• Information economy could bring social equality
  The rise of information economies may reduce the rich-poor gap, researchers say, since it's harder for people to pass on special skills to their next of kin than it is to leave a physical asset, such as a factory. Studying dozens of populations, researchers found that agricultural or merchant cultures, in which wealth was vested in material goods, had up to 20 times less social mobility than cultures in which knowledge and skill mattered most. "An economy based on brains and connections has more opportunities for equality [than] one based on grain and steel," says economist Samuel Bowles. TIME (10/29)

• Procter & Gamble CEO to refocus on core
  Procter & Gamble CEO Robert McDonald says he may sell off some of the company's divisions -- including Braun appliances, Duracell batteries and Pringles potato chips -- if their performance doesn't improve. Company insiders say that in the face of sliding sales, McDonald is seeking to refocus P&G on its core health, household and beauty product lines, and to devote resources to the company's most successful brands, which collectively bring in three-quarters of the company's annual profits. The Wall Street Journal (10/29)

• Great service begins with trust, says Ritz-Carlton chief
  Ritz-Carlton President Simon F. Cooper says the key to his company's success is training the staff well, then trusting them to do their jobs. Every employee at Cooper's hotel chain can spend up to $2,000 to improve any guest's stay without seeking managerial approval - whether it's used on champagne for a guest's birthday or on carpentry costs to make a beach wheelchair accessible. "It doesn't get used much, but it displays a deep trust in our staff's judgment," Cooper says. Forbes (10/30)

• From the podium to the corner office
  Conducting a world-class orchestra isn't so different from running a business, says musical maestro Roger Nierenberg. Getting people to play the same tune means communicating clearly, listening carefully and not letting your own ego get in the way of achieving results. A leader's role is to articulate a big-picture vision in a way that makes sense to individual team members, so that the organization can function harmoniously. WashingtonPost.com/On Leadership blog (10/26)

• Local Motors crowdsources car design
  Local Motors, a Web startup, builds cars to order, based on sketches submitted and refined online by thousands of would-be designers. The company will produce the cars at smaller, localized facilities that will allow customers to get involved in the production process, as well as save on shipping costs. The company's first crowdsourced vehicle -- an offroader called the Rally Fighter -- is expected to go into production next year. BusinessWeek (10/28)

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Leadership readers in the past week.

• 3 signs of a lousy "thought leader" (The Economist)

• Don't let difficult conversations catch you off balance (HarvardBusiness.org)

• Researchers claim to have solved Earhart mystery (Discovery)

• Dress for success -- in denim (The Wall Street Journal)

• Whale battle royale caught on film (BBC)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

• What strategy will be central to your effort to enhance profits in the new year?
  Look out for the SmartBrief on Leadership Year-End Report on Dec. 8 and 15. The results of this poll will appear in Part 2 on Dec. 15.

	Product and service innovation to increase volume.
	Cost cutting, including workforce reduction.
	Organizational consolidation to reduce costs.
	No changes are contemplated.
	Price increases to bolster margins.
	Price cutting to induce volume.

• Bad driving could be hardwired
  Researchers believe that a single gene found in a third of Americans could cause sloppy driving. Undergraduates who possessed the gene, which affects the brain's ability to rewire itself and thus its ability to learn new skills, made 20% more mistakes during a driving simulation than their more genetically fortunate peers. "The people who had this genetic variation performed more poorly from the get-go," says neurologist Steven Cramer. "It's up to society to say, how do we deal with that fact?" Wired.com/Wired Science (10/29)

• Download Media Kit

• Readers' Choice
• Diversions Archive
• Search
• Archive
• Today's Brief - Permalink
• Who's Hiring?
• Grab our News Widget
• Get this RSS Feed

• Friday, October 30, 2009
• Thursday, October 29, 2009
• Wednesday, October 28, 2009
• Tuesday, October 27, 2009
• Monday, October 26, 2009