It's often the case that people expect their leaders to be decisive -- able to make difficult decisions quickly. Indeed, this kind of behavior is interpreted as one of the hallmarks of good leadership.

The reality is different, however.

The "rush to judgment" mindset creates undue pressure on leaders -- the kind of pressure that causes them to prematurely choose a path forward even when confronting a complex problem.

To be truly effective, leaders need to balance the need to quickly converge on a single solution with the conflicting requirement that multiple perspectives be considered.

Innovation and Creativity are words that are at times used interchangeably in the research and development process, but they have two distinct meanings. While creativity is about coming up with the big idea, innovation is about executing the idea and making it a business success. Do not confuse the two. An organization can certainly have creativity without the right steps to implement innovation.

Innovation implementation calls for a robust, disciplined strategy. It can not be a one-time process, but must occur over and over again to form a steady flow of innovation that sustains long-term profitability. The only way to achieve that is by bringing focus, a road map, screening criteria, and checkpoints to the new product development (NPD) process.

In an age of information overload where getting in front of the right investors and potential strategic partners is harder than ever, where do you go to find the support you need to build the next iRobot, Zipcar, Constant Contact, or Achillion?

We know how to help investment-ready women-led companies raise capital to scale BIG. Springboard's forum programs are designed to support, promote and showcase investment-ready, high-growth companies led by women.  And after 11 years of presenting over 480 businesses that have raised over $5.5B in capital, we've figured out the secret to overcoming the hurdles startups face when trying to scale. It's about building relationships, not just about raising capital.  Click here to learn more about our how our forum programs work.

Research on U.S. Net habits suggests that if this sentence takes longer than a second to load, many citizens will have clicked elsewhere already. If you've got the patience (or are European) read on for more shocking data on not dawdling.

The data comes from an infographic compiled by OnlineGraduatePrograms.com, with the specific goal of finding out about tolerance of slow webpage speeds for the average U.S. web user. Then they extended the data to cover other habits that take time, like waiting in line or being served in a restaurant. It turns out that Americans are an astonishingly impatient lot. In fact, odds are they've probably all given up reading this by now. Holla, rest of the world!

Last fall, in an essay titled "Innovation Starvation," sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson lamented the decline of the American space program. He recalled the awe and wonder he felt growing up, sitting in front of grainy black-and-white images of the Gemini missions. And he explained the great disappointment he felt at witnessing the final Space Shuttle launch. To him, NASA's move away from manned space exploration represented something larger, what he called "our far broader inability as a society to execute on the big stuff." Raised on mid-twentieth century techno-optimism, he grew up with big expectations for the future: space stations and vacations on Mars. Not only had those dreams failed to materialize, he said, but no one seemed to be dreaming them anymore.

For those of us who weren’t born with prerequisites for professional sports or rockstardom, entrepreneurship is probably the best bet for becoming fabulously wealthy before hitting our mid-life crises.

Just take a free idea, mix in some free time and possibly free Internet (depending on whether you like coffee), and poof! You’re on you’re way to an astronomical net worth. At least that’s how H&R Block, which created the infographic below, estimates the situation.

I was recently asked, “how do you find innovators?” It’s an odd question really, one that I hadn’t thought about before, but one that is valuable to think through. You have to dig deeper and think why innovations happen at all, and what the power structures are that make them be identified as innovative. After all, innovation is just a new way of doing things than what is currently the norm.

In any industry, society or business there are status quo powers at play. These are generally legacy structures, setup for a time and place that needed that design. Think big media in broadcasting and print. How has it been disrupted by the internet, mobiles and social media in the last 10 years? How about government? How about the humanitarian space? How about the energy industry?

Western societies and the systems we depend on to make them function are becoming ever more complex. As a result, they are also becoming more vulnerable to catastrophic, systemic failure. As individuals, communities and societies we may, at the same time, be becoming less able to cope with such events as we lose basic skills, families are more scattered and communities less connected.

Have you participated in a brainstorming session that felt like wasted time? For some reason no new and interesting ideas were formed? Perhaps you need to get rid of your old ideas first! Gis van Wulfen explains.

Innovation is all about getting new ideas for simple solutions to solve relevant customer problems or needs. When there is a sudden need for innovation the first thing people do is organise a brainstorming session. But often nothing innovative materialises. That’s why brainstorming has such negative connotations in a lot of companies. Because, when you brainstorm unprepared with the usual colleagues hardly anything new appears.

Existing methods for the management of innovation projects have a low probability of success in the development of radical or disruptive innovations. A new spiral approach has been developed that provides the balance of flexibility and control needed for a repeatable and successful approach to disruptive innovation.

Why don’t inexperienced entrepreneurs with high tech business ideas sell those ideas to existing companies with the knowhow and resources to exploit them successfully? Since companies like Apple and Cisco have shown their skill at bringing new products to market successfully, having them exploit entrepreneurs’ new product ideas should leave everyone better off.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Kenneth Arrow explained why entrepreneurs rarely sell their new product ideas to established companies better able to exploit them.

When it comes to marketing a business the frequent complaint from small biz owners is that marketing rarely works or just isn’t worth the expense. For those business owners I offer the reasons below as to why that may seem to be true.

1.)  You Try to Do It Yourself

Yeah, I know, you’d get marketing help if you could trust it, or afford it. Yes, it’s true that many marketing firms are beyond the financial reach of many small businesses. However, if you truly believe in the benefits of smart marketing there are professional resources that your small business can afford. You just may have to invest the time to find and qualify them. And, the better you’re able to qualify them, the more you’ll be able to trust them.

The dream of many small business product companies is to appear on the popular ABC reality show Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs present a business plan to a panel of five savvy self-made multimillionaires and billionaires in hopes that one or more of them will invest in the business, not just with their money, but also with their connections.

In exchange for an investment from the Sharks, those entrepreneurs willing to enter the Shark Tank offer a percentage of their companies’ equity. The Shark Tank members are colorful personalities, and are often brutally tough during discussions and negotiations with the entrepreneurs.

The nation's first Minority Biomedical Entrepreneurship Conference (MBEC), will convene May 21-22 in Cleveland.  MBEC offers a unique platform for minority professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, students and industry leaders to engage, network, collaborate and exchange ideas.

Minorities represent less than 5 percent(1) of the growing biomedical industry workforce, and a fraction of that number engages in entrepreneurial endeavors. To address the issue of underrepresentation, and to increase minority competitiveness in the biomedical industry, The America21 Project, a minority innovation and competitiveness initiative, and BioEnterprise, a biomedical business accelerator, partnered to created MBEC. The intent is to hold the conference annually.

We've all experienced it. That sinking feeling that occurs when the job interview that was going so well suddenly goes off track. Maybe it's the expression on the hiring manager's face, or the awkward pause that ensues, but there is little doubt when it happens.

Common interview mistakes, of course, include bad mouthing your former employer, failing to adequately research the company or the position and just plain talking too much. Careerbuilder.com, a job posting site, publishes an annual list of 10 interview blunders, including asking the hiring manager for a ride home or flushing the toilet during a phone interview.

Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) is currently accepting applications for its 2013 USA Fellowship Program. EF selects outstanding leaders to participate in a fully funded 5 week international fellowship and become an engaged member of an exclusive network of more than 1,900 leaders in public, private and the non-profit sectors from around the world. EF Chairman, General Colin Powell calls Eisenhower Fellowships "one of the most personally and professionally gratifying of my non-profit engagements.”

USA fellowship candidates should be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, aged 32-45, who possess advanced professional credentials, proven leadership capability, and the potential for broader impact in and beyond their professional fields. Finalists will be placed in a pool and fellowships will be granted based on excellence and how the finalists fit into our overall organization goals for 2013. The fellowship covers all international and domestic travel, hotel accommodations, and meals.

For application materials and more information, please visit:
http://www.efworld.org/programs/eisenhower_fellowships_prospective_usa_fellowships.php

ThromboGenics NV, a KU Leuven spin-off company focused on developing innovative ophthalmic medicines, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Alcon (a division of Novartis), the global leader in eye care, for the commercialization of ocriplasmin in all markets outside the U.S. As a result of this important strategic deal, ThromboGenics will concentrate on commercializing ocriplasmin in the U.S. where it plans to build its commercial and medical organization to support the product’s anticipated launch within the next 12 months.

Under the terms of the agreement with Alcon, ThromboGenics will receive an up-front payment of €75M. The Company is also entitled to a further €90M in potential near-term milestone payments. Additional milestones bring the potential total of up-fronts and milestones to €375M. In addition, ThromboGenics will receive royalties on net sales of ocriplasmin that are commensurate with a product that has successfully completed Phase III development and that has been filed for regulatory approval. Under the agreement ThromboGenics will have a strategic and focused operational role in the commercialization of ocriplasmin in the five largest European markets, enabling it to build the foundation for an expanding ophthalmology franchise. In addition to the commercial introduction of ocriplasmin in markets outside the U.S., the agreement specifies that Alcon and ThromboGenics will work together, and share the costs, to further develop new clinical applications of the product that the companies will introduce in their respective territories.

Incubators seem to be among the latest darlings of the business world, and to a lesser extent, the health IT industry.

Extremely rare just a few decades ago, there are now more than 1,200 incubators in the U.S., Entrepreneur.com reported.

While the vast majority of these incubators don’t cater specifically to healthcare, several prominent incubators do, including: Blueprint Health, Rock Health, HealthBox and Startup Health.

Seventeen high-tech Kentucky companies are receiving a total of $6.2 million in state funds under a state program to support small technology-based businesses.

The state matches all or part of federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer awards received by Kentucky-based companies or those willing to relocate to the state.

Last week we told you about some ambitious app development going on at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Well this week, Hopkins did themselves one better: They're diving in to not only create apps, but also to evaluate the 10,000-plus universe of health apps for efficacy and safety, according to a recent article in the Baltimore Sun.

Hopkins also will judge whether the apps are more or less effective than traditional care, such as in-person visits. The vetting is being done by dozens of faculty and students around the university, and is spread out under a total of 49 official studies, the Sun reports. Most are part of the school's Global mHealth Initiative.