KACHARAGADLA

A  study  by University of Michigan researchers I just read about in the  Squared Away   blog  from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College noted that “about 40% of Americans who were still working when they turned 62 had moved to a new occupation sometime after age 55.” But when older workers  change occupations  later in life, the study added, “they experience a decrease in hourly earnings.” Let me unpack that study, which was called  Occupational Transitions at Older Ages: What Moves are People Making?  Then, I’ll offer my five rules to follow if you want to keep working into your 60s or beyond — especially if you want to change careers to do it. Taking a Pay Cut After a Career Switch I wasn’t terribly surprised by the researchers’ pay cut finding. The truth is, based on the workers I’ve studied and interviewed for  my books  and articles, most workers who change careers take a step down in salary when they start over. But here’s the interesting part: Th

The most recent technology IPOs include MuleSoft, Alteryx, Coupa, BlackLine, Talend, and Twilio. Add to that list recent filings by Okta, Yext and Cloudera and the market’s appetite for enterprise technology IPOs continues to grow in 2017. Now a  new batch of more than 300  are in the running for an initial public offering. For all of the digital enterprises preparing for IPOs this year, staffing the right executive team is critical. Although these companies know technology is at the core of every business process and is the primary driver of competitive advantage, CIOs are often not hired in the early stages of the company. In fact, very few pause to think of a CIO until there’s a dire need. While there’s no doubt that CTOs and CFOs are critical, CIOs have an equally important role to play. CEOs, here are 5 reasons your startup needs a CIO today: 1) Start Right:  CIOs are typically brought in when a company’s considering going public or planning an exit. By this time, the co

The idea of “work-life balance”  is an invention of the mid-19 th   century . The notion of cultivating awareness of one’s work versus one’s pleasure emerged when the word “leisure” caught on in Europe in the Industrial Era. Work became separate from “life” (at least for a certain class of men) and we’ve been struggling to juggle them ever since. Today, when so much work and leisure time involve staring at screens, I see a different struggle arising: a struggle to find a healthy balance between technology and the physical world, or, for short, “tech/body balance.” A   2016 survey from Deloitte  found that Americans  collectively  check their phones 8 billion times per day. The average for individual Americans was 46 checks per day, including during leisure time—watching TV, spending time with friends, eating dinner. So attached are we to our devices that it’s not unusual to have your phone with you  at all times . We carry our phones around everywhere as if they are epi-pen

Hyundai Motor  Company’s sister concern   Kia Motors   is all set to establish its first Indian manufacturing facility in   Andhra Pradesh   as the state government has initiated the process for   acquisition   of land meant for the company’s operations. Recent reports cited Sri City as the possible location in AP for its close proximity to Tamil Nadu, which is the base for Hyundai Motors’ manufacturing operations and its vendor ecosystem. However, Kia has chosen a place that is closer to Bengaluru city. In its orders issued on Thursday, the AP government has directed the Anantapur district collector to acquire 600 acres in Erramanchi village near Penukonda on the national highway connecting Bengaluru for an “industrial park”. Sources told Business Standard that the acquisition was meant for Kia’s upcoming manufacturing facility. The government has even mentioned the survey numbers of the land having a total extent of 599.38 acres for the acquisition besides fixing

You’ve decided to leave the organization, and the decision was driven by your needs as a working parent. Maybe you’re taking a new job with fewer hours or less travel so you can spend more time with the kids; maybe you’re “up-ramping” and taking on a position with more responsibility, pressure, and pay – so you can afford those looming college bills; or maybe you’ve decided to put your focus on responsibilities at home before looking for a different opportunity. Regardless of the specific reason why, the question now is how – how to leave in the right way, how to be credible, honest and transparent while acting in your own best interests, and how to preserve the long-term career capital you’ve worked so hard to create. Unfortunately for working parents, there’s no offboarding playbook, and when you’ve got your kids and family in mind, the raft of emotions attached to a professional exit can swell to very large proportions. You may feel guilty, excited, conflicted, angry, or rel

The best teachers all have at least one thing in common: they ask great questions.  They ask questions that force students to move beyond simple answers, that test their reasoning, that spark curiosity, and that generate new insights. They ask questions that inspire students to think, and to think deeply. As a business leader, you might have years of experience and the confidence of your organization behind you, so it may be tempting to think that your job is to always have the right answers. But great leaders have to inspire the same curiosity, creativity, and deeper thinking in their employees that great teachers inspire in their students – and that starts with asking the right questions. Any answer is only as good as the question asked. As a dean, I find it useful to remember the statement often (perhaps  spuriously ) attributed to Albert Einstein that if he had an hour to solve a problem, and his life depended on it, he would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining t

In the traditional media industry, some outlets differentiate themselves through quality, but social media hasn’t gotten there yet — there is no  “ New York Times  of social media.” The modern landscape for newspapers and books resulted from centuries of evolution, but “new media” hasn’t yet developed such strong brands and categories.   However, although there aren’t any dominant players, there are social network companies seeking to stake out “high-quality” territory. The most common approaches are to specialize in either high-quality information, or to specialize in deep, emotional relationships. Of course, people do use existing comms and social software to manage quality information and close relationships — the beloved chat app Slack is  widely used  by couples and families, for example. But Slack is generally aimed at the enterprise market and doesn’t specialize in intimate relationships.  Similarly, Facebook doesn’t specialize in purveying journalism, even though almost e