Do family-friendly policies like childcare subsidies and job sharing increase productivity and profits? Or are they luxuries that hurt the bottom line? A paper (pdf) by Nick Bloom, Tobias Kretschmer, and John van Reenen says the truth lies somewhere in the middle. In their study of more than 450 manufacturing firms in the US and […]
Josh Stumpenhorst, a teacher in the suburbs of Chicago, wrote to share his experience trying implement a FedEx Day, one of the stickiest ideas in the Motivation 3.0 repertoire, in his 6th grade classroom. He dubbed it Innovation Day 2011 and has a great description at his blog, Stump the Teacher. But I wanted to highlight some
Dirk Van Staeyen of Belgium sends these examples of emotionally intelligent signage along with a brief explanation: “I drove home from holiday today and came across these signs (in the Netherlands) on a stretch of highway where roadworks were in progress. These smiley signs are placed 1 kilometer apart from each other, each time showing
History doesn’t repeat itself, but people do. And since people use language, I wonder if post-Bin Laden, Americans will be hearing two phrases from recent history that now have new relevance. 1. Peace dividend. Remember 20 years ago when the Cold War ended? Now that that Soviet Union had been vanquished, all that money we
John Warrillow has been studying entrepreneurs for fifteen years. First as the producer of a syndicated radio show, then as the founder of a research company that surveyed ten thousand business owners each year, and now as an angel investor and columnist for both Inc.com and CBS NEWS. As it happens, he has a terrific
In this February Inc. Magazine article, which I finally got to this weekend, The University of Virginia’s Saras Sarasvathy talks about research she’s done into the thinking styles of accomplished entrepreneurs. The whole piece is worth reading, but I was especially intrigued by her flavorful distinction between entrepreneurial thinking and managerial thinking: “Sarasvathy likes to
To celebrate this month’s publication of the updated, expanded edition of Drive (buy it here, here, or here), we’re launching a cool new project. It’s called “Office Hours” — and here’s how it works: Once a month, I’ll get on the phone — accompanied by an awesome guest — and open the line to take your
Sara Davis sends the following photo, which she took at her apartment complex in Cincinnati. The sign “left me angry,” she says, and “feels invasive and generally icky.” It reminded me of another sign — designed to encourage precisely the same behavior but by encouraging empathy — that I snapped in my neighborhood in Washington,
Ever come up with a great idea for someone else, but find yourself stymied by your own problem? Recent research by Evan Polman of NYU and Kyle J. Emich of Cornell may shed some light on why. In three sets of experiments, they found that when people solved problems on behalf of others, they produced faster
In The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, our hero comes up with what he thinks is a revolutionary, category-busting new idea. Inspired by a passing bird, he decides that his company should make shoes with seeds embedded in them. As the shoe wears out, the seeds are distributed wherever the owner happens to walk. And when
