Midweek Reading Round-Up

Now that we’ve hit the middle of the week, let’s take a look at some news, opinions, and other small business writing across the web. Here are 10 of the top articles from this week that you should be reading:

1. With Independence Day coming up Saturday, Geoff Loftus writes for Forbes about leadership lessons from the Founding Fathers.
2. The Small Business Administration released its annual report on government contracts for small businesses, and found that 2014 was the second consecutive year that the federal government reached its overall goal for small business, totaling $91.7 billion, nearly 25 percent of prime contracts.
3. The Washington Post reports on President Obama’s proposal to reform overtime policies, and the response from small business organizations.
4. Anne Kadet of the Wall Street Journal spent three weeks shopping exclusively at mom and pop small businesses. She talks about the experience of making that transition, and what she learned about local businesses.
5. With the Uber model of using independent contractors instead of employees under legal fire, the New York Times reports on how Ron Johnson and other entrepreneurs are building successful high tech startups with a revolutionary strategy—actually hiring employees.
6. Economist Tyler Cowen looks at how the Uber model impacts workers, creating opportunities for some but less beneficial for others.
7. Is your business marketing to Millennials? A Manta study found that only 15 percent of small businesses are targeting the young adult generation.
8. Lou Solomon of Interact discusses the surprising results of a survey by her company about the communication problems plaguing business leaders, and how you can overcome them.
9. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic talks about new ways for employers to evaluate job candidates to find the smartest, nicest, and most motivated employees.
10. Steve Denning for Forbes on what makes the “Agile” business model different from past management trends and fads.

What have you read this week that has inspired or informed you? Let us know in the comments below.