The Business Story Behind a Disaster

A Surreal TaleIn Ferry Deaths, a South Korean Tycoon’s DownfallThe New York Times

For me the most fascinating business story of the week was the Times’s takeout on religious-group founder, artistic photographer, and disgraced tycoon Yoo Byung-eun, whose hyperinflated life came to a strange and sad end in a South Korean apricot orchard last month (Suicide? Murder? Who knows?) during the aftermath of the ferry sinking that killed 304 passengers. The ship, which was part of his family’s sprawling businesses, had been top-heavy because scores of cabins and an art gallery laden with marble were added to the upper decks.



Yoo’s tale winds through his founding of a Christian-inspired church movement, the suicides of 32 adherents, exhibitions of his nature photographs at famous locations, a four-year prison term for fraud, a raid by 10,000 police officers on his church compound, the freezing of more than $100 million of his family’s assets, and on and on. There’s enough material here for several surrealistic novels. And what does it all mean? To paraphrase Dylan Thomas’s lament about his childhood science books, the Times story tells you everything you need to know about Yoo except why. —Andy O’Connell

Pants on FireOne Reason Women Fare Worse in Negotiations? People Lie to ThemSlate

Oh lovely. As Jane C. Hu tells us, researchers from the University of California–Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania tested out gender bias in the context of honesty during negotiations. In a real-estate role-play, the setup was that the buyer was seeking to turn a piece of property into a tourist hotel against the wishes of the seller, who hoped it would be used for residences. Asked about future plans, buyers were more likely to tell outright lies ("They will be luxury condos," for example) if the sellers were female. If the sellers were male, buyers tended to use language such as “I can’t tell you.” Privileged information couched in terms such as "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but…" was used in male-to-male dealings only.

In the end, 24% of men and 17% of women said they lied to a female partner, while 3% of men and 11% of women said they lied to a male partner. The participants rated the women buyers as less competent than the males — and that makes it easier to lie.

With Tiny Drinks Coke Confronts Its Big Fat ProblemBusinessweek

Coca-Cola North America is trying to start over. Soda makes up 68% of its business, a business that's been drawing criticism over the past two decades for contributing to Americans’ poor health. It's the job of North American VP Sandy Douglas to fix the problem, to "persuade people to drink Coca-Cola again, even if they don't guzzle it like water the way they did before."



Moving away from the '90s, when the company went mammoth with beverage sizes (something most restaurants still prefer because it helps their bottom lines), Douglas is trying to make more money selling tinier sodas, with the help of renegotiated bottler contracts that pay on the basis of revenue as opposed to sales volume. There's a new effort to acquire independent brands like Zico coconut water and a partnership with Keurig to make a cold-brew machine. Coke has also seen some recent success with its controversial "America the Beautiful" campaign and its idea of printing the 250 most common names of teenagers on cans. Coke, it seems, still has the gift of advertising. But with relaunch nearing, Businessweek's Claire Suddath notes that victory isn't guaranteed. And as she points out: "No one wants to be responsible for another New Coke."

Feels Good When You StopThe Only Job With an Industry Devoted to Helping People QuitThe Atlantic

Attorney burnout at big law firms has given rise to a new helping profession: People who are devoted to assisting lawyers as they leave the practice of law and head for something more meaningful. Law school is often a default choice for undergraduates who don’t know what else to do, and life in big firms often turns out to be a lot grimmer than law students had imagined. But even after young associates get fed up, they still don’t know what to do with their lives. Many “need hand-holding from outside sources in redirecting their careers,” Leigh McMullan Abramson writes in The Atlantic. One big positive about the stress of Big Law: It feels so good when you stop. “I have not met a single former lawyer who regrets changing professions,” says the author of a lawyer-help book. “Most wish they had done it sooner.” —Andy O’Connell

Adults Can Be Terrible, Too Dealing With Bullies in the WorkplaceThe Boston Globe

Bullying is a reality at many companies, but few people talk about it openly. According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, 27% of Americans have experienced it at work, 21% have witnessed abusive conduct, and two-thirds of respondents say they know it exists. And while Bella English's article is full of stories of people who have decided to recount their experiences, many wouldn't allow her to use their names for fear of retribution, a chilling reminder of how powerful a toxic work environment can be. Their cases involve both new bosses who marginalize employees and stories where workers who bully their colleagues have much longer tenures than their targets. In fact, according to one recent survey, "more than half [of respondents] say that the bullying persists for more than five years," something that seems inexcusable.



So what are bullied employees to do? Without legislation — a bill in Massachusetts on workplace bullying, for example, faces fierce opposition from business leaders — or a more stable economy in which leaving a job isn't such a terrifying prospect, many feel completely stuck. Maybe that's part of the reason why the above-mentioned survey found that "two in three people say they deal with bullies by avoiding them."

BONUS BITSThe Language of...

Money Talks (The New Yorker)
Is Coding the New Literacy? (Mother Jones)
How a CEO's Fiery Battle Speeches Can Shape Ethical Behavior (Pacific Standard)