The business model canvas – as opposed to the traditional, intricate business plan – helps organizations conduct structured, tangible, and strategic conversations around new businesses or existing ones. Leading global companies like GE, P&G, and Nestlé use the canvas to manage strategy or create new growth engines, while start-ups use it in their search for the right business model. The canvas's main objective is to help companies move beyond product-centric thinking and towards business model thinking. (Harvard Business Review)
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Contrary to popular belief, stress doesn't have to be a soul-sucking, health-draining force. But few people know how to transform their stress into the positive kind that helps them reach their goals. Recent research confirms that gaining control over job demands, doing work that lends meaning and purpose to life and enjoying support and encouragement from co-workers are all linked to beneficial stress. (The Wall Street Journal)
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The global talent war is heating up as baby boomers begin their mass exodus from the workforce. But a new report reveals employers are not prepared for the new generation of emotionally intelligent, ethnically diverse workers. (CNN)
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Spending all day sitting at your desk does bad things to your body. Like, really bad. If you must sit for work, the proper posture and breathing can help. Here's how. (Fast Company)
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This was supposed to be the age of the mobile (aka nonexistent) office, with "solopreneurs" telecommuting from home or the beach in elastic-waist pants. But many who work independently are discovering alienation lurking behind the home-office fantasy, and an increasing number are joining a new generation of co-working organizations, like Grind, Fueled Collective and NeueHouse – some more exclusive than others. (The New York Times)
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As Amazon.com Inc.'s share price has soared in recent years, so has its stock with M.B.A. students. The company now ranks among the most-coveted destinations for aspiring business leaders. Last year, the Seattle-based online marketplace hit No. 6 in a Fortune survey of where MBAs wanted to work. In 2007, it didn't even crack the top 25. (The Wall Street Journal)
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Your palms are sweaty. You stumble over your words. You don't seem to be getting a clear message across. You look around the table – everyone is more senior than you – both in age and title. You wonder if you'll ever be taken seriously. Sound familiar? If so, you are among many who experience what we call the "grey hair complex." The grey hair complex is a self-induced state of intimidation in the presence of more senior executives. It often begins with the false conviction that you would have more credibility if only you had the physical attributes that convey a higher level of seniority. (Harvard Business Review)
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It’s easy to believe the worst is over in the economic downturn. But for African-Americans, the pain continues – over 13 percent of black workers are unemployed, nearly twice the national average. And that’s not a new development: regardless of the economy, job prospects for African-Americans have long been significantly worse than for the country as a whole. (The New York Times)
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They've endured a three-decade drop in earnings. Even before the financial crash, prime-age men were dropping out of the workforce altogether, and the problem has only worsened since. Meanwhile, women are far outstripping their male counterparts in the area that's most important for a 21st century global economy -- education. (Fortune)
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The Ms. Magic credit card from China Citic Bank (601998) is dotted with Swarovski crystals and offers free beauty treatments and health insurance. Huaxia Bank’s (600015) Pretty Lady card, co-issued with Deutsche Bank (DB), entices women with triple points for cosmetic purchases and fitness club memberships. Citigroup (C), which last year became the first U.S. bank allowed to issue its own solo logo cards in China, offers to waive its first-year annual fee of 300 yuan ($49) for Rewards cardholders applying before March or spending more than 20,000 yuan by the end of December. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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Last week, the war in Syria, which has killed more than 70,000 people, claimed another prominent victim. During a clash between regime and opposition troops, the minaret of Aleppo's ancient Umayyad mosque – for centuries the most striking feature of the city's skyline – tumbled, reportedly brought down by a tank shell. You could have heard the minaret falling miles away in Aleppo's city center, where, against a backdrop of gunfire and the whump of mortars, residents maintain an improbable veneer of normalcy. (Fortune)
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If David Mick had his way, meditation would be part of the core curriculum in business school. Mick, a marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, teaches an undergraduate course, Cultivating Wisdom and Well-Being for Personal and Professional Growth, that includes meditation among the course work. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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One of the quieter crises in American education that we like to write about is the fact that most of the country's high-achieving, low-income high school students never bother applying to selective colleges. At first glance, this might seem like a bit of an obscure problem to focus on. But if you value meritocracy, or economic mobility, then getting smart-but-poor students into good schools should be somewhere near the top of your policy wish list. (The Atlantic)
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Join us September 10-14 in Houston for our 35th Annual Conference and Expo, "Courageous Leadership: Owning Your Own Success." Register today to take advantage of early bird pricing (members get even deeper discounts!), get first crack at hotel rooms and set yourself up for an unforgettable networking, career building and professional development experience. Early discounts end June 29, so Register Today!

 

DiversityInc magazine recently named Travelers one of 25 Noteworthy Companies in recognition of its diversity and inclusion efforts. Travelers was chosen from more than 893 participating companies based on an annual survey that measures CEO Commitment, Human Capital, Corporate and Organizational Communications, and Supplier Diversity. (BusinessWire)
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Like the rest of the Microsoft Office unit, the Office Web Apps team seems to be on a path to deliver more new updates more frequently. This week, the Web Apps team (which also internally goes by WAC, or Web Applications Companion) blogged about some of the new features coming to Office Web Apps "over the next year and beyond." These include official support for Chrome on Android tablets and real-time co-authoring (instead of "same-time" authoring), starting with PowerPoint Web App. (ZDNet)
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Google Glass isn't even officially out yet, but apps for the Internet-connected eyewear are popping up all over the web. Google officially only offers five apps: Google+, Gmail, Google Now, The New York Times, and Path. But that's not stopping early Glass adopters from creating their own apps. (Business Insider)
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Crowdfunding has opened up a world of opportunity to people searching for capital, but that doesn’t mean those opportunities extend equally to all segments of the population. BlackStartup debuted a crowdfunding platform today that features projects and ideas benefitting the African-American community. (Venture Beat)
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Microlending has lost a lot of its shine in the seven years since Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for delivering small loans to help poor women start businesses. Starting in 2009, randomized trials (PDF) suggested that the benefits of microfinance had been oversold and that small loans have limited power to lift people from poverty. The next year, borrower suicides in India followed overreach by for-profit microlenders, punctuating the point. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)
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It’s a ho-hum economy, at best. Four years after the end of the Great Recession, gross domestic product appears to be growing at a lackluster pace, labor productivity is lagging and, despite a slight improvement last month, the unemployment rate is still a painfully high 7.5 percent. (The New York Times)
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With 2.2 million more government workers now, assuming the same labor force size, the unemployment rate wouldn't be 7.7 percent. It would be 6.3 percent. That doesn't mean the "real" unemployment rate is 6.3 percent. It doesn't mean state and local governments should be 2.2 million workers flusher. But it highlights the fact that, in terms of U.S. government responses to recessions, this time is different. (The Atlantic)
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Opening the mail to find a "preapproved" offer on a credit card can feel like being welcomed into an exclusive club with lots of benefits. In reality, you may not even make the membership list. (MarketWatch)
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Imagine planning for a vacation you'll be taking some 20, 30 or even 40 years from now. You don't know where it will be, how much it will cost or how long it will last, but you're tasked with saving a chunk of every paycheck toward that trip until the day you embark on it. You're not even sure how much to save or when you have saved enough. Crazy, huh? (Kiplinger's)
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Congress is considering a bill that would allow states to collect sales taxes from online retailers. Proponents say a law is necessary to level the playing field with brick-and-mortar stores and to raise revenue for states. Simply put, the Marketplace Fairness Act would require any online retailer with more than $1 million in annual sales to collect and remit sales tax. (NPR)
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Consumer brands advertise heavily on television, and their ad budgets will be up for grabs next week when TV networks debut fall programs at the upfronts. But as more people tune in online, many marketers are finding that ads alone aren't enough. (Marketplace Business)
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On July 21, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known as the Dodd-Frank bill. Reporter Gary Rivlin says "the passage of Dodd-Frank was something of a miracle." But to the chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, a lobbying group that represents 100 of the country's largest financial institutions, it was just "halftime." (NPR)
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Almost two in three eligible blacks cast ballots in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, marking the first time they had a higher voter participation rate than non-Hispanic whites, a U.S. Census Bureau analysis released this week shows. (Bloomberg)
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Companies and managers are equipped to handle job fatigue among employees, but what happens when burnout – described as persistent fatigue, detachment or resentment triggered by excessive work and stress – strikes the top boss? (The Wall Street Journal)
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Each one of us holds a set of beliefs and attitudes – a mindset – that determines how we interpret and respond to situations. That mindset shapes how we interact with others, and therefore it also affects the people we work with – in ways both subtle and profound. A person with a distrustful mindset, for example, views situations at work as competitive and acts to advance his own interest at others' expense by politicking: shifting allegiances, taking credit, assigning blame, withholding or distorting information. (Harvard Business Review)
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I remember all of my bosses. Some were bad. Most were good. But only one was truly memorable – in the best possible way. Memorable bosses possess qualities that may not always show up on paper but do always show up where it matters most: in the hearts and minds of the people they lead. Here are eight qualities of truly memorable bosses. (Inc.)
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A perfect storm of airline mergers, frequent-flier program changes and reduced flight capacity could make it tougher and more expensive for travelers to redeem miles in coming months, experts say. Travelers who can’t reasonably expect to earn elite status – and the free upgrades, priority boarding and other perks that come with it – may be better served these days by chasing fare sales and using a cash-back credit card instead of one branded to a particular airline. (MarketWatch)
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If you want to see the Fourth of July parade in your little hometown, you should book your flight now. Otherwise, you may have to drive there, or watch a video of the floats via an old friend's smartphone. That's because air service – especially to smaller markets &jndash; is shrinking as airlines merge to boost profits, according to a study released Wednesday. (NPR)
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