While the environmentalists and the Olympic planners in London argue over which shade of green is more valuable — environmental green or greenbacks, that is, whether to accept or reject Dow and BP’s sponsorships — the finalists in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Business Plan Competition showed us where we really need to focus:… Continue reading These Students Remind Us What We Can Do — and Rio+20 Reminds Us What We Must Do
“Would you call a police officer who uses a computer system in his car…part of the high-tech economy? Probably not, but he’s using a computer every day to do his job and it’s fundamentally changing his job. “The green economy is sort of similar to that in that it’s a set of industries and occupations… Continue reading Green Economy + Women = Economic Growth
The Initial Public Offering (IPO) by Facebook last week highlights the classic American dream of “maverick start-up starts small, grows exponentially and hits the jackpot. ” Only… it doesn’t actually happen in a straight trajectory, as any entrepreneur or adviser will tell you, including Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerburg’s management of Facebook’s evolution is a good illustration… Continue reading Fire, Ready, Aim: When Is Your Business/Product ‘Perfect Enough’ to Go to Market?
How did Tiger Woods win the most PGA tournaments of any golfer between the ages of 20 and 29 in history by far? How did Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming Dara Torres win four Olympic Silver medals at age 41? How did 48-year old Scottish singer Susan Boyle come from obscurity to number one on… Continue reading Setting Unrealistic Expectations to Commemorate Earth Day
What is the government’s role in driving innovation? Listening to Senators during the recent Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearings on the Energy Department loan guarantee program (specifically loans to the now-infamous Solyndra), you’d think the federal government has no role in American innovation. The lawmakers love it when they can show up at… Continue reading Innovation Requires Risk, but… Government Risk?
Women control $12 trillion of the global economy and make about 80% of the purchasing decisions, according to the Boston Consulting Group (not exactly a feminist-leaning company). The Washington Post says “Fixing the Economy: It’s Women’s Work” and that the “Fortune 500 firms with the best records of putting women at the top were 18… Continue reading The “Fierce Urgency” to Increase Women’s Leadership in ARPA-E — Blame All Around
Leaders talk about growing a green economy and developing clean energy solutions, but the (mostly-male) talent trolling the halls of the Gaylord National Harbor Convention Center for the ARPA-E 2012 Innovation Summit last week was filled with folks actually doing it. One of the keynote speakers who brought the engineers face-to-face with reality was Steve… Continue reading ARPA-E on the Practical Side of (Energy) Innovation
Imagine being in the room when Grey Advertising’s Amanda Zolten suggested to her colleagues that they use her cat’s soiled litter box to pitch a new client. How many people laughed? Or rolled their eyes? Or even thought she’d be in trouble? That’s the problem. Corporate America is in its own way. Every day, in… Continue reading Corporate America Needs to Get Out of Its Own Way
Being nice doesn’t drive innovation. As the legacies of Steve Jobs are analyzed and dissected, one of the most important ones is that Steve Jobs did not worry about not being liked – and drew the best out of people. This flies in the face of traditional corporate culture. Jobs didn’t care about being liked… Continue reading One Lesson from Steve Jobs We Missed – Embrace Conflict
