Really
We know a few things about what people want in their business leaders, especially male business leaders. A Journal of Applied Psychology study showed employers preferred athletic men of average build, and theorized that a man could earn an extra $700 per inch of height. But is it acceptable for men to have beards?
Entrepreneurship
Coke and Pepsi Up Against a Young Monster - And Losing
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Food & Drink
By Travis HoiumMotley Fool
They come in coffee cups, small cans, large cans, shots, you name it -- energy drinks are everywhere. If the marketing is to be believed, these magic elixirs help us accomplish amazing feats in five hours (5-Hour Energy), excel in extreme sports (Red Bull and Monster), and are the best part of waking up (Folgers).
America is addicted to energy, and every company in the drink business is trying to get a piece of the action. There's no shortage of choices for those looking to imbibe. But only a few of these manufacturers will succeed, so investors must choose their beverage carefully.
Bill Gates Was Right: Green Energy Wasn't Ready for Prime Time
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Investing, Going Green
By Rich SmithMotley Fool
It's been nearly two years since Bill Gates came out with his famous dismissal of "green energy" in general, and solar power in particular, as "cute" but too inefficient, too expensive, and too small in scale to actually make a dent in global warming. And once again, it appears the founder and chairman of Microsoft (MSFT) was ahead of the curve.
In an article in this month's edition of The Wall Street Journal's WSJ.Money magazine, the newspaper outlined a swelling backlash against solar, wind, and biofuels -- among investors at least: "Burdened by global overcapacity, slowing demand and the resurgence of fossil fuel production, clean-tech investments have fallen heavily out of favor" on Wall Street, lamented the Journal.
Why Working in Your Twenties Sucks Big Time
Filed under: Employment & Careers, Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Pop's Wallet
Just this week, The Huffington Post reported that The University of Toronto Students' Union called on Ontario's Labour Minister to ban illegal unpaid internships, contending that over 300,000 Canadians are misclassified as interns, trainees and non-employees at a time when the youth unemployment rate is double the national average at 14.2%. The union also argued that such practices do damage to the economy in general by inflating the student debt even more.Wait a minute, "Misclassified?" Yes. As Walletpop has covered before, Unless the interns in your office are part of an internship program from a high school, college or university and working for course credit, the following six conditions must all be met before they can legally work for free:
For his part, Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi agreed with the union writing to Huffington Post that "If you perform work for someone – unless you are self-employed, in a co-op placement, or a trainee – you are an employee covered under the Employment Standards Act and should be paid – it doesn't matter if you are called an 'intern' or not."
However, he did not make it clear whether he would address the existing double standard and close the legal loopholes that allow employers to break the law by relying heavily on unpaid or underpaid labour.
However, the exploitation of the youth labour force across North America goes way beyond just unpaid internships, even the people technically getting paid are working harder and longer, while getting paid less than any other previous generation.
The Most Popular CEO in America is... Really?
Filed under: Celebs & Money, Entrepreneurship, Technology
By Claire GordonAOL Jobs
His popular image is antisocial, cold, calculating, and charmless. He's faced scores of lawsuits, accusing him of poaching ideas and tricking investors. In a 2010 Oscar-winning movie, he was the inspiration for an entirely new kind of nebbishy villain. But in addition to being the richest American under 30, Mark Zuckerberg is also the country's most beloved chief executive.
At least according to Glassdoor.com. The site collects company reviews, and says that Zuckerberg, 28, received a 99 percent approval from the nearly 400 Facebook employees who chose to rate him. That's a 14-points jump from last year.
(Story continues under slideshow)
The Backlash Against Sheryl Sandberg Is Already Starting
Filed under: Employment & Careers, Entrepreneurship, Family Finances
By Pam Kruger
AOL Jobs
Although Sheryl Sandberg's manifesto, Lean In, was just published Monday, it already is generating a torrent of debate -- much of it among female professionals who complain they feel left out of Sandberg's vision of success in the corporate world.
"The very blunt truth is that men still run the world," Sandberg, Facebook's Harvard-educated chief operating officer, said in an interview with 60 Minutes. "I'm not blaming women...but there is a lot more we can do." Sandberg, 43, has ignited controversy in part because she argues that women are held back their inner doubts and that they need to "lean in" to their careers, rather than worrying about how they'll juggle work and children. "Most leadership positions are held by men, so women don't expect to achieve them, and that becomes one of the reasons they don't."
So far, the backlash against Sandberg falls into three camps.
AOL Jobs
Although Sheryl Sandberg's manifesto, Lean In, was just published Monday, it already is generating a torrent of debate -- much of it among female professionals who complain they feel left out of Sandberg's vision of success in the corporate world.
"The very blunt truth is that men still run the world," Sandberg, Facebook's Harvard-educated chief operating officer, said in an interview with 60 Minutes. "I'm not blaming women...but there is a lot more we can do." Sandberg, 43, has ignited controversy in part because she argues that women are held back their inner doubts and that they need to "lean in" to their careers, rather than worrying about how they'll juggle work and children. "Most leadership positions are held by men, so women don't expect to achieve them, and that becomes one of the reasons they don't."
So far, the backlash against Sandberg falls into three camps.
International Women's Day: Meet the Female Billionaires Who Made it On Their Own
Filed under: Celebs & Money, Employment & Careers, Entrepreneurship, Shopping, Technology
The Forbes magazine annual list of the world's billionaires has always been scant of women, but 35 more women did join this year's record-length list of 1,426 global über-rich. They now number 138, or 9.7 percent of the total. Last year, they represented 8.5 percent of the list of 1,226 billionaires.The world's richest women continue to be heiresses or inheritors of wealth, but every year there appear women who acquired their fortunes largely on their own.
The women in the top 40 are regulars to the list. They include Liliane Bettencourt of the L'Oreal clan, two Waltons -- relatives of Walmart Stores, Inc. (WMT) founder Sam Walton -- the widow Iris Fontbona of the Chilean copper mining giant Antofagasta, Australian mining magnate Georgina Rinehart and Jacqueline Mars of the candy giant Mars, Inc.; the latter two inherited their fortunes and responsibilities when their fathers passed away.
But three women joined the club this year without the help of a family empire or a massive inheritance. These three entrepreneurs join a small sub-set inside Forbes annual list of self-made women.
Take a look at the Forbes list of self-made women billionaires:
The 25 Best Companies in America
Filed under: Employment & Careers, Consumer Complaints, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Technology
Public companies traditionally receive acclaim for delivering rapid earnings growth along with a rising stock price. Wall Street and the financial media encourage executives to "beat earnings targets," and boards pay them astronomical sums for doing so.
But a preoccupation with how investors are doing in the present can result in unfortunate outcomes. For example, Countrywide delighted its shareholders with huge profits from 2003 to 2006. Alas, the nation's largest mortgage lender all but drove itself into bankruptcy by mistreating its employees, homeowners, and mortgage investors. On a more mundane level, anyone who's ever had to deal with a surly checkout clerk can tell you that failing to look after employees and customers can result in lost future business for a retailer.
Several studies suggest that companies that focus on multiple stakeholders tend to achieve better financial performance over the long term. Intuitively, this makes sense, too, because, as professor Ed Freeman of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia puts it, "business is about how customers, suppliers, employees, financiers, communities, and managers interact and create value."
We strongly believe that the greatest and most successful companies are those that are able to benefit all of the various groups.
For the past several months, we have been compiling data and analyzing more than 1,700 public companies to discover the 25 best public companies in America, measured by their success in serving investors, customers, employees, and the world at large. We're delighted to finally be able to share our findings. You can read more about all 25 of them below.
5 Great Books You Should Read This Year
Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Entrepreneurship, Family Finances, Investing, Book Reviews
By Morgan Housel
Motley Fool
Mark Twain says, "The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." In that spirit, here are five great books I've read lately that you should read, too.
Motley Fool
Mark Twain says, "The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." In that spirit, here are five great books I've read lately that you should read, too.
Strange Business: Why is This Popular App -- Designed to Help You Relax -- Worth $415,000?
Filed under: Entrepreneurship
Calm.com, a relaxation website originally geared toward Silicon Valley types and other busy workers, announced today that it received $415,000 in funding from angel investors and will launch its first iPhone (NASDAQ:AAPL) app. The website found a niche quickly among stressed executives when it generated 2 million unique views during its first day of operation last year. The new app features a program called "The 7 Steps of Calm," which guides users through meditation. To unlock the rest of the app, a customer will need to pay $4.99.
Men Should Become Nurses for Quicker Job Promotion
Male nurses comprised 10% of all nurses in 2011, according to a new Census report, compared to 8% in 2000. This small minority of men on average, though, earned $60,700 in 2011, more than their female counterparts who earned $51,000 on average in the same year. What accounts for this discrepancy? Hospitals usually hire men for full-time work, but this factor alone doesn't account for the entire pay gap as full-time female nurses see 9% less pay on average. The Census study also cited the "glass escalator" phenomenon, or when men jump up the company ladder more quickly and receive higher wages than women in female-dominated professions.
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