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SmartBrief on Leadership keeps 40,000 executives like you ahead of the curve. Lead more effectively. Think differently about challenges you face. Inspire your team. Ready yourself for the rapidly-changing global business landscape. It's time to take your leadership to the next level. FREE. Today's issue will be your last unless you sign up today. Don't miss out.     April 29, 2008 We review these sources for you each day.     The Big Idea    Think more efficiently Intellectual capital is a prime asset in today's business world. Brain expert John J. Medina says leaders can unlock ways to think smarter and thereby become more productive. Harvard Business Review (5/2008) Volatile markets. Global competition. New business models. How do HR executives become more responsive to shifting market needs? Find out how over 400 HR executives from 40 countries are addressing these workforce challenges and are focusing on transforming their workforce to take its performance to the next level.   Strategic Management  Meetings that matter Companywide meetings at bag maker Timbuk2 used to bore employees to sleep. Then the CEO got some good advice. He moved the meeting to the lobby, where more people could sit, he shifted the time, and he gave a random prize at each gathering. The most import change, though, was assigning his office manager to run the show. BusinessWeek (4/28) Financial woes put risk management in spotlight The credit crunch has elevated the importance of corporate risk management. Investors are increasingly demanding that companies do a better job finding and mitigating the dangers of the unforeseen. Governance experts predict more companies will follow the UBS example and establish stand-alone risk committees. Meanwhile, the hottest job among top management is CRO -- chief risk officer. FinancialWeek (4/28)   On Leadership  Communicating with the right investors Executives spend too much time talking with investors who don't matter. Here's how to identify those who do. The McKinsey Quarterly (free registration for SmartBrief readers) (4/1) The pitfalls of cross-cultural negotiations Every negotiation is a cross-cultural exercise, says Horacio Falcao, an INSEAD affiliate professor of decision sciences. When the person on the other side of the table is from a different country, the divide is often obvious. "In Japan, you don't say no directly," he says. But never be fooled into thinking the other person is like you just because you seem to be from the same place. "There is also educational culture, race culture, gender culture, a religious culture," he says. INSEAD (4/1)   Innovation  IT trend: Solution accelerators Tough economic times are driving many companies to consider non-linear growth models to shore up revenues. Instead of deploying more manpower, they plan to focus on offering high-value services and expertise in niche areas. IT providers are joining in with "solution accelerators" -- pre-developed software they can use to automate a particular business process. Up to 70% of the code can be reused across clients. The Economic Times (India) (4/28) Financial services firms must bolster online offerings Financial services companies must step up their online offerings and develop a Web presence beyond their own sites, says this Boston Consulting Group Report. It says the Web's influence on revenue is up to six times greater than online sales figures suggest, and its importance will boom as today's youngsters mature. Boston Consulting Group (3/1)   Most Read by CEOs  Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Leadership readers in the past week. American Airlines' woes offer lesson in crisis communication (Harvard Business Online) How to hire from left field (The Sydney Morning Herald) Welcome new hires the right way (The Globe and Mail (Toronto)) Is tonight the Democrats' Gettysburg? (The Times (London)) Tips for boosting personal productivity (Harvard Business Online) Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.   Daily Diversion  Your laptop could help warn of the next big quake Earthquake researchers in California hope to harness thousands of home laptops to improve the chances of an early warning when a big temblor hits. The system, already in beta, makes use of motion detectors built into some laptops that are designed to brace the hard drive for a fall. Computers within the network would report big shakes to a central server. If a slew of computers in one neighborhood reported action, it could indicate an earthquake. "We're trying to measure them very rapidly and get the information out before damage is done to large populations," says Jesse Lawrence, an seismologist at Stanford University. MIT Technology Review (4/22)   SmartQuote  It's just too early to tell how the revolution in neuroscience is going to affect the way executives run their organizations." --John J. Medina, brain expert SmartBrief publishes need-to-know news in 20 industries. All our industry briefings are FREE and open to everyone—sign up today! 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