportunity to do something that you love every day as a career. It gives you the flexibility to work as your own boss in a field you care about, and you can make an impact and influence the entire market. But even entrepreneurs can begin to feel the wear of work. There are going to be times when you have to do things you don’t like, or focus on a project that you don’t find enjoyable. It’s just part of working – just like real life, not everything is always going to be fun and perfect. (Business.com)

The Federal Reserve expects to start reducing its huge investment holdings later this year, unwinding a giant program undertaken in the wake of the financial crisis to revive the economy. The holdings — which amount to more than $4 trillion in Treasuries and mortgage securities — are a legacy of the Fed’s campaign to help the economy recover from the depths of a recession. The Fed, increasingly confident that the American economy is "at or near maximum employment," is beginning to loosen its grip on the economy, according to an official account that the Fed published Wednesday. (The New York Times)

President Trump is considering whether to issue a tremendous amount of government debt to finance a $1 trillion investment in U.S. infrastructure, which would mark a major break from his campaign pledge to attract large amounts of private money to finance upgrades to roads, bridges, ports and numerous other things. (The Washington Post)

According to a new report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), almost 25% of current workers have less than $1,000 set aside for retirement. And while many workers have amassed significantly more than that, nearly 50% have less than $25,000 in savings for the future. Considering that most of the people surveyed by the EBRI think they'll need at least $500,000 in total retirement income, it's clear that many Americans are alarmingly far behind. (USA TODAY)

A fresh round of distress signals sounded in the retail industry this week, as another big-name chain announced hundreds of new store closings and still others moved aggressively to recalibrate their businesses for the online shopping stampede. (The Washington Post)

The investment firm that controls the Krispy Kreme chain and coffee brands Keurig, Peet's and Caribou reached an agreement to acquire Panera Bread and turn it into a private company. JAB is expanding its empire of coffee-related brands with the acquisition of publicly traded Panera in a deal worth more than $7 billion. (USA TODAY)

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The Fox News host, who built a following with a combative style and sometimes coarse put-downs, has also made news by settling sexual harassment lawsuits as far back as 2004. Yet revelations of more O'Reilly settlements this past weekend sparked a stampede of advertisers pulling spots from his show. Why now? Call it heightened awareness among advertisers of "brand safety." (Crain's Chicago Business)

Donald Trump assumes, as do many Americans, that the country’s major problem is too much government. In my view, the United States is not suffering from too much government so much as from too much business all over the government. This president came into office to challenge "the establishment," only to ensconce the country’s powerful business establishment in his cabinet, at the expense of Washington’s weaker political establishment. (Harvard Business Review)