Several years ago, a small group of technology companies and startups introduced a phenomenon soon to spread like wildfire: unlimited PTO. It started as a trickle, but soon became a popular way for companies to attract and retain talent and reward employees with well-earned time off. In fact, a 2019 Metlife employee benefits trends survey found that unlimited paid time off was the top emerging benefit that interested the employees surveyed. 

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. While these may be necessary for funding, they may not be sufficient to make your startup the great success embodied in your vision.

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In 2019, Jason Henrichs took 46 flights for business, traveling to cities where he stayed at hotels, dined at local restaurants, and sometimes even visited tourist attractions like the Liberty Bell.

In 2020, he took just three flights.

The traveling life has its perks—Henrichs, the CEO of Alloy Labs, a consortium of community banks, has Executive Platinum status on American Airlines, Gold Elite status at Marriott, and membership in not one but three private airport lounges. He has 350,000 miles, which he can use to fly his whole family across the world for free.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are looking to the Internet as an opportunity to get rich quick, instead of a place where you can start a business you love, for very little capital and minimal technical expertise. The reality is that if you build a business you love, you may in fact make big money, but if you start a business to get rich, you will probably fail.

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On October 27 at 12:30pm ET, Axios business reporter Erica Pandey looks at the keys to breaking down traditional barriers in education and what's next for career readiness, featuring Guild Education CEO & co-founder Rachel Carlson and Education Design Lab founder & CEO Kathleen deLaski. Register.

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The discussions on AEC & Digital Cities on the third and final day of the Geospatial World forum 2021 saw multiple sessions, in which experts from different backgrounds came together and suggested ways to make optimum utilization of cutting-edge technology in the field of construction and infrastructure.

Nine single-seaters will take part in the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC), a competition with a $1 million prize that aims to prove "autonomous technology can work at extreme conditions," said Paul Mitchell, CEO of co-organizer Energy Systems Network (ESN).

Cars will not race on the "Brickyard" track at the same time but will start one after the other -- with the winner being the fastest over two full-speed laps.

Teams are made up of students from around the world. Each group was given the same Dallara IL-15 car, which looks like a small Formula One vehicle, and the same equipment, which includes sensors, cameras, GPS and radars.

Image: An autonomous car competing at the Indy Autonomous Challenge Ed JONES AFP

The Digital Defense Report that Microsoft recently issued includes a typical rogue’s gallery of cyberthreats, including phishing, ransomware, and supply-chain attacks. But it adds an unusual villain to the list: blockchain domains.

“The next big threat” is how Microsoft’s latest annual security report characterizes domain names written into a distributed ledger maintained across a constellation of computers instead of stored in a traditional, centralized registry.

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Cryptocurrency as a long-term investment opportunity still sounds legit in 2021. The towering market caps, entry of new and credible players in the crypto-space, and most importantly, the real-world possibilities hinged on the elementary blockchain technology have come up as major growth drivers now that the year draws to an eventful end.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pimax Innovation, a technology company specializing in advanced virtual reality (VR) hardware is announcing new hardware that they believe defines the technical concepts for VR 3.0 and entry into a fully immersive Metaverse.

"Metaverse" represents the core of the next-generation Internet. This concept has gradually become a consensus of the VR industry, spurring the Telecommunications, Media & Technology (TMT) industry towards rapid adoption since the "Metaverse" is only accessible via VR devices.

One thing that never changes is the fact that having a great plan for your organization is essential. Even after you open your doors, you’ll continue to analyze, tweak and perfect that plan in order to improve operations. With the pandemic creating so much uncertainty, building a plan for 2022 may feel more difficult than in the past.

What’s the most challenging part of starting a company?

Some would say it’s finding co-founders. Others might complain about the hassles of legal formation or state regulations. Still, others will insist that it’s gathering seed capital.

My answer is simple: finding and hiring great people.

Many challenges are associated with building a startup: technology risks, financial hurdles and legal roadblocks. Yet nothing will slow your company down like having the wrong people in place, or even having the wrong number of the right people.

Many leaders are concerned about workers' "great resignation" in every industry and at every level, from hospitality and restaurant staff to corporate workers still absent from their physical workplaces. In addition, as a result of the current health crisis, employees are reexamining their priorities and leaving jobs that don't meet those needs.

Tech giant Google is famous for encouraging its employees to use 20% of their time for new and creative projects, helping to keep its innovative culture alive. Furthermore, employees of many organizations today are running their own side-hustles or projects to monetize their talents.

Given the growing popularity of side-hustles, and the rise of the gig economy, leaders have an opportunity to channel the creativity and skills of their most entrepreneurially-minded staff and to encourage other employees to follow their example. Five experts explain how:

The United States is on edge in ways the nation has rarely experienced throughout its young history. The country’s global leadership is being challenged in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world. Meanwhile, the nation’s sustained complacency in dealing with long-festering domestic needs has weakened our institutions from within and placed in grave danger our leadership in the critical fields of science and technology—on which so much of our economy and security is based. America is at a tipping point, in short, and Americans are justifiably unsettled.

The UN Secretary-General’s annual Sustainable Development Goals’ progress report states that by early 2020 the world was not on track to meet its 2030 targets. Alongside the devastating consequences of COVID-19, the report also cites the limited availability of quality data, including internationally comparable data on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as an impediment to effective decision-making.

The power of data to advance SDGs has been well elaborated in a 2020 study by Elsevier, a global information analytics company. Yet as the study reveals, while research is rapidly expanding in certain SDGs, the results may not be translated into concrete action, plus more interdisciplinary collaboration is required. Because of the “grand challenges” facing the planet, there is a pressing need to narrow the gaps between disciplines, and between science, policy, and society.

Image: Image: Unsplash/Moritz Kindler - https://www.weforum.org

In Silicon Valley, I think the "move fast and break things" ethos has always lent the startup scene a chaotic edge. Still, this past year has been exceptionally disruptive, flattening some companies while opening massive opportunities for others, and it has dramatically altered the way we work and interact. 

It doesn’t matter that Jeff Bezos has stepped down: No industry is safe from the company’s relentless ambition. A complete guide to Amazon’s staggeringly large and ever-mutating domain, most of which you can’t even see.

Image: https://www.fastcompany.com

The pandemic revealed strengths and weaknesses in how nations develop and retain talent.

As Covid swept across the world, nations had very different responses to how their economies should continue to function. Some tethered workers to their employers with furlough programmes; others hoped for the best. How governments responded (or didn’t) had an enormous impact on their citizens’ physical and economic health. And, of course, talent competitiveness is one of many areas that felt the immediate and sudden change.

When people are depressed their energy, activity, and mood levels decrease in a spiral. The lower energy you feel, the less you do, the worse you feel emotionally, and the cycle continues. Being productive can help interrupt that negative spiral and turn it around. The author offers five strategies for how to break the cycle and move forward: 1) As a general rule, try to have one source of accomplishment and one source of pleasure in each of your mornings, afternoons, and evenings. 2) Find the sweet spot between not working enough and expecting too much of yourself. 3) Alternate between easy, medium, and hard tasks. 4) Cultivate a deep-work habit to reduce your need for self-control. 5) Consider getting treatment for your mental health.