Number of Students Leaving School Early Continues to Increase, Study Says

"Almost six years after a lawsuit forced the city to pledge to keep better track of students who leave public schools without graduating, the number leaving high schools has continued to climb, according to a report to be released Thursday by the public advocate’s office. The report raises questions about why more than 20 percent of students from the class of 2007 were discharged — the term for students who leave the school system without graduating — but 17.5 percent from the class of 2000 were. Much of the increase has come from students who are discharged in the ninth grade, which has gone up to 7.5 percent for the class of 2007, but was 3.8 percent in 2000."

A. Lincoln, Private and Public (Interview with Historian Ronald C. White)

"Ronald C. White Jr., a Huntington Library fellow and a visiting professor of history at UCLA, is the author of the bestselling books Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year) and The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words. His latest book A. Lincoln: A Biography (2009) has been a New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller and a History Book Club selection." This article is an interview with White about Lincoln.

The 2009 Time 100 (Most Influential People)

The 2009 Time 100 (Most Influential People) "In our annual TIME 100 issue, we do the impossible: name the people who most affect our world."

Interactive Chart: First 100 Days of Presidencies

Interactive Chart: First 100 Days of Presidencies

Self Conficence for Leaders

"I will share a few suggestions about how you can build your self-confidence, as it is a key quality that leaders must possess. . ."

The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500

"The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of 'Generation F' – the Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they’ll expect the social environment of work to reflect the social context of the Web, rather than as is currently the case, a mid-20th-century Weberian bureaucracy."

Fortune 500 (2009) Women CEOs

"From health care, to food, to retail, to technology, these 15 women show what it takes to lead some of the nation's biggest companies."

Leadership and Narcissism

Narcisissim is often associated with leadership. Here is an interesting Psychology Today article entitled "A Field Guide to Narcissism." Also, see this Mayo Clinic item on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Another interesting article is "Researchers Shine Spotlight on Narcissistic Personality Disorder." Finally, see this article on "Understanding and Working With Narcissistic Leaders."

Experts: Workers "Sucking Up" is Bad for Business

"Whether it's called buttering up the boss, brown-nosing, sucking up or managing up, experts say ingratiating behavior is bound to be on the rise in the workplace as workers fret about keeping their jobs in tough economic times. But such behavior can be bad for business, they said. 'People who tend to 'manage up' anyway are managing up more. They really want to make sure people are noticing what they're doing,' said Max Caldwell, an expert in workforce effectiveness at Towers Perrin management consultants."

Pick A CEO Who Truly Fits The Company

"Turnover of chief executive officers--a prime indicator of wrong leadership--was 50% higher coming into this recession than at the start of the previous one, in 2001. Several statistics cited in the new book The Right Leader: Selecting Executives Who Fit (co-written by one of the authors of this article) likewise indicate that as we entered the current recession, more and more companies were discovering that they didn't have the right leaders to guide them through normal economic conditions, let alone those we face today. Among them: Some 40% of new CEOs are fired, or 'retired,' within their first 18 months, and 64% of them never make it to their fourth anniversary on the job. The average cost of replacing a CEO after 18 months ranges from $12 million for small-cap firms to $52 million for large ones. And not having the right leaders costs American industry an estimated $14 billion a year, not even counting the price to shareholders in lost market capitalization and increased stock volatility, and to businesses themselves in being left demoralized, floundering and ripe for the picking."

Your Hidden Curriculum

"What do people learn from you about the Christian life? Sometimes it's what you never intended to teach." The article applies this idea to pastors and how they lead.

Wall Street Journal Survey of CEO Compensation

"The Wall Street Journal CEO Compensation Study was conducted by Hay Group, a management-consulting firm. The study analyzes CEO pay from the first 200 U. S. companies with fiscal year 2008 revenue of at least $5 billion that filed their proxy statements between October 2008 and March 2009."

Impact of Poor Worker Health on Profit and Productivity

"Poor health among workers is far costlier to U.S. employers than they realize, affecting their productivity and bottom line, researchers say. The researchers of the multiyear study of 10 organizations employing more than 150,000 workers analyzed more than 1.1 million medical and pharmacy claims. The study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, finds that when considering medical and drug costs alone, the top five conditions driving costs are cancer, other than skin cancer; back/neck pain; coronary heart disease; chronic pain and high cholesterol. However, when health-related productivity costs are measured along with medical and pharmacy costs, the top five chronic health conditions driving overall health costs shift significantly, to depression, obesity, arthritis, back/neck pain and anxiety."

More CEOs Got Pay Hikes Than Cuts in '08

"More U.S. chief executives got pay raises than had their pay cut in 2008, a year when billions in taxpayer dollars went to prop up struggling companies and millions of workers lost jobs, according to an AFL-CIO survey released on Tuesday."

U.S. Institute Names 99 Top Ethical Companies

"The Ethisphere Institute on Monday named 99 companies it says are the world's most ethical, its third annual listing designed to encourage ethical practices within the global business community."

Women's Achilles' Heel: The Vision Thing

"Study results--based on the responses of nearly 3,000 male and female executives plus 22,000 of their supervisors, peers and subordinates--ranked women highest in almost every category of leadership except the most crucial one: having and communicating a vision."

Make Sure Your Employees Trust You--Or Else

"The key to building trust in both good and bad times is to realize that none of us is as smart as all of us. There are companies that have embraced this simple truth and used it to maintain trust before, during and, we're sure, after this economic downturn. All these companies seem to have two characteristics in common. . ."

Job Promotions Are Unhealthy, Study Finds

"British researchers found that when people get promoted, they suffer on average about 10 percent more mental strain and are less likely to find the time to go to the doctor. . .'Getting a promotion at work is not as great as many people think. Our research finds that the mental health of managers typically deteriorates after a job promotion, and in a way that goes beyond merely a short-term change, 'said Chris Boyce of the University of Warwick. 'There are no indications of any health improvements for promoted people other than reduced attendance at GP surgeries [i.e. doctors visits], which may itself be something to worry about rather than celebrate.'"

Study: Overweight Men More Likely to Get Promoted Than Overweight Women

"Being overweight doesn't appear to be a hindrance for men in the workplace, but it may weigh down women's chances for advancement, U.S. researchers report in a study published in the British journal, Equal Opportunities International. . .'The results suggest that while being obese limits the career opportunities of both women and men, being 'merely overweight' harms only female executives — and may actually benefit male executives,' researcher Mark Roehling, an associate professor of human resource management at Michigan State."

Guiding Your Church through Financial Crisis

"Less than one quarter into the year, most church budgets are running behind, and many have been forced to lay off staff or take other austerity measures. . ."

How to Control Negative Emotions

"During an economic storm, everything solid melts into air. When it's not clear if there's a tomorrow to work toward, how do you keep morale up and communication channels open? To help you stay afloat, here's my brief field guide to anger, fear and ambivalence, three negative emotions that many business owners wrestle with today."

Student Aid Contributes to Ballooning Tuition, Report Says

"Increased federal student aid, especially to middle-class families, is contributing to the rising cost of higher education, a report by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity says. The report concludes that federally backed loans should be offered to only low-income families, not expanded to help more middle-class families, and that 'the expanded tuition tax credits in the 2009 stimulus bill are probably a step backward.'"

CEO Pay Sinks for First Time in 7 Years

"CEOs took a pay cut in 2008—their first in seven years—as profits plunged and brought bonuses with them. The median compensation for the leaders of 200 big US companies fell 8.5% to $2.24 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. That includes both salaries, which rose 4.5%, and bonuses, which dropped 10.9%, as profits fell 5.8%. At financial firms, the drop was even steeper, with total compensation falling 14.2%."

The Peter Principle Lives

"The Peter Principle, about to be reissued in a 40th anniversary edition, was a best seller when it was first published. A satiric treatise on workplace incompetence, it touched a nerve with readers because it was so funny. And so true. . ."

Jack Welsh: How Obama is Doing in Terms of Leadership

It is interesting to see how Jack Welsh and his wife evaluate Obama as a leader (leaving political positions aside).

Flawed Leadership Values: The AIG Lesson

"As AIG has shown, the values an organization espouses are nothing more than hollow promises if the leadership team does not embody them."

The Changing Employer-Employee Relationship

"What can employees fairly expect from their employers in times like these? In tough times true character is revealed—this is just as true for companies as it is for individuals. The way employees are treated when the chips are down says a great deal about what really matters to employers. Ironically, these difficulties provide opportunities for employers to earn tremendous loyalty from their workforce. Of course, if the cards are misplayed, the damage in employee relations can take years to repair. Employers need to communicate tirelessly and strive for transparency. It may be all they have to offer employees in such resource-constrained times."

Economist Article: "Who Runs Britain?"

"Gordon Brown is simultaneously at the peak of his power and bereft of it."

A 'Tsunami' of Boomer Teacher Retirements is on the Horizon

"More than half the nation's teachers are Baby Boomers ages 50 and older and eligible for retirement over the next decade, a report says today. It warns that a retirement "tsunami" could rob schools of valuable experience. The report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future calls for school administrators to take immediate action to lower attrition rates and establish programs that pass along valuable information from teaching veterans to new teachers."

The End of Christian America

"The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become."

How Obama Is Using the Science of Change

". . .President Obama is still relying on behavioral science. But now his Administration is using it to try to transform the country. Because when you know what makes people tick, it's a lot easier to help them change. . ."

In Japan, More CEOs Share the Pain of Tough Times

"While Merrill Lynch's John Thain was splurging on a $1.2 million office makeover and Lehman Bros.' Richard Fuld was drawing a $22 million bonus, the president of Japan Airlines was riding the bus to work, eating in the company cafeteria and cutting his salary to $98,000.
'I wanted to share the pain with my colleagues,' JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu, 61, says by e-mail. Nishimatsu had just imposed an early-retirement program that ended the careers of 'many staff of my generation.'"

Who Moved My Bonus? Executive Pay Makes a U-Turn

"BIG corporations, buffeted by widespread economic pain and heightened scrutiny of lush compensation packages, appear to be paying attention to a longstanding complaint from shareholders: When it comes to executive pay, greed — even the appearance of it — is not good. Executive compensation for the highest-paid chief executives at public companies fell in 2008, the first such downturn in five years. And the bottom dropped out of the bonus pool, the incentive that angered investors after the controversial bonus payouts at the American International Group."

Sick of Compromise, Christian Right Drops Politics

"A new generation of religious conservatives is turning its back on political activism, Kathleen Parker writes in the Washington Post. Today's Moral Majority accuses Christian leaders like James Dobson of bringing the cultural wars from churches to Congress and compromising their beliefs. Now, 'Dobson and the Christian right political movement is a failure,' said one, calling the loss 'self-inflicted.'"

Pope May Reshape US Church as Bishops Age Out

"With many bishops nearing the age of required retirement, the Vatican has a chance to reinvent the US Catholic Church, moving beyond church sex scandals and adapting to a growing immigrant presence, reports the Los Angeles Times. Almost a third of 265 current US bishops must step down in the next 5 years; more than half must resign within a decade."

Blagojevich Indicted on 16 Federal Felony Charges

"Impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested in December on charges of conspiracy and fraud, was indicted Thursday on 16 felony counts by a federal grand jury, the U.S. attorney's office said. The 19-count indictment charges Blagojevich and some of his closest aides and advisers with a wide-ranging "scheme to deprive the people of Illinois of honest government," according to a statement by the attorney's office. Blagojevich, 52, faces charges including racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud and making false statements to investigators, according to the release. Three counts in the indictment are against the aides and advisers."

CEO Pay Sinks for First Time in 7 Years

"CEOs took a pay cut in 2008—their first in seven years—as profits plunged and brought bonuses with them. The median compensation for the leaders of 200 big US companies fell 8.5% to $2.24 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. That includes both salaries, which rose 4.5%, and bonuses, which dropped 10.9%, as profits fell 5.8%. At financial firms, the drop was even steeper, with total compensation falling 14.2%."

THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet

"This service of the Library of Congress, features information on current legislation, the Congressional Record, links to Committee reports, and more." (Refdesk.com)

Willow Creek in Africa

". . .In fact, Willow Creek's outreach to Africa—specifically Angola, Zambia, Malawi, and South Africa—is as extensive as it is extraordinary. And it is extensive, ironically and precisely, because it bypasses multimillion-dollar nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to work mostly with local churches. And hardly ever with other megachurches, but small, small churches. Furthermore, Willow refuses to bring to bear most of its vast expertise and technological resources. Instead, it relies on the basic resources and expertise of that small, local church. . ."

Reflections on GM's Ex-CEO Rick Wagoner

"The resignation of General Motors chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner has been rumored for weeks, if not months. After all, GM has lost more than $80 billion over the last four years and is dependent on handouts from the federal government for survival on a day-to-day basis. Something had to give. . ."

Eight CEOs on the Hot Seat

This is a slideshow of eight brief articles on CEOs under great pressure.