Scholarship Hacking…. What that $70,000 Salary Decision REALLY Means…. Your Personal LinkedIn Army…. Econ Recon: Two Americas…. An Economic Summit Just for You

“It is not inequality which is the real misfortune; it is dependence.” 

 Voltaire

Scholarship Hacking

More than $100 million in scholarships go unclaimed each year. A student at Drexel University has created an app that helps match students up with available scholarships based on the student’s particular interest, need, background and other factors. This student, Christopher Gray, funded his own tuition at Drexel with funds left over for books and other expenses to boot!!.

To date, this app, “Scholly,” has helped students identify over $ 9,000,000 in scholarships.  Learn more in this short article from the Smithsonian website and click on the link therein for a 10 minute Shark Tank Segment featuring this entrepreneur’s successful pitch for funding. This app may determine where, or if, a young person in your life can pursue an education that might otherwise be unaffordable.

What That $70,000 Company Wide Salary Decision REALLY means

One of the expressions I learned from my fabulous Dad is that the “road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Two weeks ago a young CEO, Dan Price, who founded Gravity Payments – a credit card payments processing firm – cut his pay from $1,000,000 to $70,000 and raised the pay of ALL employees making less than $70,000 to that level.

We hear a lot about the hollowing out of the middle class and pay inequality. Is this decision the right way to go about remedying these situations? Not surprisingly Mr. Price’s announcement was greeted with unreserved joy by many his employees and many in the media. Is there another shoe to drop here? Check out the following article that takes an short and thoughtful look at “what Gravity Payments’ $70,000 salary equalization decision REALLY means. The author asks some very good questions. We can all hope that Mr. Price asked these questions before he make this remarkable decision. This is less a business decision and more an interesting socio-economic experiment…. that will be the subject of a Harvard Business Review study no matter the outcome.

Your Personal LinkedIn Army

Many CEOs worry that their employees spend too much time online. One Forbes Columnist thinks they may not be spending enough!  While social media can be an unwelcome distraction in the workplace depending on what sites the employees are visiting (and why), few would deny the importance of having a social media presence and fewer would  doubt that a LinkedIn presence is a given. But are you and your entire team leveraging LinkedIn for all it’s worth in advancing your brand? Check out the 18 reasons why one branding pro thinks you should be encouraging EVERY employee to be using LinkedIn EVERY day.

Econ Recon:  Two Americas

Two Americas: Speaking of inequality, some in the media talk of two Americas; rich and poor. Economist Brian Wesbury in a recent Wesbury 101 video thinks that there is a different “Two Americas” and uses an “economic parable” and an equine analogy to suggest that a more fundamental understanding of what drives the income gap might go a long way towards closing it.

Economic Summit: The economy is the water we all swim in and understanding its movements and depth is vital to success. If you agree, you might want to consider attending the 2015 ITR Economic Trends Summit on June 19 in Chicago  with Alan and Brian Beaulieu sharing their latest take on the economy and what it means for your business.