37% of Your Content Budget Is Going to the Worst-Performing Format | VOL 287
The new B2B Backlink Intelligence Report examined 12,154 content pages from 24 leading B2B brands and 2.4 million referring domains. It found that statistics‑and‑data‑roundup pages represent only 1 % of all content but attract 4.1 % of referring domains, delivering a 4.25× efficiency score. By contrast, the format that consumes 37 % of content budgets suffers a 44 % failure rate and generates just 27.5 % of backlinks, marking the biggest misallocation. The study highlights a clear gap between what brands produce and what the web actually links to.
29 Team-Building Activities for Work
The article outlines 29 practical team‑building activities—from quick icebreakers to larger‑scale events—designed to boost employee engagement, trust, and cross‑functional collaboration. It emphasizes that both in‑person and remote teams benefit from structured fun, especially when supported by Slack’s real‑time and asynchronous...
Middle East Crisis Is Pushing China to Deepen Latin America Ties
Amid the Iran‑Israel conflict, disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have highlighted China's vulnerability to concentrated energy supplies. Beijing is turning to Latin America for food, copper, lithium and other strategic commodities to diversify its import base. The United States'...
B2B Sales: What Great Selling Looks Like in 2026
B2B selling in 2026 has transformed from a linear funnel into a fluid, multi‑stakeholder arena where buyers arrive informed and early engagement is critical. Sales reps must map committee dynamics, leverage deep account history, and adapt tactics as negotiations twist....
From Job Post to Offer: How the JazzHR Applicant Tracking System Powers Better Hiring
JazzHR’s applicant tracking system (ATS) streamlines the entire hiring lifecycle, linking job posting, candidate screening, interview coordination, and onboarding in a single workflow. The platform reduces manual tasks by automating outreach via email and text, and uses knockout questions plus...
Cisco to Acquire Galileo for AI Observability
Cisco announced it will acquire Galileo Technologies, an AI observability specialist that monitors multi‑agent systems. Galileo’s platform adds real‑time guardrails, bias detection, and cost tracking to Cisco’s Splunk observability suite. The deal, slated to close in Q4 FY2026, builds on...
Keir Starmer: 'I'm Fed Up' With Trump and Putin Affecting UK Energy Costs
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told ITV’s Talking Politics podcast he is "fed up" with UK energy bills swinging wildly because of actions by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He linked the volatility to recent oil‑price spikes...
Early Olympic Ticket Sales: Fans Met With High Prices, Tech Issues
The LA28 Olympic ticket presale, the earliest in Games history, opened with prices ranging from $28 to $5,519. Nearly 50% of tickets were under $200 and 75% under $400, but a 24% service fee inflated final costs. Fans faced technical...
What Founders Can Learn From Anjuna’s Layoffs and Recovery
Anjuna Security, a venture‑backed cybersecurity firm, expanded to about 75 staff in 2021 before market headwinds forced two rounds of layoffs in 2022. CEO Ayal Yogev emphasized a culture built on "care," delivering transparent communication and continued support for departing...
Rochester General Technical Workers Vote to Unionize
Technical workers at Rochester General Hospital voted 145-54 to join the Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals, covering nearly 300 roles such as respiratory therapists, radiology technologists, and licensed practical nurses. The new bargaining unit aims to leverage collective...
The World’s 500 Richest People Made More than a Quarter Trillion Yesterday as Volatile Markets React to Fragile Iran War...
Wall Street rallied after President Trump withdrew his dire Iran warning, propelling the Dow up 2.85% and the S&P 500 2.51%. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index recorded a $265 billion one‑day gain for the world’s 500 richest, the second‑largest since 2012. Meta CEO...
Can the Middle East Ceasefire Hold?
A fragile 14‑day cease‑fire in the Iran‑Israel conflict is under strain as Israel continues air strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, rejecting Tehran’s claim that the truce covers the north. Pakistan is set to host the first round of negotiations in...
Instagram Adds Comment Editing
Instagram announced a new comment‑editing feature that lets users revise their replies within a 15‑minute window. The edit option appears beneath each comment and can be used unlimited times during that period, with an "edited" label shown but no version...
EXEC: Academy Sports Scores Stock Price Upgrades Following Analyst Day
Academy Sports + Outdoors unveiled a five‑year growth plan that projects 5% annual sales growth, 125 new stores and e‑commerce rising to 15% of revenue by 2030. The outlook prompted several analysts to lift price targets, with B. Riley moving...
Federal Agencies Modernize Contact Centers to Improve CX
Federal agencies, including the VA and SSA, are shifting to digital‑first, multichannel contact‑center strategies to streamline service delivery and improve customer experience. The VA’s Veterans Experience Office is working to let users start online and seamlessly transition to voice or...
What Is Scrum? Roles, Values, and How It Works
Scrum remains the dominant Agile framework, with 63% of Agile teams naming it their primary method, according to the 17th State of Agile Report. The framework structures work into short, time‑boxed sprints of two to four weeks, guided by three...
CoreWeave Takes As Much Financial Engineering As It Does Datacenter Design
CoreWeave announced that Meta Platforms has signed an additional $21 billion AI‑processing contract through December 2032, pushing CoreWeave’s revenue backlog to $87.8 billion with Meta accounting for 40.1 percent. The company’s 2025 sales jumped to $5.13 billion, though it posted a $1.17 billion net loss. To...
Tod Musgrave Joins Proton as U.S. Sales & Marketing Director
Proton Camera Innovations announced the hiring of broadcast veteran Tod Musgrave as its U.S. Sales and Marketing Director ahead of the 2026 NAB Show. Musgrave brings more than a decade of leadership from Marshall Electronics, where he built the company’s...
DOWNLOAD: Private Equity Fundraising Gets a Boost in Q1, Despite Fewer Fund Closings
Private equity fundraising in Q1 2024 reached $152 bn, a 14% increase over the same period last year, according to PEI Group data. The rise spanned buyouts, growth equity, secondaries, and venture‑capital funds. Despite the higher capital inflow, the number of...
Ukrainian Railways Bond Restructuring Rejected by Investors
Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) failed to reach a debt‑restructuring agreement after bondholders rejected its opening proposal. The state‑owned operator seeks to restructure roughly $1.1 billion of outstanding bonds, a debt load swollen by war‑induced revenue drops and soaring repair costs. Damage from...
Amazon Passes Masters Test During Debut
Amazon’s Prime Video made its live‑sports debut by exclusively streaming the first round of the Masters on Thursday, using CBS’s production crew and talent. The broadcast featured the standard CBS commentary team with Amazon’s branding limited to a logo overlay...
Issa Rae’s Production Company Jumps Into Micro-Dramas. Here’s What to Expect From the Hoorae-TikTok Deal
Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media has teamed with TikTok to launch the micro‑drama series *Screen Time* on the platform’s PineDrama app, marking Rae’s return to short‑form digital storytelling. The partnership includes a slate of additional vertical dramas, positioning TikTok as a...
Dental Supply Company Settles EEOC Charge Alleging It Fired Worker After Learning She Was Pregnant
iPro Dental Laboratory, a Fort Lauderdale dental supply firm, agreed to a $30,000 settlement—$5,000 in back pay and $25,000 in compensatory damages—after the EEEEOC alleged it terminated a newly hired employee upon learning she was pregnant. The consent decree also...
This Week in 5 Numbers: US Workers Are Quitting at the Lowest Level in a Decade
U.S. worker quit rates have slipped to 2%, the lowest level in a decade, according to Economist Enterprise. Global employee engagement continues to decline, with only 20% of workers feeling engaged, down from a 23% peak in 2022. A Deloitte...
RAIN Notes: April 9
AdsWizz is hosting a webinar on April 23 titled “Scaling Podcast Advertising: Unlocking Growth with Context and Confidence,” aimed at helping advertisers break through scale ceilings caused by over‑filtering and brand‑safety constraints. The session will cover where scale is lost, episode‑level...
U.S. Postal Service Seeks Hike in Price of First-Class Mail Stamps to 82 Cents in July
The U.S. Postal Service announced a proposal to raise the price of First‑Class Forever stamps from 78 cents to 82 cents, effective July 12. The increase represents a 4.8% hike and is part of a broader set of price adjustments,...
Iran Attacks on Crucial Saudi Pipeline and Production Facilities Slash Kingdom's Oil Output
Iran attacked Saudi Arabia's strategic East‑West pipeline, knocking out about 700,000 barrels per day of capacity, and simultaneously struck the Manifa and Khurais production complexes, trimming Saudi output by roughly 600,000 barrels per day. The pipeline, which routes crude to...
Los Angeles World Cup Fan Fests Will Not Be Free
Los Angeles will charge admission for its World Cup Fan Fest events, a first for the traditionally free FIFA watch parties. The opening celebration at USC’s Memorial Coliseum and ten additional regional zones will require tickets for anyone 12 and...
Carlyle Interval Fund Limits Outflows After 15.7% of Assets Requested for Redemption
Carlyle’s flagship interval fund announced it will limit outflows after investors submitted redemption requests totaling 15.7% of the fund’s net asset value. The firm said the surge in withdrawal requests reflects a broader market shift toward liquidity rather than concerns...
How to Rehearse a Sales Pitch So You Can Walk In and Win
The article argues that the most effective way to rehearse a sales pitch is to practice out loud in front of real people until the story is internalized, not merely memorized. Drawing on insights from Danny Fontaine of IBM, it...
How an Ancient Resin Traded for Centuries Got Snarled up by the Iran War
Frankincense, a 6,000‑year‑old aromatic resin harvested from Boswellia trees across the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa, is now caught in the fallout of the U.S.–Iran conflict. The war has heightened the risk of closing the Strait of Hormuz, prompting...
DigitalGlue Challenges AI Fatigue at NAB Show 2026 with Creative.Space Platform
DigitalGlue unveiled its creative.space platform at NAB Show 2026, debuting the AI‑driven creative.space Intelligence (CSI) in beta while making the creative.space Storage solution generally available. The unified operating system merges storage, collaboration and AI insight to replace fragmented video‑production tool...
Asian Stocks Shy of Full Recovery Amid Fragile Iran Ceasefire
A tentative cease‑fire between the United States and Iran lifted some pressure on Asian equity markets on Wednesday. However, the rally was limited as Israel’s large‑scale strikes on Lebanon, which Tehran says breach the truce, kept regional tensions high. Major...
7-Eleven Owner Delays Plan to List US Convenience Store Unit
Seven & i Holdings announced it will postpone the initial public offering of its U.S. convenience‑store subsidiary, 7‑Eleven Inc., to fiscal 2027 at the earliest. The decision follows 23 consecutive months of year‑on‑year sales declines across the American network, signaling operational...
Japan's Itochu and Sankyu to Buy Singapore Plant Repair Firm SWTS
Japanese trading house Itochu and logistics group Sankyu announced a joint acquisition of Singapore‑based plant maintenance specialist SWTS. The deal, reported by Nikkei, aims to broaden both firms' service offerings across Asia’s industrial sector. SWTS, which maintains oil refineries and...
Peter Thiel-Backed Cognition Pushes Into Asia with Japan, Singapore Offices
Cognition AI, a Peter Thiel‑backed U.S. artificial‑intelligence startup, announced the launch of a new office in Tokyo and a forthcoming Singapore location. The expansion targets Asia’s growing appetite for software automation amid chronic engineering talent shortages. Cognition aims to capture market...
If You Lose Your Job to AI, It’s Even Harder to Bounce Back
Goldman Sachs analyzed four decades of federal data on 20,000 Americans and found that workers displaced by AI‑driven automation face longer periods of unemployment and lasting earnings penalties. On average, displaced workers took a month longer to secure new employment,...
VA's Failure to Use Its New Authority to Boost Pay for Doctors Draws Bipartisan Criticism
Veterans Affairs doctors remain capped at $400,000 a year despite the Dole Act, a bipartisan law signed by President Biden that allows 300 pay‑waiver exceptions and retroactive compensation. The VA has not issued guidance to implement the authority, even though...
AI Workflows for GTM Teams: Automation, Coaching, and Real-Time Deal Intelligence
Highspot’s GTM Performance Gap report reveals only 28% of companies see AI boosting sales results despite 77% investing in the technology. To close this gap, Highspot promotes its unified Nexus‑powered Agentic Platform, which embeds AI across the entire sales cycle—from...
Racing’s Taxpayer-Funded $56m Slushie Attracts NSW Auditor’s Crop
The NSW Auditor‑General has criticised the Racing for the Regions program after a $126 million (≈$83 million USD) upgrade at a state track, of which $58.6 million (≈$38.7 million USD) came from taxpayer funds. The audit found the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality...
Renewables Reenvisioned: How Linea Energy Built a 7-GW Renewable Pipeline in Under Two Years
Linea Energy, founded by veteran developer Cassidy DeLine, has assembled a renewable pipeline exceeding 7 GW in under two years. The company leverages proprietary data simulations to front‑load site analysis, acquires mid‑stage projects, and advances projects without early PPAs, reducing risk....
Rocky Mount, N.C., Downgraded to A1 After Takeover Threat
Moody's lowered Rocky Mount, North Carolina’s issuer and special‑tax ratings to A1, two notches below its previous Aa2 standing, citing a sharp erosion of liquidity that fell to under 11 % of revenue in FY 2025. The city carries $80.2 million in debt...
Q&A: How Lebanon’s Aviation Chief Keeps Beirut Airport Open Amid Iran War Chaos
Amid the US‑Israeli war on Iran, Beirut’s Rafic Hariri Airport remains operational despite daily Israeli strikes near the city. Captain Mohammed Aziz, head of Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Authority, says Middle East Airlines (MEA) is the sole carrier still flying, operating...
Former Yeti CFO Lands at Jeweler Kendra Scott
Mike McMullen, who served as CFO of outdoor‑gear maker Yeti for three years, has been appointed chief financial officer of Austin‑based jeweler Kendra Scott Design. McMullen oversaw Yeti’s successful IPO and a rapid expansion of its international and direct‑to‑consumer operations before...
Oil Pares Gains to Close up 1% as Israel Plans Peace Talks with Lebanon
Oil prices closed up about 1% on Thursday, with Brent at $95.92 and WTI at $97.87, but both remained below the $100 barrier for a second day. The market initially spiked over 5% on doubts about the durability of the...
Bryson DeChambeau Takes Driver’s Seat as LIV Golf Talks Heat Up
Bryson DeChambeau, the LIV Golf marquee player, is approaching the end of his $125 million guaranteed contract that runs through 2026. His on‑course success – five LIV wins, a 2024 U.S. Open title and two recent PGA Championship runner‑up finishes –...
Portland Fire+ Streaming Platform Launches
Portland’s new WNBA franchise has launched Portland Fire+, a direct‑to‑consumer streaming service priced at $5.99 per month or $59.99 annually. The platform, built with Kiswe’s streaming technology and featuring live game broadcasts by Chime, offers original series, player features, and...
City KPI Benchmarks: How Your Government Compares | ClearPoint Strategy Blog
ClearPoint Strategy analyzed strategic plans from 225 U.S. local governments, revealing that the average city tracks roughly 1,900 elements—154 objectives, 820 KPIs, 416 initiatives, and 390 milestones. Initiative completion is low, with a 17.2% finish rate and 61.3% of cities...
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Getting a Tax Refund? This New 5.00% Short-Term CD Could Be the Smartest Place to Park It
Nuvision Credit Union has launched a new five‑month certificate of deposit that pays a 5.00% APY, the highest short‑term rate available in the market. The CD is limited to a single $5,000 deposit per member, which aligns well with the...
Explore AI for HR Use Cases in the SAP Discovery Center
SAP’s Discovery Center now offers a dedicated AI hub for HR teams, delivering curated guidance on exploring, adopting, and scaling artificial intelligence within the SuccessFactors ecosystem. The platform lets users filter content by specific SuccessFactors solutions and availability, ensuring relevance...