One of our top consultants, Marc-Albert Michaud, recently gave a presentation to students from Columbia University's Master of Mathematics in Finance program. He was kind enough to share his insight into the future of Regulations. His presentation entitled "New Financial Regulations: The USA and the Rest of the World" is available to view here

Heard on the Street

Why a $14/hour employee costs $20 (CNN Money)
You probably cost your boss a lot more than you think you

Starting Over, With a Second Career Goal of Changing Society (NY Times)
Harvard kicked off a small but ambitious experiment this week that it hopes will become a new “third stage” of university education. For the student-fellows in the program, most in their 50s and early 60s, the goal is a second-act career in a new stage of life.

Where the Jobs Are For Wall Street Pros (Wall Street Journal)
As the latest crisis on Wall Street unfolds, recruiters say their phones are ringing off the hook with anxious finance professionals on the line. The sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. and the bankruptcy-court filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. have prompted workers from those firms to launch immediate job searches. Recruiters say newly displaced finance professionals should consider other types of employers or fields, and consider opportunities at smaller banks -- which are ramping up hiring right now.

In Praise of Failure (Ode Magazine)
Sooner or later, failure is pretty much inevitable. In fact, a life devoid of failure is in many ways not a full life. As J.K. Rowling told this year's Harvard graduating class, "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default." So if at first you don't succeed, try, try again—but try to fail better.

If You're Open to Growth, You Tend To Grow (NY Times)
Why do some people reach their creative potential in business while other equally talented peers don't?
After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they're ever going to have approach life with what she calls a "fixed mind-set." Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a "growth mind-set."
Guess which ones prove to be most innovative over time.

Women Entrepreneurs Get Global Helping Hand (The Wall Street Journal)
Mary Ugbe started her educational publishing company in Lagos, Nigeria, four years ago, with little understanding of how to balance the books, let alone grow a business. Over the past five months, though, she's learned to double revenues and better account for them, thanks to a training program sponsored by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

It's No Time to Forget About Innovation (NY Times)
BY its very nature, innovation is inefficient. While blockbusters do emerge, few of the new products or processes that evolve from innovative thinking ultimately survive the test of time. During periods of economic growth, such inefficiencies are chalked up as part of the price of forging into the future.
But these aren’t such times. Wild market gyrations, frozen credit markets and an overall sour economy herald a new round of corporate belt-tightening. Foremost on the target list is anything inefficient. That’s bad news for corporate innovation, and it could spell trouble for years to come, even after the economy turns around.

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination (Harvard University Gazette - by J.K. Rowling)
The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I've experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.