Business Blog on The Huffington Post

I've got Draghi fever, she's got Draghi fever

We've got Draghi fever, we're in debt

She's gone Dollar crazy, I've gone Euro hazy

Are we still taking this GS puppet seriously?

Well, someone is as the Global Markets are anxiously waiting to hang on every word Draghi says in his speech following the ECB rate non-decision (you heard it here first) at 8:30. The truth is that the Central Banksters are running out of ammunition and have now begun to ask the Governments to reverse the austerity programs they demanded to now stimulate the economies before deflation begins to erode the value of the Bankster's assets, which would collapse their loan to value ratios and lead to BIG TROUBLE in very short order.

The ECB is already running a $1.2 TRILLION bond-buying program, providing up to $70Bn in MONTLY artificial support for Sovereign Debts. Without this backstop - one has to wonder what the real interest rates in Europe would be. All that this form of QE actually accomplishes is allowing countries with very risky credit to borrow more and more money while the population of savers is underpaid on their retirement accounts.

Did I say underpaid? That's an understatement as rates have now gone NEGATIVE as some banks are now charging fees to depositors and paying no interest at all! The official rates in Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark have already gone negative as Governments are pulling out all the stops to get their people to throw their retirement accounts into the stock market or, in the very least - to go spend it on something.

Does that sound insane? Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Along with the ECB decision at 8:30 we'll see the Chicago Fed Report and that, like most Manufacturing Reports of late, is likely to be weak - a very strong indicator that economic momentum is DECLINING during this record QE season, not expanding at all. QE simply does not work - but it's the only play in the Central Banksters' playbook.

Meanwhile, just to keep you up to date:

Germany lowered their own GDP forecast to 1.7%, citing China weakness -

Hong Kong home prices are projected to fall 17% - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

China Capital Outflows are at record highs - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

China is consolidating it's 3 state airlines - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

South Korea's exports dropped 8.4% - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

Vale's net revenue dropped 28% and they lost $2.12Bn - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

Samsung lost $1.3 Trillion Won (vs 15.9Bn profit expected) - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

Honda cancelled an $822M China Plant on slow demand - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

Hyndai's sales to China fell 17.4% - Yet they say China's GDP grew 6.9%

Those are just today's headlines folks! When 16% of the World's economy is obviously a lie - don't you think you should be a bit concerned about what other lies you are being told? As noted by David Stockman:

The odds that these reports represent anything other than goal-seeked propaganda are so overwhelmingly high that they perforce raise another more important question. Why does Wall Street and its servile financial press not issue a loud collective guffaw when they are released?

In truth, Wall Street has become so intellectually addled from its addiction to central bank enabled gambling that it no longer has a clue about what really matters. That’s why the next crash will come as an even greater surprise than the Lehman meltdown, and will be far more brutal and uncontainable, as well.

debt

Indeed, its goes all the way back to Mr. Deng’s moment of enlightenment 25 years ago. That’s when he discovered a printing press in the basement of the PBOC and concluded that communist party power might better be preserved by running these presses red hot than by Mao’s failed dictum that power descends from the white hot barrel of a gun.In any event, why in the world would anyone in their right mind think this crucial chart can be extended toward the right axis much longer. Assume 10 more years of 12% credit growth, for example, and China will have $90 trillion of total debt or 50% more than the already staggering amount carried by the US economy.

On the whole, China is not doing anything different than the ECB, the BOJ or the Fed are doing - they are just ALSO cooking the books to make it look like it's working. As we expected, there was no policy action by the ECB this morning but Draghi said they will do "whatever it takes" to get the economy going and that was all the markets needed to fly higher as the Euro dropped like a rock and sent Euro-priced assets flying higher.

Also, McDonald's (MCD) had a nice beat this morning and is up $8, which is good for about +70 Dow points all by itself so Dow Futures (/YM) are back to 17,200 - where we had fun shorting them yesterday. In fact,. the Futures shortring lines (and rules) we had in effect yesterday still apply today and yesterday our trade ideas from the morning post gained $5,000 before lunch!

We're already short China's ETF (FXI), of course and the stronger Dollar will not be good for oil (we're short) or natural gas (we're long) or gold or silver or copper and it will make for an interesting day. 3M (MMM) and Caterpillar (CAT) both disappointed (also on China) so that should keep the Dow under 17,200 and it's my favorite short this morning.

Be careful out there!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, nearly 540,000 new small businesses start each month. While half of these new ventures will celebrate a five-year anniversary, 70 percent of them will fail within 10 years.

While much has been made about a difficult economy over the last eight years, the fact is most businesses fail not because of a poor business climate or complicated external market forces. They fail because of poor internal leadership.

That might seem harsh, but it's also the reality of business. With over half a million new ventures starting up each month, it stands to reason that not all of them are going to have good leaders, much less great ones.

When entrepreneurs or CEOs turn to me for advice on concrete steps they can take to improve their leadership skills, I share with them these four leadership pillars:

1. Take care of your employees.
Your employees are your company's most important assets, and the first step in taking care of them is to pay a fair wage and provide health insurance. This gives your employees security and peace of mind. They will be able to focus on the company and be less stressed about life at home.

But it doesn't stop with a paycheck. You must constantly demonstrate your concern for everyone pursuing the company's goals. This can be as simple as asking associates how they or their families are doing or as elaborate as holding monthly events geared at boosting team morale. Happy, secure and productive employees are a key component to every success story.

2. Share the plan.
As an executive for most of my professional life, I understand that sometimes you can't give the whole story to your team because a premature announcement may scuttle a deal before it takes off. But secrecy should be the outlier. Keep your team informed of everything as often as possible. Giving a big-picture view can help inspire your employees as well as enable them to make slight adjustments on their own to make sure the course remains steady and the goals within reach.

3. Sweat the small stuff.
Throughout our lives we're told, "don't sweat the small stuff," and instead pay attention to the big things, the big picture. Only worry about big challenges. The problem is, big challenges rarely present themselves out-of-the-blue. Instead, the big things start off as small stuff that went un-sweated and were therefore allowed to fester. Small stuff feeds on inactivity and neglect. I've found that by sweating the small stuff, paying attention to the details, we are better equipped to solve problems before they become catastrophes.

4. Keep in touch.
Never overestimate how much you know about what's going on with your business or your team. Chances are there's a lot more going on than you see. Some of it you need to know, some of it maybe you don't, but by keeping your ear to the ground, proactively checking in with your staff and by remaining accessible so staff can check in with you, you will have at least an understanding of what you need to know inside your company.

These may seem simple, but they're not. They require work. Even at the highest level, a good CEO is often a very good project manager. Because of this, it can be difficult to remember to take the time to step out of what might be your comfort zone and interact with your staff on topics that may have nothing to do with pending projects. But don't settle for that.

A good leader doesn't lead from behind a desk or an email account. A good leader leads from the front, interacting with staff, holding them accountable, making sure they know they're valued and by paying attention to detail.

It's a lot of work, but nobody said leadership was easy or without sacrifice. It will mean missed dinners with the family, losing out on occasional weekends and more than a little stress. But if you follow these tips, it might also mean moving your business from the huge pile of failure statistics to the much smaller pile of success statistics.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

David Ciccarelli is the co-founder and CEO of Voices.com, the online marketplace that connects business people with professional voice over talent. The unique blending of his audio engineering background with business savvy and product development afforded David the creative freedom to pursue his passion for innovation.

Resilience -- the ability to either overcome challenges or bounce back from setbacks -- is huge in the world of startups.

As the CEO and co-founder of a growing company, I've learned that many entrepreneurs face similar challenges, such as finances and building business relationships. I've also learned the hard way while building Voices.com that there's no way to avoid these challenges.

If someone had told me early on that I'd be challenged in these areas, I would have been able to identify these issues not as problems, but as tests that would make my company stronger. To help others working on their own entrepreneurial journeys, I wanted to offer some seasoned advice from two challenges I faced and how I overcame them.

Overcoming Financial Challenges

Money is the often the biggest challenge you face as an entrepreneur, as there is more depending on money than on anything else. Your own name, debt and general state of finances are tied to those of your startup. This is true for anyone who also has a stake in your company, which magnifies the scale of the challenge.

There are difficult choices you need to make every day, from the initial pitch to 10 years down the road (when you are making money and need to figure out what to do with it). It might get easier later on, but in the end you're still required to make choices such as to bootstrap or raise venture capital, to hire or to pass on a candidate, to give out raises, to sign a new contract, etc.

What has helped me navigate this is having a game plan. As someone who takes comfort in planning, I've always had a roadmap of where I wanted to go. My first game plan started on the back of a napkin, and this strategic plan has since evolved into a living document that I update on a regular basis. Having clarity on this has helped the business maintain -- and at times, regain -- focus over the years. The game plan has made it easier to say "No" to distractions and "Yes" to opportunities that align with our mission, vision and values.

Decide from the start how you'll be funding your startup or your next wave of growth -- and exactly what it will take to get there. Based on your past experiences, set guidelines for when to hire a new employee and when to pass. The same principle applies to granting raises. Many of these situations can be overcome with documentation, a written practice to set expectations and communication.

Overcoming Customer Challenges

As you take your first product to market, customer feedback will start rolling in. Anticipate both praise and criticism. Handling praise is easy, and should be done gracefully with gratitude. However, handling criticism is a more touchy subject.

For a truly disruptive business, you'll get pushback from customers and entrenched providers alike, possibly even damaging slander. From my perspective, though, the volume and intensity of the feedback is a great indicator of how much you're innovating within an industry.

As a rule of thumb, take all feedback seriously, but recognize that it's not all valid. Consider your relationship to each source and whether or not that person is qualified to comment. Concerns voiced by actual customers is one thing; criticism from people who do not do business with you is different. Being able to distinguish between customers and critics will help you determine who needs a response and who does not.

I like to thank those who give praise by sending a personalized email or even calling them. By doing so, you'll earn a customer for life and an advocate who may just feel compelled to stand up on your behalf in difficult times.

Navigating criticism should be handled with equal delicacy. As the owner, I feel it's my responsibility to clarify misinformation by connecting one-on-one whenever possible. This might mean getting on the phone or replying to an email. At times, you might even think it's reasonable to jump into the fray via social to provide clarity. This is where you need to consider if the person you are answering is a customer or a critic.

Failing to make this distinction has backfired for me a few times, turning a small issue into something much bigger. Now that I have this customer-or-critic filter, the decision on whether to engage is easier. If they're a customer: Yes. If they're a critic: No. Armed with this filter, you won't go unknowingly into a trap. Critics dig pits that they want you to fall into, so be careful. Remember that there is a time to speak, and a time to be silent.

Being Resilient

I've discovered that resiliency is something you can only learn by spotting the challenge for what it is: a test of your ability to navigate a delicate or complex issue. Being able to push through the pain, although seemingly counterproductive and at times unpleasant, allows you to come through the other side stronger.

Being able to overcome an obstacle takes perseverance, courage and the belief that what you're doing truly matters. Is your business, your idea or your vision worth fighting for? If so, you'll need to be resilient. With each challenge you overcome, you'll find new ways of turning what some might perceive to be a mess, into a masterpiece.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Imagine you're a breastfeeding mother sitting in a long staff meeting. You're getting uncomfortable; you need to excuse yourself to go pump. Your boss, who is leading the meeting, suggests everyone break for 20 minutes. He knows what you need. You make a quick exit and go to the lactation room, a new private space only for breastfeeding moms. Gone are the days where you felt awkward in that walk between desks trying to conceal your little machine to go "hide and pump" in the bathroom.

Or imagine you're an expecting father, about to have your first child. The CEO of your company just took his paternity leave and encourages you to do the same.

Imagine if networks of established male leaders at your company were supported in their aspiration to become the kind of fathers they want to be, and provided the right culture to successfully balance work and family life as they advance in their careers.

Sounds like fantasy, right? But this should be the reality, and it can be. And it's National Work and Family Month, a time when leaders are working harder than ever to bring that reality closer.

That's why I am so proud to announce the first-ever Coalition of American employers to commit to increase their offering of a full range of parental leave and support practices for new parents and their babies. The Working Parent Support Coalition's founding members are U.S.-based divisions and subsidiaries of Barclays, my own company Danone, Ernst & Young, KKR and Nestlé. We launched the Coalition at the Clinton Global Initiative on September 29.

Coalition members are committed to implement a range of parental workplace support practices. These practices range from longer paid parental leave, to providing transition support training to help teams and team members prepare for and enter into parenthood.

One of our Coalition's guiding principles is to do the most you can for working parents, and then commit to do it even better. At Danone, all of our companies in the U.S.A. committed to improving parental benefits with the aspiration of getting to six months of paid parental leave as a part of a multi-year commitment.

Each company's commitment takes into account their unique baseline of current benefits and what each company believes is sustainable; and each shares the requirement that the commitment be new, specific and measurable over a baseline assessment. No effort is too small, and every improvement counts to help improve health and economic outcomes.

We do not wish to reinvent the wheel. There are many companies and organizations with great, proven programs for parental support. We admire those companies and encourage them to join us as examples of best-in-class work that we can learn from. In this Coalition, members will benefit from the wisdom of the many, and the wide range of programs and options we represent encourages each and any potential member company to just dive in.

What's truly special is that we all commit to sharing data and best practices with each other; we will learn together. We're fortunate to have the American Academy of Pediatrics, Cornell University, Working Mother and the Families and Work Institute, which will provide access to their existing resources and tools to help Coalition companies to establish workplace programs to support parents and families with education and guidance.

My vision is that the Coalition's work is about much more than policies that prescribe an amount of time off, for example, but that we can drive corporate culture change that helps parents make the most of the time with their baby. At Danone, our goal is not only to drive revenues but to move the needle when it comes to social progress and health outcomes. We've committed to supporting the World Health Organization's Global Targets to increase rates and duration of breastfeeding. We have a big ambition for this over the next 10 years. And when you look at the data, the leading reason why women stop breastfeeding too early in the U.S. is that they have to go back to work.

Sometimes women have no comfortable place to pump, but sometimes it's about culture change in an organization or office. Words like culture can feel vague: but imagine the breastfeeding mom in that long meeting. Will she feel uncomfortable and judged excusing herself to go pump? That stigma might lead her to stop breastfeeding before she wants to.

And think about those expecting dads. If parenting leave felt like less of a women's issue, if more ambitious fathers felt they could actually take leave without being punished, then they would use the benefits that in many cases they already have. Which in turn drives a greater sense of equality for both men and women.

Benefits and policies only get us so far. Culture must accompany policies, and there is much work to be done.

My wish is that 10 years from now we will be in a very different place, and that what seems like a fantasy for today's new parents simply becomes the new normal.

To learn more about the coalition, go here.

Luciana Nunez is the CEO of Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition in the US. She conceived of the Working Parent Support Coalition with CGI.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The recent $49 billion acquisition of DirecTV provides AT&T the ability to serve specific "addressable" ads to some 12 million households. Combined with AT&T's audience targeting platform called Blueprint, this gives AT&T the ability to target some 26 million homes in the U.S., explains Mike Welch Head of Strategy, Product and Business Development at AT&T AdWorks, in this interview with Beet.TV

The new offering is called Addressable Plus.

We interviewed him last month at an event about the future of addressable TV presented by AT&T AdWorks in association with Beet.TV Please find more videos here

You can find this post on Beet.TV.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

2015-10-21-1445455253-6739447-womantightropedoublebinds.jpg

This true story was shared with me recently by a friend. A young lawyer worked long hours, did great work, served on firm committees and got along with clients and colleagues. At her performance review, the senior partner noted all of these strengths. But he identified one "area of improvement": "You are lacking in humility," he said.

I don't know the young woman attorney personally, so I can't swear she was not an obnoxious braggart. More likely, though, she (a Millennial) displayed confidence. That is one of the attributes associated with (and expected of) good managers. But it doesn't fit with cultural expectations of women. So, I suspect the "double bind" is at play. The double bind is the tightrope women must walk. If they work and behave in feminine ways, they are not seen as leaders. If they act in masculine ways (or too masculine or too often), they are disliked.

As General Counsel of a public company, I once got this feedback: "You have an edge." Now I worked on the C-level team with all men and all of them were outspoken, assertive and tough. I had the presence of mind to ask, "Compared to whom?" I felt sure I didn't have an edge compared to my colleagues.

Successful managers and leaders are expected to show confidence, dominance, assertiveness and competitiveness, says a study by Stanford School of Business. The study concludes that women are rewarded for displaying these masculine traits - IF they can "self-monitor" and also operate in feminine ways.

Here's the double bind. Women who are humble, deferential, collaborative and self-deprecating are not seen as leaders - regardless of their accomplishments. That is exactly what we learn from our culture that women are supposed to be! Women who are confident are "lacking in humility" -- or aggressive or pushy.

The recent spread in the Wall Street Journal asks "What's Holding Women Back?" (The articles respond to the study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.com on the slow progress of women reaching the leadership levels of U.S. business.). The "double bind" is one reason. Women can't act like we expect leaders to act and be liked. It is a delicate balance that only women must face.

I want men and women to become aware of the unconscious mindsets that put women in this and other binds. (Yes, women have them, too.) We know we have a blind spot when we are driving a car; we may not know of a truck approaching behind -- so we check. If we know we have unconscious ways of thinking that create obstacles for women, we can stop our kneejerk response. We can stop ourselves before forming the thought that she "lacks humility" - and ask how we'd respond to the same behavior in a man.

Do you expect women to be more humble? Do you like confident women?

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

According to a Chapman University survey on American fears, our top phobias are public speaking, heights, and bugs. (Fear of clowns rolled in fourth on the Chapman list, but is number one on my personal scared-sh*tless-o-meter.)

Most people panic the instant they realize they must, at some later date, speak in public. Personally, I don't freak out until I step out of the car at the venue and walk the green mile to the podium. Since my novel was released in June, I have been on a "book tour" -- a loosely organized schedule of speaking engagements designed to give me just the right amount of time between events to forget any validating feelings of adequacy and success that I may have had after a good talk, and focus instead on all that could go wrong at the next one.

The pithy tips I've been given, like "imagine the audience in their underwear," "drink plenty of fluids," "wear a favorite article of clothing," and my personal favorite, "snap a rubber band across your wrist to distract yourself from anxiety," have been more problematic than useful.

The first time your former brother-in-law walks in and you spit a mouthful of hydrating Evian across your notes while your rubber band zings the lady in the first row across the eyeball, you realize that people are staring at you, and not because they admire your lucky blouse.

If our number one fear is public speaking, then, ipso facto, nearly everyone must be afraid to do so. So when you stand on the dais and stare blankly into the audience like a cow at dusk, people are thinking, "Holy crap, I could never do that." Boom. You are a hero. No one needs to know that you begged your boss to send someone else, faked your own death, or downed an entire bottle of Imodium and still have the runs.

Here are a few tips that have helped me overcome my anxiety, and actually enjoy the public speaking experience:

Know your topic.

Memorize three key points about your subject that you could spout in your sleep. No matter what happens, or what someone might ask if there's a Q&A involved, you can always expand on your three main points even if you have forgotten everything else.

I once heard a CNN newsman ask George W. Bush about similarities between the war in Iraq and Vietnam, to which Dubya replied, "I'm so glad you asked that. I thought you were going to ask me about the Medicare drug benefit program we just signed into law. The Medicare drug benefit program I just signed into law is the greatest expansion of..." Bush went on to speak for five minutes about that without ever addressing the reporter's question.

Genius. Use it.

Get organized.

Write and rewrite your notes until they are perfectly organized on index cards or papers that are numbered and impossible to mix up.

Create a checklist: glasses if you need them, two sets of notes -- in two places on your person in case your purse or satchel is snatched (or you encounter a clown and drop everything into the sewer), Imodium (for obvious reasons), Chapstick or Vaseline so your lips don't stick to your teeth, business cards, and any props or visual aids you use in your presentation.

Be 100 percent clear on the location of your event and how to get there. Mapquest or GPS the route days prior to the event, then print the directions in case an electromagnetic disturbance on Mars wipes out our satellites, rendering GPS useless. Figure out how long it will take to get there, at that time of day or night, and allow an extra 30 minutes in the event of traffic, lack of parking, or another trip to the restroom.

Gas up the car earlier in the day. You don't want to risk being late or smelling like gasoline at your event.

Practice makes perfect.

Stand and rehearse aloud. Over and over. This will usually create the need to modify your notes. If there are words you trip on, now is the time to highlight the words or write them out phonetically.

Rewrite your notes in "breaths" or paragraphs of "dialog" that mimic your speaking style. If you take a breath after two sentences, or after you've made a particularly strong point, place spaces in your notes accordingly.

Highlight or "bold" words you want to emphasize. Seriously, do it over and over, aloud, rewriting the notes until you can deliver what's on the page effortlessly and with the emphasis you want.

Embrace silence.

The most powerful people on earth rely on silence rather than words to make their most dramatic points. Whether you are speaking about widgets or financial planning, begin with a rhetorical question such as "what is a widget?" Then pause dramatically for a few seconds while you glance from person to person.

Watch the body language. People will sit up straighter. You will almost be able to see the cogs turn in their brains. The silence will have given you power. Anything you say thereafter will seem more important. It's a cool little trick. It also buys you a little time for a couple of deep breaths, which will lower your blood pressure and give you the further appearance of not being nervous.

If you have lost your place, or your mind has suddenly gone blank, again, pretend it was part of your plan. Stop fully. Take a sip of water. Regroup mentally. People will think you're "saying something" with the silence. Let 'em!

Close big.

Everyone likes a compliment. When it's all said and done, take one last deep breath and tell the audience that you were a little nervous about your presentation, but this audience, these wonderful, receptive folks made you feel completely comfortable. Give them a little applause, and they'll applaud you doubly, because 99 percent of them are thinking, "I could never do that."

One thing I'm not terribly nervous about is writing, and this week I received the best review of my novel ever -- from Windy City Reviews! Read it here.
Visit Pam's website.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

"I represent a couple facing the foreclosure of their home...My clients' loan is currently being calculated as a daily simple interest loan which is causing them to be in default...Attached is a copy of the note, deed of trust, and a payment history..."

Your clients had terrible payment habits, which made them ill-equipped to handle a simple interest mortgage (henceforth "SIM").

A borrower with disciplined payment habits can manage a SIM at virtually the same cost as a standard mortgage with the same rate and term, but few borrowers have the required discipline. Most will slip up now and then, which will cost them more than the standard mortgage would have in the same circumstances. And for some borrowers, the SIM can be a financial quicksand from which they can never extricate themselves. This was the case for your clients.

The Major Issue Is Disclosure: There is nothing wrong with the SIM being an option that the borrower can choose, provided that the differences between the SIM and the standard mortgage are clearly disclosed. The borrower who selected the SIM would then understand the differences, and would adjust her budgetary practices to them. But I have yet to see a SIM being offered in transparent fashion. The practice is to foist the SIM on a borrower who doesn't understand the difference, which is inexcusably sneaky. And in some cases, standard mortgages are converted to SIMs because the note allows it, which is even less excusable and should be illegal.

The Major Difference Is In the Calculation of Interest Due: The calculation of the monthly payment on a SIM and a standard mortgage is the same. For example, on a 30-year loan for $100,000 with a rate of 6%, the monthly payment is $599.56 in both cases.

The major difference is that the interest due is calculated monthly on the standard mortgage, and daily on the SIM. On the standard mortgage, the 6% is divided by 12, converting it to a monthly rate of .5%. The monthly rate is multiplied by the loan balance at the end of the preceding month to obtain the interest due for the month. In the first month, it is $500.

On the SIM version, the annual rate of 6% is divided by 365, converting it to a daily rate of .016438%. The daily rate is multiplied by the loan balance to obtain the interest due for the day. The first day and each day thereafter until the first payment is made, it is $16.44.

The SIM Accrual Account: The $16.44 is recorded in a special accrual account, which increases by that amount every day. No interest accrues on this account, which is why it is called "simple interest". When a payment is received on a SIM, it is applied first to the accrual account, and what is left over is used to reduce the balance. When the balance declines, a new and smaller daily interest charge is calculated. But if the payment is not large enough to pay off the accrual account, the balance and interest rate remain unchanged and the accrual account continues to grow.

Budgetary Implications: Borrowers who pay every month on day 1 reduce their loan balance on a SIM almost as well as on a standard mortgage. Over 30 years, they will have to pay a month or two longer, due to leap years which add an extra day's interest to the tab.

SIM borrowers who persistently pay early will pay off the balance before the scheduled term. Persistent early payment is the way to beat the SIM. Aside from avoidance, it is the only way.

Borrowers who persistently pay late do much worse with a SIM. The SIM borrower who persistently pays on day 10, for example, won't pay off the 30-year 6% loan until the 32nd year.

Borrowers with erratic payment habits fare the worst of all because of the likelihood that at some point their payment won't cover the amount in the accrual account. That is the quicksand that your clients fell into. They fell so far behind that they could never catch up, and ended up owing far more than they had borrowed originally.

Recognizing a SIM When You See One: Your clients claim that they were never told that they were getting a SIM. I examined their note, and there is nothing in it that indicates it was a SIM. For example, the rate shown in the note is the annual rate divided by 12, which gives the monthly rate. The daily rate used in a SIM is not shown in the note. That it is permissible to show a monthly rate in the note but charge the borrower a daily rate is a glaring deficiency of the disclosure rules.

A Message to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB): Your new mortgage disclosure requirements continue to allow lenders to be ambiguous on whether the mortgage described in their notes is a standard monthly accrual type, or a SIM. This would be really easy to fix.

For more information on Simple Interest Mortgages , mortgages in general, or to shop for a mortgage in an unbiased enviroment, visit my site The Mortgage Professor.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Sports fans love their sports teams and players and this intense love leads some fans to want to partake in the ongoing action of sports game play by participating in daily fantasy sports. Participating in the ongoing game play action of sports, means that many participants of fantasy sports are spending a lot of money to be involved in the intense competition involving statistics, game theory and large cash prizes.

Millions of fans are participating in daily fantasy sports, which has led to the formation of a Fantasy Sports Trade Association. An accurate number is approximately 56.8 million participating players in the U.S. and Canada as of 2015. The constant need for continued updates and statistical analysis means that people invest a significant amount of time and money into fantasy sports. The average annual spending among participants is $465. But why exactly is daily fantasy sports so popular?

The popularity is due to fans feeling like they have a real stake in the performance of their selected players and their assembled teams. The money that can be won for winning in fantasy competition plays a big part in the growth of fantasy sports but emotional attachment is also a huge factor within the growing obsession. When participant's selected players and assembled teams do well, they feel as if their knowledge plays a huge role in their winning process. People who engage in fantasy sports see themselves as sports strategist, a mix of team owner and general manager who understands the dynamics of player performances from week to week.

The intense desire for fantasy sports players to win extends beyond watching actual game play. They are analyzing statistics daily in order to be well prepared for game day so that they can make the right decisions about their fantasy roster. Fantasy players frequent Daily Fantasy Cafe, which provides tons of information, that helps fantasy sports participants stay up to date about the latest news and performances of the players on their assembled teams. This type of ongoing coverage of game play performances and player statistics help to further intensify the obsession people have about fantasy sports.

There is a great deal of money being made in the daily fantasy sports industry due to this growing obsession. The two biggest providers in the marketplace, FanDuel and DraftKings are both valued at over $1 billion. This is due to so many active participants being heavily invested in the competition of fantasy sports. This leads to investment capital pouring in to help cultivate the continued growth of fantasy sports players. One key reason for investment capital is because of the entry fees that fantasy players pay in the hopes of winning large cash prizes. The average entry fees range from $50- $100 but some fees can reach upwards of thousands of dollars. And with millions of people paying entry fees to participate in competition, this adds up to a $3 billion industry for the year 2015.

Estimations are that fantasy sports will grow into a $14 billion industry by 2020. This tremendous amount of money being generated, has helped to attract particular investment interest and dollars. FanDuel has raised over $360 million from investors, which include: Comcast, Time Warner and the NBA. DraftKings has raised $375 million from investors, which include: Fox Networks, Robert Kraft (Patriots team owner) and Madison Square Garden.

Daily fantasy sports is only expected to continue to grow, which leagues and networks hope will help to increase viewership of their entertainment product. Fantasy sports is a win-win situation for most who are involved in the activity of the industry, except for those who lose their money. But even with the odds of losing being on the table, people are still willing to throw their money into the competition pool because of the lucrative cash prizes given out. And due to competitive nature being so high, which fuels the desire for continual participation and an intense need to win.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

What do you most want from your job? More money? Opportunities for a promotion? Job security? Flexibility? If you're like most people who are asked this question, chances are the number one thing you want from your work is meaning. That's right, more than money, promotions, job security or even flexibility, we want to know that what we do has purpose in the world.

Researchers have found that leaders can help make people's work more meaningful by giving them the freedom to make choices, opportunities for variety and challenge, giving regular feedback and ensuring people can see things through from start to finish. But as important as each of these factors are, studies are finding there's one that matters even more.

Want to know how you can ensure your people are experiencing meaning and purpose in their work?

The number one predictor of finding meaning in our jobs is the belief that what we do positively impacts others. The good news is that in most case our jobs do have a positive impact, however often we're too far away from the people who use our products or services to really understand how what we do benefits others.

For example, as you can imagine sitting in a call center at a university asking alumni for donations is pretty repetitive work, with very low autonomy and plenty of rude customers. As a result people don't generally stay in these roles for very long.

Assuming that employees are ultimately self-interested, most managers try to improve the callers' jobs by offering performance incentives like pay increases, promotions, and bonuses -- none of which has been found to makes the work any more enjoyable or the callers more productive. And less than 1% of managers surveyed believed that showing callers how their work makes a difference would be of any value to the employee or the outcomes being achieved.

Until, Professor Adam Grant at Wharton Business School ran an interesting series of experiments.

It turned out that just a five minute conversation with a student who had received a scholarship from some of the money raised by the university call center staff was enough to create a sense of purpose in their otherwise tedious work. After hearing how their calls could make a positive difference in someone's life, on average callers doubled the number of calls they were making and weekly revenue increasing from around $411 to $2083.

That's more than 400% just because they saw the potential positive impact for each call they were making.

Professor Grant suggests there are three basic mechanisms leaders should leverage when it comes to creating more meaningful work for the teams:

Show your people how their work benefits others. In some fields this is easy to achieve. For example, Medtronic's annual holiday party invites patients to share their stories about how the company's medical technologies have improved their lives. But even when a company's contribution might be less dramatic, real-life examples can also make an important difference for people. For example, Wells Fargo ask customers to describe for their bankers how a loan has helped them to buy a house or make a dream possible and Facebook shares the stories of friends and families that have been reunited with their engineers.

When was the last time your team actually heard how what they did benefitted the people you serve?

Share how others appreciate your people's work. We all share the same deep psychological need to be respected, valued and appreciated. When the Olive Garden shares customer's letters describing how they chose to celebrate a meaningful event at their restaurants, staff members are reminded of the value of their work. At Let Go Publications, where editors revise travel books, managers circulate letters from readers who have relied on the company's advice to explore new countries and experience new cultures.

When was the last time you shared feedback with your team about the positive impact they're efforts had for others?

Help your people develop a deeper understanding of your customer's problems and needs so they feel committed to helping them. For example, Microsoft have found that after meeting end users face-to-face, developers better empathize with the challenges they face and are more motivated to design software with users in mind.

When was the last time your team talked with your customers or end users and had the opportunity to ask how their work could be of better service?

Grant suggests that giving your employees a sense of meaning and purpose in their work can't just be an intellectual exercise where you as the leader describe why what they do matters. Instead, he recommends finding ways to outsource this inspiration so your people can vividly understand the impact of their work.

So what could you do to make work more meaningful for yourself and others?

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Democrats were right all along! Keynesianism has triumphed! Conservative supply-side economic policies have failed repeatedly and tax cuts for the rich only contribute to income inequality and statistically insignificant economic growth, according to studies.

Republicans are wrong with regard to economics, like they are wrong with regard to so many social issues. In fact, conservatives have already successfully buried the study which revealed their signature economic policy as a failure.

According to an article in the Business Insider the former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Olivier Blanchard, admitted that the austerity policies imposed on European nations as a remedy for the Great Recession were a blunder.

In other words, the conservative economists were wrong and such policies, as have been observed, have led to declines in economic growth. Debt only becomes more of a burden than otherwise when a country's economy is retrenching.

As evidence, one can look at the effects of austerity measures in Greece. According to the Business Insider: "As Anand Gopal recently reported in The New Yorker, average family income has plunged to 2003 levels, and forty percent of Greek children now live below the poverty line."

Rarely do bureaucracies like the IMF admit error. In fact, the organization has long been criticized for pushing free-market oriented solutions which ignore local conditions and which advocate "cutting public spending and increasing taxes even when the economy is weak, to bring budgets closer to a balance." Such policies are the very definition of austerity and the IMF has proven inflexible in its application of this policy!

However, the debate between economists gets technical. It has centered around the Keynesian "multiplier, - the size of the stimulus to the economy that's generated by increasing government spending during flat or declining economic times," according to the Business Insider.

Commonsensically, when the government spends money, for example, paying construction workers to build a bridge, that money circulates in the economy as the workers buy groceries, perhaps make home repairs, or buy a new car. Such spending stimulates the economy resulting in more spending than otherwise and subsequent economic growth.

According to the Business Insider:

"Keynes said that the "multiplier" effect of increased government spending is sufficiently large to more-than-counteract the negative economic effect of adding to the government's debt during an economic downturn. Conservative economists assume instead that the multiplier is too small to counteract that negative effect."

"The new "IMF Working Paper," titled "Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers," prepared by Blanchard and Daniel Leigh of their Research Department, reports that whereas the IMF had been accepting conservative economists' estimates that the multiplier was "about 0.5" percent growth, the "actual multipliers were substantially above 1 early in the crisis," which was the period when the IMF was recommending and pursuing "fiscal consolidation," which is called in the United States "austerity.""

"In other words, the policy recommended by the Republican Party's economists, and which has actually been tried especially in Europe, has failed miserably."

Another similar study, focused on U. S. economic history, has confirmed the findings. The study was concerned with supply-side economics which combine budget cuts for programs that help the poor and middle class with tax cuts for the wealthy. According to the study by the Congressional Research Service:

"There is not conclusive evidence, however, to substantiate a clear relationship between the 65-year steady reduction in the top tax rates and economic growth. Analysis of such data suggests the reduction in the top tax rates have had little association with saving, investment, or productivity growth. However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution."

Of course, Senate Republicans objected so the Congressional Research Service timidly withdrew the report. The conservative mindset sometimes collides with reality, outside of the Fox News echo chamber, and the result is denial, obstructionism, and misrepresentations!

Just as when the Center for Disease Control came out with study after study linking guns with increased violence, the Congressional Republicans de-funded the research. Just as when government scientists raised alarms about climate change during the Bush administration, they were censored. Conservatives have an inflexibility of mind that is typical of authoritarian personalities.

But tax cuts for the wealthy are really the only economic policy Republicans are selling and it is rhetorically packaged for the masses in terms of a rising tide lifting all boats. The only thing is the tide is only rising for the wealthy and the poor and middle class are left to tread water or drown. A better description of conservative economic policies is "a rising tide lifts all yachts."

The only certainty is that there is too much cognitive dissonance involved for conservatives to ever admit the truth. If they just admitted their economic policies were designed to make the wealthy even wealthier, it would at least be a novel approach for its audacious honesty. Instead, they couch their arguments in terms of economic populism saying the wealth somehow "trickles down" when instead it defies gravity and does not. Once again, reality has a well-known liberal bias!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Now China has lowered their lending rates - again!

That's right, first thing this morning, the PBOC announced another 0.25% rate cut at 7:30 this morning along with a 50 basis point reduction in reserve requirements AND completely removed the bank deposit rate ceiling. That, of course, sent our Futures flying and, as I noted yesterday, is surely more proof that China's 6.9% GDP growth numbers are legitimate - Central Banks always panic with massive quantitative easing when their economy is growing 6.9% per year, right?

Fortunately, we had flipped long on the Russell (/TF) futures into yesterday's close at 1,155 and those punched up $1,000 per contract gains but, unfortunately, we were short on the S&P (/ES) futures at 2,050 and those are down $1,000 per contract at 2,070. So, what do we do? We take the profits from /TF and buy more /ES shorts at 2,070, of course! By the way, the replay of Tuesday's Live Futures Trading Webinar is HERE.

Our weekly live trading webinars are occasionally free (Tuesday's was) but are part of the service provided to followers of our Options Opportunity Portfolio over at Seeking Alpha. Even though we got this week "wrong" by working our way into neutral (down $300 since last weekend's review) it's because we are protecting what are now $18,645 in gains (18.6%) on closed positions since our August 8th inception date:

Many of these may seem familiar to readers of our morning posts, as we often discuss similar position in our morning reports but it's inside the Member Site where we mark the actual trades, live, while the markets are open and then track them in virtual portfolios like this one. Oddly enough, the ultra-short Nasdaq ETF (SQQQ) has been one of our biggest winners but it's also our biggest current loser on the open side. We'll be repositioning those this morning on the super-spike back to 5,000 (about 4,625 on /NQ).

As you can see, our other big winner was Dow ETF (DIA) longs. We're just as happy to make money on the long side as the short. Today we just feel a lot more comfortable being short - especially coming into the weekend off another round of stimulus and back to Nasdaq 5,000, right back to where we were before we fell 800 points in mid-August.

But that was so 2 months ago - this time is different, right?

You can see on this chart why we chose to go long on the Russell, it was lagging the other indexes in getting back over the 100-day moving average and, because we learned how to trade the futures - rather than sit on the wrong side of the trade AFTER hearing strong earnings from Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) and missing the after-hours pop in the Nasdaq, we were still able to grab the Russell Futures (/TF) AFTER HOURS! THAT is why you should ABSOLUTELY learn how to trade the Futures - it was free money! Don't you want free money when it's being handed out?

As I said, we're short here (2,070 on /ES and 1,165 on /TF and 4,625 on /NQ) because Nasdaq 5,000 is a bit ridiculous after starting the month at 4,500. THIS IS NOT CHINA!! Our markets are supposed to be traded rationally and not subject to manipulation. Instead, we run up because the Fed chose not to tighten and we run up because economic data is so bad we assume the Fed can't tighten in October either (wrong, by the way) and run up because Draghi says Europe is doing well but needs more easing and then we run up because China says their GDP is growing 6.9% but they have to have emergency rate cuts and lower reserve requirements.

Do those things make sense to you taken together? I'm not advocting shorting the market - that would be crazy, as you can't fight the combined efforts of the World's Central Banksters. I am advocating keeping your long positions well-hedged and, at this level, perhaps taking some of that long money off the table.

While ~~Google~~ Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft all had fantastic earnings yesterday, none of them are very dependent on China - so they have nothing to do with what's affecting the other 497 S&P companies. Those 3 companies alone, since 4pm yesterday, have gained $100Bn in market cap. Now, clearly there haven't been $125Bn worth of transactions to back that up - not even $12Bn and, in an average day, those 3 stocks only trade about $12Bn worth of shares - only 10% of what they have now been marked up to.

This is why we short at times like this. Imagine a guy on the street is selling bottles of water for $2 a bottle. Usually you would pass him by but maybe it's hot and you'd rather have water now than find a store where it's $1.25. On a hot day, maybe he sells half of the 100 bottles he has on his cart but he's got a warehouse with 10,000 of them that he bought for $1 each. In general, he could tell an investor that his warehouse stock is worth $20,000 because he has a good expectation of eventually selling all 10,000 for $2 - nothing wrong with that logic - to a point.

HOWEVER, maybe on a very hot day he sells out and maybe when there's only 10 bottles left, right when he's about to close, there's a bidding war and people offer him $3 or $4 for his last bottles. Is that man now justified in telling you his entire warehouse stock of water is now worth $40,000? Just because he sold a couple of bottles at $4 during an unusual situation does not mean he should expect to sell 10,000 more at panic prices, does it?

Well, that's what the the market is doing. In thin, after-hours trading, AMZN shot up 10% and GOOG shot up 12% and MSFT shot up 10% but are there really enough people to support what is now a combined $1,000,000,000,000 valuation of the three? I would say do their combined earnings support a $1Tn valuation but let's talk about the overpriced elephant in the room - Amazon (we're net short).

AMZN earned 0.17 per $564 share last night and the stock jumped $55 on that news. That's 323 TIMES the amount of earnings per share that they INCREASED above the 3,317 TIMES 0.17 they were already priced at. Now do you see why we were short and will stay short (shorter, in fact) on this news?

Let's say, for argument's sake, that AMZN can double that 0.17 profit to 0.34 per share and that they sustain it for 4 quarters. That would be $1.36 per $618 share for a p/e ratio of 454 - around 30 TIMES more than GOOG, AAPL or MSFT or any retailer or pretty much any real stock - let alone one that's been around for 21 years and, frankly, isn't growing all that fast:

AMZN LOST 0.12 in Q1 and made 0.19 in Q2 and now have made 0.17 in Q3. That's 0.24 for the year so far and last December they made 0.45 so let's assume they blast up to 0.70 (up 55%) - that's still not even $1 per $620 share! Come on people - be realistic, this is ridiculous! And this is not sour grapes because our short position on AMZN is an April spread and we'll be fine - this was ridiculous when we toot the position and only more so now.

If Google had AMZN's valuation it would be trading at $18,000 per share with their $30 in earnings. Tim Cook (pictured above)'s AAPL would $6,000 ($10/share) and MSFT ($3/share) $1,800 so either those stocks are drastically underpriced or Amazon's valuation is stupid - we report, you decide! The thing that really pisses Tim Cook off is that AAPL accounts for 10% of AMZN's sales yet AAPL (we're long) trades at less than a 12x multiple to forward earnings.

The last time we saw disparities this stupid was 1999 and there were plenty of people then who had 27 8×10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence to explain to you why paying 600 times earnings for dot com stocks was a great move for your portfolio. The Nasdaq was at 5,000 then too!

Have a great weekend,

- Phil

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Remote is the wave of the present. We are all doing it. Heck, I'm doing it right now.
I love remote work because it allows me to create a customized environment that keeps me focused and requires no commute.

Remote working also helps my company with hiring. The highly skilled people we want on our teams are scattered around the world and enabling remote work means we lower a significant barrier to having them join us.

There are clear benefits of face-to-face work of course but I've found that those benefits can all be had without asking everyone to be at the office all the time.

I know I'm not alone in the observation that remote work is inevitable and desirable -- the great folks at Basecamp (nee 37Signals), have literally written the book on remote working and there's been plenty of public debate about it. Yahoo! even created a ton of controversy a couple years ago by doing away with remote working.

Still I find that remote work is usually done poorly or not at all.

Offices are the reflexive norm because it can be hard to feel like a "real" company, or like you have a "real" job, if you don't gather in the same place each day. But the decision to have an office can often reflect a lack of imagination and a regression to the mean more than anything else.

Remote work doesn't need to be complicated, and it can pair easily with office work.

The software development company I work for has an office but we allow people to work wherever they prefer, as they deem necessary. We view office is a tool we offer to employees, but we care only about the results we produce for our clients, not where they were produced.

This work style helps us maintain a customer and value focus. It also allows for more individual autonomy. Autonomy is one of the most motivational qualities a workplace can offer, and flexibility around work location is one of the easiest ways to add it.

Here are 3 things ways you can get the most out of remote work:

1. Don't Chat, Iterate
When we meet face-to-face we've got paper, a whiteboard, or a napkin to sketch out what we're working on. We all look at the same thing and sketch and talk until we all agree -- hopefully. Getting aligned after all is the main reason to meet.

When meeting remotely we don't have the luxury of being able to just grab a pen, and white-boarding apps tend to add complexity rather than remove it.

Working on a shared document in Github for code, InvisionApp for design, or Google docs for documents and presentations is one of the most effective forms of collaboration.

Working together on a document can is a great way to achieve focus and avoid distractions when meeting remotely. It can be more effective than a whiteboard because it requires more structured thinking; a document will surface assumptions, disagreements, and fuzzy thinking so they can be discussed and clarified.

Pro Tip: Pairing -- Open a shared cloud-based document, put on headphones for a voice channel (phone or Skype) with your partner, and edit the document together for an hour or two. It will feel awkward at first, but will also create some of the best focus and productivity you have ever experienced.

2. Be Visible
Rich communication is the main benefit of face-to-face work; you have serendipitous conversations, hear nuance in the way something is said, and overhear other conversations you might have otherwise missed.

But this rich environment can also generate distractions and expensive interruptions.

Making your work and your conversations visible can help create a more rich remote environment and a more open culture.

The trick is to make it easy for others to see what you're doing, but not overwhelm or interrupt them. Two tools I find essential are an open and visible calendaring system, and a threaded conversation platform. Like everyone else these days we use Google and Slack.

Pro Tip: Transparency -- Try eliminating internal emails and move to Slack for conversations within your organization. I also keep my to do list in Trello and keep it open to the entire company. No one taps me on the shoulder to ask what I'm doing, they can just find out themselves. This kind of transparency forces accountability and builds community.

3. Get Face-to-Face
I know I'm cheating with this one, but the truth is that people need to have a physical experience of each other in order to create strong connections. Even a small amount of face-to-face time can make remote communication much more valuable.

The most productive organizations I've ever worked with have a balance of in-person, remote, synchronous and asynchronous work styles. It is not all or nothing.

Pro Tip: Periodic Face-to-Face -- Bring people together on a regular cadence to share workspace, planning sessions, and meals. One week, a few times a year, is enough to dramatically improve communication in a distributed team. You'll get a lot of work done and your team will bond. An email from someone you've had a meal with is easier to interpret and less likely to create upset.

Pro Tip: Temporary Face-to-Face -- For smaller projects, consider bringing everyone together for the whole project duration. I find one week full-time face-to-face to be far more productive than a month remote at 50% allocation. So rather than team members 20 hours a week for a month, consider allocating them 40 hours for one week and bring them together.

Pro Tip: A/V Face-to-Face -- When you've got two persistent teams in different locations, and similar time zones, consider putting each in their own team room and connecting the rooms with webcams, wall-mounted televisions, and an always-on conference line. This works surprisingly well and can almost create a single-room feel.

Your Takeaway
Remote working can be incredibly productive for you and your team. It can also greatly ease your hiring. But for it to work well you need to think clearly and create good habits.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Take a moment to look around the next time you're in a meeting, at a social event, waiting in line or walking down the street. You'll likely find yourself surrounded by people staring at a smartphone or other digital device. Chances are you'll join them. What's going on here?

Technology's hold on all of us is powerful -- and according to a new book that's getting a lot of attention - that hold may be harmful in both our professional and personal lives. In her new book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, Sherry Turkle suggests that with the advent of smart technology and the ever-present digital distractions in our pockets and purses, the "fear of missing out" has emerged as an almost infectious cultural tension. As a cousin to boredom, the fear of missing out drives many of us to our devices to check emails, log onto Facebook, hop on an app or consult our RSS feeds. Like yawning, it feels contagious.

This isn't connection -- this is interruption. Worse, the message we send to others when we constantly check our devices in their presence is that we fear we've made the wrong decision about how to spend our time.

The Myth of Multitasking

As if the fear of missing out isn't reason enough to explain our device addiction, it has a corollary, too: the idea that we can focus our attention on several things at once. In a world of countless screens and news feeds vying for our attention, we've convinced ourselves that multitasking isn't just something that's possible, it's a virtue. However, research shows that multitasking is a myth. It's performance-destroying, not performance-enhancing. It divides our attention, splits our focus and spreads us too thinly.

The breakneck pace that drives our society, and all too often our workplaces, throws up roadblocks to meaningful face-to-face communication. So we rely on shooting off a quick text in the name of productivity and efficiency. We can tap out a response in less than 30 seconds and get back to the other five tasks we were working on. Some might argue that this is a perfect example of engaging with our peers. Yet, at a deeper level, this robs us of a crucial chance to understand the human complexity of the world around us and truly engage with our environment.

Maybe it's time to try stepping away from the productivity and efficiency of your desk now and then, and open ourselves up to cultivating relationships. It may take more than 30 seconds, but the benefits are compelling.

Your Presence Is Requested

Real connections and real conversations require real "presence." This doesn't mean physical proximity - although that's often ideal. One of the benefits of technology is it lets us connect with people near and far. "Real presence" happens in conversations when we are fully engaged.

Engagement means actively listening to what's being said, not just for an opportunity to insert yourself into the discussion. It's about listening to other people's' needs, tone, frustrations or aspirations and reading their facial features and body language as they speak. It's listening to understand on a deeper level, and that requires your full presence, not just being present.

One way to ensure you're doing this is by putting down your devices. Close your browsers while you're on a call to avoid distraction. Leave your phone and laptop at your desk when you step into a conference room so you aren't tempted to sneak a glance. Implement a no-device-at-the-dinner-table policy. Turn off your PDAs an hour before bed and clear the mind.

Here are a few suggestions to help make the technology detox more manageable and natural:

Strengthen -- and lengthen -- your attention span. Make it easier to go unplugged by challenging yourself to do without the devices - at home and in the office. You can start with an hour or two and work your way up, but like breaking a caffeine addiction, this will take consistency and dedication.

Push yourself to have one "real" conversation each day. Get beyond the surface-level small talk and really listen to your peers -- offer advice later.

Create connections where they haven't existed. Go out of your way to meet with someone you don't closely work with and have them tell you about their job, challenges and successes.

Become interesting by being interested. Ask questions of others; go out of your way to learn what makes them tick. Displaying curiosity about life, work and those around you will lead people to seek your input.

Help others cut the Wi-Fi umbilical cord. Politely remind those peering into the black mirrors to look up at the real world around them. Obsessive device check-in has often become second nature, so a reminder may jar them back to Earth.

Do more that requires you to be fully in the moment. Attend a live performance. Read a book with actual pages to turn. Watch a TV program without your tablet handy. Let an actual window become your screen for a while.

Embrace solitude and take the time to digest your own thoughts and questions. Solitude is what allows us to further develop our sense of self, tap into creativity and reflect on the bigger picture. Often the best ideas come to us when we're in the shower or just drifting off to sleep because our minds are free to reflect and make connections.

Let others know you value their input and engagement. Some individuals use devices as a crutch in uncomfortable situations where they might feel their participation in conversation is either unwanted or unneeded, or even when conversation itself causes discomfort. A nice reminder that they are, in fact, valued members of the dialogue can go a long way to breaking the habit.

Our little glass screens can make it easy for us to feel separated from our own world, making us feel like we're on the wrong side of Alice's looking-glass. Plugging in doesn't have to come at the expense of other options for tuning into the world, like relationships, for example. Being disciplined about how and when we use our little glass screens may be one of the most important ways to stay connected to the world around us.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The world is in the midst of a new industrial revolution.

This morning, we release several important stories from the November issue of Fortune magazine, which provides an in-depth look at The 21st Century Corporation. It is our belief that the world is in the midst of a new industrial revolution, driven by technology that is connecting everyone and everything, everywhere and all the time, in a vast and intelligent network of interactive data that is creating an economic dynamic increasingly characterized by low or zero marginal costs, massive returns to scale and platform economics.

Fortune's Geoff Colvin has a fascinating piece here that lays out what this means for modern companies. I strongly recommend it. But for the time-pressed, here are my six big takeaways:

1. You don't need a lot of physical capital. You've probably heard it before, but it's true: Alibaba BABA -2.10% is the world's most valuable retailer and holds no inventory; Airbnb is the largest provider of accommodations but owns no real estate; Uber is the world's largest car service but owns no cars.

2. Human capital will matter more than ever. With less physical capital, employees become more important. You need to identify the ones critical to the company, and recognize that increasingly, they are the company.

3. The nature of employment will change. For the rest of your employees, gig work will grow. Former Cisco CSCO -0.11% CEO John Chambers predicts: "soon you'll see huge companies with just two employees -- the CEO and the CIO." An exaggeration, perhaps, but not by much.

4. Winners will win bigger, and the rest will fight harder for the remains. New business models often make fortunes for their creators, but destroy whole industries in the process. Or as the McKinsey Global Institute puts it: "tech and tech-enabled firms destroy more value for incumbents than they create for themselves."

5. Corporations will have shorter lives. The average life span of companies in the S&P 500 has already fallen from 61 years in 1958 to 20 years today. It will fall further.

6. Intellectual property knows no natural boundaries. A must-read this morning is a fascinating story by Brian O'Keefe and Marty Jones about Uber's "double dutch" corporate tax structure, which you can read here. As more of the value of modern corporations comes from intellectual property, income can easily be shifted to tax havens (...at least until authorities wise up and fix the global tax system).

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Zain Hasan is the founder and CEO of National Insurance Consulting Group Inc. Prior to NICG, Hasan's unique experience of working as the representative for many of the nation's largest firms, including Cigna, allowed him to see that the market required a new type of consulting firm.

In industries where talent is difficult to recruit, a comprehensive benefits package can be the differentiator in bringing the best on board. However, with endless tasks constantly gnawing at their minds, busy entrepreneurs rarely find time to evaluate their current benefits program. They may focus on other ways to grow their company, such as scaling their team, but when the dust settles they can't seem to figure out why they're having a hard time attracting and retaining top employees.

As the CEO of an insurance agency, I frequently see clients scale back on their benefits program without understanding that it affects their talent retention. That's when I help them build an attractive benefits package. Here are four steps I always take with my clients:

Encourage Transparency and Consumerism

Part of what we do at National Insurance Consulting Group is help businesses educate their employees on best practices for using company benefits. We've learned that it's important that employees look at benefits with the same care they would with any other expense.

For example, try promoting generic medication and using urgent care over the emergency room. We explain to our own employees that our costs stay low when they're mindful of the cost of the care they receive. Simply put, we highlight the fact that our benefits will only be able to remain 100 percent employer-paid if we stay within our budget. Through transparency, we've created a culture where employees feel free to voice their opinions. Our team actually came up with the idea of utilizing telemedicine in order to reduce the costs that would otherwise come from urgent care or physician visits.

Simplify HR Administration

A lot of HR paperwork can be automated these days. If your much of your administration is manual, try launching a new technology platform. It might seem like a daunting and time-consuming task, but when you add up how many hours you spend on an activity that can be easily automated, the return on investment is clear. You will retain employees who feel the professionalism of your company right from the start.

Prior to bringing on our Chief People Officer, we put our HR administration through a professional employer organization (PEO) called CoAdvantage. The experience was seamless and gave each new hire the confidence that our onboarding was no different than a Fortune 500 company. When it came to benefits, we evaluated all of the options through the PEO and traditional private insurers. We decided to carve out the employee benefits package because our team was able to find benefits that were better than what the PEO's offered at roughly 40 percent below the cost. When we were debating on which plans to offer, we actually asked our employees to choose a preferred plan, and we were honest about our budget. Our transparency and team collaboration have even led to employee referrals.

Prepare for the Health Care Reform

Every company with a "Best Place to Work" award knows that you have to educate your employees on the topics they won't stay up-to-date on themselves. For example, prepare them for the fact that they have a $695 penalty (or up to 2.5% of their household income) for not purchasing at least a "MEC" plan (also known as Preventive Health-only, which can range from $45-85 per month).

At our company, it took us nearly eight months before we could afford to offer employer-sponsored coverage. To ensure that no one had penalties in the meantime, we told our employees the effect of not having coverage and assisted them with getting individual health coverage. While many of your employees may not appreciate it at the time -- as many of ours did not -- we were pleasantly surprised with the feedback we got once they truly understood that we educated them solely for their benefit.

Promote Health and Wellness Programs

Give special attention to building a health and wellness program. Not only can it guide employees to utilize the right level of care in the right areas, it can enhance overall culture and send a positive message to your staff. It shows that your organization wants the best for your employees professionally and personally. We offer our employees "wellness" hours and 45 minutes each day for mental breaks if they're running low on energy. This lets our employees know that we care about their happiness and wellness just as much as their performance -- which we know are connected.

If you have a thorough strategy in place to ensure that your employees feel like they are heard, you can immediately differentiate you from your competitors just by offering the coverages they request. Overall, it's a symbol to show the employee you truly care about their health and well-being, and the process alone is one that always creates good vibrations.

To attract and retain the best talent, your benefits plan should be evaluated in the same way as the rest of the decisions you make regarding how to treat your employees. Show them benchmarking data for your industry so they can see the average options. Discuss your budget, and utilize all of the tools you can to educate them on their options. Regardless of what industry you're in, what your budget is or what your options are. If you let the employees see the industry norms and spend the time to solicit employee feedback, you will often be surprised by what your employees are happy with.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Have you ever sat back, looked at your business and thought, "I don't know how much longer can I keep doing this!" Have you ever been stunted by overwhelm, not sure what to do next or where to turn for help? Or have you ever just plain old, felt like throwing in the towel and giving up? I can relate.

When I started my Social Media business, I had big dreams of where it could go. I buried myself in blogs, online groups and tried to learn as much as I could about my chosen field. I virtually ate, drank and slept Social Media!

I was lucky enough to have a very close friend in the marketing world, Michael Adams, who tried his very best to guide me and I'll tell you that was a challenge, for I felt sure that I knew what I wanted to do and many times felt pained to follow his direction to slow down, pivot and change the way I looked at my business. I was overzealous in my passion, but as time went on and as I learned more about the ins and outs of online marketing my frustration grew.

Firstly I was frustrated by the way it was done in Trinidad (where I am currently based) and secondly, with what I felt was the smoke and mirror tactics being used by many in the industry as a whole. Let me explain.

I was passionate about Social Media and I felt that in order to do well, I needed to learn and learn fast. So I signed up for every Webninar, downloaded every e-books/industry report and signed up for countless newsletters from some of the top influencers in the field. I however began to notice one common trend.

I was not their ideal customer. Their offers were enticing, but they were not designed for me, the small business owner, who was virtually starting from zero and had a limited budget. Training courses were priced way out of my reach; or much of what they were 'selling' was purely a regurgitation of things I had heard numerous times before!

Now, I take nothing away from an individual's hard work and effort and everyone is well within their right to price their products as they see fit. I also believe that as a business person, you have to be willing to invest in your business, but in many cases the pricing was ridiculous, while in others instances, after making said investment, I felt duped and found myself on forums crying on the shoulders of others who felt the same.

We didn't need another sales pitch, we needed actionable, relatable, steps! But through all the "Is this really worth it?" moments, I persevered; making mistakes along the way but learning and ultimately I reaped the rewards of not giving up!

I realize that although my journey is still in the early stages, I've learned some pretty useful stuff and I have been fortunate to work with a number of really cool people and this is why I wanted to take a moment to share some of what's I've learned with you.

Don't compare yourself to others
This may sound so cliché but it's true. When I started my business I looked at the number of LIKES pages similar to mine had and I drooled over the huge number of followers others had on Twitter. I quickly learned that in many cases I was comparing apples to oranges. Here I was working 8 hours at a full time job and working on my business part time, yet I was comparing myself to people who had been doing this for much longer and doing it full time! Comparing yourself to others is a No, No. Accept your business for what it is and leave the comparisons alone! Your only competition is you. Your only goal should be your desire to be better today, than you were yesterday.

Connect with like-minded people online or offline
Social Media allows you to meet people, use it. If you find someone you like, reach out. In many cases these people will respond to you and if they don't, find another. I have been very fortunate to have met people like Ian Cleary and communicated with Jeff Bullas, two of my all-time favorite bloggers. I look up to them and I'm honored that they are just an email or tweet away!

Find an Influencer who understands your budget
One of the reasons I love Kim Garst is because she understands the needs of the small business owner. Now of course she has products that are on the higher end of the scale, but you can currently get training at $9.99 or buy her books for about the same price. This makes me feel that she does care about "small business owners " and tries her best to reach them where they are.

Find an Influencer who started where you did
Jeff Walker is an excellent example of someone who grew his business from zero. John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire is another. Listen to their stories and be inspired.

Make genuine connections online
I was able to jumpstart my Twitter following simply from the motivation of my friend Keith Keller, who I didn't know until a few months ago and he's just one of the many great people I've been able to connect with. That's the beauty of getting online and staying the course.

I still have a long way to go, but I want to encourage you to never give up! If you are just starting or if you are feeling overwhelmed, take a moment to regroup but do not quit! Stay motivated and keep pressing on! Remember that no matter your chosen field, or where you're located, you will face challenges but if you stay the course, you'll get to the top of that mountain, just keep moving. That's what I plan to do.

See you at the top!

(This article was originally published at www.kleonmm.com but as since been updated for publication)

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

On a Monday evening in October, Zain Dhanani accepted a acquisition offer for his e-commerce startup. On Tuesday morning, he woke up and wanted to start an investment bank.

Dhanani launched what would become Koar.com in 2012 and in three years, built it into a multimillion dollar retailer selling in twelve countries, with zero outside funding. Like most entrepreneurs, the daily demands of running an internet company in a 24 hour digital world left him with little time to sleep, much less daydream about the possibility of selling out for a big payday.

That day, however, inevitably came when investors and competitors started knocking on the door to find out who was behind the e¬commerce startup growing, in the age of Amazon, at over 400% a year. "I remember that first call from a private equity firm being very surreal," Dhanani says. "My life revolved around designing products and haggling over the cost of bubble mailers. I knew less than nothing about mergers and acquisitions."

He started talking to boutique investment bankers to help him find the right buyer and make the right deal but quickly realized that was easier said than done. "We were speaking two different languages," he explains. "Most of the buyers, like myself, had started their own businesses with nothing, fought tooth and nail to survive and wanted to take their companies to the next level. But wedged between these two scrappy entrepreneurs was an MBA in a three piece suit taking us out to a four course lunch."
He was always taught that running a company was entirely about substance but every broker he met cared entirely about style. Most bankers are clueless, he says: "While lofty graphics showing spikes in traffic and inconsistent member growth are impressive to MBAs, the only reason companies succeed and should be acquired is much simpler. Profit. The existence of it and the likelihood of it returning is all that matters."

That Tuesday morning, reflecting on all the frivolous experiences that led to his acquisition, Dhanani decided to take on Wall Street and Tinsli was born. "The reality is that there's not a single boutique investment bank out there properly connecting startups with strategic buyers," he explains. "Startup founders are lean and gritty while bankers are wasteful and pretentious. Tinsli will bring the disciplined minimalism that makes startups like Koar a success, to the distorted world of Wall Street."

Tinsli will avoid the traditional trappings of Wall Street, like towering offices on Fifth Avenue, expense accounts for entertaining clients and a roster of Ivy League graduates. The savings, according to Dhanani, will allow them to charge lower fees and work almost entirely on a performance basis. The Tinsli team will consist exclusively of entrepreneurs who, like Zain Dhanani, went through the acquisition experience and came out disillusioned with the inefficient process established to sell startups.

The Atlanta based financial startup will advise clients on starting, scaling and selling modern day companies. Zain Dhanani serves as Tinsli's President and CEO.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

All Images (c) Alvin Valentierra

What can you say about New York that hasn't already been said? What can you photograph that hasn't already been photographed in this wonderful city? The answer to both of those questions is not much, if anything at all.

Once you realize that as a creative you can begin to start doing what you want as opposed to doing things just to appear different. This was something that I struggled with when I started out, I was so fixated on being different that it made it hard for me to just do what I wanted to do in the first place, which was to capture what I found beautiful.

It seems cliché but when I began doing what I wanted and started being myself with my photography that was the catalyst in developing my style and differentiating my work form other photographers. There is no one better at being you then you, this is what makes us unique. Individuality is a beautiful thing.

This past summer, I decided to work on several photo projects that represented what New York meant to me and what I find special about it. I'm a native New Yorker and I have so much love for this great city. It has become my muse.

2015-10-23-1445569317-6711170-NewYorkcornersridermorecontrastandcolor.jpg

One of the things I love most about this city are its corner stores. They are so convenient and lifesavers at times. There is one right across the street from my apartment and it played a huge role in determining my decision on moving into my apartment.

Corner stores and delis play a significant part in the New York City identity. I place it up there with the pigeon, the subway, and I'll go as far as to say The Empire Sate Building. It has become a staple in the streetscape of this city. It is a shame that many of them are going out of business in part to higher rents and loss of business due to chain stores moving in.

So I set out to capture some of them in their glory.

There is something very nostalgic about them in this ever-changing city. This is why I felt compelled to photograph them while they are still around. Sooner or later they will become memories of the past like squeegee men and subway tokens.

2015-10-23-1445574082-2047543-Esmokewithmoremoresmoke.jpg

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

If you keep doing what you've done,
you'll keep getting what you've gotten.

Shane would like to change some things in the way he works with a colleague. These things are "so small" that he hasn't found the energy to bring them up. Yet, they bother him.

What bothers him is not just what he sees as less-than-excellent quality of work, but the fact that appeasing his colleague is neither helping the relationship nor fulfilling Shane's vision of who he wants to be.

So I ask him to pretend I'm his colleague and tell it to me like it is, without any filters or anesthesia.

Shane's unfiltered thoughts are toxic. They won't improve the work, will harm the relationship and betray his cherished values of respect and compassion.

What can he do? If he speaks his mind, he'll pollute the space. If he keeps quiet he'll pollute himself.

In the following video, you can see how Shane and I work to find the diamond in the coal, and share his deep truth to improve the way he works with his colleague.

9.6 Coaching Co-Evaluation (Shane) from Fred Kofman

Should you have any trouble viewing the video, please click here to view on Fred's slideshare page.

Readers: What lesson can you draw from the video? How would you apply it to your circumstances?

Fred Kofman is Vice President at Linkedin. This post is part 9.1 of Linkedin's Conscious Business Program. To find the introduction and full structure of this program visit Conscious Business Academy. To stay connected and get updates please and join our Conscious Business Friends group. Follow Fred Kofman on LinkedIn here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Draghi Fever Thursday - Are You Fed Up with the BS Yet?

The 4 Pillars of Better Leadership

Being Resilient: Overcoming Challenges You'll Face as an Entrepreneur

Supporting the Transition to New Parenthood: The Working Parents Support Coalition

(VIDEO) AT&T + DirecTV Brings Targeted TV Ads to 26 Million Homes

I Suspect the Double Bind Is at Play

Public Speaking: The Horror

Simple Interest Mortgages Are Anything but Simple

The Growing Obsession With Daily Fantasy Sports

Want To Make Your Work More Meaningful?

More Proof Conservative Supply-Side Economic Policies Do Not Work!

China Drops Rates, Amazon Drops A Profit: Markets Go Wild!

3 Tips for Productive Remote Work

The Plugged-in Paradox: Why Always Being Connected Makes It Harder to Connect

6 New Rules of Business for the Next Industrial Revolution

4 Crucial Talent Retention Strategies for Designing Your Benefits Package

What to Do When You Feel Like Giving Up? Encouragement for Small Business Owners on the Edge

Meet the Tech Millionaire Disrupting Wall Street

13 New York Corner Stores In All Their Nostalgic Glory

How to Improve Performance: A Coaching Conversation (9.6)