In the summer of 1941 a Swiss engineer returned from a walk in the woods near his home in Geneva. He was astonished at the dozens of prickly seedpods—burrs—that stuck, tenaciously, to his socks, trousers, shirt and dog.

At the start of Junk, the new drama by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ayad Akhtar now playing at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City, the character of Judy Chen, an ambitious financial writer and journalist, sits alone in the center of the stage and addresses the audience: "This is the story of kings — or what passes for kings these days. Kings bedecked in Brooks Brothers and Brioni, enthroned in sky-high castles on opposing coasts, embroiled in a battle over, well, what else, money."

Last year 13 million people flocked to Broadway shows in New York City, more than attended all of the region's professional sporting events combined. In doing so, they purchased nearly $1.5 billion in tickets, helping the theater industry contribute roughly $12 billion to the local economy.

Were you one of the Twitter users granted extra linguistic real-estate in the past few weeks? Are you reveling in the new 280 character limit, or did you ignore the bonus and continue writing 140 character tweets?

As a leader, perhaps nothing is more important to your organization than protecting the legacy of your expertise — making sure that the deep knowledge you've acquired is successfully passed on to those who come after you.

Steve Jobs died six years ago. During his lifetime he was the subject of more than two dozen books, documentaries and feature films. And in the years since his death public curiosity has hardly diminished.

"Speak truth to power." Of all the advice given to new managers, these four words may be the hardest to carry out. Communicating upwards is risky. One never knows if the recipient will listen with respect or blame the messenger. How should you deliver tough news to your boss?

Zappos sells shoes and consumer goods online. A string quartet performs classical music. Zappos has more than 1,500 employees. A string quartet only four. Zappos was founded in 1999 and is now a leading 21st century corporation. String quartets—two violins, a viola, and cello—have not changed since the form was created about 250 years ago.