March Madness at Work

It's that time of year: March Madness, otherwise known as the NCAA men's basketball tournament. On Sunday evening, the selection committee revealed the field of 65, which includes such entrepreneur-rich schools as Stanford, Texas, and Illinois. For many of us, the tournament is most present in our lives at work, as colleagues put together bracket-based betting pools. The 2007 bracket is available in PDF and GIF formats on ESPN's homepage.

The New York Times published a helpful list of tips for people filling out brackets today. In 2003, Inc. put together an article that looked at office betting pools from the boss's perspective. The article talked about how companies often legitimize pools to make them team building exercises or to involve their customers. Does your company have a pool? If so, do you use it some sort of creative way that enhances the bottom line? And finally, most important, who are your picks for the Final Four and for the ultimate winner?

Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City. @mikehofman