As the conceptual side of computer science becomes practical and relevant to business, companies must decide what type of AI role they should play.

Jeff Heepke knows where to plant corn on his 4,500-acre farm in Illinois because of artificial intelligence (AI). He uses a smartphone app called Climate Basic, which divides Heepke’s farmland (and, in fact, the entire continental U.S.) into plots that are 10 meters square.

The most formative moment in Bran Ferren’s life was the one that set him on a long career in breakthrough innovation. At age 9, he accompanied his parents on a visit to the Pantheon in Rome. Looking up at the temple’s enormous domed ceiling, he was transported not just by its artistry, but by the engineering prowess required to build it. Here was an enormous concrete structure unsupported by columns (the largest such dome in the world), with walls composed of five circular layered rings that grew thinner and lighter as they rose toward the ceiling. At the top was an oculus that cast a shaft of light so strong that it appeared to have substance, while cooling the room and creating a feeling of direct connection to the heavens.

Image: Photograph © 2015 Vern Evans 

Building a business is not rocket science, so there is no magic success formula. Some people think you need to get an MBA to get it right, while others are convinced that those who drop out of school early (Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg) have the advantage. In my experience working with startups, the best approach these days is to find and use a good mentor (been there, done that).

The more exercise people get, the less their cells appear to age. In a new study in Preventive Medicine, people who exercised the most had biological aging markers that appeared nine years younger than those who were sedentary. Researchers looked at the telomeres from nearly 6,000 adults enrolled in a multi-year survey run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People were asked what physical activities they had done in the past month and how vigorously they did them. They also provided DNA samples, from which the researchers measured telomere length.

Throughout history, millions of Americans have found wealth and purpose by bringing their innovative ideas to market. However, most burgeoning small business owners lack the resources, assets and track records needed to secure the funding through traditional means. Thankfully, the country’s thriving venture capitalist community offers inexperienced entrepreneurs the support they need. However, to get that support, founders need to understand three key aspects of venture capital funding.

As a new business advisor and technologist, I often think about the large array of opportunities for entrepreneurs as technology seems to be evolving faster and faster. Yet I still too often hear the question, “Can you give me a really sure-fire idea for starting my own business?” My standard answer is that ideas are a dime a dozen, and success is all about smart execution, not ideas.

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Until recently, I didn’t know a thing about how my roughly 25-minute bike commute across San Francisco—or any other part of my day, really—affects my body, other than that I inevitably arrive at work sweaty and a bit out of breath when I’m in a big rush. How high is my heart rate? Do my sleep habits affect it? How many calories do I burn?

These questions have been on my mind as a number of activity trackers and smart watches have hit store shelves over the past couple of years, promising to track information like steps, sleep, heart rate, sun exposure, and calories. With one of these sensor-filled gadgets on my wrist, surely I could get accurate information about my body.

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Yet it is the one element that too many entrepreneurs focus on only as an afterthought. Everyone assumes their product or service is so great that “word-of-mouth” will carry the day for them.

The ability to focus is an important driver of excellence. Focused techniques such as to-do lists, timetables, and calendar reminders all help people to stay on task. Few would argue with that, and even if they did, there is evidence to support the idea that resisting distraction and staying present have benefits: practicing mindfulness for 10 minutes a day, for example, can enhance leadership effectiveness by helping you become more able to regulate your emotions and make sense of past experiences.  Yet as helpful as focus can be, there’s also a downside to focus as it is commonly viewed.

As a journalist, maintaining a healthy level of skepticism is a requirement. Sources routinely put their own actions in the best possible light, while undercutting the activities of rivals. I just can’t take everything people say to me at face value.

But every now and then, I get to engage in a project that is so inspiring, my wall of cynicism melts. That’s the way I feel about our annual coverage of the Most Creative People in Business. Each year, our editorial team scours the globe to identify 100 all-new honorees whom we have not significantly covered in print before.

Missteps of all kinds can derail a presidency, even one that may have been going well in other respects. Failure to respond adequately to complaints of racism or sexual assault on a campus can bring a leader down. So can conflicts with the Board of Trustees, incautious remarks about getting rid of underperforming students, poor management, and, in one outlying example, the theft of college funds. Once presidents are in a tough spot, online-reputation-management firms may not be able to get them out of it, and may even lead them into deeper trouble. This 32-page collection offers several examples of how modern presidencies have foundered.

Image: http://www.chronicle.com

In the U.S., women make up nearly half of the workforce, and a majority are mothers (70 percent). While women are making strides toward juggling parenthood and their careers, there’s still much room for progress.

From parental leave policies to child care, states are making efforts to give working mothers the support they need. However, many are still far behind.

What is it about the very rich that fascinates us so? In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, "They are different from you and me." Yet still, we yearn to find some commonality, perhaps to imagine whether it's possible to some day be like them — or dream of what we might do with all that money. For instance, I was born in 1986, the same year as Lukas Walton, the scion of the retailing giant Walmart, who is worth more than $11 billion, according to Forbes.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeff_Bezos%27_iconic_laugh.jpg

Five years ago, when Lamp Post Group partner Jack Studer sent emails to venture capitalists on the West Coast in the Silicon Valley asking them to consider Chattanooga projects, many asked what state Chattanooga was in.

"People just didn't know about Chattanooga then, but that has quickly changed," said Studer, who now heads The Company Lab, a business accelerator that helps dozens of tech and other business startups in Chattanooga. "Now, we have those running major venture funds of $100 million or more telling us that they need to come to Chattanooga to check us out."

Michelangelo wasn’t a one-trick pony or a one-hit wonder. He was the archetype Renaissance artist, accomplished as a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. Michelangelo produced iconic works, across disciplines, throughout the 88 years of his life. Many of Michelangelo’s works are still among the world’s most recognized and appreciated art ever created, five hundred years later, including the Pieta, David, and Sistine Chapel.

Image: http://innovationexcellence.com

Congratulations class of 2017! You just might have a prayer of paying off your student loans! A study released this week by the Hay Group division of the executive search firm Korn Ferry reports that average starting pay for new college grads has never been higher than it is right now.

Life science company executives and investors say the state of Michigan could take several big steps to further boost growth in the state's pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology industries.

The first, they say, is to reinstate, reorganize or refund the Venture Michigan Fund, a highly successful economic program that began in 2003 run by the 21st Century Jobs Fund under the John Engler and Jennifer Granholm administrations.

There is no magic formula to make acquisitions successful. Like any other business process, they are not inherently good or bad, just as marketing and R&D aren’t. Each deal must have its own strategic logic. In our experience, acquirers in the most successful deals have specific, well-articulated value creation ideas going in. For less successful deals, the strategic rationales—such as pursuing international scale, filling portfolio gaps, or building a third leg of the portfolio—tend to be vague.

When Kaye Ridolfi, our senior vice president for advancement, took her place behind the podium at tonight’s 2017 Annual Meeting presented by KeyBank, it was ostensibly to talk solely about Organizational Fund Partner Appreciation Week. While she did discuss the importance of recognizing the more than 170 Greater Cleveland nonprofits that have embraced the strategy of building a community endowment by partnering with the foundation to establish organizational funds, Ridolfi also had a surprise up her sleeve.

You can go ahead and file this one under, “Things You Aren’t Supposed to Say but Mess Says Anyway.” Oh, well, here goes:

It seems there is some sort of incubator, accelerator, or entrepreneurial center popping up everywhere lately.

I think this is supposed to (and can) be a good thing, but I have to tell you something.

I’ve been in this startup world for nearly a year, and I’ve found the majority of the “entrepreneurs” and “mentors” I’ve met are actually either hacks, delusional liars, con-artists, or people who are otherwise lost or unemployable.

Image: Abe Nadimi and Mess Wright of Mess Labs - http://brainzooming.com