This week, Slate is running a series of articles about that omnipresent elephant in the cubicle: procrastination. While most of the articles aren't exactly How-Not-To Guides, I did learn a little bit from skimming through a few of them. Emily Yoffe's piece taught me that procrastination is a learned trait,...
The Idea in Brief Half of all acquiring companies pay more for target firms than they're worth. Often it's because of executives' mental biases: Their interest in a deal keeps them from being objective about its value....
The Idea in Brief Are you one of the growing number of people struggling to make mid-career changes? Searching for ten easy steps to professional reinvention? Or awaiting flashes of insight--while opportunities pass you by? Would...
What do you do when faced with a problem you can't solve? Wait around for inspiration? Pace? Go to lunch? While we may think what we do with our bodies has little effect on how well our brains work (assuming we're adequately nourished and rested), this week the Boston Globe...
That's right. We're back to work, back to school, back to the grind. There's nothing like that first full week of the year, is there? The calendar says Tuesday, but I'd swear it was Thursday -- sure proof that school has started up again. I've read about...
Some critics called Amazon's Kindle electronic book reader overpriced and poorly designed, while others hailed it "the book of the future." There may be truth on both sides of the debate, but nonetheless, consumers have spoken, and their response has been highly favorable. Now there's just one thing standing in the way of...
You're not in the aviation or shipping business so you're not expecting the near record price of oil to have much of an impact on your business. That's a mistake, according to a number of respected news outlets today. Marketwatch.com is warning that everything from cosmetics...
The collapse of the sub-prime lending market with all its attendant effects took a lot of people by surprise this summer. (But, as we've previously blogged, not everyone.) Should we have been so surprised? Perhaps those with a vested interest in the industry were blinded by their own need to...
The New York Times moved into a brand-new office building this week, and already rival news sources are jumping at the opportunity to point out the weaknesses, including mice and poor office design. Putting aside the thought that this is sour-grapes reporting from journalists who might be...
If you can't escape the office bully, a recent Wall Street Journal article offers some ways to cope, courtesy of Robert Sutton, author of book-of-the-moment The No Asshole Rule. The article includes some practical, real-world advice, such as, "Don't blame yourself." Instead, Sutton recommends reminding yourself that you...
Companies seem to be jumping over themselves to adopt business ethics and policies. But the way some companies implement them, one wonders if they're designed to actually affect change or just to improve P.R. In the current Business Week, Pallavi Gogoi looks at the plight of whistleblowers,...
CFO Magazine's June 2007 edition includes a story on workplace diversity that shows there's been little growth of minorities in the financial world. The article shares the experience of Oscar Munoz, the CFO for CSX Corp, who was on vacation at a resort hotel and was asked by a white...
Here's a great article brief from Harvard Business Online on why businesses need an Office of Strategy Management or OSM. The article argues that most businesses fail to reach profitable growth because of the strategic disconnect that exists between different departments within the company. How can you solve this? The...
Starting this week, you can download BNET feature articles in PDF format. Save BNET Crash Courses, Briefings, Basics, and other articles to your computer desktop by clicking the "Download" button that appears on the story's tool bar: by Joseph De Avila
There's a great profile (though a bit long-ish) on Barry Nalebuff, economist and chairman of organic beverage company Honest Tea, in this spring's Strategy+Business. The article discusses how Nalebuff used game theory, "a mathematical tool used to anticipate possible scenarios and develop appropriate strategies to deal with them," in his...
So, what exactly is My BNET? Think of it as a combination briefcase, message center, and control panel for everything you do while using BNET. Best of all, you don’t have to pay to use these great features. They’re all benefits of your free BNET registration. You can use your...
Some of the finest minds of our generation worked hard to make the new BNET intuitive and easy-to-navigate, but for those who were used to the old site -- or those who would rather let us do the driving -- this post will help you get reoriented. On the BNET...
Pitching the media can be tough. Every day, reporters are inundated with breaking news from different sources, all clamoring for attention. One way to break through the cacophony is to offer a different type of article - one that speaks to a topic that's of interest to a target audience...
This paper gives the reader tips for writing technical articles. It offers ideas about how to use them on a Web site and in other communications to increase awareness and generate qualified leads. Writers, marketers and product managers will find the practical approach presented here useful in developing technical articles....
Consumers wake in the morning, have breakfast, take the same route to work past the same billboards, return home and watch the same TV shows before going to bed at the same time. As depressing as this is, if brand managers are aware of these rhythms they can ensure their...
With AT&T Tech Support 360, you'll have certified, U.S. based technicians on call 24/7 to help keep your computers, connections, software and peripherals up to speed for just 82¢ a day.
