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4 ways to make yourself indispensable to your boss

Sharon E. Jones Business Management, Services & Risk Management

When a manager gives instructions, a good employee will closely follow the directions and do what she is told. However, a great employee will not only follow the directions that she is given but will also add value, pushing the project along by anticipating the manager’s next step. Your managers are often busy managing multiple aspects of a project. Therefore, you can’t expect your managers to do their jobs and yours. They won’t have time to spell out every single aspect of your project assignment.

Where to invest your 2019 marketing budget

Emma Fitzpatrick Marketing

Digital outpaces every other sector — whether we’re talking about online shopping or overall marketing trends. As you start planning for 2019, you should know that digital’s seemingly exponential growth is continuing, so you should plan on spending more on online efforts. For reference, 82 percent of marketers plan to spend more of their budget on digital media, according to Nielson’s 2018 CMO report. On average, they plan on increasing their digital media budget by 49 percent. To make that happen, 44 percent plan to cut back on their traditional media spending.

Is your big idea the best idea?

Lisa Mulcahy Business Management, Services & Risk Management

You think you've come up with a winning concept that will garner huge profits for your company, so of course you want to get working on its specs ASAP. Not so fast: before going any further, you need to step back and review your idea's merits with an eye toward quality control. According to research, the best concepts have the following factors in common.

Gender equality in the workplace is more than a ‘women’s issue’

Candice Gottlieb-Clark Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Many of us often carry around biases that we don’t even realize. They’re ingrained in us from how we grew up, who our parents are, and from the societal and cultural norms that have been feeding us. As a result, when it comes to equality in the workplace, many of us feel like things are pretty good. In fact, almost half of men and a third of women agree that a mere 10 percent of female senior-level executives is a sufficient amount, according to the 2017 Women in the Workplace study. Is 10 percent of women leadership in business really good enough?

New reasons to establish a rural primary care practice

Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied Healthcare

Many new doctors and established primary care physicians looking to relocate avoid setting up shop in rural areas. In fact, a study from the University of Missouri-Columbia found that only 10 percent of doctors practice in rural communities, and just 3 percent of medical students intend to do so. Why? Bigger profits may be had in large cities, of course. Yet research shows that there are significant upsides to physicians who choose to treat patients in more distant locations. Shift your perspective by considering these important benefits.

The golden rule or the platinum rule?

Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Treating others the way they want to be treated sounds so much less selfish than treating others the way we want to be treated. However, it is not easy. Entire consulting practices and professional certificate programs exist to help us business folk try to decipher how someone else wants to be treated. Even with all this help, we do not always get it right. To understand why, it may help to consider both the golden and platinum rules together.

A quick and definitive guide for mixing business, food and drinks

Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk Management

The holidays are upon us. Among so many other challenges and festivities at work, it also means increased opportunities for blurred lines between business, eating and drinking. Here are a few simple rules to remember in some common situations. For example, even when they can feel like mandatory fun, group meals may be the simplest social scenario to understand and follow the rules. And rule No. 1 is follow the lead.

Don’t toot your own horn? In corporate America, that’s bad…

Patrick Gleeson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Have you ever been up for a promotion you deserved but didn’t get? Maybe it’s because you mistakenly believed your corporation is a meritocracy where great work is always rewarded. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works. Keeping in mind how it actually does work can lead to better future outcomes. A 2016 survey shows that 85 percent of all corporate workers got their job by networking. What’s true about how persons get hired is, if anything, even truer about how people are promoted. It’s not what you know, but who you know and, more importantly, who really knows you.

Stay away from ‘pocket’ associations

Robert C. Harris Association Management

I had not heard the phrase "pocket association" until I was outside the U.S. Nor was I familiar with the statement, "I have an association in my pocket." The saying might be used by a politician or businessman to increase their perceived power or influence. If it sounds like they are seeking to increase their clout — you are right. The associations with which I interact are legitimate. They advance a good cause or mission. They provide value. They rely on a dedicated board of directors. Pocket associations are not so legitimate.

Tech firms vie against range of mobile retail payment systems from banks,…

Bill Becken Retail

A half-decade or so since its introduction, Apple Pay continues to dazzle. It's the best-known of the world's mobile phone, contactless payment systems. And, by introducing new iPhones and iPads each year, Apple keeps its devices popular, stirring the Apple Pay pot. Despite Apple Pay's standing, new bank and bank card mobile apps, among others, have also made their mark on retail payments. Considering the advent of Apple Pay's contactless counterparts for non-Apple phones — Android Pay and Samsung Pay — the existence of a variety of services has been the defining trait of the mobile payments scene.

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