The National Black MBA Association® Annual Conference and Exposition is one of the largest professional development and job search events. Each year, the event attracts more than 9,000 attendees. Sessions are held on topics including: career, education, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and leadership.

The NBMBAA® Annual Conference offers a myriad of opportunities designed to meet your professional development, branding, recruiting, retention and corporate citizenship goals. We will be finalizing the events in the coming months! Don't miss out become a member today!

Visit http://www.nbmbaaconference.org/ to view the full article online.

 

Good managers want to build high-performing teams but it isn’t always clear how to do so.
According to Catalyst’s global report, "Inclusive Leadership: The View From Six Countries," released today, the answer is simple: Help your employees feel more included at work.
The study included responses from 1,500 employees from Australia, China, Germany, India, Mexico and the United States. It showed that employees who feel included are more likely to go above and beyond the call of duty, suggest new product ideas, innovate new ways of getting work done and be supportive of one another -- something researchers call "team citizenship."

Visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233681 to view the full article online.

 

This year's tax season has finally been put to bed. And many people -- both small-business owners and consumers -- are breathing a collective sigh of relief. However, there is a fundamental difference between business and personal finances when it comes to taxes. While the "average Joe" may not have to worry about taxes again until next year, "Joe the small-business owner" needs to start thinking about his next quarterly tax filing now. Yes, for the small business owner, the taxman cometh four times a year.

Visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233664 to view the full article online.

 

Confidence and good decision-making have always been prized in the workplace. Having stellar conversation skills, not so much.
For most of her 30-year career, executive coach and Benchmark Communications CEO Judith Glaser says having "conversation intelligence" was considered a lesser priority for leaders. It was a skill employers saw as too girly, too emotional, too unreliable and too detached from quantifiable results.

Visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233683 to view the full article online.

 

Bill Watterson, the creator of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, is famously media-averse. He's given two interviews, total since he retired his strip in 1995. Reporters have staked out his home in Ohio to no avail. The man just prefers not to be a public figure. But in the documentary Stripped (which you can buy or rent on iTunes), Watterson not only gives an interview, he drew the art for the poster--the first Watterson cartoon to be published in nearly 20 years.

Visit http://www.fastcodesign.com/3027095/4-tips-on-creativity-from-the-creator-of-calvin-hobbes to view the full article online.

 

Occupying a prominent perch on my shelves and in my heart is a little book called "Public Speaking as Listeners Like It" by Richard C. Borden. It was given to me by Marian Rich, a renowned and beloved New York teacher of voice and speech who worked with actors of all stripes (including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Geraldine Page), and with business people on their public speaking. I co-taught with her at the New School for Social Research.

Visit http://www.inc.com/sims-wyeth/public-speaking-4-silent-challenges-audience-hurls-at-you.html to view the full article online.

 

In early 2003, McDonald’s (MCD) looked, from the outside, like the kind of company an ambitious executive should avoid. The fast-food giant had just booked its first quarterly loss since the 1960s. Comparable store sales had declined for two years. Customer satisfaction was low. McDonald’s stock was tanking as the markets rallied.
If things were so bad, why did Eric Leininger take a job with McDonald’s rather than pursue one of the many opportunities regularly presented to him as a senior vice president at Kraft Foods (KRFT)?

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-07/when-betting-on-a-losing-company-is-a-great-career-move#r=bus-ls to view the full article online.

 

Els van der Helm tried to sign up for a corporate recruiting event through the University of California at Berkeley’s business school last year, but she was turned away. "I got the response, ‘Oh, actually this is just for the MBAs,’ which makes sense," says Van der Helm, who graduated from Berkeley last May with a Ph.D. in psychology and now works as a junior associate for McKinsey. The MBAs "pay a lot of money to get their time with the recruiters," she says. "Everything is very nicely laid out for them. For Ph.D.s, it’s not."

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-01/more-doctoral-grads-compete-with-mbas-for-jobs#r=hpt-fs to view the full article online.

 

As evident from news reports citing high unemployment, employer challenges with long-term vacancies and the skills gap, and BLS stats reflecting a large portion of people unemployed have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, many workers are facing major challenges in terms of job obtainment. Seeking alternatives such as professional help may be a solution to finding employment success.

Visit http://www.blackenterprise.com/career/tips-boost-job-search-success-hire-professionals/ to view the full article online.

 

Women make up almost 60 percent of the labor force but fewer than 4 percent of Fortune 500 chief executives. They do a bit better in the government, where they account for 17 percent of Congress and 12 percent of state governors, but they’re still underrepresented in high-profile fields.

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-02/if-women-lead-as-effectively-as-men-why-arent-more-in-charge#r=hpt-fs to view the full article online.

 

The thing to blame if you think people don't like it when women are in charge is "role congruity." It’s the theory that the most primitive parts of our brain continue to dictate our ideas about gender roles, with the man setting the rules of cave-house and forging the path to the mammoth den while the woman sticks to just nurturing things. Thus, when a woman steps into a leadership role, it’s supposed to trigger a "gender-role violation" that, consciously or not, stirs us to see her as less capable.

Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/the-myth-of-the-ineffective-female-leader/361559/ to view the full article online.

 

Brendan Eich recently lasted two weeks as CEO of Mozilla and Dartmouth University President Philip Hanlon is on the ropes following controversies that are worth dissecting. Both men are caught up in controversy around "diversity" issues. Although many mainstream media people expressed surprise or disbelief, the combination of dramatic demographic shifts in our country and free social-media communications has enabled mass mobilization of public opinion that is decisively in favor of diversity

Visit http://www.diversityinc.com/ask-the-white-guy/ask-white-guy-ceos-beware/ to view the full article online.

 

The European Commission has raised its growth forecast for the EU, saying that "the recovery has taken hold".
The 26 nations of the EU are forecast to grow by 1.6% for 2014, a touch higher than the forecast of 1.5% made in late February.
The growth forecast for the 18-nation eurozone remains at 1.2% for 2014.
The Commission expects the jobs market to continue to improve, forecasting EU unemployment will fall to 10.1% this year. In March, the rate was 10.5%.
Unemployment in the euro-area is expected to fall to 11.4%, from 11.8% in March.
Siim Kallas, the Commission's vice-president, said: "The recovery has now taken hold. Deficits have declined, investment is rebounding and, importantly, the employment situation has started improving.

Visit http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27283155 to view the full article online.

 

The backstory here is the newly released result of a big, years-long, international (UN) effort to calculate price levels around the world—and thus to improve the "Purchasing Power Parity" figures for comparing spending power in different countries. Simplest example: a few years ago, 1 U.S. dollar was officially worth about 8 Chinese yuan renminbi, or RMB. That rate is not set on an open market like, say, dollar-euro rates, but instead is carefully "managed" by the Chinese government. But if average prices in China were only half as high as in the U.S., then on a PPP basis the Chinese economy would be twice as large as the official exchange rate made it seem, since the RMB would go twice as far in buying things.

Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/05/should-we-care-that-chinas-economy-has-just-been-pronounced-the-biggest-in-the-world/361511/ to view the full article online.

 

Every few months there seems to be another region somewhere in the world that claims to be the next Silicon Valley. Sometimes the new high-tech hub is hyped up, but other times, it’s evident that there’s something special brewing.

Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3030100/bottom-line/4-countries-that-are-leaving-silicon-valley-in-their-tracks to view the full article online.

 

It’s a rite of the spring semester: Universities across the country dribble out small amounts of cash to student-run startups that prevail in entrepreneurship competitions.
A little push can sometimes go a long way. Harvard Business School touts CloudFlare, Birchbox, and Rent the Runway among past competitors in its annual New Ventures competition. Together, the three companies have raised nearly $200 million in venture capital—perhaps dispelling the notion that MBAs don’t get enough credit from Silicon Valley.

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-02/nine-hot-new-b-school-startups-from-competition-season#r=hpt-fs to view the full article online.

 

It’s that time of year where high school and college students alike are celebrating their academic accomplishments and preparing themselves for the next big challenge in life. But unlike most kids who celebrate their high school and college graduations years apart, Florida teen Grace Bush is celebrating both academic achievements in the same week.

Visit http://www.blackenterprise.com/education/teen-graduates-high-school-college/ to view the full article online.

 

Thank You for Making Our 1st NBMBAA® Regional Symposium a Success! Join us for our 2nd event in Chicago, July 17th

Visit http://www.nbmbaa.org/events/regSymposiums.aspx to view the full article online.

 

Just five minutes and a genius business idea can help you to win big. Three people will have five minutes each to sell their business idea to a mixed panel of venture capitalists, academic instructors and successful entrepreneurs. Applicants must be a member of the National Black MBA Association. The winner will receive $10,000. Registration is now open. Deadline is Tuesday, July 15, 2014.

Visit http://nbmbaawhiteboardchallenge2014.istart.org/ to view the full article online.

 

Alex Livingston graduated from Harvard Business School last year. He was offered a pretty sweet job at a startup, but he turned that down in favor of something a lot more ambitious.
He's 27 years old, and he wants to be a CEO, not in 15 years but now. He and his business school classmate, Eddie Santillan, knew they wanted to run a company together. They just didn't know which company. So they went to investors and asked them to be their partners — to give them some money so they could find a company to buy. If the company did well, the investors would, too.

Visit http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/05/05/308352614/seeking-a-fortune-through-search-funds to view the full article online.

 

By the time Rishi Mandal was 12 years old he was filing patent applications for a number of inventions, including a spring-loaded clothes hanger that won’t stretch out your shirts.
"Everything was a puzzle," he says. His entrepreneurial streak was inspired by his father who, with his business partners, started a tech company at a picnic table in the family’s garage.

Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3030104/bottom-line/the-entrepreneur-who-wants-to-plan-your-evening to view the full article online.

 

In the last ten years, what's gotten more expensive? And what's gotten less expensive?
Here's a fascinating snapshot of the last decade in American prices

Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/its-expensive-to-be-poor/361533/ to view the full article online.

 

Funky job reports are not unusual, and the employment data for April certainly fits the bill. How else to explain the biggest gain in hiring in more than two years – at the same time the labor force shrank by the second largest amount in 32 years.

Visit http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/05/02/seemingly-terrific-april-jobs-report-poses-strange-puzzle/ to view the full article online.

 

The pace of U.S. job creation accelerated in April as employers added 288,000 jobs — the fastest job growth so far this year, according to a report released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS.
A strengthening labor market in April and the steady pace of employment growth seen in recent months shown in today’s survey of employers sends a contradictory signal from that shown in the survey of households also released in today’s BLS report.

Visit http://www.marketwatch.com/story/job-growth-accelerates-but-unemployed-left-in-lurch-2014-05-02 to view the full article online.

 

Premature withdrawals from retirement accounts have become America’s new piggy bank, cracked open in record amounts during lean times by people like Cindy Cromie, who needed the money to rent a U-Haul and start a new life.

Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-06/early-tap-of-401-k-replaces-homes-as-american-piggy-bank.html to view the full article online.

 

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that the U.S. economy is improving but noted that the job market remains "far from satisfactory" and inflation is still below the Fed's target rate.
Speaking to Congress' Joint Economic Committee, Yellen said that as a result, she expects low borrowing rates will continue to be needed for a "considerable time."
Yellen's comments echo earlier signals that the Fed has no intention of acting soon to raise its key target for short-term interest rates even though the job market has strengthened and economic growth is poised to rebound this year. The Fed has kept short-term rates at a record low near zero since December 2008.

Visit http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/05/07/yellen-foresees-continued-low-borrowing-rates/ to view the full article online.

 

Humor isn’t part of most mission statements. Organizations are busy with the serious challenges of trying to improve sales, service and innovation. Besides, being funny is risky. No one appreciates a poorly timed joke or the overactive "fun-gineer" blasting the office with cheesy motivational emails.
Yet CEOs, the same people who set the organization’s mission, tend to say that a sense of humor is among their most important traits. Dick Costolo’s wit was on full display a year before he became a CEO, when he tweeted, "First full day as Twitter COO tomorrow. Task #1: Undermine CEO, consolidate power." Steve Jobs’ keynote launching the iPhone clocked in at .6 laughs per minute — not good enough for Letterman, but better than most new comics.

Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2014/05/07/did-you-hear-the-joke-about-the-ceo/ to view the full article online.