This summer has been rife with criticism of high-profile leaders. Ellen Pao, former interim CEO of the online community Reddit, stepped down gracefully last month after facing a torrent of abuse. Then there's Donald Trump, by far the most rambunctious face of the aspiring Republican presidential pool. The two offer great, contrasting examples of how leaders should handle criticism.

When Muhammad Ali was asked if he liked training, he replied: "I hated every minute of training, but I said to myself, ‘Don’t quit, suffer now, and live the rest of your life as a champion.’" Ali prepared for his fights by pushing himself, no matter how much it hurt. That's what every tough-minded person does when they're trying to achieve something difficult. They power through the obstacles, and they don’t give up.

Hillary Clinton may have run the State Department, and she is currently running for president; however, she can’t use a fax machine.

An entertaining email exchange between Clinton and longtime aide Huma Abedin suggests the former First Lady might be fax-challenged.

Despite all the media attention venture capital gets, it’s far from the most common source of startup funding. As Diane Mulcahy explained in a 2013 Harvard Business Review article: ”Angel investors — affluent individuals who invest smaller amounts of capital at an earlier stage than VCs do — fund more than 16 times as many companies as VCs do,” she wrote, “and their share is growing.”

Last year total U.S. angel investments ran to $24.1 billion, according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. More than 73,000 ventures received angel funding, and there were 316,000 active investors. Yet for how substantial the market is, there’s relatively little data on the decision making process of those who invest in early stage startups.

Earlier this year, UK based innovation charity NESTA, together with Accenture and Future Catapults, released CITIE (City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship), an in-depth report aimed to help policy makers create the best possible environment for innovation and entrepreneurship in urban contexts.

There’s plenty of interesting information in the 60-page long guidebook. For the purpose of this article, I extracted some of the key features highlighted in the report, that in my opinion identify cities that are truly smart and able to improve the quality of life of this generation and of the coming ones.

If you're on the prowl for inspiring quotes you can use for work, your book, speech, website, news report, blog, proposal, kidnap letter, or time capsule, look no further. What follows are 21 universal topics -- everything from Possibility to Failure to Change.

Ask someone to name cities with thriving tech, media, fashion or food scenes, and you’ll hear the usual suspects: San Francisco; New York; Portland, Ore. But there’s a slew of other metro areas with established infrastructure and skilled work forces that can match those more established locations at a fraction of the cost of living and with less day-to-day stress. These are the places where startup dreams come easier and cheaper, but can still pay off big. Start packing.

Illumina, Inc. ILMN, today announced Illumina Accelerator—the world’s first business accelerator focused solely on creating an innovation ecosystem for the genomics industry—has selected three new startups for its second funding cycle. Selected from a competitive pool of highly qualified applicants, the new startups from across the globe are spurring genomics innovation in healthcare, agriculture, and the winemaking industry.

“We are delighted to invite such a promising group of cutting-edge startups to Illumina Accelerator,” said Illumina Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Mostafa Ronaghi, Ph.D. “Their ability to build innovative solutions to shape the future of genomics inspires us, and we’re thrilled to provide them with tools and resources to build a successful future.”

Often times we see the glamour of venture capital backed, billion dollar (to be) companies and wistfully wonder if we should follow their routes. Some of the things they’re doing are good — we can learn from them. But other things might not be so good. The New York Times writes about Jet, how it’s prepared to lose money for five years and its plan is to sell memberships and make its money that way. I guess it COULD work but it’s not a model that small businesses should follow — losing money for years and making money NOT with the product you’re selling.

In The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, authors Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen uncover the origins of “innovative-and often disruptive-business ideas.”

The rising needs of consumers and their increasing voice means organisations need to move in new, creative directions.

Smartphones, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia. Can’t imagine your life without these. Right? Yet, none of these existed just a stone’s throw ago.

Smart city projects are often triggered by the need to upgrade 1 or more of the core infrastructures of a city/urban community: energy, water, transport, housing, etc. and a decision is made to enhance or replace an existing infrastructure with a smart infrastructure to improve the capacity of the city to efficiently plan and manage resources (in particular energy), enhance mobility and improve environmental conditions.

Apparently, requiring scientists to state their objectives ahead of time makes a big difference.

Around 2000, the U.S. government ordered researchers conducting clinical trials with federal money to announce ahead of time which medical question they were hoping to answer.

For the past year I have enjoyed the thrilling ride of starting my first company. These 5 tips are lessons I've learned along the way.  

1. Network, Network, and Network

As an entrepreneur, investor, and mentor-to-many living in Northwest Montana, I often look at business plans and meet with lots of entrepreneurs looking for funding guidance. So, I was pleased when my friend and colleague Liz Marchi recently joined me for a webinar to share insight on the questions every entrepreneur should be prepared to answer when fundraising.

Liz is the founder and coordinator of two angel funds in Montana and has been a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship for over a decade. She's also a dear friend and whip smart about start-ups. It was a fun hour of discussion about fundraising with some delightfully insightful follow-up questions from the audience.

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that the strength of their initial idea somehow defines them as a leader, as well as the success potential of their derivative business. In my experience, it’s a lot more complicated than that. It takes leadership ability, as well as a good idea, to make a successful entrepreneur, and great leaders evolve from key leadership decisions along the way.

Fortunately, basic leadership and entrepreneurial skills can be acquired from experience and training. If you don’t have the entrepreneur leadership attribute or interest, but want to be an “idea person” or inventor, then I recommend that you find a partner with the requisite skills to implement and run the business from your idea.

STATISTICS SA showed last week that the unemployment rate of the youth (ages 15-34) is double that of adults, at 35.5%.

With that, cajoling young people into entrepreneurship gained more momentum. However, preaching entrepreneurship to them as their way into economic participation may be a cruel hoax given our context and structure.

"If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get on!"

This is one of my favorite quotes by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's influential and respected COO. It is one I invoke in speeches abroad when I share the benefits of the U.S. model of entrepreneurship, urging young people and especially women to put aside fear and intimidation, and to shape their professional destinies with their own two hands.

Today is demo day for the top 20 startups from the 12th generation of one of the world’s most talked about business programmes — Start-Up Chile.

Tonight at 7pm Santiago time the 20 will present their ideas to national and international investors to raise funds to grow their businesses while they are in Chile. The batch were selected from among 70 other companies from the programme’s 12 generation.

From the radically transparent cultures at top startups to the notoriously secretive practices of Apple, there are numerous models to choose from when deciding how to shape your company's internal communications.

Should you publish employee emails like Stripe does? Post salaries on the fridge like Fog Creek did? Or is it better to follow a more traditional path, keeping sensitive information close and sharing it only on a need-to-know basis?