Working Capital Conversation: Leading thinkers, practitioners and experts discuss the ideas that drive global business.
The challenge of work/life balance continues confound. Employees insist they want it. Many companies – through flex schedules, job shares, training and more – try to offer it. And yet, so many of us – men and women – feel like we’re just not doing it right.
To make it worse, we then combine that frustration with the ideal that we can – or at least should – have it all. We think we see the alleged examples parading in front of us every day – the so-called superstars who hold down high-powered jobs, work out constantly, volunteer incessantly, love their spouses and kids, and surely in their free time, compose music like Mozart, paint like Monet and cook like Julia Child. You know who they are. We come to believe that to reach that next level – perhaps even to have it all – we only need to lean in a bit harder.
So why doesn’t it happen? Why aren’t we all walking around feeling like we have it all?
Award-winning writer Susie Orman Schnall wanted to find out. So she did the obvious thing: She asked. In a series of interviews with powerful, accomplished, seemingly have-it-all women, she asked their secrets to having it all. And the answers – what these women acknowledged – just might surprise you.
The interview series is called, quite appropriately, The Balance Project, which you can find at susieschnall.com. And now it’s transformed as well into Schnall’s second novel, an engaging, funny and often uncomfortably accurate read called “The Balance Project: A Novel.”
New Jersey Bridgegate is not slowing down. Questions around how and why several George Washington Bridge access lanes were shut last September – questions around what Governor Chris Christie knew and when he knew it – are not only growing, but now they’ve gone viral.
A massive and growing gap between rich and poor. A middle class squeeze. Technological shifts driving changes in how people live their lives everyday. Big corporations getting bigger, and the influence – and confluence – of money and politics growing stronger.
From drones to Tomahawk missiles to Navy SEALs, it’s no exaggeration to say that the U.S. military has a range of incredibly effective weapons at its disposal. But it’s at most only a minor exaggeration to suggest that the military’s most effective weapon might not be found in an arms depot, but in fact might be down the hall in your teenager’s bedroom. I’m talking about video games.
I’m happy to report that for the first time in months, the biggest monarchy news of the week had nothing to do with Princess Kate’s baby bump! It came from the Netherlands, where Queen Beatrix abdicated the throne, making room for her 46-year-old son, King Willem-Alexander. For us Americans who struggle to understand the British monarchy and the succession throes there, the Dutch might confuse us even more: Queen Beatrix makes the third consecutive royal leader in Holland to stand down. How are we supposed to understand this? 
It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that 
The fact that the Boston bombing occurred at a marathon – a celebration of one of America’s most popular participation sports – is not lost on many of us. My next guest, 
Of all the changes technology brings to our lives, none may be more significant to what it means to interact in a human society than Big Data. Nearly every nanosecond of every day, we and the machines around us generate billions of bytes of data – information – that when analyzed reveal not just what we’ve done, but what we’re thinking. The reality and potential around Big Data are hugely positive – from public health to smarter shopping – and scary negative – the ability for governments and neighbors to pry into our privacy in highly uncomfortable ways. You might say Big Data sits at the intersection of technology and morality. 
Today more than ever, great, new, innovative ideas come from anywhere. But if you had to name a capital for this place called anywhere, it just might be the 
ESPN’s 30 for 30
As communications in this age of Twitter and Facebook and email and texting and targeted ads and so on, have gone – shall we say – a bit haywire, something of a trend has emerged among those who do it well: Simplicity. Today more than ever, if you want to get your message heard, you’ve got to keep it simple. And the style – the language – used for simple messaging is equally simple. It’s called Plain English. And if that’s not clear to you – if I’m not making it simple enough – my next guest will. Because, with only slight exaggeration, 
For all the talk of the decline of public education, we take a moment to celebrate one of the most famous public high schools in America – 
If you’ve ever watched kids programming on, say, Disney Channel or Nick – or seen a kids movie – they all seem to have the same general world view: Adults know nothing, and everything would be a lot better if kids ruled the world. For some 35 years, one educator has put that theory into action. Starting with an in-class game he calls “
With just a month to go before the biggest movie night of the year, I want to talk about a book. And not just any book, but the thoroughly compelling story of a boy and a tiger and, if not the meaning of life, then at least a reflection on the existence of a higher being. A story that captured the world’s attention, winning the 
When was the last time you watched television alone? And by alone, I don’t mean with no one else in the room — I mean, without a digital device at the ready. I mean your smart phone or tablet or laptop. How are mobile, universal connectivity and the good old TV merging to once again change our lives? Here to help us understand: 