It’s not just our waistlines that get bigger around the holidays – so do our trash cans and energy bills. Think of all the wrapping paper, plastic bags, packaging and decorations that businesses use around the holiday season.

It’s the perfect time to try and cut down on some of that environmental toll.

Here are several ways businesses can mix environmental sustainability into the holiday spirit:

1. Use 100 percent post-consumer wrapping paper. If you wrap gifts for customers or clients, at least use 100 percent post-consumer wrapping paper imprinted with soy-based or other organic inks. Post-consumer paper is recycled waste paper, meaning trees weren’t cut down to make the wrapping paper. Another idea for small retailers: Put customers’ purchases in decorative recycled-paper gift bags that can be reused.

Mid-level or even top executives who “grew up” in large companies often look with envy at startups, and dream of how easy it must be running a small organization, where you can see the whole picture and it appears you have total control. In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations thrive in the early-stage startup environment.

The job of a big-company executive is very different from the job of a small-company executive. The culture is different, the skills required are different, and the experience from one may be the exact opposite of what you need for the other. Michael Fertik, in a recent Harvard Business Review article, summarized the key differences for people trying to survive the transition:

• Forget influence- and empire-building. Establishing and wielding influence may help you move resources in your direction in a large business. Similarly, acquiring a larger footprint of direct reports is often a sign of success at large businesses. These instincts kill you in a small company, where requiring more resources is a negative.

Are Clusters or cluster initiatives really adding any tangible value to firms? Are they obsolete? Maybe not yet, but I believe if the present policy tools and institutional frameworks are not reformed they may very well soon become so. In the following blog I would like to focus on three areas that have not been given enough importance by policy makers: focus beyond geographies, new clusters and cluster performance.

‘Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialised suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated organisations (such as universities, standard agencies, trade associations) in a particular field linked by commonalities and complementarities. There is competition as well as cooperation.’ This is how Michael Porter defined clusters in the 80′s making them fashionable.

Others talked about them long before Prof. Porter. For example Marshall in 1920′s defined clusters as a concentration of a large number of similar businesses in a locality. The geographical aspect hasn’t really changed until now (Guiliani (2005) defines clusters as a ’geographical agglomeration of firms operating in the same industry). A lot has been said about how this agglomeration impacts economic growth. Nonetheless subscribing to Martin and Sunley’s critique of clusters (2003); I would argue there exists no direct causality.

What if we: Strike up a sports-style rivalry with Omaha that played out in a creative-class border war. Des Moines and Omaha could alternate hosting challenges and bus groups of young professionals between the cities for events that highlight the cultural talents and nightlife of both places. This rivalry and sense of competition could also spur more creativity and progress within the two cities' scenes.

"I'd like to also see a spirit of debate at (art) events," said Des Moines artist Cat Rocketship, who brought up the need for more art criticism at a roundtable discussion we held in August to discuss "big ideas" for the future of Des Moines. In recent months, we've looked at five of the ideas to come from that discussion between local young professionals — this being the fifth and final idea.

It is true: People will pony up remarkable amounts of money for Apple’s products.

This is evident by the lines of pundits that snake around Apple Stores the world over whenever a new, sleek Apple product hits the shelves. But yesterday an Italian businessman and collector by the name of Marco Boglione took it to the next level by shelling out some serious cash at the famous Christie’s auction house in London for one of the very first Apple personal computers ever made, the Apple I. Boglione acquired the computer at a price tag of £133,250, or roughly $210,000. Original price? $666.66.

The computer, which is one of only 200 models ever produced, was originally built and marketed by Steves Jobs and Wozniak in 1976. When the Apple I was introduced, the computer had a fully assembled motherboard and was ready to use from the box – provided the user had a keyboard, a power supply and a display.

We all have words that make us cringe. That’s especially true in the investment community.

Generally, I can tell a few lines into a business plan if a company just doesn’t “get it”. Sometimes, it’s blatant – like the lack of a clear mission statement. Other times, it’s something more gut-based, like the use of quotation marks as I did at the top of the paragraph (it’s too cute for a serious business proposal).

There are some words and phrases that are real showstoppers, though – and if you’re using them, you’ll need to rethink your pitch before approaching a possible source of financing. They not only fail to sell your story. They often end up having the exact opposite effect.

Mobile browser maker Opera has released its latest report on the mobile Web and this time it's come to a conclusion you'll arrive at soon enough as the family gathers for the holidays and everyone under 30 has their nose buried in a mobile phone - "Generation Y chooses the mobile Web".

In fact, most 18-27 year-olds surveyed in the report user their mobile phones to browse the Web more often than a desktop or laptop. The report offers a number of telling statistics on where the world is headed and it all boils down to one word - mobile.

According to Opera, the largest demographic of Opera users are between the ages of 18- and 27-years old in 13 countries representing major and emerging markets. The report highlights show mobile phones becoming ubiquitous in this generation, with definite variations:

• Almost 90% of respondents in the United States aged 18-27 have used their phones to share pictures. Of the profiled countries, Vietnam -- at 67% -- had the lowest use of mobile phones to share pictures.
• Respondents in the United States are least likely to have asked someone out on a date via SMS (44%). Respondents in China (84%), Germany (84%) and Vietnam (83%) are most likely to have used SMS texts to ask someone out on a date.

I had the privilege of joining the Monaco Media Forum in Monaco recently. It was a fairly star-studded event: opened and closed by Prince Albert, dinner at Hotel de Paris, Monte Carlo, great hotel etc. But to be honest it was the debates in the conference room that were the best thing about the event, and I had a lot of fun on my closing panel of the week: “Silicon Envy: Will Europe ever build the next new media giant?”

Now, admittedly with such a subject we had to run through the usual arguments, which I hope are now well known. Silicon Valley is the product of over 50+ years of history, Europe is only just getting going, America has one big unified market, Europe is splintered into many etc etc etc.

After an 11 day trial whose highlights included the hilarious “Where In The World Is HP CEO Leo Apotheker?“ the Oracle vs. SAP intellectual property case has finally ended today in a whopping $1.3 billion dollar verdict, “The largest amount ever awarded for software piracy” according to Oracle co-president Safra Catz.

Before the trial, SAP admitted that its 2005 acquisition TomorrowNow pirated Oracle’s intellectual property and used it in order to pilfer customers from Oracle. Evidence presented during the trial showed that key SAP executives were aware of what was happening. ““For more than three years, SAP stole thousands of copies of Oracle software and then resold that software and related services to Oracle’s own customers,” said Catz.

Even the tiniest gesture can say a lot about you. Carol Kinsey Goman, author of “The Nonverbal Advantage,” explains how to use body language to make a positive first impression at your next job interview.

From the teams of Innovation America and the Delmarva Group, Richard Bendis and JT Koffenberger wish you all a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!!!

• The first Thanksgiving celebration can be traced back to the Plymouth Pilgrims in the fall of 1621.
  The celebration lasted for three days and included games and food.
• The first Thanksgiving feast was held to thank the Lord for sparing the lives of the survivors of the Mayflower, who landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. The survivors included four adult women and almost forty percent children.
• The Wampanoag chief Massasoit and ninety of his tribesmen were also invited to the first thanksgiving feast.
• Governor William Bradford invited them for helping the Pilgrims survive and teaching them the skills of cultivating the land.
• There were more Native Americans present than Pilgrims, 90 to 53.
• President George Washington.proclaimed the first 'National Day of Thanksgiving' in 1789.
• Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in his proclamation on October 3, 1863.
• The furcula of the turkey is used in a good luck ritual on Thanksgiving Day and has also been called a wishbone or merrythought.
• The Netherlands and Canada also have a Thanksgiving Day.

We know that email has done away with the nine to five job but does anyone ignore emails over holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving anymore? A new study by email software company Xobni suggests that going completely offline from email over the holidays may also be a thing of the past. According to the survey, 59 percent of U.S. working adults will check work email over holidays.

Of the survey respondents over half (55%) check work email at least once a day and more than one in four (28%) do so multiple times throughout the day. The data also showed that 79 percent of those that check email while on holiday stated that they have received a work-related email from a colleague or client on holidays.

THE ONLY IMPORTANT E-MAIL TO CHECK ON HOLIDAYS IS innovationDAILY........:).......HAPPY THANKSGIVING.......RICH BENDIS

A question at my recent social media strategy for non-profits training presentation at the Topeka Community Foundation was what steps one, two, and three should be when just starting developing a social media strategy.

Interestingly, the person asking the question speculated on the answer and was absolutely correct:

• Start by making sure your home base, your own website, is fantastic before you focus on establishing cool outposts on popular social networks where your target audience spends time.

This idea about fixing up your home was highlighted in the recent post on similarities in dating advice and social media strategy. You want to make sure you spruce up your home so that as a relationship which started someplace else advances, you have an attractive, welcoming place to invite someone to get to know each other better.

Smile & Move® is a reminder to happily serve. There are 5 ways to smile and 4 ways to move.

To smile is to wake up and be thankful. It's to be approachable and complain less (and smile more).

To move is to give more and exceed expectations. It's to have a sense of urgency in our efforts for others and to be more resourceful and resilient.

Join the thousands of people, companies, and schools already a part of the Smovement.

I love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. What’s not to love? Food, family, and football are three of my favorite things. The prodromal smells of homemade cooking pervade the house which means turkey and pecan pie are only days away. Smiling is easy this week while making sure everything is perfect for the welcome cacophony of our kids returning home for a holiday visit to our empty nest. Thanksgiving spirit warms the soul.

The best part of Thanksgiving is taking time to reflect on the things we’re most thankful for. It’s a strange tumultuous time and yet it seems as if there is more to be thankful for than usual. Perhaps it’s during trying times, with so many people suffering around us, that we are grateful for things we otherwise would take for granted. I am thankful for many things and thought if I shared them openly perhaps others would share what they are thankful for too. Who knows, maybe the Thanksgiving spirit will catch on.

You never really know what to expect when you become an entrepreneur.

Some challenges are easy to see coming – things like difficulties building brand recognition, finding people you can trust and having the infrastructure necessary to support growth. But the real hurdles are the things you never anticipated. They vary from company to company, but here are five problems I never expected as an entrepreneur and the lessons they taught me.

Alarms going off in the middle of the night. Entrepreneurs expect to work long hours – that’s what it takes to build a successful business. What you don’t expect is the 3 a.m. crisis. I’m a businessman, not the President of the United States, right?

“Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation” (Again, and again, and again…)

Have you seen the news? Read the articles? Heard the talking heads?

They say young people are “lazy” and “entitled”. It’s said that young people – the entire generation – will never amount to much.

I came across a Time Magazine article the other day that really bothered me. It was another older person talking down to my generation. The article described us this way: “They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder.” It said we’re a generation that “postpones growing up” pointing out that “fully 75% of young males 18 to 24 years old are still living at home, the largest proportion since the Great Depression.” We’re apparently the “New Petulants” because we “can often end up sounding like whiners.”

What?! We’re “whiners” just because we don’t want to live the same lives as our parents?!