Careers

lloyd blankfein

David Solomon will succeed Lloyd Blankfein as CEO of Goldman Sachs, the firm said Tuesday.
Solomon will officially take the reins from Blankfein, the longest-serving Wall Street CEO after JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, in October. He'll also join the board.
Blankfein will serve as chairman through the end of year, and Solomon will add the title in January. Blankfein will become senior chairman when he retires, the firm said.

It's official: David Solomon will succeed Lloyd Blankfein as the CEO of Goldman Sachs. The Wall Street firm made the announcement Tuesday, saying Solomon would become CEO and join the board on October 1.

In a staff memo, Blankfein said that it had been hard to imagine leaving but that by his own "convoluted logic, it feels like the right time."

He also praised his successor, saying:

"He was an outstanding division head for more than 10 years, helping cement Investment Banking's leading franchise. And, as a chief operating officer, David has demonstrated strategic insight into all of our businesses, focusing on the key trends that will shape them and what our clients will most value from us in the years to come."

Here's the full memo:

July 17, 2018

To the People of Goldman Sachs

Today, our firm is announcing that I intend to step down as chief executive officer at the end of September and remain as chairman until the end of the year, and that David Solomon will succeed me in both roles. After I retire, I will be honored to serve as senior chairman to support our firm where I can.

I always knew this day would come. But, of course, the reality of it prompts many thoughts and emotions.

When I've been asked about succession in the past, it's always been hard for me to imagine leaving. When times are tougher, you can't leave. And, when times are better, you don't want to leave.

Today, I don't want to retire from Goldman Sachs, but by my own perhaps convoluted logic, it feels like the right time. I am very optimistic that our firm has tremendous opportunities ahead and will continue to earn its distinctive position. Few things in life are granted, but I'm very proud that dedication, drive and focus continue to define this institution on the eve of its 150th year.

Thirty-six years at Goldman Sachs and over 12 years as chairman and CEO is a long time. As I get distance from my role, I suspect people will ask me what I miss most about the firm and the special opportunity to lead it.

I already know the answer: all of you. The people of Goldman Sachs have always been our most differentiating strength.

When we've had tough days (or a crisis or two), I could count on you to bear down, help our clients and focus on solutions and getting better. In better times, I have fed off your excitement, ideas and passion. And, there were times when your support got me through my own challenges.

I want to congratulate David. He's been a terrific partner to me and I look forward to watching him lead Goldman Sachs for years to come. He was an outstanding division head for more than 10 years, helping cement Investment Banking's leading franchise. And, as a chief operating officer, David has demonstrated strategic insight into all of our businesses, focusing on the key trends that will shape them and what our clients will most value from us in the years to come.

I want to especially thank my wife, Laura, and our children, Alex, Jonathan and Rachel. It may be hard for some of you to believe, but I'm told that sometimes I'm not the easiest person to live with. I could not have gone through the ups and downs of the last 12 years without their patience, love and constant support.

I hope to pursue other interests in my life, but I will never do anything that will be as much a part of me as working with all of you in such a special place.

Lloyd

Ask for the budget version of certain meals

Craving a Big Mac, but tight on cash? Ask for a McDouble dressed up as a Big Mac.

"A lot of people know this already, but if you want a Big Mac and are low on money, get a McDouble and get Mig Mac sauce instead of ketchup," a crew member from New York told Business Insider. "It's much cheaper. All you're missing is the weird piece of bread in the middle."

The crew member added that, "We can customize almost everything, so, if you want some sort of hybrid burger or salad, just ask."

A former crew member of two years suggested another thrifty tweak to a popular order.

"If you get a burger, get grilled onions" instead of raw, for no extra cost, a former McDonald's crew member of two years told Business Insider.

The ex-employee also advised customers to "always get the meals," as they're often a better deal than getting a sandwich and fries separately.

There's a trick to getting a fresh egg on your breakfast sandwich

Mackenzie Shelton, whose Quora bio says she's a McDonald's employee, offered a hack for getting a fresh-from-the-carton egg on your breakfast sandwich.

Request a "round egg," she said. "It's the best egg we have (and definitely real!)."

The website Serious Eats confirmed that the request could swap out "your folded egg patty with a real egg, free of charge."

Chuck Chan, who says he worked at McDonald's, wrote on Quora that you'd get the same type of egg used in McMuffins.

Call ahead if you're placing a massive order

"If you're going to order 100 nuggets or biscuits, call ahead," a crew member from Georgia told Business Insider. "Nuggets have an eight minute cook time, and biscuits can be quite a wait in the oven."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles

A moment of public anger a year ago made OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles take a very public stance on women in tech.
She later vowed to bring her company to 50% parity of female employees and to really work in the lagging diversity in the engineering team.
She says the company is now hiring one woman engineer for every male engineer it hires and is still taking issue with any company that says it can't do the same.

A year ago on a stage in Aspen, Colorado, the CEO of OpenTable Christa Quarles lost her temper in front of several hundred people in the room and thousand more online and shouted out 'Bullsh$t."

On Tuesday she stood back up on the same stage, still angry, and told attendees of the same conference, Fortune Brainstorm Tech, that they needed to step it up. And she offered OpenTable's own progress in hiring women as an example.

A year ago, she was reacting to an audience member during a discussion on sexual harassment in the tech industry. He had said that one of the problems of women in tech is the lack of women who support each other. He was reiterating an old trope of the cat fight, the idea that women inherently can't/don't get along.

Quarles made news with the passion of her response, posted on YouTube.

A few months later, she publicly declared in a post on Medium what she was going to do at her own company. Of OpenTable's 600 employees, 42 percent of its workforce were women as was 37 percent of its executive team. That's better than average for a tech company but not perfect 50% parity, which, in that post she vowed to do.

However, it was the engineering team that really worried her. Women engineers are vastly under represented in tech everywhere. And this has resulted in a "bro culture" at tech companies that has been written about ad nauseam.

OpenTable was no exception. On stage she said OpenTable's engineering department was about 14% of women in the first quarter of last year. Since then, half the new engineers hired at the company were women.

Quarles again called BS on the idea that hiring female engineers is a "pipeline" issue. This is again a trope, that companies would have to "lower their standards" to hire women.

The bigger point she was making is one that is also well documented. Companies who hire more women make more money. She quoted a McKinsey report that found if women were paid equally, this would add $12 trillion to global GDP.

She pointed out, that it's not just about making women richer, "men would be richer too if women reached parity."

And so her challenge was a leadership one. She calls on every company to report on diversity hiring numbers alongside reporting on revenue, expenses and other business metrics. By focusing on that stat, she made the case, the whole world should get richer.

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TaskRabbit Stacy Brown-Philpot

TaskRabbit CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot is an icon in Silicon Valley as a former Googler, as well as a board member at Nordstrom and HP.
She's been with TaskRabbit since 2013. She came on as COO, and was promoted to CEO in 2016. TaskRabbit was purchased by Ikea in late 2017.
To better understand her company, which allows people to hire others to do a variety of tasks and errands, she did the responsible thing and went undercover.
She recently shared a funny story of showing up to clean a stranger's house.

The execs at so-called "gig economy" companies — those companies making apps that let one person hire another to, say, drive you around, or put you up for the night — sometimes go undercover as workers on their own platforms. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi briefly drove an Uber; Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky used to be a host himself.

And Stacy Brown-Philpot, CEO of TaskRabbit, says she also routinely gets hired as a "tasker" too, about every four months. For her last one, she took a job to clean someone's apartment and found it to be "stressful," she said on stage at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado on Tuesday.

Not only did she have to clean the apartment in two hours — including a surprisingly dirty oven that she didn't know about until she opened it — but the task was for someone who was moving out "and had to get their deposit back."

So she felt pressure because the customer had "money on the line."

She never told the customer that she was the undercover CEO. But she did rise to the challenge.

"He got his deposit back," she proudly said.

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thinking woman work

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, the psychology researcher Tania Luna and the Weight Watchers International executive Jordan Cohen said that a belief in the "career myth"— the idea that careers follow a linear path — is holding us back.
It's no longer the case that employees can expect incremental chances to advance up the career ladder.
Instead, they say, people need to embrace uncertainty by changing roles, or even industries, without a final destination in mind.

Choosing a career can be a daunting proposition.

But part of the reason may be that we're looking at career paths the wrong way.

That's what a growing number of experts are saying. In an article in the Harvard Business Review last week, the psychology researcher Tania Luna and the Weight Watchers International executive Jordan Cohen said modern employees are suffering from their belief in the "career myth," what they describe as "a delusional belief in the outdated idea of linear career progression."

As Luna and Cohen explained, people today can no longer rely on an outdated system of career advancement — one that presumes employees will be given incremental chances for career advancement along with raises and title changes.

But modern career trajectories are rarely so cut-and-dry. They often involve quickly adapting to new roles as they develop, and for many people, it's normal to switch companies or even industries several times in a career.

"When we envision a career, we imagine a direct path with a final destination," the authors wrote. "And not long ago, this concept was useful."

They added: "This vision of career growth no longer matches reality. We no longer need to be good at predicting the future; we now have to succeed when the future is unpredictable."

Their observations have been echoed by other executives. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said it was better to think of careers as a jungle gym than as a ladder — there are various ways to get to the top, and some of them involve descending or hitting a dead end.

Mitch Joel, a digital marketer, shares that sentiment, advocating in his 2013 book that workers should be willing to change careers and evolve.

"Take on a challenge within your organization, work with a new department, change something within your business that is antiquated or draconian," he wrote.

Luna and Cohen acknowledge in their article that giving up on the career myth can be scary, as it suggests an uncertain future. But they said that even if your career isn't following a logical, continuous route, it doesn't mean you're wasting time.

"Every job you've held and every relationship you've forged is a kind of key that can unlock a future opportunity," they wrote. "The keys don't have to make sense together. There doesn't need to be a clear, linear narrative to explain how you got from A to B."

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woman on phone

Figuring out how to budget for clothes spending can be tricky.
Personal finance experts told Business Insider that your overall clothing budget should be no more than 5% of your take-home income, for both work and casual clothes.
The most important thing for those who are creating a work wardrobe from scratch: Don't go into debt for it.

As the rules around office attire evolve, it's important to ensure that your work apparel matches those around you.

But keeping up with trends can get pricey. And considering work clothes tend to be pricier than what you might wear on the weekends, figuring out your clothing budget is crucial.

The general rule of thumb: Your monthly clothing budget should comprise no more than 5% of your after-tax income, financial planner Pete Dunn told Who What Wear.

So if your take-home paycheck comes in at around $1,200 every two weeks ($2,400 per month), keep your monthly shopping visits to about $120. Those who are earning $3,000 every two weeks can bump it up to $300 a month.

If you're building your work wardrobe entirely from scratch, personal finance author Lauren Bowling told Business Insider that it's okay to allot about 7% of your income.

If you need to get the total basics, like sensible black pants or a versatile cardigan, put aside $300 for a one-time trip, image curator Scarlett De Bease told Business Insider. "Then add on when possible," De Bease said.

And if you need a suit for work, high-quality options can cost up to $1,000. If your budget is tight, you can probably get a decent option for about $250 to $300. Once you have one, you can match those basic pieces with things you already have in your closet.

Whether you're creating a new work wardrobe or just adding on a few new pieces, Kat Griffin, founder of Corporette, a blog about women's work clothes, emphasized that you should never spend more than what's already in your bank account.

"I would argue that you should never go into debt to buy a bunch of new clothes," Griffin told Business Insider. "Don't put it on a credit card and figure you'll pay it off later."

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spying snooping peering cubicle coworker boss

Everyone has bad workplace habits.
Whether you realize it or not, they could be driving your coworkers nuts.
You're best avoiding certain habits at work, like eating smelly food at your desk or talking politics.

It's understandable that, in all the time we spend with coworkers and bosses, we might have let a bad habit or two slip.

Many of these office faux pas, however, may be avoided — you just need to know what it is that drives everyone around you nuts.

For the sake of your office companions, take a moment to remind yourself what behavior at work may be getting on someone's last nerve.

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Showing up late to work

"Punctuality is critical," said Rosalinda Oropeza Randall, an etiquette and civility expert and author of "Don't Burp in the Boardroom."

"The professional thing to do is to arrive on time, ready to do what is expected. It's not like they just sprung this job on you," she said.

Rolling in 10 minutes late to every meeting

Similarly, arriving late to meetings shows that you neither respect your coworkers — who showed up on time, by the way — nor the meeting organizer, Vicky Oliver, author of "301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions," told Business Insider.

"Keeping people waiting can be construed as inconsiderate, rude, or arrogant," Randall said.

Calling in sick when you aren't

"Remember the adage that half of life is showing up," Oliver said.

You won't prove you deserve the promotion if you fake sick every few weeks.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Women breadwinners appear to make both men and women uncomfortable, according to Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times.
Miller cited findings from a new Census Bureau paper — husbands and wives are lying about who makes more money when the woman is the primary breadwinner in an opposite-sex household.
Gender attitudes and social norms don't seem to keep up with the realities at work and home.

Are social attitudes behind the times at both work and at home?

That's what Claire Cain Miller asks in a New York Times article, based on a finding in a new paper from the Census Bureau. The paper says that in American households with women breadwinners, both husbands and wives tend to lie about who makes more money, and by how much.

The paper compared the earnings reported to the census by respondents in opposite-sex marriages with what their employers reported in tax filings to the IRS. When women were the primary breadwinners, wives said they made 1.5% percentage points less than the salaries reported by their employers, while husbands said they took home 2.9% percentage points more than their employer-reported salaries, reported Miller, citing the Census Bureau paper.

The study looked at people in couples ranging from age 25 to 54, in which at least one spouse earned a paycheck. "Age and geography did not make a difference — couples in which the woman earned more were as common in liberal cities as in the conservative South," writes Miller.

Gender attitudes and social norms are assumed to be at play here, whether consciously or subconsciously. Miller writes that the census researchers deduced that the concept of a male breadwinner was more "socially desirable"— an idea that has not kept up with the pace at which women are taking on the breadwinning role.

Breadwinning women are common, but still seem to be taboo

In roughly 25% of American couples, women outearn men, compared to 18% in the 1980s, reported Miller. That number gets even higher when you factor in couples with children under the age of 18 — 40% were headed by breadwinning women in 2013, four times higher than in 1960, Business Insider previously reported.

Farnoosh Torabi, financial expert and author of "When She Makes More: 10 Rules for Breadwinning Women," previously told Business Insider that women breadwinners increase their chances of divorce in the context of nontraditional gender roles. She also told Business Insider they're twice as likely as their husbands to make financial decisions for the household.

Take, for example, Liz Gendreau, who has been the primary breadwinner in her household for more than 16 years. While she and her husband are happy with their arrangement, in which she works as an IT program manager with a six-figure salary and he works as a stay-at-home dad, she's felt the effects of social stereotypes from others who find her situation confusing, she explained in an article for Business Insider.

"Talking about having a wife who stays at home is very much culturally acceptable, but people are uncomfortable talking about a husband who's at home," she said. "I'm sometimes made to feel as if I should be embarrassed that my husband stays at home, or as though it's something I shouldn't really talk about."

She added that she's heard many stories about men being ashamed and resentful of their wives for paying for everything — feelings that may not be unrelated to the data the Census found.

"It shows just how sticky gender roles can be — and how much slower they are to change than the way people live their lives," writes Miller. "Women are now much more likely to have an education and a career. Yet across most marriages, they still do much more child care and housework than their husbands, and men still feel strong pressure to be the family breadwinner."

Torabi, the author of "When She Makes More," previously gave Business Insider some advice for breadwinning women: "enlist help and support and accountability from your partner."

She told Business Insider's Tanza Loudenback: "I find that in marriages where breadwinning women are really thriving with their partners ... they actually team up with their husbands. I find that we forget we are in a partnership and this person sitting next to you wants nothing more than to support you."

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meeting office coworkers

A boss can be completely unaware of how much influence they have over their team.
That's according to executive coaches Marshall Goldsmith and Dennis Perkins.
Goldsmith and Perkins say a boss' suggestions can be interpreted as orders, and employees are always watching their boss for signs of approval or disapproval.

Marshall Goldsmith calls it "adding too much value."

In his 2007 bestseller, "What Got You Here Won't Get You There," the executive coach identified adding too much value as one of the 20 bad habits that plague leaders at all levels of an organization.

Often, he said, an employee will come to their boss with an idea and the boss will make a casual suggestion for improvement.

The problem? A boss' suggestions are perceived as orders.

As one CEO client told Goldsmith, "If [the suggestions] are smart, they're orders. If they're stupid, they're orders. If I want them to be orders, they're orders. If I don't want them to be orders, they're orders anyway."

So while the boss may forget about the suggestion they shared, the employee may drive themselves crazy trying to implement it.

That same CEO shared with Goldsmith the strategy he used to prevent this situation: "Before I speak, I just breathe and ask myself one question: Is it worth it?" At least half the time, the CEO realized it wasn't absolutely necessary to share his thoughts.

Dennis Perkins, the CEO of leadership consultancy The Syncretics Group, mentioned something similar. "Leaders are sometimes completely oblivious to the extent to which people observe them and look for signs of reinforcement or disagreement," he said.

An employee might present an idea, or share feedback on someone else's, and watch the boss' face to see how they react.

"It can be very subtle," Perkins added. But the boss' reaction "can send a message." One such message — say, if the boss looks surprised when someone dissents from the majority — is that people who "take contrarian positions" are unwelcome.

The solution here is less simple, but it comes down to at least verbally expressing — and believing — that you're open to all kinds of opinions.

"Obviously you can't have negative people all the time, popping every balloon," Perkins said. "But unless [bosses] are willing to hear the truth, they're not going to stay grounded in reality."

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Godard Abel

In less than 20 years, Silicon Valley veteran Godard Abel has built and sold two companies for hundreds of millions of dollars.

His first company, BigMachines, sold to Oracle for over $400 million in 2013.

Just three short years after BigMachine's sale, Abel was in acquisition talks again. This time, it was for his new software platform company, SteelBrick.

In 2016, Abel sold SteelBrick to Salesforce for a reported $360 million.

Now, Abel is building yet another new company. His third startup is business reviewing site G2Crowd, which raised $45 million in five years from investors including Accel, LinkedIn, and Chicago Ventures.

In tackling his latest venture, Abel has spent a lot of time considering what makes a company an attractive investment to a prospective buyer. As entrepreneurs clamor to Silicon Valley in hopes of becoming self-made millionaires, Abel says that he sees startup founders making the same mistakes again and again as they attempt to sell their companies.

In an interview with Business Insider, Abel outlined the top five critical errors entrepreneurs make as they consider potential buyers for their companies:

1) They try to get acquired.

Selling a company is a little bit like dating, says Abel. If you're looking for a prospective partner, often the worst thing you can do is to make yourself too available.

"Great companies are bought, not sold," said Abel. "The buyer comes to you — it's not the other way around."

With both companies he's sold, Abel said he's never attempted to snag the attention of a prospective buyer.

"It's never been our mindset to try to sell," said Abel. "We're always busy trying to build a business. If you want to build a winning company, then you want to build a product. Build something beautiful and someone will probably want to buy it."

2) They overplay their hand.

"People get arrogant," said Abel.

Abel said he's encountered several entrepreneurs who played hard to get after they were approached by an interested buyer. Often, said Abel, this reluctance ends up costing founders the deal.

"When you're dealing with a big company like Salesforce or Oracle or Google, they'll make an offer when they want to make an offer," said Abel. "It's fine to say no, but they probably won't come back. Usually, when they want to do it, they want to do it now. If you're perceived as arrogant or overly reluctant, it will ruin the deal."

3) They don't have their house in order.

"If another company is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on your company, they want to know your house is in order," said Abel.

Typically, this means that startups should keep meticulous records of everything: customer agreements, legal issues, lawsuits, patents, employee agreements, and trademarks.

"In the M&A process, you get into deep due diligence," said Abel.

When Abel sold his second company to Salesforce, he estimates that he handed over more than 2,000 different documents for the company to review.

To streamline this process, Abel recommends starting early.

"Always make sure you're making your employees sign confidentiality agreements. Makes sure you have the necessary IP protections. Get all of the appropriate patents and trademarks for your technology," he said. "A lot of deals blow up because companies haven't done their due diligence."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

woman thinking negotiating boss smiling happy

Knowing how much money to ask for in a salary negotiation is crucial for any job seeker.
Asking for 10% to 20% more than what you're currently making isn't a bad idea.
But you're going to have to put in some research before you just go with that formula.

How much money should you ask for in a salary negotiation?

It's a tricky question. The fact that salary negotiations can be extremely stressful doesn't help matters, either.

When you're finally down to the wire on your impending job offer, there will come a time to talk numbers, Lynn Taylor, national workplace expert and author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job," told Business Insider.

"That one last conversation — where you negotiate salary — can unnerve even the most savvy job seeker," she said.

Fortunately, there are strategies for hashing out your salary or a raise with an employer.

Here's how to find out how much money you should ask for in a salary negotiation, and how to get it:

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Do your homework

To prepare for a salary negotiation, you'll want to do your research ahead of time and figure out what someone with your experience and skills typically makes in this particular role.

Once you hear their offer and it's time to negotiate, you should keep those numbers in mind, "but also consider the nature of the first offer and how much bargaining power you think you have," Taylor said.

You should also take into consideration whether you're currently under- or overpaid.

Ask for 10% to 20% more than what you're currently making

As a general rule of thumb, it's usually appropriate to ask for 10% to 20% more than what you're currently making.

That means if you're making $50,000 a year now, you can easily ask for $55,000 to $60,000 without seeming greedy or getting laughed at.

"If the original offer is on the low side of the scale, you have more leverage," Taylor said. "If you get an offer for 20% over your current salary, you can still negotiate for more — ask for an additional 5% — but know that you're already in good stead."

Asking for 10% to 20% more is also a good option if you're looking for a raise from your employer.

That being said, Taylor said to not be afraid to "go big on your first negotiation."

"Just be sure you're using market salary ranges as your data point," she said.

Put your knowledge to use

The first step of winning any negotiation is actually sitting down to negotiation. So don't just accept the first offer you get from a prospective employer.

While most employers expect you to come back with a counteroffer, many job candidates avoid the practice and leave money on the table.

"You don't have to be one of them," Taylor said. "You'd be well served in your career to become comfortable with the process. You get one chance to accept a final compensation package at your company, so be prepared to make a persuasive argument."

Jacquelyn Smith wrote a previous version of this article.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Marc Andreessen

Marc Andreessen says most companies put off hiring a HR leader too long.
The delay makes the company more at risk of "catastrophic failure through self-inflicted wounds," according to Andreessen.
In an interview with tech industry veteran Elad Gil for his new book "High Growth Handbook," Andreessen says companies should hire a HR leader when it has somewhere between 50 and 150 employees. There's a reason for that figure.

Marc Andreessen knows a thing or two about building a successful company.

The legendary Silicon Valley investor made his name as the co-creator of the first popular web browser, co-founded Netscape, and then went on to make big early bets on Facebook, Twitter, and other high-growth tech companies at his venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

In an interview with entrepreneur and investor Elad Gil for his new book, "High Growth Handbook," Andreessen shares his secrets for how startup leaders can turn early success into lasting relevance.

One of his best tips was on the topic of when to hire a human resources leader.

"If you don't start layering in HR once you've passed 50 people on your way to 150, something is going to go badly wrong," Andreessen told Gil in the interview.

Andreessen said that most tech companies will focus in the beginning on building a great product and distribution channel before doing what he calls "everything else."

That includes finance, HR, legal, marketing, PR, investor relations, and recruiting, according to Andreessen. But the longer a company delays those activities, the higher the risk of exposing itself to "catastrophic failure through self-infliced wounds."

He went on:

"The number of companies in the Valley that put HR off to the side and decided it wasn't important and are now dealing with some level of catastrophe — either a public catastrophe or one that's in the making — that's a pretty high percentage of companies right now.

"And it's totally unnecessary. If they had taken HR seriously at an earlier point, they probably would have been able to fight a lot of their issues. But for whatever reason they decided it wasn't important. So HR has to be taken seriously."

Andreessen doesn't name any company in particular, but there are plenty of real-world cautionary tales.

Uber, a direct competitor of the Andreessen Horowitz-backed Lyft, had a spectacular meltdown in 2017 that culminated in the departure of cofounder Travis Kalanick as CEO. The controversy stemmed from a series of HR-related scandals, kicked off by an infamous blog post by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler.

When should you hire an HR leader?

In his book, Gil points out that a lot of founders, especially first-time founders, struggle to figure out when they should actually hire a HR leader.

Andreessen recommends adding HR into the mix when a company has somewhere between 50 and 150 employees. There's a reason for that figure.

A researcher named Robin Dunbar once suggested that human beings can hold only about 150 meaningful relationships in their heads, and that they simply can't get to know any more people than that. Dunbar found that hunter-gatherer societies all over the world put this cap on their communities. Some tech leaders follow the same rule.

Andreessen explained:

"Somewhere between 50 and 150 people, everybody doesn't know everybody. There are people running around who other people have never met. When you were five or 10 or 20 people, it was one big happy family and everybody knew everybody — well, maybe it wasn't, but at least everybody knew everybody. And the CEO had direct one-on-one relationships with everybody in the company.

"Once you get to 50-plus, that's just no longer the case. At that point there's a necessary impersonality of the professional relationships in the company. And then HR catastrophes emerge, because people trip the line from proper professional behavior in a workplace to improper."

You can read the complete interview with Andreessen — as well as interviews with tech luminaries Sam Altman, Patrick Collison, and Reid Hoffman — in Gil's book "High Growth Handbook."

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If you've been working towards getting a promotion at work, you're probably wondering what are the signs your boss wants to promote you?
Sudden invitations to meetings and lunches you were previously excluded from could be indications you're about to be promoted.
Keep an eye out for a combination of these and other signs to know if you're being groomed for promotion.

Maybe there's a sense of euphoria in the air that you can't quite pinpoint.

Or perhaps you have a new sense of confidence at work.

It might be because you're finally getting that promotion at work, but it's hard to tell for sure until it actually happens.

Thankfully, "there are some telltale signs that you may at long last be getting that coveted promotion — you just need to look for them,"Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job," told Business Insider.

"But remember, false reads on promotions happen every day, so even if you think you see the signs, you'll want to remain as neutral as possible and stay focused on doing your best work."

Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage," told Business Insider that the signs aren't always obvious, but people can usually tell if they are being considered for a new role.

"Being self-aware is a critical skill for anyone to develop and so you should, ideally, always have a reasonably good sense as to how you are perceived by your colleagues and senior leaders," Kerr said. "And talking about your career goals and potential career paths should be a conversation you have on a fairly regular basis with your boss."

Whether you're having those discussions or not, you'll still want to keep an eye out for the signs a promotion might be in your future. Here are 15 of them:

You're suddenly invited to meetings that you were previously excluded from

"This is a great sign, especially if your advice is sought during these meetings and you're asked to lead future ones," Taylor told Business Insider.

And if you're in meetings with senior management, managers from other departments, or key clients, Kerr said that "reflects a great deal of trust in your abilities."

You've been asked to take on a special assignment or project with added responsibilities

Yes, it's extra work — but it's also a sign that you're trusted to take on more duties.

"It shows that you've earned the trust of at least your immediate leader and it's a great opportunity to grow and demonstrate new skills," Kerr said.

Your boss is being promoted

If you have an excellent working relationship with your boss and work closely with them, it's good news for you when they move up.

It's possible that you'll join them on the higher rung of the ladder, Taylor said.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

woman tech computer laptop work

Knowing how to address a cover letter can be frustrating when that information isn't readily available.
Many times, there are steps you can take to figure out who exactly the person reading your letter will be.
But in an absolute pinch, certain ways of addressing your cover letter are more off-putting than others.
Some of the worst ways to address a cover letter include "Dear HR professional" and a simple "Hi!"

Dear Reader,

We know it's frustrating when a job posting doesn't include the name of the person in charge of the hiring process.

We also know that's not an excuse to slap any salutation on your cover letter and send your application off.

According to Amanda Augustine, career advice expert for TopResume, you should always do some research to figure out who exactly the person reading your letter will be.

You can even play it safe by writing at the beginning of your cover letter: "I noticed you're working in [whatever department] at [whatever company]," so you show that based on your research, it looks like they're involved in the hiring process.

In the case that you absolutely, positively can't find a person's name, Augustine said certain ways of addressing your cover letter are more off-putting than others.

For example, "Dear Hiring Manager" and "Dear Recruiter" aren't great openings, but they're the best of many bad options.

Here's the full list of cover-letter openings, ranked in reverse order of egregiousness.

Sincerely,
Business Insider staff

P.S. This advice doesn't apply in the case of an anonymous job posting, when a company is deliberately keeping their name and the names of their employees confidential.

DON'T MISS: Here's how to write an email to a potential employer

5. 'Dear Hiring Manager' or 'Dear Recruiter'

The language in your cover letter should be at once professional and conversational, Augustine said. And these openings aren't overly formal or casual, which is a plus.

But the lack of customization — you could submit this letter to any company you're applying to — will still stand out.

"You're not earning brownie points" with this salutation, Augustine said. "But you're not putting people off" either.

4. 'Dear HR Professional'

Augustine said this opening isn't necessarily accurate.

The person reading your application might not work in the company's human resources department, or they might call themselves a recruiter instead of a human resources professional.

3. 'Hello' or 'Hi'

With "Hello" and no name after it, you've gotten the conversational part down, but you've still failed to customize your letter.

"Hi" is a double whammy, since not only is it not customized, but it can also be considered slang, Augustine said.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Panera Bread employee

Panera Bread's menu looks like a lot at first glance.
The chain boasts everything from soups to salads to sandwiches. And then there's the bread, too.
A number of current and former employees have posted about their favorite orders on social media.
Business Insider also spoke with a number of current and former employees about their favorite menu options.
Here are their recommendations for your next Panera Bread run.

Panera Bread's menu has a ton of options for everyone.

But, given that Panera Bread employees spend so much time preparing these meals, they're natural experts in what's worth buying at the casual dining chain.

Panera Bread employees also receive a discount of anywhere from 50% to 75% off meals up to $10, so many of them opt to eat at the restaurant while they're on break.

Business Insider recently spoke to a number of current and former Panera Bread employees about their favorite meals. We also scoured the web to find more recommendations from employees on Quora and Reddit.

Here's what the employees had to say:

DON'T MISS: 7 insider facts about Panera Bread that employees know and most customers don't

The steak and arugula sandwich

One Panera Bread associate of one year told Business Insider that they prefer this meaty offering.

"It's super unique and has so many flavors," the employee told Business Insider, adding that they'd award the meal ten out of ten stars.

The squash soup

Associate Dorian Bach wrote in a 2016 Quora post that this particular option is the best soup in Panera Bread.

But, alas, fans of this autumnal-gourd-based dish will have to wait until fall to partake once more. It's a seasonal item at Panera Bread.

The chipotle chicken avocado melt

A former Panera Bread associate trainer told Business Insider that they "used to always get the chipotle chicken avocado melt."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

woman networking interview smiling happy

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify and manage your and others' emotions.
Research suggests that high EQ helps people succeed at work and in relationships.
There are plenty of easy ways to improve your EQ right away. For example: Learn what sets you off, assign specific names to your emotions, and give people the benefit of the doubt.

The term "emotional intelligence" dates back to a scientific paper published in 1990 — but interest in the topic didn't explode until psychologist and former New York Times reporter Daniel Goleman wrote a book about it a few years later.

Emotional intelligence (sometimes known as EQ) is the ability to identify and manage emotions — your own and other people's. Research suggests that high EQ helps people succeed at work and in relationships, and even helps them stay healthy. (Still, while Goleman and other experts say EQ predicts performance even better than cognitive ability, others aren't convinced.)

Psychologists say improving your EQ isn't easy — but if you're motivated and brave enough to find out how other people really see you, you'll likely see positive changes.

Below, we've listed some of the easiest and most practical ways to start developing your emotional intelligence muscle — today.

Pick one area to improve in

Goleman recommends trying to improve one facet of emotional intelligence at a time. For example, maybe you want to get better at reading other people, or maybe you want to get better at introspection.

Writing on LinkedIn, Goleman advises asking yourself: "Where would I improve the most if I could enhance one competency?"

Surround yourself with people who don't necessarily agree with you

Once you've homed in on an area for improvement, solicit feedback from others on how you can get better. Leadership speaker and author Sara Canaday told CNN that it's important to ask people who may not share your perspective.

Canaday told CNN, "If you constantly surround yourself with people who believe just like you do, then you are hearing the same conversations, and you are not growing, and you are not learning to be open to perspectives."

Find a 'career mirror'

That's a tip from Spencer Rascoff, CEO of real-estate website and app Zillow. Rascoff previously told Business Insider that his wife is his "career mirror," meaning she knows and understands him even better than he knows and understands himself.

Rascoff's wife was the one who knew he was unhappy at his job in finance, and suggested he explore other options.

A close friend or family member can help reflect your emotions back to you when you're unable, or unwilling, to see them.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

IBM

You might be surprised to learn that almost half of the jobs at tech companies aren't tech-related at all.

According to a Glassdoor report, 43% of the jobs currently being hired in tech companies are non-tech roles. However, the composition of tech vs. non-tech roles varies by company, as shown in the graph depicting the percentage of tech openings below.

Tech and non-tech roles

Here's a list of the average salaries of the 10 highest-paying non-technical jobs in the world of tech, according to Glassdoor data:

10. Commodity manager: $116,800

A commodity manager generally maintains relationships with suppliers, oversees the supply chain, and deals with supply contracts.

9. Finance manager: $117,200

A finance manager controls the financial operations within a company, usually including payroll, transactions, and other purchases. In general, they're responsible for portions of the company's accounting.

8. Management consultant: $118,500

A management consultant will work with both clients and project management teams, and will help oversee internal projects.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Lufthansa flight attendant air hostess

Some jobs have a reputation for being particularly exciting, glitzy, or lucrative.
Occasionally, that's partly because of inaccurate media depictions.
Other jobs do boast a number of major perks, but they also come with trade-offs.

Glamorous jobs might seem enticing, but, at the end of the day, work is work.

And sometimes, jobs that sound especially fancy or thrilling turn out to have a less-than-luxurious side. Many have hidden tradeoffs, at the very least.

Here's a look at the reality of certain glam-sounding jobs:

DON'T MISS: 37 brilliant questions to ask at the end of every job interview

What's more glamorous than getting paid to travel? That's the job description of a flight attendant in a nutshell, which comes complete with perks like flying standby for free or discounted prices and getting to explore exotic locales during layovers.

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider, Travel and Leisure

But the job isn't a constant glitzy adventure, even if you're working in first class. The job can be frustrating, as many passengers dismiss flight attendants as "waiters and waitresses on a plane," according to longtime Delta flight attendant Danny Elkins. The reality is flight attendants are trained to ensure everyone's safety aboard the aircraft.

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider, Travel and Leisure, Business Insider

And, while frequent travel is a great perk, many flight attendants don't necessarily get to see the world on a regular basis. "Most layovers are short, and you barely have time for food and a good night's sleep," a flight attendant previously told Business Insider's Rachel Gillett.

Source: Business Insider

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Vacation

Taking vacation time can help keep your productivity levels high and reduce stress from the daily demands of a full-time job.
Some countries, like Brazil, are entitled to 30 days a year of paid annual leave, while others like Singapore average seven to 10 annual vacation days.
Here's a roundup of how vacation time varies in 15 countries around the world.

It’s summertime, and the living is easy — depending on where you live and work, that is. Many people (in the northern hemisphere, at least) have vacation on the brain right now, but if you don’t have paid time off to burn, you might be stuck in the deep freeze of your air-conditioned office.

Countries across the world vary significantly when it comes to the amount of paid vacation days that workers receive according to official labor laws. Read on for how 15 nations vary in their approach to paid annual leave — including the good old USA.

These numbers apply to full-time workers unless otherwise noted and are minimum amounts as dictated by the government. Employers can increase annual leave amounts at their discretion.

Brazil

After a year of employment at a job, workers in this South American country are entitled to 30 days of paid annual leave, according to Deloitte. Additionally, employees are granted a vacation bonus equal to a third of their monthly salary.

Spain

In Spain, an employee's holiday schedule is decided in a mutual agreement between the employee and employer and may never be less than 30 calendar days in a 12-month period. Additionally, a paid vacation day cannot be replaced with financial compensation, according to the European Commission.

Australia

Down under, full-time employees get four weeks of paid leave for every year they’re at a given job, according to Fair Work Ombudsman. Employees who work on a shift schedule, such as police officers and nurses, are usually entitled to five weeks of paid annual leave.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider