We wish there was a handbook for success, but there isn't. Here's the next best thing: a list of ways you can realize your dreams--and be a more productive person in the process. (Fast Company)

Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3014736/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/9-easy-to-steal-habits-of-the-super-successful to view the full article online.

 

Feeling shy in a group meeting? Your smartphone may be to blame. An unpublished paper out of Harvard Business School suggests that using small gadgets makes people less assertive. Those who use larger gadgets come across as more assertive. (The Wall Street Journal)

Visit http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2013/07/25/one-more-reason-to-put-down-that-smartphone/?mod=WSJ_Careers_At_Work to view the full article online.

 

The bankruptcy of Detroit, which may cut retirement benefits of 30,000 current and former city workers, is causing investors to scrutinize billion-dollar shortfalls in government pensions in other parts of the country. (Bloomberg)

Visit http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-24/pension-deficits-get-renewed-scrutiny-post-detroit-filing.html to view the full article online.

 

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Take Full Advantage of NBMBAA's 35th Annual Conference and Exposition
Already registered for Conference? Make sure you're taking full advantage by keeping up with the Conference website to secure your housing, see options for booking your travel, register for discounted on-site coaching and to make the most of your week in Houston.

Not yet registered? Pre-registration discounts are available through August 15, so register today and begin planning for an unforgettable networking, career building and professional development experience in Houston. View our full Pre-Conference Planning Guide for help planning your journey to Conference.
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It's now been about six weeks since all Yahoo! employees had to start showing up at the Internet giant's offices every day. The company-confidential but widely circulated memo that banned telecommuting stressed the importance of physical proximity for preserving the creative culture that new CEO Marissa Mayer had been trying to build. Many commentators criticized Mayer for limiting her employees' autonomy and signaling that she didn't trust them. (Harvard Business Review)

Visit http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/07/working_from_home_a_work_in_pr.html to view the full article online.

 

Would you rather flip through a Pottery Barn catalog or train for and run a half-marathon? The secret to time management is all about priorities. (Fast Company)

Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3014673/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/how-i-learned-to-get-the-most-out-of-every-weeks-168-hours to view the full article online.

 

MBA recruiting deteriorated this spring largely because of declines at top-ranked schools, with nearly half of all business schools surveyed reporting that on-campus hiring was little changed or had decreased, according to new research. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-23/mba-recruiting-is-down-again#r=most%20popular to view the full article online.

 

The racial wage gap in the United States – the gap in salary between whites and blacks with similar levels of education and experience – is shaped by geography, according to new social science research. The larger the city, the larger the racial wage gap, according to researchers Elizabeth Ananat, Shihe Fu and Stephen L. Ross, whose findings were recently by the National Bureau of Economic Research. (NPR)

Visit http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/07/24/204898755/wage-gap-research to view the full article online.

 

China has unveiled a series of moves aimed at boosting growth, indicating that policymakers are concerned about the slowdown in its economy. The steps include tax breaks for small businesses, reduced fees for exporters and opening up of railway construction. (BBC News)

Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23445528 to view the full article online.

 

For Mohamed Abdulle, sending money to his family in Somalia means a trip to a high street in Stratford, East London, home to a large expatriate community. Once there he hands over cash, a telephone number and a name, usually that of his grandmother who lives in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, to an agent. A few minutes later Mr Abdulle, who works as a shop assistant, gets a text message letting him know the cash has arrived on the other side. This fast and reliable system, developed during decades of war in Somalia, is used by hundreds of thousands in the global diaspora, as well as by some UN offices and aid agencies to pay staff. (The Economist)

Visit http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21581995-western-worries-about-money-laundering-are-threatening-economic-lifeline to view the full article online.

 

The MBA Tour is kicking off events on July 30, 2013 in Houston, TX. A great opportunity for applicants to Meet face to face with Admission Directors and alumni. Participating schools include: UCLA, MIT, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, HEC Paris, IE - Spain and more! The event is free for MBA candidates. Register free online.

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

 

For two full weeks before his MBA admissions interview at Harvard Business School, Alex Kleiner would mull over a list of potential questions every night before going to bed. He drove up to Boston on a Sunday from his parents home in Connecticut the night before his scheduled session with an HBS admissions official. (Fortune)

Visit http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/07/25/harvard-mba-interview/?iid=SF_F_River to view the full article online.

 

Harlen Williams, a doctoral candidate at Argosy University/Atlanta, is conducting a study on the career ascension of senior-level African American males in Fortune 500 companies. The research seeks to capture "lived experiences" illustrated through a study of occurrences impacting ascension beyond the glass ceiling. The goal of this research is to permit participants to describe encounters, allowing the researcher to determine if commonalities exist, that may result in the emergence of perceptions from their responses as they experience a phenomenon.
View the Study Requirements
Informed Consent for Study

 

Join Black Enterprise for 20 outstanding years of the Black Enterprise Golf and Tennis Challenge, August 29-Sept 1, at the PGA National Resort & Spa in West Palm Beach, Florida with a special performance by Charlie Wilson. Get ready for a weekend of sun and fun, whether you prefer to shoot for the lowest round, relax away the stress, catch poolside rays or dance the night away. The choice is yours, visit http://www.blackenterprise.com/GT and use discount code NBMBAA for a special rate!

 

High school students from 19 states competed in the National Black MBA Association, Inc. (NBMBAA) 12th Annual Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) Business Case Competition with total scholarship awards of $30,000 dollars. A youth program offered through local NBMBAA chapters, the two-day event held at Bentley University in Boston, MA, gave high school students an opportunity to analyze an MBA-level business case, and present their findings to corporate executives and business school faculty.

Visit http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-black-mba-association-inc-announces-2013-leaders-of-tomorrow-business-case-competition-scholarship-awards-recipients-216209451.html to view the full article online.

 

If Facebook were a car, it just went from zero to 60 mph in six seconds. The social networking company said Wednesday that it had revved up its mobile advertising from virtually nothing a year ago to 41 percent of its total ad revenue of $1.6 billion in the second quarter. (The New York Times)

Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/technology/facebook-beats-expectations-on-strong-mobile-growth.html?ref=business&_r=0 to view the full article online.

 

Ask yourself: Are you addicted to technology – any technology? Do you check email obsessively, tweet without restraint or post on Facebook during Thanksgiving dinner? Or perhaps you are powerless in the face of an iPad loaded with Angry Birds? Many of the most popular technologies of our time tap into powerful reward mechanisms in our brains. (NPR)

Visit http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/24/204621796/ONLINE-REWARDS to view the full article online.

 

Instead of giving your TV a smartphone app interface, Google’s $35 gadget turns your smartphone, tablet, or computer into a remote control. (Fast Company)

Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/3014803/tech-forecast/googles-chromecast-is-a-brilliant-inversion-of-the-streaming-tv-market to view the full article online.

 

Just five minutes and a genius business idea can help you to win big. Gone are the days of conventional business plan competitions. For this activity, three people will have five minutes each to sell their business idea to a mixed panel of venture capitalists, academic instructors and successful entrepreneurs – using only a whiteboard and marker. The winner will receive $10,000. The time is now to bring your best business idea to the table.
Register Today!

 

One of my big failures taught me that your gut reaction can give you a better answer than pages of analysis. In 2007, I decided I wanted to open a hedge fund. It took me eight months of research without a nibble of client interest before I realized that I had to give up the venture. I realized afterward that I had been walking down a path my gut initially told me would not be a profitable one. (Entrepreneur)

Visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227462 to view the full article online.

 

Sign up for the Entrepreneurial Institute today. Entrepreneurial Institute (EI), is a "must attend" day long series of business development workshops and breakthrough training sessions at the NBMBAA 35th Annual Conference & Exposition. The Entrepreneurial Institute (EI) attracts new entrepreneurs, current business owners and small business professionals seeking the knowledge and tools of success. EI provides professional development via workshops, panels, discussions, networking opportunities and insights from local and national entrepreneurs who have achieved success in their businesses.

 

Rumors of the American Dream's demise have been greatly exaggerated – at least in parts of America. That's the message of a new study that looks at the connection between geography and social mobility in the United States. It turns out modern-day Horatio Algers have just as much a chance in much of the country as they do anywhere else in the world today. But if you want to move up, don't move to the South. (The Atlantic)

Visit http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/are-the-suburbs-where-the-american-dream-goes-to-die/278014/ to view the full article online.

 

Many people think Motown is such an exceptional case that it holds few lessons for other places. What was once the country’s fourth-most-populous city grew rich thanks largely to a single industry. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler once made nearly all the cars sold in America; now, thanks to competition from foreign brands built in non-union states, they sell less than half. Detroit’s population has fallen by 60% since 1950. The murder rate is 11 times the national average. The previous mayor is in prison. Shrubs, weeds and raccoons have reclaimed empty neighbourhoods. The debts racked up when Detroit was big and rich are unpayable now that it is smaller and poor. (The Economist)

Visit http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21582258-it-not-just-detroit-american-cities-and-states-must-promise-less-or-face-disaster to view the full article online.

 

After years of decline to rock-bottom levels, interest rates are on the rise. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage was recently 4.35%, more than a point above the 2012 low of 3.3%. Whether you're buying, selling or refinancing a home, here's how to navigate the new environment. (Money)

Visit http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/01/real_estate/mortgage-rates.moneymag/index.html?iid=SF_M_Lead to view the full article online.

 

It's nice to frequent a business where everyone knows your name. These days, however, a friendly greeting may be among the better perks of regular patronage. (CNN/Money)

Visit http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/01/pf/loyalty-programs.moneymag/index.html?iid=SF_M_River to view the full article online.

 

If you need to pass the PMP® or CAPM® exam and want to get the best project management learning experience in just 3 days, then CertifiNOW is the right choice for you. This project management learning program provides the best learning experience in a condensed amount of time, while also satisfying most, if not all, of your professional certification, education, and training needs. The CertifiNOW certification course reduces exam preparation time from an average of nine to twelve months, down to 3 days.
Learn More and Register

 

As the chief executive of Barnes & Noble (BKS) from 2010 to 2013, William Lynch might have had one of the most difficult jobs in the retail business. He made it harder still by running a large chain of bookstores as though it were a tech startup. Burning through about a billion dollars, the company built its own e-reading devices, which were well-received, and then its own tablet computers, which weren’t. Barnes & Noble sold so few tablets over the holidays last year that it actually lost money during the one time retailers can count on profits. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-25/the-end-barnes-and-noble-in-silicon-valley#r=nav-r-story to view the full article online.

 

In a 46-page document shared with employees of SAC Capital Advisors on Monday, lawyers for Steven Cohen argued that the hedge fund manager "did not even read" the 2008 e-mail regarding Dell cited by the Securities and Exchange Commission in its administrative proceeding arguing that he has been negligent in his oversight of his firm. On an average day, the report said, Cohen gets about 1,000 e-mails, and he opens just 11 percent of them. (Bloomberg/Businessweek)

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-24/e-mail-management-tips-from-steve-cohen#r=nav-fs to view the full article online.

 

Many businesses that don't offer health insurance to all their employees breathed a sigh of relief earlier this month when they learned they'd have an extra year to comply with the new health care law or face stiff penalties. (NPR)

Visit http://www.npr.org/2013/07/24/205123907/full-time-vs-part-time-workers-restaurants-weigh-obamacare to view the full article online.

 

The race to become the next leader of the Federal Reserve looks increasingly like a contest between two economists: Lawrence Summers and Janet Yellen. Mr. Summers is an Obama administration insider who was at President Barack Obama's side during the 2009 financial crisis and maintains close contacts with the president and his top economic advisers. (The Wall Street Journal)

Visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323971204578626101298062098.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth to view the full article online.

 

Out of the many ways that managers get things done, one of the most underused is what I call "convening authority": the ability to bring people together to share information, build alignment, or solve problems. To explain, let me share a quick example, in two acts. (Harvard Business Review)

Visit http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2013/07/dont-neglect-your-power-to-bri.html to view the full article online.

 

One of the precepts of Predictable Success is that being successful in business (in anything, really) is simple: just make – and implement – good decisions. Even simpler: just make one good decision (your next one). Then follow it by another. Then another. Then another. Simple, elegant, logical. (Inc.)

Visit http://www.inc.com/les-mckeown/the-most-important-leadership-skill-you-need.html to view the full article online.