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Here are five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms to start off your work week. I'm pointing you to articles about

From the Fordyce Letter: What We Can Learn About Recruiting From the Cleveland Cavaliers
"There are several recruiting lessons to be learned from the bomb that LeBron James dropped on Cleveland late last night about his departure to the Miami Heat. Before we get into those lessons, let’s take a quick look at some of the highlights of LeBron’s NBA career with the Cavs."

Wally's Comment: The net has been raining posts about LeBron James and his free agency. I picked this post because it zeroed in on the recruiting lessons you can learn from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

If you want to read more about Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert's unrestrained rant about what a lazy, disloyal scoundrel LeBron is check this article. Gilbert should remember that while burning bridges may make a lovely light, it usually takes a lot of work to rebuild the bridge, not to mention credibility and reputation. If you want an analysis of whether James' strategy helped or hurt him, read Maureen Dowd's entertaining column in the NY Times, titled: "Miami’s Hoops Cartel."

FromCEB: Flexwork
"When people think about flexible work arrangements, they often think about mothers wanting to spend more time at home with their children. However, flexible work arrangements, in their various incarnations, aren’t just for moms. More and more men are looking to balance work with home life. Baby Boomers are trying to cut back their work hours before taking full retirement. And members of Generation Y, who have grown up being connected all the time, don’t want to feel limited by the traditional nine to five day; they want to work at night or on the weekends so they can have better work-life balance even without the demands of a family. A study by The Family and Work Life Institute found that 79% of employees want more flexibility. Regardless of who is asking for flexibility and their reasons for the request, companies stand to gain a lot from offering flexible work arrangements (the next post in this series will talk about the different types of arrangements). In particular, finance departments can benefit greatly from the costs savings of allowing employees to work outside traditional work hours or spaces. In fact, flexibility should not be thought of as an expensive perk, but a win-win situation that makes employees happy and saves money for the company."

Wally's Comment: That's the lead for the first of three connected posts from the Corporate Executive Board. They are:

Flexing It: Not Just for Moms Anymore
Flexing It: Different Types of Flexible Work Arrangements
Flexing It: How to Overcome the Barriers to Remote Work

For more on this issue, read Julie Ferguson's excellent post at HR Web Café titled: "Workplace flexibility programs on the rise." There's good commentary and pointers to resources.

From Deloitte: Executive Compensation: Plan, Perform & Pay
"Executive compensation is not only a consideration close to the pocket book of CFOs but also a topic of increasing importance to managements and boards. As major economies show signs of recovering from the 2008 recession, compensation can become more decisive to retaining and motivating critical senior executive talent. But, executive compensation also continues to be scrutinized by major investors, proxy advisory firms and increasingly regulators – given the losses incurred by shareholders over the last couple of years."

Wally's Comment: This is a good overview of the current challenges in administering executive compensation. Ann Bares had an excellent post last year, titled, "On the Possibility of Driving High Performing Talent from the Places We Need It Most." Be sure to read the comments as well as the post.

From Forbes: IBM's Transformation--From Survival to Success
"It is hard to watch what many companies are going through today. Automakers, the news media, entertainment industry businesses, banks and other financial institutions--they and others are being seriously challenged by market forces, technology shifts and the changing dynamics of a global economy. Some of them are fighting for their very survival. At my company we know what that is like. We have been there."

Wally's Comment: The IBM turnaround story is told a lot because there are so many lessons. In addition to this fine post, check out the Fortune article, "5 tips from IBM's turnaround champ" and Lou Gerstner's book on the turnaround, Who says elephants can't dance?

From the NY Times: Can Honest Tea Say No to Coke, Its Biggest Investor?
"HONEST TEA makes juices and teas with natural sweeteners, including the pouch drinks Honest Kids. In early 2008, Coca-Cola took a 40 percent interest in the Bethesda, Md.-based company, which had revenue of $47 million last year. Coke has an option to buy the whole company next year. "

Wally's Comment: Honest Tea is one of the most interesting business stories of the last decade. You can read a short version of it on the company's web site.

I've been following the Honest Tea saga since I first read about the company in Stirring It Up by Gary Hirshberg. I was fascinated, in part, because one of the founders of the company is Barry Nalebuff.  Nalebuff is a Yale faculty member, known as an expert on business strategy and game theory. You may know him for his books such as Coopetition and Thinking Strategically.

That hasn't prevented him from making the classic Faustian bargain. Businesses need capital to grow. If you don't have capital, you can get someone to provide it, but the deal always comes with compromises and strings.

If you enjoy this post, you may want to check back on Wednesday when I select five excellent posts from the week's independent business blogs.Last week I highlighted posts on civility in the work place, intestinal fortitude, getting your new idea accepted, experimenting at work, and the leadership journey.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.