Since March 2020, many organizations have moved to a work-from-home model to limit as much person-to-person contact as possible. And it’s stuck longer than many expected at first. In fact, in June 2020, S&P Global found 67% of companies expected the shift to stick, at least in some capacity.
Elon Musk, the popular founder of Tesla and SpaceX, sent shockwaves through the business world when he criticized the “MBA-ization of America.” His point: Too many business executives focus on financials and meetings—taught to them by various masters of business administration (MBA) programs—rather than the products and services themselves.
Most of my readers are familiar with small towns in Iowa that have longstanding family-owned businesses, such as family eateries. Grandparents, parents, and children may own and work in these restaurants. They often have loyal employees that are “part of the family.” These owners may be unable to afford to pay their workers much more than $10 per hour, to say nothing of the proposed $15 per hour minimum wage.
After months of dreary experimentation in her basement, Dr. von Frankenstein, PhD, has concocted an effective antidote and vaccine for a deadly virus sweeping the United States. She files and receives a patent for her discovery.
There’s a new way marketers are getting young people to fork over their money. The new tactic revolves around consumers making four payments of one-quarter the retail price of an item (Amanda Mull, “Jeans Now, Pay Later,” Atlantic, January/February 2021, 18-20). This is just the old come-on--“Buy now, pay later”—in a new guise.
Ronnie Chen, assistant professor of finance, loves to bring practical experience into the classroom. When he saw an opportunity to the help the Iowa Arboretum, the Boone County nonprofit arboretum where he has volunteered for a couple of years, with its three-year budget, he seized it.
The University of Northern Iowa will be Iowa’s host institution for a worldwide project for educators and community members on what can be done in the state to address climate change over the next decade.
Understanding personal finance is a luxury where Sharnae Lamar (Finance and Economics, ’16) grew up. On the east side of Des Moines, Lamar says there aren’t many people who know how to manage money, invest, grow income — so when she had the opportunity to go to college, business was of interest.
A new start-up by a University of Northern Iowa senior is rethinking the gig economy, a fast-growing sector that now involves about one-third of U.S. workers.
In professional life, you can expect to have a job that requires you to give effective feedback to your team members, to those you supervise, and even to your boss. Businesses and organizations use regular employee performance reviews in order to help their employees focus on their own development as a professional. Providing effective feedback during a performance review is an important professional skill.
