The Miracle of Mistakes
Do you remember the first time you rode a bicycle? Can you relieve the exhilaration of riding free, the sense of triumph as you broke free to the crutches of support? Now step back. How many times did you fall off the bike before that first ride? Today, fear of making mistakes is deeply ingrained in our psyche. At home, mistakes lead to admonishments. At work, mistakes have serious repercussions. ... posted on Jul 27 2010, 7,337 reads

From Untouchable to Businesswoman
Plenty of people visiting Times Square traveled a long way to reach New York, but it's safe to say that few covered anything like the distances Kakuben Lalabhai Parmar had. This is not just a matter of mileage, although it's certainly a hike from Madhutra, a rural village in India's western state of Gujarat, to 42nd Street. At a deeper cultural level, her journey embodies a half-century of global ... posted on Jul 26 2010, 3,600 reads

What They Don't Teach in Business School
When I started this journey, I just wanted to be a carpenter. But I surpassed my wildest dreams and became a builder, a distinction I didn't even know existed when I started. And this realization leads me to one overriding and inescapable truth, that a life well lived must be a creative endeavor. Whatever form that creativity takes whether it's carpentry, building, teaching, raising a family, or w... posted on Jul 12 2010, 5,810 reads

No Money? No Problem!
When people say, "Time is money," they usually don't mean it literally. But Maria Villacresses does. When the economy put a hitch in her wedding plans, she used "time dollars" on everything from a wedding-day makeover to an elaborate seven-layer cake. In a time bank, members get credit for services they provide to other members, from cooking to housekeeping to care rides to home repair. For each h... posted on Jun 26 2010, 2,948 reads

The Benefits of Single-Tasking
Doing several things at once is a trick we play on ourselves, thinking we're getting more done. In reality, our productivity goes down by as much as 40%. We don't actually multitask. We switch-task, rapidly shifting from one thing to another, interrupting ourselves unproductively, and losing time in the process. In this article, a Harvard Business Review blogger Peter Bregman writes about his one-... posted on Jun 17 2010, 11,324 reads

As Good as New
As many great companies do, this one started in a dorm room. Yet the light-bulb idea that emerged from these tight living quarters was... collecting trash? TerraCycle, founded by Tom Szaky, is a company that "upcycles" waste into affordable, eco-friendly products ranging from worm-waste fertilizer to messenger bags and school supplies. A company that has mobilized over 10 million people to collect... posted on Jun 08 2010, 3,414 reads

Pay What You Want
Dawn Frierdich stood at the counter. Surrounded by the rich aroma of freshly baked breads, pastries, and cookies, she finally settled on three loaves of bread and an iced tea. But when it came time to pay, her cashier, Mike Miller, redirected her to the donation jar on the counter. This week, Panera Bread Company, a national bakery and restaurant chain, launched its new nonprofit store in Clayton,... posted on May 21 2010, 4,213 reads

9-Year-Old Entrepreneurs!
9-year-old Neha started off selling handmade greeting cards and wine charms. Now, at 13, her nonprofit has raised $30,000 for orphans in India. 10-year-old Kelly invented the T-Pack (a fanny pack worn on the thigh). Now a millionaire, she teaches entrepreneurship to children, and is an author on the side. Oh, and she's 18. With the internet providing easy access to business innovation websites lik... posted on Apr 20 2010, 5,055 reads

Happiness At Work
He teaches them to be grateful and he wants them to meditate. But Prof. Srikumar Rao's isn't a spiritual teacher: he teaches at some of the world's top business schools! In his gentle voice, he asks his students to stop living in a "me centered" world and start living in an "other centered" one. At a conference in Copenhagen, he spoke of breaking free of the "I'd be happy if ..." mental model, and... posted on Mar 25 2010, 8,149 reads

CEO Gifts His Company To Employees
Scores of employees gathered to help Bob Moore celebrate his 81st birthday this week at the company that bears his name: Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods. Moore, whose mutual loves of healthy eating and old-world technologies spawned an internationally distributed line of products, responded with a gift of his own -- the whole company! By unveiling a new Employee Stock Ownership Plan, Moore's 209 em... posted on Mar 04 2010, 4,893 reads