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Caterpillar is one of the most far-flung companies in the world, with thousands of its high-priced excavators and earth movers digging holes and cleaning up debris for hundreds of public and private customers in dozens of countries at any given moment. So the Peoria, Illinois-based heavy-equipment giant is turning to social media in a variety of ways to tie that vast and sprawling community more tightly to its brand.

New York State economic-development officials are using a big national TV-advertising campaign to tout their tax-free START-UP NY program. But critics already are panning everything about it, including the strict limitations on the types of companies the effort is attempting to attract, where they can be located, the cost of running the advertisements and the potential political motivations of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in launching it.

Here is Barry L. Ritholtz, founder and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, take on U.S. income distribution, aided by visual graphics designer Catherine Mulbrandon of Visualizing Economics.

According to a recent Dallas Morning News story, a vast majority of Americans believe engineers are among the least likely professionals to succeed at the top of the corporate ladder. This, despite the fact that a third of all S&P 500 company CEOs had majored in engineering as undergraduates, according to a Spencer Stuart study. There is a reason why engineers make good CEOs…but don’t tell the folks in finance or sales.

When George Barrett joined Cardinal Health in 2008, both the company and the health care industry were at a crossroads. Founded as a private entity

Cote joined Honeywell when it was suffering something of an acquisition-spree hangover, having digested 80 M&As undertaken over the past 11 years. “We had to

Struggle and leadership are unquestionably intertwined. Whether attempting to turnaround a fledgling organization, trying to discern the best way forward in today’s competitive marketplace, or rallying stakeholders around a new initiative, struggle is simply par for the leadership course. Yet cultural taboos have prevented executives from speaking openly about their struggles, fearing that such disclosure would indicate weakness, indecisiveness, or even incompetence.

The death of the global supply chain is premature. Some media report that US labor costs are lower than China labor costs. Others contend that fuel costs are so high that global trade is no longer cost effective. And then we have those that only look at how shipping times from Asia to the US have become longer, creating issues from an agility perspective. While each of these perspectives is true, they are not valid augments for relinquishing global supply chains and bringing manufacturing closer to home with onshoring and nearshoring.