We live in an era of disruption in which powerful global forces are changing how we live and work. The rise of China, India, and other emerging economies; the rapid spread of digital technologies; the growing challenges to globalization; and, in some countries, the splintering of long-held social contracts are all roiling business, the economy, and society. These and other global trends offer considerable new opportunities to companies, sectors, countries, and individuals that embrace them successfully—but the downside for those who cannot keep up has also grown disproportionately.

The hassle of taking medication every day could someday be eliminated, thanks to an ingestible electronic pill that lasts in the stomach for close to a month and releases medication only when necessary.

A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed the capsule, which could be designed to treat a variety of diseases and disorders and also enables physicians to monitor and control dosages using Bluetooth wireless technology and sensors.

Image: MIT researchers have designed an ingestible sensor that can lodge in the stomach for a few weeks and communicate wirelessly with an external device. Credit: Image courtesy of the researchers

I think of myself as strong.

I see myself as someone who can manage a lot of stress. Who can get a tremendous amount accomplished in a day. Who can work long hours and pull through in clutch moments. Who doesn’t give up in the face of problems, but works tirelessly until they are solved.

I am a leader and most leaders I know feel the same way. We have to — our companies, our employees, our clients, our families — they all rely on us to pull through in the clutch. And we do. Sometimes, in our skillful mastery of pressure, complexity, and accomplishment, we can feel super-human.

Procrastination is an odd compulsion. Everyone has experienced it, but the underlying reasons can be tough to pin down.

After all, procrastination delays the very activities that bring people closer to their goals -- whether that’s building a thriving business or stronger triceps. So why don’t humans just sprint toward that brighter, fitter future?

From the advice I hear these days, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, or one of the few other financial hubs around the world. What does that mean for the rest of us, who reside or grew up in the thousands of small towns that cover most of the landscape? Is entrepreneurship ever viable or recommended in a small town?

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

"Entrepreneur" is generally understood to mean someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of an idea or enterprise. Because of the risk associated with entrepreneurship, it is easy to assume success requires a specific type of person. But is it possible to create an environment that helps a range of people bring ideas to life?

SANTIAGO, Chile, Jan. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 20% of the world's entrepreneurs are working with family members, according to the 2018/2019 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Global Report, sponsored by Babson College, Universidad Del Desarrollo and Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation. Furthermore, 6% of individuals aged between 18-64 in 27 countries are part of the gig economy and the sharing economy.

Ah January. As any entrepreneur knows, it’s either a month that appears bleak or full of optimism. On the one hand, you have those who look back on their choices of 2018, dissecting every decision and dwelling on what could have been, and then there are those that choose to look ahead and focus on what the next 12 months will bring, with that same drive and certainty felt the day they took on their own venture. 

Despite pouring billions into programs meant to spur innovation, Canada is lagging behind the developed world when it comes to its innovation performance, according to a Fraser Institute report.

The report, Innovation in Canada: An Assessment of Recent Experience, by Fraser Institute resident scholar Steven Globerman and senior fellow Joel Emes compares two key innovation indices (the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report and Cornell University and INSEAD’s Global Innovation Index) to measure Canada’s performance when it comes to innovation.

Image: Canada’s Minister of Innovation Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains, has said the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund will help ‘homegrown companies become global competitors.’ REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

It’s hard to fathom a startup exodus from California, of all places, with its balmy weather, sweeping cliff-top ocean views and seemingly endless sources of capital for the next new thing.

But innovators are leaving and in droves. How did we end up here?

It reminds me of a quote from Jefferson Starship‘s Paul Kantner: “San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality.”

Image: Tim Schigel, partner, Refinery Ventures. Photo courtesy of the firm.

A single genius cannot power an entire company. The myth of the omniscient leader has been debunked and for success in this competitive world, entrepreneurial talent needs to hum through the organisation. Once thought to be the sole domain of start-ups or small companies, entrepreneurial talent is a vital engine for larger organisations. One definition is “the ability to discover, select, process, interpret and use the data necessary to take decisions in an uncertain world and, then, to exploit market opportunities”. Clearly, as transformation, digitalisation and globalisation continue apace, a lack of entrepreneurial talent would hobble organisations as they attempted to grow.

Image: https://knowledge.insead.edu

Pittsburgh and Rochester have the best housing affordability among 91 major markets (metropolitan areas with more than 1,000,000 population) in eight nations. Both have a median house price that is 2.6 times the median household income, a measure called the Median Multiple. This is the conclusion of the 15th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, which rates housing markets based on estimates from the 3rd quarter of 2018.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com

The world’s largest experiment in using blockchain-based networks to pay for things is about to begin.

Growing up in Devon in the 1980s, brothers James* and Matt* had to be careful with their antics–a cut or bruise could land them in hospital.

They have haemophilia, a genetic disease where the blood doesn’t clot efficiently due to a lack of a clotting protein. It’s plagued their family for generations. Their granny’s brother died from it, and they, their uncle and a younger cousin have long managed it by injecting the missing protein to prevent bleeds.

Effective communication is an absolute requirement for successfully starting a business, but it doesn’t come naturally to many entrepreneurs. Communication is considered a social skill, and inventors and engineers, for example, are not known to be social butterflies.

Image: via Wikipedia

Shawn Stevenson sits down with the host of The Playbook, David Meltzer, to discuss how an unexpected injury to his hip as a young man put him on a winding path to become a world-renowned health and fitness expert. The host of The Model Health Show covers topics such as prioritizing health as an entrepreneur and the role that sleep plays in your ability to perform at the highest level.

To those who have been following the space, it’s no surprise that 2018 has been a record year for venture capital investing in healthcare. With $28.8 billion raised through the end of November (and big deals like the $400 million Series C raised by Relay Therapeutics last week) startups in the sector have raised more money this year than any year before in the last 10 years that VC funding database Pitchbook has tracked investments in the space.

Modern Portfolio Theory, the work of Markowitz, and Sharpe, and many, many others, is the foundation of how we think about finance and financial markets. Both Markowitz and Sharpe won the Nobel prize in Economics, and many of their intellectual descendants have done so as well. One of the primary implications of the theory is the economic benefit of diversification – a sort of investing free lunch. The well-diversified investor enjoys the same expected return as her less diversified brother, but she is taking less risk.

Image: John Bogle Expounds THE INSTITUTE FOR FIDUCIARY STANDARD

First, you tear down the walls and dispense with the soulless cubicles. Then you put everyone at long tables, shoulder to shoulder, so that they can talk more easily. Ditch any remaining private offices, which only enforce the idea that some people are better than others, and seat your most senior employees in the mix. People will collaborate. Ideas will spark. Outsiders will look at your office and think, This place has energy. Your staff will be more productive. Your company will create products unlike any the world has ever seen.

You haven’t missed the boat

Many people think that entrepreneurship is a young person’s game. This assumption is probably because when people think of successful entrepreneurs, the ones that immediately come to mind are college dropouts like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg and Michael Dell. However, college dropout entrepreneurs are the exception, and there is data to back it up. A study by the Kauffman Foundation led by Syracuse University professor Carl Schramm revealed that the average entrepreneur was 39 when he or she started a company.