We warned you there'd be a lot of 2007 year-in-review and 2008 predictions posts. Here we go again. Verizon Business has identified 10 hot business technology trends for 2008, including CIO as a business strategist: CIOs will take on an even more pivotal role in determining how to invest capital...
If you thought there wasn't anything you could learn from watching "The Office" you're wrong -- at least according to Fast Company. In her article, "What Not to Do in The Office" Liz Webber recalls ten memorable mess-ups from our favorite blundering boss, Michael Scott, and applies them to real-life...
Organizations devote abundant time and resources to knowledge management, but what about ignorance management? The nuggets are often nestled somewhere between what you know you don't know and what you don't know you don't know. So how do you get at them? If the stories of fallen...
College student Van Miguel Hartless claims he bit into an unwrapped condom in his Southwestern Whopper at a Rutland, Vermont BK. He's pursuing legal action, seeking damages for pain and suffering, emotional duress, and medical expenses. Franchise owner Carrols Corporation investigated in cooperation with the Vermont Department of Health and...
If you haven't yet heard about Microsoft's naughty artificial intelligence Santa-bot, you're missing out. Think about the topics you'd never imagine Santa discussing -- yes, get your mind in the gutter. Santa Claus came to town, and not just his boot soles were dirty. Perhaps he should have taken SmarterChild upon...
Considering only 25 percent of employees are truly engaged by their work -- and if you believe 80 percent of the work is done by 20 percent of people -- that leaves a lot of employees either going through the motions or otherwise underachieving. Managers are no exception. ...
Speakers at next week's "Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations of the Future" conference, part of Harvard Business School's 100th anniversary celebration, will ask some thought-provoking questions about management's role in innovation. One question about the Internet's impact on collaboration stands out: Are management processes so out of sync with networked processes that they'll...
Do you know the average life expectancy of corporations in general? A new study shows many business leaders don't; managers in young organizations shoot too low, and managers in older ones shoot too high. It's actually less than 50 years. And according to the research, the older an organization, the higher the...
We didn't receive an answer when we asked the question "Why do Indian children keep falling into The Gap?" We do know, however, that Gap Inc. won't sit by idly and watch children being exploited -- not while American consumers are looking, anyway. Gap's pledged $200,000 to improve working standards...
If you're a fan of the recently-outed Fake Steve Jobs aka Dan Lyons -- but not enthusiastic enough to actually purchase his fake memoir, "The Secret Life of Steve Jobs: A Parody" -- rest assured, we've got you covered. Well, GigaOm has you covered, and we're covering that. ...
New research shows light humor among employees is actually good for business (note: putting all your coworker's desk supplies into the vending machine does not qualify as light humor). The study, "The Case for Developing New Research on Humor and Culture in Organizations: Toward a Higher Grade of Manure," takes its title from...
...sleeping pills advertised to children (although they may look appealing when the kids are all pumped-up on sugar later tonight.) Consumers International, a global consumer group, accepted submissions from consumer organizations around the world, and formulated an abridged list of bad products based on the following criteria: the size of the company,...
The LA Daily News has diminished and moved its business section to make room for KNOW, a section that will "contain in-depth information about everything from relationships to cars, from issues of faith to the history of the region." The business section, now located in B2, no longer includes stock listings. Likely, KNOW will start...
UPS reported a third-quarter net income of $1.08 billion, or $1.02 a share, compared with $1.04 billion, or 96 cents a share last year at this time. The company cited growth in its global business, supply chain and freight unit. As a less-than-truckload operator -- a unit that consolidates small...
Mona Shaw, a 75-year old woman from Manassas Virginia, received a three-month suspended sentence, was fined $345, and was issued a year-long restraining order for going at her local Comcast payment center with a hammer. In August, she and her husband waited all day for a Comcast technician to come to their home and...
There's an interesting article in strategy+business called "How to be a Demographic Realist" that presents some false assumptions about retirement -- something 21 percent of the global population will need to think about by 2100, as opposed to 7 percent now. It's probably not news to you that the burgeoning senior population faces some challenges...
Most companies don't make ensuring their employees' mental health a priority. New research shows this is a mistake -- if we're talking about depression, that is. A year-long study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, revealed the financial benefits of getting depressed employees into treatment: Employees who got...
Business Week Online posted an edited transcript of a conversation with author Stephen Joyce who wrote Teaching an Anthill to Fetch: Developing Collaboration @ Work. According to Joyce, collaborative intelligence can be understood as such: Observe firemen fighting fires, platoons of soldiers in combat situations, sports teams playing at their...
In a previous blog, we questioned whether or not employers should encourage healthy lifestyles to increase productivity. If discounted gym memberships and healthy vending machine alternatives -- no doubt, placed next to Snickers bars -- don't do the trick, new regulations may. Companies can now charge unhealthy overweight...
You're taking off a week to go to Hawaii or Paris -- or maybe you're just schlepping it over to small town, Missouri to visit family -- and you tell your employees you'll be unreachable for the week. Come Wednesday you start wondering if that important report got processed. So you...