Thinking Small with Malcolm Gladwell | Page19

Malcolm-Gladwell-booksThinking big is oft touted as an asset, but what if the key to sustained success is actually focusing on the little things? Malcolm Gladwell thinks that, like house parties and good logos, smaller is actually mightier.

It’s in our Great Walls and Taj Mahals. It’s in our centuries of dynasties and towering mosque spires. It’s in our Land Rovers and our slogans (go big, or go home!). The quest for bigger and better in all forms is etched deep into man’s ambitions in ways that have been shaping progress since the dawn of time.

And, hey—going big has served us well as a species. It follows that there are hundreds of books that will school you on scaling up or on snagging an enormous customer base, or teach you how to broaden your skills to infinity and beyond. But let’s hit pause for just a second: what if going smaller were actually the next big thing?

Malcolm Gladwell, author of some of the last decade’s most influential nonfiction books, has found plenty of evidence that it’s the little things that count. We took a look at three of his bestsellers to show you how to use the might of the devil in the details.

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Does Sprint or Verizon owe you money? State settles ‘mobile cramming’ case with mobile carriers | Fox 59

INDIANAPOLIS (May 12, 2015) – The state resolved “cramming” cases against two major mobile phone carriers as part of a multi-state settlement with Sprint and Verizon.

The mobile carriers were accused of putting unauthorized charges on customers’ cell phone bills. The state announced a similar settlement last year with AT&T and T-Mobile. As a result of the latest settlement, an estimated 750,000 Hoosiers may be eligible for refunds.

Indiana is joined by the attorneys general of the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

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Verizon Trades Two Year Contracts for Monthly Billing | Small Biz Trends

Being locked in for two years was basically the norm for mobile contracts, but the changing landscape of the industry is forcing companies to reassess this model.

While T-Mobile and its brash CEO might have made the most noise with its Uncarrier marketing, others are following suit. Count Verizon as being the latest to do so.

Starting August 13, Verizon stopped subsidizing phones, and its newest price plan will kick in by offering four pricing tiers for data allocation:

Small: $30/month for 1GB of shareable data

Medium: $45/month for 3GB of shareable data

Large: $60/month for 6GB of shareable data

X-Large: $80/month for 12GB of shareable data

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5 Ways to Stop Embarrassing Yourself on LinkedIn | Entrepreneur

How exciting! You’ve just received a great introduction to a big potential client. And as you and your team work hard to whip up a stellar pitch, what do you think the potential client is doing?

She’s researching you, of course. And chances are, the first place she’ll go to learn more about your background, experience and personality is LinkedIn.

What’s she going to find when she pulls up your profile? An amateurish photo? Outdated information? Unpopular political views? A lack of references?

In business, it’s vital to focus on developing a quality LinkedIn profile and avoid making a poor first impression. Here are five ways to ensure you don’t embarrass yourself on this fast-growing and powerful platform:

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Is a $15 Minimum Wage Too High? | Bloomberg Business

As the proposed federal minimum wage goes up and up, economists support it less and less. In January 2014, seven Nobel laureates and eight ex-presidents of the American Economic Association signed a letter backing a federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour by 2016, up from $7.25. They said it would “provide a much-needed boost” to low-income workers while causing “little or no” job loss. Fifteen dollars an hour is another story. None of those luminaries signed the letter in July that endorsed a Senate bill introduced by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) to raise the federal minimum to $15 an hour by 2020.

Regional economic differences are one reason a lot of economists are nervous about jumping to $15: A wage floor that’s right for New York or San Francisco could be too high for Brownsville, Texas; Gadsden, Ala.; or Ponce, Puerto Rico. In such places, $15 an hour “may have large negative employment effects,” Ronald Ehrenberg, a Cornell University labor economist, wrote in an e-mail. He was one of about 600 economists who signed the $10.10 letter last year. He says he wasn’t approached to sign the $15 letter but would have said no if asked.

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Ford shifts truck production from Mexico to Ohio | Money CNN

Ford’s heavy duty pickup trucks which used to be built in Mexico started rolling off an assembly line in Ohio this week.

That’s good news for the 1,000 Ford workers in Ohio, who might have otherwise been out of work.

It’s also good publicity for Ford (F), which has been under fire for investing so much in Mexico. In April, the automaker said it would invest $2.5 billion in transmission plants in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Guanajuato, creating about 3,800 jobs there.

Ford’s south-of-the-border strategy has drawn heavy criticism from groups such as the United Auto Workers union and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The Avon Lake, Ohio, plant produced its first batch of Ford’s full-size F-650 and F-750 pick up trucks on Wednesday.

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Faking It at Work? Why You’re Better Off Being True to Yourself | Business News Daily

It may seem like you’re helping your career by being a team player and building relationships by faking interest in meetings, pretending to like a co-worker when you don’t or supporting ideas you’re not in favor of. However, new research shows that employees are hurting themselves when they’re not true to their beliefs.

Being inauthentic can make employees feel immoral, which in turn can lead to job unhappiness, frustration and burnout, according to a study recently published in the Psychological Science journal.

It’s important to not overlook the psychological distress that comes with inauthentic behavior, said Maryam Kouchaki, one of the study’s authors and a professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

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Non-Profit Growth Strategies | Business Tips

downloadHere’s what we know. For profit companies develop a vision, strategic plan, execute it and grow.  So why shouldn’t non-profit organizations do the same? At CURE Childhood Cancer, our mission is to fund research that will lead to a cure for children’s cancer in which 16,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. So while we don’t manufacture or service gadgets, our approach for driving up revenue is built on the same business model as a for-profit company, and it works.  Over 9 years, we have grown 452% bringing passion and purpose to our goals of dispersing millions of dollars to medical research institutions and running innovative support programs to help patients and families facing the extraordinary challenges of childhood cancer.

Below are the primary ways we have embraced “entrepreneur-thinking” to exponentially grow our non-profit to the next level, getting closer to fulfilling our mission:

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Different by Deisgn | Peter Mehit

pictureIt’s the little things.  Shine your shoes.  Don’t chew gum.  Turn your phone off.

All of these small gestures show you’re serious.  The most basic elements of communicating your competence are spelling and grammar.  Grammar is becoming a little more fluid as pop culture references work their way into common usage.  On the other hand, spelling is binary.  It’s right, or it’s not.  Clearly, Preferred Kitchen And Bath is definitely different, either by the lack of ability to spell design, or by deisgn (pronounced ‛dees-in), which is a new school of design.

I think Newport Mesa owes them a deisgn refund.  Just sayin’…