Money Talking

New Media experiments like Vox Media, BuzzFeed and Vice Media have investors all aflutter. Is this the future of media, or a bubble that might burst? 

Small slights at work – intended or perceived – can lead to resentment, distrust, and even a complete breakdown in office relationships. It may be your boss, a subordinate or just that guy who sits in the next cubicle, but when any of these relationships sour, they can drag down your own happiness and productivity. Brian Uzzi, a professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and author of the Harvard Business Review article, "Make Your Enemies Your Allies," has developed an approach to fixing work relationships that have gone bad. He calls it the 3Rs. 

When we’re talking wages, for many Americans, it's been bad news. Since as far back as the 1970s, they've seen their average salaries stagnate, even slump, while at the same time, the price of everyday goods keeps rising.That’s why recent signs that workers are seeing slight increases in their paychecks are getting some economists (not to mention those workers) excited. Is this the tipping point when wages will start steadily rising? And then the word of the week – watching the Federal Reserve’s every utterance to see when it stops using it, thereby sending a signal about the strength of the economy and that interest rates will soon start to rise.

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn accuses five international banks that did business with Iran of being liable for terror attacks in Iraq that killed Americans. Then, as part of an ongoing series of conversations with authors for the Harvard Business Review about surviving the workplace, how to get people to stop wasting your time.

It’s getting even tougher to make money in the music industry as streaming becomes more popular. Why buy when you can rent, sometimes even for free? And what about the “Shazam Effect?” You might think you’re finding some cool music these days online, but it turns out, "Big Data" is helping labels and radio stations choose songs they know you'll listen to.

Ron Lieber thinks it’s time for parents and kids to start having honest conversations about money. Lieber is the personal finance columnist for the New York Times and author of The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous and Smart about Money. He says kids are going to ask the uncomfortable questions – are we rich? how much do you make? – and it’s important to answer their questions. Doing so will not only prepare them better for a world of increasingly complicated financial decisions, but it will help parents too.

“This isn’t easy and I don’t mean to imply that every parent walks into this with their head screwed on straight,” he said, “but often the process of having to teach it to kids, having to because we really do have to, helps the parents or parent figure it out for themselves.”

At the start of the New Year, you probably made some resolutions to improve your personal and work life. And if you are like most people, a few weeks into 2015, you’ve probably already let them drop. But don’t fret! With advice from the Harvard Business Review, it’s not too late to recommit and achieve your goals.

Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, announced this week that the company will spin off the Chinese e-commerce website Alibaba into a separate corporation. It's an investment now worth nearly $40 billion.

Without it, Yahoo will now be a much smaller company that by some calculations is worth less than $0.

And that might be the best thing for the future of the company, which was once a leading player in Silicon Valley — and Mayer’s plan to turn it around.

This week on Money Talking, Nicholas Carlson, author of Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo! discusses Mayer's plan, what challenges she faces and how being one of few female CEOs makes it more complicated.

Heavy hitters from the worlds of business, politics, philanthropy and even entertainment converged on the small Swiss town of Davos-Klosters this week for the World Economic Forum. The annual conference brings together billionaires, bankers and sometimes even rock stars (is that Bono?) to discuss and debate the world's most protracted problems.

This year, the theme is "The Next Global Context." Not sure what exactly that means? Well, it gives you a lot of opportunities for discussions about practically any topic.

And this year, there've been a lot of the conversations about the mixed global economic picture. In the U.S., the economy is growing. But for much of the rest of the world, it's slowing down, even struggling. The European Central Bank announced plans to inject $1.3 trillion into Europe's economy over fears it's facing deflation. And in 2014, China's economy grew at its slowest pace in over two decades. Then there are the oil states are bleeding money as oil prices plummet. 

Money Talking regular contributor, Rana Foroohar of Time magazine is in Davos and spent time with many of the event's biggest names. She explains what attendees are talking about, what concerns them and whether global income inequality is getting its due (spoiler alert, no).

And later in the show, Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (who's also in Davos this week!) talks to Charlie Herman, host of Money Talking about how to scale down our commitments to make space for the things that really matter. 

The world is awash in overworked, stressed-out workers who stretch themselves wafer thin trying to do it all and have it all. They rely on a litany of to-do lists and productivity apps on their phones just to keep it all straight. Without a full schedule, they feel unaccomplished and unloved.

What they might want to feel is deceived.

"We've been conned with the idea that if we can fit it all into our schedules, we can have it all in our lives," said Greg McKeown, Harvard Business Review contributor and author of one of 2014's best business books, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.

Over committing, McKeown says, can lead to anxiety and lost productivity. "If you don't prioritize your life, then someone else will," he told Charlie Herman, host of WNYC’s Money Talking.

His answer is what he calls “essentialism” or an approach that forces hard choices when it comes to selecting the things we ultimately do.

"It's about being so selective that you have the space to do the things that are absolutely fabulous, that are amazing, that are break-through experiences."

And McKeown advises that changing the question we ask ourselves before embarking on a new project or assignment may help us get there.  "If you're not 90 percent sure of doing something, just don't bother. Don't worry about it."

Heidi Moore, the U.S. Finance and Economics Editor at The Guardian, asks herself a similar question. "What do I want to want to spend my time on to show what I actually value in life?" It's a question that forces attention on only those things that have the potential to help us achieve our objectives. "Your time has to be spent according to what your real priorities are."

Overcommitting usually stems from our fear of missing out, or FOMO, and it is a powerful motivator. It pushes us toward browser windows with 14 open tabs and inboxes filled loads of unread emails. But while that fear is a powerful hedge against complacency, it robs us of the head space we need for bigger thoughts about long-term projects. As McKeown put it, "what we have to learn is the joy of missing out."

And if we end up a little bored as a result, that's okay too because "at the edge of boredom is all creativity," said McKeown. 

It’s something that Manoush Zomorodi, host of WNYC’s New Tech City believes. In the first week of February, she’s challenging people who sign up for their Bored and Brilliant campaign to rethink their relationship with their smartphones, to push themselves to space out and be bored. As she put it, that’s “where scientists, neuroscientists, say some of our most original thinking, our problem solving, our novel ideas come from.” Will you dare to embrace being bored?