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The situation is a little like a story from the Twilight Zone. Illegal immigrants can't get driving licenses, vote, or get benefits, but they are legally able to start Limited Liability Companies often creating jobs for legal U.S. Citizens.  All the while waiting to find out if they are going to be deported because they are, admittedly in most cases, in this country illegally. It's long established that new immigrants to the U.S. are far more likely to start a business, and in so doing, create jobs often filled by U.S. citizens.  I mean, the sun rises in the East, the sky is blue, and immigrants create jobs - it's that level of certainty. So why do certain elements in Congress,  allegedly pro-business, pro-growth, and pro-job, scream and yell about immigration as though it's a total drain on the economy?  If anything, immigration has been and will continue to be a boon to our economy, creating both wealth, new jobs and even new industries. Here's an article from the...

We've all had the experience of being flattered by a salesperson or hearing another customer being complimented effusively.  According to new research by Elaine Chan of Tilburg University and Jaideep Sengupta of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to be published in the December, 2013 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, reveals, as you might expect, that both the flattered customer and surrounding listeners experience an immediate negative emotional reaction. Yet the effect of overheard flattery on shoppers is not what you might expect: The authors found that observing someone else being flattered causes the listener to compare themselves to that person, which leads to feelings of envy. And, these shoppers were motivated by envy to choose an expensive, stylish pair of jeans over a cheaper standard pair influenced primarily by the wish to reduce envy -- by appearing stylish oneself." Interesting, no?  Something to think ...

"The floggings will continue until morale improves!" I have a friend who manages a retail store for a large national chain who is miserable in her job. Why? She can't figure out how to manage her employees, and through them, the business.  She's always weeks and months behind in reports, and lives every day in a panic to get caught up on her own work.  She complains bitterly about the number of hours and late nights she puts in. And she has no one to blame but herself. She was promoted to the position of manager because of her solid performance in customer service and her deep knowledge of the company's products, services, standards, and procedures.  Yet she's failing as a manager and suffers from it because this company provides little if any training in how to manage the employees of an individual store. Whether it's a small business with one or two employees or a single location of a large chain with hundreds, the challenge for the manager is the sa...

" Influential cognitive processes are at play as people stumble through life ." This, my friends, is a geek-speak pun inside a conclusion from a serious study of how the shoes consumers wear while shopping effect their buying behavior.  There conclusion? "When shopping for a big ticket item, such as a television, there is a checklist of things you should always do: Read reviews. Compare prices. Wear high heels." Other ways to curb your urge to spend? Ride up and down the escalator, play a few games using the Wii Fit, or go shopping immediately following your yoga class. Here's the gist of the report ~ A new BYU study finds that consumers experiencing a heightened sense of balance (i.e. wearing high heels) are more likely to weigh the options and go with a product that falls in the middle of the high-end, low-end scale. "If you're someone who tends to overspend, or you're kind of an extreme person, then maybe you ought to consider shopping in high he...

The "Engaged Employee" is the backbone of the success of your business.  By engaged, we mean an employee who actively works toward the goals you set, who cooperates with your programs. Unfortunately, engaged employees make up only 30% of the American work force, with 70% either just putting in time at your expense or, worst of all, actively engaged in defeating you. For a further discussion of  the engaged employee, visit our post:  Creating Corporate Culture II: Employee Engagement One generally accepted technique to keeping your engaged employees engaged is to grant them a degree of autonomy in how they organize their work.  A book published in January, 2011 concludes that, "Workers who feel they have autonomy -- that they are free to make choices in the workplace and be accountable for them -- are happier and more productive according to an extensive research literature review. And by definition, a happy, productive employee is an engaged employee. This is o...

The headline of the story read: "Successful Entrepreneurs Share a Common History of Getting in Trouble as Teenagers". A new study by Professor Ross Levine of the Haas Economic Analysis and Policy Group and Yona Rubinstein of the London School of Economics and Political Science found that entrepreneurs earn on average 50 percent more than their salaried counterparts who are working in the same industry and have the same education. In this study, an entrepreneur is defined as a person who undertakes a novel, risk-taking activity. Levine says think Michael Bloomberg or Bill Gates. Levine and Rubinstein found that successful entrepreneurs possess distinct traits identifiable back when they were teenagers. These traits turn out to be accurate predictors of entrepreneurial success. Some of the traits include ~ A high IQ, A stable family, Parents who earn a higher than average income, and Exceptionally high self-esteem and confidence. However, some other common traits are o...

" Employers should give tests that measure flexibility, balance, coordination, and other forms of movement quality ." More than 28 percent of Americans today work in physically taxing jobs such as law enforcement, firefighting, construction, maintenance, or the military, so fitness screening is an increasingly important part of the hiring process. However, physical ability tests are also highly litigious because most male applicants are physically stronger than women. This fact leads to physical ability tests being the third highest cause of workplace discrimination suits in Federal courts.  And who, really wants to be sued in Federal court. It turns out that physical fitness tests that focus on sheer strength and endurance may not be the most accurate ways to determine is qualified for a physically demanding job, and may also increase your  likelihood of a gender discrimination lawsuit from female applicants, according to new research from the Univers...