First Monday: What's going on in business in October
— -- Calendar
Oct. 7: September's U.S. employment report.
Oct. 12: Fed minutes from Sept. 20 meeting of its policymaking committee that voted 7-3 to buy $400 billion in longer-term Treasury bonds.
Oct. 18:Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Yahoo earnings.
Oct. 19: Fed "beige book" survey of regional economic conditions.
Oct. 21:General Electric reports earnings.
Oct. 27: Government's first estimate of third-quarter GDP.
Check It Out
By Gary H. Rawlins, USA TODAY
Foreign Policy
A fundamental realignment is changing the character of the global economy and how it functions, writes Mohamed El-Erian in Foreign Policy magazine. While too many advanced countries are struggling with massive debt and stubbornly high unemployment, several emergent economies have hit their "developmental breakout phase," says the CEO of investment firm Pimco. This is new territory for the global marketplace, one in which the less mature countries are more robust and resilient than their advanced peers.
MIT Sloan Management Review
Robert Cole, retired business professor at the University of California-Berkeley, spent more than a year researching why Toyota, a company revered for quality, saw its reputation slide. Cole, writing for the MIT Sloan Management Review, identifies three factors: management's focus on growth weakened the emphasis on quality; improving quality of competitive products; public perceptions of quality influenced by reports of recalls.
Wired
In the view of Wired magazine's Steven Levy, Apple's Steve Jobs is the perfect CEO. To Levy, Jobs overcame the bane of Silicon Valley: the Innovator's Dilemma, which says that once a company takes the lead in any given domain, it becomes less able to come up with radical innovations in that field. Jobs defied the phenomenon with hit after hit — the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Fast Company
Fast Company introduces readers to Mary Barra, the highest-ranking female exec in General Motors history. Barra is responsible for the design and engineering of every GM vehicle around the globe. Her official title is senior vice president of global product development. Her job is to make cars sleeker, sharper, faster and more efficient, writes Jon Gertner. Despite recent good fortune, GM is under intense pressure to change, Gertner says, and the burden of orchestrating that transition falls largely on Barra.
Watch, Listen & Read
By Michelle Archer, special for USA TODAY
On TV
Boss,Starz, Oct. 21, 10 p.m. ET/PT
A screen-commanding Kelsey Grammar portrays a fictional Chicago mayor whose eloquent and elegant exterior belies the fact that he has the leadership style of Tony Soprano, a home life that's about as warm as a Popsicle and a medical problem straight out of House. A bit dark and a bit twisted, Boss will stick with you for a while and leave you wondering where it's all headed.
Also in October
Maria Bartiromo hosts a prime-time Meeting of the Minds: The Business of Science (CNBC; Oct. 17; 9 p.m. ET) to discuss innovation. The following night, Bartiromo's colleague Scott Cohn investigates the booming incarceration business in Billions Behind Bars: Inside America's Prison Industry (CNBC; premieres Oct. 18; 9 p.m. ET), ideally in front of a captive audience.
