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Too much oil, too fast. That turns out to be the downside of the U.S. oil boom – at least if you’re an investor. Prices crashed, and America is pumping so much crude its running out of places to store it. One promising sign you may have heard about: The plunge in U.S. oil rigs. (Bloomberg)
Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-05/the-price-of-oil-is-down-so-why-is-production-still-going-up- to view the full article online. |
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Meetings may seem like the ultimate hold-out against the digitization of working life: after all, what’s more analog than talking directly with another person? Even though the core work of a meeting – listening to and connecting with other people – hasn’t changed, there are lots of ways technology can make that work easier and more effective. Given how much of our working lives we spend in meetings, building a digital meeting toolkit is one of the smartest investments you can make in tech-savvy productivity. (Harvard Business Review)
Visit https://hbr.org/2015/03/the-tools-you-need-to-make-every-meeting-more-productive to view the full article online. |
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Planning a trip to France or Spain this summer? If so, congratulations: The world's financial markets have smiled upon you. The euro is in the midst of a spectacular freefall – down 12.4 percent against the dollar since January, and down about 24 percent over the year – that could soon leave it worth less than the greenback for the first time since 2002 (at the moment, it's trading around $1.05). Where will the slide end? Deutsche Bank, for one, thinks that the shared currency could eventually bottom out at $0.85. For American tourists, buying a glass of wine in Paris is becoming cheaper by the day. (Slate)
Visit http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/03/11/the_falling_euro_sure_it_s_great_for_europe_but_what_about_the_u_s.html to view the full article online. |
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Some people line up lunches and coffee dates because they’re in search of a job, venture funding, or clients for their company. But if that’s the reason you’re having a networking meeting, you – and your invitee – aren’t likely to get much satisfaction. As Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino and her colleagues have noted, "transactional networking" – i.e., "networking with the goal of advancement" – often makes participants feel so bad about themselves, they feel "dirty." (Harvard Business Review)
Visit https://hbr.org/2015/03/the-right-and-wrong-way-to-network to view the full article online. |
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I had my fourth kid in January. Having a baby is generally not an event that increases a person’s productivity. Yet I felt shockingly accomplished in the weeks afterward. The reason? I had zero expectations. I didn’t expect to get anything beyond basic life maintenance done, and so when I did, I felt on top of the world. Look at me! I sent an email! Feeling satisfied is a great way to go through life. It’s much better than the nagging feeling you should be doing more or doing something better. (Fast Company)
Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3043330/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/the-case-for-lowering-your-expectations to view the full article online. |
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I blew the mind of one of my Babson College students this morning. Like most people, he believes that success is measured by how much money you have and how much money you make. By that measure, there is no single individual who is the world's most successful. After all, Bill Gates – whose net worth totaled $79.6 billion according to Forbes's January 29, 2015, tally – probably has the most money, but I sincerely doubt he makes the most money every year. (Inc.)
Visit http://www.inc.com/peter-cohan/success-is-controlling-how-you-spend-your-time.html to view the full article online. |
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A couple of years ago, it would have been unthinkable. A big Spanish bank now feels strong enough and confident enough to make a significant foreign acquisition. The U.K.’s TSB Plc, spun off last year from Lloyds Banking Group said Thursday it had received an offer of 340 pence a share, valuing it at around $2.5 billion, from Banco de Sabadell SA, Spain’s fourth-largest banking group. (Fortune)
Visit http://fortune.com/2015/03/12/are-spains-banks-on-the-comeback-trail/ to view the full article online. |
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Does the rising wave of surprise interest-rate cuts in Asia portend a currency war? Central bankers won’t let the term leave their lips. Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol on Thursday, in announcing an interest-rate cut to a record low 1.75%, was studious in denying such a thing existed. Yet both South Korea and Thailand, which cut rates on Wednesday, have reason to worry about the strengthening of their currencies. (The Wall Street Journal)
Visit http://www.wsj.com/articles/are-currency-wars-looming-in-asia-1426149088 to view the full article online. |
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Despite the many women’s leadership programs trying to help women reach the top rungs of their careers, the number of women actually getting there remains disappointing. A recent New York Times report found that there are more men named John running large companies than women (of any name). But there’s some good news in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. In July 2014, Georgette Chapman Phillips was named dean of Lehigh University’s College of Business and Economics (CBE) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, making her one of a small handful of African American women leading U.S. business schools outside of historically black colleges and universities. (Fast Company)
Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3043248/strong-female-lead/lehigh-universitys-new-dean-on-challenging-diversity-assumptions to view the full article online. |
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Black men make important, vital contributions to this country. According to the Schott Foundation for Public Education, they own 60% of black-owned businesses; more black men serve in the military than men of any other ethnic group; and black households give 25% more of their income to charity than white households. Yet, there is an insidious danger that young black men in school are exposed to every day. It doesn’t snuff out their lives in an instant but can hobble them for life. That danger is educational inequity. (Black Enterprise)
Visit http://www.blackenterprise.com/education/schott-foundation-report-eagle-academy-foundation-black-males/ to view the full article online. |
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Gary Morton is president and CEO of the Boston chapter of the National Black MBA Association. Started in 1970, the association is a nonprofit organization of minority MBA graduates and students, business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders. As head in Boston, which is one of 45 chapters, Morton oversees the association’s efforts to provide programs to stimulate members’ intellectual and economic growth, as well as work with a broad range of corporate, community and collegiate partners. (Bay State Banner)
Visit http://baystatebanner.com/news/2015/mar/09/gary-morton-boston-black-mba-association-chapter-c/ to view the full article online. |
As a valued supporter of the National Black MBA Association’s legacy, we invite you to join us on Friday, June 12, as we celebrate 45 years of creating economic, educational and employment opportunities for Blacks in the business world. Plan now to attend this extraordinary event. Discounted tickets are available until March 31, so don't delay!
Visit http://www.nbmbaa.org/events/45anniversary.aspx to view the full article online.
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The Bauer College of Business expects around 200 attendees for the 13th Annual LOT Case Competition on Saturday. The Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) is an enrichment program for minority high school students, coordinated locally by the Student Affairs Committee of the National Black MBA Association – Houston Chapter. (The Cougar)
Visit http://thedailycougar.com/2015/03/06/lot-competition-showcases-future-leaders/ to view the full article online. |
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Have an extra petabyte of data sitting around? Today the company that has already amassed a huge chunk of the world’s data has made it easier to sock away a whole lot more. This week Google announced what it’s calling Google Cloud Storage Nearline, a cloud-based version of an old-fashioned way to store massive amounts of data too important to delete but not important enough to keep close. (Wired)
Visit http://www.wired.com/2015/03/google-nearline/ to view the full article online. |
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U.S. technology companies looking to do business with China will have to choose between an increasingly restrictive business environment and the lure of a market they cannot afford to ignore. Last week, a Chinese parliamentary body discussed the draft of a sweeping counter-terrorism law, under which technology firms that operate in the country must hand over encryption keys and install security "backdoors." (Knowledge@Wharton)
Visit http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-tough-choice-facing-u-s-tech-firms-doing-business-in-china/ to view the full article online. |
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If you want to imagine how the world will look in just a few years, once our cell phones become the keepers of both our money and identity, skip Silicon Valley and book a ticket to Orlando. Go to Disney World. Then, reserve a meal at a restaurant called Be Our Guest, using the Disney World app to order your food in advance. (Wired)
Visit http://www.wired.com/2015/03/disney-magicband/ to view the full article online. |
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Last year, an anonymous entrepreneur detailed on Forbes.com the many obstacles – and sometimes outright harassment &ndsah; she faced when trying to raise money from venture capitalists while female. There were unwanted back massages and a pitch meeting at which she was asked, "Did your daddy give you money?" It's not just the old guard doing the discriminating. (The Atlantic)
Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/the-sexism-of-startup-land/387184/ to view the full article online. |
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Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, has said in interviews, "My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself." Long after the thrill of starting a business is gone and you are immersed in the daily challenges of being an entrepreneur, it is easy to lose the motivation to keep going. Being a business owner has its indisputable benefits, but it is a grind and you constantly need to remind yourself why you decided to become an entrepreneur. (Entrepreneur)
Visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243170 to view the full article online. |
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Robert Putnam wants a show of hands of everyone in the room with a parent who graduated from college. In a packed Swarthmore College auditorium where the students have spilled onto the floor next to their backpacks, about 200 arms rise. "Whenever I say ‘rich kids,’ think you," Putnam says. "And me. And my offspring." (The Washington Post)
Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/06/the-terrible-loneliness-of-growing-up-poor-in-robert-putnams-america/ to view the full article online. |
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After getting pushed around for much of the 2000s, the once-wimpy buck is fighting back. The dollar has gained nearly 20% over the past 3½ years, compared with an index of global currencies. It’s now at multiyear highs against the euro and yen. This is good news because it represents a global vote of confidence in our economy. Investors worldwide snap up bucks when they want to buy things denominated in our currency – including U.S. bonds, stocks, and other assets. (Money)
Visit http://time.com/money/3541584/dollar-rally-global-currencies/ to view the full article online. |
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The percentage of money U.S. consumers spend on health care rose in 2014 for the third straight year to another record high, according to one government measure. Some 20.6% of total consumer spending in 2014 was devoted to health care, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, annual figures from the Commerce Department report on personal expenditures show. That’s up from 20.4% in 2013. (MarketWatch)
Visit http://www.marketwatch.com/story/share-of-consumer-spending-on-health-care-hits-another-record-2015-03-04 to view the full article online. |
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Baby boomers are putting their retirements at risk by spending too much on their adult children. With real wages stagnant and unemployment among those age 16 to 24 running above 12 percent, large numbers of households continue to dole out cash to children no longer in school, covering rent, cell phones, cars, and vacations. (Bloomberg)
Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-05/parents-risk-retirement-to-support-millennial-kids to view the full article online. |
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Roy Nash long dreamed of retiring at the age of 55. A self-taught investor, he diligently stashed all the savings he could in stocks and mutual funds. So by 2009, when he did turn 55, he says he had more than $800,000 saved – enough to step away from his nearly three decade long career at a natural gas distributor in St. Louis. (CNN Money)
Visit http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/09/retirement/dream-retirement-million-dollar-saving/index.html?iid=HP_River to view the full article online. |
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Acing an online course could lead to a Wharton degree. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School last month unveiled a new series of courses, dubbed the Business Foundations specialization series, through online-education platform Coursera. The business school said it would waive the application fee to one of its graduate business programs for each of the online program’s top 50 performers in a given year. (The Wall Street Journal)
Visit http://www.wsj.com/articles/whartons-new-online-courses-include-incentives-1425515596 to view the full article online. |
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In Mindful Work, Gelles, a business reporter for The New York Times, catalogues the nascent trend of establishing employee well-being programs that promote mindfulness, an activity that is perhaps best described as doing nothing. More precisely, mindfulness means drawing one’s attention to the sensations of the present moment, and noting, without frustration or judgment, any mental wanderings that get in the way. (The Atlantic)
Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/corporations-newest-productivity-hack-meditation/387286/ to view the full article online. |
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We hear about the superior tech savvy of people born after 1980 so often that we tend to assume it must be true. But is it? Researchers at Princeton-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) expected it to be when they administered a test called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Sponsored by the OECD, the test was designed to measure the job skills of adults, aged 16 to 65, in 23 countries. (Fortune)
Visit http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/american-millennials-are-among-the-worlds-least-skilled/ to view the full article online. |
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With just a point and a click, you can browse a face book of felons, a new government website that will warn of the danger these criminals pose to society. Only these are not the faces of sex offenders and serial killers. These criminals are mortgage schemers and inside traders, most likely armed with nothing more than an M.B.A. or a law degree. (The New York Times)
Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/business/dealbook/utah-passes-white-collar-felon-registry.html?ref=business to view the full article online. |
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The best leaders know how to keep moving forward in ambiguous situations. Whether it’s a shifting industry or a PR emergency, they’re expected to make decisions even in extremely uncertain circumstances. For instance, when Brian Cornell took over as CEO of Target last year, he inherited several unresolved situations. The retailer was managing the aftermath of a major security breach, trying to improve its omnichannel experience, and facing questions about its troubled Canada division. (Harvard Business Review)
Visit https://hbr.org/2015/03/avoiding-decision-paralysis-in-the-face-of-uncertainty to view the full article online. |
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Being stuck in a pointless meeting feels like productivity purgatory. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to make meetings faster, more productive, and less boring. It's tempting, then, to start slashing meetings from your schedule wherever possible. Do you really need to meet one-on-one with everyone on your team regularly? "When faced with an onslaught of regular meetings, many managers fall into the trap of believing that they’re too busy to keep their one-on-one meetings with their direct reports," writes Elizabeth Grace Saunders, time coach, author, and founder of Real Life E Time Coaching & Training. Here’s why she says the one-on-one must live. (Fast Company)
Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3043453/work-smart/why-you-should-never-cancel-your-one-on-one-meetings to view the full article online. |
