U.S. productivity

American workers are the most productive in the world, according to recent UN statistics. The U.S. economy produced the most wealth per capita per year followed by Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France. Factors explaining the high U.S. productivity rate include longer work hours, higher information and communication levels, corporate structure, and fluidity of competition and foreign trade.
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Mad Men

The television series "Mad Men" first aired on AMC in 2007. The show centers on the staff of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York's Madison Avenue during the early 1960s. The main character is Don Draper, the firm's creative director. The storyline draws on the era's business setting and depicts the changing social fabric of the 1960s.
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Adam Smith

Adam Smith is considered the "father of economics". The Scottish philosopher and economist lived during the 18th century. His principle economic premise held that if government left the marketplace to its own devices, the free market would guarantee a result beneficial to the populace. Smith published one of the most influential books of all time, The Wealth of Nations, in 1776.
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Four business stages

Most businesses will generally experience four stages: start-up, growth, maturity, and decline. Start-ups are businesses that have recently come into existence. Businesses in the growth phase can often function using their own limited resources. Mature firms have achieved a certain amount of name recognition. Businesses in the declining phase tend to experience a shrinking market.
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Forecast vs. prediction

The terms forecast and prediction are sometimes used interchangeably. Forecast implies probability. A forecast is made by observing the trend of similar events and is often based on historical data. Prediction implies hypothesis. A prediction is derived from a theory which states that if a certain set of conditions is satisfied, a particular set of events will occur.
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Alternative financial services

More than one in four American households use check chashers, payday lenders or pawnbrokers rather than a bank, according to recent FDIC report. Those using check cashers and other services say they are faster, cheaper and more convenient than banks even though they pay a fee to cash a check. Nearly 30 million Americans have no bank account or use alternative financial services.
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Business factoring

Business factoring is used by companies with accounts receivable balances in order to improve their cash-flow situation. Factoring is the process whereby a finance company provides immediate money against a company's outstanding invoice balance. The receiving company obtains immediate cash in return for a fee paid to the finance company.
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Entrepreneurial spirit

The U.S. holds an unprecedented entrepreneurial spirit. According to the Small Business Administration, over 500,000 new companies with employees are created annually in the United States. Industry experts attribute the high rate to increased layoffs, less executive job security, and more flexibility to operate a business as a secondary source of income.
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Profit margin

A company's profit margin is defined as net income divided by net revenue. Profit margin is usually expressed as a percentage. Calculating profit margin allows for normalized comparison of companies in the same industry. Higher profit margins indicate good performance while lower margins indicate inefficiency. Profit margins vary from industry to industry.
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Customer service

A Rockefeller University survey found that almost 70% of customers leave because of perceived rude or indifferent behavior by an employee, versus about 20% combined for price and product quality. Another study of customer complaint behavior, conducted by research consultancy TARP, found that only 5% of customers with problems complain to management while 50% simply walk away.
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Delegation guidelines

The hallmark of good supervision is effective delegation. Author Thomas R. Horton suggests the following delegation guidelines: delegate the entire task to one person; select the appropriate person; clarify the preferred results; delegate responsibility and authority; ask for a summary back from the delegatee; get progress feedback; evaluate and reward performance.
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ROI

ROI stands for Return On Investment. The simple ratio is used to evaluate the net benefits of a project or investment versus its cost. In math terms, the ROI ratio equals the benefit divided by the cost. ROI is a popular method due to its simplicity. If the resulting ROI is negative, the project or investment is deemed a poor investment.
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The customer is always right

The phrase "the customer is always right" was coined in the late 19th century by Marshall Field and Harry Gordon Selfridge for Marshall Field's Department Store. Nordstrom adopted the same customer philosophy during the 20th century and became American's largest specialty retailer. Nordstrom's legendary customer service has been the subject of books, magazine features, and countless news stories.
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Green business

A green business is an ecologically-friendly business. It is not limited to any particular market — it could be any kind of product for any market. What characterizes a green business is that it is run in such a way as to conserve natural resources, eliminate waste and remain ecologically in balance. Addressing climate change is the number one perceived green issue among most businesses.
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The Leadership Engine

"The Leadership Engine: How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level", by Noel Tichy and Eli Cohen, suggest that effective mangers lead as well as manage. The authors conclude that the best companies have "good leaders who nurture the development of other leaders at all levels of the organization."
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Multitasking

Several research studies have concluded that multitasking can actually result in less productivity and efficiency. Researchers conclude that for various types of tasks, people lose time when they switch from task to task. Further, as task complexity increases, lost time increases. The stops, starts and interruptions of multitasking generally slows people down in terms of bottom line output.
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Standard Oil

John D. Rockefeller built Standard Oil during the 19th Century, earning him the distinction of being America's first billionaire. Standard Oil was established in Ohio in 1870 and by the turn of the century became one of the largest multinational corporations in the world. Standard Oil was broken up into 34 independent companies in 1911 by the U.S. Supreme Court under the Sherman Antitrust act.
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The 50-50-90 rule

The 50-50-90 rule suggests that anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there is a 90 percent probability you will get it wrong.
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The 80-20 rule

The 80-20 rule, also known as the Pereto Principal, states that for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The business application of this rule of thumb says for most companies, 80% of its revenue comes from 20% of its customers.
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Internet search

Internet search engines are no longer limited in querying only web pages for results. The web has evolved into a vast collection of files that support a variety of applications. Google's Universal search and Yahoo's Glue search well beyond web pages, bringing back results from images, video, news, blogs, and even from specific web sites such as WebMD and Wikipedia.
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Endowments

Nearly 80 universities have endowments over $1 billion, according to data compiled by the Boston Globe. A robust stock market and generous donations have helped boost endowments to record levels. Some lawmakers are calling for more endowment spending to offset tuition increases. They suggest requiring colleges to spend at least 5 percent of their endowments each year, as nonprofits are required.
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Competitive advantage

The most important attribute that Warren Buffet looks for in a company is "sustainable competitive advantage". According to author Erica Olsen, competitive advantage can be boiled down to one question: what is a company best at in its market and why? Olsen suggests that the best companies always understand their competitive advantage and make it a key aspect of planning, strategy and growth.
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China

China is an economic superpower. According to the World Bank, China has been the world’s leading producer of steel, copper, aluminum, cement, and coal for several years. China is second in oil imports and is the world's second largest auto market. With ample supplies of money, resources, and people, the world's fastest growing economy will continue its unprecedented growth into the 21st century.
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Energy costs

CEOs have ranked energy costs as one of their biggest challenges, according to the Business Roundtable's Energy Task Force. Energy prices are rising in the face of increasing demand. Public policy has leaned against nuclear and coal energy sources, drilling and building oil refineries. At the same time, global demand has risen steadily, especially from new powerhouse economies in Asia and Europe.
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Social computing

Social computing, via websites such as FaceBook and Twitter, puts power in communities, not institutions. As more individuals use the Internet to shop, work, and exchange ideas, a more egalitarian social structure is emerging. Individuals take cues from one another, rather than traditional sources of authority — like corporations, media outlets, political institutions or organized religions.
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CEO Express

CEOExpress.com, the executive’s interface to the Internet, employs expert human editors and "mind ergonomics" to deliver the most critical and useful web information in a clear, easy-to-use format. CEOExpress filters and organizes the content executives need on the Internet while adding features to the site to make their lives even more streamlined and efficient.
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Vacation benefits

There is no federal law that requires employers to provide vacation time, paid or unpaid, to its employers. Most employees consider it to be one of their most important benefits. Workplace experts agree that it is important to productivity and morale for employees to take time off in order to rest and rejuvenate. The typical U.S. worker receives ten vacation days per year.
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10/80/10 Performance Principal

The 10/80/10 Performance Principal identifies workers in three categories. The first 10% are self-starters; they possess the right skills, knowledge and beliefs to be highly effective. The middle 80% represents the adaptors; employees with some of the skills and knowledge to be successful. The last 10% represent workers that will not be successful regardless of training or direction.
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MBA degrees

George W. Bush is the first U.S. President to hold an MBA degree. Dartmouth College established the first graduate business school in 1900 offering an advanced degree in commercial sciences, the fore bearer of the modern MBA. Today, more than 100,000 MBA degrees are awarded each year in the U.S. The estimated average cost of an MBA at an accredited institution is about $80,000.
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The complaining customer

"Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business." - Zig Ziglar
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Unions

Employee unions peaked in 1945 when almost 36% of U.S. workers were union members. Union memberships today stands around 12%. Unions have gained members in the public sector and in some service industries. Key factors in declining membership: the exodus of manufacturing jobs to other countries, job growth from smaller and specialized businesses, and decreased industry regulation.
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Angels

An angel investor is a venture capitalist that provides money for a business start-up, usually in exchange for ownership equity in the business. Angel investors typically invest their own money and commonly fill business capital needs under a million dollars. Many angels are successful entrepreneurs who want to help other entrepreneurs get their business off the ground.
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Leveraged buyouts

A leveraged buyout occurs when a company is acquired by another company through the use of borrowed money. In many cases, the assets of both the acquiring company and target company are used as collateral for the purchase loans. Leveraged buyouts allow companies to make large acquisitions without having to commit a lot of capital and also provide a tax shield in the form of debt payments.
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Productivity

The virtuous cycle of rising worker productivity is a key component of economic growth and stability. The rewards of higher productivity growth come in the form of more money for workers to spend on consumption items. This extra money provide businesses with incentive to invest more in technology and equipment, thereby laying the foundation for even higher future productivity.
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Exit strategy

An exit strategy is a planned departure from a business with the goal of redeeming your investment plus any potential profit. Exit strategies are typically carried out through a sale, merger, IPO, buyout or liquidation. Successful exit results are obtained when companies have established value, relationships and distribution channels, customer base, or with intellectual property.
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Lean Manufacturing

James Womack coined the phrase "Lean Manufacturing" in his 1990 book "The Machine That Changed The World". The lean concept is a derivative of the Toyota Production System and Just In Time Production systems. Lean means manufacturing without wasted material, time, equipment and inventory. Most companies waste 70% to 90% of their resources. Even the best Lean Manufacturers waste about 30%.
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Statistical mode

In statistics, the mode is a measure of central tendency for a set of values and is defined as the most frequently occurring value or values in a given data set. The mode is a useful when dealing with categorical data. For example, if a manufacturer sells 12 different computer chips, the mode would represent the most popular chip sold.
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Early business failure

About a third of all new establishments never make it past two years, according to statistics from the Small Business Administration. The editors at BusinessKnowHow.com cite the following top reasons for early business failure: poor management, insufficient capital, bad location, and lack of planning. Additionally, many businesses fail because people start them for the wrong reasons.
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Executive coaching

Executive coaching is becoming a mainstream function in many companies. A recent survey by Right Management Consultants found almost 90% of companies said they used coaching to sharpen the skills of current executives and future organizational leaders. The most frequently cited benefit of corporate coaches is that they provide objective, real-time feedback that in many cases cannot be provided by others.
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Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy that promotes developing uncontested products or services that makes the competition irrelevant. In contrast, Red Ocean Strategy promotes competition in existing industries and markets. The Blue Ocean concept was developed by authors Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne in their book "The Blue Ocean Strategy".
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Group Think

Entrepreneur.com editor David Javitch uses the phrase "Group Think" to describe the process where a group or team is reluctant to challenge its leader, presenting the image that all is well, even if it's not. Javtich suggests the following remedies: confer with random groups from different departments and different hierarchies; hold theme-based sessions with employees; or call company-wide Q&A meetings.
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Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker is considered the father of modern management. Born in Austria, Drucker came to the U.S. in the 1930s and became a preeminent writer, commentator and management consultant. He authored many books and articles that explored human relationships and the organization of business, and offered management advice grounded in history, sociology, psychology, philosophy and culture.
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The Great Depression

The Great Depression in the U.S. was a major economic recession that occurred from 1929 to 1933. The severe recession lasted 43 months, almost three times the duration of the average recession of the 20th century. Several complex factors are cited as the cause and persistence of this worldwide malaise: massive bank failures, sudden stock market crashes and government policy decisions.
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In Search of Excellence

The best-selling 1982 book "In Search of Excellence" by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman is heralded as a landmark business book. The book is a study of forty-three of America's best-run companies within the context of eight primary principles of management that made these organizations successful. Each principle is covered in the book's eight chapters.
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Good stress

Some forms of stress can actually be good for you. According to psychiatrist Dr. Lynne Tan, as published in a recent MSNBC article, moderate amounts of stress can help people perform tasks more efficiently and can improve memory. This "good" stress can improve heart function and make the body resistant to infection, experts say. Learn to recognize good stress events and welcome the challenge.
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Alfred Nobel

The idea of the Nobel Prize was established in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth for its establishment. Since 1901, the prize has honored men and women for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. Nobel invented dynamite and made his fortune through manufacturing and distribution of the explosive.
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The concept of three

Audience members tend to retain about three things from a presentation. A presentation rule of thumb says use the concept of three to structure your presentations. Present three ideas, each having three sections, with each section having three items, and so on.
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Father of Branding

British grocer William Lever is considered the Father of Branding. Lever came up with the idea of cutting and wrapping bars of soap with the name Sunlight on them toward the end of the 19th century. Up until then, people would ask the grocer to cut and wrap a piece of soap. Sales of Lever's soap surged and soon after other soap producers copied his marketing idea.
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Bombarded

Efforts to achieve sustainable brand loyalty are directed at consumers that are bombarded with messages on a daily basis. Jack Trout, author of "Differentiate or Die", cites the following daunting facts: printed knowledge doubles every five years; four-thousand new books are published every day; the web grows by one-million pages a day; by age 18, a person has watched 140,000 TV commercials.
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Chief Executive Magazine

Chief Executive Magazine compiles the monthly CEO Confidence Index that measures CEO confidence in the economy as well as their future business plans. The survey includes a provocative “bonus question” created by Chief Executive’s editorial team. Each month the e-mail survey is sent to a rotating list of Chief Executive Subscribers. Visit chiefexecutive.net.
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The four Cs

The four Cs of competitive advantage: Competitive uniqueness: what can I do for my customers that no one else can do? Competitive advantage: what can I do better for my customers than my competitors? Competitive parity: am I at the same level as my competitors? Competitive disadvantage: where does the competition have an advantage over me?
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Crowd sourcing

The term "crowd sourcing" was coined by author Jeff Howe in a 2006 Wired magazine article. Crowd sourcing is defined as sourcing tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to a community in the form of an open initiative. Examples include Open Source software development and the online Wikipedia. Similar phrases are open innovation, collective intelligence and social collaboration.
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Search within a site

Use Google's "search within a site" syntax to search within a specified website. Use the following syntax at the Google Search text box: site: siteyoursearching.com search text. For example site:cnn.com Florida elections will search the CNN website for the text "Florida elections". See google.com/advanced_search for more Google advanced search methods.
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Business benefits of blogs

Blogging author Jason O'Connor suggests that online businesses can benefit from blogging. The business benefits of blogs include: they help position a company as an industry expert; they are interactive in nature and can obtain valuable customer feedback; they are inexpensive and easily marketed; and certain products or services may be featured in blogs.
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Myers-Briggs

The Myers-Briggs personality assessment test has been identifying introverts, extroverts and other personality types since 1943. Based on the theories of psychologist Carl Jung, the Myers-Briggs questionnaire has been gauging personalities through attitude, style and cultural changes over the past sixty-years. Many consider it an essential tool for hiring and career planning.
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Alumni network

SelectMinds CEO Cem Sertoglu suggests that companies maintain an "alumni" network of ex-employees, according to a recent Inc.com article. Keeping track of former workers can pay off for a business as rehiring a former employee typically costs only about half as much as bringing in a brand-new hire. Rehired alums may also provide sources of new business.
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Executive and management coaches

More organizations are making use of executive and management coaches. A recent survey by Right Management Consultants found 86% of respondent companies said they used coaching to sharpen the skills of individuals who had been identified as future organizational leaders. Many used certified executive coaches through consulting arrangements or brought them on as permanent staff.
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Wellness management

More organizations are employing "wellness management" methods to identify preventable, long-term health problems with the goal of prevention versus treatment. The program begins with employees enrolling in a yearly, voluntary health-risk appraisal. Employees with potential health problems work with health educators and coaches to plan and track health progress.
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Nucor Steel

North Carolina-based Nucor Steel is one of the world's most productive companies, according to a recent MRO Today study. Nucor has recorded over 130 consecutive quarters of revenue and dividend growth through its commitment to its customers, employees, and technology. Bucking most corporate policies, the first cost-cutting measures when business goes down is executive perks and bonuses.
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Rudy Giuliani

"There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader." - Rudy Giuliani
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Chapter 11

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a reorganization process available to any corporation as well as individuals within certain conditions. Chapter 11 makes sense when long-term revenue is higher than liquidation of assets. It is essentially a payment plan to creditors while the company continues normal operations and works toward making a fresh start after completing the Chapter 11 process.
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IPOs

The credit card company Visa set the record for the single largest U.S. initial public offering raising $17.9 billion in 2008. The ideal candidate for an IPO has a well-established track record of steadily growing sales and earnings, and operates in an industry that is currently on the way up. IPOs are the most expensive way to raise money in terms of cost.
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Proxy fights

In business, a proxy fight is a hostile takeover method where the acquiring company attempts to convince shareholders to vote for a new management team or board of directors that will approve a takeover. Proxy fights often start with unhappy shareholders or managers within the company itself. The proxy technique allows the acquiring company to avoid paying a premium for the target company.
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The American Business Awards

The American Business Awards have been awarded annually since 2002. The awards were created to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and business people worldwide in dozens of categories. Winners receive the distinctive American Business Award trophy called a "Stevie", which is derived from Greek meaning "crowned".
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Business Gateway

Business.gov, the official business link to the U.S. Government, is managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in partnership with 21 other federal agencies. This partnership, known as Business Gateway, is a Presidential E-government initiative that provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation's businesses with their operations.
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Global competitiveness

TIME Magazine partners with the WEF to annually rank the global competitiveness of national economies based on 113 factors, including venture capital availability, market-size, and infrastructure. The U.S. was first in the latest rankings, followed by Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and Finland. South Korea saw the biggest year-to-year jump in rank.
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National Business Women's Week

In 1928 President Herbert Hoover designated the third week of October as National Business Women's Week. This week celebrates the contributions of working women to the American society, economy and family. The objectives of the week are to promote full participation and equity for women in the workplace as well as publicize the achievements of professional women.
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The Big Three

General Motors sold one of every two cars in America in 1962 compared to about one in four vehicles today. Ford and Chrysler report similar market erosion. Auto industry experts lay blame on several factors: too many competing models, chronic downward spiral in demand, spiking employee and retiree health care costs, and thinning vehicle profit margins.
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Opportunity Cost

Investopedia.com defines Opportunity Cost as the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits not received by taking an alternative action. Opportunity cost can be calculated for any chosen alternative. For example, the forgone salary while getting a college degree is the opportunity cost of obtaining the degree.
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The Mechanism of Mind

Edward de Bono is a pioneer in the art of deliberately improving one's creative thinking processes. One of de Bono's creativity techniques is called "reverse thinking". When discussing a problem or scenario, participants pose opposites in size, time, meaning, etc. as a way of stimulating ideas and thought. The book "The Mechanism of Mind" offers several more of de Bono's creative thinking techniques.
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Black Monday

On October 19, 1987, the S&P 500 lost 20.5%, the Dow Jones lost 22.6% and the NASDAQ lost 11.3%, marking the largest one-day decline in stock market history. One of the major causes of the crash was the use of automated computer program trading. During the rapid decline, the markets were found to be controlled more by computers rather than by investor decisions.
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Innovation management

Innovation management is a key component of successful companies, suggest authors Morten Hansen and Julian Birkinshaw. Companies without a process to get good ideas to market put themselves at risk to unfocued initiatives and added stress to existing processes. Proctor & Gamble and Apple are cited as good innovation value chain examples.
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American labor

The 20th Century saw a dramatic change in the way Americans work. Over 80% of all U.S. workers where categorized as self-employed in the early 1900s. By 1980, over 90% of workers in the U.S. were considered as employees. Federal labor laws, New Deal legislation and the growth of large corporations factored heavily in this complete turnaround of American labor.
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Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard concept is a management metric system that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. The goal of the balanced scorecard is to tie business performance to organizational strategy by measuring results in four areas: financial performance, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
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Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke succeeded Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in February 2006. Bernanke, from South Carolina, holds a B.A. degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT. He taught at Princeton, Stanford, NYU and MIT, and has authored many articles and books. Bernanke's 14-year Federal Reserve Board term ends in January 2020.
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Henry Luce

Henry Luce was one of America's most influential publishers and is considered the Father of the modern magazine. Henry Luce and partner Briton Hadden published the first edition of Time Magazine in 1923. The success of Time was followed up by Fortune in 1930, Life in 1936, and Sports Illustrated in 1954. Life magazine was notable for introducing photojournalism to American mass media.
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The 80/80 designer’s rule of thumb

The 80/80 designer’s rule of thumb. To keep things within scope and budget, always design for the rule and not the exception. The 80/80 design rule of thumb says design for what 80% percent of people want to do 80% of the time.
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McDonalds

Ray Kroc was the first businessman to apply the principles of mass production to restaurants when he introduced Americans to McDonalds. Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers of California to sell their small chain to him in 1961, which he turned into one of the biggest franchise bonanzas in history of business. Billions of hamburgers have been sold from thousands of McDonalds.
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Children's Digital Library

Children were a key staffing element in the design of the International Children's Digital Library at the University of Baltimore, as reported in the Baltimore Daily Record. Growing up in a world permeated by interactive media, the children were seen as unique partners in discovery and as native guides in creating and constructing their virtual worlds for the project.
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Jack Welch

"If change is happening on the outside faster than on the inside the end is in sight." -- Jack Welch.
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Alka Seltzer

There is a marketing legend about how Alka Seltzer doubled its sales. The heartburn and indigestion product had seen sales decline into the 1960s and was in need of a jump start. Their ad agency at the time came up with the idea of telling its customers to take a double-dose of the tablets. The campaign was a huge success as Alka Seltzer sales and profits doubled.
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Enterprise 2.0

The phrase "Enterprise 2.0" was coined to describe the business use of web-based services once thought only as online novelties. Products such as blogs, wikis, social networks, and mashups are making their way into corporate computer networks. Factors fueling this growth include more empowerment among employees and customers, faster application development cycles, and more effective communication.
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Mashups

"Mashups" are the latest breed of software emerging on the web. Mashups are applications developed from a variety of disparate programs, such as web applications, map software, databases and images. The first mashups combined real estate search databases with maps. Software venders are now providing interfaces to their digital assets with the intent of fostering more mashups on the web.
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Cough and colds

Cough and colds are most common during the winter months. Cold germs are contained and spread more easily during indoor months. Use the following tips to avoid cough and cold: wash your hands often; avoid putting your hands near your eyes, nose and mouth; make sure shared items are cleaned frequently; get enough rest; drink more water; limit alcohol consumption; and eat healthy.
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ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo.com is a summarization search engine that delivers comprehensive information on over thirty million business professionals and two million companies across many industries. ZoomInfo finds and extracts information from Web sites, press releases, electronic news services and SEC filings, and summarizes the information into a comprehensive, searchable format.
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Succession planning

Succession planning establishes a process to recruit employees, develop their skills, and prepare them for advancement, all while retaining them to ensure a return on the organization's training investment. Succession planning involves understanding the organization's long-term goals and objectives, identifying employee development needs, and determining trends.
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Moonlighters

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about seven to eight million workers are holding multiple jobs. After several years of decline, the numbers of "moonlighters" has increased in the U.S. The top reasons cited for holding multiple jobs are: to earn extra money, to pay off debt, gratitude or enjoyment, to meet people, and to gain new experience.
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Wonderlic Personnel Test

All National Football League draft picks take the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT) as part of the annual pre-draft combine. The Dallas Cowboys were the first NFL team to use the WPT in the early 1970s. Originally developed in 1937, the WPT test is popular because it provides quick, easy and accurate information about a job candidate's intelligence.
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Peter Drucker

"Since we live in an age of innovation, a practical education must prepare a man for work that does not yet exist and cannot yet be clearly defined." - Peter Drucker
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Workplace stress

Employee and management stress costs companies billions of dollars annually through increased absenteeism, lack of enthusiasm for the job, and poor performance. According to several industry surveys, the following factors cause the most stress in the workplace: unclear policies and direction, failure to show appreciation, lack of communication, and lack of control.
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U.S. national debt

The national budget of the United States has recorded only four annual surpluses in the years since 1970. The total U.S. national debt is approaching ten trillion dollars with annual interest costs running in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Some economists see further future pressure in the face of pending government programs, increasing trade deficits, and further economic globalization.
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Tender offers

A tender offer is an unsolicited bid by one company to purchase another. The buying group usually offers a premium share price to encourage current shareholders to sell their shares. Tender offers may be friendly or unfriendly. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires any company or individual acquiring 5% of a company to disclose information to the SEC, the target company and the exchange.
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Business incubators

The first business incubator was opened in Batavia, New York in 1959. The concept of providing business assistance services to early-stage companies in shared facilities did not catch on with many communities until the late 1970s. By 1980 there were twelve business incubators operating in the U.S. Incubator development grew from about 20 openings annually in 1984 to more than 70 in 1987.
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Psychological pricing

Psychological pricing is a marketing practice based on the theory that certain prices have a psychological impact. Two common forms of psychological pricing are odd pricing and prestige pricing. Odd pricing ends prices with an odd number. Prestige pricing sets prices at an artificially high level for perceived prestige or quality.
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Patents

IBM has led all other companies in receiving patents for the past fifteen years. IBM held number one again in the latest patent rankings with a total of 3,148 patents. Big Blue was followed by Samsung, Canon, Matsushita and Intel. Microsoft made the top ten for the first time. Overall, 80% of the top 35 patent receiving organizations were down from the previous year.
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The median

In statistics, the median is a measure of central tendency for a set of values and is determined by sorting the data set from lowest to highest values and taking the data point in the middle of the sequence. The median value is useful when the distribution of values is skewed or unevenly distributed such as in the case of home values or income. Otherwise, use the mean or mode values.
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The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal was first published in 1889 when Edward Jones began printing and distributing a daily journal that featured the Jones average and stock and bond prices from the New York Stock Exchange. Today, The Wall Street Journal has more than two million daily readers and has earned over thirty Pulitzer Prizes. Visit the Wall Street Journal on the web at online.wsj.com.
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Joint ventures

A joint venture is a strategic alliance where two or more businesses form a partnership to share markets, intellectual property, assets and knowledge. They are usually formed to save money and make profit. Joint ventures are widely used by companies to gain entrance into foreign markets. Some countries require a joint venture as a way for a foreign company to gain access to its market.
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Business plans

A good business plan contains a description of your business, including details about how it will operate, a section on market research and marketing strategies, an evaluation of your main competitors, and several financial forecasts. Business plans determine feasibility, estimate start-up costs and potential profit, and reveal potential problems.
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Off-shoring

Off-shoring of business processes began in earnest during the 1970s and took of in the 1980s. Over 30-years later, off-shoring has segmented into several variations. "Near-shoring" sources work in a lower-wage country that is relatively close in distance or time zone. "In-shoring" sources foreign workers within the same country. "Right-shoring" is a combination of domestic and foreign sourcing.
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Entrepreneurs

The word entrepreneur is French in origin, meaning "to undertake". An entrepreneur is a person who starts and runs a business, develops a new product, or creates a new service. In an existing business, the idea of stimulating individual employees to act in an entrepreneurial way is referred to as "intrapreneurship."
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Disintermediation

Disintermediation generally means removing the middleman. Typical supply chain intermediaries, such as distributors, wholesalers, brokers, resellers or agents, may be removed from a channel when technical, communication or logistical factors allow. The onset of the Internet produced several attempts at disintermediation, namely book sales, electronics and PCs, and airline and travel sales.
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National Bureau of Economic Research

The National Bureau of Economic Research, or NBER, is considered the official arbiter of recessions, but it doesn't define recession by the school book measure of two or more consecutive quarters of economic contraction as measured by GDP. According to NBER, "a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months.
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Small business success rate

The success rate for small business start-ups is slim. An estimated 40% of small business start-ups fail during their first year. Of the survivors, 80% will fail within five years. In comparison to the dismal rate of ordinary small-business start-ups, about 75% of franchise businesses succeed at five years.
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Patent trolls

The information and technology age has spawned a new industry occupation best described as "patent troll". A patent troll is a person or company that looks to acquire patents with the primary purpose of making patent infringement claims against other companies. Patent trolls make money by forcing companies to license their patented technology through lawsuits or litigation.
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Business decision rule of thumb

A good rule of thumb that many successful leaders follow says when they have sixty percent of the information they need to make a decision, they go ahead and make it.
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The 90-50 project management rule of thumb

The 90-50 project management rule of thumb comes into effect when you have completed 90% of the project leaving only 50% left to complete.
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The first income taxes

The first income tax in the United States was enacted in 1862. Congress passed the income tax law in order to raise revenue to pay for the Civil War effort. A typical worker during this time paid about three percent of their income in taxes. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system.
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Rules of automation

"The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency." -- Bill Gates.
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NASA's infamous space pen

The legend of NASA's infamous space pen. NASA astronauts discovered during their first flights into space that their pens did not work in zero gravity. NASA engineers developed, at considerable cost, a pen that worked upside down, in a vacuum, in zero gravity, and even under water. Meanwhile, the Russian space program's solution was simpler: use a pencil.
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MBA degrees

The number of MBA degrees earned in the United States has grown significantly over the past several decades. About 5,000 MBAs were awarded annually during the 1960s. By the 2000s, the number of earned MBAs exploded to nearly 100,000 a year. The typical MBA costs about $30,000 to complete. An MBA is worth about $10,000 to $30,000 a year over a bachelor's degree.
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Western Union

Western Union passed on the offer to purchase the patent for the telephone in 1876. In response to the proposal, Western Union president William Orton said "Mr. Bell, after careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that is has no commercial possibilities. What use could its company make of an electrical toy?"
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Index of Leading Indicators

The Index of Leading Indicators is published monthly by The Conference Board. The ten economic indicators that make up this index change before the economy has changed. Examples include production workweek, building permits, unemployment insurance claims, money supply, inventory changes, and stock prices. The Fed watches many of these indicators as it decides what to do about interest rates.
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Walt Disney

Born in Chicago in 1901, Walt Disney developed an early interest in drawing, sketching and photography, and later developed movie animation methods. Mickey Mouse made his debut in the 1928 cartoon film "Steamboat Willie". Thus began Disney's fantastic run as a movie and entertainment franchise. Walt Disney and his staff have received more than 950 honors, including 48 Academy Awards.
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Route to the CEO office

The finance department has replaced marketing as the direct route to the CEO office, according to recent study published in CFO Magazine. The study found that one-fifth of all American CEOs were former CFOs, almost double from a decade earlier. The main reason for this shift is the increased importance of quarterly reporting as well as more financial scrutiny as a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley act.
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Creativity Economy

The Creativity Economy is the next bastion beyond the Knowledge Economy. According to a recent Business Week article, new paradigms such as design strategy and consumer centric innovation are fueling new corporate growth. The new strategies are a blend of consumer observation, discovery, educated risk and process improvement.
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Tea

People have been drinking tea for at least 5,000 years. Studies show that tea produces a multitude of health benefits for humans. Tea contains Theanine, a molecule that improves one's ability to focus, and with caffeine, produces as calming effect. Research has found that tea supports the aging brain. In addition, tea researchers believe it may prevent lung cancer.
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Creative people

Psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests that creative people have one trait that most makes them different from other individuals - complexity. Csikszentmihalyi's summary of exceptionally creative people: smart but naïve, often introverted, both humble and arrogant, more androgynous than others, both conservative and rebellious.
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Bad news

Medical Doctor Robert Buckman consults businesspeople, including executives at IBM, Andersen Consulting, and Upjohn, on how to deliver bad news. As stated in an article by FastCompany, Buckman suggests communicating bad news by engaging and listening, maintaining emotions, and ending with summary: review the message, identify a plan, and agree on a "contract" for the next contact.
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Stay-at-home moms

Stay-at-home moms are on-duty 24/7, wear several hats and work many jobs in the home. Compensation software and services provider Salary.com recently set out to estimate the worth of stay-at-home moms in the marketplace. Based on a schedule of up to 100 hours a week, they have estimated that a fair wage for the typical stay-at-home mom would be $131,471 for executing all of her daily tasks.
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Chorei

"Chorei" is a common morning meeting ritual in Japanese organizations. Each work day begins with a meeting where employees stand in a circle and share their day's work agenda or project status. Chorei is a cultural export in the expanding global economy. Practitioners of chorei believe this type of meeting technique can help improve communication resulting in better productivity.
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QA/QC

The terms quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are sometime used interchangeably. QA encompasses the necessary activities to ensure that a system, process, or work flow meets its objectives, for example, process audits or checklists. QC represents activities that measure the quality of a finished product or service. QC verifies established standards.
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Credits, exemptions and deferrals

Most U.S. businesses must file and pay income tax. The tax code provides a variety of credits, exemptions and deferrals that allow some companies to pay less than others. Data-tracking company Capital IQ cited the following three companies that paid less than 1 percent of their earnings on taxes over a recent five year period: CMS Energy (0%), Chesapeake Energy (.3%), and Boeing (.7%).
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Nightly Business Report

Nightly Business Report (NBR) is the nation's most-watched evening business news program. Distributed by PBS, it is carried by more than 250 public stations across the nation. NBR premiered in 1979 as a 15-minute local news program. Over the years, NBR has received numerous awards, including its first national Emmy Award in 2005. Visit NBR online at pbs.org/nbr.
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Index of Lagging Indicators

The Index of Lagging Indicators is published monthly by The Conference Board. A lagging economic indicator changes after the overall economy has changed and reflects historical performance. Some examples are labor costs, business spending, the unemployment rate, the prime rate, outstanding bank loans, and inventory book value.
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General Partnership

A General Partnership is a legal business arrangement where two or more parties conduct business together. General partnerships provide a means of raising capital quickly and allow people to combine resources and expertise. Partners are personally liable for business debts and liabilities, and may also be liable for debts incurred, decisions made, and actions taken by the other partner or partners.
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Delaware

Almost half of all Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in the state of Delaware. Delaware’s business laws are some of the most flexible and pro-businesses laws in the nation. Also, the state's courts provide better corporate counsel than other courts due to their greater experience. Delaware charges no income tax on corporations not operating within the state.
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America's oldest continuing business

According to the editors of BusinessHistory.net, J.E. Rhoads & Sons is America's oldest continuing business. J.E. Rhoads is a conveyer belt manufacturer that began making buggy whips in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1702. The company later made canvas conveyor belts and flat belts for water mills. J.E. Roads is located in Branchburg, New Jersey.
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The Euro

The U.S. dollar and the European Union euro are competing international reserves. Since 2002, the euro has increased its standing considerably, mostly at the expense of the dollar. The U.S. dollar was surpassed by the euro in terms of cash in circulation in December 2006. Many economists believe the euro will at some point replace the dollar as the world's primary reserve currency.
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BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek magazine has been reporting business news since 1929. Key business news and features are published weekly in the magazine, and daily at its website businessweek.com and its mobile site businessweek.mobi. BusinessWeek has been ranking U.S. business school MBA programs annually since 1998. BusinessWeek circulations is nearly 1 million copies.
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The human brain

The human brain functions as right brain and left brain. The right brain is creative or emotional, the left brain is the analytical and judgmental. The right brain is stimulated by such things as the creative process and meeting new people. Activities that stimulate the left brain include solving puzzles and performance of learned tasks. Most people are dominant to either the left or right brain.
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Marketing Mix

The traditional "Marketing Mix" is product, price, place and promotion. This encompasses a wide array of things, such as advertising, public relations, sales, and market research. Advertising is usually the largest expense of most marketing plans, followed by public relations and market research.
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Rodgers Adoption/Innovation

The Rodgers Adoption/Innovation curve is a bell-shaped curve representing consumers and their innovation adoption characteristics. The stages are: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Most consumers lie in the early and late majority category. According to Rodger's curve, about 2.5% of consumers are considered innovators.
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Are you a good listener?

A very important quality of being an effective team member is being a good listener. Are you a good listener? The editors of EffectiveMeetings.com offer the LADDER to become a better listener. Look at the person speaking to you; Ask questions; Do not interrupt; Do not change the subject; Empathize; and Response, verbally and non-verbally.
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Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the process of determining the best standard for a given process, service, or product, and using that standard to measure the effectiveness of your processes, services or products. Benchmarking allows organizations to measure the effectiveness of improvement plans. Benchmarking is a moderately expensive process, but most organizations find it very cost-effective.
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Good to Great

The book "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't" (Jim Collins 2001) is a top ten business book. Collins sorted through over 1,400 companies looking for those that made substantial improvements over time. Collins concludes that truly great companies cultivate a corporate culture that rigorously promotes people to think and act in a disciplined manner.
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How to Succeed in Business

The 1967 film "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" tells the story how J. Pierpont Finch, a young window-washer with big ambitions, buys a book called How to Succeed in Business and earns a rapid succession of promotions through a combination of charm, luck, and careful strategy. Matthew Broderick starred in a Broadway revival of the film in the 1990s.
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Aaron Montgomery Ward

Retailer Aaron Montgomery Ward is credited with inventing the mail order catalog in 1872. Ward used guarantees, exceptional customer service, and clever catalog marketing copy to persuade customers to purchase items from a catalog. Ward introduced the idea of payment installments to help lower-income customers. Ward's catalog grew from nearly 200 items to over 10,000 items in ten years.
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Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel was known for his comic inspiration during his twenty-five years as a major league manger. Among his other quotes, Stengel’s rule of thumb for how to be an effective manager says, “Keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided about you.
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Business valuation

There are several methods of calculating the value of a business. One general business rule of thumb says the purchase price of an existing business is roughly one times the next twelve months' net revenue.
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Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie established American's steel industry. Carnegie came to the U.S. as a Scottish boy in 1848. After several jobs he established his own steel company that grew to be America's largest. Carnegie gave $350 million away as gifts to community and education organizations. His foundation is credited with spending nearly $60 million to build 2,500 libraries throughout the world.
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National debt

The United State registered its first national debt in 1791 when it owed creditors $75 million dollars. The national debt steadily decreased to its lowest historical level of $45 million dollars in 1811. Since then, the debt has increased, especially during times of pronounced defense spending. The current national debt is over $10 trillion dollars and climbing
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Faster to the CEO office

Career lifers get to the CEO office faster than career hoppers, according to recent study published on Economist.com. Those who stayed with their organizations move to the top in 22 years versus 24 years for those who changed companies. Career lifers may reach the top faster because they are known and can be evaluated with confidence faster than those arriving from outside the organization.
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Oprah Winfrey

"Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives." --- Oprah Winfrey.
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Leadership

"Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people." - Brian Tracy.
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Peter Drucker

"Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision."

-- Peter Drucker, management consultant and author.
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The four-minute mile

English runner Roger Bannister broke the widely-held assumption that it was impossible for a human to run a mile in under four minutes. He became the first to do this when he ran a mile in 3.594 minutes in Oxford on May 6, 1954. In addition to being a skilled runner, Bannister used his knowledge as a physician to research the mechanical aspects of running and to develop scientific training methods.
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Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's Law states that the amount of work will expand so as to fill the time available for its completion. This cynical observation was articulated in the 1958 book "Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress" by British historian and author C. Northcote Parkinson.
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Vacation days

American workers receive on average about twelve vacation days a year. The typical American worker gives back an average of three vacation days, according to a recent survey by Expedia.com, leaving nearly 421 million vacation days unused. The survey estimates that 31 percent of employees do not take all their vacation days.
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U.S. job cuts

Already reeling from job cuts in the telecom, dot com and software industries, the U.S. economy posted a staggering 248,332 layoffs in the weeks following the 911 tragedy. There were nearly two million job layoffs in the U.S. in 2001, the highest ever recorded for one year. The U.S. economy has been recording annual layoffs of over one million since 2000.
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Chief Learning Officer

The Chief Learning Officer, a relatively new executive level position, is in charge of employee training, education, and learning structures across the enterprise, as well as providing the expertise to ensure everyone has access to the intellectual tools, information and data they need. The primary success factor of the CLO is to translate learning into strategic business capabilities and assets.
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Alfred Marshall

English-born economist Alfred Marshall published his most influential book "Principles of Economics" in 1890. This seminal work popularized the concepts of supply and demand curves, short run versus long run assumptions, and price-elasticity. Alfred Marshall is considered to be one of the most influential economists during the late 19th and early 20th century.
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Rainmaker

In business, the term "rainmaker" refers to an executive or sales person with exceptional ability to attract clients and increase profits. The term was adapted from the Native-American practice of using rituals and incantations to induce rainfall. Those with rainmaker status are usually compensated very well for their efforts
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Economic Espionage Act

A two-year effort on the part of the FBI and U.S. industry professionals in the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. Prior to enactment of this act, there was virtually no federal statute that outlawed the theft of trade secrets. Canadian Xiaodong Sheldon Meng was the first person convicted under the act in 2007 for providing U.S. military application trade secrets to the Peoples Republic of China.
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Recession

Two consecutive quarters of falling Gross National Product define a recession. Predicting economic recession is a difficult task even for economists. Forces that typically exhaust an economic expansion include heated consumer spending, shifts in fiscal or monetary policy, or jolts from strikes, wars or natural disasters. Recessions are usually officially declared after they have commenced.
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Sole proprietors

A sole proprietor is someone who owns an unincorporated business by himself or herself. This form of business is the simplest as there are no legal formalities to forming a business and the business is not separate from the individual. Unlike other business classes, a sole proprietor is fully liable if the business gets sued. Sole proprietors may also find it harder raising business capital.
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Product warranties

Product warranty contracts, once a revenue cash cow for retailers and manufacturers, are wearing off. Retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City once enjoyed huge windfalls from warranty sales. The culprit is products that are getting cheaper to replace as well as products that are lasting longer. The result is more consumers rationalizing on warranties.
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National Inventors Hall of Fame

The National Inventors Hall of Fame, established in 1973 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, honors the people responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic progress possible. Visit online at invent.org, browse inventors and inventions, and locate inventions within various invention channels. The Hall of Fame is located in Akron, Ohio.
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Goals and objectives

A goal is a statement of vision specifying something to be achieved or obtained. Objectives are statements of specific activities required to achieve the goal. For example, a goal to bring on twenty-five new accounts may be achieved by the objectives of doubling the number of sales calls, creating a new ad campaign, and raising incentive for sales reps.
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Best U.S. states for business

Virginia was rated as the best U.S. state for business, according to CNBC's latest state business survey. CNBC ranked each state by ten weighted categories of business, including such things as business friendliness, cost of living, quality of life, education and workforce. Following Virginia were the states of Texas, Utah, Georgia and North Carolina.
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Meetings

Meetings can be very expensive activities for an organization. EffectiveMeetings.com offers the following essential meeting tips to make the most of your meetings: set objectives for the meeting; provide an agenda beforehand; assign meeting preparation to attendees; assign action items; evaluate the meeting outcome to improve the process.
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Wage drift

Wage drift refers to the difference between basic pay and total earnings. Wage drift is caused by factors such as overtime pay, bonuses, profit-sharing, and performance pay. Wage drift is prevalent during periods of high growth. Wage drift also occurs in places with higher cost of living and for more experienced workers.
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The KISS principal

The KISS principal is an age-old business acronym that stands for "Keep It Simple and Stupid" or the more politically correct version of "Keep It Simple and Straightforward". The basic premise of this rule suggests to avoid unnecessary complexity when developing solutions. The less assumptions, the better.
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Unprofitable customers

The Harvard Business Review estimates that a typical company has about 15% of its customers that fall in the category of unprofitable. Identify unprofitable customers. Determine if they are unprofitable due to high costs or low revenue. Take the appropriate action: raise the price, lower costs, change policies or divest of the customer.
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Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is awarded annually by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The award was named for Malcolm Baldrige, who served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1981 to 1987. The purpose of the award is to promote quality awareness, recognize quality achievements, and publicize successful quality strategies.
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Seven Habits

Stephen R. Covey's 1990 book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change" continues to be a business best-seller with more than ten million copies sold. Covey describes the seven habits in context of productivity, time management and positive thinking. Other Covey titles include: "The 8th Habit", "Firsts Things First", and "Principle Centered Leadership".
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Glengarry Glen Ross

The 1992 movie "Glengarry Glen Ross" stars Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, and Kevin Spacey. The screen play is adapted from David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play of the same name. It tells the dark story of a group of desperate real estate sales agents in the context of a twisted sales motivation contest and few leads to work with. Scheming and plotting ensue among the agents.
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Sam Walton

Sam Walton perfected the concept of the discount store in rural America during the 1940s and 1950s. Over the ensuing decades, his self-named chain of stores surged through the use supply-chain management and volume pricing to offer prices lower than its competition. Wal-Mart is America's largest employer, employing more than 1.3 million people.
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Career rule of thumb

The more job experience you have, the longer the duration to find a new job. A career rule of thumb says a new job search takes about one month for every $10,000 of salary.
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Well paid

A Fortune Magazine rule of thumb says you are well paid if you earn four times your age. For example, a person at age 30 earning $120,000 is considered well paid.
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John Pierpont Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan was one of the most influential business leaders in U.S. history. Morgan formed railroads, was instrumental in creating General Electric, and brokered the establishment of U.S. Steel, the world's first billion-dollar company. Morgan assisted the fledgling federal government during several instances of financial crisis. J.P. Morgan died in 1913.
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Mount Everest

Attempts to climb Mount Everest began in 1921 when Tibet first opened its borders to outsiders. Eleven expeditions over a period of thirty years failed to conquer the world's tallest mountain. On May 29, 1953, New Zealanders Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay overcame crevasses, ferocious winds, sudden storms and oxygen deprivation to became the first to conquer Everest.
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Hand-written letters

President George H. W. Bush was a prolific letter-writer, always sending hand-written thank you notes to friends, associates, and fellow political leaders. A note written promptly and sincerely is much more meaningful to a recipient. It shows you took the time craft your words on piece of stationary that can be saved by the recipient and passed around to share with others.
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From first job to the CEO office

The amount of time from first job to the CEO office has fallen over the past two decades, according to study published on Economist.com. The average time has decreased from 28 years in 1980 to 24 years in 2001. CEOs are spending less time at each level, four years versus six years. The study attributed the faster pace to flatter organizations and the relatively new arrival of women in the CEO ranks.
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Booker T. Washington

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which have been overcome while trying to succeed." - Booker T. Washington.
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Innovation

According to Robert B. Tucker, an internationally recognized leader in the field of innovation, the biggest mistake an organization can make with their approach to innovation is to limit their effort to a few groups rather than an all-enterprise approach. Many studies show that when innovation is confined to a department, the message received by everyone else says innovation is not your job.
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Yoga

Yoga originated in ancient India as a group of spiritual methods designed to provide connection and enlightenment. As a contemporary exercise, Yoga is designed to tone, strengthen, and align the body. Yoga has been used to alleviate physical problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, migraine headaches, and asthma. It also has been used to promote relaxation and reduce stress.
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The Seven Habits

Management and leadership author Stephen Covey describes the Seven Habits model of management and leadership for personal and business growth. The Seven Habits of Covey include: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek first to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and learn from previous experience.
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Executive and professional temps

Executive and professional temps accounted for 11% of the temp workforce, up from 7% in 1998, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Temporary executives are usually hired to handle crisis situations, organizational transitions, or strategic shifts. According to a recent Wall St. Journal article, seasoned top-level executives command up to $2,500 per day in the U.S.
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E-mail

Executives are relying less on the telephone and face-to-face meetings and more on e-mail for communicating at work. According to an OfficeTeam survey of 150 senior executives at the nation's 1,000 largest companies, 71 percent listed e-mail as their most common form of dialogue at work, compared with 27 percent five years ago.
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Experience

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes." - Oscar Wilde.
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Color and marketing

The use of color in business and marketing copy has been a powerful psychological tool for many years. The following are some basic color guidelines: black represents power; white is purity; gray is stability; red represents energy; blue is calming; green represents nature or money; yellow is for happiness; orange is flamboyant; purple is royalty; and brown represents stability and friendship.
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Karl Marx

German-born philosopher Karl Marx, considered the "father of Communism," believed that class struggle was the basic tenet of society and predicted that capitalism would be ultimately destroyed by its own inherent contradictions. Although obscure during his life, Marx's influence would profoundly affect the world's political and economic landscape during the course of the 20th century.
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Rebates

Nearly 20% of all computer and digital products are now sold with some form of rebate, according to a recent Business Week article. Industry experts estimate that some 400 million rebates with a value of $6 billion are offered each year. Retailers and manufacturers love rebates because almost 40% of them never get redeemed, translating to more than $2 billion in extra revenue each year.
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Fastest growing occupations

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections, the fastest growing occupations in the United States are: network systems and data communications analysts; computer software engineers; personal financial advisors; veterinarians; and substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors.
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KPI

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators. KPI are quantifiable measurements that help an organization define and measure progress toward organizational goals. KPI indicators are a function of the business or the type of organization. The key requirements for KPI are they must reflect the organizational goals, they must be quantifiable, and they must be measurable across time frames.
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Business travel

Business travel, once considered a perk of a job, is now looked at increasingly as a nuisance activity. Increasingly crowded aircraft, security screenings, flight delays and late-night work-related dinners are some of the reasons why business travel has degraded, according to a recent YPBR travel survey. More than 30% said they were actively seeking new technology to reduce business travel.
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Business.com

Business.com is a leading business search engine and directory serving more than 40 million users. Business.com helps decision makers quickly find what they need to manage and grow their businesses. It also allows advertisers to reach these users wherever they are across the business Internet through premier partners, including Forbes, BusinessWeek, Hoovers, Financial Times and Internet.com.
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Museum of American Finance

The Museum of American Finance was established in New York in 1988 at the former home of the Bank of New York, founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1784. Items from the permanent collection include ticker tape from the Crash of 1929, a working model stock ticker, the earliest photograph of Wall Street, and documents and artifacts tracing the development of the financial markets.
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Dyslexia

A recent study found that dyslexia is more common among small-business owners in the U.S. Professor Julie Logan, author of the study, also found that dyslexics were more likely than non-dyslexics to delegate authority, to excel in oral communication and problem solving, and were twice as likely to own two or more businesses.
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LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an online network of millions of experienced professionals. LinkedIn members create a professional profile that helps them be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. Members are encouraged to develop personal networks and link to other member networks. LinkedIn is ideal for business development, career advancement, recruiting and professional development.
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