Are You a Free Agent? It May Depend on Your Age
Are you a free agent? Kelly Services recently asked that question of adults in the United Staes. Over 40% of employed adults now consider themselves free agents a larger percentage than before the financial meltdown of 2008. Read the rest of this entry »
CEO’s into the Breach?
As the aftermath of the debt ceiling debate continued two CEO’s—Howard Schultz of Starbucks and Warren E. Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway stepped forward with ideas to mitigate the debt.
On Monday Mr. Schultz stepped forward to urge his fellow CEO’s to boycott campaign giving. The story in Bloomberg was Facebooked 3,000 times.
A day earlier Warren E. Buffett in an op-ed piece in The New York Times called on Congress to raise the taxes of wealthy Americans.
Under the headline “Stop Coddling the Super Rich” Mr. Buffett made the case of why taxes should be raised and as expected met with mixed results. There were those on the left who agreed with his argument. Some on the right said there was no reason he couldn’t make a private donation to the I.R.S.
Just over a year ago, Mr. Buffett, along with Bill and Melinda Gates met with great success when he prevailed upon 40 billionaires (you can read the list of who has signed a non-binding pledge to give away half their wealth, a total of $600 billion in all.
Months before Mr. Buffett put his plan into action Kevin Salwen and his daughter Hannah detailed their family’s experiences about living below their means and donating half the money to charity in The Power of Half (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2010)
While Mr. Buffett probably wanted to start the conversation (he had previously written for The New York Times about buying stock during the height of the financial meltdown), he hasn’t gotten a lot of traction or buy-in about his latest proposal at this point. It sounds a lot more high minded to give to those in need than to bail out a government in debt.
Whether other CEO’s get on board remains to be seen. While some CEO’s may think one or both ideas have merit, their corporate responsibility is to the shareholders to make money.
What’s Important to New Graduates?
Are graduates of the class 2011 throwbacks? In a recent survey released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers recent graduates sought personal development and job security as the most important factors in choosing a job. The top five factors in order are
1. Opportunity for personal development
2. Job security
3. Good insurance benefits
4. Friendly co-workers
5. High starting salary
Opportunities for advancement aren’t a consideration.
All of which asks the question will the aftermath of the recession may have a lasting effect on how young adults view their careers?
Tags: benefits, friendly co-workers, high starting salary, job security, oppprtunity for personal development
Can Your Child Enhance Your Career?
Long time readers of this blog will remember a post in January 2010 when I interviewed Marc Freedman, the head of Civic Ventures about working longer. You can read that post here. This year Mr. Freedman came out with a new book entitled The Big Shift. A compelling and well reviewed book, it advances the conversation about delaying retirement. One suggestion he floats is that of a gap year for adults. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amy Winehouse, career choice, career transitions, Civic Ventures, Marc Freedman, Mitch Winehouse, parents and children, second careers, second chances, The Big Shift, young adults
Contests for Fledgling Entrepreneurs
The jobs numbers were released on Friday and showed unemployment inched up again.
With job offering few, some job seekers are turning to entrepreneurship and are entering contests. Here are two.
Daily Candy is sponsoring their Start Small Go Big Contest.
The Peter Drucker Challenge 2011 is seeking essays from entrepreneurs younger than 35.
Tags: job creation
Ideas from Aspen
I didn’t make the trip but I’ve been inspired and transported this week by the provocative ideas coming from the Aspen Ideas Festival that ended Sunday. And I’ve also been transfixed by the interviews of Chrystia Freeland of Reuters, a festival sponsor.
Tags: leadership
Coming Soon–It’s a Summer of Movies about Work
During an evening at the movies during the summer a viewer doesn’t expect to pulled back into the office. Yet that’s exactly what appears to be happening at the mult-plex this summer. With the unemployment rate still hovering around 9%, the big screen is the place where we can see work relationships unfold. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: career transitions
A Bit of History about the Workplace
Recently I heard a reading of the book Almost a Family given by the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, John Darnton. Mr. Darnton who was not yet a year old when his father Byron “Barney” Darnton became a war correspondent in the Pacific theater in World War II and was killed, possibly by friendly fire. Read the rest of this entry »
College Graduates Coming Home to Roost
College graduation was about a month ago, and for some families the enthusiasm of the day has begun to wear off. New estimates suggest that it takes six months or more for a new grad to find work. How are the new graduates faring this summer?
Do Colleagues Matter?
Meredith Viera left the Today Show with a great deal of fanfare today. She is leaving to have a better work/life balance with no more 2:30 a.m. reveilles. There was the obligatory reel of highlights from her five years on the show. My personal favorite was a bake-off with Martha Stewart when Matt Lauer tossed a ribbon into the air and Meredith caught it. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Al Roker, colleagues, cooperation, employee attitudes, Martha Stewart, Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera, Today Show, work-life balance
