By Leslie KwohMore businesses are using the word “innovative” to describe what they do, from developing new soup flavors to redesigning packaging. But are these achievements really innovative? According to a Wall Street Journal article, firms are not necessarily innovating more than before, say critics; many are simply throwing around the buzzword to show they’re on the cutting edge. They’re following the pack. Hate buzzwords if you must, but our affinity for them may stem from a basic human desire for acceptance, experts say. Often, people use buzzwords not to convey factual meaning, but to show they belong to a social group, according to socio-linguist Robert Leonard. “Buzzwords are code words to show you’re an inside member,” says Mr. Leonard, who chairs Hofstra University’s linguistics ... Continue reading →

Got innovation? Just about every company says it does. Businesses throw around the term to show they're on the cutting edge of everything from technology and medicine to snacks and cosmetics. Companies are touting chief innovation officers, innovation teams, innovation strategies and even innovation days. But that doesn't mean the companies are actually doing any innovating. Instead they are using the word to convey monumental change when the progress they're describing is quite ordinary. Like the once ubiquitous buzzwords "synergy" and "optimization," innovation is in danger of becoming a cliché—if it isn't one already. "Most companies say they're innovative in the hope they can somehow con investors into thinking there is growth when there isn't," says Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School and ... Continue reading →

BY LAUREN WEBER At Wake Forest University, students can hedge their bets, majoring in history and balancing out Napoleon or the Prussians with a minor in Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship. The five-year-old program, the school's most popular minor, requires students to learn the practical aspects of starting a business. It is a sign of change in liberal-arts colleges, which are grappling with the responsibility of preparing students for a tight and rapidly shifting job market while still providing the staples of academic inquiry. Some schools are beginning to make career development a mission-critical aspect of the college experience, with everything from ramped-up career ...BY LAUREN WEBER At Wake Forest University, students can hedge their bets, majoring in history and balancing out Napoleon or the Prussians ... Continue reading →

By Melissa Korn Richard Chase Harvard Business School What have you done well? What do you wish you’d done better? Answer those questions right, and you could be on your way to a Harvard M.B.A. Harvard Business School, usually the first elite business school to unveil its M.B.A. application, is halving the number of essays that all prospective students must write – to two, at 400 words apiece. At the same time, it’s adding an extra essay for applicants who make it through an in-person interview with a school representative. That means that instead of slogging through 2,000 words from each of the 9,000-plus applicants, the admissions office will get just 800 words per candidate to start, and then another 400 words from the 1,800 ... Continue reading →

By Leslie KwohTo gain an edge in their markets, more chief executives are making deals with rivals. Getty Images Nearly 70% of chief executives say they plan to partner extensively with other companies – including peers and competitors – in the near future. That figure is up from 55% four years ago, according to the newest IBM CEO Study. The study, released Tuesday, polled 1,700 chief executives in 64 countries. As businesses face pressure to iterate their products at a faster pace, CEOs are recognizing they can’t do everything in-house, says Peter Korsten, the study’s lead researcher and a vice president at IBM’s Institute for Business Value, a research and consulting division of IBM. The partnering trend is driven, in part, by firms’ desire to ... Continue reading →

By Quentin FottrellFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed his status to “married” Saturday and received over one million “likes” from his followers. But the site he founded isn’t always so marriage-friendly. In fact, lawyers say the social network contributes to an increasing number of marriage breakups. More than a third of divorce filings last year contained the word Facebook, according to a survey by Divorce Online, a UK-based legal services firm. And over 80% of U.S. divorce attorneys say they’ve seen a rise in the number of cases using social networking, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “I see Facebook issues breaking up marriages all the time,” says Gary Traystman, a divorce attorney in New London, Conn. Of the 15 cases he handles per ... Continue reading →

By Leslie Kwoh Getty Images Flying private: A perk of many CEO jobs. CEOs continue to enjoy such perks as personal jet use, country club memberships and even lavish home theaters. As shareholders scrutinize larger pay issues – among them, heavy stock grants – other goodies are flying under the radar, according to a story in Monday’s Journal. Fewer companies eliminated perks last year than in 2010 or other recent years, according to a Hay Group analysis of proxy filings by 300 U.S. public firms. Among a few of the more notable perks that survived the cuts: $63,106: In apartment fees for John Madden, the brother of shoe mogul and CEO Steve Madden and a longtime board member at Steven Madden Ltd. $500,000: To build ... Continue reading →

BY PATRICK FITZGERALD Former MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Jon S. Corzine received more than $8 million in cash and stock options in the months leading up to the brokerage's collapse, according to recently filed bankruptcy documents. Mr. Corzine, a former New Jersey governor and co-chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., received a bonus $1.25 million in addition to his salary of about $1.8 million last year. He also was awarded $5.35 million in now-worthless stock options. Mr. Corzine resigned from MF Global last fall, just days after the brokerage's collapse over its losing bets on European sovereign debt. Other MF Global ...BY PATRICK FITZGERALD Former MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Jon S. Corzine received more than $8 million in cash and stock ... Continue reading →

BY JENNY STRASBURG The Facebook Inc. IPO left some investors seething. For Jared White, it left him feeling very lucky. "I seriously got struck by lightning and survived," the 31-year-old Austin, Texas, trader said of his experiences amid the confusion that engulfed one of the highest-profile initial public offerings ever. At around 10:45 a.m. Friday, Mr. White says, he placed an order to buy 30,000 Facebook shares, setting as his limit price $43 a share, at the opening of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, scheduled for 11 a.m. But the opening was delayed, and at 11:08 a.m., Mr. White accidentally canceled his ...BY JENNY STRASBURG The Facebook Inc. IPO left some investors seething. For Jared White, it left him feeling very lucky. "I seriously ... Continue reading →

BY SCOTT THURM Steve Jobs left big shoes. Apple Inc. is betting $378 million that Tim Cook is the right guy to fill them. That is the value of the annual pay package Mr. Cook was awarded last August, when he was named Apple chief executive, about two months before Mr. Jobs died. Nearly all of the compensation stems from a grant of one million shares of restricted stock, valued at $376.2 million, based on Apple's stock price at the time. Mr. Cook's 2011 compensation is the highest recorded in The Wall Street Journal's annual CEO pay survey since at least 2006, when ...BY SCOTT THURM Steve Jobs left big shoes. Apple Inc. is betting $378 million that Tim Cook is the right guy to ... Continue reading →