Top News
No billionaire has had a better year than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos is the biggest dollar gainer on the 2017 World’s Billionaires List, in a year when 56% of billionaires saw their fortunes increase. Bezos' net worth jumped by $27.6 billion in the past year -- more than the total net worth of all but the 24 richest billionaires. Amazon stock climbed 67% in the past year in part because of the success of its cloud-computing unit, Amazon Web Services. ( Forbes)
Visit https://www.forbes.com/sites/katevinton/2017/03/20/amazon-jeff-bezos-biggest-billionaire-gainer-2017/#26d1500e2da1 to view the full article online.
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Career
Do you often find your workday spiraling out of control? You start each day with a plan to get so much done, but soon find yourself becoming distracted, focusing on low-priority tasks and, simply, procrastinating. So how can you regain control of your time? One-size-fits-all lists on how to be more productive don't work; we’ll outline productivity techniques that can be adapted to your personality and working style. ( The New York Times)
Visit https://www.nytimes.com/guides/business/how-to-improve-your-productivity-at-work to view the full article online.
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Résumé "whitening" or deleting clear identifiers of race or ethnicity might improve your chances of getting a callback, but who wants to work for an employer who would discriminate against you because of your name? However, if you feel your name is impeding your chances of having your résumé land in a hiring manager’s lap, here are five things you should consider. ( Black Enterprise)
Visit http://www.blackenterprise.com/career/career-advice/5-tips-overcoming-name-discrimination/ to view the full article online.
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The MPW Insiders Network is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for, "How can you find career support outside of your friends and family?" is written by Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop. ( Fortune)
Visit http://fortune.com/2017/03/22/build-a-bear-ceo-career-support/ to view the full article online.
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Diversity in the Workplace
A workplace diversity study done by the University of Florida defines diversity as "acknowledging, understanding, accepting, and valuing differences among people with respect to age, class, race, ethnicity, gender, disabilities, etc." Ronaldo Hardy said it’s important for credit union leaders to take a look at the culture they’ve created, and does that culture support two things: candor and compassion. ( Credit Union Times)
Visit http://www.cutimes.com/2017/03/17/workplace-diversity-in-credit-unions to view the full article online.
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Education
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been a safe haven for Black students to express themselves without judgement from their white counterparts. In fact, Shirley Caswell wrote in the Washington Post that a 2015 Gallup report measured five elements of well-being — social, purpose, financial, community and physical — and found that black HBCU graduates were "thriving" to a greater degree, in all categories, than their black counterparts who attended other institutions. The gap was largest in financial well-being. Black HBCU grads also felt that their colleges better prepared them for life after graduation (55 percent) than Black graduates who attended other institutions (29 percent). ( Afro American Newspapers)
Visit https://www.afro.com/increasing-funding-hbcus-essential-ending-educational-inequality/ to view the full article online.
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NBMBAA
Sponsored by the National Black MBA Association Austin Chapter, the HBCU Battle of the Brains brought together the best and brightest undergraduate and graduate students from HBCUs around the country to showcase their talent while competing for cash awards and the title of 2017 champion. The HBCU Battle of the Brains — a hybrid of a "Hackathon" and a "Case Competition" — challenged the teams of students to develop a solution to a complex issue then pitch that solution in front of judges and a live audience.
Visit http://news.morgan.edu/morgans-team-of-scholars-takes-third-place-in-hbcu-battle-of-the-brains/ to view the full article online.
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Technology
The stunning advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning has brought advances in society. These technologies have improved medicine and how quickly doctors can diagnose disease, for example. IBM’s AI platform Watson helps reduce water waste in drought stricken areas. AI even entertains us—the more you use Netflix, the more it learns what your viewing preferences are and makes suggestions based on what you like to watch. However, there is a very dark side to AI, and it’s worrying many social scientists and some in the tech industry. These people say it’s even more troublesome that AI and machine learning are advancing so fast during these current times. ( Black Enterprise)
Visit http://www.blackenterprise.com/technology/artificial-intelligence-weapon-hate-racism/ to view the full article online.
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A lot of bad and sexist stuff is happening in the tech sector these days, but one glimmer of hope comes from Stack Overflow's annual developer survey. The report queried 64,000 professionals about the state of the developer industry and found that 10% of the respondents identified as women. While that's still disturbingly low, it is a marked uptick from the last year's responses, which was at 6.6%. What's more, writes Stack Overflow, "nearly twice the number of women said they had been coding for less than a year." This indicates that the pool of female developers worldwide is perhaps growing, which is heartening. ( Fast Company)
Visit https://news.fastcompany.com/more-women-in-tech-may-be-looking-at-developer-careers-4032986 to view the full article online.
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The Economy
But there’s another theory that deserves mentioning, especially because it fits with recent research about the declining health outcomes among American men. That theory suggests that American men are dropping out of the workforce because they are suffering from serious health conditions that make it difficult for them to work. As their health deteriorates, they’re getting on pain medications, which then make it even more difficult to re-enter the workforce. ( The Atlantic)
Visit https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/03/mortality-of-american-men-and-the-labor-force/520329/ to view the full article online.
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Fifty-two of the 100 largest U.S. cities were majority-renter in 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau data compiled for Bloomberg by real estate brokerage Redfin. Twenty-one of those cities have shifted to renter-domination since 2009. These include such hot housing markets as Denver and San Diego and lukewarm locales, such as Detroit and Baltimore, better known for vacant homes than residential development. ( Bloomberg)
Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-23/renters-now-rule-half-of-u-s-cities to view the full article online.
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Personal Finance
If you’re obsessed with HGTV, remodeling and regularly use phrases like "reclaimed wood" and "farmhouse feel," you’ve probably kicked around the idea of buying investment property. The popular TV niche has given birth to a group of people who are motivated to improve their incomes with do-it-yourself projects and tenants in tow. While it may seem simple and fulfilling on the small screen, buying rental property carries the same risks as purchasing your primary home. ( USA TODAY)
Visit http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/03/22/4-questions-ask-before-buying-rental-property/99325962/ to view the full article online.
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