In the course of writing The Talent Mandate, I spoke with a prominent business school professor who told me that no corporate function lags behind today so dramatically as talent. He sees improvements and innovations in every area except in the vital matter of managing people. That’s astonishing--and it’s also lunacy at a time when people costs tend to be upward of 50 percent of a company's expenses. What could be more vital than talent to the bottom line? And yet the people in our employ continue to be neglected, taking a backseat to the various other matters that occupy our workdays.

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The technology industry has a woman problem. Promising programs like Girls Who Code and Black Girls Code have popped up to encourage young girls to get into computer science and engineering careers, but today, women still leave tech companies at double the rate of men. Even the women who make it past all the hurdles of being a female in the field--the lack of role models, sexism, and so on--don't stay very long.

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Over the span of my professional life — which includes serving as founder, CEO, investor, advisor, and board member — I’ve noticed three fundamental mistakes founders and CEOs (including myself!) often make.

These mistakes can keep a company from meeting its growth objectives, distract from the main business focus, and even lead to a mediocre team being hired, any of which can kill a company in the long term.

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Twitter finally released its official IPO filing, revealing who its major shareholders are–and giving some idea of how much those stakes are worth.

The company director’s 12% stake is extremely lucrative on paper. One big winner: Co-founder Evan Williams, whose 12% stake makes him a billionaire–at least on paper. The shares held by Twitter’s co-founder and largest shareholder are worth about $1.08 billion, according to the $9 billion valuation the company reportedly attained in private sales of its stock.

Facebook is looking to ease the commute of its Menlo Park employees with a proposed $120 million housing project within walking distance of its headquarters.

The complex, Anton Menlo, will feature 394 units and house both a sports bar and a doggie day care center. Facebook's Silicon Valley headquarters has been likened to a small city. The complex includes a doctor's office, a bike repair shop and various restaurants.

For a few, delegating comes easily, maybe too easy. For others who are perfectionists, letting go of even the most trivial task is almost impossible. If you are in this second category, you probably don’t like the references behind your back that you are a “control freak” or a “micro-manager.”

London business school professor John Hunt notes that only 30 percent of managers think they can delegate well, and of those, only one in three is considered a good delegator by his or her subordinates. This means only about one manager in ten really knows how to empower others.

We are living in an increasingly litigious age. The number of lawsuits brought against the British National Health Service has doubled in the last four years. The fear of litigation and the real possibility of been found guilty of medical malpractice are inhibiting hospitals and doctors from trying promising new ideas in the treatment of deadly illnesses.

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Starting and running a business entails creating products and services. Then there’s hiring contractors or staff, marketing your business, managing work, and accounting for every expense. Aside from the business ownership myth that creating a business is somehow easier than working for someone else, a few other myths about small business ownership are still prevalent.

Some of these are just outright silly, but others could really discourage you and hurt your business if you take them to heart.

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At the annual Black Hat security conference this summer, researchers demonstrated how it would be possible to add malware to an iPhone by connecting it to a modified charger. Now a mobile security startup is attempting to do the opposite, by selling a charger that can scan your smartphone for malware—and repair it, if necessary—while powering it up.

Marketing classrooms have long discussed the four P’s of marketing: product, promotion, position, and price.

I realized it was high time that entrepreneurship got the same love in the form of P’s, in the form of a simple, formulaic way of discussing what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

The point of simple and easy to remember formula’s isn’t to be the single most important element of a given topic, be it marketing or entrepreneurship, it’s just to instill some basic principles. The four P’s of entrepreneurship, as I see them, are passion, persistence, perseverance, and preparation.

A new survey from CollegeRecruiter.com found most people are very eager to work from home:

• 70% of workers would rather telecommute than work in the office 
• For workers between the ages of 35 – 44, the numbers jumped to 81% 
• 70% of parents would rather work from home 
• Only 66% of those between 18 – 24 wanted to work remotely

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The battle of the generations continues! Baby Boomers and GenXers share the opinion that GenY workers are uncommitted, slackers, and, of course, entitled. Millennials, on the other hand, retort that their Baby Boomer and GenX co-workers are all work and no play. Where’s the work-life balance, they say?

Well, it seems the world is changing rapidly. Now that young professionals are moving up the ranks in the workforce, we’re likely to see some fundamental shifts in how business gets done.

Ask any seasoned traveler about the merits of globetrotting and you’re likely to hear a litany of enthusiastic responses: personal growth, cultural exploration, catharsis.

Ask about the obstacles, however, and one resounding theme emerges: Jetsetting can cost a pretty penny. If your bank account is holding you back from your dream vacation, or if you're planning a trip and trying to adhere to a budget, these 10 startups can help turn your travel dreams into realities.

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The early bird apparently does get the worm. Christoph Randler, a biology professor at the University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany, found that morning people are often more successful than evening people because, as a group, they tend to be proactive. A recent survey conducted by The Guardian confirms this idea, reporting that many CEOs of successful companies are up by 5 a.m.

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The dreaded performance review--unless it’s “You’re fired!”--is often an unfocused, indirect thicket of bureaucratic language that is not helpful for either boss or employee. It can be an exercise that sheds little light but creates a lot of anxiety and resentment for everyone involved. When we caught up with Paul English, cofounder of Kayak.com, the travel search engine, to ask him about his five-word reviews we found out that there was a whole lot more to his philosophy of feedback.

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When there's market uncertainty--say, caused by the government closing down for business until further notice--venture capitalists can be found doling sage advice to portfolio companies to help them navigate any volatility ahead. Days into the U.S.'s first government shutdown in 17 years, the thoughts Fast Company has collected from venture capitalists vary from the nonchalant to the mildly worried.

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A veteran biotechnology reporter once complained privately that covering the industry was like watching grass grow—companies seemed to inch by slow degrees toward products and profits, sustained by a dwindling stream of funding.

For an antidote to that dreary picture, consider the swift developments at StartX Med, a life sciences accelerator program founded by Stanford University students in 2012. It’s a health care-oriented offshoot of StartX, the original student-initiated incubator program for researchers and others affiliated with Stanford.

It’s an exciting time to be a venture capitalist. As an investor at NEA in Silicon Valley, I’m seeing some of today’s greatest technology and business revolutions up close:

• Software-as-a-Service: the new model for business applications 
• Cloud computing: enabling unprecedented infrastructure performance and flexibility 
• Payments: now being integrating into mobile devices and apps 
• Education: democratized and globalized for the first time ever

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The budget of €70 billion is a disappointment, but lead MEPs said in the main they are satisfied with the overall package, after they voted through the Horizon 2020 research and development programme for 2014 – 2020.

“The Parliament has driven the programme in a direction that is more flexible, more innovative and more accessible to a greater number of European citizens,” said Christian Ehler MEP, one of the rapporteurs responsible for steering Horizon 2020 through the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE). 

Starting a business is always risky, and success is never guaranteed. Yet, entrepreneurs thrive every day. Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach, successful entrepreneurs seem to share several traits that the rest of the pack lacks.

SCORE, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping small businesses, recently released their infographic on what makes today's entrepreneurs successful. To thrive, entrepreneurs need professional experience, a business plan, the right personality and mentors, SCORE found.

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