Q) Is “stepping up to the plate” the same thing as “getting on board?” I’ve asked around. Some of my colleagues say yes and some say no, and since my boss says them both to me a lot I feel I need to know if there's a difference. A)...

As recently as 2018, few respectable people would have considered embarking on a career as a henchman.    “One always thought of a henchman as someone engaged in wrongdoing,” says Lauran Swandell, CEO of Shotburn Financial in Bismarck, SD.  “Someone who reported to a questionable higher-up, carried a gun, maybe...

From walking with purpose in Downtown Detroit to a big cosmetics company replacing Pink Cadillacs with Black BMWs, a look at recent business news.

A simple typo has led to record earnings for Nortown Techniques. It began with this January 3 memo from CEO Jerry Widleman to VP/Human Resources Marilyn Nils: To provide a more positive return to shareholders, we must improve our revenue picture in 2017.  I am therefore mandating that the workforce be...

A downtown Columbus, Ohio, bar is being sued for $10 million by an auditor who says she was asked to leave it on January 9, 2023. The reason? She was sad during happy hour. “I’d messed up the transactionals report, gotten a reprimand, and needed a drink,” says Mary Jo...

The Chief Transformation Officer at Milwaukee's Tellway-Platt was dismissed this week for not knowing that rapper Bow-Wow had dropped the prefix “Lil.’” Monica Pasterell, 51, was a 29-year veteran of the company. She referred to the star by his outdated name on October 8, when delivering a talk on transformational...

Citing a poor performance in May, NorthLogics CEO Moira Cassen put her foot down as of November 10. A company spokesperson says it will remain down until at least the end of the first quarter of 2022. “This is a significant move,” says Norman Wollcott of the Litman Group, which...

Over 40 people were arrested in Wyandotte, Michigan last Saturday in connection with a fight operation pitting two civil engineers against each other. According to city police spokeswoman Celia Minsle, officers were called to a home on Biddle St., by a neighbor disturbed by the noise of cheering spectators and...

Based on reports that 40 percent of think tank employees who think from home are thinking about things they're not being paid to think about, many outside clients have been terminating their thinking contracts.  To stay in business, some think tanks are changing their focus to include both thinking...

Like most major cities, Detroit has its share of artisan businesses – breweries, clothiers, paper-clip makers, and thousands more. As of next month, it will boast its first artisan CPA Firm: Hewlett Artisan Certified Public Accounting. “The artisan movement is about more than making things,” says firm founder Jennifer Hewlett. “It’s...

On Tuesday, Corporate America tracked down the man responsible for the majority of workplace rumors spread across the country. It turns out that San Diego accruals clerk Edward Mantell has started 78 percent of the rumors floating around US offices – ranging from improprieties at Fortune 500 companies to the...

The CEO assigns his top VP to organize a mandatory gathering at a local bar, to provide an opportunity for him to mingle and "rap" with the regular folks.