‘Entrepreneur’ is one of the biggest buzzwords floating around these days. While there are definitely perks to being an entrepreneur, it doesn’t mean that venturing out on your own is the best path for everyone, or that you need to wait to leave your organization to start exercising an entrepreneurial mindset.

Danish toymaker Lego recently surprised its industry watchers when it announced plans to trim its 18,200-strong workforce by about 8% to shed about 1,400 jobs after seeing revenue drop for the first time in 13 years. Lego said revenue fell by 5% to Danish krone 14.9 billion (US$2.4 billion) in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year as sales weakened in mature markets such as the U.S. and parts of Europe. The drop is a shock for the toymaker, whose annual revenue nearly quintupled between 2007 and 2016 to DKK 37.9 billion (US$6 billion). But the warning signs were clear when revenue growth slowed from 25% in 2015 to 6% in 2016.

Washington, D.C. – From teaching high school students in rural western Kentucky how to become entrepreneurs to connecting entrepreneurs with a worldwide network of partners in a virtual hub, organizations are finding innovative ways to build regional prosperity. Four outstanding examples were recognized today by SSTI, a national organization working to strengthen initiatives to create a better future through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. SSTI’s Creating a Better Future Awards celebrates outstanding economic development initiatives from across the country in a variety of categories.

Image: http://mailchi.mp

The blinding rise of Donald Trump over the past year has masked another major trend in American politics: the palpable, and perhaps permanent, turn against the tech industry. The new corporate leviathans that used to be seen as bright new avatars of American innovation are increasingly portrayed as sinister new centers of unaccountable power, a transformation likely to have major consequences for the industry and for American politics.

Just as texting has replaced phone calls, so, too, will emojis eventually replace the actual text. Think about it: The number of digital icons on Apple's keyboard has increased tenfold, not to mention the "Face With Tears of Joy" emoji was dubbed Oxford Dictionaries's word of the year (true story). Now, fashion brands are hopping on the emoji bandwagon, with Chanel, Diptyque, and Lilly Pulitzer, all launching their own mini illustrations for your enjoyment. 

Image: http://www.instyle.com

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin.

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The Brookings Institution released the culmination of 18 months of study on Wednesday by way of a report that details Pittsburgh's strengths and weaknesses in the area of innovation, as well as the steps needed to make the Steel City one of the top innovation cities in the world.

MassChallenge, the Boston-founded startup accelerator, is launching a second U.S. program in Austin, Texas with plans to accept up to 100 startups into a 2018 accelerator there.

MassChallenge already operates accelerator programs in London, Israel, Switzerland and Mexico. But this is the first new program to launch under the watch of Scott Bailey, the former director of the Boston program who earlier this year took over as executive director for North America.

When people relocate for a job, they tend to gravitate towards millennial meccas like New York and San Francisco. But if you’re looking for a change of scenery, a midsize city with working-class roots may be the wiser bet. New data from careers site Glassdoor reveals the 25 best U.S. metro areas for jobs, based on affordability, openings, and job satisfaction. Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Kansas City topped the list -- and a panoply of blue-collar hotspots rounded it out.

When I gave the commencement speech at Georgia State University last year, one line earned me a standing ovation. It wasn’t some nugget of wisdom about life, or advice on how to forge a successful career, it was merely a statement of fact. I said: “For the last four years Georgia State has awarded more bachelor’s degrees to African-Americans than any other non-profit college or university in America.”

Image: With Two Graduates at Sinclair Community College, a Frontier Set School, in 2017 - https://www.linkedin.com

WASHINGTON — Back in March, when President Trump released the first draft of his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, he asked lawmakers for deep cuts to one of their favorite institutions, the National Institutes of Health — part of a broad reordering of priorities, away from science and social spending, toward defense and border security.

Six months later, Congress has not only rejected the president’s N.I.H. proposal; lawmakers from both parties have joined forces to increase spending on biomedical research — and have bragged about it.

Innovation is an integral part of many organizations today, and for good reason: it helps companies stay agile, relevant, and evolving. However, innovation is often difficult to achieve—or is even met with resistance. If you’re excited to bring change and innovation to your organization, this resistance can be frustrating or disheartening, and make it more challenging to get everyone on board. When resistance arises, it sometimes begs the question: can everyone be innovative, and should everyone on your team be involved in the innovation process? Should you even have a Chief Innovation Officer, or an equivalent role in your organization? Let’s take a look.

Israel’s Minister of Economy and Industry, Eli Cohen, has chosen Ami Appelbaum, a former president of KLA-Tencor Israel, to serve as the next chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority and as the Chief Scientist of the ministry.

Appelbaum will be tasked with managing the government’s support and incentives schemes to promote innovation in the local industry and setting out the nation’s innovation policies.

Image: Israel's Minister of Economy and Industry, Eli Cohen, left, and Ami Appelbaum, chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority and Chief Scientist of the ministry (Courtesy: Ministry of Economy Spokesperson Office)

Digitization, which is of course happening all around us, is opening up a whole new spectrum of opportunities to create value. But how do you navigate this new horizontal world?

Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner offer some useful insights on these challenges in their 2015 Sloan Management Review article, “Thriving in an Increasingly Digital Ecosystem.” In exploring these insights, and some of their implications, leaders can gain a fuller understanding of the landscape they face.

After searching for years, I finally found the right pair of running shoes. How do I know? They make me feel bouncy and happy when I run. More importantly, I can run at least an extra mile in these shoes. Every run this week has been better than the one before, and that is because Asics has made magic. What I mean is it must’ve done something magical to the shoe to make me run an extra mile joyfully. The shoes give me that same burst of energy you feel when your favorite song comes on from your playlist. It could be all technical — an extra cushion, an adjustment to the sole, lacing that stabilizes the foot — but to me, it just feels like magic.

No one is born a game-changer.

Even the most rebellious, one-of-a-kind iconoclasts likely learned those traits from inspiring figures in their lives. From Bill Gates to Elon Musk to Warren Buffet, many of the world’s most notable entrepreneurs learned how to innovate, take risks, and plan for success by following in the footsteps of those who came before. 

Are you an extrovert or an introvert? In case you aren't familiar, someone's place on the spectrum of extroversion and introversion depends on how much that person prefers the company of other people -- and his or her preference as to "natural" social setting.

Related: Why Introverts May Be Better at Business Than Extroverts.

Extroverts tend to feel energized being surrounded by others, at parties and networking events, while introverts feel recharged when they're alone, or in the company of a select few people.

What is the most overused buzzword of the decade?

Yes, it's innovation.

It seems that every ill the world faces can be cured with a dose of innovation. Economic growth, better education, increased productivity, faster computers, better mobile phones, increased gas mileage... it seems that just about everything can be made better, cheaper, and faster by the use of the ubiquitous innovation.

Artificial intelligence is poised to disrupt the workplace. What will the company of the future look like—and how will people keep up?

Work is changing. Digital communications have made remote work commonplace. The gig economy is growing. And advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics could upend the conventional workplace. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, at least 30 percent of the activities associated with the majority of occupations in the United States could be automated—including knowledge tasks previously thought immune.

“About 20 years ago, it was seen as really important to be strategic rather than tactical,” says neuroscientist Tara Swart. But advances in her field, combined with the shifting demands of modern employers, have begun to change that. “Now, I think an understanding of the cognitive sciences is going to be the thing that makes people thrive.”