Looking back to 2012, there were a number of initiatives that showcased brilliance in technology companies. Some were just simply brilliant, others warmed my heart, and all made me proud to work with the companies that launched and nurtured them. 

Let’s go down a list of my 2013 favorites and talk about why I think every company should emulate these moves.

EMC’s Customer Analytics

The initiative that stands out as number one is Jim Bampos’ massive effort to instrument customers and partners so that EMC could measure and promote advocacy. In a world where companies are taking personal information and selling it to advertisers, EMC is using information about its customers to create better services, products and relationships for them. And it is the only analytics vendor I know of that is using analytics to create loyalty. 

This year has been pretty amazing for society: we have pushed ourselves and broken some boundaries. A curious little rover explored the surface of Mars, a man jumped from space and Google is taking on Siri. There have been some pretty cool tech innovations this year and we decided to pick a few of the ones that impressed us the most. We expect some difference of opinion here, however, these innovations came out tops in our books. Here you go, in no particular order: Leap Motion: This new technology interprets natural hand movements with remarkable accuracy and lets users operate peripherals like TVs and computers with their hands. According tothe folks at Leap Motion:

In my prior post, I outlined five legal protections for founders when getting a startup off the ground. While it is always fun and exciting to talk about the beginning of a new venture, what about the end? Let’s face it, not every startup succeeds. Not by a long shot. But no startup founder (myself included) ever wants to think about joining the dead-pool. Indeed, there is very little discussion out there on proper steps to close up shop.

However, if it is time to send out that dreaded mass email to your users, call Rackspace and cancel your server plan, and turn out the lights, remember these five tips to ensure a smooth transition to your next, more successful venture.

While startups are popping up everywhere, it is hard for angel investors or smaller private equity funds to keep up. One solution could be to loosen or change restrictions on IPOs to allow investors to get in on the action earlier. But that might cause problems of its own.  At our IGNITION conference, Business Insider deputy editor Joe Weisenthal debated issues about startups and funding in today's competitive market with legendary investor Alan Patricof.

Alan Patricof has been investing in startups for a long time. A pioneer in the venture capital and private equities industries, the founder of Apax Partners and more recently Greycroft Partners, it is fair to say that he has seen it all. But one thing, he says he isn't seeing enough of right now, is innovation among the numerous startups that have flooded the market. 

For many young professionals, building wealth may seem like a topic geared more towards those who are planning for retirement instead of those who are in the early stages of a career. However, it’s never too early to start accumulating wealth. In fact, the earlier you start, the better off you’re going to be.

Investors today have a huge array of investment options. Many of these options can be too complex or difficult for the average investor to understand. Other options have specific investment and eligibility rules and regulations. While there are those who can successfully manage their money on their own, it helps to have a team of financial professionals available to guide you in making the best decisions. Having and utilizing these financial professionals can be referred to as “power investing”. The three main types of professionals that can yield the biggest benefit are financial advisors, personal bankers, and certified public accountants (CPAs).

At Governing, we always strive to report on the most important issues in state and local government. Out of the hundreds of stories we wrote this year these 10 stories were among the most read on our website. Be sure to check out any that you missed and thank you for being loyal readers all year long.

Pension Puffery

At the start of the year, we outlined twelve half-truths about pensions that we hoped would be debunked over the year as they were discussed and debated.

The 5 Biggest U.S. Infrastructure Projects, Plus 5 at Risk

From Washington, D.C., to California, we brought you the five biggest projects in the country right now -- and the five biggest ones in jeopardy.

The FoodTank aims to become  a bold new voice in the fight for health-based agriculture, alleviating hunger and poverty, stemming the tide of obesity, and improving environmental sustainability. Co-founders Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen Gustafson understand that fixing the system requires changing the conversation and finding ways that make food production—and consumption—more economically, environmentally, and socially just. The Food Think Tank officially launches January 10th. Here are the 13 resolutions to change the food system in 2013: 1. Growing the Cities:  Food production doesn’t only happen in fields or factories. Nearly one billion people worldwide produce food in cities. In Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, farmers are growing seeds of indigenous vegetables and selling them to rural farmers. At Bell Book & Candle restaurant in New York, customers are served rosemary, cherry tomatoes, romaine, and other produce grown from the restaurant’s rooftop garden.

When Phil Morabito needed advice on how to grow his Houston-based public relations firm, he did something a little unusual: he consulted the "bug guy."

"Bill Spitz owned the largest pest control company in the state of Texas before he sold it to Waste Management Inc.," says Morabito, CEO of Pierpont Communications. "I met him through the Silver Fox Advisors, a group of retired executives who offer mentorship. He was a real successful guy and I was a small business owner who needed guidance."

The premise of this blog is that everyone will have to become entrepreneur, or at least master entrepreneurial thought and action in order to succeed in today’s workplace.  And some people take to the idea of becoming an entrepreneur like a Labrador retriever puppy entering a lake for the first time: After about ten seconds of nervousness as they go into the water initially, they are incredibly enthusiastic and once they are immersed, it’s virtually impossible to get them out.  (If you are not a Lab owner, ask one.)

Dysfunctional people create dysfunctional situations. One team member with poor communication skills can explode a business environment. But a great communicator who never pulls his weight on the team can do the same thing.

The problem is office chaos created by unmanaged office politics.

Any time a group forms, there’s going to be a play for power and positioning — that’s natural. It happens in high schools, on athletic teams, in social organizations. And it happens in business settings. It’s a normal function of groups.

The engagement, however, becomes dysfunctional, if it goes unchecked.

Ever return from a business trip feeling like you’re five steps behind on everything? (Come on, be honest, I won’t tell).

Instead of ending up with a pile of work waiting for you when you get back, check out these productivity tips from my own travels and some my favorite road warriors on how to keep everything from your workouts to your inbox in check.

Inbox Zero

The way I personally keep my sanity every day is by returning to my hotel room at the end of each night and striving for a zero inbox. We use Gmail at our company, so I use the “Unread Emails First” filter to bring everything I haven’t checked yet to the top of my inbox.

Successful entrepreneurs, like Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Casey Sheahan of Patagonia, have long since realized that influence is no longer something that you do to someone to get what you want, but requires listening and relationship building to do what they want, with a win-win outcome. We now live in a world where even subtle persuasion efforts are suspect.

If your business and your style is still focused on the “old-school” hard-selling push-marketing approach, it’s time to take a close look at how well it’s serving you these days. The new culture driven by social media is all about forging real connections and building relationships.

Q: As a rookie VC trial by fire is a great way to learn. Aside from crunching through some early deals, where are the best executive programs and crash courses for newbies to the VC world?

A: While self serving, we recommend you start with our book – Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer And Venture Capitalist. In addition, there are a bunch of courses now using the book that are referenced on the web that include additional materials that are helpful.

Jason also did an excellent Crash Course on Venture Capital – the 90 minute video is below.

On December 5, at historic Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., a diverse group of seven leaders notable in their respective fields, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Ahmed Zewali, took to the stage to discuss their views of the qualities that make a leader. All seven received the 2011 Top American Leaders Award from the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Washington Post Live, honoring those who motivate people to "work collaboratively to accomplish great things."

"It's important to signify to others what is exemplary about people who make a difference in our lives," said Michael Useem, a Wharton management professor and director of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management, who served on the award's selection committee. "Identifying why a leader deserves this distinction is a way to send a message to all of us to think about our own development and what to value when it comes to leadership." Useem noted that the award's selection criteria reflect academic research on leadership qualities that emphasize strategic thinking and mission-setting, looking beyond one's self interest and inspiring others to act.

One of the most interesting threads of innovation in computing over the past 12 months can be traced back to the preceding year. In 2011, Apple’s virtual assistant Siri showed how software and computers could be more than just tools—something closer to collaborators. In 2012, Apple’s competitors extended that notion in ways that could shape all kinds of technology for years to come.

The company that first created Siri, SRI, created a similar system capable of working as a bank teller. Meanwhile, Google launched two alternative versions of a mobile assistant. Google Now, built into newer Android smartphones and tablets, works like a search engine in reverse—offering up data such as weather forecasts, traffic reports, or transit times when it thinks a person needs that information. A similar app, called Field Trip, is intended for use when exploring a new city; it notifies users about nearby attractions, well-reviewed businesses, and events. Both are currently free from ads but show obvious potential for including location-based offers. Just this month, a slick app closely modeled on Google Now launched for the iPhone.

AngelList is hot, which I guess is appropriate for a heavenly investment vehicle.

The dating service for startups and investors announced today that it has helped startups raise over $12.3 million in December alone — a number it is now tracking live on its home page. AngelList said last month that, together with a partnership with SecondMarket, it would be enabling accredited (but not necessarily super-wealthy investors to micro-invest), putting as little as $1000 into startups.

Some might call that the ultimate spray-and-pray strategy, but others would say it’s a great opportunity for smaller investors to safely diversify.

Cardmunch founder Bowei Gai quit his cushy job with LinkedIn two months ago. He sold his business to LinkedIn in 2011, and is only now jumping ship to travel the world and find the next Silicon Valley, along with the help of Valley heavy-weights Dave McClure of 500 Startups and Brad Feld of the Foundry Group.

“I don’t know whether he’s the advance scout for us or we’re the advance scout for him,” said McClure in an interview with VentureBeat. “We’ve got our separately planned trips for Geeks on a Plane in India, Southeast Asia, and then we’re working on Africa. We’ll likely cross up.”

Gai’s new project, the World Startup Report, launched today — and it basically makes him the Jonny Quest of the startup world. Gai and a small team of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs will travel to 29 different countries in the next nine months. There, they will assess the startups, founders, “big players,” the challenges locals face, and the culture of that region to create a report on what it’s like to start a company there.

For scientists, an answer to a question, or solution to a problem, is not true until proven so. And sometimes that means revealing what mere mortals already knew, like, say the fact that getting to the hospital quicker can save heart-attack victims, or, the seemingly far-fetched idea that exercise is good for you.

Here are a few of the most obvious findings of 2012.

1. Good partners make good parents

Perhaps not the most shocking news in the world: Marry a good, secure partner, and you can expect them to become a good, secure parent.

Which state has the highest percentage of educated adults? It depends on the measurement you use. The two most common comparisons involve the graduation rates for high schools and colleges, encompassing all adults who are currently 25 or older. Wyoming leads the high school list, according to new figures from U.S. Census Bureau, while the District of Columbia is No. 1 on the college chart. (D.C. is considered a state for statistical purposes.)