There are certain metro areas in the United States about which people say “It’s a nice place to visit, but there’s no there there.” They mean that the town has no core — no beating heart, in a cultural sense. Some people are the same way. Some of them sit in high-level positions.

You can talk to an empty-suit manager for hours and come away with no idea what he or she believes in or stands for. That’s because the manager has cultivated the ability to be whomever he or she believes somebody more powerful wants him or her to be.

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Their only recourse is that first tier of investors, fondly called Friends, Family and Fools. These are the only people likely to believe in newbies, with only minimal product evidence or business experience. 

Image: Image via Flickr by Jupiter Labs

The botched rollout of the healthcare.gov insurance exchange prompted the Obama administration to reassess how the federal government builds and manages information systems. One result was the creation of the U.S. Digital Service in August 2014 to recruit top IT talent for government IT projects.

“Think of it as DARPA (the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency) meets the Peace Corps meets SEAL Team Six,” said Todd Park, former CTO of the federal government who now is a Silicon Valley-based technology advisor to the White House.

Image: Todd Park

If you are looking for some quiet zones in America, then this map is for you. National Park Service researchers recorded and mapped ambient sound from all over the country.

American universities are facing a crisis of relevance. There is, quite simply, a growing tension between their internal cultures and their role within society.

But the good news is that a growing number of us academics are taking this issue head on, exploring a broader range of models for what it means to be a scholar within society, and challenging old models that stand in the way of such progress.

A good transformation story is hard to find. Especially when you’re searching inside big companies. I’ve been collecting inspiring cross-sector transformation stories for BIF’s annual Collaborative Innovation Summit for over a decade. It’s alarming to me how few of them have come from big companies. Believe me, it’s not for lack of trying or looking in the wrong places although we’re always open to suggestions. We look hard, and we’re fortunate to have a network of like-minded innovation junkies who are generous with storyteller suggestions. At BIF we’re equal opportunity curators searching under every rock for great, undiscovered transformation stories.

Ashton Kutcher made headlines at SXSW this year when he announced the launch of a new investment fund with business partner Guy Oseary. But Kutcher and Oseary are not new to the startup game. In fact, Kutcher made early investments in Uber, Airbnb, and Spotify, showing a keen eye for investing in promising startups. When CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo asked Kutcher what he looks for in new companies, one of his answers was “extraordinary entrepreneurs."

You don’t have to wait until you graduate from college to start a profitable business.

We’re living in a different time where the job market is not as stable as it was in decades past and the traditional method of getting a job after college should not be your only option when seeking financial stability.

The first thing you need to do is ask yourself if you have the skills, determination and a unique idea to sell to potential customers.

Image: http://www.saycampuslife.com

Entrepreneurship is a rich and rewarding experience that leads many business owners to real career satisfaction for the first time in their lives. You get to set your own schedule, make your own rules and become a master of your own destiny -- but those perks are not without an associated cost.

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA – June 1, 2015 - The University Economic Development Association (UEDA) is currently seeking applications for its annual Awards of Excellence program, which recognizes cutting edge university-based economic development initiatives from across the country. The Awards of Excellence Program spotlights higher education institutions and their partners who are transforming their campuses and communities into engines of economic prosperity through creative initiatives in five categories:

When it comes to innovation, the single most common piece of advice may be to “think outside the box.” Constraints, according to this view, are the enemy of creativity because they sap intrinsic motivation and limit possibilities.

Sophisticated innovators, however, have long recognized that constraints spur and guide innovation. Attempting to innovate without boundaries overwhelms people with options and ignores established practices, such as agile programming, that have been shown to enhance innovation. Without guidelines to structure the interactions, members of a complex organization or ecosystem struggle to coordinate their innovative activities.

Every 15 years or so, the world witnesses a profound shift in computing platforms. In the 1980s the advent of the PC heralded a shift away from mainframe computing. Then along came the Internet and an outpouring of web-based applications. Now it is mobile’s turn to eat everything. And with each tectonic shift in the technology landscape, the sheer volume of computing devices associated with it expands exponentially.

Consistency is key, and a strong leader stands firm in what they practice. Each day, great people wake up and follow a specific personal routine that pushes them to be the best entrepreneur possible. Not only do these habits establish regularity in a world that can be tumultuous and ever-changing, but they work wonders in placing leaders in a great frame of mind.

Having trouble finding the right mentor? Here’s an idea you might not have tried: tapping your own wisdom.

In her 2014 book, Playing Big, coach and speaker Tara Mohr advocates dialing down your inner critic and dialing up your "inner mentor." When you’ve got a dilemma, with some practice, you can picture an older, wiser version of yourself, and seek her advice.

I’m so tired of seeing young entrepreneurs get screwed by their angel investors on convertible notes and I know I can’t convince you not to do it so I’d like to offer one simple bit of advice to help you avoid getting screwed (at least on one part of your note).

In virtually every instance, there is one ingredient that can make or break a startup in the early days -- money.

Many founders follow the same path. Once they have an idea, they begin pitching traditional VC firms or start looking for an angel investor. These options are great resources for some, but raising money this way can be problematic.

For starters, you usually have to give up equity shares to raise the money.

As one of 30,000 oncology professionals attending the 51st American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, I am excited about the future of cancer care but I’m also concerned. As a researcher, I welcome the opportunity for scientific exchange at what is the most important oncology research gathering of the year. But as a physician, I’m concerned that the current focus on costs will jeopardize future progress and access to life-enhancing therapies – or even cures – for the patients who need them.

In an effort to boost Georgia’s economic development prospects, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development established the Innovation Crescent in 2007. Loosely modeled after North Carolina’s Research Triangle, the effort sought to tie together a number of the Peach State’s existing assets to promote research and development in the life sciences and bio medicine.

With its southern anchor at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, and including the research facilities at Georgia Tech, Emory University, the Centers for Disease Control, promoters of the Innovation Crescent envisioned Georgia 316 starting with Gwinnett Technical College and Georgia Gwinnett College along Georgia 316 and extending to the University of Georgia in Athens as a place where companies involved in the biological sciences could locate research and development facilities.

How often have you heard of a company being widely hailed as innovative in their field these days? It seems like everyone, especially in the startup world, wants to disrupt an industry, become a game changer, or spark a revolution in the hearts and minds of their consumers and competitors.

Unfortunately, chasing a buzzword without really understanding the deeper drivers of human behavior in organizations is not the most effective way of achieving “disruptor status”.

Discussions of influence are almost always focused on messages and information, the assumption being that the best route to drive people’s actions is to get them to understand the course of action that is best for them and then to pursue it.

But another stream of work on influence has also noticed that the environment affects people’s actions. Over the past decade, proponents of the work described in Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein have focused on small changes that can be made to the environment that have a big effect on behavior.