More businesses are using social media in their marketing mix, and for some, it is the only platform they use. But how do you evaluate your return on investment or ROI when you decide to use social media marketing?

An infographic from MDG Advertising titled, “The ROI of Social Media” looks at the effectiveness of social media marketing and asks whether it is worth the investment.

Image: https://smallbiztrends.com

According to a new report out Monday, 12 of the world’s 50 smartest cities are American.

Eden Strategy Institute, a Singapore-based sustainability consulting firm, unveiled its rankings of the Top 50 Smart City Governments globally, after a study that it completed in conjunction with OXD, a design consultancy arm of China-based ONG&ONG.

Think of branding as you would meeting someone on a blind date. You dress to make a specific impression. You communicate in a way that makes the other person interested in knowing more. And, if things work out, you may nudge your way toward a second date.

The unchecked ambition and corporate tyranny of Elizabeth Holmes, the arrogance of Travis Kalanick, the sheer eccentricity of Elon Musk; entrepreneurs capture the imagination, fascinating and infuriating us in equal measure.

Despite their cultural popularity, the very hallmarks of the successful entrepreneur can make them, in person, difficult to understand and even more difficult to live with. The Harvard Business Report quoted Derek du Toit:  “It has been correctly stated that the biggest burden a growing company faces is having a full-blooded entrepreneur as its owner.”

In our conversations with public-sector leaders across the world, we hear real urgency—and a fair amount of anxiety—about the need to transform government services. At the national, state, and city levels, governments know they must find new ways to meet the expectations of citizens, many of whom are increasingly discontented. Often governments must also provide “more for less” in an environment of fiscal constraint, and myriad forces that trigger government transformations make their task more challenging (Exhibit 1).

Recent estimates indicate that from drug discovery through FDA approval, developing a new medicine takes, on average, at least 10 years at a cost of $2.6 billion1 plus an estimated additional increase of $800 million since 2014. Is there a way that innovation can help to reduce these soaring costs?

Image: https://www.pharmaceuticalonline.com

In a rapidly transforming job market, the best way to guarantee your own job security is to pick a field that’s on the upswing. But hot careers can vary widely by location — from software developer to animal trainer to credit counselor. (Hello, Michigan.)

To find the hottest up-and-coming jobs across the country, MONEY zeroed in on the fastest-growing occupation in every state, using short-term projections from Projections Managing Partnership, an organization associated with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using each occupation’s percentage of projected change between 2017 and 2019, we identified every state’s fastest-growing job, along with that occupation’s median salary.

One foggy night in October 1707, Admiral Cloudesley Shovell grounded four British warships on the rocks of the Isles of Scilly leading to the loss of some 2,000 lives.

The distinguished admiral, like countless seafaring predecessors, had fallen victim to the curse of faulty navigation. Whereas sailors were able to plot their latitude with reasonable accuracy using the sun and stars as guides, they were unable to determine their longitude nearly as well. This was for the simple reason that the lines of latitude run parallel while those of longitude converge at the North and South Poles.

Image: https://www.ft.com

In our minds, we understand that we'll experience rejection in our lives and as we build our businesses. But when it happens, it's a completely different scenario. Whether it's a "tiny" rejection or a major bump in the road, it's very easy to get lost in the overwhelming feeling of loss. One rejection can easily lead to days (or more) of ignoring business tasks while you binge-watching your favorite Netflix series.

Just a few years ago, experts indicated Americans (especially young Americans) were more interested in a different lifestyle than previous generations. Instead of owning a house in the suburbs, the new American dream consisted of renting an apartment in the city.

Recently, though, Americans of all ages have begun to leave major metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles. Over the last five years, population growth in big cities has shrunk, and people are packing up and moving again.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com

Who killed GE?

Of course, GE is not dead, and it may well revive and flourish as a company. After all, IBM came back from the dead in the 1990s. But the GE model is dead — and there’s a long list of possible suspects.

The GE conglomerate combined a wide range of industrial businesses under one roof. Unlike a pure holding company or a modern hedge fund, the GE model intended to create value by actively sharing capabilities among its disparate businesses, which, with one important exception, were all rooted in manufacturing.

I’ve probably taken an Uber two or three times a day for the past couple years. And every time I idly check the driver’s rating and number of rides. I’ve found even pretty high marks usually mean good but not great service. 4.5? Get ready for loud GPS directions. 4.7? Messy trunk with no suitcase room.

The most popular statistic right now when it comes to knowledge transfer inside organizations?

Ten thousand baby boomers are reaching retirement age daily.

This statistic is used to light a fire under executives to hop on the knowledge management program. Many articles I’ve reviewed for an upcoming keynote presentation that I’ve informally called, Baby Boomers: Losing their Minds, paint the situation as totally dire.

There is a small, disheveled baby robin making her very first steps in my garden today. She looks a bit dazed and exhausted, her lovely yellow down all awry. I know exactly what she feels like. She looks like a lot of people I know right now. At almost every age, everyone seems to be on the cusp of a similar transition: taking their first steps into an uncertain and illegible new world. As I write this, World War II planes fly overhead to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday. Like my own mother, who shares her birthday, she is turning 93. They are both remarkably well, and not finished with transitions.

Most of the young entrepreneurs I know are classic proof of the old adage that people tend to overestimate what they can do in a short period, and underestimate what they can do over a long period. They become frustrated when they are unable to build their startup in a weekend, and give up way too soon when the path to real success seems to be interminable.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Some people work hard their whole lives, scrimping and saving, in the hope of attaining millionaire status by retirement. And then there are the exceptional few who are able to become millionaires before they’re 30. 

What is the secret to success for those who cross the millionaire threshold before they enter middle age? It turns out there are certain characteristics that set them apart, and luck isn’t one of them.

Customer experience is the key to business success today. A new infographic by Hospitality Management Degrees looks at how Apple Stores are outperforming the competition by giving the customers the five diamond treatment. According to the infographic, Apple customer loyalty rate has reached 90% in 2018. Apple was able to achieve this rate by making a concerted effort in the customer experience department before opening the company’s first store and has continued this focus with each new retail outlet it opens.

Image: https://smallbiztrends.com

We human-beings… we were born to travel.

We evolved by adventuring to new lands and discovering everything this planet has to offer. We didn’t stay in one place and accept we couldn’t roam like many animals do.

We spread out and covered the globe, and these days it’s easier than ever to explore the world and experience new cultures.

In the last year, I’ve visited 21 countries. I hate the idea of staying in one place for too long, and I’m not the only one because I’m part of a nomadic community of entrepreneurs who travel the world and earn more money than they ever could have dreamed of, sat back at home in some cubicle.

The calendar is an indispensable tool in our over-committed and over-stimulated culture, and one no longer reserved solely for work commitments and appointments. Many busy people, faced with ever-dwindling free time, resort to scheduling everything from time with friends and family to sex with a partner.

When billionaire Marc Andreessen has something to say, the tech world listens. He's a co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which backs companies like AirBnb, Facebook and Lyft. Andreessen also co-founded Netscape, which sold to AOL for 4.3 billion in 1998.