“The field of happiness studies has moved out of psychology and into economics. It is folk wisdom that money is no guarantee of happiness. And arguably it is happiness that we care about, not wealth. So rather than looking at aggregate wealth, an alternative research strategy asks people if they are happy. This may sound naive, but in fact people’s answers are correlated with their health, how much they smile, whether their friends rate them as happy, and information from brain scans. We should not so hastily dismiss questionnaire evidence about happiness.”

“Profitability management, the theme of this column, is all about translating great strategies into sound plans — and sound plans into effective tactical actions.” And here’s Part 2 and Part 3.

“Anyone who can help an organization create a Purple Cow is fair game. We want to find companies and freelancers that help their clients be remarkable. If you are one of the 500 that are picked, I’ll include you for free in my new eBook, coming out this May. I expect it will reach about a million people. This is going to be the one and only sourcebook for finding the catalyst an organization needs to create truly great stuff.”

“COI promotes research on organizational innovation as well as new forms of collaboration, communication, and coordination made possible with the advent of interactive technologies… COI affiliates represent multiple disciplines including sociology, anthropology, interactive design, computer science, organizational studies, communications, urban planning, science studies, and journalism.”

“After nine months of exposure to the overseas outsourcing market, I’m ready to give an update on the realities of outsourcing for small businesses. This is an emotionally charged issue for a lot of people in the U.S., so let me start by saying up-front that the results are mixed. Like a lot of larger businesses, I’ve discovered a number of hidden risks and costs. While I don’t think those issues will end the trend of sending jobs to cheaper labor markets, I do think the wholesale enthusiasm for outsourcing overseas is quickly waning.”

“XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) has been described as the universal business language, but so far, it’s about as oft-spoken as Latin. In essence, XBRL brings context to numbers by tagging financial data points with information about that data, in effect standardizing it. The idea: to enable businesses to prepare, exchange, and analyze financial statements and the information they contain.”

“Although brand equity is often used to calculate brand value, it has numerous shortcomings, including the lack of a common measurement methodology and value to customers. A well-known author and speaker argues that a better management tool is customer equity, or customer profitability.”

“Friends, are you tired of the free-wheeling, undisciplined chaos of the non-corporate world around you? Do the people in your life demonstrate unfortunate leanings towards such scourges as informality, spontaneity, and original thought? Luckily for you, these detestable traits (and more) can be easily brought to their knees. Simply distribute INSTANT BUREAUCRACY forms to your friends, neighbors, and family members, and you too can experience the power and mindless serenity of a ladder-climbing automaton!”

“The average billion-dollar company spends as many as 25,000 person-days per year putting together the budget. If this all paid off in shareholder return, that would be fine. But few organizations can make that claim. In fact, many firms now question the ROI of traditional budgeting altogether and are looking for alternatives that reduce time and better align spending with strategy.”

“Nearly 75 percent of shoppers in the U.S. now belong to at least one loyalty programóbut how well do they work? The short answer: not as well as they might. We look at why, and analyze how advances in customer data collection are helping three companies — Dorothy Lane Market Inc., Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and eBay Inc. — to revise their business strategies in different ways.”

“Dizzying products line miles of shelves in legions of stores across this country. Anyone daunted by holiday shopping can attest to that. So what does it take to make a product stand out? Start-ups and established firms are finding that a strong product design is integral to success, not just something that makes them look hip.”

“The battle over digital music is just another verse in Apple’s sad song: This astonishingly imaginative company keeps getting muscled out of markets it creates. So what does Apple have to tell us about innovation?”

“In ‘Managing Project Uncertainty — From Variation to Chaos’ (M.I.T. Sloan Management Review, Winter 2002), three business school professors describe a continuum of risk onto which they say every project falls. Take this quiz, created by Baseline, to find out what risks your project faces — and what management techniques you’ll need to combat them.”

“Five years ago, several executives at McKinsey & Company, America’s largest and most prestigious management-consulting firm, launched what they called the War for Talent. Thousands of questionnaires were sent to managers across the country. Eighteen companies were singled out for special attention, and the consultants spent up to three days at each firm, interviewing everyone from the C.E.O. down to the human-resources staff.”

“If you know a distinctive fact about a number not listed here, please e-mail me. Divisors, algebra, primes, sums of powers, powers/polygonal, matrices, graphs, combinatorics, Fibonacci, digits, perfect/amicable, bases, repdigits, geometry…”