Ambitious workers get a lot of advice early in their career about how to get ahead. One common tip is: Be among the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave to show your boss you’re committed to the job. Brianna Doe used to feel that way. When the marketing professional began her career about a decade ago, she’d often clock into the office early and work long hours “to show that I have the drive and the motivation, and that I want to grow within the company.” Doe was eager to show her manager and people…

In the pursuit of doubling profits, many businesses feel the pressure to resort to aggressive sales tactics. However, sustainable growth doesn’t always require higher sales numbers. By focusing on three key profit drivers (pricing profitably, managing expenses, and setting strategic sales targets) you can achieve your desired profit margins without having to increase sales. 1. Pricing Profitably Pricing is more than just assigning a dollar amount to your products or services; it’s about understanding the value you deliver and ensuring that your pricing reflects that value. One of the first steps in pricing profitably is understanding the true value of…

Nigerian refineries including the Dangote Refinery have raised their domestic crude requirements for the second half of 2024 to 597,700 barrels per day from 483,000 bpd in the first half, the national oil regulator said, despite tight domestic supply. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) was only able to help secure 177,777 bpd from oil producers in the first six months of the year, way below what the refiners had asked for, it said in a statement released on Friday. The refineries' rising crude requirements and oil producers' struggle to meet demand has put the 650,000-bpd Dangote Refinery in…

Sometimes, what separates successful people from everyone else isn’t what they say — it’s what they don’t say. You might want to avoid jargon in the workplace: phrases like “ducks in a row” or “move the needle” that probably confuse your co-workers, according to research published by LinkedIn and Duolingo last year. Other sayings, like “keep me in the loop” or “just checking in,” can unintentionally come across as passive-aggressive, Slack executive Jaime DeLanghe told CNBC Make It in 2022. In particular, the best employees typically steer clear from these three phrases and sayings, according to CEOs, psychologists and linguistics…