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43d26a4608cdce8812ea851fc4d47d0f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/highway-blocked-in-florida-because-of-premonition.html | I-95 blocked in Florida because of premonition | I-95 blocked in Florida because of premonition
Jason Ganser | Getty Images
A Florida highway was blocked on Monday after a woman told police she had a premonition that there was a bomb in her car.
Police responding to the report halted traffic in all northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Delray Beach just after 8 a.m., according to the Palm Beach Post.
Mark Wysocky, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, told the Post that no bomb was found in the woman's car during their investigation.
Read the full report from the Palm Beach Post.
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28bcd7f1e78dc01febd103c9ad3503fc | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/homes-as-atms-its-starting-again.html | Homes as ATMs: It's starting again | Homes as ATMs: It's starting again
As home values rise, homeowners are gaining more equity on paper — and they're taking it out in paper. Cash-out refinances jumped 68 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, according to Black Knight Financial Services. This is the highest volume of this type of refinance in five years.
"People realize that refinancing these funds is extremely inexpensive and that rates will eventually rise, so they're capitalizing on the strength of home price appreciation," said Ben Graboske, senior vice president at Black Knight Data & Analytics.
John Lund | Getty Images
Mortgage holders have gained about $1 trillion in home equity collectively over the past year. On an individual basis, borrowers doing cash-out refinances are taking an average $65,000, which is comparable to what borrowers did in 2006, the height of the last housing boom. While the jump is significant, the volume is still nowhere near where it was back then. In fact, volume is still 80 percent below where it was at the peak in 2005.
That is not the only difference. Today's refinancer is in a far more solid equity position in his or her home, compared with borrowers then, who used their homes like ATMs, pulling out every available dollar. Even after tapping equity, the average resulting loan-to-value ratio for today's borrowers is 68 percent, meaning the borrower has only leveraged 68 percent of the home's current value. That is the lowest level in a decade.
"That reflects real strength of price appreciation and consumer sentiment," said Graboske.
The jump in cash-out refinances could be behind the strength in auto sales and home remodeling. The lack of homes for sale has caused many potential buyers to stay where they are, even though they have the equity to move up. In turn, they are using that equity to not only enhance their home but to add to its value.
VIDEO1:0701:07Where mortgage rates standPower Lunch
Anecdotally, remodeling contractors have been swamped this year, with many putting off new projects for months just to keep up. Remodeling by owners is expected to grow about 10 percent next year, according to a new study by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. It could grow even more if interest rates rise more than expected.
Manhattan developer Zeckendorf confident $130M penthouse will sell
"This is because more homeowners will choose to stay in place and remodel rather than abandon their current low rate mortgage by moving," according to researchers in the study.
Cash-out refinances were most popular in California, accounting for 30 percent of all volume, according to Black Knight. The next closest was Texas, accounting for 7 percent. These states have seen the most home value appreciation. Should home value appreciation slow or even flatten, those hearty loan-to-value ratios will shrink, but it is unlikely today's highly cautious, litigation-leery lenders will allow borrowers to take out more cash than is prudent.
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187096787a02f19f4a20c73134a40504 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/human-to-walk-on-mars-before-long-term-rates-rise.html | Human to walk on Mars before long-term rates rise? | Human to walk on Mars before long-term rates rise?
VIDEO3:3003:30Positioning for low ratesTrading Nation
With "The Martian" invading big screens worldwide, Wall Street is turning to the film's interplanetary premise as a reference point for another long-term mission: The process of bringing interest rates back to long-term "normal" levels.
"We see a better chance of landing men on Mars before a full normalization of nominal and real interest rates, especially 10-year yields, to historical norms," wrote Deutsche Bank equity strategist David Bianco.
The short-term federal funds rate has been at ultralow levels for nearly seven years, and despite widespread expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise its rate target this year, that is looking increasingly unlikely. Meanwhile, longer-term bond yields have remained markedly low in the U.S. and around much of the world.
Bianco doubts that the 10-year Treasury yield will exceed 3 percent "for the rest of the cycle."
Read More Matt Damon on Mars and microfinancing
"To make the case for normalization, you'd really have to see rates go significantly higher, just given how much they've trended lower over the past few years," pointed out Oppenheimer technical analyst Ari Wald in a Monday "Trading Nation" segment.
Examining a chart, Wald sees "no real signs that this very long-term secular trend has reversed higher."
Andrew Rich | Getty Images
Yet Neil Azous of Rareview Macro remarked on "Trading Nation" that while yields may stay low in the short term, "we have two more Federal Reserve meetings between now and the end of the year, and Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said that she still plans on raising rates sometime before the end of the year, so until that's removed from the marketplace, the idea that we're lower for longer or in perpetuity doesn't seem to add up completely."
Of course, a higher federal funds rate might not necessarily mean higher long-term bond yields.
The Fed is worried about inflation, but maybe it shouldn't be
Like Bianco, "We, too, believe that the longer end of the [Treasury] curve is going to stay somewhat anchored by more subdued global growth expectations, while it's the short end that might continue to inch higher based on Fed expectations," Wald said.
Indeed, a recent paper by Kansas City Fed economist Jonathan Willis found that "the transmission of monetary policy from short-term to longer-term interest rates occurs with a longer lag [now] than in the pre-1984 period."
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6dce0b54bdf693118c40d9a20666835f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/icap-rp-martin-tullett-prebon-brokers-face-libor-rigging-trial.html | ICAP, RP Martin, Tullett Prebon brokers face Libor trial | ICAP, RP Martin, Tullett Prebon brokers face Libor trial
Getty Images
Six former brokers from ICAP, RP Martin and Tullett Prebon will face a London jury on Tuesday over allegations they were part of a criminal conspiracy to rig benchmark interest rates in the world's second Libor trial.
The men, aged between 44 and 53, are the first brokers to be tried over alleged rigging of the London interbank offered rate (Libor), a benchmark for about $450 trillion of financial contracts worldwide, from complex derivatives to student loans.
The trial comes more than seven years after U.S. regulators first examined how Libor rates were set, sowing the seeds of a global inquiry that culminated in authorities fining some of the world's most powerful banks and brokerages $9 billion, charging 21 men and overhauling how benchmarks such as Libor are policed.
Interdealer brokers became a focus for the inquiry because of the role they play when sharing information with their networks of traders and matching buyers and sellers of bonds, currencies and swaps, for which they charge a fee.
VIDEO0:4500:45Want to avoid another Libor incident: Deutsche Bank Co-CEO
Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) alleges that Darrell Read, Colin Goodman, Danny Wilkinson, Terry Farr, James Gilmour and Noel Cryan formed part of a conspiracy with former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes and other brokers and traders to rig yen-denominated Libor rates for profit.
The men, who have pleaded not guilty, each face one or two counts of conspiracy to defraud. Each count carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years, although such terms are often served concurrently. The trial at London's Southwark Crown Court is scheduled to last up to 14 weeks.
The prosecution alleges that Read, Goodman and Wilkinson, all former ICAP employees, conspired with at least seven others, including three former ICAP colleagues and four former UBS traders, including Hayes, to rig yen Libor rates between August 2006 and December 2009.
Goodman and Read are also charged with a second count of conspiracy to defraud with Hayes and others between December 2009 and September 2010.
Farr and Gilmour, former RP Martin brokers, are charged with conspiring to rig rates with others, including Hayes and three other former UBS employees, a former Rabobank trader and a former HSBC trader, between August 2006 and December 2009.
Farr also faces a second count of conspiracy between December 2009 and September 2010 with Hayes and others.
Read MoreAfter prison sentence, is it goodbye to Libor?
Cryan, a former broker at Tullett Prebon, allegedly conspired with a former colleague and two former UBS traders, including Hayes, among others, between February and December 2009.
The SFO, whose case will be led by veteran counsel Mukul Chawla, alleges the men dishonestly agreed to procure Libor rates that would benefit the trading of people such as Hayes, deliberately disregarding how rates should be set and prejudicing the economic interest of others.
Lawyers for the defendants did not respond to requests for comment.
Read MoreLondon brokers face Libor trial
Libor is an average interest rate calculated through an "honour system", when a panel of major banks report their estimated costs of borrowing from each other in different currencies over differing borrowing periods to an administrator.
But oversight of the system was lax. Libor was administered at the time by the British Bankers' Association, an industry lobby group that has denied knowledge that rates were not accurate as lending dried up during the credit crisis.
The world's third Libor trial is scheduled for Oct. 13, when two former Rabobank traders appear in court in New York. Six formerBarclays Libor traders and submitters face a London trial next January.
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672220fb9292dd58e67745a4d1d47e18 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/imf-sees-some-comfort-on-china-economy-transition-despite-stock-slide.html | IMF remains sanguine on China despite doomsday fears | IMF remains sanguine on China despite doomsday fears
Getty Images
Doomsday scenarios of a hard-landing in China may have transfixed market watchers, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remains relatively sanguine on the economic outlook.
A nearly 40 percent selloff in mainland stock markets over the past few months exacerbated concerns over the mainland economy, especially after China's regulators took a series of dramatic measures to boost the stock market, including large-scale share purchases, that had the unintended effect of denting confidence in the government and spurring criticism that the incident was badly mishandled. A devaluation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar also fanned speculation that China was trying to goose its exports sector again as the economy slows.
The IMF takes a different view.
Read More How the world's big pension funds view China
"The Chinese economy is undergoing a major transition from export-led growth to a model increasingly driven by consumption and services," the IMF said in a blog post Monday. "So far, developments in the real economy provide some comfort that the transition can be managed."
"China has adequate policy space should further policy stimulus become necessary to prevent growth from falling excessively," the IMF said, although it urged that any measures target demand and rebalancing, such as supporting consumption for the "more vulnerable" members of mainland society.
While the transition is "essential," it's also caused a slowdown in imports and increased financial market volatility, the fund noted.
But the IMF added that the slowdown is in line with the fund's forecast for economic growth to fall to 6.8 percent this year, compared with the government's target of 7 percent, and down from 7.4 percent last year.
For the second quarter, China reported gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7 percent on year, renewing concerns that the mainland's economic data may be unreliable. However, there are signs of the transition in China's purchasing managers' index (PMI) data. The official manufacturing PMI for September remained in contraction territory, while the official services PMI continued to show growth.
"The slower growth in property investment and the deceleration of growth in other related sectors already reflects the faster-than-expected rebalancing of China's economy," Nomura said in a note Monday. "Economic growth is now being driven more by consumption and the service sector, rather than investment and related manufacturing sectors. However, an inevitable result during such a rebalancing process is that the speed of growth will be much lower than before."
Read More A tale of two China PMIs: Manufacturing still in contraction mode
Nomura expects the government will lower its 2016 GDP growth target to 6.5 percent from 2015's around 7 percent.
To be sure, even the IMF noted that "downside risks have increased," particularly increasing levels of debt.
"Since the Global Financial Crisis, growth in China has relied heavily on investment and credit, with the biggest buildup of leverage going to state-owned enterprises, the real estate and construction sectors, and weaker corporates," it said. "This created growing vulnerabilities which—while still manageable—cannot continue to accumulate."
For example, the IMF noted the recent China stock market rout, with shares surging on credit growth before crashing over the past couple months.
"The bottom line is: vigilance must remain the watchword," the IMF said. "For China, that means focusing on the downside risks, and for the rest of the world, guarding against potential spillovers."
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3aaf0da30aad2017838b512acfb698d7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/investors-focus-on-the-greenback-as-global-stocks-rally.html | Investors focus on the greenback as global stocks rally | Investors focus on the greenback as global stocks rally
Global stocks rallied on Monday after a weaker-than-anticipated jobs report from the U.S., which swayed investors to rethink the timing of an interest rate rise, with a 2016 hike now looking more likely.
Markets welcomed the worse than expected data, with many interpreting the news as a return to the rising trend in stocks after a terrible third quarter.
Read MoreThe worst of stock selling may be behind us: Bob Doll
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
But when planning a longer-term outlook for stocks as earnings season gets underway, investors looking to plan for the final three months of the year are fixed on the strength of the dollar.
"We have the seasonal patterns that really take over now. I do think if you contrast where we were with last year – the chart patterns look very similar to the and the Russell 2000 small cap index," chief investment officer (CIO) at Palisade Capital , Dan Veru told CNBC.
"But the big difference is the big appreciation in the dollar over that time. So I think it is going to be a much more selective recovery of shares, it is going to be more the domestically focused companies, more towards the small caps rather than the multi-nationals which have big international exposure," he said.
Read MoreThe third quarter by the numbers
Veru expects interest rates to move next year, partly on concerns over the dollar as 45 percent of S&P 500 revenues comes from outside the U.S., meaning greenback strength could seriously weigh on earnings.
"I think first quarter at the very earliest, (for an interest rate rise) the Fed is very concerned from everything they have announced, that this economy could slip back into recession," said Martin Leclerc, CIO and portfolio manager at Barrack Yard Advisors.
U.S. stocks traded about 1 percent higher Monday, attempting to extend a recent recovery from correction levels, as investors awaited earnings reports and digested implications from Friday's jobs report on the timing of a rate hike.
Few analysts could find any positives in the September jobs report, which showed the U.S. economy created 142,000 jobs, a number far below the expected 203,000. August and July figures were also revised lower.
Meanwhile the dollar weakened against the euro to $1.12 as traders pushed back expectations of a Federal Reserve rate rise to early next year.
But with the European Central Bank buying up bonds at the rate of 60 billion euros per month and the central bank's President, Mario Draghi, pledging more quantitative easing if needed, analysts are not convinced of the long-term trend of dollar weakness.
Read MoreBen Bernanke: This is what's weighing on US economy
Stocks in Asia and Europe surged on the poor jobs data on Monday, with the pan-European STOXX 600 rallying close to 3 percent, with miners topping indices as risk appetite prevailed.
"The euro in the second quarter just past was the biggest tailwind for earnings for 20 years in terms of the fall in the currency, so of course the U.S. are on the other side of that," said head of European equity strategy at UBS, Nick Nelson.
"We have volatility in the next few weeks, I think the message in Europe is profits are very depressed and these are starting to turn," Nelson added.
Japanese fund manager Nikko Asset Management moved to a "neutral" stance on global equities from "overweight" for the first time since 2011 as the group has turned less optimistic on U.S. corporate earnings.
The Tokyo-based firm forecast that U.S. equities will underperform over the next six months to March 2016, thus earning an "underweight" stance, whilst predicting Europe and Japan will outperform over the next six months, with the group boosting its allocation to "overweight".
Read MoreTraders watch for imported earnings weakness, data
"We calculated that global equity valuations are at reasonably fair levels and that stocks can rise in Europe, Japan and Australia, but because we are less optimistic on the United States, we do not think it is worthwhile, especially with the recently increased volatility, to be aggressive on global equities overall," said chief global strategist and head of the group's investment committee John Vail.
"We have been overweight global equities for U.S. dollar-based investors, except for one neutral quarter, since September 2011 but we now believe that neutral is the proper stance," Vail added.
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1d4db26d1ddb7d1b3c9b9690c9d891f7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/is-the-global-luxury-real-estate-market-cooling-off.html | Is the global luxury real estate market cooling off? | Is the global luxury real estate market cooling off?
VIDEO3:2103:21Does increasing stamp duty cause property markets to stagnate?Squawk Box Europe
The luxury London property market finally appears to be in pause mode, and it could stay stuck for a while, as extra costs are piled on to the cost of buying a top-notch home according to high-end estate agent Knight Frank.
The hike in the cost of buying homes at the top end of the market has "just stalled the market" in Hong Kong and Singapore, Alistair Elliott, chairman of Knight Frank, told CNBC. Similarly, stamp duty increases in the U.K. are "leading to a more stagnant market at the top end", he added. In Asia-Pacific, Knight Frank's offices have seen some cooling-off as countries outside China were affected by its slowing economic growth, and property cooling measures took effect.
A general view of Egerton Crescent in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.Dan Kitwood, Getty Images News
This comes after a period where prices at the top of the market in London soared by double digits close to every year, thanks to increased investment from overseas buyers as well as domestic money.
Knight Frank on Monday reported a 19 percent rise in pre-tax profits to £162 million for the year to March 31, with sales up by 13pc to £443.1 million for the same period.
"There was bound to be a period of cooling, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing," Elliott said.
"The fundamental issue in the mid-term is supply, and the Stamp Duty at one end is not going to increase supply at the other. We've got to introduce more affordable homes. The only way this is going to be addressed properly is by more government influence."
Why the yuan may deck Singapore property stocks
George Osborne, the U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer, pledged to free up the rules on developing "brownfield" (land which has previously been used for industry) sites for residential use on Monday. Politicians across the political spectrum have been promising to build more homes in the U.K. for years to little effect – although this did not stop the share prices of housebuilders like Barratt and Taylor Wimpey rising in Monday trading.
Caution has also crept in as the era of cheap money, fuelled by quantitative easing programs on both sides of the Atlantic and record low interest rates, appears to be drawing to a close.
"There has been a massive build-up of investment capital, and increasingly that capital has seen property as its right home," Elliott said.
He acknowledged that the level of foreign buyer interest in London residential property had calmed down.
"Where there is strife, the first thing we see is there is a flight of capital to safe havens. The mid-term is likely to be that people slow down," Elliott said.
- By CNBC's Catherine Boyle
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17df1a26f1236534ea535f55748a11d6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/italy-seeks-to-prosecute-sp-and-fitch-over-credit-ratings.html | Italy seeks to prosecute S&P and Fitch over ratings | Italy seeks to prosecute S&P and Fitch over ratings
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Prosecutors in Italy are preparing to reopen the wounds of the eurozone debt crisis as they fight a crisis-era downgrade that put Italian creditworthiness level with Kazakhstan's.
Five employees from global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's and one from Fitch are accused of inflicting unjustified damage to Italy for their role in credit rating decisions in 2011 and 2012.
The case is a late addition to the global lawsuits that have been raised against the world's largest credit rating agencies for their role in the financial crisis.
What marks the trial sought in Trani, southern Italy, as unusual is that individual employees are being accused alongside the agencies, although given the time lag since Italy's rating downgrade a number have since left S&P and Fitch and now work elsewhere.
Italians are sceptical. Last year, Italy's state auditor was roundly mocked for suggesting it could claim more than €200 billion in damages because S&P did not take Italy's history, art and landscape into account when downgrading the country. Since 2012 the country's rating has fallen still further to one notch above junk status as a result of weak economic growth and one of the largest burdens of debt in the world.
VIDEO0:3400:34S&P downgrades Japan to A+
In late September, judges in Trani decided not to approve a transfer request from the defence to move the trial to Rome or Milan.
S&P and Fitch deny the allegations.
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"This case is based on a misunderstanding of our role, which is to support the transparency and liquidity of markets by providing an independent opinion of relative creditworthiness, based on our public and transparent methodologies," said S&P, adding that the agency stood behind its rating actions on Italy before and during the eurozone crisis.
"As we've stated throughout, we believe this case is without merit and we will continue to vigorously defend ourselves," said Fitch. "We are confident that Fitch and our people will be exonerated as trial proceedings continue."
The financial crisis sparked widespread debate on the role of credit rating agencies, but much of the industry appears largely unchanged. Issuers still pay for ratings, revenues are growing and just three companies dominate the global market.
Read MoreTime for scrutiny if China storm lasts: Italy FinMin
While numerous cases associated with the financial crisis have been filed against agencies, most have been withdrawn or dismissed. But not all.
In 2012, an Australian court ruled that S&P misled investors by awarding a triple A rating to complex derivatives that then collapsed in value.
Earlier this year, S&P paid $1.4 billion to settle claims led by the US Department of Justice that it had put triple-A ratings on structured financial products created from US mortgages in spite of growing risks in the housing market. The lawsuit cited documents in which one S&P employee joked that deals could have got a rating even if they were "structured by cows".
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8bc553af4d4a3a4049f9652c48c7d2cc | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/latest-world-bank-warns-on-growth.html | Reaction: World Bank warns on growth | Reaction: World Bank warns on growth
Squawk Box Live kept an eye on market reaction as the World Bank cut growth forecasts for East Asia.
East Asia, including China, is now expected to grow 6.5 percent this year and 6.4 percent in 2016, which was previously forecast at 6.8 percent for both years.
But Asian stocks were positive Monday morning, with European shares following close behind.
Markets were also shrugging off a weak U.S. jobs report released Friday, which seems to have dampened expectations of an imminent increase in interest rates.
(App users please click here).
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a2e5d6852264f6c908a5b1cebc434234 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/lightning-round-what-dorsey-will-do-for-twitter.html | It's that time again! Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed:
United Continental Holdings: "I like Oscar Munoz [CEO]...I think it's good. I think that group has bottomed here and liked it. I know some analysts want to say negative things. Not me!"
Twitter: "I wanted Jack Dorsey [new CEO] I think Dorsey is going to do a good job. I was kind of hoping he would resign from Square and let someone else handle that. But the changes are coming fast and furious at Twitter and he is liked by the staff and he cares about those who Tweet."
Sprint: "I don't like that balance sheet and the government seems to not want to let anybody merge in that. If that stock rallies, I think you want to check out of it, not check into it."
Intrexon: "The stock is down way too much. Now we know from the problems with Valeant that a lot of these stocks have come down tremendously. I think that one is too low to sell."
Sierra Wireless: "This group is under tremendous pressure, and I think the group is bouncing back. That one is down 52 percent [year to date]. I prefer Skyworks Solutions, which has come down a lot and had a beautiful quarter."
Amag Pharmaceuticals: "That is way too hard. We've got stocks like Celgene that are down huge, and Gilead is also down huge. Why not go with a Celgene? You've got an opportunity here. It's a big discount. That's the way to go."
Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer
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Motorola: "I think it's done. I think you've just got to move on to the next name. I'm not there for Motorola Solutions anymore."
Gogo Inc: "No, we felt that Gogo is too controversial. It's got guys who love it, guys who hate it. We don't need that. We've got so many stocks where it is just a good solid story. We don't need to dive into controversy."
International Paper: "IP has been down because the price of liner board has been cutting down. But this is a 4 percent yield now, I think this is the level where the decline is probably going to bottom out and you want to buy IP."
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Vine
Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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2a113ee661535e0ab10549548271bc32 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/london-high-court-to-rule-on-whether-uber-app-is-taximeter.html | High Court in London to rule on legality of Uber app | High Court in London to rule on legality of Uber app
A user scans for an available vehicle using the Uber's app on a smartphone in London.Getty Images
London's transport authority on Monday asked the High Court to rule on whether the taxi-hailing app Uber breaks the law, in a case that could have wide-ranging implications for the industry.
Mr Justice Ouseley must decide whether the smartphone app can be legally classed as a "taximeter", which is permitted in black cabs only.
Uber's app allows customers to call cars from anywhere and black cab drivers have claimed that the way it calculates fares is equivalent to taxi metering and therefore breaks the law.
Uber has seen massive growth in London, causing anger among black cab drivers.
VIDEO1:5001:50Uber's euro troubles Closing Bell
Martin Chamberlain QC, barrister for Transport for London, told the High Court on Monday that the issue in question was a difficult one and TFL was bringing the case in its capacity as a regulator of taxis in the capital.
"The object is to obtain an answer to a difficult legal question. Only a court can answer the question," he said.
TFL said in written arguments submitted to the court before the hearing that it considered Uber drivers who used the smartphone app had not broken the law.
More from the Financial Times:
TfL eyes curbs on Uber and similar apps Uber hitches lift on ride-sharing bandwagon Uber rallies customers against TfL plans
However, it acknowledged that the "contrary is arguable" and that the question is "an important one from the perspective of its own regulatory function".
Mr Chamberlain told the court that if it took a different view, TFL would ensure the law was enforced.
Rival taxi firm Addison Lee has previously claimed the High Court case could have a devastating effect on Uber's London business if it means Uber drivers are fined.
Read MoreUber may be encouraging delay of car purchases: Survey
Uber is facing a number of court cases in Europe and its growth has led to protests from taxi drivers worldwide.
In May, London drivers staged a demonstration protesting that the lack of clarity about rules favoured hailing apps.
In France, two Uber executives face criminal charges of organising taxi services through the company's low cost UberPop trial.
France's constitutional court is expected to rule on the legality of Uber's services shortly and the European Commission is looking into bans on the company's services in France and Germany.
Read MoreUber's storm in Europe: Court case to office raids
Transport for London has brought the High Court case against Uber, the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association and Licensed Private Hire Car Association.
Uber said: "We believe the Uber app on a partner-driver's phone is not a taximeter, and TfL — the regulator — shares this view. We are looking forward to getting binding clarity on this issue in the High Court. However, the outcome of the case would not affect Uber's licence in London, or its ability to operate here."
The hearing is due to last two days although a ruling is expected to be reserved.
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2e643af25270a3c0b2807340890ccae1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/market-up-for-wrong-reason-adami.html | Market up for wrong reason: Adami | Market up for wrong reason: Adami
VIDEO2:4602:46New normal with YellenClosing Bell
VIDEO2:2402:24Bad news is good news rallyClosing Bell
VIDEO2:1102:11Still can't fight the Fed: ProClosing Bell
VIDEO1:4301:43Bad is good and good is bad: ProClosing Bell
Stocks soared higher Monday thanks to a "bad news is good news" rally, several pros said, but strategist Guy Adami doesn't think the party will continue.
U.S. stocks closed more than 1.5 percent higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average climbing about 300 points.
While many believe that recent disappointing economic data, like Friday's jobs report, pushes a Federal Reserve rate hike into next year, Adami, a CNBC "Fast Money" trader and director of advisory advocacy at Private Advisor Group, said the market may even be looking at another round of quantitative easing coming from the central bank.
"If you look at the numbers out of the U.S. and then you look at the numbers out of Europe, I mean they are dismal at best," Adami said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
"If markets are going to rally on that, that's fantastic but that party ends at some point."
"The market has gone up for the absolute wrong reason," he added.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
Anthony Chan, chief economist at Chase, said the market is telegraphing that this is a Goldilocks economy — not growing too fast but not growing to slow.
He doesn't embrace the idea of QE4, but noted that if it does occur it will "fire up the equity market even more."
However, "my suspicion is once the economy starts to do a little bit better, the Fed will come back in the game," he added.
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Phil Blancato also thinks that the belief that the Fed will be more accommodative is the source of Monday's rally, but he pointed out that the fundamentals are better than people assume they are.
He believes the consumer is stronger and the labor market will tighten enough to force wages higher. However, there still isn't any real inflation, and that will give the Fed a reason to hold off on hiking rates.
"For now, they don't have both mandates. They have labor where they want it but they don't have inflation where they want. For that reason they can back off, let it heat up and still look like they are doing the right thing," the CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research, believes the weak payroll number pushes a Fed rate increase until the spring.
"The market is celebrating more cheap money at least for the next six months," he said.
However, he's not buying into this market now, noting that earnings are still a "big question mark." He said investors should get used to the market moving 200 to 300 points a day, and thinks stocks will ultimately end the year where they are now or slightly lower.
Meanwhile, Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial, is sticking to the old saying "you can't fight the Fed."
"The Fed has trumped technical analysis. The Fed has trumped fundamental analysis. And the job that we have is you've got to deal with the cards you're dealt," she said.
She likes stocks related to the housing recovery like housing stocks and products that fix up homes. She also believes there is a lot of shopping occurring in biotechs right now, noting that this is the season for oncology conferences, which could provide a nice catalyst.
Disclaimer
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4f0108a6cae4ae9e72029b3385d57eea | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/microsoft-aims-to-turn-windows-into-a-mobile-platform.html | Microsoft aims to turn Windows into a mobile platform | Microsoft aims to turn Windows into a mobile platform
Visitors use laptop computers as they try out Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 10 operating system during a product launch event in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, July 29, 2015.Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft is slated Tuesday to unveil a slew of new products centered on the recent rollout of Windows 10. After competitors Apple and Google introduced new products this fall, the technology blogosphere is abuzz with rumors of two new Lumia phones, an updated Surface Pro tablet and perhaps some updates to gaming console Xbox.
The new hardware, with faster processors and better battery life, will showcase the capabilities of Microsoft's new operating system, which is designed to transition more smoothly between devices and focuses on enterprise productivity.
Microsoft has made its mark in years past in the enterprise and gaming spheres, but struggled to take down iOS and Android in the mobile phone market. Meanwhile, Apple and Google recently upped their bets on enterprise and gaming, on top of renewed phone offerings.
Microsoft earnings: 62 cents a share, vs expected EPS of 56 cents
Investors will be watching the rollout event Tuesday morning in New York City to see how Microsoft plans to keep pace.
"I think a lot of the new Intel processors will allow all-day battery life, so what you would expect to see would be products that are leveraging that technology," said Crawford Del Prete, analyst at IDC. "You might see them push on costs and price points to make it attractive to more customers. And you will probably see them push on the physical design, make [the Surface tablet] thinner and more comfortable."
Amid soft demand for its legacy software products, Microsoft has seen revenue hit as it restructures to focus less on personal computers and more on cloud computing, according to its July earnings report. But Del Prete, who specializes in enterprise technology, said most people don't realize how the Surface tablets pushed the market forward for similar devices.
Microsoft takes another crack at phones: Can it win?
Is 2015 the year of the Xbox comeback?
Can Microsoft make a smartphone comeback?
"It's a category that is getting a lot of excitement and innovative designs," Del Prete said. "Microsoft is one of the companies that is responsible for that. There are a lot of skeptics but they created a billion-dollar business in a relatively short period of time."
Windows 10 builds on Microsoft's existing progress by making the tablet more of a creative tool, Del Prete said, with a stronger keyboard, tougher flipping mechanism and more responsive interface that makes it more conducive to a working environment. As an added bonus, Microsoft Office 2016 will available on mobile devices via the cloud, too, the company said in a release.
But in addition to more sophisticated iPad Pro and Chromebook offerings, Apple and Android have already delivered in an area where Microsoft lags: a robust app store across devices. Windows phones had less than 3 percent of the worldwide smartphone market as of August, IDC estimated.
"The thing they really need to do is deliver on universal apps for PC customers," Del Prete said.
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2e1846023b73dd80ec95b6ca852d8e3d | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/microsoft-takes-another-crack-at-phones-can-it-win.html | Microsoft takes another crack at phones: Can it win? | Microsoft takes another crack at phones: Can it win?
Microsoft is expected to unveil its latest set of smartphones as it looks to take another swing at forging a winning mobile strategy in a world dominated by Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Key to it is its Windows 10 operating system.
On Tuesday, Microsoft is set to launch two premium handsets at an event in New York along with other devices such as a new wearable and 2-in-1 Surface tablet and the mobile version of Windows 10.
But with the company forecast to hold just 2.6 percent smartphone market share this year, according to IDC, the mass market is shut to Microsoft, analysts said.
"They know they've lost this generation," Ian Fogg, head of mobile at IHS, told CNBC by phone.
"Windows as a mobile operating system is now irrelevant for the smartphone market. The reason Microsoft is still continuing to make hardware is to maintain a toehold in that part of the market."
Microsoft's restructuring announcement in July was a realization of this. In July, it took a $7.6 billion writedown on the handset business it bought from Nokia which completed last year and said it will ax 7,800 workers, mostly from the mobile division.
At the time, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said the technology giant would focus on running a "more effective phone portfolio" and to "narrow our focus" on three segments. "We'll bring business customers the best management, security and productivity experiences they need; value phone buyers the communications services they want; and Windows fans the flagship devices they'll love," Nadella said in an email to employees in July.
At the heart of this is Windows 10 operating system which was launched this summer. Microsoft's big push for the operating system is that it works seamlessly across all devices. A feature called "Universal Apps" allows developers to create software that can work on mobile devices and desktops without the need to drastically change the coding. Windows 10 is seen as something that can work cross-platform.
VIDEO3:4503:45Microsoft Office 2016 'leapfrogging' Google: CMOSquawk Alley
"It's critical for us, we are looking at it as part of a broader ecosystem. We want you to experience Windows across all the devices," a source with knowledge of the matter who asked to remain anonymous told CNBC, adding that the company is being aggressive in pushing its Internet of Things (IoT) offerings which go beyond smartphones to encompass wearables and cloud computing.
Analysts estimate that already 100 million devices have Windows 10 installed on them. For Microsoft, the operating system is as a potential driver for consumers to adopt its mobile devices, but analysts are not clear whether this maybe be the case with iOS and Android controlling around 96 percent of the market.
"A clear Achilles heel for Microsoft is its troubled consumer device strategy, which now appears to be on a trajectory to get a lift on the heels of Windows 10, although the jury is still out on its potential success," Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets, said in a note on Monday.
But Microsoft has already made moves to diversify away from relying on hardware sales and this is their future strategy – not a producer of wide-selling smartphones, but as a provider of services for other operating systems which it can monetize.
Microsoft Office – its software previously reserved for Windows devices only – was opened up to Android phones and tablets as well as the iPhone and iPad earlier this year. It also produces the Surface tablet which shows off the capabilities of Windows 10 in the hope other manufacturers begin making similar devices using the OS. Lenovo is already doing this.
In addition, Microsoft has bought a few companies including cloud security company Adallom and calendar app Sunrise. What they all have in common is a focus on productivity, a theme Nadella has been pushing heavily. If Microsoft can get its software and services onto Android and iOS devices, it is able to access majority of the smartphone market and drive revenues, a move analysts see as more fruitful than trying to get people to buy their hardware.
Microsoft
"It's a much more pragmatic strategy and it's part of a longer term strategy to rebuild and reignite the Windows operating system in smartphones," Fogg said.
And ultimately, the opportunity for Microsoft lays in the enterprise business where it can take advantage of the gap left by BlackBerry's downfall.
"Productivity is the general Microsoft focus and within that business is a key opportunity especially when you look the weakness of BlackBerry in smartphones," Fogg added.
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88da0510b4a183824d0428fa64ec8595 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/newell-rubbermaid-to-buy-elmers-products-for-about-600-mln.html | Newell Rubbermaid to buy Elmer's Products for about $600 mln | Newell Rubbermaid to buy Elmer's Products for about $600 mln
Sharpie pen maker Newell Rubbermaid said it would acquire Elmer's Products, owner of the popular school glue brand, for about $600 million.
Reuters reported last month that Elmer's was exploring a sale.
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1a48057089b37f6e4f106b33629c3097 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/ngs-to-determine-whole-markets-fate.html | Apple earnings to determine whole market's fate? | Apple earnings to determine whole market's fate?
Shoppers and salespeople at an Apple store in New York.Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Apple's October earnings report could be a big factor in determining whether or not U.S. stocks get a fourth-quarter rally.
"The fact that Apple can't get going is negative for the market," said Marc Chaikin, CEO of Chaikin Analytics. The stock closed out the third quarter with a whimper.
As the overall market gained on the last day of the quarter, Apple underperformed Wednesday, closing up about 0.8 percent while the S&P rallied 1.9 percent. Apple fell 0.65 percent Thursday, while the S&P squeezed out a 0.2 percent gain.
"The size and volatility in this (is similar to) small cap issues, which speaks to uncertainty," said Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Apple's volatility is so high and the market is so emotional right now. Earnings season will make a big difference here."
Apple's fiscal fourth quarter results are scheduled for release after the bell on Oct. 27. Investors will scour the report for news on iPhone sales, especially in China.
"If those (quarterly) numbers don't come through, this correction will continue into a bear market," Silverblatt said. "The earnings are that important. Apple has good numbers but the market always expects more."
Here's what investors are closely monitoring:
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dcba1e59c47b7c983164a5d507e33423 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/out-of-beer-bud-lights-smart-fridge-will-tell-you.html | Out of beer? Bud Light's smart fridge will tell you | Out of beer? Bud Light's smart fridge will tell you
VIDEO1:3301:33Out of beer? Bud Light's smart fridge will tell youBig Data
In the race to help consumers create a connected home, a variety of products have hit the market ranging from smart thermostats to smoke detectors and even light bulbs.
But one segment that has not seen a lot of connectivity love: beer drinkers.
Until now.
Bud Light is hoping to make beer drinkers a little more "plugged-in" with the release of the Bud Light Bud-e Fridge. The Wi-Fi-enabled fridge will provide real-time updates on the status of your beer supply to your mobile phone.
Jeff Morganteen | CNBC
The brand, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, is looking to leverage its role as the official beer sponsor of the NFL by making it easy for beer drinkers to know how much beer they have on hand on game day, when it is cold enough to drink, and where they can find nearby stores to replenish their supply. In certain cities, there's even the possibility of ordering more brew via a mobile phone.
"Considering that a huge portion of the consumption of our product takes place in consumers' homes, we're really interested in understanding how our brand can play a role there," said Azania Andrews, senior director of digital connections at Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Anheuser-Busch scoops up another craft brewer
What’s next in the brewing beer mega-deal
The Bud-e Fridge, which is only available in California at the moment and costs $299, holds up to 78 beers: either 60 12-ounce bottles and 18 cans, or a total 78 cans.
It has five different temperature settings ranging from 41 degrees to 27 degrees, which chills beer "below 32 degrees without freezing." Once beer has reached its optimal temperature, users will receive a push notification to their smartphone.
The outside of the fridge has a display that can be set to either show the number of beers inside or the temperature of the fridge. A digital display, which looks similar to a fuel gauge on a car, also reflects how empty or full the fridge is at any given time.
The connectivity begins once the Bud-e app is downloaded to a smartphone and the fridge is connected to a Wi-Fi network. The setup process is easy, accomplished with just a few clicks.
Once connected, the owner can navigate the Bud-e app, which includes the ability to select a favorite NFL team so that a countdown timer will start 30 minutes before kickoff.
Alerts will be sent via the smartphone app when the stock inside the fridge is running low. Then, beer drinkers in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego can opt to replenish their stock via home delivery service Saucey.
How Anchor Brewing changed the beer business
Has America FINALLY hit 'peak pumpkin'?
The Bud-e fridge has additional features like an alarm that can be set to go off whenever the door is open and sensors that can be set to count how many times the fridge door opens.
More bells and whistles emerge on game day as the Bud-e fridge will have a live feed from stats.com that will trigger celebrations and victory songs from the fridge based on events within the game.
Beyond the fridge itself, the company says the app can also be toggled to allow users to share notifications of weather, stocks, email and Twitter messages.
Anheuser-Busch officials said they are testing the concept this year and will consider making it available nationally next year in advance of the NFL season depending on consumer demand.
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b4d07a6807c15531dc124e00eef842bb | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/peltzs-trian-to-invest-25b-in-ge-warns-on-leverage-buybacks.html | Peltz's Trian fund to invest $2.5B in GE | Peltz's Trian fund to invest $2.5B in GE
VIDEO0:3600:36Trian's record breaking investment with GEAcquisitions
Trian, the $13 billion activist hedge fund run by Nelson Peltz, on Monday unveiled a roughly $2.5 billion investment in General Electric.
"We invested in GE because it is undervalued and underappreciated by the market despite what we believe is a transformation that will allow its world-class industrial businesses to drive attractive shareowner returns, "Nelson Peltz, CEO and a founding partner of Trian, said in a statement. "Our recent discussions with Jeff and his team have solidified our belief that they are highly motivated to fully deliver on GE's transformation and share much common ground with Trian on ways to improve long-term shareowner value."
The GE investment is the largest in Trian's history, but unlike many of the fund's more combative positions, the stake in GE and Trian's approach towards it is being described as supportive of current management.
Trian, which has been in active discussions with GE's chief executive Jeffrey Immelt, has not asked the company for a board seat and has made it clear it supports the current strategy being pursued by Immelt.
That strategy has focused GE as an industrial infrastructure company that will derive more than 90 percent of its earnings from those businesses once the divestment of GE Capital is completed in the next two years.
Trian believes GE's share price does not reflect the drastic change in its profile or the consistent earnings growth that change will bring.
Ed Garden, Trian's chief investment officer and a founding partner, said in a statement: "Trian believes GE has significant long-term potential and that its implied target value per share, including dividends,could be $40 to $45 by the end of 2017 based on our view that GE can deliver EPS of at least $2.20 in 2018."
VIDEO2:1102:11GE launches digital power plantPower Lunch
GE's stock price continues to trade well below the level it was at prior to Immelt's ascension to CEO more than fourteen years ago and has a offered total return of only 10 percent over the past 10 years. (Get the GE latest quote here.)
Those lousy numbers are not lost on Immelt, who has been frustrated with the relatively tepid response GE shares have received from investors since the company announced its decision to largely exit its financial business last Spring.
It was GE's decision to divest most of the assets of its GE Capital unit that attracted Trian to its stock.
Read More
Trian's investment, while welcomed by GE, is not without risk for current management. While Trian has taken a number of so-called friendly positions through the years, it is far better known for its fights.
Its most recent battle, with chemicals giant Dupont, left Trian without any board seats after a bruising proxy fight that could be revisited in the not too distant future.
In its paper explaining the GE investment, Trian asks that management continue cost reductions so that operating margins reach at least 16 percent by 2018. It asks management to commit to roughly $20 billion of incremental leverage and explore share repurchases beyond GE current guidance and it notes that, while it did not ask for a board seat, it "expects management to deliver on its commitments."
GE has not publicly shared margin targets for 2018 or discussed further repurchases of its shares beyond the current plan.
In a statement on Monday, GE's Immelt said: "We welcome Trian's significant investment in the Company. GE maintains an open dialogue with our shareholders and enjoys productive, collaborative relationships with them. I have known Trian Principals Nelson Peltz and Ed Garden for many years. Trian has a strong track record of working with companies to build long-term shareholder value, and has been an engaged shareholder. We appreciate their perspectives and look forward to a constructive ongoing dialogue with Trian as we execute our strategy to reshape the Company.
Immelt added: "GE is focused on improving margins and returns,reducing costs and the size of corporate, returning capital to shareholders and realigning our portfolio, most recently with the announced exit of most of GE Capital. Significantly, we have a plan to return more than $90 billion to investors through 2018 and are on track to complete our goal of closing $100 billion of GE Capital asset sales in 2015. We are transforming GE into a focused infrastructure and technology company, leading the intersection of the physical and analytical worlds. "Our businesses are performing well in a volatile environment. In the second-quarter earnings announcement, GE raised its full-year Industrial operating earnings per share guidance to $1.13-1.20 and is on track for that goal. We are confident our strategy will further enhance shareholder value and continue to position GE for long-term growth and success."
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c184d11469f2d14425c3262fa936124f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/portugal-election-winners-face-challenges.html | Now what? No clear winner in Portugal election | Now what? No clear winner in Portugal election
VIDEO3:3503:35Portuguese coalition can push reforms: Caixa CapitalSquawk Box Europe
VIDEO3:0303:03Is the Portuguese government more or less stable after the election?Worldwide Exchange
VIDEO1:1801:18Portugal's economic recovery?
VIDEO2:4402:44Confident of support: Portugal Economy secretarySquawk Box Europe
Portugal's center-right coalition clinched a national election win Sunday but failed to claim an outright majority of the votes, setting the stage for a period of political instability and policy wrangles, analysts warned.
With 99.1 percent of districts in the country counted, the ruling coalition "Portugal Ahead" had secured around 38.5 percent of the vote while Socialist opponent Antonio Costa had 32.4 percent, Reuters reported.
The final count will not be available until late on Monday but, for now, the results showed the government with just 100 seats in the 230-seat parliament - well short of the 116 it would need for a majority.
Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho arrives at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 20, 2014.Thierry Charlier | AFP | Getty Images
Following the result, incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said he was ready to form a government. The vote was widely seen as a referendum on austerity – a central tenet of Coelho's government since 2011 when Portugal received a 78 billion euro bailout ($87.5 billion) and had to implement reforms and unpopular spending cuts and tax rises.
Forming a government could be easier said than done and a lack of majority – which means the opposition could scupper the government's policy program -- could come back to haunt the coalition, analysts believed.
"Clearly, the coalition won and certainly the opposition didn't win," Stephan Morais, executive director of Caixa Capital, told CNBC on Monday. "But having said that, it could be argued that everybody lost -- the opposition didn't win but the government lost a majority."
Read MoreAusterity a vote-winner? This poll could be a shocker
"It's s tough road ahead to a certain extent. We'll see now whether the socialist party allows the coalition to move forward with certain reforms."
Despite the lack of a decisive win on Sunday, Passos Coelho vowed to continue with his government's pro-austerity policies, which have been attributed to helping the country's strong economic recovery.
The ruling alliance's lack of majority does not bode well, however. Apart from the fact that no minority government has lasted a full term since Portugal became a democracy in 1974, according to Reuters, policy wrangles could lie ahead as the coalition tries to form a government with the support of parties whose policy stances differ.
Antonio Barroso, vice president of risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence said in a note Sunday that the process of forming a government could be "messy."
"Despite its defeat, the ambiguous attitude of the opposition Socialist Party (PS) means that government formation could be difficult in the coming days, although incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho is still likely to be re-appointed," he said.
"However, the good result of the extreme-left Left Bloc (BE) will force the socialists to harden their stance towards the government, which does not bode well for political stability over the medium-term."
Over the next few days, Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva will receive the different party leaders and will explore the available options for forming a stable government.
With socialist party leader Antonio Costa declaring he would not resign despite his party's defeat, "he also maintained an ambiguous line regarding the appointment of the new government, suggesting he will not make things easy for Passos Coelho," Barroso said.
Not only does Passos Coelho face the not-so-easy task of re-election, he has then to face the hurdle of submitting his policy program to a vote in parliament, Barroso said. If opposition parties chose to reject the program by an absolute majority vote, it would lead to the resignation of the government, he warned.
- By CNBC's Holly Ellyatt, follow her on Twitter @HollyEllyatt. Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld
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ead3805ce952b436c793c73aea52b379 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/potash-corp-withdraws-offer-for-german-peer-k-s-amid-weakening-china-demand.html | Potash Corp withdraws offer for German peer K+S amid weakening China demand | Potash Corp withdraws offer for German peer K+S amid weakening China demand
VIDEO0:3100:31Potash drops K+S bidDeals and IPOs
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan said it had withdrawn its 7.9 billion euro ($8.9 billion) offer for German potash producer K+S, citing a decline in global commodity and equity markets and a lack of engagement by K+S management.
The acquisition would have given Potash Corp an opportunity to realize savings from selling potash within North America from its own Western Canada mines jointly with potash from K+S's Legacy mine, which is under construction in the region.
But senior K+S executives dismissed Potash Corp's bid as too low and refused to negotiate. Since Potash Corp made its offer to K+S privately at the end of May, shares of K+S peers have dropped around 40 percent amid concerns over weakening demand from China, the world's largest consumer of potash.
A worker prepares a railcar to transport potash from the Potash of Saskatchewan Lanigan mine in Lanigan, Sasketchewan, Canada.Geoff Howe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
"In light of these (challenging) market conditions and a lack of engagement by K+S management, we have concluded that continued pursuit of a combination is no longer in the best interests of our shareholders," Potash Corp Chief Executive Jochen Tilk said in a statement early on Monday.
Potash Corp had offered K+S 41 euros per share in cash. This reflected a 59 percent premium to the volume-weighted average of K+S's share price during the prior 12 months. K+S shares ended trading on Friday at 31.34 euros.
Potash Corp had no problem financing the offer despite debt markets becoming pricier, according to people familiar with matter who asked not to be identified as the matter remained confidential. Potash Corp now plans to focus on its growth strategy, the people added.
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Tilk said on Sept. 16 that Potash was not actively discussing its takeover proposal with K+S but remained interested in a combination of the fertilizer producers that would aid North American potash sales and offer new access to Europe. [ID:nL1N11M19J]
K+S had voiced fears that Potash Corp could dismantle the company and eliminate jobs, and that its pledges to the contrary were too vague. Potash Corp argued that its proposal was not based on closing mines, curtailing production, selling K+S's salt business or cutting jobs.
Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld
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30c44817023258b7eaa4fb79d4d0baab | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/princess-leia-gold-bikini-fetches-96000-at-auction.html | Princess Leia gold bikini fetches $96,000 at auction | Princess Leia gold bikini fetches $96,000 at auction
Princess Leia's slave bikini on display.Elaine Thompson | AP
The force was strong with auction bidders last Thursday.
Profiles in History, a California-based auction house, hosted a Hollywood inspired auction which showcased a myriad of film memorabilia.
More than 50 items from "Star Wars" were slated for sale on Oct. 1. Included in the collection was Princess Leia's iconic gold bikini from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" which sold for $96,000.
The risque costume was worn by actress Carrie Fisher and was paired with a certificate of authenticity signed by Industrial Light and Magic designer Richard Miller, according to Mashable.
Variations of the outfit have made several appearances in pop culture since the films release. Television shows like "Friends," "Chuck," "Family Guy" and "Dancing with the Stars".
Leia's bikini wasn't the star of the auction, however. A miniature model of the blockade runner flown by the princess sold for $450,000.
In addition, the auction offered items from "Jaws," "Indiana Jones," "Rocky" and "Adventures of Superman." The entire Hollywood collection garnered more than $7.3 million in sales, according to the auction house.
Read the full lineup of items sold from Profiles in History.
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1be03f9a5a57da4a26d037b92eb944d7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/producing-steve-jobs-was-crucial-danny-boyle.html | Producing 'Steve Jobs' was 'crucial': Danny Boyle | Producing 'Steve Jobs' was 'crucial': Danny Boyle
Four years after Steve Jobs' death, English film director Danny Boyle is exploring the life of the late Apple co-founder and CEO in his latest venture.
VIDEO3:0203:02'Steve Jobs' backstage: Danny BoyleSquawk Box
Boyle told CNBC's "Squawk Box" Monday that "Steve Jobs" portrays the binary character of the late Apple co-founder and CEO — both brilliant and aggressive.
"You do see the extremes of his behavior," Boyle said. "Of course, there's many people totally devoted to him and can see no wrong in the way that he behaved and the way he built his work, and there are others who thought there were too many sacrifices along the way."
Jobs' family objected to the making of the film and current Apple CEO Tim Cook called the film "opportunistic." Despite the opposition, Boyle said it was "crucial" to make a film about Jobs, one of many visionaries who have changed the world in the past three to four decades.
"The world has turned around on its axis," Boyle said. "That kind of change in that kind of time, means that the people who've ignited that, we need to make more films about them ... we need to understand them."
Steve Jobs movie is ‘not opportunistic’: Sorkin
Boyle added, "[Innovators like Jobs] come out of us, they express our visions, our dreams and our fear sometimes, as well ... they're more powerful than countries now, and they need to be answerable to us at all levels, and it's important that artists do that, I think."
"Steve Jobs" is set to release in theaters Oct. 9.
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d6964d9fdfb4ed9754bfdfc90c5ef45c | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/stocks-take-positive-momentum-into-new-week.html | Nelson Peltz's Trian unveiled today a $2.5 billion stake in General Electric (GE). The investment, the largest in the hedge fund's history, is generally supportive of the current management's strategy. (CNBC)
American Apparel has , crippled by huge debts, a precipitous fall in sales, employee strife, and a drawn-out legal battle with the retailer's ousted founder. (NY Times)
Potash (POT) has for German rival K+S, due to resistance to the offer and the overall commodity and equity market decline since May, when the overture was first made. (Reuters)
Glencore shares were up 7 percent in London, after rocketing 72 percent higher in Hong Kong, on hopes the beleaguered trader and miner would be able to cut debt with agricultural assets sales. (Reuters)
Two top Volkswagen engineers, who found they could not deliver as promised a clean diesel engine for the U.S. market, are at the center of a company investigation into emissions cheating. (WSJ)
Soaked South Carolina residents were still knee-deep in deadly floodwaters this morning, after an historic drenching that was supercharged by the effects of offshore Hurricane Joaquin. (NBC News)
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is set to unveil a sweeping gun control proposal today, including closing the "gun show loophole" and allowing victims of gun violence to sue firearm makers. (NBC News)
Donald Trump remains ahead in the early Republican nominating contests of Iowa and New Hampshire, but his lead has shrunk from a month ago, according to new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls of these two states.
The average out-of-network ATM fee stands now at $4.52, up 4 percent from last year and 21 percent since 2010, according to a new report from Bankrate.com, a personal finance site that tracks banking costs.
This week's relatively light economic calendar kicks off this morning, with the ISM non-manufacturing index at 10 a.m. ET expected to show a 57.7 reading for September, compared to 59.0 in August. Investors will also be closely watching international trade data tomorrow, as well as weekly jobless claims and Fed minutes on Thursday.
PepsiCo (PEP) and Yum Brands (YUM) report earnings tomorrow, with Alcoa (AA) on Thursday. On today's docket, the Container Store (TCS) issues its quarterly numbers after the closing bell.
Tesla (TSLA) reported deliveries of 11,580 vehicles during the third quarter, a 49 percent increase over last year, bringing sales to just over 33,000 for the first nine months of the year. The electric automaker could need a major push to reach its goal of 50,000-55,000 vehicle sales for 2015.
Ford (F) and the United Auto Workers union reached an agreement to avoid a walkout at the Kansas City, Missouri factory that builds Ford's F-150 pickup trucks. Meanwhile, UAW members at Deere (DE) approved a new six-year labor agreement, covering workers in three states.
Gene therapy from Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) for rare, inherited forms of blindness met the goals of a late-stage study, and the company plans to file for U.S. regulatory approval next year.
St. Jude Medical (STJ) received an FDA warning letter regarding the manufacture of some devices at its Atlanta plant. St Jude said it plans to continue to make and ship product from the facility.
For the first time in the 60 years since Disneyland opened, Walt Disney (DIS) is considering switching to demand-based pricing at its domestic theme parks. That's according to the Wall Street Journal.
The divisive response to Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle's new movie "Steve Jobs" from people who knew the Apple co-founder continues; a report in the Wall Street Journal claims Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve's widow, tried to block the biopic.
Alphabet (GOOGL) late Friday, as the publicly traded holding company that houses Google's search and other Internet businesses separate from its moonshot ventures. (Reuters)
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c6bd449e9447609e4c3a53a804f374e8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/strategists-clamor-to-cut-sp-500-forecasts.html | Strategists clamor to cut S&P 500 forecasts | Strategists clamor to cut S&P 500 forecasts
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
With less than three months before 2015 ends, Wall Street firms are growing increasingly doubtful that stocks can mount a big fourth-quarter comeback.
"We hate to do this as we know it seems equivocal, but we cut our 2015 S&P target despite our fundamental longer-term S&P EPS and 10-year real interest rate views (cost of equity base) still being intact," Deutsche Bank equity strategist David Bianco wrote Friday.
A weak jobs report for September released Friday, which showed a sizable downshift in private jobs growth, proved that the Fed missed its chance to raise rates in 2015, according to Bianco.
"It means rates, currency, commodity and P/E uncertainty continues. It also means spartan interest rate conditions for banks in 2016," the strategist said.
That sentiment was echoed Monday by Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists, who reduced their year-end price target for the for the second time in the past 30 days.
After the sharp losses in the past two months, other investment firms like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have also issued tepid projections on where stocks could close out the year.
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2726a4e7d44269af50674550735cb9e3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/technicians-looking-for-inverted-head-and-shoulders-to-go-long-on-oil.html | Charting Asia | Charting Asia
Getty Images
The downside target for oil near $38 was almost achieved in the week of August 29 with a low of $38.24. But there are signs of hope for higher prices.
But the rebound rally from $38.24 was fast and strong, which suggests the downward pressure in oil is weakening. Traders are now alert for the development of patterns that signal the end of the downtrend.
There are three significant levels on the weekly chart; support resistance levels near $58, $48 and $38. A sustained move below $38 has a downside target near $28 but there is a low probability price will move below $38.
Instead, the pattern of price development that started around March 2015 has the potential to develop into a inverted head and shoulder pattern. This type of pattern is a reliable indication of a change in the direction of the trend. The chart pattern development is best seen on a weekly chart.
The price activity for this pattern is currently developing and the full pattern might not be completed for several weeks. Most key, when the pattern is not confirmed, we should use this analysis with caution.
The left shoulder of the pattern is created by the lows of January and March 2015 (Area A.) This double dip behavior to create an inverted head and shoulder pattern is unusual.
The left side base of the neck is created by the rally and consolidation in May to July 2015 (Area B.) This consolidation developed around the $58 support and resistance level.
The head of the pattern is created in the week of August 29 with the dip to $38.24 and the quick rebound (Area C.) This has the behavior of a exhaustion sell-off.
The key feature is that this demonstrates the future development of the current rally.
Read MorePutin brings geopolitical risk back into oil
Three future features are now needed to confirm the inverted head and shoulder pattern. They are shown with the thick black lines on the chart. The first feature is a continuation of the current rally with a move above $48 towards historical resistance near $58 (Area D.)
The second feature is a rally collapse and a re-test of the $48 area as a support (Area E.)
The third feature completes and confirms the head and shoulder pattern; another rally away from support near $48 and a move above resistance near $58.
The neckline of the pattern is between points B and D. When point D is confirmed then the depth of the pattern is measured and projected upwards to set the first uptrend breakout targets. Traders will watch for future confirmation of the pattern because this will be a signal to go long on oil.
Daryl Guppy is a trader and author of Trend Trading, The 36 Strategies of the Chinese for Financial Traders, available at www.guppytraders.com. He is a regular guest on CNBC Asia Squawk Box and a speaker at trading conferences in China, Asia, Australia and Europe.
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f94eb8fbf032c15fc6f7f4854ada684f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/the-gops-millennial-problem-commentary.html | The GOP's millennial problem | The GOP's millennial problem
In the last Republican debate, Chris Christie said, "I'm against the recreational use of marijuana." Christie also said that if he became president, he'd enforce federal drug laws over state laws like those in Colorado where pot is now legal.
A 2014 Reason-Rupe poll showed that 83 percent of millennials opposed jailing marijuana offenders.
Republican presidential candidates (L-R) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Carson, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and John Kasich take the stage for the first prime-time presidential debate hosted by FOX News and Facebook at the Quicken Loans Arena August 6, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. The top-ten GOP candidates were selected to participate in the debate based on their rank in an average of the five most recent national political polls.Getty Images
53 percent of Americans now support marijuana legalization. 68 percent of millennials support it. 63 percent of Republican millennials support it.
Carly Fiorina said at the same debate, "We are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not." Many experts disagree.
Still, 47 percent of millennials think beer is more damaging than marijuana compared to only 13 percent who say pot is worse, according to a 2014 Rare under-40 poll on millennial attitudes.
Jeb Bush fought against legalizing medical marijuana in his home state of Florida. His fellow Floridian Marco Rubio has expressed similar sentiments, and joins Christie in saying he'd use federal law to go after marijuana users.
Why GOP candidates won't talk about retirement
These Republicans do not represent every GOP candidate's positions on marijuana and legalization. But they do represent a broad perception—particularly among millennials—that Republicans are out-of-step with younger Americans on this issue.
And this is not the only one.
When the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal nationwide in late June, Ted Cruz called it the "the darkest 24 hours in our nation's history." Bobby Jindal said it was an "all out assault" on people of faith.
An ABC News poll in April showed 60 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. A Pew survey in June revealed that almost 3 in 4 millennials support gay marriage. The Boston Globe noted, "During the last decade, support of same-sex marriage has grown across nearly all segments of the U.S. population."
Wooing millennials to buy condos: Really tiny condos
"But Pew found that a key component to this shift was the strong support of younger Americans," the Globe added.
Not all Republicans necessarily come off as hostile to same-sex marriage as Cruz or Jindal—but to millennial ears and eyes, the Republican Party as a whole does not seem particularly hospitable to those who favor marriage equality.
Young people want more tolerance on this front and many others, but Republicans continue to appear to have a tolerance deficit.
When Ben Carson said recently that no Muslim should ever become U.S. president, a Gallup poll showed that 6 in 10 Americans would support a qualified candidate who happened to be Muslim.
Jessica Alba? LeBron James? Who'd make the best advisor?
Gallup did not break down support for a Muslim president by age, but a 2010 Pew Research Center poll showed younger Americans were more tolerant and "open to change."
Matching some of the leading Republican candidates against Hillary Clinton—and seeing data that showed everyone from Jeb Bush to Donald Trump being walloped by the Democrat—pollster John Zogby warned in Forbes this month, "A new Zogby analytics poll of 850 adults 18-34 years old conducted on August 25 reveals that if millennials turn out to vote, the GOP faces nothing short of a catastrophic election."
The 85 million Americans who qualify as millennials will be the largest voting block in the country in the not too distant future. Zogby forecasts, "The GOP has a real problem ... millennials."
There's an ongoing shift in priorities and a widening disconnect on values between this generation, their parents and their grandparents. There's even a significant difference in how young Americans get their news — 69 percent now get it from Facebook — where they're much more likely to see different or opposing opinions on their newsfeeds than what many cable outlets or newspapers have traditionally delivered.
The country is changing. American politics is changing.
Republicans who want to win — sooner than later — are going to have to change with it.
Commentary by Jack Hunter, the editor of Rare Politics (Rare.us) and co-author of "The Tea Party Goes to Washington" with Senator Rand Paul. Follow him on Twitter @jackhunter74.
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b6c927259f46f027a39fcf96d742d949 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/the-time-has-come-to-buy-energy-stocks-strategist.html | The time has come to buy energy stocks: Strategist | The time has come to buy energy stocks: Strategist
VIDEO2:3902:39Trading Nation: 'High-energy' stocksTrading Nation
As stocks kicked off the week with major gains, the S&P 500 energy sector was one of the best performers on Monday, rising almost 3 percent.
And according to one market strategist, a rally in energy stocks is already underway.
"I believe a reversal's already been made," Neil Azous of Rareview Macro said Monday on CNBC's "Power Lunch." "There are enough indicators out there that suggest the time has come."
Specifically, Azous said the price of oil has shown stabilization between the first trading sessions of August and October, both days in which crude oil closed at about $45 a barrel.
Read More US oil settles up 72 cents, at $46.26 a barrel
Another sign of a bottom, Azous said, is the fact that large-cap energy stocks have fallen 40 percent, both on an absolute basis as well as relative to the . Meanwhile, small-cap energy stocks have dropped 60 percent on an absolute basis and relative to the Russell 2000 small-cap index.
"You have to go back a very far time in history to find any other sector that really came close to that," Azous said.
Oil drilling rigs have also declined significantly, he pointed out. The latest Baker Hughes rig count reported 809 rigs in the U.S., lower than the previous week and down 58 percent from one year ago.
However, Oppenheimer's head of technical analysis, Ari Wald, said the bottom for energy isn't in just yet.
"This is giving traders a little bit of comfort in trading up shares of the sector. However this is a counter trend move," Wald said Monday.
The energy sector ETF (XLE) is still following a downtrend of its 200-day moving average, Wald said. Instead of betting on a long-term rally, Wald suggests selling XLE at resistance around the $70-$72 range.
Want to be a part of the Trading Nation? If you'd like to call into our live Wednesday show, email your name, number and a question to TradingNation@cnbc.com
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92a178909a45145004836437dd036312 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/the-worst-of-stock-selling-may-be-behind-us-bob-doll.html | The worst of stock selling may be behind us: Bob Doll | The worst of stock selling may be behind us: Bob Doll
VIDEO2:1002:10Investing in a 'muddle through' economy: Bob DollSquawk Box
VIDEO2:1302:13Consumers spending more money: Bob DollSquawk Box
VIDEO1:5901:59Weak jobs report sparks Street debateSquawk Box
Investors are still in the midst of a "muddle-through" economy, but the worst of the stock market disruptions may be over for now, Nuveen Asset Management's Bob Doll said Monday.
"I think the selling looks like for the moment it's exhausting. Wednesday was a nice rally. Friday was a nice rally. Many technicians say it's the first successful test of the August problem," Nuveen's chief equity strategist told CNBC's "Squawk Box," referring to August's equity market sell-off.
Read More Stock picks for a slowing economy
Investors should not expect the market to go straight up, but "maybe the worst is behind us," he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average, , and Nasdaq all ended last week positive after surging into the close on Friday. The Dow turned in its biggest reversal in four years, swinging 459 points.
Doll said markets had recently hit a secondary low after August's primary low. He warned that markets may yet need to touch a third low before they can head higher.
Earlier on "Squawk Box," Hilltop Securities managing director Mark Grant said Friday's rally was not due to any technical evidence of a bottom, but to the market perception that the Fed would step in to save investors following a disappointing monthly jobs report.
Read More Fed is now 'abject follower of the market': Sri-Kumar
The economy is currently mid-cycle, and investors should expect good news and bad news to compete for their attention, Chris Hyzy, chief investment officer for Bank of America's global wealth and investment management business said Monday.
He told "Squawk Box" the market is "in limbo," with positive U.S. consumer data being offset by crises in emerging markets, from which investors have withdrawn money in 12 of the last 13 months.
While sentiment is at a multiyear low, investors should bear in mind that the U.S. economy is on track to grow 2 percent this year, and perhaps as much as 3 percent in 2016, Hyzy said.
"It's going to be very hard for the emerging market growth slump, and it's a big dent, to be exported to us to take us back into the same type of slump," he said.
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f602a85b2a1285f32adc4df05dc6e9f4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/this-could-cause-market-rally-in-fourth-quarter-strategist.html | This could cause market rally in fourth quarter: Strategist | This could cause market rally in fourth quarter: Strategist
VIDEO3:2403:24History & the marketsPower Lunch
The stage is being set for a "surprising" stock market rally in the fourth quarter, strategist Brian Belski said Monday.
While it was known coming into this year that the Federal Reserve would add volatility to an already volatile market, the dollar would have an impact and China was slowing, most of those downgrades to the market have already happened, he told CNBC's "Power Lunch."
"People are playing defense … [and are] acting more like what was instead of what is," the chief investment strategist for BMO Capital Markets said. "What is, we think, is a very attractively priced asset and that's U.S. stocks."
In fact, Belski is sticking to his year-end price target of 2,250 for the .
The worst of stock selling may be behind us: Bob Doll
Strategists clamor to cut S&P 500 forecasts
Most absurd ETF trade of all—paying 100 basis points for it
That's because he thinks third-quarter earnings will surprise to the upside.
"We are banking on earnings to be better than expected," he said. "If you take out energy, we are going to see a positive number for the third quarter and nobody is believing that."
He predicts domestic growth will outpace what has been lost in terms of international growth.
VIDEO1:2601:26Mega-caps that could be poised for big moves higherPower Lunch
David Rainey, portfolio manager with Hennessy Focus Funds, sees opportunities in specific names such as O'Reilly Automotive. He told "Power Lunch" that he thinks the company, which has grown from a modest store base to over 4,000 locations, can grow even larger over the next five to seven years.
He also likes the cellular tower company American Tower, which he said has a rapidly growing international portfolio and is benefiting from the U.S. carriers' rollout of 4G technology.
Portfolio managers Chad Morganlander and Mark Travis believe there is value to be found in large cap names suc as Cisco and Microsoft.
Cisco has $40 billion of net cash on its balance sheet and has an upside potential of $35 a share, Stifel Nicolaus' Morganlander noted. Meanwhile, Microsoft, which has $75 billion net cash on its balance sheet, could hit $55 per share, he added.
Intrepid Capital Funds' Travis said he likes the dividends for both companies, which is better than the 30-year Treasury.
Other names on Travis' large-cap list include Bank of New York Mellon, Express Scripts and Western Union.
Morganlander also likes Aetna, Abbott Labs, Hershey, Wal-Mart and Oracle.
— CNBC's Brenda Hentschel and Jennet Chin contributed to this report.
Disclosures: Morganlander and his family do not personally own Cisco, Microsoft, Aetna, Abbott Labs, Hershey, Wal-Mart or Oracle. Washington Crossing Advisors, an investment advisory program offered through Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., does own the positions. Travis, his family and his firm own Cisco, Microsoft, New York Mellon, Express Scripts and Western Union. Rainey owns ORLY, AMT, ECPG through both the mutual fund and individually in his personal account.
Disclaimer
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6a40e3e4e7f0274aaecdaf99b960ac63 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/this-is-a-new-opportunity-to-buy-gold-technician.html | This is a new opportunity to buy gold: Technician | This is a new opportunity to buy gold: Technician
VIDEO2:3202:32Suddenly, this commodity is hotOptions Action
For the last three years, it's been nothing but heartbreak for gold bugs. But according to one top technician, now is the opportunity to buy bullion.
"We've seen a long downtrend in and it looks to me that it could be coming to an end," Carter Worth said Friday on CNBC's "Options Action." Gold has been in a precipitous decline since 2011, down 4 percent in 2015 and on track for its longest yearly losing streak since 1997.
Read More Gold slips on higher shares, soft US jobs data curbs decline
Looking at a very long-term chart of gold, Worth pointed out that the precious metal has hit a critical technical level. "If you were to draw a line along the peaks at or near the highs since 2011, we've flirted with this downtrend line three or four different times," he added. "Any type of [continued] strength will do one thing: it will start to move us above this downtrend line that's been in effect for three years."
Worth noted that the downtrend line also corresponds with gold's 50 percent retracement level dating back to 1975. "It's not random that we begin to move above this three-year downtrend just as gold reaches its 50 percent retracement level," said the head of technical analysis at Cornerstone Macro. Technicians often look to these retracement levels for shifts in sentiment.
For Worth, rather than pile into the commodity itself, investors could stand to profit more from gold-related stocks, specifically the gold miners. "Gold is halfway back from its low but if you look at gold miners [they] are at the all-time lows," he said. The gold miners ETF, the , is down more than 18 percent in 2015. "We're going to play this off this all-time low and make a bet," he added. By Worth's work, the GDX should begin to catch up to gold.
Looking at the GDX, Worth said that at the very least we could potentially see a move to the downtrend line on the chart which comes in around $17. That's a nearly 13 percent move higher from the current trading price of around $15.
Gold miners were higher by more than 2 percent while gold prices were slightly lower midday Monday.
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d95ff3749ba38caf9e9536abe9241df8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/this-is-the-best-day-to-book-your-holiday-flights.html | This is the best day to book your holiday flights | This is the best day to book your holiday flights
VIDEO0:3200:32Airfare deals best in OctoberAirlines
Headed out of town for the holidays? Better book now.
Whether you're taking to the skies for Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's, one week is better than any other to purchase your airfares, according to Orbitz.com's holiday insider report.
"This early week in October is when prices are are dipping the most before they head back up as we get close to the holidays," Jeanenne Tornatore, senior editor for Orbitz.com, told NBC New York.
Airfare continues to drop after steep July decline
In fact, travelers looking to save some cash should use Oct. 6 to book flights for Turkey Day. The online airfare booking site suggests that flights on this day are 5 percent cheaper than regular fares.
Using data from past holidays, the report also projects that Christmas fares should be purchased on Oct. 9 for the best price and flights for a New Year's holiday are cheapest on Oct. 10.
"Book your holiday airfare sooner than later because once you hit mid-October you are only going to see those prices continue to rise," Tornatore said.
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ae36a4579932e20f069acaff3e79b56a | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/top-vw-exec-warns-emissions-crisis-could-kill-company.html | Top VW exec warns emissions crisis could kill company | Top VW exec warns emissions crisis could kill company
Volkswagen Groups's incoming chairman warned managers that the automaker's diesel-emission scandal poses "an existence-threatening crisis for the company" as new details emerged about how the debacle unfolded.
VW finance chief Hans Dieter Poetsch, who is expected to be named chairman this week, told managers last week that despite the predicament in which the company finds itself, he believes VW can overcome the crisis, according to the report in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in Germany.
A Volkswagen car dealership in San Diego.Mike Blake | Reuters
The crisis, which has wiped out $34 billion in the company's value as shares have fallen, stems from the disclosure by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month that VW had rigged nearly 5 million diesel cars in the U.S. to pass emissions tests even though they spewed far greater emissions on the highway.
More from USA Today:Lawsuit: 'Most Interesting Man' is 'least honorable' Two faces of October: Crash-prone but 'bear killer' America's richest (and poorest) school districts
VW admitted to the fraud and said 11 million vehicles are affected worldwide.
The New York Times reported Sunday that the cheating began in 2008 after Volkswagen's engineers figured out that the new diesel engines they had developed at great expense would not meet emissions standards in the U.S. and other countries. So they installed software to beat the tests, the Times reported based on unnamed sources with knowledge of the inquiry.
The cheating resulted from not wanting scrap the years of effort they had put into developing the engine. The report says VW is yet to pinpoint who was responsible for the cheating. Several engineers have admitted to creating the software aimed at cheating the tests, Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported Sunday.
The software may have been contained in parts from a big auto industry supplier,Continental, Bild says. But a Continental spokesman denied that the company knew of any contaminated software and wasn't in a position to measure emissions.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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69ff33d0b4b554b8252ca1fd792b0a05 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/us-stocks-open-higher-data-eyed.html | Rally on! Dow soars 300; Nasdaq ends in the green for 2015 | Rally on! Dow soars 300; Nasdaq ends in the green for 2015
VIDEO2:1202:12Cashin says: Stocks rally up to 'resistance band'World Economy
VIDEO2:1102:11Still can't fight the Fed: ProClosing Bell
VIDEO1:4001:40S&P 500 higher for fifth straight day
VIDEO2:4002:40Fmr. Fed Chair Bernanke: We rely too much on the FedSquawk Box Next 20
U.S. stocks closed more than 1.5 percent higher Monday, extending Friday's surprise intraday reversal, as investors digested the implications of the jobs data on the timing of a rate hike and awaited quarterly earnings. (Tweet This)
"Investors increasingly believe any Fed action is off the table for the rest of the year," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank. "It would seem to me the Fed was reluctant to raise rates in September. Now we had a lousy jobs report, (which sector offered) really the only shed of consistently positive news."
"There is a technical element to (the stock market gains). It just remains to be seen if that holds," he said. 'It's all going to be about earnings season. If history repeats itself (they're) going to beat very lowered expectations and that should be taken as a positive."
US oil settles up 72 cents, at $46.26 a barrel
US Treasurys tumble amid rise in risk appetite
Dollar gains against major currencies on risk appetite
Gold steadies on profit-taking, silver holds firm momentum
The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 300 points higher after briefly topping its 50-day moving average for the first time since July 21. IBM, Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar contributed the most to gains.
Read MoreBernanke: No hurry to hike
The Nasdaq composite swung back into positive territory for 2015, up 0.95 percent for the year, while the Dow and S&P held several percentage points lower for the year so far.
In Monday's trading session, the Nasdaq underperformed the two other major averages as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) gave up initial gains to end 0.8 percent lower. Apple closed 0.36 percent higher.
The S&P 500 ended up 1.8 percent to post its first five-day streak of gains this year. Industrials and energy rose more than 2.5 percent to lead all sectors higher.
Energy posted its first five-day winning streak since Oct. 21, 2014, and closed above its 50-day moving average for the first time since May 22.
Crude oil settled up 72 cents at $46.26 a barrel.
Read MoreWhat has traders worried in the week ahead
"I think we had a very successful retest of the August lows so there's reason for optimism," said James Meyer, chief investment officer at Tower Bridge Advisors. "But we're not out of the woods yet. ... It's not completely complete that you can say 'all clear.' In fundamental terms I think we overbid it on the pessimistic side."
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, closed near 19.5, below 20 for the first time since August 20. The VIX fell under 20 in intraday trade for the first time since Sept. 17, when it briefly dipped to below 18 just after the Fed statement was released.
"We actually have implied volatility slightly below realized volatility," said Daniel Deming, managing director at KKM Financial. "Overall the fact that we were able to hold the low end of the range and are back in the middle of the range has reduced demand for (volatility) options. I think from a short-term perspective it's alleviated some of the immediate concern."
All three major averages gained to come within 10 percent of their 52-week highs, out of correction territory. The Russell 2000 remained in correction mode, about 12 percent from its 52-week high.
Analysts also noted some gains due to a "short squeeze" as short sellers rushed to cover positions as stocks rose.
On Friday, the Dow and S&P closed up more than 1 percent for their biggest reversal in four years.
Analysts attributed the turnaround mostly to technical factors. Stocks initially sold off sharply Friday after a weaker-than-expected September nonfarm payrolls report. Few analysts found any positives from the data, which showed creation of 142,000 jobs and revised August and July figures lower.
Unemployment held at 5.1 percent, according to the Labor Department. The participation rate plunged to 62.4 percent, meaning the Fed may not be able to raise rates this year, which would remove some uncertainty for investors.
Read MoreThe worst of stock selling may be behind us: Bob Doll
In Monday's earnings news, The Container Store was due to post results after the bell.
Third-quarter earnings season kicks off later in the week with PepsiCo, Alcoa and a few other companies reporting. Earnings are expected to decline 3.9 percent for the S&P 500, according to Thomson Reuters.
Read MoreEarly movers: GE, ONCE, POT, TSLA, VIP, LMT, FDX, AZO & more
In Europe, stocks closed more than 2.5 percent higher after the weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report dampened expectations of a rate hike this year. Glencore surged to close up more than 16 percent.
Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both rose more than 1.5 percent to 2-week highs. Mainland Chinese markets are closed until Wednesday for the National Day holidays.
"Global equity markets are rallying this morning following Friday's bullish reaction to the jobs report in the U.S. We view last week's price action as characteristic of a bullish shakeout, as per our latest Global Technical Strategy, and would be adding exposure in anticipation of a seasonal fourth-quarter rally," Katie Stockton, chief technical strategist at BTIG, said in a note.
In U.S. economic news, for September, below August's 59 read and expectations of 57.5. The ISM manufacturing report last week showed softness in the manufacturing sector.
"Bottom line, the U.S. service sector certainly moderated in September but an index at 56.9 is still a healthy level of growth for this most crucial and largest part of the U.S. economy. Manufacturing is certainly challenged but the more domestic-dependent services side has been able to weather the global economic slowdown much better," Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group, said in a note.
"What this means for Fed policy is anyone's guess of course at this point but the market is clearly not expecting anything in October and only a 30 percent chance by December," he said.
The final Markit PMI services index for September came in at 55.1, below August's 56.1 and the lowest read since June.
Treasury yields held higher, with the 10-year yield at 2.06 percent and the at 0.61 percent in the close.
The U.S. dollar traded higher against major world currencies, with the euro below $1.12 and the yen at 120.42 yen against the greenback.
The U.S., Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries reached an agreement Monday for the years-in-the-making Trans Pacific Partnership. The trade deal still needs final approval from Congress.
Read MoreWhy the 'Trans-Pacific Partnership' deal matters
Shares of Twitter surged nearly 7 percent, attempting to top its 50-day moving average of $27.85 a share, on news the social media firm named Jack Dorsey permanent CEO.
Shares of Alphabet, the new umbrella company for Google, Monday.
Both Class A and Class C of Alphabet shares were about 2 percent higher in afternoon trade. Alphabet is identical to Google from a stock market perspective.
Alcoa leaped 9.35 percent for its best day since Oct. 27, 2011, on news of a .
Major U.S. Indexes
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 304.06 points, or 1.85 percent, at 16,776.43, with General Electric and Caterpillar leading advancers and Nike leading decliners.
Trian, the $13 billion activist hedge fund run by Nelson Peltz, unveiled Monday a roughly $2.5 billion investment in General Electric. The stake is the largest in Trian's history and is being described as more supportive of the firm's management than many of the fund's other positions. GE closed up 5.3 percent.
The Dow transports gained more than 2 percent for their first five-day win streak since February. The index also closed above its 50-day moving average for the first time since Sept. 17.
The closed up 35.69 points, or 1.83 percent, at 1,987.05, with industrials leading 10 sectors higher.
The Nasdaq closed up 73.49 points, or 1.56 percent, at 4,781.26.
Read More Apple earnings to determine whole market's fate?
About nine stocks advanced for every decliner on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of nearly 1.1 billion and a composite volume of 4.3 billion in the close.
Gold futures settled up $1.00 at $1,137.60 an ounce.
On tap this week:
Monday
Earnings: The Container Store
Tuesday
Earnings: Pepsico, Yum Brands
8:30 a.m.: International trade
1 p.m.: 3-year note auction
5:30 p.m.: San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams speaks
Wednesday
Earnings: Monsanto, Constellation Brands, Acuity Brands
7 a.m.: Mortgage applications
10:30 a.m.: Oil Inventories
1 p.m.: 10-year note auction
3 p.m.: Consumer credit
Thursday
Earnings: Alcoa, Domino's Pizza, Ruby Tuesday
8:30 a.m.: Initial claims
9:30 a.m.: St. Louis Fed President James Bullard speaks
10:30 a.m.: Natural Gas Inventories
1 p.m.: 30-year note auction
1 p.m.: Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota speaks
2 p.m.: FOMC minutes
3:30 p.m.: San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams speaks
4:30 p.m.: Fed Balance Sheet/Money Supply
Friday
8:30 a.m.: Import prices
10 a.m.: Wholesale trade
11 a.m.: New York Fed President's William Dudley speaks
1 p.m.: Baker-Hughes Rig Count
1:30 p.m.: Chicago Fed President's Charles Evans speaks.
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Top chart analyst: Next move is to the upsideStock picks for a slowing economy
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2aa6f2eca913cfc38c37e30dce442e0c | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/us-supreme-court-rejects-paul-allens-interval-licensing-patent-appeal.html | US Supreme Court rejects Paul Allen's interval licensing patent appeal | US Supreme Court rejects Paul Allen's interval licensing patent appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to revive several patent claims against AOL, Apple, Google, and Yahoo over software pop-up notifications.
The Supreme Court left in place a September 2014 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington. The court mostly upheld a decision by a district court judge who had ruled that the defendants had not infringed upon Interval's patents.
Paul AllenGetty Images
The patents, held by Allen's Interval Licensing, relate to the pop-ups that computer and smartphone users regularly see.
Interval Licensing is the patent-licensing arm of a Silicon Valley research entity that Allen financed, Interval Research Corp, which shut down in 2000.
Interval Licensing sued the tech companies in 2010, accusing them of infringing upon four of its patents, although only two became the subject of the appeal. It said they infringed upon the patents through products and software that use pop-up notifications, court documents said.
Allen and partner David Liddle founded Interval Research in 1992. It employed more than 110 scientists and engineers and was granted 300 patents during its existence, according to court documents.
AOL is part of Verizon Communications.
The case is Interval Licensing v. AOL Inc, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 14-1362.
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71e75a16c86e9994632b849e626ea9a1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/us-treasury-yields-tick-higher-but-hang-below-2.html | US Treasurys tumble amid rise in risk appetite | US Treasurys tumble amid rise in risk appetite
Getty Images
U.S. Treasury debt prices fell on Monday, although benchmark yields were still near their lowest since April, on increased risk appetite spurred by weak employment and services sector data and increasing doubts the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by year-end.
Skepticism about a rate increase rekindled appetite for stocks among investors worried that higher U.S. borrowing costs would hurt corporate profits, analysts said.
"Last week's employment data suggested labor gains were slowing, knocking down the one pillar the Fed's been leaning on, and if employment is weaker, it's harder for the Fed to move, so risk appetite is higher," said Aaron Kohli, interest rates strategist at BMO Capital Markets in New York.
Read MoreInvestors cut junk bond holdings as debt fears mount
Treasuys trimmed earlier losses as a steeper-than-forecast drop in a private index of the U.S. services sector in September revived bets the economy is not strong enough for the Fed to boost rates in the near term.
Treasurys
The Institute for Supply Management said its gauge of U.S. services industries fell to 56.9 percent, its lowest since June and down from 59.0 in August. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a fall to 57.5.
The ISM data follows Friday's disappointing U.S. employment report, which showed employers hired 142,000 people in September, far fewer than the 203,000 expected.
Analysts expect the data may lead to a change of view among some Fed policymakers who have said the U.S. central bank would end its near-zero rate policy if the economy improves further.
Interest rate futures implied traders scaled back their bets on a rate increase by year-end. They now see such a move in March 2016 at the earliest.
Expectations the Fed might refrain from raising rates this year will likely boost demand for this week's coupon debt supply.
The U.S. Treasury Department will sell $24 billion in three-year notes, $21 billion in 10-year debt and $13 billion in 30-year bonds this week.
On the open market, benchmark 10-year Treasuys were down 18/32 in price to yield 2.06 percent, up more than 6 basis points from late Friday. The 10-year yield touched 1.904 percent on Friday, which was its lowest since late April, according to Reuters data.
The 30-year bond was down 1-15/32 in price to yield 2.90 percent, up 7 basis points from Friday.
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8ae6cbe608a4ca875f22db6d0e31ae49 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/03/04/why-was-help-delayed-during-capitol-riot-here-are-the-key-discrepancies-in-the-timelines-of-top-security-officials/ | Why Was Help Delayed During Capitol Attack? Here Are The Key Discrepancies In The Timelines Of Top Security Officials | Why Was Help Delayed During Capitol Attack? Here Are The Key Discrepancies In The Timelines Of Top Security Officials
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 23: Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testifies during a Senate ... [+] Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Rules and Administration joint hearing on February 23, 2021 in Washington, DC. The committees are hearing testimony about the law enforcement preparation for and response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Photo by Erin Scott-Pool/Getty Images) Getty Images
Many key questions remain about the security failures that allowed a pro-Trump mob to overrun the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Top security officials have testified twice before Congress, but continue to offer differing accounts of why law enforcement wasn’t better prepared for the violence and why it took nearly four hours for the National Guard to arrive while the nation watched rioters swarm the complex.
Here are the key questions that continue to be disputed nearly two months after the attack.
Was the National Guard requested ahead of time?
Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund has repeatedly claimed he approached the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms two days before the attack about placing the D.C. National Guard on standby, but said the request was turned down due to the “optics” of the deployment. Maj. Gen. William Walker, the acting chief of the D.C. National Guard, testified Wednesday that he spoke to Sund on the phone the weekend before the attack, at which point the then-Capitol police chief said he was “not allowed to request” the guard’s support.
Both the Department of Defense and the House sergeant-of-arms are denying the National Guard was requested ahead of time. House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul D. Irving testified last month that Sund didn’t make a formal request during their conversation on Jan. 4, saying they had discussed “whether the intelligence warranted the troops,” but decided “the answer was no.” A timeline published by the Department of Defense notes the U.S. Capitol Police confirmed there was “no requirement” for the department’s support on Jan. 4.
When did the Capitol Police first ask for help on Jan. 6?
Sund said in his testimony that he initially requested National Guard troops in a phone call with the House sergeant-at-arms at 1:09 p.m., roughly 30 minutes after Trump supporters first broke into the Capitol, and then followed up at 1:22 p.m. “to check on the status of the request.” But Irving’s testimony placed the call for help an hour later, with the sergeant-at-arms saying he had his “first conversation” with Sund around 1:30 p.m. before receiving an official request after 2:00 p.m.
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Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman deemed Sund’s timeline “accurate” at a hearing last week. Pittman said she pulled phone records of the day and found Sund had reached out even earlier than he had testified, first calling Irving for support at 12:58 p.m. and then the Senate sergeant-at-arms at 1:05 p.m. Sund repeated his request to Irving at 1:28 p.m., Pittman said, and then spoke again with the sergeants-at-arms three more times in the next 20 minutes “to request National Guard support.”
When was the National Guard actually sent in?
The chief of the D.C. Guard said it took over three hours for the Pentagon to approve the request he passed on from Sund just before 2 p.m. Walker testified on Wednesday that he received an “unusual” letter from former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy the day before the attack restricting his authority to mobilize the guard’s quick reaction force, which is often deployed to deal with rallies in D.C. Walker said he didn’t receive the top-level sign off he needed as a result of the memo until 5:08 p.m.
Robert Salesses, the representative sent by the Department of Defense to testify at Congress’ second hearing on Wednesday (who was not involved in any of the calls on Jan. 6), attributed the delay to the “events of the spring,” suggesting months of civil unrest may have contributed to concerns about the National Guard’s presence. Salesses initially said the Guard was told it could move forward at 4:32 p.m., but then wobbled on the timeline, saying it could have been after 5:00 p.m. The Department of Defense’s timeline marks 4:32 p.m. as when McCarthy was to provide “public notification of support.”
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1ad13090cd72bda202ad5ef669795937 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/03/29/live-updates-from-the-george-floyd-murder-trial-floyd-addicted-to-opioids-but-didnt-die-from-drug-overdose-prosecution-says/?sh=3481e8e12519 | Live Updates From Derek Chauvin Trial: Defense Argues Officer Accused Of Killing George Floyd ‘Did Exactly What He Had Been Trained To Do’ | Live Updates From Derek Chauvin Trial: Defense Argues Officer Accused Of Killing George Floyd ‘Did Exactly What He Had Been Trained To Do’
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2f569b801301bd311d7007c84c8bbca0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemmagreen/2020/08/14/the-internet-of-electricity/?sh=3b08966c1a3b | The Internet of Electricity | The Internet of Electricity
Part II: From dispatchable to renewable
The challenge in switching to renewables is often seen as just a matter of finding the required political will. But there are technical issues that need to be overcome as well.
In Part I we looked at the rise of steam and the demise of muscle power and slavery and how this struggle compares with the conflict today between renewables and thermal power.
We also looked at just how deep the divisions run, and how they occur in countries from Australia to Germany, the US and Japan.
While it’s possible to see this theater of conflict as a fight between old and new, clean and dirty, sustainable and cheap, such characterizations miss an important dimension.
To understand that dimension, it's vital to understand the challenges renewables pose, and the importance of dispatchable energy - for the moment, at least.
A coal or nuclear reactor gets fired up and continues to hum along, providing a precise and controllable amount of energy throughout the day.
It provides what is often called baseload generation.
Now add to that arrangement a large renewable energy source, be it solar or wind energy, and you bring a new problem into the equation.
03 August 2020, Lower Saxony, Mehrum: Wind turbines are located at the Mehrum coal-fired power ... [+] station in the Peine district. In the energy turnaround, energy sources such as coal are to be replaced by more environmentally friendly energy sources from sun and wind. The phase-out of coal is planned by 2038 at the latest. Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa (Photo by Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images) dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images
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These renewable sources can start and stop without much notice. As a result, demand has to be adjusted accordingly, with power either stored or released as required.
But electrical energy isn’t easy to store and release, and battery storage is historically expensive, so you might choose to crank up or down your levels of thermal sources, i.e. coal or nuclear.
Neither coal nor nuclear power stations perform well when they’re being cranked up or down at short notice. Just like trying to stoke up or cool down a barbeque in a short interval, it wastes a large amount of resources and, therefore, energy.
So to solve this problem you are forced to do one of two things. If there’s a shortfall, you get a fast response “peaking power” plant, which is basically a generator armature driven by a jet engine, and this can kick in with minimal preparation time.
If, however, there’s a surplus, you dispose of the extra energy, often by paying people to use it.
For the shortfall, cranking up a peaking power plant is extremely expensive. It’s one of the reasons countries such as Germany and Australia have such expensive electricity.
For managing a surplus, you’re faced with throwing away energy, and that is neither good value for money, nor is it always easy.
The problem with Germany
It’s worth examining how this stress on the grid system is playing out in one of the most modern and wealthy countries in the world; one that’s worked hard at establishing renewable energy.
In the past, Germany has relied on nuclear power, Russian gas and its own dirty form of coal, called lignite, for power generation. None of these options look good from a sustainability standpoint and German Prime Minister Angela Merkel has made ambitious promises to reduce all three energy forms that comprise this unholy trinity.
But in doing so, she has left the country insecure in its energy provision.
According to a 2019 McKinsey report, Germany had faced three critical situations in June of the same year where demand for power was 6 Gigawatts more than the system was able to produce.
This caused the spot price for electricity to rise to a hefty €37,856 MWh.
McKinsey and the grid operators haven’t yet concluded exactly why this came about, nor what the role of internal markets were in creating this moment, but McKinsey predicted the problem will only get worse as nuclear capacity is retired in 2022.
What is certain, though, is that while Russian gas, lignite and nuclear are bad for sustainability, from a baseload generation point of view, they are a grid operator’s dream.
At the root of this problem is a simple truth: electricity isn’t like a consignment of cocoa beans, and kilowatt-hours can’t be stored in a shed until they are required.
Rather, a more intensive and expensive way of storing those kilowatt hours is required, or else supply and demand needs to be better managed.
Failure to do this results in various ills: frequency stabilization problems, voltage and reactive power issues, transformers and generators blowing fuses, harmonic voltage spikes and reverse flow meltdowns.
These are not trivial issues the grid faces every day when there’s a mismatch between power in and power out. And in a renewables-based grid, both power in and power out can be variable quantities you can’t really control.
Without some new solutions, the very real problems that renewables create for the grid will continue to threaten electrical infrastructure in ways that are expensive to fix.
To put some numbers on this problem, consider the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). In the first quarter of 2020, the South Australian market incurred more than $100 million of extra costs for frequency control and they had to intervene in the market 229 times in this financial year.
That’s compared to just 15 times three years ago.
Frequency control is big business, and is becoming an ever larger proportion of the overall cost of electricity.
The problem of intermittency
So how do you solve the problem of intermittent renewables playing havoc with random power surges that can happen in the few seconds it takes for a cloud to disappear from the sky?
Many on the renewables side believe you can tariff your way out of the problems with the grid. They hope that there’s just one more tariff or incentive package given by the government and the whole thing will magically work.
But that approach is flawed, because for every tariff created, another dysfunction is inserted into the system that then requires further tariffs to iron out.
And you get sucked into a never-ending spiral of tariffs, which sooner or later results in anomalies that are worse than whatever you started with. You might have tariffs aplenty, but your transformers can still blow up due to reverse flows.
In Australia, for example, there’s a feed-in tariff for producing solar. But there’s too much solar around midday, leading to talk of a bonus payment for using the surplus solar power that’s produced from the first tariff.
What industry pays you to make something and then pays you again to consume it?
In many renewable grids this results in a familiar problem, often called the duck curve.
Solving the duck curve problem remains the holy grail. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging ... [+] Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto via Getty Images
There is too much power around when solar output is high, and not enough as the sun goes down and when people come back from work and start switching on appliances.
It’s called the duck curve simply because the curve that results from this resembles a duck belly and head.
One attempt at solving this time shift problem is to produce Snowy 2.0, a large water pumping station that consumes the excess electrical power at peak solar output, and releases it to cover the demand in the evening.
Turbines pump water uphill in the afternoon and the same turbines generate power as the water cascades down in the evening.
Its creation is highly controversial, and despite its AUD$11 billion price tag, few can see it delivering the service it has been built for.
Then there’s battery power, à la Tesla Megapack. While this has merits, it currently lacks capacity or the appetite for investment. It’s generally thought that battery capacity will expand to fill the demand created, but not unless there’s an incentive for doing so.
So what to do? Where is this missing piece of the new grid?
Another solution that is both ambitious but also inevitable is what people are terming the Internet of Electricity (IoE).
The new grid and the Internet of Electricity
In this new conception of a grid, every power device - whether it be a huge power plant, a washing machine, an electric car, an air conditioning unit or even the grid itself - gets assigned a set of just five attributes: a device identifier, a geo-positional marker, a blockchain address and a bid and offer price for electric power based on its need state.
On top of this layer is a market that allows for rapid, real-time transactions between ordinary household devices, with payment in digital currency.
In short, this conception of the grid has every device becoming an economic entity, rather like a player on a monopoly board, trying to optimize its use of electricity and profit.
Except, there is no actual monopoly; the paradigm is essentially a distributed, decentralized one.
In this new conception, the management of the grid becomes a neural network, a brain that is finding the solutions to its own problems of supply and demand.
If those devices are constantly sending price signals depending on their need states, it follows that market pricing will sort out supply and demand.
Some of those devices will be batteries and electric vehicles, but many will be washing machines, pool pumps and air conditioners adjusting activity cycles to help make the grid work in a more coordinated way.
Some devices could even be evolutions of an air conditioner mixed with a thermal storage device. Whatever the device type, or whatever it offers or demands, it will have five attributes that allow it to take place in an IoT market.
Each device will be an active asset pursuing its own best interest as well as the best interests of the grid.
It won’t all be about decentralization, though, or certainly not immediately. There will still be a wholesale price given by centralised boards responsible for grid stabilization, but they will have a reduced role.
In some states in Australia up to 50% of electricity is used by the biggest 20 customers, so it won’t be the end of the centralized electricity system, more a hybridization of it.
That said, it's hard to see how decentralization isn’t inevitable, because it appears to be the only way to resolve the renewable energy dispatchability problem.
In Part III, we’ll explore how this neural network type solution comes about, and the technology and ideas needed to accomplish this.
But before we do that, it’s worth looking at one study that investigated the very premise of the new grid. That is, can nuanced, highly dynamic pricing affect electrical demands and behavior that make up the grid, and can it do this enough to provide that elusive grid resilience?
Toward grid resilience
Power Ledger, an Australian energy trading company, recently investigated the effects of dynamic pricing during a peer-to-peer energy trading trial involving 48 households in Fremantle, Western Australia, which is a localized energy market.
The trial showed that when faced with making decisions, devices and people fall into patterns, which demonstrated this emergent behavior of optimizing resources.
The very spikes and troughs in the electricity system, rather than being vulnerabilities, become price signals that allow for a new resilience.
Perhaps, most importantly, the study suggests that price signals in these localized markets will lead to organic growth of important grid resources in an optimal way.
These developmental resources favored by new organic electrical economics are likely to be a series of battery units of maybe 10-15 kWh in many households.
What’s certain is that price signals will favor resources that offer the most value, not the best political optics.
It probably won’t be state-driven, high-profile projects like Snowy 2.0.
Maybe it will be electric vehicles in all forms - cars, buses, trackless trams, light rail and trains, as well as e-scooters, e-skate boards and e-bikes and their attendant battery capacity - that will provide new resilience for the grid.
BEIJING, CHINA - 2019/10/02: A charging station specially for Benz Electric cars in Beijing Daxing ... [+] international airport. Mercedes-Benz, a veteran car company, is undergoing EV transformation, even announcing a moratorium on R&D in internal combustion engine fields. (Photo by Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images) LightRocket via Getty Images
Whenever more power is called for they could make up the shortfall, and when a destination for surplus power is required, they can provide this too.
At current growth rates, 100,000 electric vehicles could deliver 500MW of standby capacity, and this would be available as soon as any electric vehicle is plugged into the network.
Perhaps with the new resilience offered by the IoE, the gap between the real grid value of distributed electrical assets and perceived political optics of them will reduce.
And maybe closing the gap between real value and optics can free energy policy of the conflicts that rumble on without conclusion.
In Part I we looked at the demise of muscle power and the slave trade and saw how long it took to move to the new energy paradigm of steam. We saw how many technological steps were required to make steam properly dispatchable.
We also saw how bitter and entrenched were the conflicts around these issues, culminating in the American Civil War; and how it was economics as much as morality that played a part in bringing in the steam age to replace the muscle age.
Maybe that’s the lesson for us today.
Perhaps it won’t be the sense of moral outrage from the likes of Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg that eventually moves us forward.
We will get there only when we can manage renewable energy to the same level of dispatchability and confidence that we enjoyed with fossil and nuclear.
And when that happens, no doubt the conflicts, confusion, and doublespeak will stop, and real success with growing renewables and lowering the emissions footprint will emerge.
In Part III of this multi-part series, we take a closer look at how the new grid operates and investigate how blockchain technology, dynamic pricing and the IoT knit together to produce the new grid.
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e8138fe294caf8cedfd4cbee16ae28c0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemmagreen/2021/02/02/building-the-new-flexibility/ | Building the New Flexibility | Building the New Flexibility
Part IX: We know that renewables stress the grid. But a new approach can harness renewables while solving the very problems they’ve created.
Imagine a typical large shopping mall. Up until now it's been connected to the grid and consuming lots of power throughout summer - generating high monthly bills in the process - so customers can shop in air conditioned comfort.
One day, the owner decides to look into renewable power, and it sounds like a great idea.
Cover the roof with solar panels, providing enough electricity for the mall’s needs while selling any surplus electricity to the grid.
With a solar panel power rating that covers well above the mall’s daytime needs, it won’t be long before the owner begins to return a healthy profit. Better still, the profit will come from a roof space the mall owner never realized could be utilized.
So far, so good. But there’s only one problem.
Turning the shopping mall from a consumer of electricity to a prosumer mini power station for its local area brings some grid “congestion” challenges. It turns out that most of the local area isn’t short of power, and the real user of the mall’s surplus solar power is on the other side of the city.
It’s as though the pipe simply isn’t thick enough to carry the extra solar-based power, because there are too many other households and businesses with the same rooftop solar idea, also exporting power onto the grid.
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So for the mall owner, the surplus power that was such an important element to the profit forecasts for the solar power system only adds to the congestion of the grid. The grid operator is then forced to inform the mall owner that their solar power output is being curtailed.
In other words, the grid is requiring the mall to shut off all power that goes out beyond the meter i.e., all the kilowatt-hours the mall owner was hoping to sell, along with the corresponding revenue. That’s not what the mall owner had in mind when investing $2 million in photovoltaic arrays.
But if the mall owner makes a further investment, this time in a suitably sized battery, the position could look very different.
With plenty of storage capacity, the mall can start doing some interesting things with its surplus power that will bring in more revenue than the owner ever anticipated.
A new source of revenue
First of all, the mall can now find a way around the grid congestion and stop the curtailment of its solar production.
It can do a deal with a petrol station on site, and set up an electric vehicle (EV) charging forecourt. Cars can charge up on discount green electricity, and in the process they drive the power away with them.
There will be no congestion on the network, because cars have become part of the pipeline, and the grid is beefed up in a virtual way.
This is very much a win-win situation. The mall gets the extra product offering, and the customer gets cheaper renewable electricity, while the grid operator doesn’t have to up-rate cables or overhead lines.
Of course, it requires some clever management. The charging and discharging of batteries, the sunlight, the weather, the arrival and dispersal of cars has to be orchestrated like a ballet.
But it gets better still. More lucrative than selling electricity to EVs, is selling premium priced, so-called flexibilities to the grid.
Flexibility on tap
If you look at the typical juggling exercise the grid does, it’s possible to see these activities as a function of response time, approach, locality and market.
Typical Ancillary Services and Flexibility Provisions on Grid. Power Ledger
In the band of seconds to about 30 minutes, there is a series of contingency plans for emergencies on the grid.
These can include emergencies like a loss of generation or tripping of feeders, system component failures or any critical event that would lead to frequency drift.
The remedies to these are inertia, regulation and spinning, as well as non-spinning reserves, classified as Primary and Secondary reserves. These are well understood, fast responses that haven’t changed much in recent years.
Tertiary reserves are there for when Primary and Secondary reserves have already been called upon and make sure the system is ready for the next contingency.
These tertiary reserves have traditionally been slow-start, fossil-based generators which are, of course, ready in some kind of standby capacity.
As we saw in my piece called “When the Megawatts Go Missing,” these standby, fossil-based generation units are often cranked up and down to accommodate the variable energy sources, which means they often have relatively short lifespans.
So apart from being dirty, the price of this electricity tends to be rather expensive, too, when maintenance and replacement costs are accounted for.
This is the area in which it’s now possible for the mall owner to compete.
The mall’s array of solar cells can now be used to sell services that can replace almost any of those shown in the chart. These are more lucrative than just selling capacity or daily electricity.
One of the reasons the mall is onto such a good thing is that what it’s offering often saves the grid huge amounts of infrastructure investment in expensive items of kit, including such components as capacitor banks.
It’s rather like getting plenty of people to bring a tent rather than hiring contractors to build a hotel. It works just as well for the purpose, and no cement mixing is involved.
The mall owner can offer the grid a range of stabilization offerings, which will pay more than initially planned via the solar cells.
So in short, it’s another win-win for grid and mall owner alike.
So what’s made this new approach possible?
The technology tools du jour
It probably won’t come as a surprise to know there are a couple of technology tools du jour that are vital for this new approach to managing an electricity grid.
The first is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its job is to do some of the thinking behind the coordination of the energy.
It has to work out the pricing, traffic flows, electrical flows, and renewable generation forecasts based on weather and storage battery levels. This forecasting with data analytics will predict, with reasonable accuracy, the amount of renewable power available in the weeks, days or hours ahead.
The second is blockchain technology, which is an indispensable tool in this scenario.
With this many transactions between so many players, it’s not possible to undertake this operation efficiently and securely - and therefore as profitably- if there is much in the way of transactional friction.
In other words, if all of these transactions were instead put through conventional procurement, transaction and payment systems, there would be more costs involved and less security.
Blockchain’s friction-free trading, instant settlement and high decentralization is one of the elements without which this can’t work.
But this shopping mall example raises an interesting question.
The grid is asking itself what it should do to renew and expand its infrastructure in general?
Should it start strengthening the grid in various places by adding more transformers, substations and capacitor banks? Or could it approach the problem another way and invite people like the shopping mall owner to start offering flexibility services?
Regulators are starting to say that if the flexibilities are more cost effective, then it’s flexibilities that should be used.
All the candidate players have to do is buy some battery capacity, and maybe some solar or shift some of their energy loads around to a different hour of the day.
Any large group of residential consumers, via a retailer or aggregator, would be able to offer flexibilities. The only caveat is they have to be entrepreneurial enough to see the opportunity.
The outcome of this sort of approach is that the owners of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), or companies that can partake in these schemes, can make money.
The grid operator, for its part, saves on investing in expensive infrastructure and new thermal sources of electricity.
A stock market of flexibility options
Right now this is an idea which seems immensely attractive. The idea is to create a kind of stock market of all the flexibility alternatives available to normal electricity grid and network solutions and ask owners of DERs and businesses with flexible loads to put in a bid to provide the flexibility service.
This market would be blockchain driven and would kick start the expansion of flexibilities that will ultimately enable the growth of renewables.
Of course, the kind of people who own supermarkets and think entrepreneurially aren’t the same sort who have traditionally run the grid.
The culture around grid management has traditionally been extremely conservative and long term, with an emphasis on doing things absolutely right - all in the safe knowledge that consumers will always foot the bill.
It’s going to take a meeting of two very different cultures to bring this to fruition.
This approach is now termed market-grid interaction, where every building can potentially be a flexibilities solution provider.
This will improve resiliency of the grid and integrate grid congestion issues with market support.
The opportunity to do things in a much smarter way, and save plenty of money while doing so, is hard to resist.
And perhaps it's reassuring that far from just creating problems for the grid, renewables could help in making it more cost effective.
In Part X of this series on the future of energy systems, we’ll talk about the history of electricity grids and the shift around the 1980’s in the way energy systems were seen.
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76ec86bbb1503dcf3ad7536d5885b425 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenjamula-allisongoldberg/2021/02/19/5-design-hacks-to-make-your-presentations-less-ugly/ | 5 Design Hacks To Make Your Presentations Less Ugly | 5 Design Hacks To Make Your Presentations Less Ugly
By Allison Goldberg
Communication took a hit in 2020. One could create a very dangerous drinking game solely using the phrases “you’re still on mute,” “can you see my screen”, and “here’s how you remove the cat filter.”
But while the ways in which verbal communication has drastically shifted are often discussed, something less often talked about are the ways in which visual presentation has morphed in our remote world. Now that we're in the same space everyday, fresh visuals are more important than ever in captivating a virtual audience. And so I sat down with designer Adam Fox of The Retail Refinery to discuss how to design presentations for maximum effect in 2021 and beyond, as hybrid workspaces inevitably become our new normal.
Allison Goldberg: What is the new role that design plays when creating a presentation in 2021?
Adam Fox: I would argue that design has only become more critical, because it's even more difficult to capture the attention of an audience when you're stuck inside a tiny box on Zoom. The audience can't engage with you in the same way they would in person, and likewise, the presenter can't interact like they normally would with the slides. As a result, eye-catching colors, graphics, and animation play an even bigger role in keeping people tuned in to what you're saying.
Everyone is staring at screens nonstop nowadays. How can one stand out? getty
Goldberg: Okay, but what if you're not exactly the artistic type?
Fox: You should always consider the importance of the presentation. If it's a major company meeting or a pitch deck to get VC funding or new clients, do you really want to leave anything on the table? A professionally designed presentation that looks like a million bucks not only grabs the eye, but also plays a key role in how the information it contains is absorbed by the audience. But for your everyday internal presentations, you certainly don't need to be an expert. There are tons of simple tricks that anyone can use to improve their presentations.
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Goldberg: Let’s say we’re sitting down with a blank PPT. Where do we start?
Fox: Well, for starters, you need to consider layout. The layout of the slide guides the eye to through the information and tells a story.
One way to achieve a solid layout is by following a fundamental tenet of design—the rule of thirds. Just divide the slide into a 3-by-3 grid (which you can literally do by turning on the vertical and horizontal guides in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or whatever you choose to build presentations) and ensure that key pieces of text and graphics roughly align with the intersection points of the grid. This may seem like a strange exercise at first, but applying this concept forces the eye to move around a slide and engage with the information on it.
Goldberg: The Rule of Threes exists in writing and in comedy, so I love that it translates visually, as well. Let’s dive into content. Normally, as a presentation coach, we talk a ton about how to move between moments and how your body language, verbal cues, and/or intentional silence can add so much finesse. How can visual elements help achieve this as well?
Fox: Most people ignore the concept of animating elements on the slide because they think it's too time intensive or looks cheesy. But using the right animations can add value. For example, the typical static slide reveals all of the information up front, so people will naturally begin reading bullet points or analyzing charts well before the speaker gets to that point of the presentation.
In order to keep the audience focused on what is being said (and maintain a healthy dose of suspense), you should reveal information on a slide as it is discussed instead of all at once. PowerPoint has a new-ish morph transition feature that accomplishes this nicely with minimal effort. It basically interpolates super smooth animation paths based on the starting and ending positions of each object on a slide. In addition to unveiling talking points one-by-one, this can also be used to grow the bar on a bar graph or draw attention to important words or numbers by literally highlighting them in real time.
Use the morph feature to let shapes shift. getty
Goldberg: At GoldJam Creative, we’re always coaching people not to put too much on their slides because the audience will inevitably start reading and stop listening. But I know that sometimes the information just needs to be there. What tips do you have for managing slide content from a visual perspective?
Fox: To help prevent the presentation from quickly devolving into an eye-assaulting mess, keep the number of fonts down to just one (preferably Sans Serif since they tend to be more legible) and colors to a maximum of three using the 60-30-10 rule. Basically, a presentation should contain a dominant color (60%), secondary color (30%), and accent color (10%). The easiest way to achieve this is by using one of dozens of online color palette generators (Adobe Color is a great one—and it's free!). A lot of times I like doing everything in grayscale and using a vibrant pop color to draw attention to key pieces of information.
Goldberg: And last but not least, what’s one of the biggest amateur moves that you see that you wish everyone would stop doing?
Fox: Bullet points! Bulleted lists are overused, unhelpful, and way too wordy. You might as well give your audience an Ambien. Instead, keep each slide limited to a single idea or concept. It can be an image, a graph, or even just a number or word rendered in a visually impactful display typeface. Think of each slide as a brick for building a narrative incrementally in easily digestible, bite-sized portions. Remember: it takes just as much time to cram a ton of stuff on a slide as it does to split up that same information on several slides.
For more tips from Adam, check out his work at theretailrefinery.com.
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854e52c4998186e78738fa3591fcf344 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenjamula-allisongoldberg/2021/02/26/listening-to-colleagues-differently-a-key-communication-tool-at-work/ | Listening To Colleagues Differently: A Key Communication Tool At Work | Listening To Colleagues Differently: A Key Communication Tool At Work
By Jen Jamula
Listening differently to coworkers requires focused energy and a few simple tools. getty
At some point, all professionals resort to the classic “eye-roll mindset” regarding their colleagues: “Colette’s doing that thing again” or “Lucas just doesn’t get it.” It’s not surprising that coworkers fall prey to closeness-communication bias. After all, they often interact with one another more than their own families, so it’s inevitable that assumptions will arise.
Unfortunately, this dynamic signals a foundational misstep of all communication breakdowns: Not listening. The rapid-pace multi-tasking of most people’s work days doesn’t afford much energy (and yes, it requires energy) for sitting still and thoughtfully receiving others’ messages, in real time. How does one begin to listen differently?
Arlo Hill and Calla Videt have been exploring what it means to hear others in new ways in contexts that range from hiring interviews to blind dates. Together, they created SecondBody, a tool that facilitates one-on-one encounters between people - both in-person and online - and allows them to have conversations verbatim through actors (or “second bodies''). For many participants, this human filter gives way to deeper insights about their partner, and highlights a need for intentionality in communication.
Arlo Hill and Calla Videt of SecondBody. Leslie Hassler
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Read on to hear CEO Hill’s thoughts on how to listen to colleagues differently.
Jen Jamula: In your work, which listening pitfalls have come to light?
Arlo Hill: Our work has roots in actor training. A major pitfall for actors is the sense that you don't really need to listen to your scene partner, because you've memorized what you're going to say next. So the trap is to simply "perform" listening.
We all know what this feels like in real life: a colleague nods to show they're listening, waits until you're done talking… and then says the same thing they had prepared to say before you opened your mouth.
Jamula: What are some indicators of “performing” listening?
Hill: If you're thinking about what you're going to say next, you're not listening. If you're waiting for your turn to speak, you're not listening. If you're thinking "how do I show that I'm listening?", you're not listening.
Real listening is exceedingly rare, because most of the time we are thinking about how we ourselves are being seen and heard. And that takes our attention away from the other person. That's why we developed SecondBody: you're each looking at a person who has no personal involvement, so they are truly listening to you. That completely changes things.
Jamula: What are a few benefits of better listening?
Hill: My body knows when I have someone's undivided attention. My muscles relax, I breathe, I take my time, and I begin to feel safe sharing honest thoughts and feelings. Listening breeds vulnerability. And shared vulnerability breeds trust.
Perhaps most importantly, if I feel I'm being heard, my own incessant mental chatter quiets down a bit—and I find that I, too, start listening better to others. So it's a virtuous cycle that builds better conversations, better relationships, and better teams.
Real listening creates a virtuous cycle that builds better conversations, relationships, and teams. getty
Jamula: Drawing from the lessons of SecondBody, what does real listening look like?
Hill: To quote my acting teacher Richard Feldman, "real listening means the possibility of being changed." You have to be genuinely open to the possibility that, at any given moment, the very next thing that someone says could change your whole life—and occasionally, it will.
In other words: real listening means not thinking about what real listening looks like. It's when the other person becomes the most important thing in the world, and your own self-image and ideas and worries can take the backseat. Real listening feels freeing.
Of course, in today's polarized culture, we're not used to setting our agendas aside and letting other perspectives in. But how else can we begin to see things from other people's viewpoints, engage empathically, and be open to changing our own opinions?
Jamula: How can professionals begin listening to their colleagues differently and deeply today?
Hill: The first step is to recognize that you're probably not a very good listener. Almost no one is; I have to admit that I sometimes get so excited about my own ideas that I fail to listen to other, better ideas. But fortunately, we have many occasions for practice:
The next time a colleague is talking, notice your growing desire to formulate what you're going to say next. Notice how urgent this impulse feels, how your attention is hijacked by it. Then experiment with temporarily setting aside this mental task. Breathe. Let go of what feels urgent, and choose instead to return your attention to the person in front of you. It's harder than it sounds. Do that just once or twice, and you'll be surprised how the conversation can take a new direction.
To hone your listening skills, head to secondbody.co.
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9d4a0001136ad2c796a91d801170ea93 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenjamula-allisongoldberg/2021/02/28/how-to-find-ones-why-in-todays-job-market/ | How To Find One’s ‘Why’ In Today’s Job Market | How To Find One’s ‘Why’ In Today’s Job Market
By Jen Jamula
In a saturated job market, clearly expressing one's "why" is a differentiating factor. getty
It’s no secret that the job applicant pool has recently deepened, and many know first-hand that unemployed stretches are lasting longer. With competition being high, a differentiating factor for candidates is expressing their “why,” or how they could meaningfully contribute to and align with prospective employers.
Natasha Buckie has been building high-performing teams for over a decade and, as co-founder and partner of 31Talent, she thoughtfully connects professionals with scaling organizations and develops today’s leaders. Read on to hear Natasha’s thoughts on the power of “why” in today’s job market.
Jen Jamula: Finding one’s “why” sounds like something to do with chakra-aligning crystals. How does this concept figure into job interviews, and why is it integral right now?
Natasha Buckie: The pandemic changed everything. What was important yesterday doesn’t seem as important today. Whilst candidates used to come to us wanting to work for the largest tech company offering the best perks or unlimited leave, they now are looking for more meaning and purpose in their work life as well.
During the interview, hiring managers want to know how you have taken the time to figure out what you want in your career. With remote working now the norm, and team members receiving offers from other companies through LinkedIn every day, companies need to believe there is a deeper desire to be a part of what they are building.
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Jamula: How does a candidate begin the process of finding their “why”?
Buckie: Ask yourself the question: Apart from money, why does what I am doing at work matter to me? Then find companies that align to the answer. Not only does this narrow the scope of your search, but it will set you up for success should you land the job.
When in your previous role did you feel valued, appreciated, celebrated? What have you found are your superpowers or unique talents? Write these down and be very specific. It can be the start of developing your own mission statement.
Natasha Buckie, co-founder and partner of 31Talent. Natasha Buckie
Jamula: And how does one keep this exercise organic, without reciting canned jargon from a company’s mission?
Buckie: By investing the time in understanding your why before you begin your job search - and only targeting companies that align with this - you are ruling out companies that need to use “jargon” to sell a mission. It isn’t jargon when you believe it.
Once you have taken the time to find what motivates you, lead by asking questions that dig deeper into the company’s mission, like: Does everyone at the company know what they are working towards and why? Do they understand the metrics used to meet these goals? What practices are in place to support DEI&B? When a company invests in supporting their employees, people genuinely want to work harder.
Once you've taken time to find what motivates you, lead by asking questions that dig deeper into the ... [+] company’s mission. getty
Jamula: Do you have other tips for successfully aligning with a company’s values?
Buckie: Many candidates do not spend anywhere near enough time thinking through questions to ask during interviews. Firstly, spend at least one hour writing 20 questions you want to ask. Then ask yourself: “If I only get the opportunity to ask three of these, which ones would I ask?”
Secondly, ask to meet as many people from that company as you possibly can. The more people you meet, the more you are able to determine not only how diverse the team is there, but also what team members seem to have in common, which should be something you can hopefully see in yourself.
Jamula: Are there any pitfalls one should look out for?
Buckie: As a candidate, you are interviewing companies just as much as they are interviewing you. Any company that only talks about their values and neglects to talk about how those values are lived every day may not be delivering on their promise. Ask about what work they have done towards achieving their mission. This is a great time for the interviewer to outlay strategies the company has implemented, and resources that have been allocated.
Jamula: Anything else you’d like to offer those seeking positions right now?
Buckie: Whilst the job searching process can take a long time, treat everything as if it is a learning experience and therefore valuable.
If you are at the start of your job search and are in a position to do so, take advantage of this time to truly reflect. Get clarity on what motivates you and where you add value, and identify companies that could fulfill this for you. As Richard Branson said: “Explore this next great frontier where the boundaries between work and higher purpose are merging into one, where doing good really is good for business.”
Jamula: Where can readers find you?
Buckie: For companies looking for exceptional team members to join them, and candidates looking for their next opportunity that aligns with their “why,” you can find us through our website or LinkedIn.
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df61793dcc8d2f10b29d3c7027997c6a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2010/11/04/dash-opening-kardashian-sisters-take-new-york-kim-kourtney-khloe-kanye-sandra-bullock/ | Dash Opening: Kardashian Sisters Take New York | Dash Opening: Kardashian Sisters Take New York
Having covered Kim Kardashian’s sly salesmanship before, I was delighted to be invited to the opening of Dash in New York last night. Or so I thought.
The private party celebrated the opening of a third Dash boutique, a clothing store with locations in Los Angeles and Miami, by Kardashian sisters Kourtney, Kim and Khloe. It would also be the setting of the final episode of E!’s reality show Kim and Kourtney Take New York, a spin-off of the original Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
That brings us back to 7 o’clock last night, when a fellow Forbes colleague and I were bounding down Spring Street in lower Manhattan excitedly discussing which celebrities would be in attendance and what to ask these entrepreneurial TV stars. Even from several blocks away, I was beginning to see a growing throng of people gathered outside—rare for the usually quiet, cobble-stoned streets of SoHo.
We pushed our way up to the barricade guarding the glittering storefront, only to be sidelined with the press corps and behind a wall of cameras. By then, the crowd numbered in the hundreds and rippled with sporadic waves of teenage squeals. The Kardashians were running late, and I realized that even if I wanted to leave, the masses of fans had me trapped. “I’ve been stalking Sandra Bullock all day,” huffed one OK! reporter, while others around me guessed what Kim would wear.
Soon high-pitched screaming alerted me to the sisters’ arrival. Suddenly fans stormed the barricade and camera lights were flashing. Kim, dressed in a black sequined mini-dress, posed for the cameras with an arm around sister Kourtney, also in a little black dress. The crowd shoved forward, cops yelling. A woman was tossed out for impersonating the press just as Kanye West triumphantly muscled to the entrance. I never even made it inside.
The event was another reminder of growing Kardashian-mania—and that the family is cashing in. Few reality stars have managed to so successfully capitalize their TV fame. Kim tweeted to 5 million fans on her monetized Twitter account: “Can't believe we have officially opened up another Dash! Thank u to all of our amazing fans who came out to support [it].” Yet, the three Dash boutiques, which sell $10 water alongside clothing and accessories, are just the beginning.
Soon the sisters will launch a debit card through Mastercard, emblazoned with their faces. A few days ago, Khloe wrote about the “kard” on her blog, “Never thought I’d have my own face on a debit card… but I think it’s pretty amazing we’re going to be in so many people’s wallets, LOL.”
Kim, who also launched a fragrance line, has an online shoe retailer and nabbed several product endorsements, is now rumored to be working on an album. It’s just another revenue stream for the woman who charged guests upwards of $1000 to attend her recent birthday party.
“I’ve always been a businesswoman,” Kim told Forbes earlier this year, referring to the reality shows as “commercials” for her brand. “Any time my fans are asking about something [from weight loss to skincare] I’ll come up with a product that I know they’ll like.”
Ask and ye shall receive. The Kardashians have taken New York.
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7f7b6b42ab74b2d5647a1ede0025431a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/01/27/healthy-fast-food-women-are-buzzing-about-mcdonalds-taco-bell-wendys/ | Healthy Fast Food? Women Are Buzzing About McDonald's | Healthy Fast Food? Women Are Buzzing About McDonald's
While many may deem “healthy fast food” an oxymoron, a recent report finds that fast food and sugary brands with new health initiatives are gaining women’s approval.
Marketing research group Women at NBCU tracks the top 500 brands that are most important to women each month by following what they search for and talk about online. In the last six months, several fast food brands shot up in the rankings.
Burger-and-fries chain McDonald’s climbed 10 places to become the 14th most popular brand among women. The surge comes after a partnership with social game FarmVille, likely an effort to align the brand with fresh farm produce.
Meanwhile, fast-food company Wendy’s ascended into the top 100 brands, taking the No. 96 spot, after rolling out four new salad options. Domino’s Pizza leaped up 140 notches in December alone following a major ad push about its fresh ingredients, like farm-grown tomatoes and real cheese. Chocolate-maker Nestle and syrupy soda Sierra Mist also shot up the index after announcing new health initiatives.
“With the national obesity crisis at an all-time high, women are clearly taking notice,” said Melissa Lavigne-Delville, VP of trends and strategic insights for Women at NBCU, in a statement.
The news comes on the heels of this week’s release by The National Academy of Sciences that links obesity with America’s poor life expectancy rate relative to other rich countries. According to the report, 35% of American women are now obese--almost twice as many as in 1978. Less than 5% of Japanese women are obese.
Interestingly, Lavigne-Delville notes that women are more excited about junk food brands investing in healthier alternatives than they are about the brands more commonly associated with health and wellness.
While any steps toward health—like Wal-Mart’s recent announcement that it will join Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move anti-obesity campaign—are positive, applauding salty and sweet brands too much may not be in women’s best health interests. Taco Bell, for example, is currently facing a lawsuit claiming that its “beef” contains only 35% real meat. The company denies the allegations.
Dietitian Elizabeth Somer, author of Eat Your Way to Happiness, says it could be a worrying trend. People are "easily duped into believing because something is 'natural,' 'organic,' 'low fat,' or whatever the current fashion is, that they can rely on that product to be good for them," she says. "Most 'healthier' options offered at fast food establishments have been no better, and in some cases worse, than a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. But occasionally, they do get it right."
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84dc5fa964b01aed37d62d9003c66963 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/02/14/the-tupperware-effect-empowering-women-around-the-world-rick-goings-jobs-hiring-employment/ | The Tupperware Effect, Empowering Women Around The World | The Tupperware Effect, Empowering Women Around The World
Rick Goings
Tupperware may be making a comeback, and women are the driving force.
While many had written off the cookware brand as a stale leftover of a previous generation, it recently reported a 28% increase in earnings per share in 2010 and an 8% jump in annual sales, to $2.3 billion.
According to Tupperware CEO Rick Goings, a dozen years of recruiting, educating and empowering women around the world to start businesses selling Tupperware has translated into earnings success. The company is leveraging a growing female sales force of 2.6 million women in regions like China, India, Indonesia, the CIS, Latin America and South Africa. It is simultaneously benefiting from the growing ranks of working women in developed nations who are buying its products to help their busy, on-the-go lifestyles.
I spoke with Goings about his strategy and what many are calling the “Tupperware effect”—how training, financing and mentoring women can transform villages and entire countries from the inside out. The former president of Avon, with almost 19 years at Tupperware, believes what’s good for women is good for business. Below is a condensed version of our conversation.
Forbes: What do you think is driving Tupperware’s recent success?
Goings: We’ve spent a lot of time recreating this company. We have relevant products, an exciting way of selling our products and, especially, we are leveraging this global desire of more and more young women to become entrepreneurs.
How are women influencing the brand?
Over 99% of our sales force is women, and that’s the same with regard to our consumers. By the way, women are behind 80% of all purchases in the world. Our real focus has been to enlighten, educate and empower women.
How are you targeting women around the world?
We do it with our product line. So much growth is coming from emerging markets. Firstly, consider that China, India and Indonesia are just under half of the world’s population. It’s where the people are. The U.S., for example, is only 5% of the population. As these countries have become more affluent there has been a growth of the middle class. Buying a high-quality product like Tupperware says to her peers, I’m not poor any more.
In many of the emerging markets of the world, there are very limited earning opportunities for women. There either are no opportunities for her or she’s under-employed. We provide her an opportunity to start her own business.
What’s your strategy for recruiting and educating those women?
She comes in. She's introduced to Tupperware, and we microfinance her. She doesn’t have to have any money. We provide her with fairly elaborate training. In many of our markets, we have what’s called Tupperware University. On the island of Kalimantan [formerly called Borneo] they go to a 13-week free training program. When they graduate, she has a mortarboard and gown, and the family comes in. Then, she’s provided a coach or a mentor.
I just came back from the World Economic Forum in Davos. More and more they’re calling it the Tupperware effect when you finance her, train her and give her a coach. When she tastes success, she then feels confidence. When she feels confidence, she then has influence—starting in her family and neighborhood. You start to change a village and a country from the inside out. To get a country moving towards progress, the best leverage point is women. If you have an empowered woman, then you have children who get an education. She lifts the whole society.
That’s what we do. And it’s good for business.
Are these women able to earn a living wage?
We have so many women who are earning six figures. In Indonesia, for example, which has the fourth largest population in the world and the largest Muslim population, the average teacher makes $3,000 per year. The average Tupperware sales manager there makes $25,000 a year. The average distributor can make $50,000 to $100,000 a year. This is not pin money. It’s a serious business.
How are you keeping Tupperware relevant in more developed nations?
Our biggest issue is most people think Tupperware is what Tupperware was. It’s not. It’s not the same products. It’s not burping bowls. We’re the leading seller of cookbooks in France. We’re a culinary company.
The Tupperware party today is likely to take place in Paris. It’s a girls’ night in. It’s for busy working women. Their focus isn’t on cooking, but they do want to learn how to assemble food. They use microwaves more. And they still want to entertain. So they’ll get together and have themes like decadent desserts or healthy eating. We’ve come out with a new product in France that replaces a $3,000 micro-steaming oven. It turns your microwave into a microsteamer in 10 minutes.
It sounds like you are leveraging women’s under-employment in emerging markets and benefiting from the time-starved, working women in developed countries.
You are absolutely spot on. The trends work to our benefit in both kinds of markets.
It is an overstatement to say your strategies are changing the world?
I start the meetings that I do around the world with a Michael Jackson video, “Man In The Mirror.” It basically says if you want to change the world, start with the person in the mirror and make the change. We’re very much trying to do that.
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fe9d30dd6e82148591dbfa11fbfacc27 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/04/06/lynn-tilton-the-richest-self-made-woman-in-america/ | Lynn Tilton: Is She The Richest Self-Made Woman In America? | Lynn Tilton: Is She The Richest Self-Made Woman In America?
Gallery: Lynn Tilton 10 images View gallery
Who is Lynn Tilton?
She seems to have come out of nowhere. Go to her website. You'll learn that she’s a fiercely smart, Yale-educated, hardworking single mom who learned her chops on Wall Street. Then she went off on her own, becoming a rare phenomenon: a female chief of a private equity firm, whose success has turned her into a very wealthy woman. “There’s no question that I’m a billionaire,” she assured me.
Talk to former employees, and you sometimes get a very different story. They speak in whispers of a “terrifying” and “evil” boss, given to eruptions of rage, who exploits her femininity to throw off men, who threw herself a 50th birthday party where staffers did jello shots off her stomach and chest. When we asked her about these personal allegations, a spokesman wrote back, "We will not respond to anonymous, vague, deliberate and frankly sexist attempts to impugn Ms. Tilton’s personal and professional reputation."
Who is Lynn Tilton? There’s no simple answer.
Back in January, I set out to discover more about the private-equity impresario in order to see if she qualified for our Billionaires’ List. I ended up with a lot more—a warning to “tread lightly,” threats from Tilton’s lawyers to stop pursuing certain angles, hang-ups or frightened responses from people I called to learn more about her. Her attorneys sent several letters to FORBES threatening litigation before we’d published a word.
I was first spurred on, in part, by a flattering profile of her in the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Tilton controls companies with 120,000 employees and sales exceeding $8 billion. Her own website says she has owned 150 companies and saved 250,000 jobs since 2000. The story never quite said she was a billionaire, though it suggested she’d gotten very rich from buying up distressed industrial companies no one else seemed to want via her firm, Patriarch Partners. It also suggested an intriguingly salty side of Tilton: a demonically hard worker who wore provocative clothing and enough jewelry to make a tsarina envious (her collection is worth $25 million).
After my first call to Patriarch, the firm sounded excited to talk and within 48 hours I was on the phone with Tilton and one of her managing directors, Randy Jones, who referred to her as “the richest self-made woman in America.” (Just for comparison’s sake, Oprah Winfrey is worth $2.7 billion.) I let them know what kinds of financial documents I needed to see, and we set up an interview for 12 days later.
Looking into Tilton, I quickly discovered that ever since the recession, she’s been all over the business channels—CNBC, Fox, Bloomberg TV, where she is sometimes introduced as “the self-made billionaire.” In good Trump fashion, she has a reality show about her business (“Diva of Distressed”) in the works with the Sundance Channel. She has also taken out full-page ads in the New York Times and Washington Post and contributed op-eds to the Huffington Post about the need to save manufacturing jobs in America. She writes on her Dust to Diamonds blog, tweets from @LynnTilton and updates her 1,500 Facebook followers on her progress (mostly stuff about conferences where she’s speaking or saving American jobs).
My first interview was cordial. Enter her offices on the 17th floor of her downtown Manhattan HQ and you walk into the Lynn Tilton show. A life-size cardboard cutout of Tilton greets you at the door; photos of her at different companies line a side table; a giant close up of her face stares from the waiting room wall. That was nothing compared to the real woman: Dressed in a fur-lined jacket, a tan miniskirt that rode up her hips and suede boots with 5-inch heels, Tilton sported a diamond ring about the size of a cherry and huge dangling diamond earrings that flashed when she flicked her bleach-blond hair worn waist-length.
Over the next hour or so, she showed me a statement from her accountant, Anchin, Block & Anchin, of private assets like gold and cash (totaling $544 million), and flipped through estimated values of some of her portfolio companies. Toward the end, Tilton gave me a tour of the offices. Outside her suite are handcuffs, whip and cowboy hat--emblematic, she says, of her kicking companies into shape.
When I asked Randy Jones for the names of people to call, he gave me the number of Patriarch managing director Charles Sweet, who has worked for Tilton for seven years. As a higher up, I figured Sweet would know something about Patriarch’s financing. But when I got him on the phone and asked him about the intricacies of Tilton’s business model, he said, “Only Lynn knows.”
I found that odd, but started digging up other people in her sphere to call. Among them was Jeff Stafeil, CEO of Dura Automotive, a car parts company in Patriarch’s portfolio. Could they enlighten me about her business model? Word of that call got back to Tilton. “When you talk to people at companies, they’re not going to understand the financing behind the structure,” she later told me. “Like a Jeff Stafeil runs the auto platform, he doesn’t worry about it except that he’s got the money.”
How does Tilton come to own and finance pieces of 74 companies, including Stila Cosmetics, Howard Hughes-founded MD Helicopters and map maker Rand McNally? Through structured financial vehicles. Patriarch has picked up the distressed debt of dozens of enterprises across the country and re-bundled them into so-called collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Traditionally, CDOs have tended to buy assets at par and use the cash flows to pay debt and equity investors. The debt holders and management get paid first from the cash flows; whatever excess remains goes to the equity investors.
But Tilton’s structured vehicles are different from traditional CDOs. In fact, she patented them. Tilton says she packs in distressed assets for which she paid an average of around 50 cents on the dollar. Some of the assets, she admits, have defaulted. But, in the aggregate, Tilton says her CDOs have enjoyed significant appreciation as the assets she bought recovered to par or, in some cases, exceeded it in value. Tilton says she enjoys another advantage: With the conventional vehicle, when an asset defaults, the CDO manager is obliged to unload it from the portfolio, often at a fire-sale price. That’s what happened with many CDOs in 2007 and 2008. Tilton says her CDOs are structured so that they don’t have to sell either defaulted or low-rated assets—and can, instead, wait up to 15 years for them to recover.
Tilton also gets income from fees by serving as collateral manager of Patriarch funds and other funds and, to the extent she holds equity, from the proceeds of company sales.
But what does it all add up to? There are billions of investor dollars at stake--and her outstanding CDOs have been downgraded.
Trying to understand how it all works, I called a lot of people who know or have worked with Tilton. Some of them hung up on me, would talk only on background or hinted that she was hiding something. Randy Jones phoned me to tell me “tread lightly,” and to say that the second interview was canceled.
Then, suddenly, it was back on. In my second sit-down, I asked Tilton more questions about CDOs. Who were the investors? Did banks lend to the companies? How exactly did these things work? Tilton drew boxes, referred to her patent and did a lot of eye-rolling. At one point she asked Randy Jones, “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“I’m getting it,” he answered, a little uncertainly. By this time the boxes she had scribbled were indecipherable.
After two hours, Tilton could barely contain her exasperation with my questions. “I’m not here for you to scrutinize. . . . I’ve given you more information than I’ve given to anyone,” she said. “I have never wanted to be defined by my wealth,” she told me before cutting off the interview.
Who is Lynn Tilton? The more you find out, the more questions bubble up.
Tilton is a self-promoter, but doesn’t like unwanted attention. She claims to be very open and to hide nothing, but tried to control my reporting and warned ex-employees not to talk to me (or risk being sued for breaking their non-disclosure agreements). She bills herself as a turnaround savior, on a mission to save manufacturing jobs in America, but concedes that she has forced companies into bankruptcy and pushed some services overseas.
An unusual subject demands an unusual approach to reporting.
Over the next several days, you will find out much more about her and how she conducts her businesses. Check out the story from my editor, Tom Post, about Tilton’s legal battles. Read the post by Matt Schifrin, who oversees Forbes’ investing and markets coverage, on Patriarch’s complicated financial model—and why her funds are getting downgraded. And in the days ahead, you’ll hear from me on the mixed record of Tilton’s companies, and her colorful life as an entrepreneur. You’ll also hear from Tilton and her lawyers.
MORE ON LYNN TILTON
Lynn Tilton: Keeping Her Lawyers On Speed Dial
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Lynn Tilton: Diva In Distress?
Five Things Investors Should Know About Lynn Tilton's CLO Deals
Lynn Tilton: In Her Own Words
Lynn Tilton: The Wild Woman of Wall Street
Lynn Tilton: Is She Really A Billionaire?
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567abca70db8fe71cf0b07623e1078a1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/04/27/women-beat-men-in-advanced-degrees/ | Women Beat Men In Advanced Degrees | Women Beat Men In Advanced Degrees
It's official. Women now outpace men at all levels of education in the U.S.
According to new Census figures released yesterday, women have surpassed men in achieving advanced college degrees, in addition to attaining 57% of undergraduate degrees.
Women just edge out male peers. In the 25+ age bracket, 10.6 million U.S. women have a master’s degree or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. Women also now hold 1.4 million more bachelor's degrees than men.
According to the Associated Press, this may explain a steady change in parenting roles. The number of stay-at-home dads increased to two million last year, or one in 15 fathers, while the number of stay-at-home moms dropped for the fourth year in a row to five million.
Will women soon be climbing the corporate ranks of Microsoft, IBM and Apple while Dad takes care of the little ones? They continue to represent the minority in traditionally male-dominated majors like business, science and engineering, which represent some of the best-paying jobs.
Readers: Weigh in. How might the advancement of women in education affect men, families and gender norms?
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3c4adff80a53c2a661acf2afb27ee648 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/04/28/female-doctors-face-a-2-3-million-wage-gap/ | Female Doctors Face A $2.3 Million Wage Gap | Female Doctors Face A $2.3 Million Wage Gap
Image via Wikipedia
A shocking study by medical website Medscape, a division of WebMD, today reveals that the gender wage gap among physicians may be widening—fast. After surveying 15,000 doctors, researchers discovered that across all specialties women earn a median salary of $160,000, compared to men’s $225,000. That’s a difference of $65,000 a year, meaning female doctors earn just 71% as much as male doctors.
In the course of a 35-year career, female physicians will lose a total of $2.3 million on average.
The gap may be explained by several factors, including firm size, specialty type, hours worked and remaining discrimination.
According to the study, orthopedic surgeons and radiologists earn about $350,000 a year, while primary care physicians and pediatricians earn just $150,000 annually. Also on the lower side of the pay spectrum are psychiatry, emergency medicine and gynecology. Women likely take a hit in pay for choosing these lower-paying specialties, said Cornell University labor economics professor Francine Blau in a recent interview.
In Pictures: Top 10 Best-Paying Jobs For Women In 2011
Female physicians may also compromise salary by choosing smaller firms and opting for greater flexibility. Doctors in large firms with over 100 physicians on staff earn $23,000 more per year than those in small private practices, the researchers found. Moreover, women generally spend fewer hours seeing patients than men, and are twice as likely to spend less than 30 hours a week on patient care.
Objective factors may not be the only reason for the pay difference, however. The American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) takes a strong position that discrimination is at play.
"The problem [of discrimination] hasn't gone away," AMWA President Eliza Lo Chin, M.D., told Medscape Medical News in February. "The gender equity gap is not closing. There's a lot of work to be done."
Women now earn nearly half of all medical degrees, but the compensation gap has increased in the last decade. A previous study published in Health Affairs, a health policy journal, discovered a widening pay gap even after controlling for variables such as medical specialty, patient care hours, practice type, location, and physician age.
Breaking News: Women Surpass Men In Advanced Degrees
According to the authors, in 2008 male physicians in New York who were straight out of residency programs earned $16,819 more than their female counterparts. In 1999, they out-earned women by only $3,600. The pay difference nearly quintupled in only nine years.
Leaders of AMWA argue that medical organizations believe they can “get women for less” and market their family-friendly work arrangements. AMWA fears that women may be giving too much away in an unfair trade-off, and says that when women do negotiate for higher salaries, they are often viewed as “demanding." Meanwhile, despite women now comprising one-third of all practicing physicians, just 12% of medical school deans and chairs are female.
The pay gap should not discourage women from entering the field, however. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects the health-care industry to add three million jobs by 2018. And among the hundreds of occupations tracked by the BLS each year, physicians and surgeons ranked as the No. 1 best-paid professions for women in 2010.
See also: The Best-Paying Jobs For Women In 2011
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f3e98b519a5b943c11b716d337c74de2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/06/03/is-your-commute-ruining-your-relationship/ | Is Your Commute Ruining Your Relationship? | Is Your Commute Ruining Your Relationship?
My name is Jenna, and I’m a commuter. Is my relationship doomed? According to a new study, it might be.
New research from Umea University in Sweden suggests that a 45-minute commute each way increases the likelihood of a breakup by 40%. Social geographer Erika Sandow examined the habits of 2 million couples over 10 years, and concluded that the social costs of work travel may outweigh the monetary gains.
One reason for commuters’ increased love troubles may be an imbalance of commute times. If one partner travels farther, the other might get stuck with greater family or household duties. (Whew. Me and my guy have equidistant trips.) Another possibility is that the couples weren’t meant to be in the first place. Those that managed the commute for over a year, Sandow found, were generally in the clear. (We made it! Up next: marital bliss.)
The major pitfall, however, is pretty obvious: Commuting stinks. It’s no fun, often frustrating and may even be bad for your health. (Quite literally in New York. I once witnessed a fight break out on the Q train because a woman wouldn’t relinquish her spot.) A recent Slate article, Your Commute Is Killing You, details findings that long commutes contribute to obesity, neck pain, loneliness, stress, insomnia and a general reduction of happiness.
According to Slate, the 3.5 million “extreme commuters,” who commute 90 minutes each way, spend 164 billion minutes every year traveling between work and home. Is it worth it?
Clearly, one needs a plan to escape the downward spiral. I’ll share my strategies for commuter love and happiness:
1. Exercise. At least 15 minutes of my commute each way is spent walking. I skip the bus that would shuttle me to the train and opt for the stairs instead of the escalator. This helps my mood and general health, and counteracts the finding that commuters exercise less.
2. Preparation. Because I'm in transit for almost two hours of every weekday, I try to use the time productively. I skim multiple newspapers in the morning from my iPad, and read fiction in the evening. This makes me happy and better at my job. In a former life as a commuter by car, I liked news radio and audio books.
3. Mindset. I used to get frustrated at all the other commuters constantly in my way. Now I ignore them. This is my time.
4. Priorities. My commute so far has not affected my personal relationship. I once read that the first thing most people do when they walk through the door is greet their pet. I kiss my man and avoid the cat. They both seem to appreciate the gesture.
Readers: How long is your commute? What are your strategies for making it bearable? Do you believe a long commute could ruin a relationship?
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28c648dad93713a10618a3fa3885c89a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/06/16/hidden-dangers-of-cosmetic-surgery/?sh=5f23602b7b2b | The Hidden Dangers Of Cosmetic Surgery | The Hidden Dangers Of Cosmetic Surgery
Cosmetic surgery has become a booming, $10.1 billion business each year in the U.S., according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Women, already 91% of cosmetic patients, are electing to make these quick fixes more than ever, undergoing 5% more procedures in 2010 than the year before.
And it’s not just a nip and tuck to appear younger and fresher: Greater numbers of young women are now going under the knife. Cosmetic procedures are up 4% for women in their 30s, and 30% of all liposuction recipients are ages 19 to 34, reports the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. It may indicate a new wave of perfection-seekers, as normal-weight women trim an inch of unwanted fat from their thighs or ditch their miracle bras for larger breasts—now the most popular invasive procedure.
However, psychologists and surgeons fear that many patients do not fully grasp the gravity or potential risks of these operations. “People think it’s like going out to lunch,” says Anne Wallace, chief of plastic surgery at University of California, San Diego Health System. “Like any surgery, it needs to be taken seriously.”
In Pictures: Top 10 Hidden Dangers Of Cosmetic Surgery
Experts detail the full spectrum of unintended physical, emotional and cultural side effects that may make you think twice about taking nature into your own hands.
Unexpected Beauty Botches
Any time you tamper with the body’s balance, you risk creating new problem areas, says Wallace. In other words: Be careful what you wish for.
One recent study found that liposuction may slim one problem area while creating another. Women who suction fat from their thighs and lower abdomen ultimately destroy those fat cells. When they eventually put weight back on, it distributes unevenly—often to less flattering areas like the upper abdomen, back and arms.
Similarly, Wallace warns that changing one feature sometimes throws off the appearance of others. A tummy tuck may cause the thighs to look out of proportion, while plumped lips may make a normal sized nose suddenly appear obtrusive. She’s seen cases where Botox injections, which paralyze certain facial muscles, caused the other active muscles to appear strangely overpowering and “odd.”
Scarier still are the potential deformities. Marilyn Leisz thought she was undergoing a simple procedure to her eyes; 30 surgeries later she is still unable to blink. Meanwhile, a botched face-lift severely damaged the nerves of British businesswoman Penny Johnson, who lost her business and became a recluse.
If there is a problem and the patient is not emotionally stable or financially secure, “the results can be disastrous,” says Robin Yuan, plastic surgeon and author of Behind the Mask, Beneath the Glitter. A person who is already insecure about an aspect of their appearance may suffer a severe blow to their confidence if the surgery goes awry. At the same time, Yuan says many patients borrow money for the initial surgery. If they need an additional procedure, follow-up costs can devastate their financial lives.
Gallery: Top 10 Most Popular Cosmetic Surgeries 10 images View gallery
Threats Below The Surface
Patients may never be fully prepared for the mental and emotional costs of cosmetic surgery, says Joseph Hullett, a psychiatrist and senior medical director of OptumHealth. The stress of surgery, lack of sleep and recuperation that often includes pain, fatigue and swelling causes most to experience some degree of depression. “If you have a face-lift, you really look like a beaten-up fighter. It becomes real,” he says. And with all the related side effects, “your whole life may start to unravel.”
According to Hullett, the general emotional arc after surgery begins with depression as you heal, then shifts to a honeymoon phase when you can see the result but soon morphs into some measure of disappointment. Those that fantasized the physical change would result in more attention, a promotion or attractive partner are often let down by the reality. Moreover, their expectations of beauty may rise, says Hullett. Even if the procedure was an improvement, they become deeply disappointed when the result isn’t “perfect.”
In Pictures: Top 10 Hidden Dangers Of Cosmetic Surgery
Sometimes a patient—or her doctor—may realize after they’ve invested the money and time into a procedure that they have an underlying issue rather than a physical one. Someone with body dysmorphic disorder, BDD, exaggerates a flaw to the point of delusion, imagining a minor imperfection as a hideous disfigurement. After surgery, they may simply become fixated on another body part. “They develop a new obsession,” Hullett says. “They get the nose fixed, and then it’s the eyebrows. They fix the eyebrows, and then it’s the ears. The perceived abnormality keeps moving.”
Damaging Peer Reactions
Perhaps the most insidious threat of a cosmetic change is the response by others. “You can’t control the way others react,” warns Yuan. He once had a patient, a young mother in her 20s, who got a breast augmentation. She was thrilled with the results but had not expected that her suburban-mom peer group would disapprove and make her feel uncomfortable about her new body. She returned six months later and had the implants removed.
At the same time, those that undergo a procedure to gain an edge at work may be stunned to realize that it has instead alienated colleagues. Coworkers may perceive you as vain, manipulative or threatening. Other men may interpret a male colleague’s new head of hair as an unfair advantage, or women may decide a female’s new, larger breasts are an abuse of sexual power. Rather than the toast of the water cooler, “they might become the subject of office gossip,” says Hullett.
Finally, the hidden hazards within the family may be worst of all. Children who watch a parent or close relative take the drastic measure of surgery can develop a skewed vision of their own bodies that they may never escape. Likewise, women who hope a procedure will help their romantic relationship often receive a rude awakening. According to Hullett, men are especially apt to misunderstand a woman’s motives, believing her to be dissatisfied or interested in attracting other men. In fact, he’s seen more relationships fail rather than flourish after one partner undergoes a major physical change.
In Pictures: Top 10 Hidden Dangers Of Cosmetic Surgery
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03bd42f439bb2b803022263b4501701c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/07/28/foods-to-make-your-skin-glow/ | Foods To Make Your Skin Glow | Foods To Make Your Skin Glow
Gallery: Top Ten Foods for Glowing Skin 10 images View gallery
In the boardroom or at a backyard barbecue, a woman’s best beauty accessory is flawless, glowing skin. Yet we’re bombarded at every turn by the effects of aging, stress, pollution and eating on-the-go. Add to that the heat of summer—with its moisture-sucking sun and makeup-melting humidity—and radiant skin may seem impossible.
Skincare experts, however, swear that nourishing your skin from the inside out can dramatically improve your complexion in as little as three weeks.
Foods To Turn Back The Clock
Celebrity aesthetician Bella Schneider has an impressive client roster that includes power women like Michelle Pfeiffer, Gayle King, Condoleezza Rice, Maria Shriver and Carly Fiorina. She says on-the-go women need to simplify their routines to four basic habits for glowing skin: Eating seasonal, “real” local foods (no Red Bulls or protein bars) that have not been processed or stuffed with preservatives; sipping water throughout the day and cutting back on sodas and alcohols other than wine; exercising regularly; and stocking up on foods rich in Vitamin A, which beef up the body’s protective systems.
To combat the signs of age, Schneider’s favorite wrinkle fighter is the acerola cherry, which contains 100% of your daily Vitamin C quota and protects against cell oxidation. She also suggests dark-colored vegetables like spinach and sweet potatoes that speed cellular turnover, functioning like an internal retinol. Foods high in zinc, like oysters, help fight sagging skin by boosting its elasticity and appearance of youth.
Foods That Fight The Elements
According to Elizabeth Somer, dietician and author of Eat Your Way to Happiness, 80% of skin aging is related to sun damage. “Anytime you get even a slight sunburn, you’ve gotten damage,” she says. “There is no safe limit for sun.”
Beyond limiting exposure and wearing sunscreen, eating the right foods can help prevent or even reverse the sun’s effects. A recent study published in the Archives of Dermatology found that green tea may help block destructive ultraviolet rays and protect skin. Somer also suggests eating plenty of fresh fruits like watermelon, mangoes and oranges, which are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants and help restore skin cells. If suffering a burn, mushrooms contain high amounts of Vitamin B2, known for repairing damaged tissue.
Foods That Radiate
If Schneider could make just one food recommendation to her clients, it would be to eat more fresh berries (which she trusts more than frozen) because they infuse dull skin with color and brightness. The latest berry trend is the Himalayan sea buckthorn berry. Dr. Mehmet Oz has been singing its praises, suggesting that it be eaten and used topically on the face. The berry’s high concentration of antioxidants, Vitamin C and the rare fatty acid Omega-7 nourish skin and hair and help stimulate collagen production. One recent study found that it may even help fight obesity.
Dryness is another clear giveaway of age and will drain the vibrancy from your complexion. Schneider suggests eating more cottage cheese, which contains selenium and other essential minerals that are known to fight dry skin and dandruff. Other foods that boost skin’s moisture are olive oil, walnuts and fatty fish like salmon. And, if all else fails, break out the wine. Schneider says that red wine, containing thousands of polyphenols, will transform a dull complexion to its natural youthful glow.
“We are all so busy,” says Schneider. “We have to choose our battles. If you prepare your fridge with the proper foods, you’ll see a tremendous difference.”
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b153549e7e77d25451218180067a5312 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/09/14/wal-mart-to-empower-women/ | Wal-Mart To 'Empower' Women? | Wal-Mart To 'Empower' Women?
Image via Wikipedia
Today Wal-Mart stores announced a new Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative that will increase female suppliers and women-owned business sourcing, train more female retail and factory workers, and donate to programs dedicated to women’s empowerment. Women's reactions range from applause to anger.
“Helping more women live better is a defining issue for our business and our world,” said chief executive Mike Duke in a statement. In a web telecast, he also emphasized that 70% of those living in poverty are women and less than 7% of venture capital goes to female start-ups.
Several high-profile women encouraged the move. Melanne Verveer, U.S. Ambassador at Large for Global Women's Issues, said it could be a “game-changer.” Helene Gayle, president and chief of CARE, a partner of the initiative, called it “groundbreaking.” Nell Merlino, founder and president of Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, said she hopes the program encourages others to “step up.”
The launch comes just three months after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a mammoth class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit against the retailer. Involving 1.5 million women, the Wal-Mart v. Dukes case would have been the largest employment suit in U.S. history. The Court did not rule on the merits of the discrimination case but would not allow it to move forward as a class-action, believing that Wal-Mart was entitled to individual determinations of its employees’ eligibility for back-pay. The women’s cases are expected to proceed on an individual basis or in smaller, more closely linked classes.
The company says the discrimination suit and its women's initiative are unrelated.
At least one activist group was not pleased with the news. “Wal-Mart’s latest PR gambit is trying to cover up decades of unjust treatment of women,” said Jennifer Stapleton, representative of Making Change at Wal-Mart, a campaign of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). “Wal-Mart causes systematic economic harm to women in the U.S. and around the world, and that is precisely why Wal-Mart is trying to sell us on a new image.”
Wal-Mart’s new initiative lays out a five-year plan that includes sourcing $20 billion from women-owned businesses in the U.S., providing training to 60,000 female factory workers to improve leadership skills at work and at home, helping 200,000 female retail employees gain job skills and access to higher education, and giving philanthropic grants of more than $100 million to support women’s empowerment—or about 2.3% of its annual sales.
More than half of Wal-Mart’s 2.1 million employees are women, but just 28% of its U.S. corporate officers and 20% of its board directors are women. Despite the striking gap, the company does employ more women in senior leadership positions than the national average, according to data provided by Wal-Mart to Reuters.
The discrimination suit, led by employee Betty Dukes, began in 2001 and claimed that female employees were systematically paid less than male employees, received smaller raises and fewer promotions and were steered away from management positions into lower-level jobs without much advancement potential, like cashiers. One woman said she was told she wasn’t qualified for a management position because she was unable to stack 50-pound bags of dog food.
In June, Dukes said she was disappointed in the Court’s ruling but was “determined to move forward and present our case in court. The truth will come out.”
Readers: Public relations ploy or boon for women?
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416b6068dd564077ef06e7498505a205 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/10/19/women-feel-like-frauds-failures-tina-fey-sheryl-sandberg/ | When Women Feel Like Frauds They Fuel Their Own Failures | When Women Feel Like Frauds They Fuel Their Own Failures
Gallery: How To Stop Feeling Like An Impostor 11 images View gallery
Tina Fey once confessed that she sometimes screams inside her head, “I’m a fraud! They’re on to me!” Sheryl Sandberg attended a Harvard University speech called “Feeling Like a Fraud” and decided they were speaking directly to her—she’d fooled them all. Sonia Sotomayor was “too embarrassed” to ask questions while at Princeton University, and said, “I am always looking over my shoulder wondering if I measure up.” Meryl Streep gets “cold feet” before every new project and told a reporter in 2002, “I don’t know how to act anyway, so why am I doing this?”
Despite being plagued by self-doubt, these women barreled through it to the highest peaks of success. Many more, however, are crippled.
The “impostor syndrome” was discovered by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978, and according to a longtime lecturer on the phenomenon, Valerie Young, Ed.D., little has changed in the last three decades—except that more women than ever are susceptible.
Young, the author of new book The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, describes it as “always waiting for the other shoe to drop. You feel as if you’ve flown under the radar, been lucky or that they just like you. If you dismiss your accomplishments and abilities, you’re left with one conclusion: That you’ve fooled them.”
While both men and women experience the impostor syndrome, studies show that women are more often affected and more likely to suffer the consequences. According to Young, boys are raised to bluff and exaggerate. Girls, on the other hand, learn early to distrust their opinions and stifle their voices. They discover they are judged by the highest physical, behavioral and intellectual standards. Perfection becomes the goal, and every flaw, mistake or criticism is internalized—slowly hollowing out self-confidence.
Even those women who escaped childhood with a relatively strong sense of themselves will face more than just a psychological barrier. “A real bias against female competence persists,” says Young. “Being female means you and your work automatically stand a greater chance of being ignored, discounted, trivialized, devalued or otherwise taken less seriously than a man’s.” That means even a slight fear of inferiority may be further compounded by stereotypes and subtle digs at women’s perceived abilities. So is it any great surprise that women would question their competence? Everyone else does.
Moreover, Young says women in male-dominated fields are especially vulnerable to feeling like frauds. Being an “other” breeds isolation and additional pressure to perform. In one study of engineering students, when women watched a video featuring a large gender imbalance, their heart rates shot up. “It’s stressful for women to walk into a room full of men,” says Young.
A 25-year-old computer software engineer in New York earned a degree from an elite university, worked hard in several college internships and was recruited immediately to a good-paying job, where she was promoted, awarded and praised. How did she do it? “I fooled them,” she says, as if she had scammed every hiring manager, colleague and boss she’d ever had. “Someone will realize it eventually.” When superiors compliment her work, deep down she doesn’t believe them. The insecurity, she admits, may stem from the fact that she didn’t begin coding at age 12 like some of her coworkers and doesn’t code after hours just for fun, all of which may be amplified by the fact that she is the only woman on her team.
The inherent danger of believing you’re not good enough is that it will become self-fulfilling. Christine Jahnke, speech coach and author of The Well-Spoken Woman, says women approach every meeting and project as if they are being tested rather than trusting that if they are in the room, they belong there. The fear leads them to sit in the back, hide behind furniture, qualify ideas with “I think,” “maybe” and “but,” or take criticism too personally.
Over a career, the cumulative effect of constant anxiety is usually failure. According to Young, feeling like a fraud manifests as overworking, holding back, hiding out, giving up, procrastinating or stress-induced self-sabotage, like substance abuse and sleep deprivation.
In the former, the “impostor” women may feel they need to work two or three times as hard, so over-prepare, tinker and obsess over details, says Young. This can lead to burn-out, missing the big picture or being typecast as an operator rather than a leader. On the other side of the spectrum, the women may procrastinate or not put in enough effort on an assignment. “If people don’t like it, you know you whipped it together and have a built-in excuse. But if it succeeds, you feel even more like an impostor,” she says.
Recognition is the first step in breaking the cycle. “I've realized that almost everyone is a fraud, so I try not to feel too bad about it,” said Tina Fey. At the same time, Young suggests allowing yourself the lenience to make mistakes and learn from them, defining competence as the ability to figure something out rather than having all the answers, and accepting that you really do belong.
“Women keep waiting for permission to take a seat at the table,” Young says. “Let’s stop waiting for permission.”
Follow me @Jenna_Goudreau.
Readers: Do you ever feel like you're pretending to be competent or worry that you'll be found out for who you really are? How does it interfere with your work or your success?
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411bac9ab120a002e4ac6e0c55ad568f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/12/08/the-healthy-choices-that-are-costing-you/ | The 'Healthy' Choices That Are Costing You | The 'Healthy' Choices That Are Costing You
Gallery: 10 'Healthy' Habits That Drain Your Bank Account 10 images View gallery
“We’re easily sold by the gimmicks of marketing and celebrity endorsements,” says Tony Nakhla, a Los Angeles-based dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon. And when we think something’s good for us, we’re ready and willing to pay the up-charge. Yet, everyday Nakhla sees patients spending hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month on products and treatments that don’t live up to the claims.
In the current cult of health, anything that’s easy and purported to help us lose weight, stay fit, feel better or look younger goes in the shopping bag. Yet often these “healthy” choices are not so healthy after all and cost much more than the alternatives. Medical experts weigh in on what not to buy for your health and wellbeing.
Soy Milk
Robin Barrie Kaiden, a New York-based dietitian, says many of her clients are now opting for soy milk instead of the old fashioned kind because they think it’s better for them. “But half the time it’s flavored, and it has added sugar,” she warns. Kaiden also notes that soy milk has become very controversial because non-organic types are genetically modified and it acts like an estrogen-like compound in the body, the effect of which remains unclear. One thing is certain: It’s much more expensive. A price check on FreshDirect.com shows that half a gallon of soy milk costs $3.99 to $4.29, compared to $2.39 to $2.49 for half a gallon of regular fat-free and reduced-fat milk. In a year, you’ll spend about $90 more for potentially harmful milk with more sugar.
Skin Creams
“There is no ingredient so amazing that’s worth spending hundreds on a skin cream,” says Dr. Nakhla. But they still sell them: Creams infused with green tea, gold, platinum or the soil of France--all for the low, low price of $400 to $1,000. “A lot of good ones can be found right on the shelf of your local pharmacy,” he counters. “You should be spending between $30 and $50.” Dr. Nakhla recommends looking past marketing and at the ingredients. You don’t want allergens, preservatives or perfumes, he says, and should look for those that are plant-derived or have a good retinol. Also, seeing a licensed dermatologist may be a better investment in your health than buying into LED and laser skin treatments that average about $5,000. Dr. Nakhla says oftentimes a $25 prescription will work better.
Organic Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is a health food, and organic is even better for you…right? Wrong, says Dan Kirschenbaum, psychiatrist and author of The Wellspring Weight Loss Plan. “Peanut butter is incredibly high in fat, with about eight fat grams per tablespoon,” he says. “A fat is a fat is a fat.” He advises using a healthier alternative like fat-free cream cheese—very tasty with jelly on a sandwich—which is also cheaper. While organic peanut butter costs $3.69 to $4.99 for a small bottle, cream cheese is just $2.99. (Please see comments below, and note that there are differing opinions in the medical community on the benefits of peanut butter.)
Colonics
According to Kaiden, colonics are now one of the most popular ways to detox and clear out your system. However, the procedure is only a temporary fix, so at about $80 a session, the expense adds up. Most people would be better off skipping them and eating healthier, Kaiden says. That means drinking lots of water and eating foods high in fiber, like fruits and vegetables. Also, antibiotics in medicine and our food supply wipe out both the good and bad bacteria in the body, which can upset digestion. To combat it, she suggests buying probiotic-infused yogurts ($0.79 per cup) or taking a probiotic supplement (a three-month supply costs $40 at GNC). You’ll save money in the long run and feel better.
Bottled Water
Americans have become so concerned about the purity of their water that sales of bottled water have tripled in the past 10 years, making it a $4-billion-a-year industry in the U.S., according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The organization estimates that people spend 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon of bottled water than they do for tap. Meanwhile, Kaiden says that many in the medical community question whether bottled water can in fact be bad for us, as it’s contained in plastic that may leak into the water if left in the heat. Drinking tap instead will save you about $200 a year, and if you're still concerned, a basic faucet filter will save you about $150 a year.
Protein Bars
Kaiden sees some people popping two protein bars a day, thinking that they are a nutritious on-the-go breakfast or snack. Yet if they were to read the label, she says, they’d find tons of added sugars in the form of corn syrup, cane sugar or cane juice, and a candy coating with saturated fats. Plus, you’ll spend $2 to $4 a bar, depending on where you purchase it. Kaiden suggests cheaper snacks that are high in protein and don’t have the unhealthy add-ons, like two hard-boiled eggs ($0.42) or a single-serving cup of Greek yogurt ($1.65).
Diet Soda
You may think you’re making the healthy choice by choosing diet soda over regular. In fact, neither is a healthy choice. New research presented this year at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association found that diet soft drinks are related to increased waist size in humans and higher blood sugar levels in mice. Thus, artificial sweeteners “may be free of calories but not of consequences,” said Helen Hazuda, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center. If you were to eliminate a glass of diet soda a day, you’d likely pocket over $300 a year.
Certain Supplements
In the current vitamin and supplement craze, where the hot new thing is constantly revolving, it can be hard to know what’s worth it. Elizabeth Somer, dietitian and author of Essential Guide to Vitamins and Minerals, says the best things you can take are a calcium and magnesium supplement ($9 and up), a moderate-dose, broad-range multi vitamin ($10 and up), and a DHA supplement ($12 and up). If you were to read the latest health news, you might think pricier chelated or colloidal minerals ($20 and up) are better for you and absorbed faster, but Somer says, “Dump it. There’s no evidence.” Similarly, she advises skipping supplements of lycopene ($15), beta carotene ($15) or lutein ($18), as you can get them in your diet from Mother Nature.
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EDIT NOTE: Dietitian Robin Barrie Kaiden's comments on soy and colonic procedures were clarified on 12/09/11.
Readers: Do you spend more money for the “healthier” items? Rethinking any of them?
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91ef3dc02e22f12c95eddee7ab7de18d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/01/10/c-is-for-silly-the-new-c-suite-titles/ | C Is For Silly: The New C-Suite Titles | C Is For Silly: The New C-Suite Titles
Gallery: The New C-Suite Titles 10 images View gallery
Vint Cerf is called many things: a “computer scientist,” one of the “fathers of the Internet,” maybe even occasionally a “smarty pants.” So he wasn’t all that surprised when Google leaders Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt came up with a new, never-been-used title for him: VP and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google.
“They first asked me what title I wanted, and I said ‘Arch Duke,’” Cerf told me, laughing. “They said, ‘Why don’t you be our Chief Internet Evangelist?’ Anytime you get a chief something it is a measure of respect.”
Cerf says the designation is fairly accurate, as he travels the world speaking with others about Internet connection, investment, policies and developments. He often hears: “That’s the most interesting title I’ve ever heard!” It has, however, backfired. On a trip to Russia, Cerf was asked four times in five days if he believed in God. He soon realized that they understood the term “evangelist” as a religious preacher. “I’m Geek Orthodox,” Cerf replied.
In the past few years, the c-suite has exploded its members, knighting nearly every department head with new, inventive chief titles likely dreamed up by the marketing team.
Kodak and Dell appointed Chief Listeners. Facebook recently added two Chief Privacy Officers. Coca-Cola is really gung-ho on the trend, employing a Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Scientific and Regulatory Officer, and Chief Quality and Product Integrity Officer, among others. Microsoft has a Chief People Officer; IBM a Chief Information Officer; Xerox a Chief Strategy Officer; and New York City has its very own Chief Digital Officer.
“It is all corporate Kindergarten playtime title-making,” says Mark Stevens, a marketing and management expert and author of Your Marketing Sucks. “It’s a puppet show. These people have absolutely no power.”
The only C’s with “real” power, Stevens says, are the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and, occasionally, Chief Operating Officer. “Most of these vanity titles don’t even report to the CEO,” he says.
So what prompted the trend? According to Stevens, too much idle time and interest in making the company sound “cool.”
Peter Cappelli, management professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says the new titles are meant to signal—internally, to customers or to governments—that a particular function or task is important and that the people at the top are listening. They may also be a form of ego appeasing and identifying who the important senior people are. “The main question,” he says, “is whether there’s any real substance behind them.”
Big companies are more likely to take these titles “seriously” with resources and infrastructure, says Cappelli, but small businesses may have more leniency and ability to be creative.
“We adopted Chief Knowledge Officer because we feel it's a better representation of what's really needed to be an effective advertising agency today,” says Ann Morton, chief operating officer of Maine-based advertising firm The VIA Agency. “[It’s] about bringing wisdom to our clients, not just information.” The agency’s “CKO” oversees strategy, planning, analytics and research capabilities. Morton concedes, however, that as more unique titles crop up, leaders should be careful that the title reflects the job and the person’s experience—oh, and to avoid using the word “ninja.” (The Chief Ninja of social location-based game Scvngr must have missed the memo.)
WebiMax, a New Jersey-based firm specializing in search engine optimization, has a Chief Experience Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Observance Officer to “keep an eye on the office environment.” Software company Marketo has a Chief Revenue Officer to manage and predict revenue performance, and talent management company Peoplefluent last week named a Chief Customer Officer to improve customer relationships.
Although Stevens generally feels leaders are now drunk with “title intoxication,” he says the one new title that should be added is Chief Customer Officer. “No one serves as the customers’ advocate in 99% of companies.” The role would be most effective, he insists, if it had a straight line to the CEO and dotted line to the board.
Yet most of the new touchy-feely c-suite titles—triumphant chiefs of happiness, people, diversity, culture, talent, observance and employee engagement—fall under the umbrella of human resources.
Tracy McCarthy, an HR executive at talent management software company SilkRoad, says HR becomes more central and strategic when companies view their employees as a competitive advantage. She notes that HR titles have evolved faster than the more traditional c-suite titles, and asks, “Is it because HR is still viewed as the ‘soft skills’ role with less impact while the CEO, CFO and COO continue to be the meat and potatoes of the corporate c-suite? Or is it that the rest of the c-suite hasn’t kept pace with the evolution of business?”
Cappelli, however, says it may simply suggest that the top HR people “are losing their footing.”
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Readers: What do you think is behind the trend? Is it all just corporate silliness or are new roles required? And which new c-suite titles did we miss?
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9955510d49cc7b4cc8d78cf7de7d354c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/01/26/the-secret-power-of-introverts/ | The Secret Power Of Introverts | The Secret Power Of Introverts
Gallery: World's Most Famous Introverts 13 images View gallery
If you had to guess, what would you say investor Warren Buffett and civil rights activist Rosa Parks had in common? How about Charles Darwin, Al Gore, J.K. Rowling, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Google’s Larry Page? They are icons. They are leaders. And they are introverts.
Despite the corporate world’s insistence on brazen confidence--Speak up! Promote yourself! Network!—one third to half of Americans are believed to be introverts, according to Susan Cain, author of just released Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. She contends that personality shapes our lives as profoundly as gender and race, and where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum is the single most important aspect of your personality.
Introverts may make up nearly half the population, but Cain says they are second-class citizens.
“A widely held, but rarely articulated, belief in our society is that the ideal self is bold, alpha, gregarious,” says Cain. “Introversion is viewed somewhere between disappointment and pathology.”
The terms “introvert” and “extrovert” were first made popular by psychologist Carl Jung in the 1920s and then later by the Myers-Briggs personality test, used in major universities and corporations. By Cain’s definition, introverts prefer less stimulating environments and tend to enjoy quiet concentration, listen more than they talk and think before they speak. Conversely, extroverts are energized by social situations and tend to be assertive multi-taskers who think out loud and on their feet.
It was over the last century, says Cain, that society began reshaping itself as an extrovert’s paradise—to the introvert’s demise. She explains that before the twentieth century, we lived in what historians called a “culture of character,” when you were expected to conduct yourself morally with quiet integrity. But when people starting flocking to the cities and working for big businesses the question became, how do I stand out in a crowd? We morphed into a “culture of personality,” which she says sparked a fascination with glittering movie stars, bubbly employees and outgoing leadership.
In the last few decades, this “Extrovert Ideal” has transformed workplaces, says Cain. Independent, autonomous work that favored employee privacy was eroded and practically replaced by what she calls “The New Groupthink,” which “elevates teamwork above all else.” Children now learn in groups. Ideas are formed in brainstorming sessions. Talkers are considered smarter. Employees are hired for “people skills,” and offices are designed to be open and interactive.
Yet, according to Cain, it’s only worked to damage innovation and productivity. Research shows that charismatic leaders earn bigger paychecks but do not have better corporate performance; that brainstorming results in lower quality ideas and the more vocally assertive extroverts are the most likely to be heard; that the amount of space allotted to each employee shrunk 60% since the 1970s; and that open office plans are associated with reduced concentration and productivity, impaired memory, higher turnover and increased illness.
If we all lose in this situation, introverts lose more—with skills that are more likely to be overlooked and underappreciated. “Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women living in a man’s world,” says Cain. “Our most important institutions are designed for extroverts. We have a waste of talent.”
Cain is not seeking introvert domination. She acknowledges that big ideas and great leadership can come from either personality type. What she wants is a better balance and inclusion of different work styles. “In most job interviews, people say they are looking for people skills and emotional intelligence,” notes Cain. “That’s reasonable, but the question is, how do you define what that looks like?”
Furthermore, she believes that extroverted and introverted leaders excel in different areas and can learn from each other. Studies show that introverts are better at leading proactive employees because they listen to and let them run with their ideas. Meanwhile, extroverts are better at leading passive employees because they have a knack for motivation and inspiration.
While extroverted leaders could learn from their counterparts to take a more careful approach to risk and let others speak up, Cain says introverted leaders need to push themselves to be more social. She offers John Lilly, former CEO of Mozilla, as an example. He would force himself to walk the halls and make eye contact because he hadn’t realized how much it offended people when he didn’t greet them.
Ultimately, Cain believes, as a society, we are starving for stillness and need to turn down the noise. “It’s a very powerful thing to be quiet and collect your thoughts.”
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Readers: Which personality type are you? Do you agree with this author, that we over-emphasize extroverted qualities and neglect the quiet power of introverts?
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7794b1e6ab836dc137b3ebf4ec77ff43 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/02/23/watch-out-ten-interview-questions-designed-to-trick-you/ | Watch Out! Ten Interview Questions Designed To Trick You | Watch Out! Ten Interview Questions Designed To Trick You
Gallery: The 10 Trickiest Interview Questions Answered 11 images View gallery
For the long-term unemployed or those workers looking for a change, getting an interview in today’s market may feel like a win in itself. But once you’re in the door, interviewers often put you through an obstacle course of deceptive questions with double meanings or hidden agendas. Do you know how to read the subtext?
“On the other side of the desk, hiring managers spend countless long hours interviewing candidate after candidate,” says Joyce Lain Kennedy, a nationally syndicated careers columnist and author of Job Interviews For Dummies. “A tricky question may be used as a time management tool to quickly eliminate a less qualified candidate.”
Kennedy says that even if job hunters have rehearsed anticipated topics, an unexpected question may jar loose an authentic answer that exposes hidden problems. She outlines the top 10 most common questions designed to trick you.
No. 1: Why have you been out of work so long, and how many others were laid off?
This question may also be followed by the more direct, “Why were you laid off?” Kennedy says it is an attempt to figure out if there’s something wrong with you that your former company or that other potential employers have already discovered. The interviewer may be trying to determine if themes of recession and budget cuts were used to dump second-string employees, including you. Rather than answering the question directly and chancing an emotional response or misinterpretation, Kennedy advises punting. Respond: “I don’t know the reason. I was an excellent employee who gave more than a day’s work for a day’s pay.”
No. 2: If employed, how do you manage time for interviews?
“The real question is whether you are lying to and short-changing your current employer while looking for other work,” says Kennedy. The interviewer may wonder: If you’re cheating on your current boss, why wouldn’t you later cheat on me? She suggests placing the emphasis on why you’re interested in this position by saying you’re taking personal time and that you only interview for positions that are a terrific match. If further interviews are suggested, Kennedy advises mentioning that the search is confidential and asking to schedule follow-ups outside of normal working hours.
No. 3: How did you prepare for this interview?
The intention of this question is to decipher how much you really care about the job or if you’re simply going through the motions or winging it. Kennedy says the best way to answer is by saying, “I very much want this job, and of course researched it starting with the company website.” Beyond explaining how you’ve done your homework, show it. Reveal your knowledge of the industry, company or department by asking informed questions and commenting on recent developments.
No. 4: Do you know anyone who works for us?
This one really is a tricky question, says Kennedy, because most interviewees expect that knowing someone on the inside is always a good thing. “Nothing beats having a friend deliver your resume to a hiring manager, but that transaction presumes the friend is well thought of in the company,” she says. Because the interviewer will likely associate the friend’s characteristics and reputation with your merits, she recommends only mentioning someone by name if you’re certain of their positive standing in the organization.
No. 5: Where would you really like to work?
“The real agenda for this question is assurance that you aren’t applying to every job opening in sight,” says Kennedy. She advises never mentioning another company by name or another job title because you want to highlight all the reasons you’re perfect for this job and that you’ll give it all of your attention if achieved. A good response would be: “This is where I want to work, and this job is what I want to do.”
No. 6: What bugs you about coworkers or bosses?
Don’t fall into this trap. Kennedy says you always want to present yourself as optimistic and action-oriented, and hiring managers may use this question to tease out whether you’ll have trouble working with others or could drag down workplace morale and productivity. “Develop a poor memory for past irritations,” she advises. Reflect for a few seconds, and then say you can’t recall anything in particular. Go on to compliment former bosses for being knowledgeable and fair and commend past coworkers for their ability and attitude. It will reveal your positive outlook and self-control and how you’ll handle the social dynamics in this position.
No. 7: Can you describe how you solved a work or school problem?
Kennedy says that, really, no one should be too taken aback by this, as it’s one of the most basic interview questions and should always be anticipated. However, all too often interviewees either can’t come up with something on the spot or miss the opportunity to highlight their best skills and attributes. Kennedy says what the interviewer really wants is insight into how your mind works. Have an answer ready, like how you solved time management issues in order to take on a special assignment or complicated project, that showcases an achievement.
No. 8: Can you describe a work or school instance in which you messed up?
This one is a minefield. “One question within the question is whether you learn from your mistakes or keep repeating the same errors,” says Kennedy. Similarly, the interviewer may be trying to glean whether you’re too self-important or not self-aware enough to take responsibility for your failings. Perhaps even more problematic, if you answer this question by providing a list of all your negative traits or major misdeeds, then you’re practically spelling out your insecurities and guaranteeing you won’t get the job. So you don’t want to skirt the question or make yourself look bad. “Briefly mention a single small, well-intentioned goof and follow up with an important lesson learned from the experience,” she advises.
No. 9: How does this position compare with others you’re applying for?
“The intent is to gather intel on the competitive job market or get a handle on what it will take to bring you on board,” says Kennedy. There are two directions to take: Coy or calculated. “You can choose a generic strategy and say you don’t interview and tell, and respect the privacy of any organization where you interview,” she notes. Or you could try to make yourself appear in demand by confirming you’ve received another competitive offer, which may up the bidding for your services. Always bring the focus back to this position, by asking: “Have I found my destination here?”
No. 10: If you won the lottery, would you still work?
Admittedly, this one’s a little silly. Even so, it’s another opportunity to underscore your motivation and work ethic. Kennedy advises acknowledging that you’d be thrilled to win the lottery but would still look for meaningful work because meeting challenges and achieving make you happy. And say it with a straight face.
If at any point in an interview you’re uncertain or caught off guard, don’t panic, Kennedy warns. Deflect a question by saying you’d like to mull it over and come back to it, or by being honest that you don’t know the answer and, as a careful worker, would prefer not to guess. “If you’ve otherwise done a good job of answering questions and confidently explained why you’re a great match for the position,” she says, “the interviewer probably won’t consider your lack of specifics on a single topic to be a deal breaker.”
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Readers: What was the trickiest question you've ever asked or been asked in an interview?
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77e2924614184c49430ffaab92a7ecbf | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/04/03/why-successful-women-terrify-us/ | Why Successful Women Terrify Us | Why Successful Women Terrify Us
Think. Who is the scariest woman you can conjure? Does she have snakes writhing from her head? Razor eyes and sharpened teeth? Or is she in practical pumps and a power suit?
For the Financial Times' Lucy Kellaway it is the latter. The columnist confessed in a piece on Sunday, "My successful female friends have started to scare me." Her successful male friends (see: pudgy, balding), on the other hand, produce nothing but warm fuzzies.
She goes on to list the women she finds most frightening in the world: Madonna produces chills with her grinding and thigh-high boots; Angela Merkel apparently strikes fear with her bowl cut and lip pursing; Carla Bruni-Sarkozy loiters terrifyingly; Rebekah Brooks has that red hair; Marjorie Scardino dares to be the boss, while Margaret Thatcher and Anna Wintour terrorize tyrannically; Hillary Clinton's mere existence appears to scare Kellaway.
To her credit, Kellaway seems to recognize the absurdity of her fears, and (eventually) notes that "it could be nothing to do with successful women and everything to do with how we perceive them."
Last year, I rounded up the 10 worst stereotypes about powerful women, with input from some of the world's most influential female leaders. Many of them invoked either a cold, sterile rigidness or an erratic, vengeful fury--distinct but equally scary. Meanwhile, studies show that assertive women are more likely to be perceived as aggressive; that women usually don't ask for what they deserve but when they do, they risk being branded as domineering or, worse even, "ambitious."
Lifestyle magazines and romantic comedies also often paint power in women as threatening, especially when it comes to love. Female success scares men away, they taunt. It’s intimidating, abnormal and unattractive. But if you just have to earn more than him, do let him drive and don’t talk about work. How generous.
But perhaps it isn’t too shocking that pastel pant suits strike fear in the hearts of friends and employees everywhere. In the U.S., men run roughly 97% of the largest public companies, hold 84% of major board positions and control 83% of Congress. Truly powerful women remain a tiny minority, and fear of the unknown is common and rational—unlike Kellaway’s fears of footwear and hairstyles.
The real question isn’t who the scariest woman is or why she scares us; it’s how as a society do we plan to face these fears and put them behind us?
Follow me @Jenna_Goudreau, and subscribe to me on Facebook.
See Also:
The 10 Worst Stereotypes About Powerful Women
The Secret To Being A Power Woman: Wake Up Early
The World's 100 Most Powerful Women
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0faaa58a6cdeae5a8732bba548eb640e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/04/11/good-girls-bad-girls-sluts-and-moms-how-womens-identities-form/ | Good Girls, Bad Girls, Sluts And Moms: How Women's Identities Form | Good Girls, Bad Girls, Sluts And Moms: How Women's Identities Form
Welcome to the ForbesWoman Book Club, where our editors, readers and the author together discuss one book a month on the ForbesWoman site and LIVE on our Facebook page. This month we’re talking about Blueprints For Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell.
The slut. The good girl. The party girl. The anorexic. The starving artist. The single mom. The childless wife. The reluctant mother. Are these women that you know? Are you one of them?
In fictional short story collection Blueprints for Building Better Girls, author Elissa Schappell portrays a cast of archetypal female characters through eight interlocking and poignant stories that showcase through dark humor and sometimes tragic scenarios the development of girls into women and women into wives and mothers.
The book begins with a high-school girl telling her teen lover that he doesn’t even know her. This girl, who has almost no sexual experience, was outcasted and terrorized with a bad reputation for promiscuity—her name and number scrawled in boys’ restrooms—because she developed early. The book ends with the same woman, now grown, telling her teenage son there’s no such thing as just a girl.
“A huge problem in culture is that we only see women in certain kinds of roles,” said Schappell in a round-table discussion at Forbes. “You ignore girls at your peril. We are complicated, dangerous creatures. It was really important for me to make it clear that there are lots of different sides to women.”
As we learn more about this high-school “slut,” we see her both dismissing her reputation and internalizing it. She begins to compare herself to other “good girls,” thinking she’s not that kind of girl. No, she’s the sort of person you whispered about. In many ways, she embraces the lies that others have forced upon her as truth, an unfortunate reality in life as well as fiction.
“Adolescence is a time of many firsts, including our first attempt to form life stories,” writes clinical psychologist Meg Jay, Ph.D., in her book The Defining Decade. “As we become capable of—and interested in—abstract thought, we start to put together stories about who we are and why. As our social networks expand across our teens and twenties, we repeat these stories to others and to ourselves. The stories we tell about ourselves become facets of our identity.”
The ForbesWoman Book Club will meet LIVE on our Facebook page every Wednesday at 12:30 ET in April discuss Blueprints For Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell.
4/4: Intro: Q&A with Schappell on her inspiration
4/11: Female archetypes: Good girls, bad girls, sluts and moms
4/18: Girl-on-girl hating and friendship
4/25: Reader comments
Elissa Schappell
Schappell set out to write a book that used female archetypes and subverted our ideas of who these women are. She wanted to write what we all know, but never talk about. One of these archetypes is the “good girl.” In a story about a college student named Charlotte, we meet a young woman who believed if she was a good girl who played by the rules, nothing bad would happen to her. Yet, this good girl went home with a good boy and was raped.
“There is no such thing as a good girl or a bad girl; there are human girls with difficult choices,” said Schappell. “The problem is when the culture says this is what it means to be a good girl, a good mother, a good girlfriend. We’re holding women up to a standard that we certainly don’t hold men up to. A lot of women get poisoned by this idea because we can’t be that person. The rules that exist for us—it’s maddening.”
Women are multidimensional. Yet, oftentimes, our cultural depictions place them in little boxes, assigning them clearly defined roles that are easier to understand. Take the mother character. “So often what we get as mothers are either all-sacrificing, the Medea who is out to kill her children, or they are relentlessly annoying,” Schappell said.
One of the stories, “The Joy of Cooking,” examines a mother-daughter relationship in which the 20-something daughter has had a long battle with anorexia and now seeks help from her mother on how to cook dinner for a new boyfriend. “In every after-school special, it’s always the mother’s fault,” Schappell noted, adding that she wanted to portray a real mother in a difficult and heartbreaking situation. “In the same way there’s no such thing as one kind of girl, there’s no such thing as one kind of mother or one kind of relationship.”
Readers: In art as well as life, are multidimensional women often collapsed into limiting archetypes like good girls, bad girls, sluts and sacrificing moms? Do these labels become a part of our personal identities? How might we begin to allow women the breathing room to be real people?
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537a4088a283a0aec6b998d97b323c00 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/04/23/youth-in-the-office-a-gen-y-guidebook-to-career-success/ | Youth In The Office: A Gen-Y Guidebook To Career Success | Youth In The Office: A Gen-Y Guidebook To Career Success
This is an ongoing series that examines youth in the office--from career successes and disappointments to lessons for the future--in the words of young workers themselves and others around them. If you'd like to share your story, email me at jgoudreau@forbes.com.
7 Surprising Ways To Motivate Millennial Workers
By 2020, millennials will comprise nearly half of the U.S. workforce. Experts offer 7 easy tips to get the most out of them.
How To Communicate In The New Multigenerational Office
With four wildly generations now working together, the modern office is a Petri dish for problems.
The 10 Best Colleges For Your Bank Account
A NerdWallet analysis of 300,000 senior exit surveys finds that graduates of these 10 university programs earn the highest starting salaries in the U.S.
The 10 Worst College Majors
Based on high unemployment rates and low earnings, these are the least valuable college majors for your time and financial investment.
Top 5 Interview Mistakes Millennials Make
A new survey reveals young people’s worst interview mistakes. Here’s how you can avoid them.
Why Millennial Workers Aren't As Useless As You Thought
Don't let your youth hold you back. Use it to your professional advantage.
How I Use My Youth To Win Big Business
Nina Beckhardt, the 26-year-old founder of The Naming Group, reveals her secrets for winning major clients like Chevrolet and Capital One.
How I Went From Art School To GM's Senior Cadillac Designer By Age 28
Car designer Christine Park, 28, reveals how she used her smarts, talent and art school degree to land a top job in a male-dominated sector.
The 10 Most Important Things I've Learned About Working In My 20s
Want to know how to be successful as a young person at work? Here's my best advice.
The 15 Most Valuable College Majors
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23951e88f4fff4541fb9da4fc913c551 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/04/24/why-we-need-to-take-20-somethings-seriously/ | Why We Need To Take 20-Somethings Seriously | Why We Need To Take 20-Somethings Seriously
Gallery: The 10 Most Important Lessons For 20-Something Workers 10 images View gallery
They’ve been called the Twixters, Choisters, pre-adults, adultescents, the stuck generation and the lost generation, playing out an extended adolescence or an emerging adulthood or their odyssey years. They are the 20-somethings that graduated into one of the worst economies in decades, saddled with some of the highest debt burdens. According to a new report, half of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed, scraping by with low-wage service jobs. Those who are working earn less than their 1970s counterparts, when adjusted for inflation.
They are moving back home, going back to school or embracing unpaid internships as the new starter jobs. They are marrying later and starting families later still. They are told to wait it out. They have time. The 20s are for having fun anyway. Real life starts later.
But it doesn’t. It starts now, and they are falling behind.
“I’ve had hundreds--maybe thousands--of clients and students who’ve been misled about how important this decade is,” says Meg Jay, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist specializing in adult development and the author of The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--and How to Make the Most of Them Now. "In a lot of ways, 20-somethings are not taken seriously. Your 20s really, really matter. You are deciding your life right now, and it will have enormous impact across years and generations to come.”
According to Jay, 80% of life’s most significant events take place by age 35, making the 20s a “developmental sweet spot.” Two-thirds of lifetime wage growth happens in the first 10 years of a career. So those who wait until their 30s to get going in a “real” job will never catch up.
“The biggest myth is that the 20s are a time to think about what you want to do,” notes Jay. “That doesn’t work. You basically know what you want. Just start, and get the best job you can get.”
Reveling in a decade-long identity crisis will not result in better-adjusted adults, she says. Research shows that 20-something unemployment is associated with heavy drinking and depression in middle age—even after becoming regularly employed. Meanwhile, 20-somethings who are underemployed for just nine months tend to be more depressed and less motivated than their peers—even their unemployed peers.
Working as a bartender or coffeehouse barista may have some romance for those screw-The-Man, I-refuse-to-be-chained-to-a-desk types, but Jay says many young people underestimate the satisfaction that comes from joining the working world. The loathed yuppie cube-dweller is on average happier than her still-figuring-it-out brethren, she says.
And while the choice conundrum (what should I do if I can do anything?) may leave some paralyzed, "not making a choice is a choice," warns Jay. "These 20-somethings think they are keeping their options open, but they are actually closing doors." Resumes start to look thin, their peers begin surpassing them and, without real-world experience, they’re no closer to a direction.
On the job, they need to calm down and get to work. Because the 20-something brain hasn’t fully matured and is still developing its frontal lobe, which is in charge of overriding emotion with reason, 20-somethings are more sensitive to surprise and criticism, says Jay. Day-to-day events loom larger in their minds. A terse email is taken personally. A boss’s disapproval elicits fear and contempt. Step back and get some perspective, she advises. “You're not going to be fired because your boss is angry.”
Don’t be fooled: A still-developing brain is not an endorsement for waiting it out, Jay warns. On the contrary, she believes it’s one of a 20-something’s best assets. In the brain’s final growth spurt, learning will never again come so easily. The way you navigate professional landscapes and manage relationships in yours 20s becomes wired into your brain. If you want to change something about yourself, now’s the time to do it.
In the same way Jay cautions against undermining your career trajectory in your 20s, she worries that romantic relationships have also been downgraded to a new level of casualness. Today’s young people marry about five years later than their parents (on average, women at 26 and men at 28), but most will marry. About 75% of Americans are married by 35.
“The upside of marrying later is that we have the potential in our 20s to learn how to have better relationships,” Jay says, “which we can blow by dating around with people we don’t take seriously or living with someone we should never have moved in with.”
Cohabitation has rocketed 1,500% since 1960, with more than 7.5 million unmarried couples living together today. Jay says too often young couples don't communicate clearly about what living together means for their relationship. It is often convenience, a test or an unspoken step toward marriage without any literal commitment. "It's easier to get in than get out," she warns, noting that cohabitation can slide into marriages that aren't compatible but became too difficult to untangle.
Those that push back career and push back marriage, are also pushing against something with little give: their fertility. Young people have been told that they have years and years ahead to start a family. In reality, fertility drops significantly by age 35 and dramatically by 40. It's not just a woman's issue either. Not only is older sperm associated with problems, but when a woman can’t get pregnant, neither can her spouse. You don't need to start your family in your 20s, but you’d be wise to plan ahead.
“This is a really critical period,” says Jay. “Relationships matter. Work matters. Your personality is changing. It sounds like a lot of pressure, but in my experience they know this is true and feel relieved when someone says, ‘I’m taking your life seriously.’”
This post is part of a series that examines youth in the office, in the words of young workers themselves and others around them. Please share your own insights and experiences in the comments section below.
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6633f7a918fd643712e1d5b46f055a22 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/04/27/yes-your-boss-is-crazy-heres-how-to-deal/ | Yes, Your Boss Is Crazy. Here's How To Deal. | Yes, Your Boss Is Crazy. Here's How To Deal.
Gallery: How To Deal With Crazy Bosses 10 images View gallery
In his book A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, argues that there is a connection between mental illness and great leadership.
“During times of crisis, some of our best leaders had mental illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder,” says Ghaemi. “Some of our worst leaders were healthy and normal.”
After analyzing evidence of symptoms, family history, the course of the illness and its treatment, Ghaemi concluded that leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill suffered severe depression and mild mania, and others like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King showed signs of chronic depression.
In challenging times, these leaders may have benefited from thinking differently, says Ghaemi. He explains that mild depression increases realism and empathy, and mania increases creativity and resilience, the four essential traits of great crisis leadership. At the same time, he says these leaders also tend to be unpredictable, irritable and don’t work well in corporate environments with strong hierarchies.
This may confirm what many of us have long suspected—that the boss is in fact a little bit nuts. Here’s a crash course in managing the crazy and dealing with a difficult boss.
Figure Out Which Kind Of Crazy You’re Dealing With
Executive coach and author of Make Difficult People Disappear, Monica Wofford says conflict typically occurs when you’re dealing with someone who has a personality preference directly opposite from your own.
She categorizes leaders into four management styles: the Commander, who is results-oriented and wants to get stuff done; the Organizer, who is process-oriented and wants to get it done right; the Relater, who is people-focused and wants to get along; and the Entertainer, who is confident and charismatic and wants to be appreciated.
For physical cues of who you’re dealing with, Wofford explains that Commanders and Entertainers often use animated facial expressions and talk with their hands. Organizers and Relaters often listen more intently and take time to process and think through problems. Consider your manager’s motivations based on where they put the most emphasis, and try to meet their specific needs. If all they’re interested in is achieving performance metrics, focus your energies and conversations on getting results.
Communicate In A Language The Boss Understands
Consider when and how your boss likes to communicate in order to establish trust and rapport, advises Wofford. Don’t give a long-winded diatribe if they want a bullet-pointed status update. If they bristle at pointed questions, try to connect more on a personal level and soften questions to ensure they don’t come off as critical.
David Brown, author of The Art and Science of Dealing with Difficult People, recommends using words that reflect how your boss processes information. Are they detail-oriented or big-picture thinkers? Do they prefer to visualize instead of verbalize? If so, you might say “this is what it will look like,” and paint them a picture.
Meanwhile, remember that how you say something and what you communicate with your body language must also correspond with the boss’s style. Make eye contact and lean forward to show engagement, but try not to take an overly aggressive posture.
Bring Order To Chaos With Thoughtful Questions
Wofford says polite but assertive questions are the secret weapon to breaking down barriers with difficult bosses. If you work for an overbearing task-master who gives you an unreasonable amount of work, she suggests saying: “Thank you for assigning me these projects. I’m also working on X, Y and Z. Because I won’t be able to get everything done today, how would you prioritize them?”
On the other side of the spectrum, if you work for someone who is disorganized and unclear, ask questions that will help them articulate their expectations: “When do you need the proposal? About how many pages are you thinking? Similar to the last one?”
Finally, if you don't know where you stand with the boss or feel ignored, ask for feedback on a project-by-project basis. It could be framed as: “How would you rate my performance on that project on a scale of one to 10? How could I get closer to 10 next time?”
Establish Boundaries To Protect Your Own Sanity
It’s important to be assertive and set boundaries that will help you be successful. If you work for an emotionally explosive boss, Wofford warns not to take it personally. “If they are losing it, give them 20 minutes and then they’re over it,” she says. “If you take it personally, you’ll fuel it further and they’ll continue arguing because it’s easy.”
Wofford also notes that some bosses think they should manage in a certain way, so they try to fake the prescribed leadership style. They end up coming off as two-faced, and people don’t know which person they’re going to get from moment-to-moment. In this instance, she recommends trying to help the boss understand their behavior by, politely, pointing out the contradictions.
For those flighty managers who constantly want to drop by your desk and talk and see how things are going, try to nicely push back to limit the interruptions. “You might say,” suggests Wofford, “‘I love that you come by and check in, but is it okay if I finish this and we meet at 2?’” Then know that they’ll be late.
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Readers: Have you had a difficult boss? What was the main conflict, and what strategies did you use to work around it?
See also:
Is Your Body Language Costing You A Promotion?
The Dangers Of A Messy Desk
Watch out! Ten Interview Questions Designed To Trick You
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27073a72f20257813aa2c4bb173096cc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/05/04/the-10-best-foods-you-can-eat/ | The 10 Best Foods You Can Eat | The 10 Best Foods You Can Eat
Gallery: The 10 Best Foods You Can Eat 11 images View gallery
For all those who’ve sat at their desks wondering: What should I eat for lunch? What would be the healthiest, most nutritious food that is also good for the waistline? David Grotto, a registered dietician and author of the forthcoming book The Best Things You Can Eat, hopes to settle the question once and for all.
Using the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, he uncovered the top 10 best foods by their quantity and richness of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and macronutrients (fats and protein). They’re also low in calories per recommended serving size, and some may surprise you.
Beans
Grotto says all dry beans, including lentils, are incredibly nutrient-dense, and the best among them is the kidney bean. They’re full of vitamins and minerals that are good for the heart, bones and organ functioning, and will satiate hunger with a low number of calories.
Calories: 200 per cup
Nutrients: Rich in folate, vitamin B1 or thiamine, magnesium, molybdenum, soluble fiber, iron and potassium.
Yogurt or Kiefer
Plain, low-fat yogurt and kiefer, which is like a liquid yogurt, are full of healthy probiotics, vitamins and minerals. The pantothenic acid helps energy metabolism, and the high concentration of iodine is particularly good for the thyroid. Grotto says that Greek yogurt is also a good protein source.
Calories: 140 per cup
Nutrients: Rich in pantothenic acid, vitamin B2 or riboflavin, calcium, phosphorous, potassium and iodine.
Beef Liver
“This is the shocker,” says Grotto. “Beef liver is a gold mine of nutrition.” Because it’s full of iron, it is especially good for menstruating women. It also has choline for memory and chromium for regulating blood sugars. It’s low in fat but does have cholesterol, so he recommends eating it a couple times a week and not every day.
Calories: 137 per 3 ounces
Nutrients: Rich in iron, vitamin A, biotin, choline, vitamin B12, vitamin B3 or niacin, vitamin B6, chromium, copper and phosphorus.
Salmon
Tasty and low-cal, salmon has healthy omega-3 fatty acids that your body needs for brain function and development but can only get through certain foods. It’s also high in niacin, which works to lower cholesterol.
Calories: 157 per 3 ounces
Nutrients: Rich in biotin, vitamin B12, vitamin B3 or niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin D, potassium, omega-3 fatty acids and choline.
Mushrooms
Grotto notes that this category encompasses a variety of types, including oyster, button, shiitake and Portobello mushrooms, and all are incredibly low in calories and full of nutrients. A high density of vitamin B2 means they are especially helpful for metabolizing fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
Calories: 15 per cup
Nutrients: Rich in biotin, vitamin B2, copper, chromium and pantothenic acid.
Lobster
This should give you an excuse to treat yourself more—but not every day. Lobster is one of the best sources of selenium and zinc, but it is also very high in naturally occurring sodium. Grotto recommends eating it two to three times a week.
Calories: 65 per 3 ounces
Nutrients: Rich in pantothenic acid, copper, selenium and zinc.
Soybeans
Soybeans are so jammed full of healthfulness that they rank as a top source of 10 different nutrients, including both soluble and insoluble fiber, which helps digestion and lowers blood sugar and cholesterol. Because they are so dense, Grotto recommends a half cup rather than the typical suggested serving size of a cup.
Calories: 150 per half cup
Nutrients: Rich in vitamin B1, vitamin B2, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, insoluble and soluble fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fats and protein.
Oysters
Particularly good for those with a vitamin B12 deficiency or who don’t eat much meat, oysters help boost critical processes like red blood cell formation, neurological function and DNA synthesis.
Calories: 85 per 3 ounces
Nutrients: Rich in vitamin B12, copper, iron, selenium and zinc.
Spinach
Spinach is—by far—the best bang for your calorie, says Grotto. The vitamin K is good for blood clotting, which a healthy person needs, and the manganese supports bone health, muscle strength, fertility and insulin production.
Calories: 14 per two cups
Nutrients: Rich in folate, vitamin D, vitamin K, calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese.
Pork
Because it’s chock-full of B vitamins, it’s good for healthy skin, hair, eyes and liver, as well as the nervous system. Grotto recommends a lean cut like a center cut pork chop.
Calories: 196 per 3 ounces
Nutrients: Rich in biotin, choline, vitamin B3 or niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B1 and zinc.
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See Also:
The Get-Lean Diet: Baby Steps To Healthy Weight Loss
Top 10 Common Fitness Myths
How To Live To Be 102
World's Weirdest Diets
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f7f777c8f0e681c76caba216cc8d79d3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/05/31/why-womens-pay-growth-slows-at-age-30-and-peaks-by-39/ | Why Women's Pay Growth Slows At Age 30 And Peaks By 39 | Why Women's Pay Growth Slows At Age 30 And Peaks By 39
A new analysis by compensation research firm PayScale maps out exactly when college-educated women begin earning less than their male counterparts—and it’s right from the beginning.
According to PayScale’s massive database of salary and demographic data from millions of full-time workers, female college graduates initially earn a median of $31,900 and male college graduates earn a median of $40,800, a difference of $8,900. From ages 22 to 30, men and women experience near identical wage growth in percentage terms. They generally see their salaries grow by 60% to $51,000 for women and $65,300 for men.
However, age 30 seems to be the pivoting point. That’s when women’s earnings growth slows substantially while men’s remains steady. By age 39, college-educated women working full-time stop getting raises and see their salaries peak at about $60,000. Their male peers, on the other hand, continue seeing wage increases through age 48, when they earn a median of $95,000 a year.
Francine Blau, professor of economics and industrial and labor relations at Cornell University, offers some cautions when reading the data: It’s not a random sample, as users opt in to providing information, and so may differ from other sources. It also doesn’t follow people over time. Rather, they are comparing earnings based on gender and various ages at one point in time.
However, Blau’s own research has featured similar findings--women’s earnings remain flatter over time, which creates a wider gender pay gap as they grow older. She offers some possible explanations:
1. The initial differences may be due to market segregation. Men are more concentrated in high-paying fields like engineering and software development, while women are over-represented in jobs like nursing and teaching, which feature lower earnings over time. Blau says women may also be more likely to take jobs at smaller or lower-paying firms.
2. There may be a glass ceiling. “As they advance, women may encounter some obstacles and difficulties that men don’t,” says Blau. She notes it might be subtle or even unconscious discrimination about who’s the better fit for a promotion or high-level position.
3. Women’s slowing wages at age 30 may correlate with having children. Blau notes that some women may drop out of the labor force for a time or reduce their hours when they have young children. However, she adds that the amount of time women take for kids is often related to their incentives. If a woman feels her career options aren’t as good, she may take more time for family life.
4. Women may also receive lower salary offers than men, negotiate less successfully, and be more likely to stay with one employer for longer, rather than looking elsewhere for better offers.
Blau agrees that the data isn’t rosy but says there’s been enormous improvement over the last few decades, as more women have moved into professional occupations and the wage gap narrowed from 60% to 80%, providing hope that continued progress is possible.
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e0a9d52532793c5e94d8dbf31234a347 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/07/31/the-vacation-paradox-why-some-companies-are-paying-workers-to-go-away/ | The Vacation Paradox: Why Some Companies Are Paying Workers To Go Away | The Vacation Paradox: Why Some Companies Are Paying Workers To Go Away
Gallery: 10 Companies With Innovative Vacation Policies 11 images View gallery
Imagine a job where you could take as many paid vacation days as you wanted, as long as you got your work done. Even better, imagine your employer offered you a vacation bonus of up to $7,500 to go away awhile and not work at all. Too good to be true? The stuff dreams are made of? In fact, for some workers this is the new normal.
More young companies like Netflix, Evernote, Zynga and FullContact are rethinking traditional vacation policies. Some are cutting through bureaucracy and offering employees the autonomy to decide how much vacation time is right for them. Others, fearing employee burnout, are incentivizing relaxation by offering vacation spending money to encourage employees to truly rest and unplug.
“Workers today are suffering from presenteeism,” says Cary Cooper, professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University in the UK. “We’ve had a major banking crisis and recession, and it’s an insecure job environment. People feel they have to work long hours, get in lots of face-time and show they are so committed that they don’t even take vacation.”
A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive of over 2,500 adults working in major U.S. cities found that 57% of salaried workers don’t take all of their allotted time off. Cooper finds this particularly troubling as Americans get less vacation time than most other nations. Employers in France, Italy, Germany and Brazil are required to provide workers 35 to 40 days off a year, but the U.S. has no minimum and companies provide an average of just two weeks.
Yet, ironically, the more you work, the less you get done. According to Cooper, research shows that if you consistently work more than 40 hours a week and don’t take vacation, you become ill, your family is negatively impacted and your productivity goes down.
These are some of the reasons why Phil Libin, chief executive of archiving technology provider Evernote, is experimenting with vacation policies for his 210 employees. Last year, when he got wind of Netflix’s innovative idea to offer employees unlimited paid vacation time, it immediately clicked. He implemented it at Evernote the next day. In practice, employees can take as much time off as they want—it isn’t tracked by management—and are held responsible only for their performance.
“We don’t pay people hourly,” Libin says. “We’re paying you for your mind. What makes you more productive is what you should do.”
Unlimited vacation time is still a rarity, but more companies are catching on. Human resources association WorldatWork reports that 1% of companies are now offering unlimited paid vacation days. Says Cooper: “It shows a level of trust--that you value your employees and trust that they’ll work hard when they need to.”
More recently, Libin decided that unlimited time off wasn’t enough; people were still working around the clock. He needed to make a more powerful statement. To signal that vacation was truly encouraged by the company, Evernote began offering employees $1,000 spending money once a year to take at least a full week off at a time. Just like the company offers transportation, food and housecleaning services to help employees focus on the job, the vacation stipend is another method to ease employee stress and cultivate their best work.
“We’re not trying to be trendy or the most fun place to work,” says Libin. “We hire people who want to work and be productive, so our job is to eliminate obstacles that may limit that work.”
However, research shows that simply taking vacation won’t automatically reduce stress. In a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. workers by leadership development and training company Fierce, nearly 60% said taking a vacation doesn't relieve their stress, and more than a quarter said they're even more stressed when they return to work. Many admitted to checking emails and taking phone calls while away, sometimes multiple times a day.
Bart Lorang, chief executive of FullContact, which provides cloud-based contact management for individuals and businesses, noticed that his employees were working even when they were on vacation. Instead of coming back recharged, they were fried.
“We thought: How do we make sure people truly disconnect and relax?” says Lorang. “Incentivize it.”
FullContact now offers “paid paid vacation” to its 18 (and counting) employees. Once a year, each staff member gets a whopping $7,500—enough for a family of four to travel somewhere tropical—to go away. Lorang says it reinforces the importance of resting, while also reducing the stress of spending lots of money to travel. The cash does come with stipulations: Employees have to really take a vacation, they must completely disconnect from technology, and they aren’t allowed to work while away. “People come back so much more refreshed,” says Lorang.
The new policy is great for workers, but it’s also good for the company. On the one hand, it’s an incredible recruiting tool; resumes are pouring into FullContact. On the other, it forces employees to ditch the “hero mentality”--the idea that no one else can do the job but them. “There’s no single point of failure,” Lorang says. “If you know you won’t be available, you document things, share knowledge, have back-up plans. It makes the organization better.”
Whether more U.S. companies begin offering unlimited vacation, up the number of days available or hand out vacation money, “they’ve got to do something,” says Cooper. “Working hard is embedded in the American culture, but people are vulnerable. We wear out or burn out. All the research shows health improves if you take more holidays.”
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d13ca9ba8f9121200c92d12c2daf23cc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/09/26/top-5-interview-mistakes-millennials-make/ | Top 5 Interview Mistakes Millennials Make | Top 5 Interview Mistakes Millennials Make
Gallery: How To Land A Job Interview: 10 Tips For Millennials 10 images View gallery
In today’s job market, older workers have a definitive edge over younger workers. According to a new survey by recruiting firm Adecco, hiring managers are three times more likely to hire a worker that is 50-years-old or older than hire a millennial.
The survey of 501 hiring managers was conducted in late August and defined millennial workers as those born between 1981 and 2000, meaning workers age 31 and under. The recruiters seemed most concerned with millennials’ long-term commitment, professionalism and reliability. They also said millennial workers need major improvement in their interview skills.
Here are the top five interview mistakes millennials make, based on the survey results—and how you can avoid them.
No. 1: Wear Inappropriate Interview Attire
The top interview mistake millennials make is wearing the wrong clothing, according to 75% of hiring managers surveyed. When Angela Romano Kuo was vice president of human resources at professional job-matching company TheLadders, she recalls being appalled that a young man came to an interview wearing a golf shirt, shorts and flip flops. He did not get the job. “Err on the side of being overdressed to make a good impression,” she advises. In an interview, stay away from flashy jewelry, plunging necklines, too-short hemlines, t-shirts, and shoes that are too casual or too difficult to walk in. “You never want to wear something that can be distracting, so if you have to think twice about it—skip it.”
No. 2: Have Posted Questionable Social Media Content
An overwhelming majority (70%) of hiring managers said millennials make the mistake of posting potentially compromising content on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Conversely, managers reported that only 19% of older workers post improper content. According to a recent survey by Intel, top social media faux pas include posting inappropriate or explicit photos, sharing too-personal information about yourself or others, using profanity, and writing with poor grammar and spelling. Young people should be especially careful of their grammar, considering that 46% of hiring managers believe millennials need to improve their writing skills.
No. 3: Haven’t Done Their Research
Hiring managers are generally skeptical of millennials’ research skills, and 62% said it hurts them in an interview when they have not done enough research or preparation on the company and position. While young professionals are most associated with being creative (74%) and strong networkers (73%), they are not believed to be organized (8%) or detail-oriented (17%). The easiest way to flip this assumption on its head is for millennials to be as prepared as possible for the interview. Do internet research on the company, position and interviewer; read as many recent articles as you can find about the industry; and use your LinkedIn connections to talk directly to someone already working there about the culture and environment.
No. 4: Don’t Ask Enough Questions
Three in five interviewers say that millennials often show a lack of interest in the job by not asking questions about the company or position. If you don’t ask smart questions, you’ll appear indifferent or clueless. Some of the best questions for a job candidate to ask in an interview are: How would you describe the ideal candidate? How does this position fit into the company’s long-term plans? What can I do for you as a follow-up? Questions you should stay away from in an interview concern salary, benefits and hours, which should be discussed once an initial offer is made.
No. 5: Overconfident In Themselves
A whopping 57% of hiring managers say millennials can be overconfident in their abilities and experience in an interview. “I love Gen Y, but we all know that they have been conditioned to have a wonderful sense of self-esteem,” says Kate White, longtime Cosmopolitan editor and author of career guide I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This. “One mistake younger people tend to make is making it all about them.” White recommends keeping the focus on specific accomplishments and how you’d apply what you’ve learned to get results in the new position.
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See Also:
How To Land A Job Interview: 10 Tips For Millennials
The Best Jobs For Young People
Youth In The Office: A Gen-Y Guidebook To Career Success
Why Millennial Workers Aren't As Useless As You Thought
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23d742fe59ebe54e925212c975a1048c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/10/03/10-phrases-that-are-holding-your-career-back/ | 10 Phrases That Are Holding Your Career Back | 10 Phrases That Are Holding Your Career Back
“The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”—Mark Twain
Whether dealing with clients, coworkers or superiors, how you phrase and frame your message colors the way people perceive you. The words you choose may be the difference between being thought of as problem-solver or a problem.
Gallery: 10 Words To Erase From Your Vocabulary 11 images View gallery
“Words are very important because they shape not only how other people hear you, but how they feel about you,” says Karen Friedman, author of Shut Up and Say Something: Business Communication Strategies to Overcome Challenges and Influence Listeners. “If you garner some kind of positive emotion, then you’ll make people care. Then you’re in a much better position for them to listen.”
However, too often business communication is peppered with filler words (umm, uh huh, well) that muddle the message, qualifiers (sort of, kind of, mostly) that diminish authority, and negative framing (can’t, impossible, never) that is discouraging and unproductive. In an informal poll of communication experts and career advisers, these 10 phrases were voted the worst things to say in your career.
That’s not my job.
“This makes it about what you can’t do as opposed to what you can do,” says Friedman. “It paints you as not being a team player.” Furthermore, it flies in the face of crucial career assets like flexibility and the willingness to learn new skills, which are required for leadership roles. Take it to a positive place by saying, “It’s not really my area of expertise. Let’s see who might be able to better help with this.”
I think…
Lorrie Thomas Ross, chief executive of consultancy Web Marketing Therapy, calls this and others like it (“I believe” and “I feel”) “discounting phrases.” They make you seem less authoritative and reduce the power of the message. The statement, “I think this is the best strategy,” is much weaker than, “This is the best strategy.” Likewise, eliminate prefaces like “I want” or “I’d like to.” So, rather than saying, “I want to thank you,” simply say, “Thank you.”
I don’t know.
“You think that’s being honest, but it’s really a cop out,” says Henry Devries, assistant dean for continuing education at the University of California San Diego and co-author of Closing America’s Job Gap. “It can be seen as lazy and not willing to take the next step.” Instead, say: “Let me find out the answer.” Similarly, saying, “I don’t know how to do that,” is better framed as, “Where could I get help to learn how to do that?” Then, you’re bridging the solution.
I can’t.
Again, this suggests a rigidity and unwillingness to be helpful or provide solutions. “You want to show employers you are ready to learn and tackle any challenge,” says Josh Tolan, chief executive of video interviewing platform Spark Hire. Instead of dismissively saying “I can’t,” pinpoint the issue and suggest a way around it. For example, if you’re asked to present a project at a time that conflicts with another commitment, say, “Unfortunately, I have a conflict then. However, I’ve been working closely with Sarah on this, and she would be fantastic.”
But…
“Using the word 'but' completely negates whatever you’ve said before it,” says Devries. While you may be well-intentioned, a comment like “that blouse looks nice on you, but the earrings don’t match” will not be taken well. We are conditioned to always listen for the negative information. “We’re used to the manure sandwich,” he says—that’s something nice, something negative, something nice, so that the negative bit is sandwiched in between. Oftentimes, “but” is easily replaced with “and,” which softens the message.
That’s not a good idea.
Nancy Mobley, founder and chief executive of consultancy Insight Performance, says quickly shooting down ideas makes employees and coworkers feel less comfortable about sharing their opinions and ideas, which can hamper creativity and innovation. “Some of the best ideas might be something you're apt to shoot down before vetting them and getting more information,” she says. Instead of dismissing something outright, ask a question like, “How would it work?”
I’ll try.
“The word ‘try’ implies the possibility it may not get finished; it presupposes possible failure,” says communication expert Darlene Price, author of Well Said. If your boss asks for a proposal first thing in the morning and you respond, “I’ll try to get it finished,” you’re undermining yourself and putting doubts in your boss’s mind. Instead, say, “I’ll have it on your desk by 9 a.m.”
It wasn’t my fault.
“People hear it as defensive,” says Friedman. If someone asks what went wrong, they may not even be blaming you, so immediately diverting blame only draws attention to it. Take the higher ground, and try to be a problem solver. Say, “Let me try to better understand what happened,” or, “Let’s figure out how we can prevent it from happening again.”
I guess.
This is a common qualifier, which people use to hedge their bets against saying the wrong thing. “Avoid language that is tentative and not reflecting confidence,” says Dale Austin, director of the career development center at Hope College. Erase it from your vocabulary. If there’s a concern that gives you pause, instead of speaking tentatively, express the concern outright.
That’s impossible.
Like saying “it can’t be done,” “that’s impossible” is extremely negative. “It signifies that you’re not willing to even try,” says Friedman. “Negativity is infectious and spreads like a virus.” To keep it positive, say, “Let’s look at some different ways to tackle it.”
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ffce239b5fa157ff12940c4092b5a80b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/10/29/do-you-have-executive-presence/?goback=.gde_4209425_member_212701973 | Do You Have 'Executive Presence'? | Do You Have 'Executive Presence'?
Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
Do you have it? Can you command the room? Do people stop and listen when you speak? If so, you have likely mastered the illusive art of “executive presence,” a term that’s been buzzing around leadership circles recently. If not, you may be in for a rude awakening.
According to a new study by the Center for Talent Innovation, a non-profit research organization in New York, being perceived as leadership material is essential to being promoted into leadership positions. In fact, the 268 senior executives surveyed said “executive presence” counts for 26% of what it takes to get promoted.
So what is executive presence? The ability to project gravitas--confidence, poise under pressure and decisiveness—seems to be its core characteristic, according to more than two-thirds of the executives surveyed. Furthermore, communication—including speaking skills, assertiveness and the ability to read an audience or situation—and appearance contribute to a person’s perceived executive presence.
Communications expert Karen Friedman says oftentimes people who exhibit executive presence exude a “wow factor,” or magnetism, and are able to easily influence others. They often speak up, use strong and clear language, communicate with passion and energy, and display positive body language by standing tall, making eye contact, offering a firm handshake and using an authoritative tone of voice. Moreover, nearly 60% of the executives surveyed said sounding uneducated negatively impacts the way others perceive you.
Appearance represents just a small part of it, but those surveyed said major mistakes in appearance can be detrimental. More than three-quarters said unkempt attire detracts from both men and women’s executive presence, and among women specifically, 73% said too-tight or provocative clothing undercuts it.
The study authors say the findings offer new insight into why fewer women make it to the C-suite. Women and racial minorities were found to struggle more with executive presence, likely because corporate culture has long been a bastion of white men. Some 56% of minority-race professionals feel they are held to a stricter code, compared to 31% of white professionals. Meanwhile, women said feedback on executive presence is often contradictory and confusing, which may be why a whopping 81% say they’re unclear about how to act on it.
John Beeson, principal of management consulting firm Beeson Consulting, says executive presence can be developed “if you have a baseline of self-confidence and a willingness to deal with unpredictable situations” that come with executive leadership responsibilities. He recommends asking two or three people you trust to offer honest feedback; looking for opportunities to hone your presentation skills, as public speaking is an important executive requirement; and finding your executive voice, meaning identifying your communication assets—like listening, thinking and speaking on your feet, or maintaining composure—and leveraging them.
Gallery: 10 Worst Body Language Mistakes 10 images View gallery
Readers: Do you have ‘executive presence’? How do you know it when you see it, and which aspect do you struggle with most?
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07f4d761ea083be56fc4ccf5a6e5ad28 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/11/27/from-hooters-to-hot-buns-how-kat-cole-turned-cinnabon-into-a-1-billion-brand/ | From Hooters To Hot Buns: How Kat Cole Turned Cinnabon Into A $1 Billion Brand | From Hooters To Hot Buns: How Kat Cole Turned Cinnabon Into A $1 Billion Brand
Kat Cole, 34, got an unlikely start in the food industry. While in high school in Jacksonville, Fla., she worked part-time as a Hooters girl, serving beer and chicken wings in those tiny orange shorts. At age 19, she got a once-in-lifetime opportunity to help the restaurant chain expand internationally. She hung up her plans to become an engineer and lawyer, opting instead to take the executive path in food retail. In the decade she spent at Hooters, Cole says it went from approximately 100 locations and $300 million in revenue to 500 locations in 33 countries and $1 billion in revenue.
Now Cole hopes to work her magic again. This time as president of shopping-mall cinnamon roll brand Cinnabon, an Atlanta, Ga.-based unit of the FOCUS Brands portfolio, which also includes Carvel, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Moe’s Southwestern Grill. Beyond its 1000 franchise locations in 50 countries, Cinnabon has expanded into grocery-store products by partnering with packaged-food kings Pillsbury and Kellogg . It’s also ramping up its presence in other restaurant chains by teaming up with fast-food leaders Burger King and Taco Bell. Cole says it’s about to hit $1 billion in retail sales and will soon be considered one of the “world’s greatest food brands.”
She sat down with me to reveal what’s in store for the company, how she ended up here and why those little shorts were the best thing that happened to her.
Jenna Goudreau: Bring me up to speed on the Cinnabon business.
Kate Cole: It’s becoming one of the world’s greatest food brands. Eventually it will end up in the bucket with brands like Oreo and Hershey .
That’s a bold statement for a shopping-mall pastry.
It’s no longer just a bakery in malls. That’s still the heart, but it’s only the nucleus of a much bigger thing. Several years ago Cinnabon started getting into consumer packaged goods. We own a proprietary ingredient, Cinnabon cinnamon, which is chemically different at the cellular level, making it gooey and aromatic. Because we’ve built credibility in the cinnamon roll space and Pillsbury is the largest seller of refrigerated dough, we joined forces and put our cinnamon in their rolls and our name on the package.
We continued to expand into waffles and pancakes, which led to a partnership with Kellogg’s cereal and other smaller branded partnerships. We now have 60 products—including syrups, sprinkles and Cinnabon International Delight creamer—in grocery and big-box stores like Costco, Wal-Mart, Target and Publix. People go to the grocery much more often than the mall or airport, so it’s a good way to be a regular part of their lives.
You’re also venturing into product licensing. How does that work?
Making products for other restaurant chains is the final frontier and the reason we’re about to hit $1 billion in retail sales, a major milestone for the brand. Licensing is the love-child of franchising and consumer packaged goods because we are now developing products for immediate consumption at other restaurant chains. We’ve got a doughnut product that we developed for Taco Bell called Cinnabon Delights, and we just launched Cinnabon Minibons in over 7,000 Burger King locations. The chains want something that will resonate with consumers, so they’ll pay a premium. The cinnamon, dough and frosting are all proprietary, so with these ingredients we can go anywhere.
How do you mitigate the risks of expanding so rapidly?
Many leaders go wrong by turning their backs on their core and chasing the next thing. My licensing deals would have limited life if the franchises went away, so it’s critical to reinvest in the core. We have about 25% of our domestic franchises remodeled. They’ve got a sexier, sleek look that doesn’t look like Grandma’s bakery. By the end of next year, 50% will be reimaged.
This is not a healthy food. The classic roll has 800 calories. How do you balance business and community responsibility?
There is a place in the market for indulgent brands. Even though there’s a big focus on health, Pres. Obama still has a greasy hamburger every once in a while. We’re not telling people to eat a classic roll every day. Everybody gives themselves discretionary calories. If you’re going to give yourself a treat, give yourself something that is so worth it. It has more pleasure per calorie than anything else that’s out there.
You’ve been running major food brands since you were in your early 20s. Do other leaders raise an eyebrow at your age?
If they do, they’re doing it on the inside. Youth is in my favor. Anytime you’ve got someone young, they’re curious. I’m humble enough to know there’s a whole lot of shit I don’t know. I ask for a lot of help and people are generous when you ask.
Your career path began in an unusual place: A Hooters restaurant in Jacksonville, Fla.
I had a single parent—a mother who worked three jobs and fed us on $10 a week—so I started working as early as the law would permit. I sold clothes at The Avenues mall after school before I was recruited to be a Hooters hostess. By 18, I was a Hooters girl and loved it. When the cook quit, I learned how to run the kitchen, and when the manager quit, I learned how to run a shift.
I went to college at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, planning to get an engineering degree and then go to law school. When I was 19, I got the opportunity to go open the first Hooters restaurant in Australia. I’d never been on a plane. I didn’t even have a passport. I realized that in Miami you could get a passport in one day, so I flew to Miami, got a passport and flew to Australia the next day.
I was in Sydney for 40 days, came back and within 10 days was asked to open the first restaurant in Central America. Then ones in South America, Asia, Africa and Canada. By the time I was 20, I’d opened up the first Hooters on most continents outside the US and was failing school. So I quit to become the head of Hooters corporate training. I’m a college dropout.
I read that you have an MBA. How did you swing that?
It’s very rare. I moved up quickly at Hooters, becoming vice president of the company, and was urged by mentors to go back to school. I was 29 and thinking: Gosh, I’m already a VP of a $1 billion company. Do I really need to go back and finish my Bachelor’s? I took the GMAT, went through double the interviews at the university and got letters from every CEO I knew, including a recommendation from Ted Turner. I was accepted to Georgia State’s MBA program and did nights and weekends from 2008 to 2010. I graduated two months after I started at Cinnabon.
What attracted you to Cinnabon?
I met the current CEO, Russ Umphenour, and developed a major business crush on him. It felt right. It’s a multi-brand portfolio, and I knew I’d get to learn from the other brands. I was interviewing there, still in school, running the Georgia Restaurant Association and handling a huge, complicated Hooters transaction. The CEO had died, and I was asked to lead the company’s liquidation, dealing with analysts, brokers, investors and the internal team. The whole time I was thinking: Thank God I went to class yesterday or I wouldn’t have known what that meant! I started at Cinnabon after Hooters signed the purchase agreement.
Do you have some supernatural ability of multitasking?
I don’t have kids. The work is incredibly fulfilling and I’ve had fun, so it’s easy to do it. Layering in the education was the most difficult.
What advice would you give other young women hoping to succeed in business?
Get diversity in where your experience comes from. Volunteer. Be a part of some industry organization. I started out as the nametag lady, handing out nametags at the Women’s Foodservice Forum events. They took me in when I was 24 and made critical introductions and gave me volunteer opportunities that allowed me to develop other areas of my career like finance and marketing that I wasn’t getting the technical opportunity to do in my company. It was a safe place to run committees and work on projects in different areas.
At one of their events, this woman was lost and I helped her find her way. It turns out she was the founder of Pink magazine, on a ton of tech startup boards and doing big things. I was just helping her find her way, and we ended up being friends. When you do the right things for the right reasons, it always pays you back.
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3fba0725b03faebe4ce97d37b3503e66 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/12/19/the-comeback-brands-of-2013/ | The Comeback Brands Of 2013 | The Comeback Brands Of 2013
Gallery: 10 Comeback Brands Of 2013 11 images View gallery
Powerful brands easily stagnate, playing it too safe with a strong product and failing to innovate or keep up with the times. These former icons either fade into relative obscurity or dust themselves off. We’ve seen several flashy comebacks in the last few years: a heritage deodorant line’s revitalized “Old Spice Guy,” the revival of GM’s Chevrolet, and the renewed celebrity of former President Bill Clinton, star of the 2012 campaign trail.
Which elapsed products, struggling companies or forgotten personalities will revive their brands in 2013? Marketing and branding experts cast their votes for the next big comeback stories.
Myspace
The original social network may be poised for a rebound, after being purchased from News Corp. by performer Justin Timberlake and a group of investors last year. A two-minute teaser video released in September prominently features Timberlake and reveals the new design as photo and entertainment focused. Users are asked to request an invitation to the reimagined site. With Google+’s struggle to get off the ground and Facebook’s flubbed IPO this year, TalkPoint Marketing VP Dan Roche believes Myspace has a real shot at comeback success in 2013. “They have the advantage of an established name brand, infrastructure and experience,” he says. “With the influx of new blood, they can make inroads into the Facebook dominance.”
Tiger Woods
“Woods’ brand hit the fan in 2009, when we saw his personal life blow up in front of us,” says Kelly O’Keefe, chief creative officer at media agency CRT/tanaka and a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter. “Then, even worse, his [golf] game blew up in 2010 and 2011.” However, this year he started performing better on the green and saw his earnings bounce back to $4.4 million in winnings and $55 million in endorsements, making him the world’s third highest-paid athlete. With the return of his game and his confidence, O’Keefe believes consumers are ready to forgive his personal failings and support his career redemption. Plus, “in light of drunk-driving manslaughters, murder/suicides, doping and lying by other athletes, Tiger’s marital infidelities are starting to look tame by comparison,” he says.
Furby Toys
“It’s unlikely that the same toy will be popular year after year without a redesign,” says Charles R. Taylor, a marketing professor at Villanova University’s School of Business in Pennsylvania. He points to best-selling Barbie, who’s had 130 careers and a revolving closet, as the model of smart brand reinvention. Now Hasbro, the maker of GI Joe and Mr. Potato Head, is staging a revival of its 14-year-old Furby toy. A new redesigned line was launched in September, equipped with several high-tech add-ons: LED-lit eyes, touch sensors that trigger movement, adaptable personality traits and a companion iPhone app. Taylor says they’ve sold extremely well during the 2012 holiday season, and with an online campaign centered on social media and Furby.com, he expects the toys will be everywhere next year.
The GOP
The GOP’s recent presidential loss will likely catalyze a reinvention, says Karen Post, author of Brand Turnaround: How Brands Gone Bad Return to Glory and a self-identified moderate Republican. She believes the party has suffered from a lack of diversity, narrow messaging and too little Web and social media interaction. “A political party is like any big brand,” she says, using Nike as an analogy. “While Nike has its one thing people associate it with, they spend millions segmenting consumers. The GOP is not grasping that.” Republicans will spend 2013 trying to reach both younger and minority voters, she says, by ramping up social media efforts and recruiting new, diverse spokespeople.
Ford Motor Company’s Lincoln
While the Lincoln Town Car was once a staple of luxury and comfort, it’s become associated with stodginess. “Younger buyers don’t want to buy it,” says marketing expert Taylor. Ford hopes to reposition the brand with its new Lincoln MKZ model targeting Gen X consumers. Every successful comeback campaign starts with product innovation, says Taylor, and so far critics are responding positively. Car and Driver gave it a 4.5 rating on a 5-point scale. Ford is also launching an edgy ad campaign, with one commercial showing an old Town Car in flames and the new model rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Also, comedian Jimmy Fallon is creating a 60-second Super Bowl ad for the model, which he's crowd-sourcing ideas for on Twitter. “They’re taking big risks,” says Taylor, who predicts they’ll pay off in 2013.
Twinkies
The news of Twinkie-maker Hostess Brands’ bankruptcy caused a tidal wave of publicity and nostalgia that may help the sweet treat relaunch in 2013. With companies like Wal-Mart and Kroger reportedly making bids on the business, it’s likely that the Twinkie will have a new owner and a renewed consumer base next year. “There’s so much tradition and equity in the brand that someone will buy it,” says Taylor. However, for a successful comeback, he believes its new parent will have to break the negative association with junk food by either brand extensions or a smart marketing campaign.
Yahoo
The former darling of the tech world faltered in the last several years, suffering from constant volatility at the top—with five CEOs in just five years. However, Rob Scalea, CEO of brand strategy consultancy The Brand Union, believes it could return to its former glory in the year ahead. “Yahoo made a big coup by recruiting ex-Googler Marissa Mayer,” he says of its new CEO. “She has brought a new-found focus and a clear strategy: Yahoo! will be a product company with a huge emphasis on mobile.” He cites the reinvention of Yahoo Mail, rumored discussions with Facebook about creating a common social search engine, and a new Flickr app, which positions it to compete with photo-sharing service Instagram, as strong signs of a company comeback.
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96af1e8ff407a2df0f4bd9f13bc54253 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/01/07/popeyes-ceo-to-women-dont-waste-time-trying-to-fit-in/ | Popeyes CEO To Women: Don't Waste Time Trying To Fit In | Popeyes CEO To Women: Don't Waste Time Trying To Fit In
Cheryl Bachelder is passionate about two things: leadership and fried chicken. The 56-year-old CEO of Atlanta, Ga.-based AFC Enterprises, franchisor of New Orleans inspired fast-food chain Popeyes, oversees 2000 restaurants in 25 countries with system-wide revenues of nearly $2 billion. Since coming to Popeyes in 2007 from rival KFC, she’s helped the chain outpace competitors in the chicken segment for 18 consecutive quarters, dramatically increase its stock price and rapidly grow its footprint.
When she’s not cooking up new strategies for the 40-year-old brand, she’s racking up leadership awards (2012 Silver Plate Award and Women’s Foodservice Forum's Leader of the Year) and writing about leadership lessons on her blog The Purpose of Leadership. She sat down with me to discuss the new direction of Popeyes, how she got here, and why she advises women to stop trying so hard to fit in. A condensed version of our conversation follows.
Jenna Goudreau: You’ve said you want to double the number of Popeyes restaurants in the U.S. What’s behind the aggressive expansion plan?
Cheryl Bachelder: This year in the U.S. we’ll build more restaurants that are free-standing drive-throughs than just about anyone in the quick-service restaurant category, except McDonald’s. We are in the rapid growth sector of our industry because our units are performing. New units are opening at $1.5 million in annual sales, which is 50% higher than five years ago. It means the people making investments get great return, and it’s a natural incentive to build more--70% are built by existing franchise owners.
The stock has climbed from a low of about $5 in late 2008 to an average of $26 in the last few months. How did you turn it around?
We’re blessed to have a distinctive brand from Louisiana. We’re all about flavor with a touch of comfort food. We like to say: Everyday should have a little Mardi Gras in it. But we’d stopped talking about the things that made the brand special. In the last few years, we’ve gone back to the roots to bring it to life in a relevant way. We renamed the brand Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. We’ve done some menu innovation with new products like Wicked Chicken, Rippin' Chicken and Dippin' Chicken, which are flavorful and portable. With the combination of great new menu items out of our heritage, a strong spokesperson and a dramatic increase in our media spending, the awareness of our brand has more than doubled.
You have a strong background in food, working at Nabisco, Domino’s Pizza and most recently at Popeyes’ rival KFC. What attracted you to the industry?
My early career was in packaged goods at Procter & Gamble and Gillette. I fell in love with food at Nabisco. It’s a wonderful blend of art and science. You have to do it on a large scale, but there’s a lot of art in the innovation and finding the flavors. My love for retail food was a turning point in my career. It’s a wonderful environment to practice innovation, influence and leadership, with a business model that’s so much more complex. To get something done at Popeyes, I have to influence 300 owners and 60,000 people. It’s far more challenging. You also get quick feedback. One day you’re great; one day you stink. I love the speed.
As one of few female CEOs, what do you credit to your business success?
I give a lot of credit to my family. I’m the oldest of four children from a good Midwestern farm family. Everybody worked hard, we valued education, and my parents emphasized integrity in our decision-making over ambition, which is a value mindset missing in many of our leaders today. My parents raised four CEOs. I don’t think that was an accident.
How has that upbringing influenced you as a leader?
Our schools are very good at developing skills but are less successful at building value sets around how you do business. It’s much harder to teach values, so you have to model them in the way you lead. [You have to] be prepared to make courageous decisions that demonstrate your values, where you make the harder choice and not the easier choice.
What’s an example of a courageous decision you made?
To be a parent. Because if you really knew what was coming, I wonder how many of us would do it. I’m the mother of three daughters, who are now 26, 21 and 19. Children don’t come with a handbook; you learn as you go. Parenting is very courageous, hard work, and I’m a big fan of taking it seriously.
I frequently speak with businesswomen who are trying (and sometimes failing) to figure out the work-family juggle. How did you approach it?
It’s very difficult--for mothers and fathers. Recently one of our team members’ kids had a health crisis in the middle of our earnings call. It’s difficult to know what to do when you’ve committed to work obligations and then real life shows up. I left a board meeting once because my daughter was in a car accident. At that moment, I didn’t give a rip about the board meeting. I cared about getting to the scene of the accident and being available to her.
Work-life balance is fraught with difficult choices. We need to encourage women to be confident to make the right choice--because we don’t always get a pat on the back if we walk out of a meeting to take care of a sick baby. We have to be confident and courageous in our choices. I think as women have demonstrated this in the workplace, the workplace has become better for men. It’s enabled them to make family decisions that they’ve wished they could make. The workplace is better off for us opening up this conversation and being respectful toward one another.
What’s your best advice for the next generation of women coming up behind you?
The thing I wish I had learned at a younger age is the importance of bringing your authentic self to your leadership and your workplace. Women spend a lot of years trying to figure out: What do I have to do to make these people happy? What do I have to wear? How should I talk? What behaviors are expected of me? We spend all our energy trying to give them what they want. It totally distracts us from our best selves and coming to work with something to offer. Acknowledge your talents, and as quickly as possible gain confidence in yourself, so that you can be a genuine, authentic contributor and not all that worried about what other people think.
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774cf9cb89197e336d94884d7086f517 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/01/15/are-millennials-deluded-narcissists/ | Are Millennials 'Deluded Narcissists'? | Are Millennials 'Deluded Narcissists'?
Millennials, the rising superpower in America, counting approximately 80 million citizens between the ages of 18 and 34, are nothing but spoiled, self-involved brats. Right?
That seems to be the prevailing perspective after the release of the latest American Freshman Survey, an annual survey of thousands of college freshman conducted for the last 47 years. In it, some four-fifths of survey respondents rank their “drive to succeed” above average and more students than ever before consider themselves gifted.
To psychiatrist and Fox News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow, this further proves that “we are raising a generation of deluded narcissists.” For the Daily Mail, it underscores a “rocketing sense of entitlement on U.S. campuses,” while The Huffington Post concludes that U.S. college students now "feel super special about themselves.”
Okay. As a millennial myself, I can certainly attest that most members of this generation are in fact self-involved. However, as far as I can tell, most everyone in every generation is self-involved. But “deluded” and “narcissistic” (which until recently was considered a psychiatric disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)? Them’s fightin’ words.
“It's a shop-worn narrative that's been circulating for years,” says Hannah Seligson, author of Mission: Adulthood: How the 20-Somethings of Today Are Transforming Work, Love, and Life. “In fact, there's a whole counter-narrative: We are a socially conscious generation that cares about making an impact. Young people say they want to give back. Volunteer rates are up, and so are applications for service-oriented careers like Teach for America. We are also huge advancers of equality and tolerance, from gay to interracial marriage. So how does all of this square with the theory that we are all narcissists? It doesn't.”
My colleague J. Maureen Henderson recently burst the bubble of HBO’s Girls and its representation of the generation. If it were true to reality, she says the 20-something New Yorkers would be living at home, struggling with money, career-focused and less self-involved. “Millennials may get a bad rap when it comes to philanthropy,” she writes, “but 75% of them donated to charity in 2011 and 63% volunteered in some capacity.”
So where does this navel-gazing narrative come from? Dr. Ablow attributes his diagnosis of millennial self-love to (1) malleable social media identities that allow users to craft their ideal selves and cultivate mass followings; (2) escapist gaming technology where players can pretend to be heroes and star athletes; and (3) A’s for effort and trophies just for participating.
Yet according to Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding and author of upcoming Promote Yourself, they’re not alone. “I would agree that there is some sense of entitlement and narcissism,” he says, “but it's clearly rubbing off on older generations now that they are all on social networks posting pictures of themselves.”
Meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder: When did it become a bad thing to want to succeed? To think of yourself as capable?
“We shouldn't conflate narcissism and self-confidence,” says Seligson. “As for the claim that we've all become self-deluded, thinking we are so talented and successful. Please. We've had to job search in the worst economy since the Great Depression.”
According to Schawbel, a little narcissism may even help build and protect millennials’ confidence in the face of major economic setbacks: “Gen Y is the most optimistic generation, even though they have suffered the most in this bad economy. Remember that Baby Boomers still hold most of the national wealth.” Meanwhile, he says the estimated 16.3% unemployment rate for Gen Y is more than double the national unemployment rate of 7.9%.
Finally, Seligson suggests there may also be a developmental aspect to this narrative. She says, “The 20s inherently are an inward-looking period of one's life, where people focus on themselves and personal growth.” For Gen Y, this stage may be more pronounced than in previous generations, as many spend more time attending school, looking for steady employment and waiting to marry and have children.
So where does that leave us?
Readers: Are millennials self-deluded narcissists, or socially conscience optimists, confident even in the face of a nightmarish economy? Are they entitled or impoverished? Or, just maybe, do they exist on a much wider spectrum of circumstances, characteristics and values than they are given credit for?
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74d0df5bd2f4174d936c321e9e43413b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/01/17/how-to-be-a-super-achiever-the-10-qualities-that-matter/ | How To Be A Super-Achiever: The 10 Qualities That Matter | How To Be A Super-Achiever: The 10 Qualities That Matter
What do actor Alec Baldwin, game-show champion Ken Jennings and baseball icon Yogi Berra have in common?
That’s what husband-and-wife duo Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield set out to discover. For their upcoming book The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well, they interviewed 36 star performers that climbed to the tops of their various fields.
“We didn’t want to theorize about success,” says Gosfield. “We went straight to the source, finding the most amazing people in all fields and asking them, ‘How do you do what you do?’”
Interview after interview with some of the world’s most successful people—actress Laura Linney, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, crossword mastermind Will Shortz—they began seeing patterns emerge. No matter how diverse their goals or crafts, these super-achievers shared many of the same habits. How can you follow in their footsteps? These are the 10 qualities that will set you apart.
Dedication To A Vision
“Every great success starts with inspiration, but not every inspiration leads to success,” Gosfield says. “The most common thing we found was these people’s devotion to the day-to-day struggle.” Glossy magazine success stories often don’t show the dark moments, the daily grind or flagging energy that super-achievers endure to realize their goals. However, that dedication is essential to their success.
Intelligent Persistence
One thing successful people know: Dedication and blind persistence are two very different things. “You can work hard but not smart,” says Sweeney. “When something’s not working, you’ve got to tweak it. Some people just keep banging their heads against the wall.” Instead of doggedly using the same ineffective tactics, super-achievers pivot and try to tackle the problem from a different angle.
Gallery: The Most Common Practices Of Super-Achievers 11 images View gallery
Fostering A Community
Star performers know they can’t achieve success on their own. Instead, they must galvanize a group of people around their idea or goal. Teamwork, or having an ecosystem of supporters, turns out to be critically vital for success. It doesn’t just include partners and coworkers. It might also mean employees, customers, investors, mentors, fans and social media followers. They quote business guru Guy Kawasaki: “First you have to create something worthy of an ecosystem. Then pick your evangelists."
Listening And Remaining Open
“You don’t normally think of hard-charging, action-oriented leaders as being good listeners,” says Sweeney. “These people’s ability to practice the art of listening helped them learn what they needed to know about the world around them.” For example, Zappos’ Hsieh asked all his employees to share their personal values so that he could incorporate them into the company’s values and culture. Likewise, Linney says she never accepts a role unless she has read and reread the script so many times that it has opened up to her.
Good Storytelling
Stories have the ability to transport people to your world, and then they're more likely to invest in you and your brand. Philippe Petit, famous for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York City's World Trade Center in the 1970s, believed other wire-walkers were trying to make it look hard. “But he wanted to be a poet in the sky and seem effortless,” Sweeney says. “His narrative wasn’t in words, but it was a story he was communicating.”
Testing Ideas In The Market
"Everybody has a bias to think their own idea is brilliant," says Gosfield. "[Achievers] roll it out in an environment that’s as close as possible to the market." Bill Gross, serial entrepreneur and founder of Idealab, always tests before he invests. When he had an idea for an online car dealer, CarsDirect, no one was sure if people would actually buy a car from a Web site. He decided to put up a test site to see what would happen. Before they had any inventory, they’d sold four cars and had to shut down the site. On the upside, Gross then knew for a fact there was a market for the service.
Managing Emotions
“We found that managing emotions is a key element to success,” Sweeney says. “It’s so easy to be derailed by them, but these people are able to channel anger and frustration into their work.” This was an important lesson for Jessica Watson, the Australian sailor who circumnavigated the world alone at only 16 years old. While out at sea, when loneliness or negativity set in, she would acknowledge her emotions and remind herself that she could get past them. “You can’t change conditions—just the way you deal with them,” Watson said.
Constantly Evolving
Successful people maintain success by consistently learning and adapting to the environment around them. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova realized this when her game suddenly started sliding. She decided to transform her training routine and diet, and soon was back on track to become an all-star athlete.
Practicing Patience
Inaction, or stillness, can sometimes be just as useful as action. The importance of patience was a primary theme among the super-achievers--whether it's strategically waiting for the best time to make a move or continuing to pursue a larger vision without receiving immediate rewards. Jill Tarter, a director of the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), has been searching for life on other planets for the last 50 years without any guarantee of success.
Pursuing Happiness
Success fuels happiness, and happiness in turn fuels greater success. Jennings, “the winningest game-show champion in history," said once he became a contestant on a game show, it filled his entire life with passion. That happiness helped him win, and winning ended up giving him the confidence he needed to pursue a career he loved: writing. Seeking happiness in your life and work turns out to be a win-win.
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6f9b6bd6dd55e824a0db96f73d700fd0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/02/11/a-covert-guide-to-getting-promoted-10-tips-from-a-former-cia-officer/ | A Covert Guide To Getting Promoted: 10 Tips From A Former CIA Officer | A Covert Guide To Getting Promoted: 10 Tips From A Former CIA Officer
J. C. Carleson (Credit: Margaret Stepian)
Ever considered James Bond a career role model? It may be time to take some cues from 007.
In new book Work Like a Spy, former undercover CIA officer J.C. Carleson argues that the same skills and tactics that help secret agents succeed apply in the corporate world. "The tactics used by CIA officers are surprisingly basic," she says. "Clandestine work is about understanding, analyzing and applying human behavior, which is more psychological than technical."
Carleson had a successful corporate career working for companies like Starbucks and Baxter International before she decided to join the CIA. She spent nine years in the agency, traveling through Iraq and Afghanistan, recruiting spies and gathering intelligence. When she rejoined the civilian world four years ago, she realized her secret agent techniques could be used to get ahead in business, including landing a sought-after promotion.
"Too many of us mistakenly believe that showing up and working hard is enough," says Carleson. "But everyone has biases and likes certain types more than others. Working like a spy is about systemically identifying the behaviors and traits that decision makers respond to positively and applying them." She outlines a 10-step covert guide to getting promoted.
Gallery: 10 CIA Stealth Tricks To Get A Promotion 11 images View gallery
Be A Chameleon
As soon as you enter a new workplace or team, Carleson advises adapting your approach by your target and your objective, just like a secret agent tackling a new case. "Every promotion you're seeking has to be tailored to the decision maker's biases and vulnerabilities," she says. That means knowing what you want, who can help you achieve it, and how to gain their favor. "When I talk about manipulation, people get squeamish," she says. "For CIA officers, 'manipulate' isn't a bad word. It's not a cynical mindset. It’s a proactive approach to exploiting opportunities."
Target The Decision Makers
When Carleson was in the CIA, the agency thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Her job, she says, was to find information. "We had to target who would have that information, and then break it down to who had access to them and who I had access to," she says. Similarly, in business, you should analyze senior management and target those decision makers who can influence your success. Figure out who controls the assignments, bonuses and promotions, as well as the people who have their ear, she says.
Analyze Which Behaviors Are Rewarded
Carleson also suggests taking a broader look at the organization or department and asking who is succeeding and why. Which performance metrics are rewarded? Is communication or face-time the key? Once you recognize the skills and behaviors that are recognized in the company you can begin emulating or emphasizing them in your work.
Establish Your Competence
You won’t be able to manipulate yourself into a promotion without basic competence. "I recommend that people start on paper," says Carleson. "Establish a baseline of competence in your work product. Then build the relationships."
Gain Access To The Decision Makers
"You must establish a connection with your target that goes past the hello in the hallway," says Carleson. That requires access and contact, which may be harder for a junior-level employee. She suggests starting with someone you have access to, be it an immediate supervisor or a colleague. People below you, like an executive assistant, might also know the manager's routines and can help you learn more about them.
Formulate A ‘Hook’
Carleson says CIA officers attempting to recruit a spy use what they call a “hook,” which has three parts: a reason to meet once, a reason to connect and a reason to continue meeting. The same process applies when trying to connect with a decision maker, she says—but ditch the elevator pitch. Once you have their attention, she advises not to sell yourself. Instead, connect with the person based on a common interest.
Create A Connection
The most critical step is to establish trust and rapport. Carleson suggests connecting around a commonality like kids the same age or a shared sports team appreciation, which can be discovered easily with a little research. She also advises learning their biases. Does the manager feel a special connection to their alma mater or previous employer and assume that anyone with a similar background is a star? “People tend to make decisions based on assumptions,” she says. “Understand their vulnerabilities.”
Listen More Than You Speak
CIA officers are constantly alert for potential threats and details that others might discard, says Carleson. "It comes down to shut up and listen." Oftentimes, people are so focused on saying the right thing that they forget to listen and learn more about the other person. People like to talk about themselves, she says. By asking questions and listening carefully to the answers, you can reflect back their values as your own.
Observe The Group
"Analyzing the group can sometimes give you more information and a better understanding of the target," says Carleson. Who are they more comfortable with? What types of people do you see them relaxing around and gravitating toward? Who are their proteges? Then, use your findings to tailor your body language and approach.
Keep An Eye On Your Competition
This isn’t about sabotaging your cube neighbor, says Carleson. After all, you never know when they might be in a position to help you. However, “it's just a fact that there are only so many promotions, bonuses and great assignments,” she says. Therefore, your peers are your competition, and it's smart to pay attention to what they’re working on and how they’re working the people at the top.
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f845ac25f9f1ee374b6d76f710173fea | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/02/25/back-to-the-stone-age-new-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-bans-working-from-home/?sh=2bb934011667 | Back To the Stone Age? New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Bans Working From Home | Back To the Stone Age? New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Bans Working From Home
New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has decreed there will be no more working from home for Yahoo staff. A company memo leaked to the press on Friday announced that Yahoo employees would no longer be permitted to work remotely. The decision seems to be based on a desire for increased productivity and a more connected company culture. It reads in part:
To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.
Hundreds of remote workers were asked to report to the office beginning June 1. If they can’t or don't want to, too bad. Even occasional flexibility is being discouraged. The memo reads, "For the rest of us who occasionally have to stay home for the cable guy, please use your best judgment in the spirit of collaboration."
Unsurprisingly, the announcement rankled quite a few Yahoo employees, as well as supporters of workplace flexibility. Flexible work arrangements, from telecommuting to flexible schedules and condensed workweeks, are viewed by many as the way of the future. Flexibility has become an important tool for time-crunched workers, particularly parents, to better juggle work and family responsibilities.
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"It's incredibly disappointing," says Jennifer Owens, editorial director of Working Mother Media. "It's a step backwards—a mindset from the days when Yahoo was launched."
"I respect that Marissa is looking at ways to make [Yahoo's] workforce more productive and engaged in their jobs," says Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs, a service that helps job seekers find flexible professional positions. "I just don’t agree that casting a blanket of blame on individual telecommuters is the right way to do it--nor is cancelling the whole program in one fell swoop."
Mayer, 37, took the helm of struggling Yahoo last summer while five months pregnant. The new mom is the youngest CEO and one of only a handful of women CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies. When asked for details about the new policy and the rationale behind it, a Yahoo spokesperson wrote back, "We don't comment on internal matters."
Update: A Yahoo spokesperson sent the following statement on Tuesday, "This isn't a broad industry view on working from home--this is about what's right for Yahoo, right now."
Mayer has so far taken a number of steps to turn the company around—revamping the homepage, renovating Yahoo Mail, releasing a new Flickr app and conducting a string of mobile acquisitions. Presumably she believes having all soldiers report for duty onsite will lead to increased performance. However, the idea that traditional face-time results in increased productivity seems little more than management bias.
"A variety of studies show that telecommuting and working from home is associated with higher productivity," says David Lewin, management professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Analytically, it's not at all clear this would benefit Yahoo. They could wind up with negative performance effects."
Additionally, working from home—whether occasionally or full time—typically cuts out an hour or more of wasted commuting time every day, says Lewin. Not to mention, employees are so grateful for the flexibility that they're often more loyal to the company than the 9-to-5ers. A 2011 study by nonprofit human resources association WorldatWork found that companies with stronger cultures of flexibility experienced lower turnover and increased employee satisfaction, motivation and engagement.
"It comes from fear," says Owens. "Fear that if I can't see you, I don't know what you're working on. It's a distrust of your own workforce."
Some are also speculating that Mayer's little ultimatum may be a way to trim the fat. If remote workers decide to quit rather than comply, it's a layoff without the associated costs. However, what could be a clever cost-cutting trick sends a dangerous message to the rest of the business community. Could this be the beginning of the end of telecommuting?
"I don’t believe we’ll see many other companies following suit," says Amanda Augustine, job search expert for TheLadders, an online job-matching service for professionals. "This decision says more about the type of company (and culture) Mayer is planning to rebuild, and less about the state of telecommuting and flexible work schedules as a whole."
Of course, some face-time will always be necessary and no one's arguing that it disappear entirely. David Fagiano, COO of corporate training and consulting company Dale Carnegie Training, agrees with Mayer that some of the best ideas are fostered through casual conversations. However, he also notes that these conversations don't have to take place in the same room. "With the internet being such a great tool in business today, it's easy to hold a virtual meeting via Skype or to pick up the phone."
With increasingly effective mobile and video conferencing technology there's less and less need to be present in the physical workplace. Certainly, Yahoo could find alternatives to alienating hundreds of workers. Isn’t it a technology company?
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e270e8108e3260cf04a630ba62c821f3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/03/20/12-ways-to-eliminate-stress-at-work/ | 12 Ways To Eliminate Stress At Work | 12 Ways To Eliminate Stress At Work
The average business professional has 30 to 100 projects on their plate. Modern workers are interrupted seven times an hour and distracted up to 2.1 hours a day. And four out of 10 people working at large companies are experiencing a major corporate restructuring, and therefore facing uncertainly about their futures. This may be why more than 40% of adults say they lie awake at night plagued by the stressful events of the day.
"People are asking me for answers," says Sharon Melnick, Ph.D., a business psychologist and author of just released Success Under Stress. "Everyone feels overwhelmed and overly busy."
Is there a way to maintain steady focus throughout the day? Is it possible to do everything that needs to get done and still have energy left over after work? How do you keep cool under so many demands? Informed by 10 years of Harvard research and field-tested by more than 6,000 clients and trainees, Melnick offers the following strategies to take your work stress down a peg, before it takes over your life.
Act Rather Than React
"We experience stress when we feel that situations are out of our control," says Melnick. It activates the stress hormone and, if chronic, wears down confidence, concentration and well-being. She advises that you identify the aspects of the situation you can control and aspects you can't. Typically, you're in control of your actions and responses, but not in control of macro forces or someone else's tone, for example. "Be impeccable for your 50%," she advises. And try to let go of the rest.
Take A Deep Breath
If you're feeling overwhelmed or are coming out of a tense meeting and need to clear your head, a few minutes of deep breathing will restore balance, says Melnick. Simply inhale for five seconds, hold and exhale in equal counts through the nose. "It's like getting the calm and focus of a 90-minute yoga class in three minutes or less at your desk," she says.
Eliminate Interruptions
"Most of us are bombarded during the day," says Melnick. Emails, phone calls, pop ins, instant messages and sudden, urgent deadlines conspire to make today's workers more distracted than ever. While you may not have control over the interrupters, you can control your response. Melnick advises responding in one of three ways: Accept the interruption, cut it off, or diagnosis its importance and make a plan. Many interruptions are recurring and can be anticipated. "You want to have preset criteria for which response you want to make," she says. You can also train those around you by answering email during certain windows, setting up office hours to talk in person or closing the door when you need to focus.
Schedule Your Day For Energy And Focus
Most of us go through the day using a "push, push, push" approach, thinking if we work the full eight to 10 hours, we'll get more done. Instead, productivity goes down, stress levels go up and you have very little energy left over for your family, Melnick says. She advises scheduling breaks throughout the day to walk, stretch at your desk or do a breathing exercise. "Tony Schwartz of the Energy Project has shown that if we have intense concentration for about 90 minutes, followed by a brief period of recovery, we can clear the buildup of stress and rejuvenate ourselves," she says.
Eat Right And Sleep Well
"Eating badly will stress your system," says Melnick, who advises eating a low-sugar, high-protein diet. "And when you're not sleeping well, you're not getting the rejuvenating effects." According to the CDC, an estimated 60 million Americans do not get sufficient sleep, which is a critical recovery period for the body. If racing thoughts keep you from falling asleep or you wake up in the night and can't get back to sleep, Melnick suggests a simple breathing trick that will knock you out fast: Cover your right nostril and breathe through your left for three to five minutes.
Change Your Story
Your perspective of stressful office events is typically a subjective interpretation of the facts, often seen through the filter of your own self-doubt, says Melnick. However, if you can step back and take a more objective view, you'll be more effective and less likely to take things personally. She recalls one client who sent a request to human resources for more people on an important project. When she was denied, she immediately got angry and defensive, thinking they didn’t trust her to know what she needed. Yet she never stopped to even consider there might be budgetary issues on their end. Once she was able to remove herself from the situation, she called the HR director and said: Tell me where you're coming from, I'll tell you where I'm coming from and then let's see if we can find a solution. Ultimately, it worked
Cool Down Quickly
"When you feel frustrated or angry, it's a heated feeling in your body that can cause you to react," says Melnick. Instead of immediately reacting—and likely overreacting—she suggests trying a "cooling breath" technique: Breathe in through your mouth as if you are sipping through a straw, and then breathe out normally through your nose. Done right, you'll feel a cooling, drying sensation over the top of your tongue. It's like hitting the "pause" button, giving you time to think about your response. She says, "It's so powerful it will even calm the other person down."
Identify Self-Imposed Stress
"Learn to stop self imposing stress by building your own self-confidence rather than seeking other's approval," says Melnick. If you're too caught up in others' perceptions of you, which you can't control, you become stressed out by the minutia or participate in avoidance behaviors like procrastination. Ironically, once you shift your focus from others' perception of your work to the work itself, you're more likely to impress them.
Prioritize Your Priorities
With competing deadlines and fast-changing priorities, it's critical to define what's truly important and why. That requires clarity, says Melnick. It's important to understand your role in the organization, the company's strategic priorities, and your personal goals and strengths. Cull your to-do list by focusing on those projects that will have the most impact and are best aligned with your goals.
Reset The Panic Button
For those who become panic-y and short of breath before a presentation, Melnick says you can quickly reduce your anxiety with the right acupressure point. Positioning your thumb on the side of your middle finger and applying pressure instantly helps regulate your blood pressure.
Influence Others
Even if you're responsible for your behavior and outlook, you're still left dealing with other people's stressful behavior, Melnick notes. She advises confronting a problem coworker or employee by stating the bad behavior in a respectful tone, describing the impact on the team and the individual, and requesting a change. For example, constant negativity might be addressed in this way: "When you speak in a critical tone, it makes others uncomfortable and less likely to see you as a leader. I understand your frustration but request that you bring concerns directly to me, so we can talk them through." By transferring the ownership of the problem, you're more likely to resolve it.
Be Your Own Best Critic
Some 60,000 thoughts stream through your mind each day, Melnick says, and internal negativity is just as likely to stress you out as an external event. The fix? Instead of being harsh and critical of yourself, try pumping yourself up. Encouraging thoughts will help motivate you to achieve and ultimately train you to inspire others.
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ca4a8a594fdcde0d29c0ec0dde5a8011 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennawang/2018/06/28/residents-sue-washington-d-c-over-1-billion-for-racist-gentrification-practices/?fbclid=IwAR3QbZXSba1gCw6NwtOxy17crUPJcmIYo8fwxNpvbJ9J0zc1bynVmwuSrvw | Residents Sue Washington D.C. For Racist Gentrification Practices | Residents Sue Washington D.C. For Racist Gentrification Practices
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 23: Civil rights lawyer Ari Theresa, 38, poses for a portrait outside near home... [+] on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Theresa has an anti-gentrification lawsuit as changes are coming to his neighborhood in Anacostia. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Washington DC is being sued for gentrification.
The 82-page class action lawsuit, filed by Aristotle Theresa, brought grievances against the city for its alleged discriminatory policies favoring creatives and millennials at the expense of the city’s historically African American, low-income residents.
Theresa, a civil rights lawyer from nearby neighborhood Anacostia, is representing three individuals from Washington and over 20 members of the community group CARE. The lawsuit, filed on April 14, said that lawmakers and bureaus, including former mayors Adrian Fenty and Vincent Gray, have championed discriminatory practices such as the Creative Action Agenda and the Creative Economy Strategy.
“These policy documents say outright, we are planning to alter land use in order to attract people who are of a certain age range, in order to attract people who are a certain profession,” Theresa said.
According to the DC Office of Planning website, the Creative Action Agenda was primarily a study that “examined ways to support creative employment and business opportunities” in D.C., while the Creative Economy Strategy under Gray sought to generate 100,000 additional jobs and $1 billion in new tax revenues by 2018.
However, Theresa’s lawsuit alleges that these policies are discriminatory on the basis of age, income and race, which goes against the DC Human Rights Act. Business necessity exemption does not justify unlawful discrimination, according to the act.
“We had to go to court to get [gentrification and displacement] acknowledged as something that should be considered, despite it being in statutes,” Theresa said. “And even when we did, there was still funny business.”
WASHINGTON, DC-DECEMBER 1: Vio at the Wharf seen from across Washington Channel on Ohio Drive S on... [+] December 1, 2017 in Washington DC. (Photo by Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Theresa’s clients worry that rising housing costs and gentrification will drive them out of their neighborhoods, as new luxury apartment buildings are being built in the city to attract the creative class, along with upscale developments such as the $2.5 billion construction of The Wharf. The lawsuit stated that around 39,000 black residents had been forced out of the city from 2000 to 2010, while the area gained 50,000 white residents.
In response, the District filed a motion to dismiss on June 25, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked a standing to sue and failed to raise a claim because they did not plausibly allege intentional discrimination.
The complaint “raised political questions more appropriate for elected officials rather than courts to address,” Robert Marus, Director of Communications of the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, said in an email.
In April, low-income black residents won a case against the DC Housing Authority, temporarily stopping the $400 million planned raze and redevelopment of Barry Farm, one of the city’s largest public housing complexes.
The DC Court of Appeals ruled that the DC Zoning Commission “did not fully address all contested issues as required by the zoning and redevelopment regulatory scheme,” including how gentrification would hurt the current residents of Barry Farm, and sent the plan back to square one.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 02: Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser attends a news conference May 2, 2018... [+] on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Del. Holmes Norton held a news conference to discuss 'efforts to protect D.C.'s local laws during the FY2019 appropriations process, including gun safety, anti-discrimination, labor, marijuana and abortion.Ó (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
For Theresa, the city’s history with discriminatory zoning and housing practices has been a chronic problem he observed up close, having represented previous clients who opposed the city's redevelopment projects.
“What I saw were patterns and practices of arbitrary decisions made by the zoning commission,” Theresa said. “I didn’t understand why none of the governmental systems were working like how they should.”
He identified the root causes of gentrification as racial discrimination and civil rights violations, arguing that the lawsuit was better described as a pattern and practices complaint.
“I would like some acknowledgement from the city that they have preferences for groups of people,” Theresa said. “All of these things represent thefts. They were taking from one community and giving to another.”
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cf12679da4e22a9ba429753424a15819 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennawang/2018/09/29/the-rise-of-the-pop-up-economy/?sh=27e0ca1e2a18 | The Rise Of The Pop-Up Economy | The Rise Of The Pop-Up Economy
The ball pit at New York's Color Factory Heather Moore for Color Factory
The subscription economy has given way to a parallel phenomenon responsible for the waves of Instagrammable exhibits and experiential retail shops undulating your news feed--the pop up economy.
With consumers increasingly adverse to own things or commit their dollars in the long term, the real estate industry has experienced a proliferation of ultra-short term leases for everything from offices to art museums. Valued at $50 million by research firm RetailNext, it applies to virtually every industry, from traditional retail to art museums, celebrity merchandise to online mattress companies.
In a time where young people crave increasingly novel experiences, businesses have shifted their budgets from traditional advertising to brand activation efforts. Combine that with the changing landscape for brick-and-mortar retail and the potential for experiential retail among burgeoning online giants, and you have the perfect environs for the pop-up economy to flourish.
One major segment of the pop-up industry has been e-commerce companies, like Blue Apron and Casper, that are using pop-ups as a way to test the waters of the very industry they’ve been credited with annihilating. For example, Blue Apron opened a month-long “experiential retail” shop over the summer in New York City that offered cooking classes and grab-and-go products, while Casper debuted a showroom that included a “Dreamery” where guests can pay for 45-minute naps. Even Spotify has been dabbling in pop-up exhibits, such as a 10-room experience for Ariana Grande’s new album this weekend. It’s safe to say, pop-ups are cropping up everywhere.
According to Adi Biran, CEO and Founder of Splacer, a company that is the “Airbnb for event spaces”, pop-up real estate can offer multiple benefits to brands in an environment where traditional leasing models are going out the window.
“Space is becoming more and more expensive,” she said. “On one hand you have a growing population, [but you also] have millennials and younger generations losing interest in owning.”
For businesses, pop-up shops or exhibits can serve as a valuable brand activation tool to reach their target audiences. The market for brand activation in the U.S. was worth nearly $600 million in 2016, according to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), topping $740 million by 2020. In today’s social media age, these experiences will then be documented extensively by consumers and influencers on Instagram or Snapchat, creating an organic advertisement campaign that travels through valuably linked networks.
When Splacer launched in 2015, Biran said, they struggled to find spaces to put up on their website. Three years later, the company has more than 3,000 listings and a combined 12 million square feet of creative space for rent, helping brands like H&M and Reebok secure temporary property for huge industry events like New York Fashion Week.
Pop-ups may also be successful because they cater to the feeling of “massclusivity,” as a 2017 Atlantic article described, similar to how limited edition and seasonal items stoke desirability. People feel more compelled to go to the exhibit if it won’t be there in two weeks--and it doesn’t hurt if it doubles as a photoshoot set.
The Instagram Museum Effect
An interactive room in Color Factory Heather Moore for Color Factory
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest reasons why the pop-up economy has been such a success has been due to the increased consumer demand for picture-perfect “experiences”. This want is particularly evident in large cities like New York and Los Angeles, where steep real estate costs, coupled with consumers’ and brands’ need for greater flexibility, have created the conditions necessary for the rise of the pop-up.
“It’s mind-blowing how many stores have been closed in the US alone,” Biran said. “We see those budgets coming back to us and [companies] asking to do pop-ups. It can be a few hours, it can be a few days. We really see this segment growing over time.”
With big cities also comes a bigger appetite for social media-perfect experiences. Enter the pop-up art exhibit. A cross between an Instagrammable mecca and an adult funhouse, these temporary art museums often feature lavish artistic decor, interactive installations, and a whimsical theme (think candy, rose, or pizza).
Jordan Ferney, the creator of Oh Happy Day!, said that the increased demand from consumers and brands for “experiences” is what led her to create Color Factory, one of the most well known pop-up exhibits on influencers’ feeds.
The idea was born after a creative proposal Ferney put together for an ad agency failed to be picked up, but left Ferney excited. She rounded up a team of creative thinkers, including Lea Rosenberg, Erin Jang, and Molly Young, and put together a weekend event in her office. Then, she was signing a lease for one-month exhibit space, which turned into Color Factory’s eight and a half month home run in San Francisco.
This August, Color Factory opened its second 20,000-square foot temporary exhibit in New York. Tickets sold for $38 per person, including several freebies and a QR code card that allowed attendees to take pictures using cameras installed at optimal points in the exhibit, automatically emailed to you after.
While Color Factory’s first exhibit in San Francisco was sponsored by Alaskan Airlines and Method Soap, Ferney’s team was able to create a bigger and better New York location with the San Francisco profits. However, she stressed that profit was not the priority. Much of the project was sustained from her own pocket as well.
A conveyor belt of colorful macarons at Color Factory Heather Moore for Color Factory
“I’m sure there are ways to run this that are more profitable,” Ferney said. “But our goal is to make a quality product and invest in people, and if it does make money, then that’s great. I joke that my goal is to break even, and after that, to make it good, and after that, to make a profit.”
Yanz Zeng, a recent School of Visual Arts graduate and one of the co-founders of Chaimi Food Studio, also said that her pop-up wasn’t making much money. Zeng and her team created the temporary New York exhibition Room for Tea, which features attractions like a pink ball pit room, a room filled with pink neon signage, and a room with ambient paper lamps and bamboo mat flooring that you have to wear shoe covers to step on.
Zeng said that the pop-up wasn’t “traditionally profitable” compared to “how much we’re invested in physically and mentally.” She, like Ferney, also wanted to make the exhibit more than just an Instagram trap, though it was clear that it was what most people had come there for.
The pink ball pit at Room For Tea in New York Room For Tea
“Now, there’s so many places that [are built] for people to take pictures for social media,” she said. “We actually didn’t come from that standpoint. We just really loved tea [and] wanted to talk about this culture with people.”
Ferney said her goal had always been to make something that was beautiful to experience, not photograph. However, recognizing her consumer’s needs to take pictures, Color Factory installed custom cameras on the walls and ceilings of the New York exhibit to help people take photos at opportune moments, hoping to untether people from their iPhones.
“It was really important to me it wasn’t just a set,” she said. “You work so hard and all people write is, ‘It’s an Instagram museum!’”
Finding Respite In An Indonesian Music Room
The 80,000-square foot Brooklyn warehouse was seething with attendees who had each paid for a $129 wristband for entry on a Saturday night. A Smirnoff-sponsored bar churned out Moscow mules by the hundreds, servers walked around with h’or d'oeuvres, and deafening pop music pumped on loudspeakers above-head.
Now in its fourth year, 29Rooms is an annual two-weekend pop-up fest held by media company Refinery29. The event invites attendees to experience 29 individually designed rooms that, in line with this year’s theme, will “expand your reality”. With the ticket came complimentary booze, food, and small favors customized by room, such as a skincare sample or fortune telling.
It was easy to be skeptical of what was probably the mothership pop-up of them all, but I tried to keep an open mind as I flitted from room to room. In one corner, experimental dancers invited people to paint on their bodies. In another, Rupi Kaur whispered into your ears a pre-recorded poem while you poured white sand into a gigantic pile at the center of the room.
Many of the rooms were, of course, made for taking pictures. However, 29Rooms’ creative director, Piera Gelardi, told Time Out that they actually wanted people to experience many of the rooms without their phones.
“We want people to be present, live in the moment and to reconnect with themselves,” Gelardi said.
Doors opening up Kruti Mehta
It would be an understatement to say that people had their devices out at 29Rooms, but I did notice there were at least a handful of rooms where most people had put them away in order to take in the exhibit. One of them was Room 29, a creation by Carlota Guerrero where you could write a message to your 10-year-old self and pin it on the wall. Hundreds of pink papers blanketed the room: “Your mind is the most powerful thing you have.” “Zach Morris is trash.” “Keep creating” scrawled 13 times.
It was in this exhibit that Toni Thai Steriett, a 35-year-old filmmaker, found herself in near tears as she remembered her parents fighting when she was 10, which she said impacted her greatly as a person. That room was her favorite, she said. Now, she wandered around a display filled with gigantic purple piggy banks while her friend waited in line for them to get into another room.
“I just want to feel like a kid,” she said. “You know, when you used to go to parties and they had ball pits?”
Jovani Demitri, a 32-year-old professional photographer, said his favorite room had been one filled with Indonesian instruments that you were encouraged to shut your phone off for. “You just go in, make sure you’re really present, and kind of let it absorb over you.”
Visiting exhibit after exhibit filled with artistic props, gratuitous freebies, and Refinery29 staffers dancing to party music at every turn, I couldn’t help but wonder what the price tag for creating a two-weekend fantasia in a gigantic warehouse was. Then again, while the pop-up economy itself may not generate direct profits, it sure fulfilled its purpose as a living, breathing billboard for brands, and a creative outlet for attendees and creators to boot.
Ferney, the creator of Color Factory, said that she would probably consider continuing the exhibit in other cities after its New York location closed shop. However, she heavily stressed creativity before money or scalability.
“I just want people to be able to tell it came from a good place,” she said. “When you walk into a place, you can kind of tell if they’re just trying to make money off of you.”
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fd393d9ff30e45e66b7eb7c222501d99 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennawang/2019/07/23/bachelorette-stars-jojo-fletcher-and-jordan-rodgers-bet-on-airbnbs-with-new-show-cash-pad/ | Bachelorette Stars JoJo Fletcher And Jordan Rodgers Bet On Airbnbs With New Show ‘Cash Pad’ | Bachelorette Stars JoJo Fletcher And Jordan Rodgers Bet On Airbnbs With New Show ‘Cash Pad’
Cash Pad - Season 1 2019 CNBC Media, LLC.
After finding love on national television three years ago, JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers are returning to the big screen to star in their own home renovation show.
Fletcher, 28, and Rodgers, 30, first gained fame as the winning couple from season fourteen of the Bachelorette, where around 30 men compete to propose to one woman during an eight week whirlwind romance. Now, the still-engaged pair will host Cash Pad on CNBC, which follows their adventures to renovate underutilized and sometimes strange spaces into charming short-term rentals all over Texas.
“Over the past year, we really started to think about this new trend of Airbnbs and short term rentals,” Rodgers said. “Every time we traveled, we enjoyed staying in them, and we saw a niche market we wanted to capture.”
Short term rentals are now a hundred billion dollar industry and, according to Fletcher, they are a particularly great boon for those with underused, detached spaces in their homes looking to make a little extra cash. On Cash Pad, Fletcher and Rodgers partner with eight homeowners in Texas to transform their properties in under a week. They tackle everything from an old shipping container to a backyard Airstream, all in hopes of creating a lucrative short term rental in up-and-coming tourist areas.
“On this show, we assume all the risk,” Fletcher said. “We paid for the renovations, and we’re the ones renovating it. Our homeowners don’t have to deal with anything. We just have to make sure the risk pays off in the end, and that we’re not in a huge hole.”
Their money-making deal is to provide the homeowners with a free renovation and a fixed amount of property income per month, while Fletcher and Rodgers take the rest of the rental profit. After four years, the short term rental is returned back to the homeowners. In a preview of Cash Pad’s first episode, Fletcher and Rodgers help a couple in Stonewall, Texas renovate a small cottage for what Rodgers estimates will cost $35,000 to $50,000. The homeowners are promised $700 a month in passive income.
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Because they were working with short term rentals, Rodgers said, they could renovate three or four places for the same price as a long term rental. The couple is hoping to make the money back in “a year to two years at the most, so we can actually see a profit at the other side of it.”
Fletcher and Rodgers with homeowners in season one of CNBC's Cash Pad 2019 CNBC Media, LLC.
While the leap from dating on reality TV to tearing down drywall may initially seem daunting, Fletcher and Rodgers are more prepared than most might assume. Fletcher grew up in a family of realtors and developed her first property during her college days. She was working as a real estate developer when she was cast onto the 2015 season of The Bachelor and, subsequently, the Bachelorette.
Rodgers, on the other hand, is a former NFL player with no prior real estate experience. However, in the last three years since he’s been engaged, he said he’s “jumped right in” with helping his fiancee flip properties back in her native Texas.
For the properties on Cash Pad, Fletcher and Rodgers took their own money and, with the help of a third investor, made a bullish bet on the vacation rental market. While the drama of their on-screen builds won’t be as intense as their Bachelorette days, Fletcher said that viewers could expect a fair share of mishaps in the form of furniture pieces that won’t come in and cabinets that get delayed.
Cash Pad is set to air weeknights Tuesday on CNBC, with a total of eight one-hour episodes lined up. As the show runs, though, Fletcher and Rodgers won’t be getting much rest. The couple recently announced on Instagram that they bought their first non-flip house together, where they plan on settling down after they get married.
As usual, plenty of Bachelorette fans eagerly await any sign of pending nuptials, but the couple has said they most likely will tie the knot spring or summer of next year. Until then, more “construction therapy,” as Fletcher calls it, will ensue.
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627e4f2fba699a7e80f4342892a01e1b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennchoi/2014/05/22/give-your-ipad-the-power-of-sight/ | Give Your iPad The Power Of Sight... For Fun | Give Your iPad The Power Of Sight... For Fun
Yes, I know that iPads have cameras but that's not what I mean. Think for a minute, can your iPad understand your commands without you speaking to it or even touching it? My iPad can and soon yours can too.
This year along with other parents and teachers, I received a pre-launch opportunity to be a beta-tester with the Osmo by Tangible Play, a new gaming company whose main contribution to technology is something called reflective artificial intelligence. Osmo is launching their crowdfunding campaign today.
Picture this: Little balls fall from the top of your screen, you must draw a line to have the balls bounce off and hit a target so you can get points. But what if you wanted a specific curve to be drawn and your wedding ring or Lego piece was the perfect shape? Now, you don't have to trace it, you simply set it down and Osmo will draw it for you.
Reflective Artificial Intelligence uses a mirror to see what you are doing right in front of the... [+] screen in real time. If I draw a line on a piece of paper (any kind of paper with any kind of pen), it will draw a line on the screen - immediately. Photo: Osmo
I had a chance to bring a child psychologist with me to this year's American International Toy Fair in New York City and I made sure he visited Tangible Play's booth. He was blown away and made plans to try out the product too. Before today's launch, I asked him to help me tease out how "educational" was this "educational game." He had good news.
Maximize the Play, Maximize the Learning
"The interactive nature in general is what I like about Tangible Play," said Dr. John Ferrera, a neuropsychologist whose testing and therapy services help children maximize their learning potential. Dr. Ferrera's favorite of the three Osmo games was Tangrams where children can put tangrams puzzles together on a flat surface, in front of their iPad, and Osmo will tell them if they are on the right track and even give hints if necessary. In a similar method, Osmo can challenge kids (and adults) to guess words and spell them and they can play this either as a cooperative or competitive game.
You might see this photo on the more advanced levels but you won't be spelling out MOOSE, instead it... [+] could be animal, antlers, or even bull.
Tangram and word puzzles are not new to the iPad so I asked Dr. Ferrera why anyone would care to spell words with physical tiles rather than just dragging them on a screen. Or even better, maybe a kid can study spelling words by just studying on his own sans technology? Dr. Ferrera said that all kids learn differently and while some kids may find quiet self-study more efficient, some may not. For those kids, Dr. Ferrera said, "If they were playing it in a game, then they would be more motivated to play." He added, "The important thing about learning is that the learner has to be engaged."
One of my kid testers has dyslexia and so he's not big on spelling. But his favorite Osmo game is actually the words game because he loves putting his cognitive flexibility skills to work. The Words game is not just about spelling, it's about deciphering images and using logic to figure out the answers. I haven't tried this yet but I'm told that it is possible to create my own word game based on words and themes of my choosing. What an awesome opportunity! A popular question on my blog by readers is how to make homework easier. I think Tangible Play could be quite helpful here.
How Good is the Tech? How Does It Work?
CEO and co-founder, and former Google engineer, Pramod Sharma sat down with me and my 7-year-old son for a playdate/interview. I asked Sharma about the mirror, the tangram pieces, and letter tiles. Was there anything special inside the pieces? Was this just a plain mirror? Tangible Play has a patent on their mirror piece but he said, "Our real secret sauce is the software." Sharma then picked up a bunch of letter tiles and dropped them all at once, in front of the iPad. There must have been 7 tiles and Osmo registered most if not all of them immediately while chiming friendly bell sounds. "The fact that the system can understand in real time how I try to draw is very very powerful," said Sharma.
'Tis powerful indeed. You can't help but test its limits. My own kids have even tossed tiles in front of the iPad and once in a blue moon, it didn't pick it up or it picked up another letter unintentionally. Still, I will be buying my own brand new set via Kickstarter after this article is published because there is so much to gain with Osmo. How can I not go along for this ride? The Osmo stand, reflective mirror, and game pieces (Words and Tangrams) will retail for $99, but pre-sale backers will get discount pricing starting at $49 (limited availability). Osmo is expected to start shipping its first devices this summer.
Note: Every product has been personally tested by Toys Are Tools’ kid testers. Products were submitted to facilitate a review. Reviews are never promised.
More best toy tips from Jenn at Toys Are Tools.
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d848dea225b4555e826f83870b5107ab | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennchoi/2014/06/12/good-news-education-is-evolving-the-proof-is-in-the-play/ | Why Kids Learn Better Playing with Robots | Why Kids Learn Better Playing with Robots
Quick, can you name three modern medical achievements that you never imagined would happen in your lifetime? If you can, maybe you thought of things like: growing organs in a laboratory, face transplants, and even a skull created by a 3D printer. Yet, if we ask a person to name three modern advancements in education, I think you will find fewer people who can give you a decent answer, let alone three. If you by any chance thought of that documentary about schools in Finland, I think that's a great answer though it depresses me very much since I don't live in Finland.
To be sure, many parents including myself are full of frustration and want more done to improve education. However, it would be wise to note that awesome educational developments are taking place right now, here in the U.S. These marvels come to us in the form of toys and games but with a twist - as both offer children the chance to practice a skill called computational thinking.
Thanks to two experts in tech education, Dr. Wendy Martin and Francisco Cervantes at the EDC Center for Children and Technology, I was able to learn what this was. According to Martin and Cervantes, computational thinking is practiced when you learn how to code. It's the process of creating a program, letting it run, encountering problems, dissecting and examining the problem, and finding a solution so you can create something. Two products offering this to children as young as preschool-age are making news this month.
Motivation is the Key to Learning
I love KIBO. It is one of those toys that ranks up there alongside brainy toy greats such as the Etch-A-Sketch, Froebel Gifts, and LEGO. These are examples of very intuitive toys. You just pick up and play and when you're done, you have undoubtedly gained something. KIBO is a perfect demonstration of how kids are learning through play all while needing little to no instructions.
With a toy like KIBO, kids are able to take a robot, scan bar codes on a sequence of connectable wooden blocks, each of which have a designated action. This creates a string of orders telling the robot what to do. Actions like "Begin - Shake - Light Up - Turn Right - End" are terrific for young learners but the command sequences can also become more complex. Kids can even use "If-Then" clauses. KIBO is kind of like constructing a sequence of actions, similar to the way kids do pretend play and create stories.
The great news this month is that the makers of KIBO, KinderLab Robotics, has launched a campaign on Kickstarter. Thus, anyone has the opportunity to become part of the first round of investors in this major advancement in education.
I asked Dr. Marina Umaschi Bers, the director of the DevTech research group at Tufts and chief scientist at KinderLab Robotics about any prerequisite knowledge needed to play with KIBO. It was a relief to hear that there was a lot of success across the board among children despite the varied backgrounds in family income and even neurological differences such as children with executive functioning impairments. In my experience as a tester of hundreds of toys, that trait is a genuine marker of a well-designed toy because there is something in it for everyone. Additionally, as a fan of Friedrich Froebel, the inventor of the original kindergarten that began in the 1800s, it was very obvious that KIBO really had those special qualities of toys that intrinsically support creativity and inquiry. “Our company name and our product, KIBO, are certainly influenced by the works of Friedrich Froebel," said Umaschi Bers. "Exploring programming through play and developmentally-appropriate learning manipulatives are core to the philosophy behind KIBO.”
Lisa Moellman, an education consultant and former Associate Director of the Harvard Achievement Support Initiative in Boston is also a parent of a child who had KIBO as part of his school curriculum for the past three years since kindergarten. (Yes, it's aligned with the Common Core Standards too!) Moellman was very impressed and said that as the tools, the visuals, the programming was so hands-on and intuitive, her son and his classmates were able to easily access the robot's functions and move forward. "That just kept his motivation really high." Motivation is key. Little humans have little tolerance for glitches.
Computational Thinking Does Not Require Computers? Not Even Electricity or Reading?
The board game industry also recognizes the value in teaching kids how to code. It was no surprise to me that industry pioneer, ThinkFun became the new publisher of Robot Turtles, a game whose claim to fame is that it's the most backed board game in Kickstarter history. This game for preschoolers had everyone waiting for its release this month including developmental psychologist and play consultant Dr. Jennie Ito of The Play Kitchen who had also pre-ordered the game because she believes that learning programming is important. “It teaches children that they can be creators,” she says. “That they can not only have an idea, they can actually turn their idea into something.”
With Robot Turtles, kids are essentially solving problems as they help their turtles to reach their destinations by making a series of decisions. The fun part is that they are in the driver's seat and the grown-up play partner is the "Turtle Mover" who must do whatever the child "Turtle Master" says by performing fun computer-noises like "BEEP" and "DOT" which has everyone holding their stomachs with laughter.
What is really great about Robot Turtles and programming in general is that similar to block play, you can start off simple and end up doing something rather complicated but only when you're ready. I am really impressed with ThinkFun's commitment to helping young kids grasp coding through game play. Not only have they added additional adventures to take things to a higher level but they've even created a dedicated website allowing kids to create and share their adventures with others and thus, learn from each other. Not surprisingly, such an activity is actually a very integral part of the culture of programmers and again, we are talking about preschoolers here.
You may ask yourself why is it important for kids to make robots or turtles shake, rattle, beep, bloop, etc. Why do we need them to make up these sequences? I had this same question but I look at it like this: Have you ever given directions or advice to a colleague and they mistakenly did something completely different? It has happened to all of us and it is because the language of people can have infinite meanings and possibilities. If you believe that then you can believe that we need to show kids the benefits of being clear, purposeful, and feeling fulfilled. To be truthful, I don't believe you can actually teach this to children. However, with the right tools like KIBO and Robot Turtles, you are more apt to be successful in establishing a setting where these essential growth experiences can be accessed and owned by all children. To me, that is an awesome advancement in the science of education.
Note: Every product is usually personally tested by Toys Are Tools’ testers but all available KIBOs are currently doing their jobs as tools in schools. However, I am very grateful to have had a personal and lengthy live video demo by the founders of KinderLab Robotics. Robot Turtles was submitted to facilitate a review. Reviews are never promised.
More best toy tips from Jenn at Toys Are Tools.
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abcffb6dd488b4862eac02f6e096aedb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennchoi/2015/03/12/top-ten-toys-to-watch-in-2015/ | Top Ten Toys to Watch in 2015 | Top Ten Toys to Watch in 2015
This year's 112th North American International Toy Fair was the best ever Toy Fair I've ever attended. In every aisle, I found spectacular toys and games that really spoke to the concerns of today's families and educators. The overall theme of the fair, to me was "more is better."
To be sure, I am not talking about excess. With great books like Ron Lieber's The Opposite of Spoiled published for today's parents who are taking steps to instill gratitude and financial savvy in their children, it's clear that parents want kids to be smarter in how they play and spend their time. Thus, "more" in this case does not mean parents must buy more toys but rather it's about parents buying toys that allow their child to learn more, play more, do more.
Gallery: 10 Toys To Watch This Year 10 images View gallery
Here are some toys that are reflecting that need for more from kids and families today.
I want more from my iPad: iPads and other tablets are replacing the need for handheld consoles and remote controls now. Toymakers are stepping away from creating apps that distract kids from their toys and instead are designing apps that allow kids to do more with their toys and games.
Roominate rPower ($19.99 and above for additional sets) There are toys that mothers like and there are toys that daughters like but there are few toys that equally bring joy to the both of them. It takes a skilled toy designing company to do just that but I think I have found it in Roominate's new rPower line. This building set has circuitry embedded inside the pieces so kids need not fuss with long tangling wires. Moreover, these circuits will be connected to a bluetooth hub that connects with Androids and iOS devices to transform them into remote controls for the children's toys. Available June 2015
Compose Yourself by ThinkFun ($14.99) Imagine you are reading sheet music. Now erase the bass and treble clef symbols, turn it upside down, and start playing it. What would it sound like? Crazy? Humorous? Cacophonous? How would you know? That is what's great about Compose Yourself because it allows kids to try making something totally new while still using someone else's creation. As many of our children like "learning by doing," we generally don't show kids can change things around enough to take an existing product and call it their own. The Scratch community at the MIT Media Lab has been great at teaching this and now with Compose Yourself, kids can do it with music too! Available May 2015.
LEGO AppBrick in Ultra Agents sets ($9.99 and up) I love when my kids' tablet games asks them to use both hands. When you use both hands, somehow, your body sends itself a signal that you are all in. Using both hands to cooperate and coordinate with each other to complete an exciting task is an awfully fun way to learn. The "AppBrick" is placed on the screen of the tablet and then a player uses her fingers to create actions on the screen. There is a variety of AppBricks that come included in certain LEGO products and the great part is that kids can continue to play with those sets whether or not they have a tablet. Available now.
Kids need more body awareness: Increased screen-based play isn't necessarily a bad thing but we should pay close attention to how much time kids are using their bodies which is still primary tool for learning, just as much as the eyes are.
Joki Hanging Crows' Nest ($109.00) We teach kids to persevere and work hard but do we ever teach them how relax or even know when it is time for a break? The benefits for this is very obvious and yet it isn't often we find this on the agenda for both educators and parents. I like to use tools to teach important lesson. First, we must note how important it is to teach kids how to recognize the signs that they could use a break. Accelerated heartbeat, heavy breathing, feeling tired or flushed are great indicators to take a load off. Available now.
Mini Squigz by Fat Brain Toys ($19.95) Squigz were all the rage when they were first released in 2013 however these new Squigz are even better. In this case, size does matter and because they are so small (40% smaller), you will get so many more Squigz(75 in each box). More Squigz means more opportunities push and pull them as many times as one likes. Using energy this way is very affirming for self-awareness of your body, especially your hands. Available April 2015
We want more fun in skill-building games: I love how crafty game designers are in creating entertaining but still challenging learning experiences. To me, game designers are some of the most brilliant people in the world.
Three Little Piggies ($24.99) One of the reasons why kids do not like math word problems is because they just cannot relate to what is being said. At too early of an age, kids are given written problems where they must imagine the particulars in their heads and then keep those thoughts in their memories as they attempt to solve them. I am all for teaching kids how to solve problems but for younger children, I think it is more effective to make it really fun. To date, onlySmartGamesUSA has made a substantial variety of logic games that continue to impress even the pickiest preschoolers (and their parents). Available March-April 2015
Dohdles by Thames and Kosmos ($39.95)
Are you good at giving clues? The skills required to give great clues are the same skills that are used to tell a good story, to take another's perspective, both of which are excellent leadership skills. Created by legendary game designer Klaus Teuber (The Settlers of Catan), Dohdles asks players to make a "riddle made of dough" by sculpting playdough in such a way that opponents cannot immediately recognize what it is supposed to represent. Players are rewarded for making their sculpture just challenging enough to be fun for guessing (not too easy or hard). Available May 2015
We want more choices in engineering and building toys: I try to tell fellow parents that while LEGO is absolutely amazing, it is always good to invest in at least one more system so that kids can generalize their learning with new materials.
VEX Robotics Ball Machines ($29.99)- Vex Robotics by Hexbug's newest line of fun and modular machines is quite affordable and users will be rewarded with an opportunity to create larger machines when buying each additional new set. My favorite is the Screw Ball Machine which features the time-tested design of the Archimedes screw (invented in 3rd century BC). It is still used in machinery today and I can't think of a more fun way to demonstrate this point than to move ping pong balls to higher ground just by rotating a screw that never moves up in height. It's amazing if you stop to think about it. None of the 6 different ball machines require batteries but power motors can be purchased for $19.95. Available August 2015
Meccanoid GS15KS ($399.95) Spin Master wants to give kids and families robots that look more like what we traditionally view as a robot. Most robots today do not take a humanoid shape but the Meccanoid most certainly does as it measures about 4 feet tall (the average height of a 7-year -old boy). It can be programmed to move in a specific sequence of steps. The Meccanoid talks as well and makes me wonder how good of a companion it can be and if we can possibly use it to teach social skills. Additionally, the smaller Meccanoid GS15 which will stand at 2 ft tall will be available for sale at $179.99. Available August 2015
I find playing with Pinblock to be both artsy and therapeutic at the same time. photo: This one is a... [+] wearable sculpture. Pinblock
Pinblock ($44.95 and up) In the case of Pinblock, more simple means more blocks. This plastic block construction medium uses two "pins" on top of each square-shaped block to connect it to another brick. The connections are varied but in still somewhat limited in direction. After several pinblocks are connected lengthwise, players can actually bend and curve and close-off a structure (think wave or hexagon). This pixel-like building block can create small murals which are good enough to grace a wall in your office. You can also download any pixel-making tool to create any of your pictures into pixels to then recreate with Pinblocks.Pixel art is becoming more popular as the on-screen gaming giant, Minecraft, continues to grow. For us, we love the sensory component of snapping these blocks together. Pre-orders on the Pinblock site can use the code: JennIsAwesome to score 15% off. Available April 2015
For more best toy tips from Jenn at Toys Are Tools.
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ad86af32c807b3cc06f63c63605aa12e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennchoi/2015/05/07/last-minute-gifts-for-moms-who-make-things-happen/ | Last Minute Gifts For Moms Who Just Can't Stay Still | Last Minute Gifts For Moms Who Just Can't Stay Still
Gallery: Last Minute Gifts For Moms Who Make Things Happen 7 images View gallery
The Maker Movement is not a fad. It's an ever-growing ideological practice that recognizes the very essence of why making things is so wonderful. People are doing it for the sake of art, for the environment, for productivity, or just for fun. However, it's important to note that people have been doing it for years and these days, it appears as if it's now rather hip to be a maker. If that is the case, then we can proudly announce this to be true: In many homes today, Mom is and has always been the King Maker of the house.
Here are some of the very best tools I use to help me be the Maker Mother in my home. If you have a mother in your life who just can't stand still, one of these last-minute Mother's Day gifts is bound to please her. Most are available in stores as well as Amazon and with two-day shipping, you can probably get it just in time.
1. Grass Leaf Pen: ($15 and up) These pens are absolutely beautiful. If the mom in your life is always busy, then most likely, she will never have enough pens in her life. So why not buy a potful of pens? She will always know where to find it. They decorate any office or home but they are still so functional. They are great fidgets for those nerve-racking meetings too. I love my pens but they make everyone smile so much that I always end up giving them away so make sure to buy her some she can share. Available on Amazon and many stores dedicated to fine design.
Like mothers today, this pen multi-tasks from a role as conversation piece, a decoration, a fidget,... [+] and of course, as a pen. photo courtesy Molla Space
2. Sugru Multi-Pack- ($12) It's rather impossible to explain the many uses for Sugru. Simply put, it's like putty that self-hardens to become rubber. Moms like myself love it because it fixes or improves the things we value in our life (favorite chef's knife, camera, hooks, etc.) and better yet, it eliminates the need to entirely replace something just because of one faulty component. I have used Sugru to stabilize, personalize, and hack things from gadgets to pencil cases in my home. It demonstrates how there are such few limitations to the mind of a mother. Sugru is available at Target and the Container Store as well as Amazon.
3. Wrist Notes: ($6.50) I love the products from Knock Knock. Their notepads, books, mugs, desk accessories are hilarious as they are handy. Everything meets the highest aesthestic standards while serving its purpose, whether it is to remind you, to make you laugh, or to make people pay special attention to your needs. Thus, it makes Mom's personal touch even more personal. I have so many favorites from this company but the wrist notes, the Personal Library Kit, Things Mom Really, Really, Really Needs Notes and Thank You Note Stickies are at the top of the list. They are available in many stationery and book stores for all of us last-minute shoppers.
After Mom learns how to turn paper circles into a soccer ball, she can graduate to more complex... [+] sculptures. Whole Movement sculptures are made of paper circles and do not require any cutting. photo courtesy: Bradford Hansen-Smith
4. Fold A Soccer Ball from Paper Circles: ($24.95) This set contains fifty high-quality paper circles along with instructions written by educator and artist Bradford Hansen-Smith. This highly informative and easy to use instructional booklet can teach Mom how to be even more mysteriously crafty than she already is. Moreover, this can be her entryway to learning more about Whole Movement which is closely connected to a growing national effort to bring back kindergarten, invented in the 1800's by German crystallographer and educator Friedrich Froebel. There is even a recently launched kickstarter that is deigning to create a documentary to share how Froebel influenced American culture through the work of such greats as Frank Lloyd Wright, Helen Keller, Buckminster Fuller, and Leland Stanford (of Stanford University).
Mothers who appreciate multi-sensory learning will love Norman Brosterman's Inventing Kindergarten.... [+] A detailed history of how Friedrich Froebel's teaching influenced education and modern design. If you recognize any of these toys here, you will understand how Froebel is really the first inventor of what we call "educational toys." photo courtesy Norman Brosterman
5. Mamachic: How can a busy mother on-the-go maintain style without the baggage? It's not easy, it takes creativity and sometimes, even guts. Four years ago, Angela Tsai packed up her family to go around the continent as her husband, a performer in The Lion King, went on tour. Packing light was not an option but she didn't want to sacrifice her own sense of style and comfort. Thus, Mamachic was born. While this is the only item on this list not yet available (Kickstarter campaign ends May 27, 2015 -Support starts at $10) , I have been blessed with a chance to test this multi-tasking garb and it comforts as much as it flatters the body.
Make a date for Mom! Makers Jennifer Mann and Zachary Morriss are one of the featured makers at the... [+] Bay Area MakerFaire which takes place on May 16, and 17. Those who live near the Bay Area may want to secure tickets as an awe-inspiring Mother's Day gift. photo courtesy: Maker Faire
6. Wearable Electronics: ($14.99 - $38.49) What if your stomach could give you a call and tell you that it's time to stop eating? A person's body is full of information that can be read in ways that are currently, to our detriment, not in use. Kate Hartman's book published by Maker Media brilliantly explains why our bodies can use electronics to create so many things ranging from art to fashion to productivity tools. For the mother who seeks more from the market who still has yet to meet her needs, this book is an excellent way to help her start inventing her own wearable designs. Prior knowledge is not necessary as Hartman gracefully walks beginners through the basics first.
Also from Maker Media is Making Makers authored by University of St. Thomas Associate Professor of... [+] Engineering effectively teaches us how important it is to "make makers." This is not a how-to book but rather a collection of stories and research that highlight the importance of maker education. AnnMarie Thomas' invention of Squishy Circuits has lit the pathway for many families including mine, to empower themselves by learning to make ... just about anything! photo courtesy: Maker Media
Note: Every product has been personally tested by Toys Are Tools’ testers. Products were submitted to facilitate a review. Some were also purchased by the writer. Reviews are never promised.
More best toy tips from Jenn at Toys Are Tools.
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83b90942ae5ca9ddc2cb5b1edee9bd94 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbaker/2016/04/13/hamilton-steadily-becomes-an-all-around-blockbuster-in-all-forms-of-media/ | Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Hamilton' Steadily Becomes An All-Around Blockbuster In All Forms of Media | Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Hamilton' Steadily Becomes An All-Around Blockbuster In All Forms of Media
Leslie Odom Jr., from left, Phillipa Soo, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Christopher Jackson appear at the... [+] curtain call following the opening night performance of "Hamilton" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Hamilton has become a cultural phenomenon far exceeding the realms of Broadway. From a soundtrack that topped the Billboard rap charts to a MacArthur grant for its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, the musical is now the subject of a top-selling new book, Hamilton: The Revolution.
Released yesterday, the book immediately shot to the top of the Books category on Amazon, ranking #1 in the categories of Broadways & Musicals and Humor & Entertainment. A collection of vocal selections from the musical is #1 in three categories as well. As reported by Associated Press the book is already set for a third printing, bringing the number of copies to 210,000.
Co-authored by Jeremy McCarter and Miranda, Hamilton: The Revolution describes the journey of the Broadway phenomenon from concept to rehearsal to blockbuster.
It’s not Hamilton’s first time on the bestsellers list: The paperback version of the biography on Alexander Hamilton for which Miranda’s show is based, written by Ron Chernow, is #2 on the New York Times best-seller list for nonfiction along with currently being rated highly on Amazon at #18 in Books overall and #1 in four categories including U.S. History. (The book of lyrics for Miranda’s first Broadway show, In the Heights, is currently rated #11 in Broadway & Musicals.)
Lin-Manuel Miranda, right, appears on screen accepting the award for best musical theater album for... [+] “Hamilton” at the 58th annual Grammy Awards on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Hamilton is also doing well in other ways: As of last week, the Broadway cast recording had sold more than half a million copies and was certified gold by the RIAA. Broadway Journal reported the show has paid off the original investors and Miranda apparently takes home $105,000 in profits weekly from ticket sales. Hamilton was the second highest-grossing show on Broadway as of April 10th under The Lion King. Aside from The Book of Mormon it has the highest ticket sale prices.
With a Grammy award win, performances at the White House, endless gifs and video reenactments of the musical by fans and tickets that are near-impossible to come by, Miranda has tapped in to a devoted—and lucrative—fan base.
The journey to a hit was not quite as smooth. In a recent essay published on Buzzfeed, McCarter remembers how ludicrous Miranda’s initial description of his new work was when he performed a “Hamilton Mixtape” in front of a newly elected Barack Obama at the White House in 2009. But once Miranda’s lyrics hit the stage, it was no longer ludicrous but lauded. “The audience’s cycle of laughing, then listening intently, then breaking into wild applause has been repeated many millions of times,” writes McCarter.
Now it seems anything affiliated with Hamilton or its creator is bound to become a blockbuster. In the New York Times last week Lin-Manuel Miranda recommended children’s book author Tim Federle’s Better Nate Than Ever series as a great representation of being a theatre kid. The timeliness of that article couldn’t have hurt Federle’s latest book The Great American Whatever, which published several days earlier—and is currently #1 on Amazon for Teen & Young Adult Fiction.
A book about the musical is a natural step for Manuel. Aside from being a writer, reader, composer and former high school English teacher, he’s narrated the U.K. version of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz and the young adult book Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. He also serves as one of the narrators for Hamilton: The Revolution, sharing duties with Emmy-award winning actress Mariska Hargitay and McCarter.
Hamilton is a musical that’s an origin story with a complex yet contemporary score and a multicultural cast. What Miranda has done is made history universal with a production reflecting the demographic that helped build the nation we currently inhabit—and is dominating pop culture as a result.
With Tony Award nominations three weeks away, we may very well see Hamilton dominate the Tony stage as well.
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883511a33a30645cbc0850fc72c74035 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbaker/2016/04/19/pulitzer-winners-possible-sales-increase/ | Do Major Literary Awards Like The Pulitzer Help Boost Sales For Winners? | Do Major Literary Awards Like The Pulitzer Help Boost Sales For Winners?
Yesterday, the centennial Pulitzer Prize Award winners were announced, celebrating writers across multiple genres—and possibly paving the way for future profit. Among the winners of the prestigious award were a few surprises and one no-brainer: Hamilton earned writer and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda the drama award.
The highly-anticipated fiction prize went to The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove/Atlantic), while poetry was awarded to Ozone Journal by Peter Balakian (University of Chicago Press). Surprisingly, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me was a finalist but not the winner in the general nonfiction category. That went to Black Flag: The Rise of Isis by Joby Warrick (Doubleday).
Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Aside from mid-tier publisher Grove/Atlantic’s The Sympathizer, Big Five publishers pretty much swept the fiction and nonfiction categories. Grove/Atlantic released the paperback version of The Sympathizer last Tuesday; it‘s currently the #1 Bestseller on Amazon for Asian American Literature and Fiction. The publisher says it intends to reprint copies of The Sympathizer in anticipation of a boost in sales thanks to the Pulitzer win.
Increasing the available print run may be a good move for Nguyen’s publisher, as interest in a title increases after prestigious awards like the Pulitzer are announced. But whether awards such as the Pulitzer automatically translate to a significant improvement in sales depends on the award itself—and the book in question.
In the past two years the Pulitzer announcement has not boosted the fiction winner to New York Times best-seller status because the winners—The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (2014) and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (2015)—had already been on the list prior to the award’s announcement. In the case of best-selling authors Tartt and 2011 Pulitzer winner for fiction Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad) both writers have a steady fan base and publish infrequently, creating an instant demand for their rare titles.
There are some awards that have shown a direct tie-in to increased sales recently, even in the current modest book market. Last year's Newbery winner for excellence in children's literature was The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Alexander’s novel in verse went from not being on the best-seller list to debuting at #4 weeks after the Newbery was announced.
The National Book Award holds similar power. Jacqueline Woodson’s National Book Award winning and Newbery honored Brown Girl Dreaming debuted on the NYT extended best-seller list (#15) after it published, but leapt to the top after the National Book Award win. It remained in the Top 5 for Middle Grade literature for months after.
In 2012, Louise Erdrich’s The Round House cracked the NYT longlist at #21 soon after being named the National Book Award fiction winner; it climbed into the Top 15 two weeks later. Some authors don’t need the National Book Award’s help, however. Coates’ timely reflection on race in America shot straight to the top of the nonfiction best-seller list upon publication, months before it earned the prestigious nod.
A critical honor doesn’t always equate to a rise in sales for books outside of the fiction and nonfiction categories. Poetry rarely sees a significant sales boost even when it wins prizes, industry wisdom suggests. It’s difficult to know exactly; poetry sales aren't tracked by The New York Times or Publisher’s Weekly since many poetry books are released by small presses in scant print runs. This leaves Amazon and the Small Press Distribution list as a point of sales reference for such titles.
Claudia Rankine’s Citizen (Graywolf Press) is the rare case of a critically acclaimed poetry book that also sold well. The title, which was a mainstay in the #BlackLivesMatter discussion for its visceral portrayal of racism in America and the White gaze, earned Rankine finalist spots for a slew of awards including the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle. She won the NBCC, in addition to a Hurston-Wright and PEN Open Book Award. Her best-selling status was further boosted by an audience member reading Citizen as a form of protest at one of Donald Trump’s rallies in his pursuit for the GOP presidential nomination last fall.
For Miranda, the Pulitzer will not impact the lucrative trajectory of Hamilton. But for titles like The Sympathizer that aren’t as widespread, the Pulitzer win could bring a nice lift in sales—enough for Nguyen to see his name on various best-seller lists in the weeks ahead.
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763fdc756aac2f5aea272b1510d3fd52 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2020/10/21/side-hustles-are-closing-the-income-gap-for-many-americans-during-the-pandemic/?sh=544b7c7d4484 | Side Hustles Are Helping Many Close The Income Gap In The Pandemic—Here’s What To Look For | Side Hustles Are Helping Many Close The Income Gap In The Pandemic—Here’s What To Look For
Samantha Sands lost her public relations job two weeks after the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country. She was able to maintain some work on contract, but as the economy faltered, many clients put her PR services on pause. So she got creative.
“I’d worked as a bridal consultant during college, and it was a fun job with good commission if I did well,” recalls Sands, who’s in her mid-20s and lives in San Diego.
Bridal consulting may not seem the obvious choice during a pandemic that has resulted in the postponement and downsizing of many weddings. But Sands has been able to find enough clients planning small ceremonies in the near term or planning ahead for a future wedding to bring in more than $1,200 a month on top of her freelance public relations work.
“I use it to pay some bills, but I also use it as a cushion,” she said, adding that she tries to save at least a few hundred dollars from each check. “We don't know what the future holds, and I would rather be safe than struggling.”
With the unemployment rate still hovering near 8 percent and millions out work, a growing number of Americans like Sands have started to pick up side hustles and contract work to help cover expenses and secure some savings.
Millions of Americans are working side gigs to bring in extra income during the pandemic. Bonnie Kittle for Unsplash
The number of freelancers in the U.S. is growing
The growth in side hustles and freelance work began long before the pandemic. More than 57 million Americans freelanced part-time or full-time last year, representing about 35 percent of the total workforce, according to the nonprofit organization Freelancers Union. But that number’s risen even more in the pandemic as those who lost work have sought out new income sources to cover bills and full-time workers have picked up extra work to bolster their savings in the face of a slowing economy and uncertain future.
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Two million more Americans have started freelancing in the past 12 months, according to a new study from Upwork UPWK , a freelance job platform. Not surprisingly, given the millions of jobs shed in the pandemic, the share of Americans earning a full-time living freelancing has grown as well.
Upwork’s chief economist Adam Ozimek cites the economic uncertainty that followed the spread of the pandemic and the temporary (and sometimes permanent) closure of businesses nationwide, which prompted many to begin freelancing for the first time. At the same time, he notes new demand among businesses for independent professionals who can be hired on contract, and for less money than it costs to hire full-time employees, as companies recalibrate their needs.
Side hustles can provide essential income
For some workers, the extra income is essential, helping to cover basic expenses—especially after the supplemental $600 weekly unemployment benefits offered through the CARES Act expired on August 1. Personal finance site DollarSprout’s recent “Side Hustle Report” survey found 27 percent of respondents are relying on side hustle income to cover their monthly bills.
For others, the side hustles are a means to set aside a little more in savings.
In a new survey by financial wellness app Acorns (where I’m the Chief Education Officer) and Opinium Research, a third of respondents surveyed said they had already picked up a side hustle alongside their regular jobs, and nearly 20 percent of workers said they would like to start one. This week, in an effort to help its more than 8 million users find work or additional income, Acorns launched a new Job Finder feature, powered by ZipRecruiter, which includes millions of listings not just for full-time jobs, but part-time roles and side hustles, too.
Relying on freelance gigs or using traditional side hustles as a main source of income does come with some additional considerations.
If you aren’t working full-time, you’re typically responsible for purchasing your own health insurance, which can be costly. And if you're self-employed, you also have to pay a 12.4 percent Social Security tax (combining the employee’s and employer’s share) on up to $137,700 of your net earnings and a 2.9 percent Medicare tax on your entire net earnings. You are also able to deduct business-related expenses, though, which can help lower your overall tax bill.
Viviana Rivera, a tax accountant and money coach, recommends setting aside up to 35 percent of any side hustle money you earn in a high-yield savings account, which can be used to pay quarterly estimated taxes.
How can you find the right side hustle?
Finding the right side hustle can be challenging—even more so in the midst of a pandemic, when safety concerns also factor into the search. Many successful side hustlers have turned to jobs that can be done virtually or that require limited physical interactions with other people.
Some of the most popular hustles cited in the Acorns survey include reselling items, virtual administrative support, tutoring and creative pursuits like blogging, which can all be done virtually. Other popular hustles like dog walking can be done outside and with limited exposure to other people. Many skilled workers are also picking up virtual side hustles that tap their expertise and can pay more.
Fiverr’s most recent “Freelance Economic Impact Report,” published in May, found that there are nearly 6 million skilled freelancers now working in creative, technical or professional positions in the U.S. Most are picking up work through word of mouth (67%), social media (23%), and online marketplaces like Fiverr, Freelancer and Upwork (18%). New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are the three biggest markets, with more than 1.2 million skilled freelancers in 2019 earning nearly $53 billion. But the report notes that the number of skilled freelancers in smaller markets like Austin and Nashville is also growing rapidly.
A growing need for skilled freelancers
Jandra Sutton’s hours at a publicity firm were reduced not long after the pandemic-induced lockdown. “Though work was slow, I realized I could offer extra services to the few clients we did have—things we typically don't offer—in order to make their lives as busy entrepreneurs easier,” said the 31-year-old, who lives in Nashville.
She ran the idea by her boss and, once she had her approval, offered a client she was working with a range of expanded services from ghostwriting to graphic design to creating presentation slides. “I loved the idea of being a one-stop shop for an entrepreneur's creative needs.”
Within a few weeks, a second client reached out. She didn’t have enough work to necessitate hiring someone full-time, but was spending a lot of time trying to find the right people to do several different, one-off projects. So Sutton took many of the jobs on for her. “I realized there was an opportunity forming,” she said. After a month of seeing her side-gig workload increase, she launched her own creative agency, The Wildest Co.
Although she still works at the publicity firm and enjoys her job, Sutton said she’s relished the opportunity to pick up additional creative work—and income. She’s making about $3,000 per month and now has five clients. Almost everything she’s earned has gone straight into savings, or into building her side business.
The non-monetary benefits of side hustles
Singer-songwriter Alissa Musto had been touring full-time as a musician aboard luxury cruise ships. But that came to an abrupt end in March, when the coronavirus pandemic prompted cruise ships to cut short trips and cancel remaining 2020 sailings.
Since then, the 25-year-old former Miss Massachusetts has begun blogging—her first post for Medium was about her experience watching the cruise ship industry come to a halt in the pandemic while on-board her ship—picking up work as an Instagram influencer and even filming lessons for a piano-playing teaching app.
So far, she’s made more than $1,200, and she expects her earnings to pick up in the coming weeks. “For the most part, I look at these side gigs as having a little bit of extra spending money, so I don't feel as bad spending money on things like Starbucks SBUX or a new outfit here or there—things that I honestly wouldn't even think twice about when I was working full-time.”
She’s also found other less-obvious benefits of picking up side gigs, especially as the pandemic has dragged on and it remains unclear how long it will take for the cruise industry to fully recover. “I feel like I am still being moderately productive and working on my brand rather than just sitting around waiting for my industry to resume. And it’s developed other skillsets of mine that I don't normally get to use,” said Musto, who’s currently living in Massachusetts. “And having these side gigs has helped me tremendously mentally during the pandemic because it has given me a way to exercise my brain and contribute.”
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21a2eba52febdf6a84f55d6f3be9603c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2020/11/16/6-side-hustles-you-can-do-from--home-to-earn-extra-money/?sh=2cbba00d470c | 6 Side Hustles You Can Do From Home To Earn Extra Money | 6 Side Hustles You Can Do From Home To Earn Extra Money
With the unemployment rate still hovering near 7 percent and millions out work, a growing number of Americans are picking up side hustles to help cover expenses and build a savings cushion for an uncertain future.
In a recent survey by financial wellness app Acorns (where I’m the Chief Education Officer) and Opinium Research, a third of respondents surveyed said they had already picked up a side gig alongside their regular jobs, and nearly 20 percent of workers said they’d like to start one.
Last month, Acorns launched a new Job Finder feature, powered by ZipRecruiter, that includes millions of listings not just for full-time jobs, but part-time roles and side hustles, too. Early data shows the most popular side hustle categories were work-from-home opportunities—not surprising given the pandemic, and recent surge in cases, has many people looking for ways to earn more money from the safety of their home.
Here are six good-paying side hustles that you can do from home to earn extra income.
More Americans are seeking out side hustles you can do from home to earn extra money. Thought Catalog for Unsplash
Virtual Assistant
“The great thing about being a VA is that it doesn’t take a lot of capital,” says Tasha Booth, who lives in Albuquerque and started a side hustle four years ago providing virtual assistant services to online business coaches and course creators.
Soon, she was making more from her side hustle than her full-time job as a health and wellness director at a health club chain. She quit soon after to focus on her business full-time. Now her business (the Launch Guild), which she says has brought in more than $1 million in revenue since she officially launched two and a half years ago, has expanded to include a range of digital services.
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Initially, Booth was just providing virtual assistant support to online course creators and coaches. But she has since begun teaching others how to become successful virtual assistants, too, and has a popular podcast that provides tips and support for virtual assistants.
Other companies include virtual assistant staffing companies like BELAY and Zirtual, as well as platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. The average rate of a virtual assistant is $19 per hour, according to ZipRecruiter.
Survey Taker
Take surveys online or answer questions by phone about different products for market research companies like Shifrin Hayworth or Schlesinger Group’s Focus Group. Shifrin Hayworth says its studies can include one-on-one interviews, telephone interviews and focus groups. Studies typically last from 30 minutes to three hours and pay between $50 and $250 depending on the client, length and topic.
The site Find Focus Groups has also compiled a list of paid survey companies it says are verified and legitimate.
User Experience Tester
Sites like usertesting.com pay users to go through websites and explain why they would or wouldn't convert. Users sign up on the site, filling in details like age and location, and can then take tests online at various time lengths. Tests pay from about $10 to $120 each.
Other testing sites include uTest—which pays you for testing new technology and finding bugs, submitting test cases and completing usability surveys—IntelliZoomPanel, which pays about $5 per test, and Enroll, which pays less (roughly 10 cents to $1.50 per test, according to SwiftSalary).
Online Teacher (live and pre-recorded)
Shalena Broaster was already an online business coach, but the pandemic prompted her to focus more on live streaming and videos. In early May, she signed up on the platform, Podia, and began teaching several virtual classes on topics ranging from how to be a Zoom superstar to setting up a home studio to growing your brand.
She’s made more than $95,000 since then. Broaster already had a business and a Facebook group with more than 1,500 members, which helped. But she said there’s more opportunity now for good course creators to earn money with skills-based online courses because so many people are home and looking for ways to improve their skills and expertise to become more marketable.
Udemy spokesperson Patrick Heffernan agrees, adding that the global learning platform has seen a surge in student enrollment and course creators since the March. Within two months of the initial shelter-in-place orders, Udemy saw a 55 percent jump in new course creation, says Heffernan. He notes that course enrollments have grown by 425 percent with people signing up to improve their skills or learn new ones.
Instructors on sites like Udemy can charge between $20 and $200 per course. Udemy takes a varying percentage of that, depending on how students find the course.
Other platforms include Teachable, Thinkific and Skillshare.
Contact Tracer
As coronavirus cases have surged, so has the need for more contact tracers, who call close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 patients, providing them with information about the disease and encouraging them to self-quarantine for 14 days to potentially avoid infecting others. They may also address questions on testing and other related topics.
“We've had over 50,000 people apply to be considered for part-time contact tracer roles through us since the pandemic started,” said Steve Waters, the founder and CEO of CONTRACE Public Health Corps, a Washington D.C.-based organization that provides private and public sector clients with Covid-19 contact tracing.
Waters said there’s been particular interest in the part-time roles, which are often home-based.
In general, states with the largest populations (like California, Texas, Florida and New York) have the biggest need for contact tracers. The National Association of County and City Health Officials estimates there should be about 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 residents.
The Centers for Disease Control offers a full description of the contact tracer roll and requirements, as well as contact tracing training modules. You can apply through organizations like Contrace or directly through state and local job listings. (New Yorkers can apply here, for example. Orange County, Florida—where Orlando is located—has also put up a job posting.)
The remote job generally pays between $17 and $25 an hour.
Online Tutor
You can generally earn $15 to $100 an hour as an online tutor, depending on your level of experience and the subject matter. Ziprecruiter finds the average online hourly rate (based on yearly salaries) is about $21 an hour. But Care.com reports that certified teachers with experience can earn $100 or more per hour.
Online platforms include Wyzant, TutorMe and Skooli and pay fixed rates between $16 and $36 an hour. Varsity Tutors offers students hour-long lessons online on a range of topics from reading to LSAT prep to language instruction. Tutors on the site have the flexibility to choose their hours, and the average hourly salary ranges from $15 to $40 per hour, according to SideHusl.
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0b122e43fa86c4cc7061022d00d7035a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2021/01/30/how-likely-is-student-loan-forgiveness-and-should-you-pause-or-pay-down-your-loans/ | How Likely Is Student Loan Forgiveness? And Should You Pause Or Pay Down Your Loans? | How Likely Is Student Loan Forgiveness? And Should You Pause Or Pay Down Your Loans?
The country’s more than 45 million student loan borrowers have gotten a reprieve on their federal loan payments now for nearly a year. And one of President Joseph Biden’s first actions in office was to extend that pause on federal student loan payments through September.
Biden’s executive action, which was signed on his first day in office last week, means federal student loan payments and collections will be paused through September and the interest rate will be kept at 0%. “Too many Americans are struggling to pay for basic necessities and to provide for their families,” he said. “They should not be forced to choose between paying their student loans and putting food on the table.”
If you’re not in that situation, though, does it make sense to take advantage of the temporary 0% interest rate to try and pay down your student loan balance even faster? Or is it worth waiting to see if some of those loans might be forgiven? President Biden has proposed the cancellation of $10,000 in federal student debt per borrower. But how likely is it that student loan debt forgiveness will actually happen in the coming months? And is it possible that federal student debt forgiveness could cover an even larger amount, as some have advocated? We tackle these questions below.
President Biden has said he supports $10,000 in federal student loan cancellation and has pushed ... [+] Congress to pass legislation. Baim Hanif for Unsplash
How Likely is Federal Student Debt Forgiveness in the Short Term?
The president’s outline for the $1.9 trillion proposed stimulus package, which he unveiled this month, has no mention of cancelling student debt. But the president has said he still supports $10,000 in forgiveness per federal student loan borrower. And the push for some student loan forgiveness has been gaining momentum, at least among Democrats, who hold the majority in Congress. So the likelihood that some form of debt forgiveness will be put into place is relatively high. But when that may happen, who will qualify, and how much will be forgiven, is less clear.
Higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz, publisher and VP of research for Savingforcollege.com, says the $10,000 in loan forgiveness is “more likely to occur than not,” but he cautions that it is not yet a done deal. “And even if it happens, it may get scaled back in various ways, such as limiting eligibility to borrowers who were experiencing financial distress, limiting eligibility to low-income borrowers or borrowers with a high debt-to-income ratio, or to borrowers who owe less than $10,000.”
MORE FROMFORBES ADVISOR2021 Student Loans Forecast: Is Forgiveness On The Way?ByBrianna McGurranEditorPresident-Elect Joe Biden’s Plans For Your Student LoansByKelly Anne SmithForbes Advisor Staff
Forgiveness may also be limited to borrowers with federal loans held by the U.S. Department of Education, just like the payment pause and interest waiver, which would excludes some federal student loan borrowers. (The current payment pause and interest rate of 0%, for example, covers federal Direct Loans, FFEL Program loan, Federal Perkins Loan and defaulted HEAL loans, but only if they are loans owned by U.S. Department of Education.)
But pressure to offer some student loan forgiveness is mounting. Student loan borrowers now owe nearly $1.7 trillion altogether and student debt was a hot topic during the campaign. In a recent Morning Consult poll, 56% of adults say they strongly or somewhat support the $10,000 student loan forgiveness plan Biden endorsed during his campaign. Biden has continued to urge Congress to pass legislation cancelling $10,000 in federal student loan debt. It’s unclear whether there would be enough GOP support, though, to pass bipartisan legislation.
How Could Democrats Pass Student Loan Forgiveness?
In a recent op-ed column, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is the incoming chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, urged Congress to use the budget reconciliation process if Republicans are unwilling to pass such bipartisan legislation.
Typically, the Senate has a 60-vote threshold to pass major legislation, but the so-called budget reconciliation process allows lawmakers to pass comprehensive legislation with just 51 votes. Budget reconciliation was created under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and allows the use of reconciliation for legislation that changes spending, revenues, and the federal debt limit.
The process has been used in the past to speed up high-priority fiscal legislation. During the administrations of Donald Trump and George W. Bush, Sanders noted, Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to pass “trillions of dollars in tax breaks.” According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, policymakers have enacted 21 budget reconciliation bills since 1980.
“I do think that if relief cannot be achieved through bipartisan means, that Democrats will attempt to realize it through reconciliation, at which point their chances of success will dramatically improve,” says Tim Stobierski, founder and editor of the student borrower resource site Student Debt Warriors.
It appears that Democratic Congressional leaders are setting the stage to kick off the budget reconciliation process in the coming days, but it’s not clear if student loan forgiveness will be included in the legislation.
What About the $50,000 Student Loan Forgiveness Proposal?
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last month called for cancelling up to $50,000 in debt for federal student loan borrowers who make less than $125,o00 a year—and urged President Biden to use his executive authority to do so. A move that’s also been promoted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Schumer made news again this week when he repeated his call to #cancelstudentdebt on Twitter with a tweet that garnered nearly 130,000 likes in less than a day.
Supporters like Schumer and Warren say the Higher Education Act of 1965 empowers the U.S. Secretary of Education to cancel student loans without further authorization from Congress. Biden, however, has repeatedly indicated that he prefers Congress to pass legislation to cancel student loans.
Kantrowitz estimates that offering $10,000 in forgiveness per borrower for all federal student loan borrowers would cost about $377 billion, whereas forgiving $50,000 in debt for all borrowers will cost $1.049 trillion.
While lawmakers discuss options, the pause through September will offer some interim relief to federal student loan borrowers.
What the Extended Pause on Student Loan Payments Means
President Biden’s executive action to extend the pause on student loan payments means that federal student loan borrowers whose debt is owned by U.S. Department of Education can hold off on making any payments through September, and will not be charged a penalty or accrued interest. (If you have federal student loan debt that’s owned by your school or another lender, you can reach out to them directly. They can choose to provide the same benefits. You can also consolidate any FFEL Program or Federal Perkins loans not owned by ED into a Direct Consolidation Loan, which would be eligible for 0% interest.)
It also means that any payments made would go directly toward paying down the principal owed. Kantrowitz cautions, though, that before deciding whether to accelerate repayment of loans that are eligible for the payment pause and interest waiver, borrowers should be sure they have built up their emergency funds in the event that they lose their job.
He also advises not to make payments on your federal student loans during this period if you expect to receive loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program or at the end of the 20- or 25-year repayment term in an income-driven repayment plan. Making extra payments would just reduce the amount of forgiveness you'll eventually receive.
But if you’ve got enough savings to cover expenses for a few months, you’ve got more than $10,000 in federal student loan debt, and you don’t have debt with a higher interest rate you could focus on paying down instead, it may make sense to take advantage of the 0% interest period to make payments on your principal. That means the amount you borrowed will decrease faster, and you’ll pay less overall over time.
And September is seven months away, giving lawmakers plenty of time to debate—and potentially pass—some student loan forgiveness legislation.
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4feedf52c281dfd18347766b8f91fe50 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2021/02/17/50000-10000-how-much-student-loan-forgiveness-is-likely/ | $50,000? $10,000? How Much Student Loan Forgiveness Is Likely? | $50,000? $10,000? How Much Student Loan Forgiveness Is Likely?
When President Joseph Biden was on the campaign trail, he repeated his support for a student loan forgiveness plan that would cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower. But since he’s taken office, the pressure has mounted to forgive even more.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has repeatedly called for cancelling up to $50,000 in debt for federal student loan borrowers. He’s urged President Biden to use his executive authority to do so, a move that’s been promoted by several progressive lawmakers as well.
How likely is it that the President will use executive actions to cancel student loan debt? And how much student loan debt relief can we expect?
Nearly 45 million Americans owe student loan debt. Could forgiveness be coming? Jesus Rodriguez for Unsplash
Will President Biden use executive action to forgive $50,000 in student loan debt?
“I will not make that happen,” President Biden told a borrower who asked about the $50,000 student debt cancellation proposal at a town hall hosted by CNN in Milwaukee Tuesday.
Biden later clarified that he was prepared to write off $10,000 in borrowers’ federal student loan debt, but he didn’t believe he had the authority to cancel more than that.
Sen. Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) disagree, and released a joint statement on Wednesday arguing that Biden does have such executive authority.
“Presidents Obama and Trump used their executive authority to cancel student loan debt,” they stated, adding, “Cancelling $50,000 in federal student loan debt will help close the racial wealth gap, benefit the 40 percent of borrowers who do not have a college degree, and help stimulate the economy. It’s time to act.”
MORE FROMFORBES ADVISORDon’t Get Excited About Joe Biden Cancelling Student Loan Debt Just YetByKelly Anne SmithForbes StaffPresident-Elect Joe Biden’s Plans For Your Student LoansByKelly Anne SmithForbes Advisor Staff
But at a White House briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stressed that Biden is unlikely to take any action until his team is confirmed at the Justice Department, and has had a chance to review his authoritative powers and make recommendations. “He will ask them to conduct a legal review of his authority to act by executive action in conjunction with a policy review from his Domestic Policy Council on how executive action debt relief, if any, should be targeted,” said Psaki.
The President has said that student loan forgiveness above $10,000 would need to be targeted based on the borrower’s income, the kind of debt in question and other considerations, rather than the widespread debt cancellation without limits that some progressive lawmakers have proposed.
Could Congress pass a student loan forgiveness bill?
One of President Joseph Biden’s first executive actions in office was to extend the pause on federal student loan payments through September, providing some relief to the country’s estimated 45 million student loan borrowers—and raising hopes that he might also use his executive powers to cancel some of their student loan debt.
But while Biden has indicated he is open to using his executive powers to cancel federal student loans up to $10,000 per borrower, he has repeatedly urged Congress to take action instead and send him a bill to sign.
If Congress moves forward and sends the president a package that provides $10,000 of student debt relief, Psaki noted Wednesday, “he’d be eager to sign that.”
That seems unlikely in the near term though. Democrats have a slim majority, and Republicans strongly oppose widespread debt forgiveness. While it may be easier to drum up support for the cancellation of $10,000 in federal student loan debt with some restrictions attached, there’s no guarantee.
Still experts like Mark Kantrowitz, publisher and VP of research for Savingforcollege.com, are hopeful. Kantrowitz has said the $10,000 in loan forgiveness is “more likely to occur than not.”
But he cautions that even if it happens, it may get scaled back in various ways—with limitations on eligibility to low-income borrowers, for example, or to borrowers who are experiencing financial distress.
Forgiveness may also be limited to borrowers with federal loans held by the U.S. Department of Education, just like the payment pause, which would excludes some federal student loan borrowers. (The current payment pause and interest rate of 0%, for example, covers federal Direct Loans, FFEL Program loan, Federal Perkins Loan and defaulted HEAL loans, but only if they are loans owned by U.S. Department of Education.)
Pressure to offer some student loan forgiveness is mounting though. Student loan borrowers now owe nearly $1.7 trillion altogether and roughly one in eight Americans owe some student loan debt. Student loan forgiveness was a hot topic on the campaign trail, and in one recent Morning Consult poll, 56% of adults say they strongly or somewhat support the $10,000 student loan forgiveness plan Biden endorsed during his campaign.
But hope may be diminishing somewhat. Another recent survey of more than 3,649 college students by the study guide platform OneClass found just 13% of them expect to see a student debt forgiveness policy implemented by the new administration.
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910bb07e3f3951e84165d80ecca51530 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2021/02/27/expanded-unemployment-benefits-and-400-weekly-unemployment-payments-may-be-coming-in-march/ | Expanded Unemployment Benefits And $400 Weekly Unemployment Payments May Be Coming In March | Expanded Unemployment Benefits And $400 Weekly Unemployment Payments May Be Coming In March
The House of Representatives voted early Saturday to approve President Joseph Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, with Democrats almost unanimously united in support for the massive relief plan that’s aimed at stabilizing the economy, offering relief to the unemployed and expanding coronavirus vaccine distribution and testing. No Republicans voted for it; but as Democrats hold the majority, the legislation passed nonetheless.
The stimulus relief package now goes to the Senate. If it’s approved, the bill would extend federal unemployment benefits, as well as providing additional relief to those who have lost work or seen their income decrease as a result of the pandemic. Here’s what to expect.
Millions could see unemployment benefits increased and extended under the stimulus package making ... [+] its way through Congress. Adrian Swancar for Unsplash
What unemployment benefits does the bill include?
If the bill is enacted, it would extend two key pandemic unemployment programs through August 29: the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs.
The bill would also increase the supplemental federal weekly jobless benefits to $400 a week, and extend those payments until August 29. (The stimulus package passed in December included $300 weekly bonus unemployment checks through March 14, though there is an extension to April 5 for some who exhausted their state's unemployment benefits before the expiration date.)
How likely is passage of the additional unemployment benefits?
Legislation is expected to narrowly pass in the Senate, along party lines. Democrats have narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate and decided to try to pass Biden’s stimulus plan via a process known as budget reconciliation. That allows lawmakers to pass comprehensive legislation with a simple majority of just 51 votes, though it limits what can be included in the bill to items that affect spending, revenues, and the federal deficit. (Democrats and Republicans each hold 50 seats in the Senate, but Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote.)
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Senators will likely pass a slightly different version of the bill they received, though, given opposition to some provisions in the bill—notably, a proposed minimum wage increase that the Senate parliamentarian ruled could not be included under the rules of the budget reconciliation process. But the unemployment relief outlined in the House version of the bill is expected to remain as is.
The House will then have to pass the Senate’s version or the two chambers will have to meet to draft a final piece of legislation in a conference committee that both houses of Congress can agree on.
Could federal unemployment benefits be interrupted?
If the bill isn’t passed by mid-March, 11.4 million people are expected to start losing jobless benefits that begin expiring then, according to estimates from The Century Foundation. (The PEUC and PUA programs would phase out completely in April.)
But despite the expected modifications to the legislation, Democrats remain optimistic that they can get the final bill onto President Biden’s desk by March 14. That’s when provisions in the $900 billion relief package passed in December—including federal unemployment benefits through the PUA and PEUC programs, as well as the $300 bonus weekly unemployment payments—begin running out.
“We will meet this deadline,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D.-N.Y.) wrote to colleagues last week.
Who qualifies for the additional $400 weekly unemployment benefits?
Those getting the $300 supplemental weekly unemployment benefits under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program would see those unemployment checks increase to $400 a week under the new legislation.
All Americans collecting regular unemployment benefits should also be eligible for those supplemental payments. Anyone who receives at least $1 in unemployment aid qualifies.
Who qualifies for the PEUC extended unemployment benefits?
The CARES Act passed last year created the PEUC program, which can provide up to 24 weeks of additional benefits to those who’ve been affected by the pandemic and exhausted their state’s regular benefits.
If the stimulus bill is signed into law with the current unemployment relief provisions intact, the PEUC program will be extended up to 48 weeks.
Those extended PEUC benefits may then be followed by additional weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits in states with high unemployment (up to 13 or 20 weeks, depending on state laws). Fourteen states, as well as Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, were providing additional extended benefits as of this week, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (You can see the full list on its site.)
Who qualifies for the PUA extended unemployment benefits?
The CARES Act also created Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which was designed to provide benefits to freelancers, gig workers, and others who are working on contract and have lost income as a result of the pandemic. This week, the Labor Department issued new guidance expanding eligibility to collect benefits under the program to also include:
Those who opted not to return to work, or who turned down work, because the workplace that was not in compliance with coronavirus health and safety standards. Those who were laid off, or who have had their work hours reduced as a direct result of the pandemic. School employees working without a contract or reasonable assurance of continued employment who face reduced paychecks and no assurance of continued pay when schools are closed due to coronavirus.
The bill passed by the House would lengthen the duration of the PUA program to up to 74 weeks—nearly a year and a half—from the current 50 weeks. That means someone who began collecting unemployment benefits through the PUA program last spring, and continues to qualify, could continue to do so until the program expires at the end of August.
If the stimulus bill is signed into law before mid-March with the current unemployment relief provisions intact, the millions of Americans who are eligible to collect either PUA or PEUC payments should simply continue to receive those benefits.
Policymakers have stressed, though, that if the bill isn’t passed quickly by Congress, it might result in some interruptions and delays as states work to set up the additional distributions.
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a25896a5181dfced3d3d285be3e38605 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2021/03/03/nearly-17-million-fewer-americans-will-get-new-stimulus-checks-under-the-senate-revision-heres-who-qualifies-now/ | Nearly 17 Million Fewer Americans Will Get New Stimulus Checks Under The Senate Revision: Here’s Who Qualifies Now | Nearly 17 Million Fewer Americans Will Get New Stimulus Checks Under The Senate Revision: Here’s Who Qualifies Now
President Joseph Biden and Senate Democrats have reportedly reached an agreement that will reduce eligibility for the next round of stimulus checks sent out as part of the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that’s expected to be considered by the Senate this week.
While Americans who qualified for full stimulus payments in the last two rounds will still be eligible for the full $1,400 payment under the change, the checks will phase out faster and at lower income levels under the new structure, according to the Washington Post, which cited an unnamed Democratic source.
Here’s how to know if you’ll qualify—and, if so, how much to expect—under the new proposed version of the bill.
President Joe Biden has agreed to narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus payments. Getty Images
Who qualifies for the full $1,400 stimulus payments?
Individuals earning less than $75,000 annually and couples filing jointly who earn less than $150,000 would still receive the full $1,400 payment under the new terms agreed upon—as well as $1,400 for each dependent. That’s the same threshold used for the $1,200 stimulus checks included in last year’s CARES Act and the $600 stimulus payments included in legislation passed late last year that began to be distributed in January.
But the income phase-outs differ under this new Senate version.
Who no longer qualifies for a stimulus payment?
Under the agreement reached between Senate Democratic leaders and President Biden, the benefit would disappear for individuals earning more than $80,000 annually and couples earning more than $160,000.
The House version of the stimulus relief bill had set the income caps at $200,000 for couples and $100,000 for individuals. But under the new revision, singles making between $80,000 and $100,000 and couples earning between $160,000 and $200,000 would now be excluded from a partial benefit.
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The ceiling has dropped for heads of household, too. Those with head of household tax status making between $112,500 and $120,000 will qualify for payments under the new change. Previously, heads of households making less than $150,000 qualified for the checks.
It’s unclear exactly how much the payments will be trimmed for those who fall within these new income thresholds, but the last bills reduced the payments by $5 for every $100 in adjusted income exceeding the lower income limit.
About 11.8 million fewer adults and 4.6 million fewer kids would get the stimulus payments under the new Biden-Senate compromise, according to preliminary estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank. About 280 million Americans in total (200 million adults and 80 million kids) would be eligible for the checks under the new structure.
How likely is this version of the stimulus bill to pass?
In Wednesday’s White House briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that while “there are going to be ongoing discussions,” President Biden is “comfortable with where the negotiations stand” with these thresholds ($80,000 for individuals, $120,000 for heads of household and $160,000 for couples).
Psaki went on to say that Biden feels confident the change will be supported by Democratic senators. That’s important as unanimous support may be required to get the legislation passed. President Biden and Democratic leaders have said they’d like to get bipartisan support for the bill, but they have pursued a process that would allow a smaller majority to pass the legislation.
Typically, the Senate has a 60-vote threshold to pass major legislation, but the so-called budget reconciliation process allows lawmakers to pass comprehensive legislation with just 51 votes. (Budget reconciliation allows the use of reconciliation for legislation that changes spending, revenues, and the federal debt limit.)
That means all 50 Democrats would need to pass the bill if Republicans don’t vote for it. Vice President Kamala Harris would then be the tie breaker.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has pledged that Congress would approve the legislation and send it to the president to sign by mid-March, when provisions in December's $900 billion relief package begin running out. The Senate and House of Representatives each passed budget resolutions early this month, starting the reconciliation process.
MORE FROM FORBESChanges To The Latest COVID Relief Bill Create Massive Tax Rates for Some FamiliesBy Tony Nitti
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cd86a3ec79013506dc2e674afb33a2d9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2021/03/05/proposed-weekly-unemployment-benefits-cut-in-senate-revision-heres-what-that-means-if-youre-out-of-work/ | Senate Democrats Cut Stimulus Unemployment Benefits—Here’s What That Means If You’re Out Of Work | Senate Democrats Cut Stimulus Unemployment Benefits—Here’s What That Means If You’re Out Of Work
In order to get President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill passed in the Senate, Democratic leaders have agreed to a last-minute request by moderates to keep federal supplemental unemployment benefits at their current level of $300 a week instead of raising them to $400 a week, as Biden had initially proposed.
But there’s some good news. While Biden’s proposal would have extended the supplemental weekly unemployment benefits through August, the amendment expected to be offered by Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) to keep the unemployment checks at $300 a week would also extend them through September. And it would provide tax forgiveness for the benefits: under the agreement, the first $10,200 of the unemployment benefits will be non-taxable.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer prepares to debate coronavirus relief package. A new amendment ... [+] cuts weekly federal unemployment benefits. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Will the proposed cut in benefits pass the Senate?
The amendment reportedly has broad support among Democrats, and even some moderate Republicans. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden also supports the change, writing on Twitter: “The President believes it is critical to extend expanded unemployment benefits through the end of September to help Americans who are struggling.”
She added, “The compromise amendment achieves that while helping to address the surprise tax bills that many are facing... Combined, this amendment would provide more relief to the unemployed than the current legislation.”
Typically, the Senate has a 60-vote threshold to pass major legislation, but the so-called budget reconciliation process allows lawmakers to pass comprehensive legislation with just 51 votes. The Senate and House of Representatives each passed budget resolutions early this month, starting the reconciliation process. (Budget reconciliation allows the use of reconciliation for legislation that changes spending, revenues, and the federal debt limit.)
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The Senate voted 51 to 50 on party lines on Thursday afternoon to open debate on the massive stimulus relief bill, after the House passed it, with Vice President Harris breaking the tie. All 50 Democrats would need to pass the amended bill, too, if Republicans don’t vote for it. Vice President Kamala Harris would then be the tie breaker again.
The amendment is an attempt to shore up support among moderate Democrats who expressed concern about increasing the federal weekly unemployment payments.
What other federal unemployment relief is included?
In addition to extending emergency federal unemployment benefits, the bill would extend two key pandemic unemployment programs through September: the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) programs.
The CARES Act passed last year created the PEUC program, which can provide up to 24 weeks of additional benefits to those who’ve been affected by the pandemic and have exhausted regular state benefits. The stimulus bill would extend the PEUC program up to 48 weeks.
Those extended PEUC benefits may then be followed by additional weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits in states with high unemployment (up to 13 or 20 weeks, depending on state laws).
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance was created by the CARES Act to provide benefits to freelancers, gig workers, and others who are working on contract and have lost income as a result of the pandemic. The new pandemic stimulus relief bill would lengthen the duration of the PUA program to up to 74 weeks (or nearly a year and a half) from the current 50 weeks.
Both the PUA and the PEUC are slated to expire in the coming weeks. But Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has pledged that Congress will approve the legislation and send it to the president to sign by mid-March, when those provisions from December's $900 billion relief package begin running out.
The latest stimulus relief bill would also devote $400 billion to a new round of $1,400 stimulus payments, which should help provide additional relief to those who are out of work.
The newest jobs report, released Friday, showed 379,000 jobs had been added in February. Still, the 6.2 percent unemployment rate remains significantly higher than it was before the pandemic, with 10 millions Americans unemployed. Last February, before the pandemic struck, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent and 5.7 million, were unemployed.
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d8b7511c43128d500f628fdec363a9e5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbosier/2013/02/04/from-dead-space-3-to-tomb-raider-an-interview-with-jason-graves/ | From 'Dead Space 3' to 'Tomb Raider:' An Interview with Jason Graves | From 'Dead Space 3' to 'Tomb Raider:' An Interview with Jason Graves
When it comes to game trilogies with memorable music, "Dead Space" is one of the notables. Jason Graves' haunting music has accompanied us since the beginning, with each entry changing to reflect the tone of the individual game. Graves himself is having quite the early half of 2013 with both "Dead Space 3" and "Tomb Raider" releasing within a month of one another. Graves took a moment to talk about the continuation of a trilogy, as well as creating an instrument to suit a game's needs.
Jen Bosier: The Dead Space series has always had a strings-heavy, haunting, eerie sound. How did you go about determining the series' style?
Jason Graves: The music for the Dead Space series has always been about atmosphere and immersing the player in the game. I wanted the original score to have a mutated, unnatural-yet-organic sound to it (much like the Necromorphs in the game) and the string orchestra is the most adept at performing an amazingly large variety of sounds. Much of the time, the "music" they are playing doesn't even sound like it's coming from their instruments! Those unrecognizable sounds became the backbone for all the scores.
JB: Can you tell us a little about the process behind composing a trilogy like this? Is it fun, a challenge ... both?
JG: I can honestly say it wouldn't be fun if it wasn't a challenge! This series has been a wonderfully challenging and equally rewarding experience for me. In the end, I just want to be creative and inspired to try new things. To say the Dead Space universe allowed me to do just that would be a huge understatement!
JB: Dead Space 3's sound has the Dead Space strings, but it has a distinctly edgier sound. Was this as a result of the slightly more action feel to the game?
JG: Exactly. It's a much more action-heavy game, even more so than Dead Space 2. I'm always a firm believer that the music should reflect the title it's underscoring, so Dead Space 3 has a combination of the classic, original Dead Space horror feel with some modern, edgier appointments.
JB: Dead Space has always been renowned for tremendous atmosphere, helped by the score. Can you talk a little about establishing atmosphere in a horror setting?
JG: I can tell you that it's hands down the most fun genre to work in if you're interested in musical experimentation! What is it that really scares us? Fear of the unknown - masked killers or the shadow under the bed. I simply try and translate that "unknown" quality into the musical language. The result is strange, unexpected combinations of textures and FX that immediately put the listener on edge, even if they don't even realize they're listening to music. The timing for scary music is also crucial. Give something away too early and the effect is gone. Wait too long to punctuate a potentially scary encounter and it can seem plain silly.
JB: Are you a horror fan in general? Do you have any favorite works?
JG: I'm definitely a psychological horror fan, a la American Horror Story or The Following. The Shining is probably at the top of my list of classic horror movies.
JB: Let's talk Tomb Raider. You actually created a unique instrument specifically for this soundtrack. Can you tell us a little about its creation?
JG: The origin was born out of the search for new and interesting sounds. I had already gone about as far as I could on my own by banging on trash cans, bowing spare chicken coop fencing and rubbing wine glasses. I needed something built by a professional that sounded like something I had never heard before.
JB: It's quite a feat, to say you created your own instrument. Can you see yourself doing this again in the future?
JG: Maybe not quite on the scale of this piece, but most definitely yes! This was a 14 month effort involving prototypes, experimentation, design and ultimately a lot of time in my studio recording all the wonderful sounds it was making. The amazing thing is I can get at least eight completely different sounds out of this one instrument, depending on the mallets I use.
JB: It's an amazing looking piece -- what will you do with it once you have completed the soundtrack?
JG: Crystal Dynamics will put it on display in their office in San Francisco. There will be mallets and bows sitting nearby so visitors can play it themselves and hear the sounds from the score firsthand.
JB: How did you go about determining the style and feel of Tomb Raider?
JG: Most importantly, I was brought in early on and had the luxury of more than two years on my side. That allowed me ample time to experiment with themes and really build a solid foundation for the score. It's a very thematic-driven score as a result. Everyone seemed to agree from the beginning that we wanted a classic, timeless orchestral score that was augmented by...something else.
Even though Lara is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan, I didn't want to go the obvious route with traditional Japanese instruments. The Scavengers Lara meets in the game have also been stranded through the years, building their weapons and shelters out of found scrap and wreckage. It seemed appropriate to use different kinds of "found sounds" with the orchestral instruments. Fortunately, I'm a classically trained percussionist, so essentially I tapped and banged on anything and everything I could find in my arsenal of percussion instruments - playing a detuned mandolin with pencils, banging on an acoustic bass with vibraphone mallets, bowing a Persian Dulcimer with a cello bow. The idea was to find new, intuiting textures that could represent the island Lara was exploring.
JB: This is already quite a busy year for you with two triple-A titles releasing. Do you have anything else exciting you can tease us about?
JG: There are three very exciting new titles I've been working on for more than a year now, though unfortunately I've been sworn to secrecy until they are closer to being released. There also a few new games I'm just starting to get involved with that come out in 2014. I'm also composing new music for several DLC titles, including Devil May Cry and Heroes of Might and Magic. Wish I could be more specific, but that's just how the game industry is!
You can follow Jason's work on his site, http://www.jasongraves.com/. "Dead Space 3" releases February 5, 2013, and the soundtrack will be available in the coming weeks. "Tomb Raider" releases March 5, 2013, and the soundtrack will also be available soon after.
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2304f232b70b327194abee9a9b19f1ad | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbosier/2013/03/07/finding-adventure-tomb-raider-original-soundtrack-review/ | Finding Adventure: Tomb Raider Original Soundtrack Review | Finding Adventure: Tomb Raider Original Soundtrack Review
When Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix announced that Jason Graves was heading up the soundtrack for the new "Tomb Raider" reboot, there was cause to be excited. Not only does Graves' style fit well with the new direction of the franchise, the man created an entire new instrument to help capture the sound and feel of Lara's adventure. The game itself has released to critical acclaim, with most outlets citing how integral the soundtrack is to the game experience. Not only is "Tomb Raider Original Soundtrack" an excellent addition to your collection, it is one of the first must-own soundtracks of 2013.
Despite boasting a new instrument, the majority of "Tomb Raider Original Soundtrack" features very traditional orchestral sounds. Jason Graves is always at his best with his string ensembles and multiple tracks really showcase this sound. "First Blood" is one of my favorites because it runs the gambit of strings, alternating light, curious tones with deeper, darker sounds that demonstrate Graves affinity for high tension. What starts as an exploratory piece quickly takes a turn. "The Descent" features a similar pattern, but incorporates more percussion.
When Graves' instrument is in play, however, the sound is nothing short of wondrous. "The Scavenger's Den" is the most clearcut example of this and the combination of music and atmospherics makes this one of the best pieces both in-game and out of game. The hollow, woodsy tones, mixed with the windchime-esque glass tones are reminiscent of, say, a gamelan, but have their own, unique sound. Raspy, metallic percussion is quickly mixed with traditional brass, making for an unsettling piece. "The Oni" reprises this sound with a more urgent, perilous tone.
Speaking of perilous, as the soundtrack winds down, several tracks pick up the pace with more percussion and faster strings, such as "Scaling the Zuggurat." Several atmospheric chimes and metallic sounds prelude to the sharp, tribal percussions which are punctuated by the high strings and brass. Even you haven't yet stepped into Lara's new shoes, the music paints such a wonderful story of struggle and survival on its own, it makes for a wonderful listening experience.
With "Tomb Raider Original Soundtrack," Jason Graves has created something special. For people who have played the game, it's merely a continuation of the experience, allowing you to relive some of Lara's adventure. If you haven't picked up "Tomb Raider" yet, (why not? You should!) the music is sweeping enough, with its own tale to paint, that it's highly accessible. It's early to be handing out "Best of 2013" laurels, but future soundtracks are going to have to try pretty hard to top this.
Tomb Raider Original Soundtrack
Artist: Jason Graves
Released: March 5, 2013
Price: $9.99
Rating: 10/10
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c25ecce41d574036a53e9c2a6a6588b1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbosier/2013/03/11/how-crystal-dynamics-tomb-raider-empowered-lara-croft/ | How Crystal Dynamics' 'Tomb Raider' Empowered Lara Croft | How Crystal Dynamics' 'Tomb Raider' Empowered Lara Croft
Lara, as she first appeared, in 1996
Chances are, when you think of negative, objectifying portrayals of women in video games, Lara Croft is the first image which pops to your mind. Oh, sure, there are plenty of other female characters who fit the bill, but Lara was, for many years, the poster girl for poor female imagery in the industry. So when Crystal Dynamics announced they were not only rebooting Lara Croft but also reinventing her from the ground up, fans had mixed reactions.
As a person who was never into the "Tomb Raider" series (let's face it, I was not their target demographic back in the 90s), I came into "Tomb Raider" highly skeptical. Not only did I love my time in the Devil's Triangle, I walked away with new found respect for Lara.
First, let's get physical details out of the way since these are the most obvious. Over the years, Lara has undergone several transformations from the disproportionate Barbie first created to a more modest yet still vixen-like form. "Tomb Raider" features by far the most modest of character design yet, with Lara's more "normal" figure.
With this change, there is surprisingly less focus on Lara as a sex symbol. Gone are the sultry poses, short shorts and gratuitous up-camera shots. Rather than being a hot chick who goes on whirlwind adventures, she is instead an unwitting hero, thrust into an adventure, who just happens to be female.
Now, I will address a particular point of concern with the game that began last year after gameplay demonstrations at various events. I, myself, was concerned with this particular aspect and I am happy to admit I jumped the gun in my concerns. Yes, early in the game, Lara is grabbed by a man who proceeds to feel down her hip and make his intentions quite clear. There is no mistaking what he is threatening and initially, this caused a lot of concern with gamers. With a character who went from being the hypersexualized postergirl to suddenly being a victim gamers needed to protect from such a fate, it seemed like recipe for disaster.
Personally, I quickly equipped the "Aviatrix Skin" leather bomber jacket, making Lara looking like a... [+] female Indiana Jones.
Fortunately, this moment is the only example of this as a plot device. It is a truly unfortunate fact of nature that, when a group of men (criminals in this case) are stranded on an island, away from a woman for a long period of time, any female will be of interest. So we see, in this early scene, a fairly realistic threat made. But guess what? As soon as Lara establishes herself as a dangerous problem, this threat is removed. The antagonists on the island cease to see her as a female object and deal with her as they would any other hero. It's possible that Crystal Dynamics toned it back in reaction to criticism, but either way, it removes the sense of Lara needing a big, strong man to come rescue her.
Which brings me to how Crystal Dynamics was able to bring a surprisingly strong new feel to Lara. In the beginning, we see Lara as an average, mildly naive young woman. Similar to last year's "Far Cry 3," the game quickly drops us into an unfamiliar, dangerous world, with Lara as fish-out-of-water. It's apparent she has strong survival instincts and, from the exploits of her father, is not totally clueless. It is also clear that she has a strong heart and while she is scared, she knows she must press on.
The player has a lot of say in this, too. Lara often expresses disbelief and reluctance through the game and at first, I found this annoying. But as I started to evaluate the game, I realized we, the players, are the force that presses her on. We see her change from frightened woman to competent, occasionally vengeful hero. It's similar to the arc Jason Brody experiences in "Far Cry 3," except Lara never seems to enjoy the killing part.
The problem with declaring a female character "empowering" is that we, as women, rarely agree on what is or isn't empowering. If the Gloria Steinem vs. DC comics issue from the 60s taught us nothing else, it was that men rarely get what it means for a female to be empowered, and women rarely agree. I know women who will declare Bayonetta an empowering character, whereas I whole-heartedly disagree. I'm sure many will disagree with my evaluation of Lara's new look and feel and that's okay. It's not an easy issue to discuss. The fact that the story's writers were both female may help this feel of empowerment, too.
One thing of particular interest in Lara's tale is that it poses an interesting twist on the standard damsel in distress tale. In the early moments of the game, Lara's friend Sam is kidnapped by a creepy island-dweller. Lara then spends the majority of the game trying to rescue her friend before escaping the island. But here's the kicker (mild spoiler alert): Sam is a descendent of the legendary queen of the island, meaning she is, in essence, royalty. That's right, Lara has to rescue a princess. This is interesting because you have a female rescuing another female, meaning the sexual/desirable objectification is removed from the equation and instead is merely Lara doing the "right" thing. What should feel like a twist feels largely the same as any other rescue-the-princess-tale.
Which brings me to my only disappointment in the reboot. There is little by way of story or personality to Lara. Most of her connection to her fellow characters is explained in written journal entries or exposition -- we don't experience any of it. She may be a stronger character to play, but we don't feel much by way of connection to her as a person.
Overall, though, Lara's origin story turns out to be that of a strong hero who happens to be female. She's no Ellen Ripley -- no one else is, really -- but she feels lightyears ahead of where she started and as though she has a leg up on many other female protagonists. Helping push her from reluctant hero to full-fledged hero was surprisingly enjoyable. I can see how longtime fans may dislike the new direction of the series but as a gamer who was never into the "tits with guns" version of Lara, Crystal Dynamics won me over.
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a84738674030fc3004978449bd4f3a21 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbosier/2013/05/02/far-cry-3-blood-dragon-original-soundtrack-review/ | Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Original Soundtrack Review | Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Original Soundtrack Review
When it comes to tapping glorious, nostalgia-fueled rhythms, Power Glove is one of the best. Which is why it is appropriate that they provided the soundtrack for Ubisoft's love letter to the greatest decade ever,* "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon."
Power Glove have committed themselves to the tone and theme of the time and the result is nothing short of wonderful. Channeling the sounds that made Jan Hammer and Giorgio Moroder so successful, "Blood Dragon" hits all the right synth rhythms.
The majority of the tracks conjure up ambient tones similar to to Health's work on "Max Payne 3" last year. Power Glove has managed to create a sound and musical narrative entirely unique to "Blood Dragon" while still calling to mind the type of music that flows like wine through classic action fare. Some of the best tracks include a sublime mix of synth and power guitar riffs, but while it flirts with cheese, it never crosses over -- it's not Wang Chung's "To Live and Die in L.A." type of 1980s.
The "Blood Dragon Theme," perfectly sets the tone for the soundtrack with a pulsating synth sound that creates an undeniably catchy beat. "Rex Colt" and "Katana" are more mellow, but still in the same vein. There's a certain ethereal sound to them that calls to mind the likes of Kavinsky and the "Drive" soundtrack.
"Sloan's Assault" sounds like something right out of an 80s thriller, with fast-paced discotheque beats coupled with the dark, sci-fi tone that carries throughout the soundtrack. "Rex's Escape" has a similar sound, but with a more frantic rhythm that never lets up through the track.
One track deserves a quick, special note: "Love Theme." It's the type of slow, percussion-based piece which calls to mind the love theme from Brad Fiedel's "The Terminator." When the saxaphone-esque tones come in, mixed with jazzy guitar, it's as if you condensed every love scene into a single song. Yes, it's brilliant.
In-game, the music is the perfect accompaniment to the over-the-top style Ubisoft strove for. But out of game is where the soundtrack can best be appreciated. It's highly accessible and not the least bit dependent upon the game, with several tracks standing out as their own unique single-type offerings.
Bottom line: If you were a child of the '80s, or just a fan of the decade's sound and decadence, "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon" is going to get you right in your nostalgia spot. It rivals last year's "Max Payne 3" on my "must have" list and proves to be yet another pleasant surprise this year. You can hear a few samples on Power Glove's Soundcloud but be prepared to buy shortly after -- it's that good.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Artist: Power Glove
Released: April 30, 2013
Price: $9.99
Rating: 10/10
*This may be up for debate and I may be biased.
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bd412e0bf43d75fd991e8c829acad931 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercastenson/2021/02/01/housing-is-miles-away-from-being-affordable-these-builders-are-changing-the-game/?sh=1eab22669966&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_txJ3xAddAF3JKqT257WebgAGzIviD03wKUchwKA9YFSt1Y82GDxkAo2-3F5O3mqDB8gQ1 | Housing Is Miles Away From Being Affordable, These Builders Are Changing The Game | Housing Is Miles Away From Being Affordable, These Builders Are Changing The Game
Housing had an extraordinary year in 2020, resulting in about 1,380,300 housing starts according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is up seven percent from the year before, and it is due to an even larger increase in the completions of single family detached housing.
While the demand for all types of housing is strong, there is still a massive gap in what would be considered supply that is affordable. For instance, Arthur Nelson, professor of urban planning and real estate development at the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Arizona, reports that less than three percent of the housing completions in 2019 hit the missing middle, or were at price points that would be considered affordable for those earning between 80% and 120% of the area median income.
The lack of growth in wages also plays a critical role in housing affordability. Property data company, ATTOM Data Solutions, reports that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the nationwide average wage fell below what would be needed to purchase the typical home. According to a September 2020 US Census Bureau report, the median household income in the US in 2019 was $68,703. That median income breaks down to $55,000 in take home pay and $2,115 in pay checks every other week, which depending on your math, would afford a home around the $150,000 range.
Yet, the median sales price of homes in December 2020 was $355,900 according to the US Census Bureau, which is out of range for anyone at or below median household income.
Business data platform Statistia published a list of the median household incomes in the top 25 most populated cities in the US in 2019, and 16 of them are lower than the national average, with Detroit’s at just $33,965. In Detroit, this would afford a home around the $80,000 mark with a low down payment.
Plus, experts predict that prices in 2021 will just keep rising. Building material costs are higher nearly across the board and builders in a monthly survey conducted by housing market research firm Zonda, report that higher costs are the biggest concern for 2021. Zonda’s chief economist Ali Wolf also noted that land costs are up six percent year-over-year because of declining inventory.
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Housing expert Ivy Zelman expects to see a six percent increase in home prices this year, as she stated in a recent conference organized by real estate company Inman.
What’s needed now is innovation.
Innovation Lab Creates More Attainable Housing Solution
Clayton Homes is the nation’s largest manufactured and modular home builder, and recently launched The Home Innovation Lab to rethink the home building process and to therefore make housing more affordable.
Clayton opened The Home Innovation Lab in October 19 to bring together all stakeholders during the ... [+] design process, which created substantial efficiencies and cut costs. Clayton
“Really the overall approach of the Innovation Lab is to create collaboration with engineering, design, and construction teams,” said Megan Foster, interior design manager with Clayton Home Building Group. “The new process helps maintain affordability and increase efficiencies and marry it all with appropriate design along with what a buyer expects to see.”
Opened just before the pandemic shutdowns in October 2019, the company’s Innovation Lab is a 5,000-square-foot space that is open to tap into teams that work at each of Clayton’s 40 facilities because each group is unique in how it builds homes. The space is meant to bring diverse teams together, including the company’s architects, engineers, 3D renderers and interior designers, to collaborate and create process efficiencies.
The cooperative approach is supported with technology, such as virtual reality tours of a new home plan during the design process to share new concepts and to talk about how it is going to be built before it gets built.
“It’s crucial to think about how we are innovative in the materials that we use and also how we are increasing efficiencies to provide houses faster,” Foster said. “We have learned a lot. We have found that the more detailed, the better. When the site teams can visualize it, they start to talk about the way they are trimming windows, which might be different than what they see in the virtual space. They also might see an issue with cabinet doors that open the wrong way or that are a different size. With the virtual process, we can immediately change something or bring in a new material to be more efficient.”
Clayton uses virtual reality to host design tours with its 40 facilities, allowing everyone to be ... [+] part of the process innovation. Clayton
Not only does the technology improve the efficiency of the process, it also lowers the waste of materials and dials in a concept before it’s built. The team also is able to factor in the reduction of waste in the process as well.
The objectives of the lab have been realized with Clayton Homes most recently launched brand.
“Because of the process, we were able to lower the cost of the homes,” Foster said. “There was a line of homes, Epic Homes, that went through this process. It gave us the opportunity to use the lab. Epic launched first thing in 2020. We took all the new technology features and really honed in and polished the design process that integrated the tech and the production-friendly mindset to make sure it’s a really good-looking house at the end of the day.”
The Epic Collection is a series of twelve homes that meets the needs of the masses and delivers to the country’s much needed short supply of workforce housing. Starting prices in the Epic Collection range from $60,000 to $120,000 not including delivery and installation, with floorplans that span from 1,020 to 2,280 square feet.
The Epic Collection of homes came from the new Home Innovation Lab process and offers price points ... [+] that are affordable for lower income buyers - a critical need in today's market. Clayton
This home series, like all Clayton homes was manufactured offsite, or built in a controlled environment not subject to outside elements, where energy usage can be monitored and waste minimized. Plus, the process is faster, which also leads to lower costs.
“We were given a price range to stay within, but we were also challenged to go further and extend our capabilities with material management team,” Foster shared. “We had to maximize materials and still hold ourselves responsible to deliver something that consumer wants. People are now living at home more than ever, so Epic really focused on how people live within their homes and the space planning aspect.”
The integrated and collaborative team reaches out to customers to understand them better and incorporate those learnings into the process.
“We just conducted a survey that justified that we were on the right track,” Foster said. “It was perfect timing with the launch of Epic. It allowed us to clarify what consumers want and pushed us even further with innovation.”
On A Smaller, More Holistic Scale
Tim Swanson lives and breathes passion for his mission. Swanson spent nearly three years as the chief design officer at Chicago-based construction company Skender, trying to launch a manufacturing facility that would allow the company to deliver housing more efficiently to more deserving households.
The pandemic put the facility’s opening plans into a tailspin and Swanson had to reimagine his career, launching right into founding a new company, Inherent L3C. This new home building company uses modular construction as the foundation to deliver more affordable housing.
The company’s first project is four single family homes on infill property owned by the City of Chicago. Swanson plans to manufacture the homes in a temporary space in May for four deserving families to move in this August.
“Modular affords the opportunity to provide a safe and consistent work environment for employees, removes weather from the equation for continuous production and through both supply chain and standardized systems, and drives both material cost and production time down,” Swanson said. “This affords Inherent L3C the ability to produce a home at a fraction of the time, six weeks versus six months, with a certainty that for the most expensive purchase a family ever makes, a level of quality and finish that matches this reality. Further, by leveraging socially-aligned partners, removing construction financing costs from the equation provides additional cost savings for the family.”
Inherent L3C's first project will be four modular homes at just $225,000 within Chicago city limits. ... [+] Inherent L3C
Swanson realizes that it’s a long game as he plans with the city to convert vacant property to become a part of the tax base to develop healthier communities. He also is making sense of the finances. He wants to offer homes to families that are both three times their annual income, but also only one-third of annual expenditures.
He points out that in Chicago, the average household of four earns $91,000 and not only cannot afford to purchase a market rate home, but do not qualify for subsidized housing. There are currently only eight new construction homes under $500,000 for sale in the city of Chicago, with the most affordable one priced at $410,000. These housing costs create a market floor that is nearly double what most consumers can afford.
Also because of the company’s focus on long-term opportunities for wealth generation and investment protection, Inherent will provide wraparound services to home buyers. Inherent is still detailing the services, but currently has it outlined as a five-year support program that includes quarterly maintenance, life insurance, disability insurance, home insurance, a security system, and even equity in the company.
Framing For The Future
“The sky is the limit at the Innovation Lab,” said Foster. “We are encouraged to explore and try new things. We are constantly challenging ourselves to think outside the box and ask more questions, all while keeping a production-friendly approach in mind.”
Clayton is looking at all aspects of efficiency and collaboration to continue its mission of democratizing housing, making a new home available to a broader spectrum of buyers who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to be home owners.
Perhaps the best part is that Clayton has the scale to produce volume, completing more than 45,000 new manufactured and modular homes in 2020. While Inherent L3C also is ramping up to create manufacturing facilities across Chicago that will each produce 100 housing units per year.
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8f1d3f26b5119909af984d432c889cce | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercastenson/2021/04/05/3d-printed-project-with-15-net-zero-energy-homes-is-just-the-tip-of-this-techs-future/ | 3D-Printed California Community Shows The Technology’s Huge Potential For Home Construction | 3D-Printed California Community Shows The Technology’s Huge Potential For Home Construction
This 15-home community will be 3D printed by Mighty Buildings and Palari Group to break ground later ... [+] this year. Mighty Buildings/EYRC Architects
Every technology has multiple phases of innovation. 3D-printing technology has been evolving at a very quick pace – champions have been using it recently to print everything from airplane engines to custom shoes.
Now, Mighty Buildings is using 3D-printing to build an entire community of homes in Palm Springs, California. The community will be composed of 15 homes that all have advanced environmental and technological features.
Mighty Buildings has partnered with Palari Group, a sustainable real estate developer based in California, to use zero waste construction processes on a development of 15 zero net energy capable homes.
“The world needs a better way to build that can not only unlock efficiency and productivity to solve the housing crisis, but do so in a way that doesn't exacerbate the climate crisis in the process,” said Sam Ruben, the chief sustainability officer at Mighty Buildings. “I think that 3D-printing is one of, if not the, most promising technologies on the market to achieve this, especially non-concrete based systems like ours.”
The project’s focus on sustainability includes features such as solar power, battery storage, advanced climate control and water filtration systems.
“The Mighty Buildings technology exceeds the California code requirements in terms of energy efficiency, which combined with our ability to deliver units for up to 40% less than comparable quality homes built traditionally allows for the incorporation of battery storage and onsite renewables to allow for zero net energy homes that are cost competitive with non-zero net energy stick-built homes,” Ruben added.
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Each property includes a three-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,450-square-foot home on a 10,000-square-foot lot with a swimming pool and deck for $595,000. A few properties also will feature an add on 700-square-foot accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, with two bedrooms and a bathroom for $850,000.
Palari and Mighty Buildings are targeting sustainability- and technology-minded millennials who are in the market for vacation homes or investment properties, or who just plan to work from home. Interest is also coming from local retirees who want wellness features and who are downsizing into smaller, more efficient homes.
With that being said, the homes come equipped with wellness features including circadian lighting and high-tech Darwin wellness systems by New York-based Delos. Buyers can also choose from upgrades such as a pergola, cabana, hot tub, fire pit and outdoor shower.
The Future
Amazingly enough, all of that is happening today. Yet, there is so much more to expect from 3D-printing in the housing industry.
The 3D printed components in the Mighty Buildings factory create net zero energy ready homes. Mighty Buildings
“We see 3D-printing expanding in use cases and continuing to gain traction on the market,” Ruben said. “In the past year we have already seen a significant increase in the number of 3D-printed projects across the world, something that will only continue to accelerate as more and more developers and builders lean into the potential of the technology.”
Mighty Buildings was founded in August 2017, and since then the realm of 3D-printing technology has accelerated. In those three and a half years, the company has successfully delivered the first housing with 3D-printed components certified by the State of California, received the first UL certification for a 3D-printed building component, helped to get 3D-printing into the 2021 International Residential Code update, and also is moving forward with the world's first 3D-printed zero net energy community.
The Rancho Mirage project will use the new Mighty Kit System, which the company says is a modern adaptation of the Sears Kit Homes of the 1930s. The kit system is then used to create Mighty Houses that were developed in partnership with California modern architecture firm EYRC Architects and global engineering firm Buro Happold.
“We are looking forward to opening up the platform to additional designs and customization in the next few years,” Ruben said. “Additionally, we are excited to move into multi-story projects, hopefully starting in 2022, with our new fiber reinforced printing technology. This not only opens up greater design opportunities for single family homes and ADUs, but will allow us to step into multifamily housing via townhomes and low-rise apartment buildings.”
The technology opens up opportunities to automate the most dangerous and difficult portions of the build in order to allow the existing labor force to build more, while also attracting a new generation of workers to the industry.
With scale, Mighty Buildings predicts many more opportunities to capture additional savings. At the same time, the company continues to develop new materials and technology to meet sustainability goals of carbon neutrality by 2028.
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cc9499b3bc3f9e5562ee22b51524ad77 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2013/10/02/5-things-super-successful-people-do-before-8-am/ | 5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM | 5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM
Margaret Thatcher (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Rise and shine! Morning time just became your new best friend. Love it or hate it, utilizing the morning hours before work may be the key to a successful and healthy lifestyle. That’s right, early rising is a common trait found in many CEOs, government officials, and other influential people. Margaret Thatcher was up every day at 5 a.m.; Frank Lloyd Wright at 4 am and Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney wakes at 4:30am just to name a few. I know what you’re thinking - you do your best work at night. Not so fast. According to Inc. Magazine, morning people have been found to be more proactive and more productive. In addition, the health benefits for those with a life before work go on and on. Let’s explore 5 of the things successful people do before 8 am.
1. Exercise. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Most people that work out daily, work out in the morning. Whether it’s a morning yoga session or a trip to the gym, exercising before work gives you a boost of energy for the day and that deserved sense of accomplishment. Anyone can tackle a pile of paperwork after 200 ab reps! Morning workouts also eliminate the possibility of flaking out on your cardio after a long day at work. Even if you aren’t bright eyed and bushy tailed at the thought of a 5 am jog, try waking up 15 minutes early for a quick bedside set of pushups or stretching. It’ll help wake up your body, and prep you for your day.
2. Map Out Your Day. Maximize your potential by mapping out your schedule for the day, as well as your goals and to dos. The morning is a good time for this as it is often one of the only quiet times a person gets throughout the day. The early hours foster easier reflection that helps when prioritizing your activities. They also allow for uninterrupted problem solving when trying to fit everything into your timetable. While scheduling, don’t forget about your mental health. Plan a 10 minute break after that stressful meeting for a quick walk around the block or a moment of meditation at your desk. Trying to eat healthy? Schedule a small window in the evening to pack a few nutritious snacks to bring to work the next day.
3. Eat a Healthy Breakfast. We all know that rush out the door with a cup of coffee and an empty stomach feeling. You sit down at your desk, and you’re already wondering how early that taco truck sets up camp outside your office. No good. Take that extra time in the morning to fuel your body for the tasks ahead of it. It will help keep your mind on what’s at hand and not your growling stomach. Not only is breakfast good for your physical health, it is also a good time to connect socially. Even five minutes of talking with your kids or spouse while eating a quick bowl of oatmeal can boost your spirits before heading out the door.
4. Visualization. These days we talk about our physical health ad nauseam, but sometimes our mental health gets overlooked. The morning is the perfect time to spend some quiet time inside your mind meditating or visualizing. Take a moment to visualize your day ahead of you, focusing on the successes you will have. Even just a minute of visualization and positive thinking can help improve your mood and outlook on your work load for the day.
5. Make Your Day Top Heavy. We all have that one item on our to do list that we dread. It looms over you all day (or week) until you finally suck it up and do it after much procrastination. Here’s an easy tip to save yourself the stress - do that least desirable task on your list first. Instead of anticipating the unpleasantness of it from first coffee through your lunch break, get it out of the way. The morning is the time when you are (generally) more well rested and your energy level is up. Therefore, you are more well equipped to handle more difficult projects. And look at it this way, your day will get progressively easier, not the other way around. By the time your work day is ending, you’re winding down with easier to dos and heading into your free time more relaxed. Success!
Also on Forbes:
14 Things Successful People Do On Weekends
20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't Get
16 Things You Should Do At The Start Of Every Work Day
Gallery: 16 Things You Should Do at the Start of Every Work Day 17 images View gallery
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cfcce33a3358becb2093b8dac40201d8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2014/01/07/overwhelmed-by-your-app-options-try-these-10-must-have-apps-for-2014/ | Overwhelmed By Your App Options? Try These 10 Must Have Apps For 2014 | Overwhelmed By Your App Options? Try These 10 Must Have Apps For 2014
In 2009, Apple trademarked their catchphrase, “there’s an app for that.” Little did we know how true that would turn out to be. Nowadays there really is an app for everything. There are finance apps, game apps, reading apps, cooking apps, every kind of app you can imagine. You can deposit checks via app. You can photoshop via app. You can even get an app that will stop you from texting while drinking. With so many apps to sift through, however, it can be nearly impossible to separate out the useful apps from the gimmicky ones. Just one look at the App Store or Google Play is enough to get your brain spinning. Never fear. Here are 10 apps that are guaranteed to satisfy every arena of your life. From fitness to travel to task management, these apps are the best of the best. Oh, and did I mention they’re free? Get downloading!
Hot5 App
1. Hot5. Hot5 is the up and coming fitness app to watch out for this year. From abs and core to yoga and flexibility and everything in between, Hot5 contains pages and pages of 5 minute video workouts of every variety and difficulty level. What I love most about Hot5 is that it is incredibly simple to use with a beautifully designed and user friendly interface. Even the least tech savvy person will be able to navigate this app in a snap. In addition, the videos have outstanding production quality. They’re sleek, modern, and straightforward. Hot5’s workouts can be used as an add on to your fitness routine or as your entire workout regime. If you want to do 5 minute abs after a run, Hot5 is for you. If you want to do a 45 minute full body workout, mix and match to create your own personalized routine. This pick and choose system makes it great for beginners and fitness gurus alike. The best part? Hot5 is completely free. No hidden costs, no paid upgrades. Hot5 gives you the best of the best without costing you a penny. But beware…. this app is addicting! Compatibility: iPhone; Cost: Free
2. Waze. Waze stormed the GPS navigation scene this past year, and will definitely give GoogleMaps a run for its money in 2014. Well, if Google hadn’t already bought the app for a whopping $1.3 billion. Like any navigation app, Waze will get you from point A to point B via the quickest route. However, the app sets itself apart by incorporating a community aspect to get the most accurate traffic reports. See an accident? Police trap? Road debris? Report it on Waze, earn points on your account, and level up. Waze’s interactive features not only add an element of fun to your daily commute, but they make the app’s traffic reports and quickest routes more accurate. Compatibility: iPhone, Android, Windows Phone; Cost: Free
Hotel Tonight App
3. Hotel Tonight. Are you making an impromptu weekend getaway? Or are you away on a last minute business trip? Hotel Tonight is your ticket to last minute, discounted lodging in the chicest of hotels. Hotel Tonight works with hotels that have empty rooms, who then list the rooms on their app at discounted prices of up to 70%. How does it work? Narrow down your search by picking categories like hip, luxe, or basic, enter in how many days you will be staying, and search through their extensive inventory. Not only does Hotel Tonight guarantee the lowest rates, but they only work with the best of the best. Think The W, not Motel 6. Best of all, Hotel Tonight’s clean layout makes it easy to scroll, tap, and go. A few clicks later, and you have a bargain of a place to rest your head! It’s as user friendly as it gets. Oh, and here’s a tip - check the app at noon everyday. This is when the new (and best) deals are posted! Compatibility: iPhone, Android; Cost: Free
4. 30/30. 30/30 is your to do list on steroids. Start with the basics - enter in your tasks, label them by color and icon, and order them as desired. The layout is simple and colorful, allowing you to see your to dos clearly in list form. The interface is also gesture based allowing you to manage your list with the swipe of a finger. Here’s where it gets cool. 30/30 asks you to designate a specific time frame for each item on your list. For example, you can give yourself 20 minutes to fold your laundry, 15 minutes to answer emails, followed by a 30 minute break. Once you’ve outlined your times for each item, hit play. The timer starts, holding you accountable for a single item on your list at a time, and also alerting you when it’s time to move on to the next task. Check it out for yourself. It’s awesome. Compatibility: iPhone; Cost: Free
5. GymPact. Do you need some motivation to get moving again this January? GymPact is the perfect way to get inspired. How does it work? Make a commitment to your fitness by choosing how many days you will work out that week. Next, choose the amount of money you are willing to wager in favor of you fulfilling your commitment. If you don’t achieve your goal? Your credit card gets charged. Achieve your goal? You get paid! The days of being paid to workout have finally come! Compatibility: iPhone and Android; Cost: Free
6. AroundMe. Whether you travel a lot for work or just want to try a new bar in your neighborhood, AroundMe is a must download. AroundMe uses your phone’s GPS system to find what’s closest to you. Whether you’re looking for a restaurant, gas station, a coffee, or even a place to park, this app will point you to the most convenient establishments. My favorite feature on this app is its Deals section. AroundMe will find places that are having Groupon deals in your area to help you save a buck or two. Compatibility: iPhone, Android; Cost: Free
7. Pocket. Can’t find that Forbes article you meant to revisit? Looking for that Youtube video you didn’t have a chance to watch before your meeting? Next time, put it in your Pocket! We all find articles, videos, and other content online that we’d like to explore, but don’t have time to right then and there. Here’s where Pocket comes in handy. Pocket is a place for you to save content for later. Save something to Pocket, and the app organizes it in an easy to search, easy to find way. Finally have a minute? Head to Pocket and check out what you found. Pocket works on your phone, tablet, and computer, so you can save something on your phone, but read it later on your laptop. Pocket is even integrated into apps you already use like Twitter and Flipboard, making quick saving a breeze. Compatibility: iPhone, Android; Cost: Free
8. Cloze. Cloze is the simple, yet genius idea we all wish we had thought of. Cloze integrates all of your social media accounts into one - Facebook, Twitter, Email, and even LinkedIn. Gone are the days of checking 4 different websites for messages and comments. Download Cloze and you can get all of your everything in one place. I particularly like Cloze because it organizes your contacts by who you speak with most, not who you spoke to last. This means your significant other, family members, and best friends are a single click away... not that mom from the PTA asking you to bake 2 dozen cookies for the class party. Compatibility: iPhone; Cost: Free
9. Mailbox. Mailbox’s tagline is, “put e-mail in its place” and it most certainly does. This app makes checking and organizing e-mails on your phone quicker and more intuitive all with the swipe of a finger. Using the swipe motion you can delete, reply, or mark as read. Even better, you can set a reminder to respond to an e-mail later. Why don’t other email apps make this feature more readily available? With a quick swipe to the left you can set a reminder to respond - whether it’s an hour, a day, or even a week. Mailbox also lets you reorder your e-mails any way you like, so that your important ones are more accessible. Best of all, Mailbox cleans out your inbox in a breeze so that you can move on to more exciting stuff. Because let’s be honest, no one’s favorite part of the day is e-mail. Compatibility: iPhone; Cost: Free
10. Lyft. Lyft may be old news to some of you out there, but I’m amazed by how many people still don’t know about this app. Lyft is a rideshare service that may just replace cab companies, and for good reason. If you need a ride somewhere, simply click on the app and find a driver in your proximity. You can see their name, pictures of them and their car, and their driver rating given by previous passengers. Request a ride, and you’re all set. How long will you wait for your car? I find that Lyft generally has many more available cars on the road than their competitors, which shortens your wait time. I’ve never waited more than 10 minutes. Payment? Lyft is a cashless system, so you pay your fare via the credit card you enter at sign up. This means no awkward, “do you have change?” situations. Even better? Lyft is based on a donation system. If you’re happy with your driver, add a tip! Bad experience? Pay a little less. My favorite part about Lyft is their happy-go-lucky attitude. Your driver will fist bump you upon arrival, and invite you to sit in the front to maximize chat potential. It’s a fun time. After all, their cars do tote giant pink mustaches. Compatibility: iPhone, Android; Cost: Free
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