The rocker revealed the new project earlier this morning. Swift promptly gave her blessing.

Ice Cube and O'Shea Jackson Jr. stopped by the WSJ Cafe.

The new action flick is due out this October.

Are the "Fantastic Four" movies cursed? The filmmakers behind a new documentary about the ill-fated first attempt to adapt the classic Marvel comics think so.

HBO is ready to rock next year. The network released the first teaser for "Vinyl," their upcoming series from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, and Terence Winter ("The Sopranos," "Boardwalk Empire"). The show follows Bobby Cannavale as Richie Finestra, a record-label head honcho trying to save his company. From the looks of the teaser, the show will be an insider take on the music scene in New York, as punk, disco, and hip-hop started to take off. Also on tap: lots of drugs and sex. The show features Olivia Wilde, Max Casella and Ray Romano. Click through to watch the trailer.

Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Bruce Springsteen and many more helped the comedian say goodbye.

The movie opens in November.

The 'Pretty Little Liars' midseason finale airs Tuesday, Aug. 11.

Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' debuts Sept. 8.

'Call Me Lucky,' a documentary about influential comedian Barry Crimmins, opens Aug. 7.

On "True Detective," the dialogue for Vince Vaughn's character has included some surprising terms. Test your vocabulary with our Frank Semyon word challenge.

The actor discussed his new films "The Prophet" and "Silence," in which he returns to more spiritual roles.

New comedies are also on the horizon from Louis C.K. and the 'Archer' creator.

With her rocking new movie in theaters this week, here is a look back at Streep's other musical moments in film.

This month, SmartBlog on Education is exploring classroom design and management — just in time for the new school year. In the first of a three-part blog series, Lucien Vattel, founder and co-director of the PlayMaker School and CEO of nonprofit GameDesk, explores learning spaces that cultivate the student, the child, the learner. The spaces we inhabit have a profound effect on how we inhabit them. Space induces a particular way of feeling, of being. What are we saying to our children with we line them up in 5×8 rows facing the same direction toward a voice of authority? What do we say about desks that lock us in place, where the majority of movement within our gaze is eyes forward, eyes down? I remember my surprise when I walked into first grade for the very first time. The change from kindergarten to first grade was extreme. I looked at the arrangement of desks and thought, "what game is this?" It was a game I would play for the rest of my developing years. I was disappointed. I knew it could be better than this. We look inside current learning spaces and look at the world; there is a big disconnect. It’s not reflective.We as a society have agreed by doctrine that our children will come together in a building and learn, and yet we allow our kids to be behind desks for a majority of their developing years. We evolve behind desks. Think of that! Students don’t need places to sit, listen and write. Instead, they need places to connect, explore, discover and relate. They need places of support. We spend over a decade being conditioned to receive and compete, imagine if space invoked us to support each other, everyday and in every way. We need environments that help realize that within us there are unbounded treasures. We need environments that shine a light on our potential and provide opportunities to express ourselves. Schools at their heart should be human potentiality incubators. We need to think about what type of environment supports our own individual greatness. They come first, before college, before careers, before testing. The cultivation of the student, the child, the learner is all that matters. So the question becomes: What kinds of spaces naturally lend themselves to drawing out, rather than pushing in? How does one draw out what is within? And how do we enable one to feel confident enough to draw out from oneself all the magic that is inside. These are the questions of an educational space designer. A few years ago, I found myself designing learning spaces for new school models of learning. The Playmaker school in Los Angeles became a canvas to explore these ideas. The school model was to make every day interactive, playful and creative. The space created needed to be versatile and functional for experiential learning across a broad spectrum of approaches: role-play, making and building, digital simulations, games, mobile apps, ideation and collaborative exploration. I thought about what experiences could happen in those spaces, extracting the qualities and characteristics of technology, space and teaching methods that could be applied to each space. We experimented with three rooms and asked ourselves, "What kind of room would provoke this way of being?" A space for the birth of ideas Imagine yourself within a soft, white room. The room feels safe, perhaps even feminine, not unlike a blank canvas or white egg. Bright, sloping whiteboard walls surround you so every inch of wall space can be drawn upon. Creativity is celebrated here. This is a fresh environment where ideas are free to emerge. Curved, stretchy chairs meet flexible tables, with writable surfaces. Both stand atop Astroturf; a sign of nature and an open field of exploration. The windows are Tetris-shaped and multicolored. Photo courtesy of Gensler The space acts as an open-ended explorative think tank for education, where kids can purposefully dream, explore and create. Whether launching school projects, openly exploring math and science concepts, constructing novel inventions or imagining innovative companies; this kind of a space symbolizes birth. A room for adventure What follows birth? Experimentation and adventure. Imagine a large room with a ceiling grid for hanging displays and dividers that can be sectioned off into small group exploratory spaces or opened up for large collaboration and presentation. It’s an exploration space, ideal for mobile learning, embodied learning, floor simulations and game-based learning where students freely explore a variety of content domains by interacting in virtual environments and one another. Photo courtesy of Gensler They role-play through different time periods, design their own galaxies, experiment with forces and motion. Here the room takes on a different theme of exploration by simply changing the digital content and room arrangement. In this space, educators are not positioned as lecturers, at the front of a class. Rather, they move throughout an exploratory space as a guide and advisor, listening in and offering advice as needed. Expression and collaborative interaction is championed in this learning environment. The makerspace After exploration and experimentation, creation follows — the manifestation of cultural artifacts, inventions and product as well as the building of confidence through real experience. A space that enables easy movement between individual and group work allows machines to be built, inventions to be launched, games to be programmed, or prototypes to be created. The space adapts elegantly with various multimedia stations, such that all students are motivated to physically manifest their intuition — whether individually or by virtue of collaboration. Photo courtesy of Gensler The idea that a school’s function is one of purely academic development should be retired entirely. We have a responsibility to foster each student’s inherent genius and draw out his or her natural brilliance while maximizing emotional growth. Schools have an opportunity to create spaces that represent a more complete trajectory of growth; intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. What if the foundation of schools was to support students holistically? Imagine if every space represented an emotional step in your life. What would these spaces look like? What colors? What ideas? What structures? What tools? What objects of learning would be placed in front of you, every step of the way? Can we imagine a progression of tools and psychological spaces that reflect the whole development of a human being? Lets us imagine it. Let us create that reality. Lucien Vattel is CEO of nonprofit GameDesk. He also is the founder and co-director of the PlayMaker School, which takes a new approach to the way we teach and learn. Previously, Vattel was the associate director for Game Research at the University of Southern California for its CS Program in Games. While at USC he was the co-founder and designer of the master’s and undergraduate Game Degree programs. He can be reached via email at lucienvattel@gamedesk.org If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, special education and more. Related Posts: A values-based approach to discipline Teacherpreneur trade secrets: 5 ways all teachers can advocate for the profession The 6 R’s of a principal’s summer school The tyranny of the "right" answer How our grading supports inequity, and what we can do about it Learning spaces: The subconscious teacher originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Flickr user Wicker Paradise) From restaurant and retail giants that are household names to small, regional brands that aren’t known throughout the whole industry, subscription services are becoming a big part of the food and beverage space. Services like Amazon Prime and Blue Apron are increasingly finding favor among consumers with busy lives, so what does this mean for the traditional retail and restaurant players and the food industry as a whole? In addition to major brands Amazon and Blue Apron, the current market for meal and food subscription services includes companies like Plated, Purple Carrot, Freshology and Carnivore Club. And the field is only getting bigger, according to Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce. He said that last year alone, venture capitalists invested more than $1 billion in food technology businesses, a category that includes subscription services, and such services cater to almost every palate, dietary plan and budget imaginable. "Not only is it similar to the growth trend in investments for subscription businesses, overall, but in an increasingly service-oriented economy, food and meals are an obvious, enduring category of consumer interest," Caporaso said. Subscription services appeal to consumers due to their convenience, quality, ease and affordability, according to Caporaso, and they allow consumers to save time in their busy schedules and, in some cases, save money in their tight budgets. "On an individual basis, happy subscribers will begin to rethink their usual shopping and/or dining choices," Caporaso said. "Collectively, if enough people start changing their habits and behaviors, the traditional providers, i.e., local grocers and restaurants, will see an emerging threat to their bottom lines and adjust to it by revising or completely redesigning their offerings and/or their entire business models." The ease and convenience of subscription services, and the fact that consumers can now get individual ingredients and even full meals delivered right to their doors is putting pressure on restaurants and food retailers to increase their value in consumers’ eyes and make trips to their establishments worthwhile, according to Caporaso. "There will always be a place for restaurants and local grocers…but if companies like these can consistently deliver quality food and groceries at affordable rates, they can take a portion of revenue away from brick-and-mortar grocers and restaurants," he said of subscription services. However, there are advantages that traditional restaurant and food retail companies have over subscription services, if they choose to seize the opportunity, Caporaso said. Not only do they already have the physical space and customer base to establish their own versions of subscription services, but they also have industry knowledge, finances and other elements that would allow traditional restaurants and retailers to perfect and grow a subscription service. Traditional restaurant and food retail companies also have the means to be competitive with subscription services without the actual subscription part, according to Caporaso. Because many subscription services offer specialty products like organic or artisan foods, grocers could entice shoppers to buy those products in their stores by expanding their offerings and enhancing their marketing efforts to educate consumers about their selection of such items. But it’s not all about competition when it comes to subscription services and traditional food and beverage companies. For Carnivore Club, which sends members premium packages of cured meats from different companies in the U.S., Canada and Europe, the relationship with the brands that provide the meats is a partnership. "We really tell the story about the artisan and their products and how they’re made," said Tim Ray, CEO and founder of Carnivore Club. "It’s a really cool discovery process for both the artisan and the consumer. We’re helping them find new products that they wouldn’t find otherwise." Through Carnivore Club, artisan cured meat makers that are often small, regional companies gain national brand exposure to consumers who are interested in their products, Ray said. And because Carnivore Club pays the meat companies for their products up front, working with the subscription service is a "risk-free" way to grow their cured meat customer bases, he said. "This is a really good way to sample your product to a couple thousand people who love cured meats…and the only way they can get the product again is if they go to the website and repurchase," he said. Ray said subscription services fit into the food and beverage space as another piece of the marketing equation for the types of small companies that Carnivore Club works with, in addition to bigger, more well-known brands. But no matter how restaurant and food retail companies work with subscription services, they’re pretty much a permanent fixture in the food and beverage industry, he said. "The subscription model is here to stay," Ray said. "Whether it’s meat in the mail or wine or cheese or your music, the subscription model is a way for businesses to offer more value to the consumer than just paying on a per-use basis." Caporaso added that the market for food subscription services will likely grow, especially if grocers, restaurants and pureplay subscription services continue to tap the busy family demographic. "If a company or entrepreneur can find a scalable way to do that, it could upend both the grocery and the restaurant markets," he said. "Food is a universal need — everybody eats — so the options run as wide as people’s tastes." __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Datassential: Food trends to watch in 2015 Meal delivery services are aiming to disrupt the traditional food industry 4 retail and restaurant technology trends from NRF Be more productive with these tech tips ‘We need to build a mobile app': agencies and utilities vs. frameworks Finding the balance in the food subscription service market originally published by SmartBlogs

Have you ever known someone who was a manager, but not a "leader?" Have you ever known someone, or even worked for someone, who simply couldn’t make a decision? Oh my, how performance-disabling, if not toxic, they were! They sidetrack organizational initiatives often becoming a human bottleneck prohibiting success. They demoralize subordinates by being unable to see opportunities for excellence and growth. They manage so as not to lose, rather than lead so as to win. So what’s wrong? My colleagues and I discovered that managers who failed at leadership were those who lacked the ability to make difficult decisions. Difficult decisions are usually those where the risk of failure is significant and or the failure itself seems catastrophic. So what resides at the core of such indecisiveness? Contrary to that taught in many management textbooks, I believe it is a lack of resilience. In order to make a difficult decision, it is necessary to believe in one’s ability to rebound from failure should it occur. Resilient people are those who in the wake of adversity and failure rise like the Phoenix to greater strength than before. Resilient leaders are able to take the risks of leadership because they know they are more likely than others to be able to rebound should the decision prove problematic. Said another way, resilient leaders are able to take the risks associated with success because they don’t view the decisions as being a risk! OK, so if having a belief in your own resilience is important in becoming a leader, what is it that can help people develop resilience? There are at least five core factors in human resilience. One of the most important that we observed in resilient leaders appears to be a core set of pro-social values that guide their decision-making. There are corporate values, societal values, and personal values. Hopefully they all converge. A clash of values is a well-known source of stress and dysfunction. If you start with solid core personal values, your ability to be resilient will transcend settings. Our research has pointed to honesty and integrity as values that are associated with resilient leadership and a less stressful organizational climate. Resilient leaders are leaders that can create an organizational climate that fosters innovation and longevity. Warren Buffett is quoted as once saying, "In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you." Need we mention Bernard Madoff, Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, or Bernie Ebbers? Integrity in others creates a sense of safety and inspires the trust necessary to follow the lead of another, especially in challenging situations. In order to assist aspiring leaders in decision-making, my colleagues and I created a simple values-based prescriptive formula for self-analysis before making difficult decisions. The INTEGRITY FORMULA consists of five simple questions that you would ask yourself before making a challenging decision: Am I being deceptive? What are the most likely unintended consequences of my decision? Does my action hurt anyone? Would I be uncomfortable if those I love learned of my actions (spouse, children, parents, etc)? Would I be hurt or angry if someone did this to me? Remember Gandhi’s warning, "There are seven things that will destroy us: Wealth without work; Pleasure without conscience; Knowledge without character; Religion without sacrifice; Politics without principle; Science without humanity; Business without ethics." Armed with a moral compass as an aid in decision-making — coupled with an inherent belief in your own resilience — the leader in you will emerge as a leader moving forward when everyone else is retreating. George S. Everly, Jr., PhD, FAPA, is one of the founding fathers of the modern era of stress management. He is the author of numerous books and research papers. He serves on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is a co-author of "STRONGER: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed" (AMACOM, 2015). For more information, visit amacombooks.org. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: Leading from the values up 4 questions every leader should be able to answer Resilience: Your tool for success 5 ways to get unstuck The 6 saboteurs of positive role models How managers become leaders: Resilience originally published by SmartBlogs

This month, SmartBlog on Education is exploring classroom design and management — just in time for the new school year. In this blog post, executive coach and consultant Naphtali Hoff discusses the benefits of a positive approach to student behavior. Do either of these situations look familiar? 1) A lunchroom monitor marches two third-grade boys into the principal’s office just as the latter was about to meet with prospective parents. A few minutes prior, several students, including Jack, had been sitting together at a table in the designated eating area eating their lunch. Shawn walked by holding a lunch bag in one hand and an open drink in the other. Shawn accidentally spilled his drink onto Jack’s new shirt. Jack jumped up and took the remainder of Shawn’s drink and poured it into his lunch bag. Both boys began to push and scream at each other until the monitor arrived and separated them. The monitor then shares the entire incident in vivid detail with the principal in front of the boys and the startled couple. The principal sheepishly excuses himself as he hastily addresses the boys outside of his office. 2) A student in sixth-grade routinely comes to class late, often without her class materials. Once in class, it takes her a really long time to shift into "student mode." She seems to be completely focused on her own wants and needs and consistently fails to demonstrate respect to the teacher, class and learning environment. Numerous conversations, parent meetings, threats, and punishments cannot seem to motivate this young lady to change her ways and become a more productive member of the class. Others classmates have noticed and want to know why they’re being held to a different standard than the student. Whether or not these scenarios represent actual situations that you have experienced at your school, they — and others like them — certainly occur with some frequency in schools all throughout the country. Granted, sometimes the primary "culprit" is an extenuating circumstance that seems beyond our reach, like student impulsivity, defiance or domestic challenges. Still, I believe it to be safe to suggest that too many of us lack a clear vision and approach to dealing with the all-encompassing scourge that we call student (mis)conduct. I was first introduced to PBIS five years ago at a principal fellowship program. After learning about it, I and many of my administrative colleagues successfully implemented it at our schools. Throughout the process, we observed firsthand as to how transformative it was, elevating mindsets and actions (teachers’ as well as students’) throughout our respective buildings. PBIS focuses on the identification of overarching values, such as respect, responsibility and the like, and frames all behavioral expectations through those values. It also seeks to apply the values to each context and setting in a student’s day, such as the classroom, the lunchroom, the restroom, the playground, etc. Take, for example, the value of "respect." In the classroom, respect might include being seated at the bell and waiting with a raised hand before speaking. In the lunchroom or playground, it would include following directions and cleaning up. In the hallway, it could come to incorporate the need to walk quietly and in a straight line. And the list goes on. This values-based system is universal, meaning to say that it sets the tone for all students, as well as all of those who work in the building. It offers a common language and the opportunity for easy teaching (formal and informal) and reinforcement. It also gives school personnel the opportunity to reward positive conduct more regularly, rather than to respond to misconduct. No wonder PBIS has been adopted in thousands of schools nationwide and that every state has established its own central PBIS office! Of course, it’s not enough to establish values and applications. They have to be pulled together in a manner that makes them easy to remember and rally around. In my school, our seven-person committee, which consisted of three administrators (me and two principals) and four teachers, arrived at four core values: safe, friendly, respectful and responsible.[1] From there, we created posters that applied each value to different areas in the building. Tickets were distributed to students who acted to expectations. The tickets were added to a bin and a number were selected each week in a large scale raffle for individual and class prizes. Naturally, integrating PBIS or some related program into your school will not completely stop student misbehavior. There still needs to be a thoughtful list of consequences that guides teacher and administrator responses to delinquency. Nevertheless, this focus on positive values as well as regular reinforcement has been proven to significantly reduce the frequency of student misconduct. Keep in mind that no such program will work to capacity without full (or near-full) faculty support. Our school’s process actually started when a number of teachers independently came to me complaining about student comportment. Even once we formed a PBIS committee, we brought the conversation out of committee regularly, in faculty meetings, email, staff memo, etc., to keep people abreast of where we were headed and to get input. For example, teachers were asked which of the four values we should introduce first, and the proper date, venue and program that we should use to in order to introduce it. This really helped to make it a staff-wide endeavor, as did the special t-shirts and other paraphernalia that each teacher received. Of course, a successful launch will look different in each school. The unique culture, values, language and character of the school will drive each process along a different pathway. But the common outcome — if done properly — will be a transformative, proactive, values-driven progression that will place the spotlight on desired conduct and embed those values deeply into the minds and action of your students. Naphtali Hoff (@impactfulcoach) became an executive coach and consultant following a 15-year career as an educator and school administrator. Read his e-book "Core Essentials of Leadership" and his blog at impactfulcoaching.com/blog. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, special education and more. [1] We were guided by the text 7 Steps for Developing a Proactive Schoolwide Discipline Plan by Geoff Colvin, Corwin Press, 2007 Related Posts: Learning spaces: The subconscious teacher Teacherpreneur trade secrets: 5 ways all teachers can advocate for the profession The 6 R’s of a principal’s summer school The tyranny of the "right" answer How our grading supports inequity, and what we can do about it A values-based approach to discipline originally published by SmartBlogs

Liz and Ricky are two best work buddies at an industrial supply company in the Midwest. But it wasn’t always like that. Early on in their careers, they once stopped talking for a week. A minor disagreement turned ugly when Ricky, an extrovert, took action without mulling things over and Liz, an introvert, kept her feelings inside. Learning to talk over situations taught them that conflict was normal, necessary and natural, but it was how they handled it that really counted. My research on introvert-extrovert pairs in the workplace has shown that the relationships of high performing duos like Ricky and Liz don’t just happen. Even as leaders with experience under our belt, we can let those with different styles crawl under our skin. Introverts don’t talk fast enough. Extroverts won’t stop interrupting. And under stress, introverts tend to shut down and extroverts go into overdrive. That is when potentially productive conflicts become stalemates. But when introverted and extroverted leaders take a step back and approach conflict in a healthy way, they can achieve extraordinary results. They key is to focus on the results they are both trying to achieve. They either avoid talking about the tough stuff or get in each other faces. My research has shown that a key aspect of "The Genius Opposites Process" is "Bringing On the Battles" — when you see disagreement as necessary to arrive at better outcomes because you challenge each other to come up with better solutions. So what are a few payoffs of "Bringing on the Battles"? You blast apart your assumptions and biases, ultimately reaching a stronger result. You pull out the best ideas from each other. It is like blending two brains into one. You provide your customers with a wider range of viable options. Through the past 30 years of consulting with and coaching opposite teams, I have found they take these five steps to address conflict. Remember energy differences. Accept that your partner’s introverted energy may wane from too much people time or your extroverted colleague might get too hyped up during conflict. Factor in breaks and timeouts to keep you moving toward a resolution. Say what you want. If you need to find a private space to really, then tell them. Or, if you need your opposite to let you spill out your thoughts, say so. Mindreading doesn’t work here. Manage crises together. Draw on the partner who is better suited to meet the problem at hand. Figuring out the logical way through may be your strong suit, while your opposite’s strength might be calming down the customer. Errol and Anthony, Australian business partners, found that in one crisis, extroverted Errol was particularly effective at turning a troublesome client around by drawing on his natural relationship skills. Bring in a third party. Sometimes when you reach an impasse, no amount of discussion will work. The best action you can take is to bring in a neutral party to break through the emotion and help you find a win-win solution. Once, when my introverted spouse, Bill, and I were co-authoring a book, we got stuck. I was taking my time and Bill was ahead of deadline. We called Ailsa, our English editor, who gently suggested that Bill relax and I get moving. It helped to have a third party tell us what we already knew. Walk and talk. Consider moving your conversation outside the doors of your office. Extroverts think aloud. Talking out their ideas while walking around helps them gain clarity about their positions. Introverts respond to the relaxed pace and conserve energy by not having to respond face to face. New ideas spring up and solutions emerge together. An added benefit? Getting some extra stress reducing exercise! In the hands of committed opposites, bringing on the battles can lead to original solutions and breakthroughs that benefit both opposites and their clients. Try on one of these strategies today and observe the difference it makes in your impact as a leader. Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D., certified speaking professional, is a best-selling author and global keynote speaker who is known as the "Champion of Introverts." In addition to her latest book, "The Genius of Opposites," she has written two best-selling books about introverts (Quiet Influence and The Introverted Leader). If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better leader and communicator. Related Posts: We all are leaders Getting employees to take accountability Harnessing the power of your hidden leaders The new one-minute manager Helping your team thrive in times of uncertainty Introverted and extroverted leaders: Bring on the battles originally published by SmartBlogs

Photo: Flickr user Kristin Sloan From fresh fruits and raw nuts to processed bars and packaged chips, consumers’ demand for convenience and flavor as well as beneficial nutrients are fueling the latest healthy snack trends. Adults and children are snacking more often during the day, and replacing meals with snacks more than in years past, making healthy snack options more important than ever. Convenience stores are selling more fresh produce alongside candy and chips, fresh produce marketers are boosting sales with convenience packaging and fruit and vegetable brands like Del Monte are seeing a sales boost as demand grows for healthy snacks. Snack makers that displayed their newest products at the Summer Fancy Food Show in June often highlighted health aspects as much as taste, catering to the growing demand for better-for-you convenience foods. Consumers and retailers are looking for healthy snack options and less-processed choices, said Specialty Food Association Communications Director Louise Kramer. Healthy snacks featured prominently among the Association’s annual Sofi Award winners, including Bellwether Farms Blackberry Sheep Milk Yogurt, Gluten Free Ginger Zinger Cookies from Tate’s Bake Shop and Kettle Pipcorn from Pipsnacks LLC. Even indulgent goodies often took a healthier turn, including vegetable popsicles, gluten-free baked goods and cashew butter-based superfood snacks in squeezable pouches, and snacks that in the past wouldn’t have necessarily been seen as fitting into the healthy snack trend are increasingly highlighting the fact that they’ve always been gluten-free or vegan or high in protein. Chips, often seen as the poster child for the typical salty, greasy indulgent snack, are taking on a healthier shine with as makers turn from frying to baking and trade traditional potatoes for other produce. Kale chips are growing in popularity and CJ Foods has launched a line of Annie Chun’s Seaweed Crisps that are marketed with the chips but are baked, gluten-free and free of cholesterol and trans fats. As demand grows, healthy snack trends are also showing up in a wider range of categories, from baked goods and power bars to nuts and bar nibbles. Consumers’ craving for protein is still on the rise, according to recent reports from Packaged Facts and other outlets, fueling demand for everything from yogurt to plant-based protein sources like nuts and beans. Cashews surfaced as the new almond, filling a demand for healthy nuts that cost less and take less water to produce. Other protein-packed nut- and bean-based snacks highlighted this year ranged from simple to indulgent, including: Chocolate Lavender Almonds from Q’s Nuts brynn&amie granolas from Brynn’s Good Karma Foods Caramel Apple Peanuts from The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg Baked Lentil Chips from The Mediterranean Snack Food Company Bean and Rice Chips from Beanfields _________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Simple ingredients and sweet stories flavor the Fancy Food Show Foodies celebrate summer in the city with specialty foods How digital tools are helping specialty food producers grow Global goodies and hot trends from the Summer Fancy Food Show A new generation of entrepreneurs turn their talents to healthier food Convenience, freshness flavor healthy snack trends originally published by SmartBlogs

Are you spending too much time with your boss? If you are, you may suffer a drop off in engagement, innovation and productivity. At the same time if you don’t spend enough time with the boss, the same can occur. So what’s the optimal time spent with a boss? Well, according to a study by Leadership IQ, a leadership and training firm, six hours per week is optimum. More hours can hinder an employee’s productivity and engagement just as too few hours can. By contrast if you spend too much time with an employee, then you likely have not hired the right person. Or you don’t trust them. It’s okay to keep a new hire close, but if you never let go that person will not develop his or her skills. And if that individual does have talent, he or she will migrate somewhere else. No one likes to be micromanaged. Spending six hours per week with the boss is a good idea, sure, but more important is time invested by the leader — together with employees — in building an enterprise where people can work with intention and purpose that deliver results that are mutually beneficial. Click here to view the embedded video.   John Baldoni is chair of leadership development at N2Growth, is an internationally recognized leadership educator and executive coach. In 2014, Trust Across America named him to its list of top 100 most trustworthy business experts. Also in 2014, Inc.com named Baldoni to its list of top 100 leadership experts, and Global Gurus ranked him No. 11 on its list of global leadership experts. Baldoni is the author of more than a dozen books, including his newest, "MOXIE: The Secret to Bold and Gutsy Leadership." If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: Exude confidence when speaking to your CEO, part 2 Exude confidence when speaking to your CEO, part 1 Learn to be a conciliator Put your personality into your communications Hit the road, Jack How much time is too much time with the boss? originally published by SmartBlogs

Years ago I learned a very important lesson from Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. He explained to me that we all have two selves. One is an external, task-oriented self that focuses on getting jobs done, while the other is an internal, thoughtful, reflective self. If we let the task-oriented self rule our lives, we might accomplish many tasks—but we won’t be leading a balanced, values-based, fulfilling life. Making more time in your day for the thoughtful self will actually help you accomplish more while reducing stress. Think about which self wakes up in the morning. Of course, our external task-oriented self wakes up first—usually to an alarm clock. Think of what an awful term that is—an ALARM clock! My friend pastor John Ortberg thinks we should call it the opportunity clock, or the it’s going to be a great day clock. Wouldn’t that give everyone a more positive perspective and outlook? So the alarm goes off and you leap out of bed and you’re into your task-oriented self. You’re trying to eat while you’re washing, and you’re checking your email as you get dressed. Then you jump in the car and you’re on your speaker phone while you’re driving. Next, you’re going to this meeting and that meeting and running from here to there. Finally, you get home at eight or nine at night. You’re absolutely exhausted, so when you fall into bed you don’t even have energy to say goodnight to someone who might be lying next to you. And the next morning—bang!—the alarm goes off and you’re at it again. I call that leading a busy life, but not necessarily a balanced, peaceful, or thoughtful life. There is a way to break this cycle. We all need to find a way to enter our day slowly so that we can awaken our reflective self first thing in the morning. The way for some people to do it will be exercise, and for others reading, meditating, or journaling. I put together a booklet of favorite inspirational quotes that I read in the morning. It only takes a few minutes to read and it helps me begin my day with a positive and happy perspective. Instead of immediately doing activities I can check off a task list, I’m able to be thoughtful about how I approach each task. I can prioritize easier, be more creative, and eliminate a lot of stress this way. I even have more time for the most important activity of all—spending time with loved ones. And what’s better than that? By entering my day slowly, I find it easier to focus on the important things and have more energy to face challenges. It has worked for me, my family, and friends—I urge you to give it a try.

:: Study of Colleges Shows ‘Encouraging’ Texts Dramatically Cut Dropout Rates Excerpt: "A study of three colleges has shown that sending regular encouraging text messages to learners can dramatically cut dropout rates.  The experiment was carried out by the Behavioural Research Centre for Adult Skills and Knowledge (ASK), which was launched last September by social purpose company the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) in partnership with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills." Read more. Will the University of Adelaide’s Lecture Phase-Out Be A Flop? Excerpt: "The University of Adelaide is planning to completely phase out lectures. In their place will be online materials and small group face-to-face sessions. According to University of Adelaide Vice-Chancellor Warren Bebbington, the lecture is dead - and it is not coming back." Read more.  Pricing Online vs On-Campus Courses Excerpt: "Pricing online courses is an important issue for managing online education. This research note reports a statistical analysis of price differences between online courses and on-campus courses at 103 US educational institutions based on the data available on the Internet. The finding indicates that educational institutions set significantly lower prices of their online courses than that of on-campus courses, private educational institutions set significantly lower prices of their online courses than public institutions, and small institutions or large institutions set significantly lower prices for their online courses than medium-sized institutions." Read more.  Feds Mull Experiment on Aid and Accreditation for Alternative Providers Excerpt: "The U.S. Department of Education continues to work on its plan to grant experimental federal aid eligibility to partnerships between accredited colleges and alternative providers, such as job skills boot camps, coding academies and MOOCs.  A wide range of experts have been summoned to the White House for a meeting at the end of July to discuss this growing space. And department officials say they are seeking comments on how best to spot and ensure quality with nontraditional providers.  "We think that a new set of quality assurance questions will need to be developed to ask hard, important questions about student learning and outcomes," said Ted Mitchell, under secretary of education, in a blog post last week. "These questions will help students, taxpayers and those evaluating educational programs separate programs that are high quality from those that do not meet the bar."  Growing numbers of students are enrolling in noninstitutional programs. For example, roughly 16,000 students are expected to graduate from boot camps this year, Fast Company reported, which is up from 6,740 last year." Read more.  Also see Disruptive Innovations In Higher Ed Emerging From Outside Mainstream  The Fundamental Way That Universities Are an Illusion Excerpt: "Most colleges, presumably, aren’t harboring in-house credit mills. Yet in its underlying design, organizational values and daily operations, North Carolina is no different from most other colleges and universities. These organizations are not coherent academic enterprises with consistent standards of classroom excellence. When it comes to exerting influence over teaching and learning, they’re Easter eggs. They barely exist." Read more. Internet Economics: Scale and Online Higher Education Excerpt: "The challenge of scale in higher education is not merely technological - it’s organizational and social, as well. While achieving scale is fundamental to most enterprises, it can be deleterious in higher education. Increasing access and reducing price can actually hamper an institution’s value in the marketplace.  Value is based, in part, on maximizing exclusivity: an institution’s reputation typically increases when it admits fewer applicants than competing institutions." Read more. 

University of Toronto :: In 2012, during a rare moment of clarity, I wondered aloud about the possible impact on institutional reputation of academics choosing to post their instructional materials online, including lecture videos, for all the world to see. While the efforts by MIT (starting in 2001) and others in the "Open Movement" served as strong social statements about the importance of access to education, they also put the university on display in new ways and to an unprecedented degree. University brass were not typically aware of the practice, despite its potential significance. Soon after, MOOCs (a la Coursera and Udacity) arrived and took the potential impact of freely distributed instructional content on reputation to a whole new level, quickly establishing these online courses as a new and very public platform for inter-institutional competition. As expected, the level of financial investments in MOOCs climbed quickly; early efforts costing 50k were replaced by some that reached 400k. Production value lept; lighting and sound quality improved and lectures were more tightly scripted. Increased Production Value: A Trend? We can interpret the rise in production value of MOOCs as a sign of what’s to come for all of online higher education, or as merely an aberration, a by-product of the one-upmanship that characterized the response by elite institutions to the onset of MOOC-mania. I would argue that it’s the former - for two reasons. First, higher production value and, more generally, a thoughtful, deliberate, and rigorous approach to course design, remains an untapped opportunity in higher education. Most institutions continue to approach online course design as they have classroom education: the responsibility for course design and development falls largely on the shoulders of lone instructors with limited time, insufficient resources and incentives. Budgets are laughably small. Consequently, most institutions have been unable to begin to truly leverage the possibilities of the medium. Too many courses still rely on repurposed static classroom materials and an incoherent pastiche of free content pulled from a variety of sources. But this won’t likely last. Enough institutions  recognize the limitations of what now constitutes the "traditional online course" and are beginning to take course design seriously - improved production value is part and parcel of this change. Better course designs that incorporate real-time feedback, learning analytics, instructional games and other techniques will generate better outcomes, improve retention and from a purely market-perspective, enable the to create a meaningful difference in increasingly competitive, but homogeneous market of learning opportunities. The inevitability of higher production value also stems from sweeping, long term changes in access to instructional materials and information, generally. The ability of individuals to learn when and how they want independently of our educational institutions continues to expand. Resources for learning outside of universities are better quality, easier to find and curate. In light of this broad trend, the institution of higher education will need to place greater emphasis on the design of learning experiences - and migrate away from its emphasis on creating new knowledge. It’s historical emphasis on serving as knowledge creators will need to be complemented by an equal commitment toward providing the highest and most productive form of learning, as well. The trend has been unfolding since the first printing press, but the growth of the Internet has sent it into overdrive. And the impact of changing access to information is not restricted to education. Family physicians, for instance, have grown accustomed during the past decade to patients arriving for their appointments with medical reports in-hand, detailing possible medical interventions - all pulled freely from the Internet. The discussion currently making the rounds in North America -  "is college worth it" - may be an early symptom of this trend; we’ll know better in retrospect. Son of MOOC. Or Lynda.com Meets People Magazine Masterclass is a VC-backed start-up in (surprise) San Francisco that offers short online courses on popular topics like acting, photography, and creative writing. (I must admit I was not aware that there’s a shortage of qualified actors, photographers and creative writers.) Each course costs $90 USD and includes video, interactive assignments and social learning opportunities - both online and face-to-face. While Masterclass seems far removed from the concerns of higher education, its’ similarities to MOOCs offers us a unique vantage point for thinking through changes in production value and how learning resources are evaluated. The first and most simple similarity is the emphasis on production value, which Masterclass takes to a whole new level. The current crop of Masterclass courses are directed by professional film-makers: Jay Roach (Austin Powers and Meet the Parents) and two-time Academy Award winning documentarian, Bill Guttentag. They’re predictably beautiful. The second and less obvious similarity is the way in which both MOOCs and Masterclass rely on the status of the source of instruction to generate the perception of instructional value. The affiliation with elite institutions is fundamental to the appeal and newsworthiness of MOOCs, as was the choice to present these courses as more or less equivalent to the "real courses" taught within the institution (minus tuition). News services and pundits took notice because MOOCs appeared to offer a desirable, expensive, and scare resource for free - it’s a "man bites dog" news item. (c.f. "Elite Education for the Masses", Washington Post, 2012) Had these MOOCs come from, for example, a consortium of community colleges in South Dakota, or not been understood as consistent with the actual courses taught at these institutions, they would have gained little attention. Likewise, Masterclass leverages the brand name recognition and status of its instructors - in this case, celebrities from the world of film, sports, and the arts. The first crop of Masterclass courses are taught by Dustin Hoffman (actor), Serena Williams (tennis pro), James Patterson (fiction author), and Annie Liebowitz (photographer).  (It’s highly unlikely of course that these celebrities had anything to do with the design of the instruction, but this is how the courses are marketed.) In both MOOCs and Masterclass, then, the value of the courses is based to a considerable degree on the source of the instruction. And in presenting themselves in this fashion, they inadvertently underline the rather unsophisticated ways in which instructional quality is evaluated in and outside of higher education. MOOCs were received well because of the status of the institutions with which they were affiliated. But the status enjoyed by these institutions is primarily a by-product of exclusivity (admissions and tuition levels) and the research productivity of the faculty, not of instructional sophistication. These institutions enrol the most academically gifted students and, as Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen has noted, his home institution spends far less on improving instruction each year than does the University of Phoenix. Likewise, the status of celebrities leading the Masterclass courses is not the result of their success as educators or coaches. They are practitioners and each one studies under leading coaches, trainers and educators. In each case, then, consumers are investing in instruction on the basis of qualities only indirectly related to instructional quality. This isn’t because people are daft. It’s because in the absence of easy access to relevant information about instructional value, we turn to proxies to make our decisions. Lloyd Armstrong, Provost Emeritus at USC refers to tuition, exclusivity, research productivity and other markers as "surrogates of quality". Consumers need to become more adept at identifying instructional value. But institutions must play a leading role. We need, first, to take steps to track the impact on learning outcomes of different instructional strategies. And then use this information to inform both students and ourselves about what’s working and what isn’t. Yes, educational quality is harder to measure than most, but not impossible - particularly in the online environment. Intelligently designed learning analytics - based on field-tested theories of learning - can now provide us with accurate and relevant information we need to enable better assessments of true quality in learning.