What Makes Some Children More Resilient?

June 28, 2013, 6:10 p.m. ET

What Makes Some Children More Resilient?

ALISON GOPNIK

The facts are grimly familiar: 20% of American children grow up in poverty, a number that has increased over the past decade. Many of those children also grow up in social isolation or chaos. This has predictably terrible effects on their development.

There is a moral mystery about why we allow this to happen in one of the richest societies in history. But there is also a scientific mystery. It’s obvious why deprivation hurts development. The mystery is why some deprived children seem to do so much better than others. Is it something about their individual temperament or their particular environment? Read more of this post

T. Scott Case: Corner Bakery or the Next Facebook?

June 26, 2013, 8:00 AM

T. Scott Case: Corner Bakery or the Next Facebook?

GUEST MENTOR T. Scott Case, founding CEO of Startup America Partnership and founding CTO of Priceline.com: The difference between launching a scalable startup verses a sustainable small business comes down to objectives. Small businesses – Main Street businesses, professional services, trades – are typically run by their owners. The goal is to start, achieve profitability and generate enough income to support an owner and his or her family. A coffee shop with a dependable customer base that turns a profit is part of the lifeblood of our economy. The owner will often run the shop for years with no intention of turning the business into the next Starbucks. Startups – think Facebook or LinkedIn– are run by their founders. They set out to seek top-line growth and maximize the long-term wealth creation of the enterprise. Depending on the industry, the plan of attack may be to acquire customers, drive revenues, and then start worrying about profits. Facebook launched in 2004 and reportedly first turned a profit in late 2009. At a startup, the founders will sometimes stay on, or hire a seasoned-veteran to run the day-to-day operations, then transition to the next venture. Of course, plans do change. Many startups aspire to become scalable, but instead end up as small businesses or fail. And some small businesses aspire to remain small, but become a Lolly Wolly Doodle – the online children’s apparel company founded by a first-time entrepreneur, that was supposed to be a local business but now earns $10 million in annual revenue. Both startups and small businesses are key drivers of innovation, job creation and wealth across the country. Small businesses employ about half of the private sector workforce, add two out of every three jobs and contribute around $14 billion in profits for banks every year. They also contribute to the cultural vitality of communities across the country. While startups are net-new drivers of job creation – according to the Kauffman Foundation startups have created roughly all of the net-new jobs since 1980, with fast-growing “gazelles” contributing the vast majority. Startups are also more likely to disrupt existing industries or pave new ones. More than anything, individual preferences and objectives determine the course: Entrepreneurs self-select from day one whether they hope to be a founder who takes the considerable risk of attempting to build the next billion-dollar marketplace, or an owner who takes the course of building the next corner bakery that serves local customers for decades. So, what will it be — are you launching a startup or small business?

Story of the day by legendary investor Jim Rogers

As I said, on Wall Street, I worked all the time. I loved it that much. One Independence Day weekend – it was July the third, around seven o’clock – I received a phone call from a friend, Burton MacLean, who had been one of my classmates at Yale. Mackie worked at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, the oldest private bank in the United States. We were the best of friends, but we had followed different paths in life. Having settled down to raise a family, he and his wife, Charlotte, had four children – unlike me, Mackie had priorities other than work.

“Why don’t you come to the beach with us for the long weekend?” he said.

I said, “Oh, no, I’m working, I have some things to do.”

He said, “Tomorrow’s the Fourth of July, what are you talking about?”

I said, “Well, there are things to do, and they have to be done so we don’t lose money.”

I know he felt bad for me.

I remember, when I left Quantum, one of the first calls was from Mackie.

He said, “I heard that you retired or got fired or something.”

“I retired,” I said. “I don’t ever have to work again for as long as I live, unless I do something wrong.”

Time has a way of outrunning even the closest of friendships – all of a sudden ten years have gone by, then three times ten years – and Mackie and I have lost touch. But I still remember that call. In my mind’s eye, I could see him, looking out the window of his home, at his four children and his car, all of which he was still paying for, and wondering where, and at what cost, he could possibly have found the time to out in the hours that would have enabled him to retire at the age of 37. And I realized that how lucky I was to have found something about which I was so passionate that I was able to pursue it to the exclusion of everything else.

–         Jim Rogers in “Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets”

Steve Case: When we started AOL in 1985, our focus was on building a new medium that would transform people’s lives. We weren’t thinking about a quick exit. Rather, we were passionate about the potential of the Internet to connect people and democratize access to information

June 26, 2013, 3:32 PM

Steve Case: Take the Long View

GUEST MENTOR Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution and former CEO of AOL: When we started AOL in 1985, our focus was on building a new medium that would transform people’s lives. We weren’t thinking about a quick exit. Rather, we were passionate about the potential of the Internet to connect people and democratize access to information. We knew it wouldn’t happen overnight, and we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Indeed, when we started, only 3% of people were online, and they were only online on average an hour a week – so we knew it would be a long slog to get America online. Read more of this post

The World According to Woody Allen

Updated June 28, 2013, 4:43 a.m. ET

How Woody Allen Sees It

Even as he approaches 80, Woody Allen remains one of the most prolific filmmakers working today. With the release of his 48th feature, “Blue Jasmine,” the celebrated director opens up about playing the romantic lead, the hit-flop trap and why he just can’t quit the business.

CHARLES MCGRATH

IN REAL LIFE, WOODY ALLEN isn’t much different from the character he plays in his movies. He has the same reedy Brooklyn accent he uses on-screen and wears the same dorky, black-framed glasses he’s worn since he was 17. He’s shy, meek, insecure, a little phobic. When he showers, he makes a point of standing away from the drain, and he’s not crazy about tunnels. Too much like the womb. Read more of this post

Singapore elderly parents dumped like a dog in Malaysia, Indonesia by their children

S’pore dad, 82, dumped like a dog in JB

Johor police found the wandering man dirty, hungry and weak after he was said to be dumped by his family. -TNP
Rennie Whang
Thu, Jun 27, 2013
The New Paper

SINGAPORE – The 82-year-old Singaporean was found on the streets of Johor Baru – dirty, hungry, weak.

He was picked up by the Malaysian police, repatriated and sent to a home for the destitute here two months ago.

The man is one of a number of elderly Singaporeans who have been abandoned overseas.

Social workers say his case is not unique, as Singaporeans have also been allegedly abandoned in Indonesia and China. Read more of this post

When Managing Emotions can Make or Break a Company

When Managing Emotions can Make or Break a Company

by Nikos Bozionelos | Jun 28, 2013

Displaying particular emotions does require conscious effort. Emotional labour has therefore been linked to a number of negative outcomes

In today’s workplace many people have to display certain emotions as part of their daily jobs, regardless of how they actually feel. This phenomenon of ‘emotional labour’ occurs often, for example, in the work of flight attendants, call centre operators, sales staff and front-line bank employees. It can even extend at times to teachers or administrators.  This phenomenon is more common today because of the key role the service sector plays in the economy.

Read more of this post

CGMA Research: CFOs Must Take Hands-On Approach to Innovation

CGMA Research: CFOs Must Take Hands-On Approach to Innovation

New report from AICPA and CIMA reveals how finance professionals at Coca-Cola, Royal Dutch Shell and other global innovation leaders help to drive new advancements

May 22, 2013 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

NEW YORK & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Add another duty to the expanding role of CFOs: Innovation catalyst. New research from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) finds that management accountants, led by the CFO, play a vital and growing role in driving advancements at some of the world’s most innovative companies.

“Managing Innovation: Harnessing the power of finance”

In those businesses, the CFO and finance team are deeply embedded in the process of innovation and have a clear framework to let new ideas take shape. They partner early with other departments to identify concepts with market potential, replace rigid financial metrics with staged measurements to avoid eliminating ideas too soon, and accept that failure is a tolerable outcome for projects along the path to commercialization. Read more of this post

Is Oslo the Next Art Capital? A combination of unrivaled government funding and wholesome creative energy has transformed this formerly hardscrabble Norwegian city into one of the most electrifying places to see new art

June 27, 2013, 12:31 p.m. ET

Is Oslo the Next Art Capital?

A combination of unrivaled government funding and wholesome creative energy has transformed this formerly hardscrabble Norwegian city into one of the most electrifying places to see new art.

An Ólafur Elíasson sculpture outside the Statoil headquarters in Fornebu.

EVERY NORWEGIAN CHILD has stood in cross-country skis at the bottom of a snowy slope and looked up at his or her father. “So your dad is there at the top of the hill holding a treat and he says, ‘Just make it up here, and we’ll take a break,’ ” says Eivind Furnesvik, the owner and director of Standard (Oslo), the most successful art gallery in the country’s up-and-coming scene. “That is Norway.” Read more of this post

Chinese Tourist Finds And Returns A Bag Of Diamonds Worth $32 Million

Chinese Tourist Finds And Returns A Bag Of Diamonds Worth $32 Million

FAINE GREENWOOD, GLOBALPOST JUN. 27, 2013, 2:30 PM 5,052 10

Chinese tourist and jewelry enthusiast Fu Zhuli made a surprising find during her visit to Hong Kong‘s Jewelry & Gem Fair: a forgotten bag of diamonds worth a cool $32 million (HK$250 million).

“I went to the cafe to take a rest and have some chocolate ice-cream. I saw two foreigners chatting…after a while, they left – empty-handed. After a while, when the cleaners came to take the rubbish out, I realized there was a black bag at the foot of their table,” she said of finding the bag, according to the South China Morning Post.  Read more of this post

Why Executive Teams Shouldn’t Write “Culture Decks”; Genuine culture is organic, not imposed

Why Executive Teams Shouldn’t Write “Culture Decks”

by Cheryl Morris  |   8:00 AM June 27, 2013

Boston is teeming with entrepreneurship. The “startup renaissance” that followed the financial crisis of 2009 has led to as many acquisitions as it has public companies.

For the founders and CEOs of many startups, the recent influx of additional tech giants to Boston like Amazon, eBay, and Twitter means that hiring—especially when it comes to engineers—will become even more challenging. With far deeper pockets than early- and mid-stage startups, these tech giants will be vying for the same talent our startup ecosystem has been fostering. How can young startups continue to attract and retain great talent? One of the keys may lie in culture. Read more of this post

The Books That Inspired Tech’s Most Influential People

The Books That Inspired Tech’s Most Influential People

ALYSON SHONTELL JUN. 26, 2013, 11:28 AM 35,472 2

What are the books that influenced Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Bill Gates? The following books shaped tech’s most influential people and helped them become the CEOs and global leaders they are today.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos enjoys business book “Built to Last” and a fictional novel, “The Remains of the Day.”

Given that Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as a marketplace for books, it’s not surprising he reads a lot. He once told told Fast Company he buys 10 books per month. His favorites? Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras and  The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. He told Newsweek: “If you read The Remains of the Day, which is one of my favorite books, you can’t help but come away and think, I just spent 10 hours living an alternate life and I learned something about life and about regret.”

Read more of this post

Secrets of the Little Blue Box, the 1971 article that inspired Steve Jobs to collaborate with Steve Wozniak

Secrets of the Little Blue Box

by Ron Rosenbaum

A story so incredible it may even make you feel sorry for the phone company

The Blue Box Is Introduced: Its Qualities Are Remarked

I am in the expensively furnished living room of Al Gilbertson*, the creator of the “blue box.” Gilbertson is holding one of his shiny black-and-silver “blue boxes” comfortably in the palm of his hand, pointing out the thirteen little red push buttons sticking up from the console. He is dancing his fingers over the buttons, tapping out discordant beeping electronic jingles. He is trying to explain to me how his little blue box does nothing less than place the entire telephone system of the world, satellites, cables and all, at the service of the blue-box operator, free of charge.

“That’s what it does. Essentially it gives you the power of a super operator. You seize a tandem with this top button,” he presses the top button with his index finger and the blue box emits a high-pitched cheep,  Read more of this post

How the Web and an Attitude of Sharing Helped a Law Firm Take Off; Clients are banging down the door. The feeling is, “If they give this much away for free, what must it be like if you pay them?”; murthy.com is the world’s most visited law firm site

June 26, 2013

How the Web and an Attitude of Sharing Helped a Law Firm Take Off

By ADRIANA GARDELLA

When it comes to making use of the Web, law firms generally have not been pioneers. The Murthy Law Firm, which handles immigration matters, is an exception.

Founded in 1994 by Sheela Murthy, an Indian immigrant, the firm introduced a site that provided legal information that same year. “So few law firms were even on the Internet, it was considered weird,” Ms. Murthy said. Read more of this post

Inside Google’s culture of relentless self-surveying

Inside Google’s culture of relentless self-surveying

By Tim Fernholz @timfernholz June 26, 2013

When Google recently admitted that the baffling brainteasers it posed to interviewees were utterly useless at predicting which ones would make good employees, it was another example of the power of what Google calls “people analytics”—the mixing of Big Data with management science to come up with smarter ways to work.

The company’s obsession with human data is perhaps best known for producing the rule that no employee should sit more than 150 feet (46 meters) away from a micro-kitchen, and that in those kitchens the chocolate M&Ms be kept in opaque jarswhile healthier food is in clear containers, to encourage healthy eating habits. Google’s often controversial culture of omniscience about its users is mirrored, inside its posh campuses, by a team of industrial-organizational psychologists, behavioral economists, consultants and statisticians who survey and experiment with Google’s staff. Read more of this post

How Meeker’s ‘Internet Trends 2013′ Became the Most-Viral Deck on SlideShare

How Meeker’s ‘Internet Trends 2013′ Became the Most-Viral Deck on SlideShare

By Ross Mayfield on June 17, 2013 | 3 Comments

Want to be more creative? Start keeping more boring hours

WANT TO BE MORE CREATIVE? START KEEPING MORE BORING HOURS

BY: JENNIFER MILLER

Stop burning the midnight oil, rock star. You’re better off and maybe more creative keeping unglamorous, 8-hours-of-sleep hours.

Edna St. Vincent Millay, who wrote that her “candle burns at both ends,” epitomized the image of the insomniac artist: a person so consumed with the creative act that she couldn’t be bothered to sleep. No wonder Millay’s friend Dorothy Thompson called her “a whimsical genius, sometimes…petulant and imperious…sometimes stormy, turbulent, and as unreckonable as the sea.” The more overtired we are, the more irritable. Read more of this post

A Visit to Lantau’s Giant Buddha Restores Peace in Hong Kong

A Visit to Lantau’s Giant Buddha Restores Peace in Hong Kong

By Simon Marcus Gower on 3:19 pm June 24, 2013.

A visit to Hong Kong generally involves experiencing intense activity. But Hong Kong is made up of dozens of islands. The largest of these, Lantau Island, is a rather more restful place and is home to a giant Buddha.

Lantau is a big island — it is nearly twice the size of Hong Kong Island. Yet with a population of fewer than 50,000 people Lantau feels practically deserted in comparison.

Hong Kong’s excellent network of trains has a connection from Central Hong Kong to Lantau’s Tung Chung Station. Nearby this station is a new shopping mall and a bus station, from which visitors can catch a bus to Po Lin monastery. Read more of this post

To Overcome Your Company’s Limits, Look to Symbiosis

To Overcome Your Company’s Limits, Look to Symbiosis

by Rafe Sagarin  |  12:00 PM June 25, 2013

No matter how nimble, innovative, or globally networked your organization or business is, it will run smack into the limits of its capabilities just by virtue of operating in today’s dynamic world. To push through these limits, you need to tap into a nearly bottomless force of adaptability known as symbiosis.

Symbiosis is a biological concept — roughly defined as a partnership between organisms — that has helped living creatures innovate and expand into new niches for billions of years. Symbiosis has allowed organisms to defend themselves from predators, to lure prey into their mouths, to produce energy from the sun, and to produce energy in places where the sun never shines, among other things. Every organism on Earth is engaged in many symbioses with other organisms. Read more of this post

Stanley Ross Eluded Nazi Bombs to Transform World Bond Markets

Stanley Ross Eluded Nazi Bombs to Transform World Bond Markets

As 11-year-old Stanley Ross huddled in a shelter on a North London public housing estate in the summer of 1942, a German bomb landed just feet away. It was a dud.

“There was a stick of eight bombs and ours was the fifth, and it landed just there,” he said, pointing to the adjacent table during a June 6 interview at London’s Savoy Grill. “Had it gone off I wouldn’t be here now. I’d have been vaporized.” Read more of this post