Where do you look for productivity tips? To authors, blogs, famous entrepreneurs, other ninjas you admire for getting tons of stuff done? All of these are likely sources, but when author Greg McKeown faced an extreme time crunch as the deadline to hand in his latest manuscript approached, he turned to his wife for advice. (Inc.)

Visit http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/how-to-achieve-extreme-productivity-monk-mode.html to view the full article online.

 

The number of Americans who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth fell at the fastest pace on record in the third quarter as prices rose, a sign supply shortages may ease as more owners are able to sell. (Bloomberg)

Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-21/americans-recover-home-equity-at-record-pace-mortgages.html to view the full article online.

 

Future business leaders of America, brace yourselves. Some 43 percent of employers plan to cut the number of MBAs hired, according to Michigan State University’s new survey of 6,500 employers, a drop that will cause expected employment of MBAs to plummet nearly 25 percent from last year. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-21/survey-the-job-market-gets-worse-for-mbas#r=nav-r-story to view the full article online.

 

Let's suppose you're catching up on some work at home and you accidentally drop your smartphone in your bubble bath. Don't laugh, it could happen: Three-quarters (75%) of Americans with mobile devices admit that they often use them in the bathroom, according to a survey by Sony. Or say you're traveling. You've got all the data for tomorrow's big client meeting on your iPhone, and it somehow gets knocked into the hotel jacuzzi. What do you do? (Fortune)

Visit http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/11/21/smartphone-rescue/ to view the full article online.

 

Feeling as if you don't belong – hat you've landed in a fortunate spot by luck or by accident – can send anyone into a tailspin, from college students to corporate executives. Imposter fears are common among men and women alike, research shows, and are blamed for an array of problems, from high college-failure and dropout rates to low female participation in math, engineering and science jobs. (The Wall Street Journal)

Visit http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304439804579207951856455572 to view the full article online.

 

Retirement is a rather abstract concept to a 20-year-old. In an international survey of twenty-somethings by insurer Aegon, only a quarter of young people polled said they always made sure to save for retirement. But this is not just youthful indiscretion, the survey notes. (Quartz)

Visit http://qz.com/148051/twenty-somethings-have-incredibly-unrealistic-expectations-for-retirement/ to view the full article online.

 

In my experience with executives, nothing about anxiety is as disruptive as its propensity to pop up when least expected, or in contexts where anything but anxiety seems appropriate: after a positive outcome like a promotion, a plum committee assignment, or stellar quarterly results. Unfortunately, those who don’t know how painful these bouts of anxiety are usually trivialize them: Women suffering anxiety after success were, until recently, diagnosed with a "fear of success." When men suffered these symptoms it was called "happiness anxiety." Actually, it’s neither. (Harvard Business Review)

Visit http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/what-to-do-when-good-news-makes-you-anxious/ to view the full article online.

 

Many companies regularly look up job applicants online as part of the hiring process. A new study suggests they may also use what they find to discriminate. The study, a Carnegie Mellon University experiment involving dummy résumés and social-media profiles, found that between 10% and a third of U.S. firms searched social networks for job applicants' information early in the hiring process. (The Wall Street Journal)

Visit http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303755504579208304255139392 to view the full article online.

 

Greece on Thursday outlined a 2014 budget that predicts a return to economic growth after six straight years of recession, putting the country’s prospects in an optimistic light. But it came just two days after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast that the Greek economy would shrink again next year. (The New York Times)

Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/business/international/greek-budget-forecasts-growth-but-skeptics-abound.html?ref=business to view the full article online.

 

China's central bank is making all the right noises when it comes to moving towards opening up its domestic currency, but analysts warn that any concrete action is still a long way off. On Tuesday after China's central bank reiterated its plan to gradually stop intervening in its foreign exchange market, the dollar index, which trades against other major currencies, slipped 0.3 percent. (CNBC)

Visit http://www.cnbc.com/id/101212619 to view the full article online.

 

Sharron Snyder and Othella Stanback, both seniors at Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin High, will be the first in their families to graduate from high school. This, their final year, was supposed to be memorable. Instead, these teenagers say they feel cheated. (NPR)

Visit http://www.npr.org/2013/11/21/246193561/kids-pay-the-price-in-fight-over-fixing-philadelphia-schools to view the full article online.

 

To a certain kind of liberal, it's self-evident that the government should spend more money on universities. Cheap higher education for all has been a standard item on the left's wish list for decades. Since a degree is the only sure ticket to the middle class, the thinking goes, the government should do its best to make education accessible to all. (The Atlantic)

Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/no-public-spending-on-higher-education-isnt-regressive/281683/ to view the full article online.

 

"It takes courage to be a leader. One must be determined and willing to take risks," pointed out Audrey J. Snyder, keynote speaker during the National Black MBA, Inc. Pittsburgh Chapter Scholarship and Recognition Gala. Courageous Leadership: Owning Your Own Success was the theme of the group’s 29th annual event which was a continual theme from the national conference held in Houston, in September. (New Pittsburgh Courier)

Visit http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2013/11/14/local-black-mba-chapter-promotes-courageous-leadership/ to view the full article online.

 

Apple released two new smartphones this year – premium iPhone 5s and the lower-end, plastic-backed iPhone 5c. The two phones are aimed at different audiences, but while the 5c is novel because of its colored plastic shells (pink, green, blue, yellow or white) the inside of it is much like the iPhone 5. Apart from a better camera and better battery life, however, the 5c and 5 are basically two peas in a pod. (The Washington Post)

Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/smartphones-pros-and-cons-for-2013-holiday-gift-giving/2013/11/21/2ddd31c8-4e63-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html to view the full article online.

 

Today, Upworthy is a million-hit machine for heartfelt, progressive content, and it is trying to use this alchemy – spinning hearty fiber into viral gold – on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. On Tuesday, the company announced it is launching a global health and poverty section backed with Gates money, suggesting a future for not only the site's editorial strategy but also for its business. (The Atlantic)

Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/upworthy-i-thought-this-website-was-crazy-but-what-happened-next-changed-everything/281472/ to view the full article online.

 

John Arrow and his crew of 20-something co-founders, knew their wildly popular gimmick app wouldn't amount to much. So how'd they create a powerhouse app firm? (Inc.)

Visit http://www.inc.com/30under30/nicole-carter/mutual-mobile-john-arrow.html to view the full article online.

 

What separates your average entrepreneur from a business rock star? Digital marketing entrepreneur Sujan Patel breaks down the traits that defines the founders of Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Spanx, Zynga and Hershey. (Portfolio)

Visit http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepreneurs/hot-shots/2013/11/21/skills-made-entrepreneurs-successful.html to view the full article online.

 

With same-day delivery services, Internet retailers such as Wal-Mart, eBay and Amazon.com are experimenting with ways to give online shoppers something close to instant gratification. For a $5 fee, eBay Now allows customers to get local goods delivered in "about an hour." Wal-Mart, which is testing its same-day service in Northern Virginia and other areas, delivers items for up to $10 per purchase. And Amazon’s same-day deliveries cost as little as $3.99 per shipment. (The Washington Post)

Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/will-same-day-delivery-shake-up-the-holiday-shopping-season/2013/11/19/1d880428-504e-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html to view the full article online.

 

Cuts could be bad news for stores like Countryside, which are already bracing for the ripple effect from the in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. It's the first Thanksgiving since a temporary increase in those benefits expired on Nov. 1, affecting some 47 million Americans. (NPR)

Visit http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/11/20/246396245/food-stamp-cuts-leave-rural-areas-and-their-grocers-reeling to view the full article online.

 

Twenty-one percent of all homeowners with a mortgage, or nearly 11 million borrowers, still owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, though that is down from a peak of 31 percent early last year, according to Zillow. And at 39 percent, the "effective" negative equity rate – borrowers who have less than 20 percent equity in their homes – is still staggering. (CNBC)

Visit http://www.cnbc.com/id/101217831 to view the full article online.

 

Dave Pratt winced when his teenage son bought himself a Jeep, thinking of how high the insurance would be on a young driver with a flashy car. But unlike most parents, Mr Pratt is at the forefront of the insurance industry's efforts to change the way car insurance is priced. (BBC News)

Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24941415 to view the full article online.

 

Sooner or later, you're bound to get hit with an unexpected and eye-popping cost. Maybe a hospital stay will slam you with thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket charges, expensive car repairs will take you for a ride or Uncle Sam will send you a hefty tax bill. Ideally, you've stashed at least six months' worth of living expenses in a savings account to help in situations like these (or in case a job loss stunts your income for a while). But especially for young people who haven't had much time to save, sometimes the cash isn't there. (Kiplinger's)

Visit http://www.kiplingers.com/article/spending/T007-C006-S002-what-to-do-in-case-of-financial-emergency.html to view the full article online.

 

Retailers call it Black Friday. But consumers might do well to think of it instead as Red Friday – the start of a shopping bonanza that’s sure to end in some $131 billion worth of credit card charges. During November and December of last year consumers spent more than $246 billion on their bank credit cards, according to data from consumer credit monitoring firm TransUnion (the data excludes store credit cards). (MarketWatch)

Visit http://www.marketwatch.com/story/holiday-shoppers-credit-card-bill-131-billion-2013-11-21?dist=countdown to view the full article online.

 

They were some of the biggest losers in the 2008 financial crisis: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, federal taxpayers, state pension funds, credit unions and, of course, homeowners. But their fortunes turned somewhat on Tuesday, when they ended up on the receiving end of JPMorgan Chase’s record $13 billion settlement. The deal, the largest payout a single company ever made in a government settlement, centered on the bank’s sale of troubled mortgage securities to investors in the run up to the crisis. (The New York Times)

Visit http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/where-does-jpmorgans-13-billion-go/?ref=business to view the full article online.

 

Home offices have become more than a place to work when executives aren't at corporate quarters. Many now serve double duty as a recreational status symbol within high-end homes. (The Wall Street Journal)

Visit http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304448204579185823247219090 to view the full article online.

 

Despite weeks of work by a small army of software experts to salvage HealthCare.gov, navigators in states that depend on the federal insurance exchange say they still cannot get most of their clients through the online enrollment process. Those navigators said they had seen improvements in the system since its disastrous rollout on Oct. 1, particularly in the initial steps of the application process. But the closer people come to signing up for a plan, the more the system seems to freeze or fail, many navigators said. (The New York Times)

Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/us/politics/applicants-find-health-website-is-improving-but-not-fast-enough.html?_r=0 to view the full article online.

 

A primary task of leadership is to direct attention.To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention. When we speak about being focused, we commonly mean thinking about one thing while filtering out distractions. But a wealth of recent research in neuroscience shows that we focus in many ways, for different purposes, drawing on different neural pathways – some of which work in concert, while others tend to stand in opposition. (Harvard Business Review)

Visit http://hbr.org/2013/12/the-focused-leader/ar/1 to view the full article online.

 

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs don’t take significant risk. The first characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is they have a desire to do what they’re doing. Step two is they’re able to determine the acceptable loss from a potential venture. Finally, they bring other people in on the idea so they can take a step back to reflect and gain a better awareness. (The Washington Post)

Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2013/11/21/building-a-culture-of-entrepreneurs/ to view the full article online.

 

If you're looking for an amazing tech deal for the holidays, know this: You better plan to start eating dinner early on Thanksgiving. Some of the best bargains start that night. And despite all the hype about an active discount market online, the heavily advertised "doorbusters" will only be available in-store. (USA Today)

Visit http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/talkingtech/2013/11/20/black-friday-tech-deals-online-and-with-apps/3649425/ to view the full article online.