Are you a business owner struggling to make your business get ahead? Research and articles about the US economy and its recovery are abundant, all hailing that the US economy is progressively doing better. As a small business owner the recovery may not have reached your business yet, and the truth may differ a bit in your case, but keeping yourself informed and motivated can be the difference between a good and a great year for your business. Follow the links below to read the complete articles.
Four Valuable Business Lessons To Learn From Football
Are you ready for some football? Many Americans spent hours in front of the television this weekend as the 2014 NFL season opened. Regardless of how your favorite football teamed performed (I recognize that half of you are depressed by the outcome), you probably were content just watching your favorite team TISI -0.95% play. But, I’m here to be sure you don’t overlook the business lessons buried in the sport. Here are four valuable lessons you can take from the football season, along with important guidance about where football and business differ.
Build a Successful Team
Each NFL team needs a group of players with complementary skills that together make a great team. In your business, it works the same way. You need skill players, strength players, a great quarterback, and a staff of supporting coaches.
Business leaders downbeat on workers’ prospects
Despite an improving economy and record corporate profits, business leaders are skeptical about their ability to compete abroad and downright pessimistic about the prospect of increasing pay or improving living conditions for American workers, according to a new report from Harvard Business School.
Co-authored by high-profile Harvard professor Michael Porter, the report also identified a “troubling divergence” in the economy, in which most businesses are thriving, as are highly skilled workers, yet middle-class and working-class employees are struggling.
Porter and his team urged business leaders to become more involved in efforts to improve living standards for more workers, such as additional training and education, out of self-interest: a stronger workforce will make their companies more competitive in the global economy.
Business Leaders Worry About Income Inequality And Revolution
Income inequality must have become a mainstream concern because even business leaders worry about it. A newly released survey by the Harvard Business School of its alumni about American competitiveness shows that a “troubling divergence in the American economy” could ultimately sink the country’s prospects. Even as large corporations, the wealthy, and “ highly skilled individuals” prosper, “middle-class and working-class citizens are struggling.” So are small businesses, which are an important source of new jobs. The result is a division of the U.S. into two parts, one small and wealthy, the other comprising the vast majority that finds it more difficult to get by as time moves on.
The problem, according to the analysis of what these executives have said, is that to be economically strong, the U.S. must compete in the global economy while supporting and advancing the standard of living for its citizens. The financial results of large corporations show success in the first area. Standards of living are another matter:
