Morgan Stanley Plans to Cut 2,000 Workers, Partly Due to AI | Entrepreneur

March 20, 2025March 19, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Morgan Stanley is preparing to reduce its 80,000-person workforce by 2,000 employees later this month, marking the bank’s first significant round of layoffs since CEO Ted Pick took over in January 2024.

The workforce reduction will affect divisions across Morgan Stanley, except for its 15,000 financial advisers, per Bloomberg. The cuts are meant to keep costs down as executives face low attrition, or a low rate of employees leaving an organization through resignations, terminations, or retirements.

Some employees impacted by the layoffs will be let go due to performance issues, while others will be cut because AI and automation have replaced their roles within the bank. A source told Bloomberg that the bank expects to make more job reductions due to AI in the coming years.

Problems That Can Kill a Small Business | Business News Daily

April 17, 2023April 16, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Money, leadership and employees are just a few problems that destroy small businesses.

Small businesses face potentially devastating issues like poor cash flow, inadequate leadership, disengaged employees and more.
To keep your business alive and thriving, create a financial plan, hire an effective leadership team and prioritize a strong company culture.
Research your business’ competition to market your products or services more effectively and attract customers to your brand.
This article is for small business owners who want to learn about and circumvent common problems that can derail success.

Starting a business comes with inherent challenges and pitfalls. However, even when you’re off to a good start, keeping a company running successfully isn’t for the faint of heart. Many small businesses encounter issues that prove to be insurmountable, leading to business closure and dashed dreams.

Why Hybrid Schedules Are A Win For Both Employers And Employees | Forbes

November 5, 2021November 4, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Why are hybrid schedules a win for both employers and employees? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Charlene Walters, MBA, PhD, Business & Branding Mentor, Corporate Training, on Quora:

Hybrid schedules are a win for both employers and employees- any way you slice it

Turn Your Employees into Mad Scientist Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneur

February 4, 2021February 2, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

What are you doing to offer your employees value while they are in your flock and preparing them for their next ascension in either corporate America, philanthropy, social giving or as an entrepreneur? I hear of the horror stories of business professionals seeking to try their hand at being a business owner but fear that their current job will be in jeopardy or their role as a provider is in limbo seeking to take the step. Employers unknowingly are often hiring future entrepreneurs that will either create a service or product that will make their current company obsolete or struggle for survival. These “silent” entrepreneurs endure the pain of holding their desires to venture out and try entrepreneurship. It seems that too often, we speak about the risk entrepreneurs take in leaving their jobs or careers to try being an entrepreneur and not focus on the risk taken by firms to not embrace them by helping them grow. Companies are taking a risk by foregoing identifying and embracing the skillsets for qualified personnel on their teams that show true foundational character traits of entrepreneurs that can be leveraged to build them up and assist them in reaching their goal.

If You Suck as an Employee, You Will Probably Suck as an Entrepreneur | Entrepreneur

September 13, 2019September 10, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Do you want to make the jump from working for an employer to running your own business? Odds are that if you suck as an employee now, then you won’t make it as an entrepreneur. It sounds harsh, but that’s real talk.

As an employee, if you don’t build the skills you need to thrive as an entrepreneur, especially in terms of having a strong work ethic, then it’s incredibly difficult to flip a switch and all of a sudden thrive as an entrepreneur.

Mistakes That Big Companies Make So Yours Doesn’t Have To | The Startup Magazine

June 27, 2017June 26, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Barely a week goes by without another major, global brand being hauled onto the front page of the paper and ripped apart for various misdemeanors. From losing customer data to treating employees terribly, brands suffer huge setbacks; sometimes ones that prove fatal to their success. Luckily for those of you who run start-ups or SMEs, these businesses are making mistakes on a huge scale, and showing you how not to do business. You can use their mistakes to ensure that your company runs like clockwork – and you’ve got extra incentive to do so, and to avoid the awful consequences that come with doing the wrong thing.

Teamhacking 102: Best Management Tips for New Leaders | Page 19

May 24, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

This week, we’ll show you how to empower your employees to promote constructive workplace debate, how to organize your team to play to each worker’s strengths, and much more. Let’s get to it!

1. Create safe conversations by showing people that you respect them and their interests.

From Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler: We’ve all seen how an otherwise rational conversation can quickly go off the rails when people feel threatened. So what steps can we take to keep the atmosphere in a conversation safe?

A safe atmosphere hinges on two key conditions: a feeling of mutual respect, and a common purpose.

Hiring Vets: How to Leverage a Valuable Resource | Payroll Link

January 27, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Research has found that the skills and traits found in people with a successful military employment track record make for particularly good civilian employees. A compilation of studies assembled by the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University suggest that veterans generally:

Are entrepreneurial. They have a high need for achievement, are comfortable with autonomy and uncertainty, and make effective decisions in dynamic environments.

Assume high levels of trust. Often a military career gives rise to a strong propensity to trust coworkers as well as a tendency to exhibit confidence in the organizational leadership.

Are adept at transferring their skills across contexts and tasks. Research has attributed this to the fact that military teaching strategies include contingency and scenario-based training.

Millennials: 10 Things Old Farts Won’t Tell You About Entrepreneurship (Second in a series) | Peter Mehit

January 25, 2016February 3, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

2. Nobody With A Job Can Help You Become An Entrepreneur

If you spend two seconds thinking about that statement, the truth of it becomes evident. Unfortunately, if you want to become an entrepreneur, the most visible sources of help are the least helpful.

It doesn’t matter how much information you have about how businesses are launched, the missing element is the courage to actually take risks. The entrepreneur, while reducing risk, must embrace it to make their goal a reality. If you need a steady paycheck, you are not an entrepreneur. So why would you get direction from someone who does?

Continue reading “Millennials: 10 Things Old Farts Won’t Tell You About Entrepreneurship (Second in a series) | Peter Mehit” →

A California Ruling Just Challenged Uber’s Entire Business Model | Bloomberg Business

June 18, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

California’s labor commissioner said an Uber Technologies Inc. driver who connects with customers through the company’s app must be considered an employee, a decision that strikes at the heart of its business model.

San Francisco-based Uber, like other “sharing economy” startups, has built a business around a flexible car fleet piloted by people it contends are independent contractors. If Uber’s drivers were treated as employees, the company would be required to guarantee them a minimum wage, compensate them for mileage and pay into social security.

“We see this as a problem that’s growing larger with each year, with employees lacking security and even basic rights when they are treated as independent contractors,” said Steve Smith, spokesman for the California Labor Federation, which has backed tougher regulations on ridesharing companies.