If you can’t stop thinking about an idea, then it may be time to test the entrepreneurial waters to make sure you have a viable product or service. In a nutshell, viability is about your business’s potential to make a profit. Testing your business idea involves: identifying a problem you can solve or a need to fill with a specific audience, analyzing competitors and potential customers to determine demand, and developing a prototype if needed. Here are a few tips to gauge interest in your business idea: (Black Enterprise)

Launching your own startup can be frustrating and downright difficult. Yet, if you figure out why some startups succeed and others fail, you have a chance to avoid the faith of the latter. Learn how. (Business.com)

Companies have become much more likely to dismiss their chief executive officers over the last several years because of a scandal or improper conduct by the CEO or other employees — including fraud, bribery, insider trading, inflated resumes, and sexual indiscretions. Larger companies are more at risk than smaller ones, as are companies where the CEO has been in office for a long time, and companies where the CEO is also the board chair, according to PwC’s Strategy& recent CEO Success study. (Harvard Business Review)

As a manager, you probably wish you could give all the people on your team more attention. But sometimes certain employees seem to need more than their fair share of your time. Maybe they repeatedly ask you to review their work, look for constant feedback, or regularly show up at your desk to chat. What do you do about that needy person on your team? How do you balance being a responsive manager with the need to get your own work done? And how should you manage your frustration? (Harvard Business Review)

What’s the key to getting your employer on board with your preference for a flexible schedule? Data talks. Use the resources below to help launch a discussion with your employer based on facts that prove the value of flex schedules in making employees more productive. (Flexjobs)

We live in a culture of "yes." We don’t want to disappoint our bosses, colleagues, families, or friends, so we say "yes" as often as we can manage. Oftentimes, we say "yes" when we should say "no." There’s nothing wrong with wanting to please. In fact, we’re hardwired for it. But when we overcommit ourselves, we spend our time checking things off a list rather than actually creating value. This problem has ramped up in recent years as likability has become a key determinant in landing jobs and other professional opportunities. But here’s the trouble with having a corporate culture built around likability: When people are afraid to turn down noncritical projects, good ideas get smothered. Without the ability to say "no" to low-level tasks in order to say "yes" to groundbreaking ones, people stop innovating. (Harvard Business Review)

When it comes to liking your job, the way you feel about your manager could be the deciding factor. In fact, according to a recent employee engagement survey, 50% of people who quit identify their boss as the reason they left. . . . . But before you turn yours into a scapegoat for all that goes wrong in your life, hear this: Blaming everything on her may be more comfortable, but the real problem could actually be you. Yes— you. (Fast Company)

With relatively low diversity numbers, such as only one-fifth of senior tech jobs being held by women (according to a 2016 Computer Weekly survey), company leaders are already at a disadvantage. Building trust and facing difficult diversity issues - especially for those in the tech industry - is a difficult and time-consuming feat. But it’s one that will encourage employees to grow and succeed within their current organization. Here’s how you can use diversity and inclusion to build a positive workplace culture: (Business.com)

Research from last year’s World Economic Forum showed that the gender gap is unlikely to disappear until 2186 and in light of equal pay, women have to wait until 2133 before it happens. So while having an equal split of men to women in tech is one thing, the pay gap is another major issue. Both the pay and gender skills gap are two major issues that even though company execs talk about wanting to close the gap, are not seen to be doing so. (Computer Business Review)

To put together the fastest-growing list, Women Presidents' Organization (WPO_ sent applications to 25,000 women’s businesses using contacts it has developed since the group was founded 20 years ago. This is the 10th year it’s compiled the list. (Forbes)

Polling stations opened across Britain on Thursday for national elections, amid heightened security worries following a series of terror attacks in what one senior police official described as "unprecedented times." The public is being asked to be alert and to report concerns to police as voters choose 650 lawmakers for the House of Commons. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D'Orsi acknowledged concerns about Thursday's general election. (Time)

Last week, Goldman Sachs acquired $2.8 billion worth of bonds issued by Venezuela's state oil company at just 31 cents on the dollar, paying $865 million for the securities. Now Venezuela is looking even more desperate, offering $5 billion worth of bonds at 20 cents on the dollar through a Chinese brokerage, according to the Wall Street Journal, whose reporters have been tracking the country’s attempts to secure emergency cash. That is the kind of financing typically available to people with trembling hands trying to negotiate through bulletproof glass. (The Washington Post)

The Trump administration has sent yet another troubling message concerning HBCUs, contained in a signing statement connected to a temporary federal spending measure. The statement said, "Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Program Account" among other funds, the order said, "My Administration shall treat provisions that allocate benefits on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender...in a manner consistent with the requirement to afford equal protection of the laws under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment." (Atlanta Daily World)

Join us in Philadelphia this September for the nation's premier diversity career, education and networking event. Register now for the 2017 Annual Conference and Expo, presented by NBMBAA and Prospanica, and take advantage of early pricing discounts and best hotel locations.

Michelle Obama looked out into an audience packed with mostly male tech workers and asked them to make room for women in technology. Obama was a guest speaker at WWDC, Apple's annual developer conference, on Tuesday. She was introduced by Tim Cook himself before sitting down with Lisa Jackson, the former head of the EPA who now heads up social and environmental initiatives for Apple (AAPL, Tech30). Their hour-long discussion touched on Obama's post-White House life, diversity in tech and not falling down the stairs of Air Force One. (CNN Money)

There is one thing that’s the same no matter the size of the organization. From small three-person businesses to multinational corporations, employees are required to stay within travel budgets, adhere to company travel policies, and to file expense reports. Most employees likely find the process tedious. (Fast Company)

This practice, known as transparent pricing, has been gaining hold among a select group of retailers, who say that it appeals in particular to millennials — who often want to know not only the provenance of the goods they are buying, but also what, exactly, they are paying for. (The New York Times)

Are going-out-of-business sales near for America's malls? By many accounts, the convenient centers that have been favorites for generations of shoppers appear to be in trouble with a surge in retailers closing locations and increasing online sales. (USA TODAY)

Facebook. Amazon. Apple. Netflix. Google. Not only do they dominate our daily lives, but as their stocks continue to soar, these technology giants may also dictate our financial futures. In the last three years, their share prices have risen far faster than the major market indexes — Amazon leads the way, up 206 percent; Apple trails the pack with a 67 percent gain — as investors of virtually every stripe have piled into these companies. (The New York Times)

Bank savings accounts don't exactly earn you a huge return these days: in fact, most big banks are offering a fraction of a percent in interest on their savings accounts. However, savings accounts do serve an important purpose as a safety net. Should you run into some sort of crisis (losing your job, injuring yourself seriously and expensively, suffering a car breakdown, or so on) a well-funded savings account can get you through it while avoiding the drawbacks of going into debt. But how do you qualify "well-funded" in terms of a saving account? (CNN Money)

The House on Thursday is preparing to vote on sweeping legislation to roll back Wall Street regulations. The bill, introduced by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), offers the country’s nearly 6,000 banks a choice: If they want to avoid many of the regulatory burdens imposed during the Obama administration, they must significantly increase their emergency financial cushion. That way, even if they run into financial trouble, the banks should have enough money to survive without taxpayers’ help, supporters of the bill say. (The Washington Post)