Written for the leaders, owners and professionals of the 11 million businesses with between $50,000 and $50 million in revenue.

You likely provide sick days for employees and maybe also subsidized pet insurance, but what about sick days for pets?

A proposed New York City bill would allow workers to use their PTO to take Fido or Fluffy to the veterinarian for exams and treatment. New York law currently lets employees use their sick days for a family member's health care, so this is basically expanding that guarantee to fur babies. We'll let you know if the legislation gets passed or neutered.

Today's Edition...

Helping new moms: These policies are good for business

George Foreman Grill: How it knocked out the competition

Ford v Ferrari: Film drives home the power of price anchoring

The Business Benefits of Helping New Moms

(Source: Shutterstock)

Dr. Ben Baran is an associate professor at Cleveland State University and co-founder of Elevating What Works.

Helping new moms when they come back to work is good for them — and it's good business. That's what research indicates, along with outlining a number of practical tips for employers.

It's important to recognize that new moms face many challenges. Having a baby is hard work for all new parents, but new moms often bear more of a burden than new dads due to their physical role in childbirth and infancy. At the same time, they're navigating new routines, setting up child care, and figuring out new parts of their work and nonwork identities.

Employers can help in many ways, and if they do, they'll reduce the likelihood that the new moms will quit later. That saves costs since replacing an employee is expensive. Supportive employers also help the moms psychologically, reducing postpartum depressive symptoms.

The research points out several specific ways to help:

Managers can help returning moms navigate the company's human resources policies and systems.
They can consider flexible schedules that include remote work and working from home.
They should provide suitable spaces for lactation at work.
They should be patient and encouraging during the transition.
Finally, managers can help returning moms by recognizing their value as employees while also recognizing the value of motherhood. This might include words of gratitude for the employee's return while showing interest in and support for the new baby. Examples range from a card signed by co-workers to a baby registry or gift cards to help with new items or meals.

Together, these supportive gestures help returning mothers by increasing their confidence in their ability to do their job while reducing some of the guilt they may feel while making the transition back to work. And given the positive outcomes for both the business and the employee, these helpful actions make good sense.

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From the point-of-sale to the back office, Clover is your lucky charm.

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How George Foreman Knocked Out the Competition

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Contrary to popular belief, George Foreman did not personally invent the George Foreman Grill. In fact, the boxing champion might've never had a namesake appliance if Hulk Hogan had been home to answer the phone.

The two-sided grill was the brainchild of Chicago inventor Michael Boehm, who patented it in 1994. He sold the grill to Salton Inc., which decided to recruit a famous athlete to market it. As Hogan recounted on Hogan Knows Best, the wrestler missed a call from his agent — who also happened to be Foreman's agent — while he was picking his kids up from school.

By the time Hogan returned the agent's call, Foreman had already accepted the endorsement deal, leaving Hogan with a blender (Salton's Thunder Mixer) that never took off. As of 2017, Foreman had reportedly earned $200 million from the grill.

Would the Hulkster's hypothetical grill have had the same success? We'll never know, but — in our timeline, at least — the right partnership at the right moment can deliver a TKO.

Ford v Ferrari Drives Home the Power of Price Anchoring

(Source: 20th Century Studios)

The 2019 biopic Ford v Ferrari is about a race between Matt Damon and Christian Bale's characters. It's also the story of a brand transformation.

Back in the 1960s, Ford Motor Company — long seen as reliable but unexciting — set out to challenge Ferrari's dominance in the luxury-performance space. So, they built the GT40 and took on Ferrari at the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans competition.

It resulted in Ford selling over 600,000 Mustangs while Ferrari, which had focused on a niche market, only sold 600 of their own cars. Here's the kicker: Ferraris were priced at $18,000, so Ford strategically set the GT40 at $11,000.

When a luxury brand sets a high bar, a challenger is able to crash the party by offering comparable quality for way less. This is a form of price anchoring, which can be done by offering standard and premium versions of your own product or by undercutting your competitors' products. It's how Warby Parker made designer eyewear affordable, Ikea brought high-end style to budget furniture, and Spirit Airlines thrived on its no-frill fares.

For the Mustang, that strategy was Ford's ultimate source of horsepower.