Shutterstock The traditional hierarchical organization is far from perfect. News from the front lines, for  instance, seldom reaches the highest levels of an organization intact, because supervisors and managers are afraid to tell the boss anything the boss doesn’t want to hear. Fear flows down the organization and people scurry to do their manager’s bidding because they want to keep their jobs.

Fotolia.com Living in the moment can feel like an impossible task in today’s world. Social media alerts, emails, and text messages call you away from whatever task we’re attempting to perform. And technology isn’t the only reasons we’re distracted. There’s a tug-of-war going on in our brains. We’re rehashing what happened yesterday one minute, and worrying about what might happen tomorrow the next.

Reid Hoffman, founder and chairman of LinkedIn, (Photo by: David A.Grogan/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) Microsoft announced on Monday that it was buying professional network LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in an all-cash transaction. It is Microsoft’s largest acquisition to date by far, dwarfing the $8.5 billion it paid for Skype in 2011 or the $7.2 billion shelled out for Nokia’s mobile phone business in 2013.

Shutterstock How do I figure out if I’m on the right path? It’s a question that’s often on the minds of many professionals, but can sometimes be hard to figure out the answer in the midst of the daily grind. Who has time to ponder this when there’s so much to be done right now.

I was wrapping up a quick chat with a friend of mine at an early-morning HR event when a young woman approached me and asked in a quiet voice, “Do you have a second?” “Of course,” I said. “I’m Liz Ryan. What’s your name?” “It’s Sandy,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.” “It’s nice to meet you, too, Sandy,” I said.

Shutterstock Since 2012, I have been studying, researching and writing about the concept of purpose. Purpose in one’s life, purpose in one’s role at work … and purpose in the organization itself. There is something fundamentally wrong in our society. People yearn for a sense of purpose in their lives. Life is short. It matters to many of us–if not all of us–that we make the best of our short time on this planet.

Email is a lifesaver in lots of business situations, but it’s not the right channel for every message you need to send. When you send an email message that’s hundreds of words long, few recipients will be able to dig in and give your message the time you probably feel it deserves. Unless your recipient has asked you to communicate your thoughts in full detail in an email message, there is undoubtedly a better choice of medium.

If you understand them, you can help any size company succeed. In my last article, I spoke about a growing and costly language gap between big businesses and startups and why bridging it is critical. The reason is simple. Large and small businesses need each other. Startups need large businesses because they have the systems, brand awareness, distribution and expertise to turn the seeds of ideas into flourishing gardens of possibility.

2008 was a rough year for many fashion brands. Not Rebecca Minkoff. During an intimate Q&A with me at her Soho shop this week, the New York-based fashion designer shared how social media transformed her business, why she grew 546% during the 2008 recession and what’s next for her company. Check out highlights from our talk below. Photo: Grant Friedman On funding the company: My brother [Uri Minkoff] maxed out his credit cards. He mortgaged his house.

We are programmed to win whenever there is something to win. We’ve been taught to set goals and achieve them. When you’re job-hunting, the instinct to win the prize can take over. You can expend a lot of energy trying to get a job, and then realize once you’ve got the job that it’s not the right job for you at all. Nearly everyone has done it at least once. Sometimes at the last minute, your job offer negotiation falls apart and you’re downcast.