Economic activity has long been concentrated in big metropolitan areas. But has the rise of remote work technology -- and its accelerated adoption during the pandemic -- changed that? How are talent flows between geographies changing? And what does it mean for employers? Richard Florida, professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto known for coining the term "creative class," shares his latest research, which shows the deepening links between urban centers in various parts of the world, and he explains how these "meta cities" remain important places for people to connect. He is coauthor of the HBR article “The Rise of the Meta City.”

Organizations too often subject their employees and customers to unnecessary friction that creates inefficiency and causes frustration. But, in some situations, friction can be a positive force, spurring more innovation and better decision-making. So how do you reduce the bad kind and embrace the good?  Stanford professors Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao have studied this problem for seven years and offer strategies for leaders at every level to help them recognize when friction is needed or not and then add or subtract accordingly. They share ample examples of people and companies getting it right. Sutton and Rao are the authors of The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder, as well as the HBR article, "Rid Your Organization of Obstacles that Infuriate Everyone."

Few leaders have been trained to ask great questions. That might explain why they tend to be good at certain kinds of questions, and less effective at other kinds. Unfortunately, that hurts their ability to pursue strategic priorities. Arnaud Chevallier, strategy professor at IMD Business School, explains how leaders can break out of that rut and systematically ask five kinds of questions: investigative, speculative, productive, interpretive, and subjective. He shares real-life examples of how asking the right sort of question at a key time can unlock value and propel your organization. With his IMD colleagues Frédéric Dalsace and Jean-Louis Barsoux, Chevallier wrote the HBR article "The Art of Asking Smarter Questions."

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. Listen every other Thursday starting May 2 in the HBR IdeaCast feed, after the regular Tuesday episode.

Managing technology has never been more challenging. HBR IdeaCast’s new special series, Tech at Work, offers research, stories, and advice to make technology work for you and your team. This week: how your team can get the most out of working with generative AI.

There was a time when consumer goods companies paid musicians, athletes, and actors for endorsements, or to license their name and likeness. But in recent years, there's been an explosion of celebrities getting into business directly, selling everything from shapewear to tequila. Ayelet Israeli, professor at Harvard Business School, says the growth of social media and online, direct-to-consumer retail accelerated this trend, but notes that not all celebrity brands are a success. She explains what works and doesn't, and outlines lessons for non-famous entrepreneurs and established companies. Israeli is coauthor of the HBR article "What Makes a Successful Celebrity Brand?"

While most good bosses try to be fair and balanced with their direct reports, it's only human to prefer the company and work styles of some team members over others, and employees are keenly aware of those preferences. They see favorites and non-favorites, ingroups and outgroups -- and when those divisions fester, they can destroy team culture and performance. Ginka Toegel, professor at IMD Business School, explains why even well-intentioned managers succumb to favoritism, how workers on both sides are affected, and what we can do to both avoid and rectify the problem. Toegel is the coauthor of the HBR article "Stop Playing Favorites."

Darius Rucker has reached the top of the music charts in not just one but two genres: first as the lead singer of the 1990s band Hootie and the Blowfish, then in a second act as a solo country star. He shares lessons on following your passion, staying humble, working your way up, and defying stereotypes and expectations. He's the author of a new memoir Life's Too Short.

Many managers don't know what to say when a team member appears angry, frustrated, or sad. They might even feel it is unprofessional to acknowledge those feelings at all. But research shows that avoidance is costly. Doctoral student Christina Bradley and professor Lindy Greer, both of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, say teams perform better when their leaders respond effectively to members’ emotions. The researchers outline when and how to do that in a way that builds stronger relationships, teams, and organizational culture. Bradley and Greer are coauthors, with Michigan Ross professor Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, of the HBR article "When Your Employee Feels Angry, Sad, or Dejected."

We live in a world that seems more divisive and polarized than ever, and it’s common to describe this phenomenon as tribalism. But Michael Morris, professor at Columbia Business School, says that term is often misunderstood and that tribal instincts can in fact be very positive influences in society and at work. He uses the lens of cultural psychology to explain the deep-seated instincts behind the human need to join and identify as a group. And he breaks down how team managers and organizational leaders can leverage tribal instincts in positive ways strengthen workplace culture. Morris is the author of the new book Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together.

Staged listing photos have been an effective—and expensive—tool meant to pique the interest of inquiring home seekers. But given the ever-growing landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) in real estate, that hurdle could soon be a thing of the past.  At least, that is where things are headed for Palazzo, an AI-driven interior design platform that…

The post Startup Palazzo Seeing Success Expanding Its Virtual Staging Offering to Brokers appeared first on RISMedia.

CRS Data—a provider of property tax data in the U.S. and Canada—has announced the launch of its data compliance solution: ListingIntegrity. ListingIntegrity ensures superior data quality in today’s real estate landscape, creating a source of partnership and dependability for MLSs, brokerages and agents.  “Our goal is to create steadfast and trusted ways to serve the…

The post CRS Data Announces Launch of ListingIntegrity appeared first on RISMedia.

The Functional Fabric Fair Fall 2024, on Nov 19-21 at Portland’s Oregon Convention Center, showcases sustainable innovations for 2025/2026 with 300+ suppliers. Highlights include the Bodywear Collective, Trend Forum, Design Lab, and expert panels on colorisation. Networking events, a Sustainability Lounge, and the TurboDry Bash enhance opportunities for collaboration and industry insights.

Wolverine World Wide has reported Q3 revenue of $440.2 million, down 16.6 per cent YoY, with gross margin up 450 basis points to 45.3 per cent. Net debt fell to $563 million. For FY2024, the company projects revenue of $1.730-$1.745 billion, with a gross margin of 44.5 per cent and adjusted EPS between $0.80 and $0.90. Inventory is expected to decline by $85 million.

Page Industries Limited has reported revenue of ₹12,463 million (~$147.7 million) in Q2 FY24, a YoY increase of 11 per cent, with sales volume rising 6.7 per cent to 55.2 million pieces. EBITDA grew 22 per cent YoY to ₹2,815 million (~$33.4 million), with a margin of 22.6 per cent. PAT was ₹1,953 million, up 29.9 per cent. For H1 FY24, revenue was ₹25,238 million, growing 7.3 per cent YoY.

In the dynamic realm of real estate, success hinges on the ability to attract, recruit and retain top talent. Reflecting on my early days in the industry, the memories of my first listing, first buyer and inaugural closing flood back. Those experiences instilled in me a profound sense of confidence, akin to the surge that…

The post Mastering Recruitment: Lessons from a Real Estate Journey appeared first on RISMedia.

Staying motivated in the real estate business can be a challenge, especially when it comes to prospecting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or uninspired, but staying on track is crucial for your success. Whether you’re a seasoned agent or just starting out, there are strategies you can adopt to keep yourself motivated, even when you…

The post From Doldrums to Deals: Keeping Your Prospecting Spirits High appeared first on RISMedia.

"20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and 44 Other Things With Wings" by Trina Dalziel is a straightforward book that shows different ways to draw winged creature using simple shapes.

Maria shows you how to create a gothic candy bowl project for Halloween with dollar store supplies!

Maria heads to the dollar store for materials for a fun Halloween candy container!

Maria visits her local dollar store to find supplies to finish her Halloween DIY witch's costume!

Looking for holiday gift ideas? Maria's easy Ice Resin earring tutorial may be the perfect gift for someone special!

The A5 planner world has a new player for 2016 with the introduction of the completely customizable Simple Stories Carpe Diem planner.

Here is an easy DIY charm tutorial! I'll show you how to make charms yourself and how to change out charms for your Midori Traveler's Notebook and other traveler's notebooks. This easy how-to project just requires a few supplies and tools to make a personalized planner charm.

It's not too late to decorate your porch for Halloween...this quick and easy Halloween pumpkin diorama will make a great weekend project!

Tariff policy under the new government will indeed be a challenge and will trigger new inflationary cycles if campaign proposals are fully enacted, making apparel expensive for Americans, trade body AAFA recently said. AAFA will continue to push Congress and the Administration to renew expired and expiring programmes like the AGOA, the GSP and the Haiti HELP/HOPE preference programme.

Page Industries Limited has reported revenue of ₹12,463 million (~$147.7 million) in Q2 FY24, a YoY increase of 11 per cent, with sales volume rising 6.7 per cent to 55.2 million pieces. EBITDA grew 22 per cent YoY to ₹2,815 million (~$33.4 million), with a margin of 22.6 per cent. PAT was ₹1,953 million, up 29.9 per cent. For H1 FY24, revenue was ₹25,238 million, growing 7.3 per cent YoY.

Wednesday, December 11 at 11:00 am CT Remain in compliance with both Section 1071 and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act with an efficient application process. While financial institutions are correctly concerned about how Section 1071 implementation will impact their processes, don’t miss this HMDA refresher to help prepare for the March 1st reporting deadline. As...

The post WEBINAR | Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Refresher – Including What Reporters Must Know Prior to Section 1071 Implementation  appeared first on Anders CPA.

Guillermo Rodriguez welcomes Samuel Fisher, Co-founder of Green Dispensary Marketing, to discuss effective marketing and SEO strategies for cannabis dispensaries. Samuel emphasizes the importance of building a dispensary’s own digital assets, such as a well-optimized website and strong Google “My Business” profile, rather than relying solely on third-party platforms like Weedmaps and Leafly. He shares...

The post The CannaBiz Success Show: Essential Marketing and SEO Strategies for Cannabis Dispensaries with Samuel Fisher appeared first on Anders CPA.

With all the complications of running a cannabis business, it’s easy to forget that cannabis is a plant: a living organism with its own genetics that takes care and cultivation to grow. To get all the various strains that now fill our stores, there are things a grower can do to improve those genetics and...

The post Outsourcing Tissue Culture for Cannabis Growers: Eliminate Risk, Boost Yield appeared first on Anders CPA.

A French mobility company called Mobilize has designed a new type of vehicle from scratch. Two, actually: The Duo, an enclosed two-seater electric quadricycle, and its sibling the Bento, which ditches the back seat for a large storage box.

Both vehicles were meant to be strong urban design statements, and to not draw on outdated references. "The Duo's greatest strength is its unique design," says Jean-Philippe Salar, Mobilize's Design Director. "What we wanted for this vehicle was to avoid imitating a car. It's in effect a little spaceship, a little lunar capsule on 4 wheels."

Not being a car, the diminutive Duo can be driven by folks as young as 14 in France.

The tandem seating arrangement, rather than side-by-side, is to make the vehicle as narrow as possible, the better to slip through traffic.

The gullwing doors allow ingress and egress even in tight spaces.

The charging cable sits in a dedicated compartment in the vehicle's nose. And, surprisingly, the vehicle features an airbag for safety.

The company refers to the single-seater Bento as a micro utility vehicle; it boasts a cargo box on the back that can swallow nearly a cubic meter.

The Bento requires a proper driver's license, as its more powerful electric motor can top out at 80 km/h (50 mph). It's targeted at last-mile delivery services and tradespeople who travel with tools.

Intriguingly, the dashboard of both vehicle was inspired by an icon of 1980s urban culture: The boombox. "The design of Duo et Bento, both on the outside and inside – with its dashboard that refers to boomboxes – deliberately goes against the grain of classic automotive language," says Salar. The designers also decided not to include a screen, reckoning that most people are already carrying one these days.

Both vehicles require half the space to park as a car.

The construction of the vehicles is decidedly un-car-like: "It's based on a metal birdcage structure to which we simply glue plastic panels," says Benoit Abadie, Mobilize's Director of Engineering. "We have around 300 parts in Duo, that's 5 times less than in a normal car, which has around 1,500."

Mobilize is a subsidiary of Renault, and both vehicles are manufactured at Renault's factory in Tangiers. "It's an ISO 14001 plant that's working towards carbon neutrality," says Wafa Boujguenna, the company's Industrial Project Manager. "Duo and Bento are eco-designed vehicles, made from 40% recycled materials, battery included, and are 95% recyclable, including the battery."

The vehicles will be sold in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. No word on if these will come to the U.S.

There's a great interview with the design team below, explaining what they were going for:

Dutch company Airback has invented a backpack that can shrink its contents. Their eponymous backpack ($185) features a zippered airtight compartment with a port; once you've stuffed this compartment full, you attach either a household vacuum cleaner, or the company's small electric pump, to the port.

All of the air gets sucked out of the compartment, compressing the clothing within. The company reckons this allows you to cram in 50% more stuff.

The backpack also has a scale built into the handle, so you can avoid exceeding airline weight limits and being forced to check it at the airport.

The overall design is quite intelligent, featuring a passport stash pocket, a locking laptop compartment, bottle holder and more:

Following the popularity of the backpack—which was Kickstarted to the tune of €350,000 (USD ~$380,000), they designed a smaller Airback Go ($152) which fits beneath an airplane seat. This design lacks the scale in the handle.

There's also a larger Airback Max ($361), which boasts rollers and a telescoping handle…

…as well as the Airback Next ($416), a hard-sided carry-on roller.

All of the bags feature a built-in USB-C port, to which you can connect your own powerbank.

The company's separately-sold pump runs $52. One does wonder what to do if either that or the handle scale breaks. For their part, the company says "we've committed to a circular system - allowing you to send your bag back to us when it's lived its life, whereupon we, along with our partners, will give it a new purpose." However, what I'd prefer to see is some mention of repair options.

Dorel Juvenile is the world's leading juvenile products company. When they wanted to develop a new infant car seat, they turned to Pennsylvania-based ID firm DesignThink.

DesignThink as the Innovation Incubator for the Ultra Lightweight Maxi Cosi Coral XP

A Cold January Day in 2017

The team at DesignThink was asked to visit Dorel Juvenile Group USA to review a "Special Project". The development team at Dorel JG wasted no time introducing us to their latest infant car seat (ICS) project. They were experimenting with the idea of developing a seat that would reduce the struggles parents faced when trying to transition their baby from the car and carry their baby in the removable seat portion of the ICS. The team at DesignThink has designed several car seats over the years and we instantly recognized the unique opportunity, as well as the challenge that this project offered, and were eager and excited to get started.

Our Role as the Innovation Incubator

We partnered with Dorel to act as the innovation incubator to lead the project team through the fuzzy front-end and define the product's overall features and characteristics of use. Upon successful concept definition, the project would be positioned under the Maxi Cosi brand and ultimately transferred to the Maxi Cosi team in Europe and a European design group to carry the innovation to production.

The Problem at Hand

By removing the seat from the base that is installed in the car, parents can take the baby with them while running errands or visiting people and places. However, a problem associated with this system is that some removable seats can weigh up to 16 lbs. and the baby can weigh up to 35 lbs. for a combined arm-crushing weight of 50+lbs.!!

We established two primary goals: 1) reduce the overall weight of the seat to lighten the load, while maintaining structural integrity as to achieve a top crash test rating, and 2) develop new methods that enable parents to more easily lift the seat when moving in and out of the vehicle and when transporting the child in the seat.

Our Approach (Decades of Experience and User Understanding Put to Test)

DesignThink is one of the leading firms in car seat development having brought several seats to the market and has a long history of creating break-through innovation, but this project pushed our team in new ways. The structure for the project utilized DesignThink's simplified "DEEP" process;

Define that for which we will solve

Express possible solutions as quick thumbnail stories

Explain the "what – why – wow" related to user needs

Prototype to demonstrate the merits of the idea

How the Project Unfolded

A series of innovation workshops were hosted at our studio to enable the team to think and problem solve with product at hand. The objective was to think in the "ideal" (do not worry about cost and construction initially) and to "fail fast" (explore, evaluate, and evolve). The following provided the high-level framework for how the team identified and pursued their ideas.

Established Design Targets

Led by our usability team, along with team members from Dorel, we hosted a several day innovation workshop at our studio. We began with a collaborative defining of the design targets based on use, expectations, pain points, and opportunities, which we affinitized and moved directly into physical prototyping to address and evaluate how well the concepts improved the user experience during day-to-day interactions.

DEEP: Innovation Workshops to prototype your idea. You are encouraged to be chaotic and messy! Fail fast! Dorel made sure plenty of product was on hand to fuel the innovation.

Inutitive Carry

Enhanced Confidence

Improved Transitions

Development of Design Targets

Role-Play is the Best Way

To truly understand and empathize with users, we role-played, exploring typical use-case scenarios to inform our ideation. Placing ourselves in the same situations helps us quickly evaluate and improve our concepts.

Handle-Carry:

Evolution for improved ease when attaching the seat to the base and removing the child from the vehicle

Cradle-Carry:

Exploration to improve how parents can bond with the baby in a more natural holding position

Cross-Body Strap:

Exploration to provide alternate ways to carry the baby while reducing the effects of weight and fatigue on the parent

Iterative User Evaluation Cycle

Our early thoughts and ideas were evaluated by the team and with parents in our research lab. These ideas were then refined to strengthen the evolving direction. The learnings obtained through this method enabled the team to focus on the most meaningful directions and build their value. Listening, understanding, and empathizing allowed our team to develop new ideas in this category that were previously unexplored.

DesignThink presents the refined design direction.

A series of prototypes and user evaluations enabled us to reach a stage of concept definition for an ultra lightweight car seat that provides parents with improved ways to carry, hold, and secure their baby.

Our Results

User-Centered Insights lead to Market Defining Solutions

Having developed many juvenile products such as car seats, strollers, and highchairs, DesignThink understands the day-to-day challenges parents face, both physically and emotionally. We embarked on this project with Dorel to define a new car seat with features that take into account those challenges and offer relevant and meaningful solutions. Exploring innovation that is rooted in user insights enabled our team to quickly define those solutions and overcome technical hurdles to deliver new experiences to address real problems faced by parents when using an ICS.

Defining the Direction

As mentioned, DesignThink was hired as the innovation incubator in the fuzzy front-end to develop and define a new architecture for this seat. Our work was documented and handed off to the Maxi-Cosi team in Europe. The output of our innovation incubation became the driving framework used by the teams in Europe to create a truly meaningful and relevant solution for parents in this category.

The DesignThink team is very proud to have been selected by Dorel to play such an important "behind the scenes" role in setting the direction for, and contributing to the success of, the Maxi Cosi Coral XP.

It takes a Village to Design a Car Seat

Snapshot of the iterative concept development that led to the final product

You can see more of DesignThink's work here.

The Formlabs User Summit, the company's annual 3D printing user conference, starts tomorrow at 9am ET. The company's SLS and SLA printers will be on-show, along with industry folks discussing the impact of 3D printing across a variety of industries.

The event will feature a keynote presentation with Formlabs CEO Maxim Lobovsky and aerospace engineer and renowned YouTube influencer Tom Stanton. Other key speakers will include:

- Nihat Isitman, Senior Materials Engineer at Apple

- Matthais Shulz, Technologist for AM Polymer Series Manufacturing at Brose

- Patrick Marr, Senior Director of Prototype Development at Hasbro

The free event will be livestreamed on YouTube. You can register to watch it here.

This Mambapod was invented by Taiwanese photography accessory company Silence Corner.

It's a mini tripod that can also be used on non-flat surfaces, thanks to an innovative feature in one of the legs. Two small jaws can be unfolded from the leg, and dialed towards each other by rotating a handle at the bottom of the leg, essentially becoming an F-style clamp.

Alternately, just one of the jaws can be flipped out and used as a hook.

The clamping arrangement provides a lot more security than bendy legs, allowing you to hang your expensive SLR or smartphone in precarious places.

The Mambapod is a hit on Kickstarter, with over $200K in pledges at press time and 25 days left to pledge. Pricing starts at $129.

October US container imports were 2,494,635 TEUs, marking the fourth month in a row of volumes exceeding 2.4 million TEUs, a threshold that has historically strained US maritime logistics, the November Global Shipping Report by Descartes Systems Group noted. For the first ten months of 2024, volumes grew by 13.1 per cent YoY. At seven of the top 10 US ports, transit time delays rose in October.

Global cotton markets saw slight declines and stabilisation in recent weeks, with NY/ICE December futures trading between 67–75 cents/lb since June, now at 71 cents/lb. The global A Index dipped from 85 to 83 cents, while China's index dropped from 101 to 97 cents due to a weaker yuan. Indian and Pakistani spot prices also declined, but both rupees remained stable against the dollar.

Many small-to-midsize banks and financial institutions are still running on-premise Microsoft Exchange email servers, whether in their own walls, or in the walls of their technology service provider. Microsoft recently announced that multiple hacking groups were targeting Microsoft Exchange servers in coordinated attacks, which could cause a damaging data breach for these organizations. With all...

The post Data Security for Banks and Financial Institutions: Top 4 Myths About Moving to the Cloud appeared first on Anders CPA.

Companies and candidates are continually asking, “what does the current hiring market look like?” And many are shocked by the response. The truth is that the market is incredibly short on good quality candidates right now, and many job postings are open for extended periods while companies search for candidates. So, how did the job...

The post Hiring Challenges Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels – 5 Ways to Recruit the Right Hire appeared first on Anders CPA.

Anders was recognized on Missouri Lawyers Media’s 2021 Reader Rankings list for Forensic Accounting Providers. As one of the top three firms honored on the list, Anders was nominated and selected by the readers of Missouri Lawyers Media in an annual ranking of top businesses and firms in the legal profession. The Anders Forensic and...

The post Anders Named a Top Forensic Accounting Provider in Missouri Lawyers Media 2021 Reader Rankings appeared first on Anders CPA.

Report on the latest statistical data regarding risky behavior among youth.

The latest data on the disparities of the adult population of tobacco use in the U.S.

Data regarding smoking, quantity and access to cigarettes by youth in 45 countries during 2013 and 2014.

Data regarding the disparities with tobacco-related cancer incidences and death from 2004 until 2013.

Characteristics of e-cigarette use among middle and high school students in the United States during 2015.

US stocks have been on a roll since Donald Trump's victory. A bullish investment chief shared three concerns that investors should keep their eyes on.

Google's new Learn About tool offers an interactive approach to learning about topics, including heady questions like whether money buys happiness.

Protein powders, yogurts, and bars make hitting our protein targets easy, but can contain UPFs. Here's what happened when health reporter Rachel Hosie quit them for a week.

Intel is struggling to overcome a series of challenges and establish itself as a globally competitive chipmaker.

Younger Americans are moving to rural areas, with large increases in Colorado, Texas, Montana, and the Southeast.