How the Southern economic model denies prosperity to all

 Summary: The Southern economic development model has failed to create shared prosperity in the region. In fact, this model was deliberately designed to do the opposite—to extract the labor of Black and brown Southerners as cheaply as possible. This report examines the racist roots of the model and provides the necessary context to challenge the enduring racial hierarchy in the South. 

Many states across the Southern United States utilize an economic development model that prioritizes business interests and the wealthy over ordinary citizens. This model—which we refer to as the “Southern economic development model”—is defined by low wages, low taxes, few regulations on businesses, few labor protections, a weak safety net, and fierce opposition to unions. This model is marketed as the way to attract businesses into the region, with the implicit promise that this will generate an abundance of jobs and shared economic prosperity for all Southerners.

In reality, this economic development model is fundamentally flawed as a strategy for improving living conditions for most Southerners. In fact, the Southern economic development strategy was never designed to help the vast majority of working Southerners; rather, it reflects efforts to ensure continued access to the cheap labor of Black people following emancipation, and that of Black and brown people more generally today. 

In this report, we describe the Southern economic development model in detail and document the historical evolution of various components of the model. We show how politicians and the wealthy across the South have used racism and drawn on notions of white supremacy to divide the population along racial, ethnic, nativist, and economic lines. This has prevented Southerners from coming together in solidarity to demand policies that would uplift everyone in the...Read more...

Why Companies Should Disclose Their Lack of Progress on DEI

 Summary. Many companies have set goals to increase employee diversity, and many companies have fallen short of meeting their goals. Most leaders would likely prefer to keep this lack of progress quiet, but research shows that there may be benefits to being transparent about it. Specifically, this type of disclosure can signal that you take diversity seriously and are genuinely committed to the goals you’ve set for your organization. That said, taking too long to make progress can dampen any goodwill you might receive from disclosure.

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the national reckoning around racial injustice in 2020, many companies redoubled their commitment to increase the diversity of their workforce. New practices and policies were introduced to help reach diversity goals set by leadership, and for quite a few, this commitment was broadcast widely: centered in a CEO speech, a press release, a company town hall, on social media, or in internal messages to employees. But as the months and years passed, and despite these public commitments and changes to policies and procedures, many organizations have struggled to...Read more...

New skills and career boost

 Develop New Skills to Pivot Your Career

Considering a radical career change? Whether you’re transitioning from finance to film or marketing to medicine, it’s more than just a leap—it’s a commitment to developing the skills you need using the limited time you have. Here’s how to make it work.

Accept the time commitment. Prioritize your new career goals by cutting back on...Read more...

What Venture Capitalists Can Teach Companies About Decision-Making

Venture capital firms notoriously embrace risk and take big swings, hoping that one startup will become a monster hit that pays for many other failed investments. This VC approach scares established companies, but it shouldn’t. Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Ilya Strebulaev says that VC firms have proven best practices that all leaders should apply in their own companies. He explains exactly how VC’s operationalize risk, embrace disagreement over consensus, and stay agile in their decision-making—all valuable lessons that apply outside of Silicon Valley. With author Alex Dang, Strebulaev cowrote the...Read more...

Boost teams participation in meetings

Boost Team Participation in Meetings

Low participation in meetings can harm your team’s productivity by reducing collaboration, hampering decision-making, and eroding unity. How can you encourage more fruitful engagement? Start by clarifying expectations. Outline the supportive behaviors you want to see in your meetings. For example, you could say, “As a team, we support each other, we tackle challenges together, and we communicate constructively.” Model these behaviors yourself, and be sure to celebrate when your team members do the same. For example, you might say, “I would like to recognize something. Alex, the way you just acknowledged Jordan’s contribution embodies the supportive culture we want to have on our team—one where every team member’s input is recognized and appreciated. Alex, thank you for demonstrating this and setting a positive example for...Read more... 

Employees and reticence to company's RTO policy: the right approach

 When Some of Your Employees Are Resisting Your Company’s RTO Policy

What should you do if some of your team members still don’t want to return to the office after your company has mandated it? As a manager, aligning organizational policies with employee preferences can be a challenge. Here’s how to handle your team’s concerns with empathy. Show compassion. Engage in open conversations with your team about their concerns with returning to the office. Listen attentively and...read more...

Most Americans don’t expect to work into their mid-60s

 Among young workers who see getting on the hamster wheel of buying a home, saving some money, building some wealth, and retiring as an increasingly distant goal, one meme endures: I will never be able to stop working. But new data from the New York Fed published this week showed the number of workers expecting to work beyond age 62 has plummeted. Our Chart of the Week below shows the number of respondents to the New York Fed’s survey who expect to work beyond 62 fell to 45.8% in March, down from 55.4% four years ago. And just 31.2% of workers expect to work beyond 67 years old, down from 36.2% four years ago. New York Fed economists found these expectations were represented broadly across age, education, and income demographics, though they were especially pronounced among...read more...

 Declining a Promotion with Grace

When offered a promotion, you might feel pressured to automatically accept. But what if it doesn’t feel like the right fit for you? Saying no can be daunting, but doing so gracefully is key to maintaining good relationships and advancing your career on your own terms. First, understand why you’re hesitant. Is it a bad time personally? Are you simply happy in your...read more...

Work habits and mental health

 Build Work Habits That Support Your Mental Health

When you’re struggling with your mental health, getting through the workday can feel more difficult. Tending to your mental health at work is critical—whether or not you’ve been diagnosed with a specific condition. Here are some ways to make your workday work for your mental health. First, establish strong habits around deep work. Building a consistent routine for focused work will help you feel a...Read more...

Facing The Challenge of Leaving a Long-Term Job to Start Something New

 Leaving a company that’s been your professional home for years, or decades, is a major shift that can feel both thrilling and perilous. In this article, the authors outline six challenges that often come up when making this transition: 1) Ruminating and second-guessing; 2) Feeling guilty; 3) Being afraid of losing status; 4) Needing to adapt; 5) Managing the perceptions of your new colleagues; and 6) Balancing opposing emotions. They offer advice for how to overcome these six challenges and share strategies to ensure that your new job or career is just...Read more...

Reducing Intergenerational Poverty

 Experiencing poverty during childhood can lead to lasting harmful effects that compromise not only children’s health and welfare but can also hinder future opportunities for economic mobility, which may be passed on to future generations. This cycle of economic disadvantage weighs heavily not only on children and families experiencing poverty but also the nation, reducing overall economic output and placing increased burden on the educational, criminal justice, and health care systems. Reducing Intergenerational Poverty examines key drivers of long- term, intergenerational poverty, including the racial disparities and structural factors that contribute to this cycle. The report assesses existing research on the effects on intergenerational poverty of income assistance, education, health, and other intervention programs and identifies evidence-based programs and policies that have the potential to significantly reduce the effects of the key drivers of intergenerational poverty. The report also examines the disproportionate effect of disadvantage to different racial/ethnic groups. In addition, the report identifies high-priority gaps in the data and research needed to help develop effective policies for reducing intergenerational poverty in the...Read more...

Coping with the Stress of Retirement

 Retirement can seem like a dream. Will we ever be able to stop working? Will we want to? Will we be able to afford it? For those of us who have built our lives around work, the transition to not working can be stressful. Whether your worry about retirement is grounded in financial questions, health concerns, or filling your time in meaningful ways, identifying your sources of stress can help you take proactive steps to prepare for this significant life transition from an emotional and psychological standpoint, helping you reduce and manage your stress and enjoy a more positive retirement. The sources of stress will differ for individuals depending on your personal context and where in the seven phases of retirement you are. Provides definitions and coping mechanisms for six of the seven phases to help you identify them and manage your response during them. Regardless of the specific circumstances of your retirement, preparing for it emotionally and psychologically will help ameliorate the stresses that it can bring so that you can focus on enjoying the life you planned for with a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and connection that lasts. For many of us, retirement is a...Read more...

Can bad leaders improve over time?

 How Bad Leaders Get Worse over Time

When Volkswagen appointed a CEO in 2007, that leader came in with a firm reputation. Martin Winterkorn was known for unbridled ambition and ruling with an iron fist. VW set the goal of becoming the number one carmaker in the world. Winterkorn wanted the German car company to beat Toyota and General Motors in units sold, profits, and customer satisfaction within ten years. At first, there were big successes. But in 2015, a scandal broke: Emissionsgate. Volkwagen had created a...Read more...

Find the meaning in your work

 If you don't feel like you have a career purpose, that’s okay; focus on finding meaning instead. While purpose represents an overarching goal, meaning is the feeling of satisfaction you get from your work. Here’s how to discover the meaning in your work.

Start by...Read more...

Importance of mental health in teamwork

 Supporting Your Team’s Mental Health

Mental health has become a bigger priority for both employers and employees in recent years. But there's still more work to be done to support people's mental health at work. Here are some impactful strategies to prioritize.

 Avoid one-size-fits-all solutions. Different roles and responsibilities require...Read more...

A Weekly Exercise for Working Parents

 As a working parent, it can be difficult to juggle competing responsibilities throughout the workweek. This simple exercise can help you keep your schedule under control. Start by creating a centralized calendar where you keep track of key family- and work-related commitments. If you have a partner or co-parent, share it with them, and build a habit of proactively updating it throughout the...Read more...

importance of strategic questions in the face of organizational unpredictability

 With organizations facing increased urgency and unpredictability, being able to ask smart questions has become a key leadership skill—especially when setting strategy. Here are five types of questions to ask that can boost strategic decision-making.

Investigative: What’s Known? When facing a problem or opportunity, the best decision-makers start by clarifying their purpose, asking themselves what they want to achieve and what they need to learn to do so. Read more...

How to boost your motivation on the job

 Feeling Unmotivated? Here's How to Plug Back In.

It’s common to go through periods at work where you’re just not feeling it. No matter what’s sapping your motivation, these strategies can help you interrupt the cycle of numbness and paralysis—and restore your sense of agency.

Detach. Being unhappy at work can...Read more...

Reacting to your team's discontent

 When Your Team Blames You

When your team blames you for a failure or a decision they don’t like, it’s natural to feel a range of uncomfortable emotions. How can you work through your response and rebuild trust?

Be brutally honest with yourself. Start by identifying and naming your feelings, then take an honest look at your contributions to the...Read more...

Should you quit that unchallenging jobs?

 Some days, you hate, hate, hate your job. Other days, you wonder if you’re truly unhappy or just coming to terms with the reality that workdays can often feel like a long, tedious slog. It’s even harder to tell the difference if your friends and colleagues constantly complain about their jobs. Once a group vent session begins, a creeping sense of self-doubt takes root. “You think, ‘Am I being entitled by wanting more or is it really this bad?’” says Jenny Blake, a former career development program manager at Google and author of three books, including Pivot and Free Time. “You can write it off as a first-world problem, but work is where you spend the vast majority of your waking hours, so it matters.” Read more...