Journal

You spend up to 80% of your day communicating, so take care not to fall prey to these common missteps.

You spend up to 80% of your day communicating, so take care not to fall prey to these common missteps.

In meetings, emails, conversations, and conference calls, business leaders spend roughly 80% of their time communicating. So, it’s a significant waste of time and resources if that communication isn’t effective. When it comes to the way we speak to others—either groups or individuals—we can often be inadvertently doing or saying things that undermine our effectiveness.

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We’re more inclined to take principled stands when there’s low personal risk in doing so.

We’re more inclined to take principled stands when there’s low personal risk in doing so.

As election day draws near, many Americans are not thrilled with their options for president. Both candidates have historically high unfavorable ratings, with Hillary Clinton at 53% and Donald Trump at 61%, by one recent measure. That’s left a sizable proportion of Americans struggling with how to vote. According to CNN’s latest tally, some 14% of registered voters plan to cast ballots for a third-party candidate, whereas third-party candidates received less than 1% of the popular vote in each of the three past presidential elections.

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The new institution’s flexible, work-from-anywhere policy is attracting accomplished faculty eager to teach high-achieving students.

The new institution’s flexible, work-from-anywhere policy is attracting accomplished faculty eager to teach high-achieving students.

Levy Odera has made it his mission in life to find solutions to poverty. “I grew up in a relatively poor neighborhood with a relatively poor family in Kenya,” says the political science PhD, now an expert in international development.

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Sometimes all people want is a response, even if it’s not the ultimate solution they need.

Sometimes all people want is a response, even if it’s not the ultimate solution they need.

You nod along when everyone around you is talking about how they achieve inbox zero. But truthfully, you never feel like you get there.

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Cook blasted an EU ruling that Apple used Irish subsidiaries to avoid billions in taxes, but his defense is only one side of the story.

Cook blasted an EU ruling that Apple used Irish subsidiaries to avoid billions in taxes, but his defense is only one side of the story.

Apple’s business structure and tax practices in Europe were around long before Tim Cook became CEO. He didn’t invent those things, but he’s vigorously defending them. His arguments in media interviews sound compelling, but they present only one side of a hot-button issue that’s easily relatable to the overarching wealth distribution and fair taxation themes of election cycles in both the U.S. and Europe this year.

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The Gear S3 runs Samsung’s Tizen OS and comes in two flavors—one with its own cellular radio and one without.

The Gear S3 runs Samsung’s Tizen OS and comes in two flavors—one with its own cellular radio and one without.

It was almost three years ago that Samsung released the first Galaxy Gear smartwatch. That device had an awkward design and a clunky UX, and its design wasn’t fashioned after traditional wristwatches. It wasn’t treated nicely by the media, and sales were disappointing. What a difference three years makes.

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The decision to nix Trending’s human editors has proven controversial in mere days—but Facebook has long put too much faith in automation.

The decision to nix Trending’s human editors has proven controversial in mere days—but Facebook has long put too much faith in automation.

When Facebook unceremoniously fired the team of human editors responsible for curating its Trending section, surely it didn’t expect to be betrayed by its algorithm so quickly. Facebook laid off all the Trending curators on Friday, under the guise of wanting to reduce bias and “make the product more automated.” The Trending team is being repopulated with engineers, who will oversee the algorithms charged with sussing out Trending content.

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When managers exercise positive psychology, employees and organizations benefit.

When managers exercise positive psychology, employees and organizations benefit.

Every weekday, Cory Ludens starts his morning by writing out three “gratitudes”—each specific, and never repeated. Over the last four years, he has named roughly 400. “It’s just a part of my life,” says Ludens, vice president of culture and events at Mattress Firm, a Texas-based retailer. “It helps me to create a mind-set that I’m going to approach whatever challenges I’m faced with that day in a positive way.”

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Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s interactive Textbook uses smart bots to engage with readers in real time. A new tech lit is born.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s interactive Textbook uses smart bots to engage with readers in real time. A new tech lit is born.

Do you ever feel like your book and your phone are at odds with each other? You begin a new read, only to become distracted—by the ding of an email, a text notification, or the desire to Wikipedia something that piqued your interest in the very book you’re reading. Before you know it, the book is abandoned in favor of the device.

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A handful of industry veterans have launched companies meant to do what the giants don’t: Cater to hardcore athletes.

A handful of industry veterans have launched companies meant to do what the giants don’t: Cater to hardcore athletes.

Thirty-eight-year-old Matt Taylor has been running his entire life. What he loves most about the sport is the competition. When he trains for races, he’s trying to win a medal or at the very least, beat his previous personal record.

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