A Startup Design-a-thon Performance Depends on Quantity, Quality and Variety

By Guest Author Soren Petersen

New Entrepreneurial Ventures are all about speed and nowhere is this more true than at design-a-thons. Originating from hack-a-thons in the world of programming, design-a-thons are a one, two or three day marathon, where participating teams build a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) or, at the very least, a concept simulation supported by a business model and some validation. Outcomes are presented to a panel of judges at the end who then award prizes to the winner. So, might design-a-thons be a superior approach to generating new business opportunities? >>>

Using Storytelling to Pitch Startups

By Guest Author Soren Petersen

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How to Make a Great Pitch for Your Startup

By Guest Author Soren Petersen

Stanford studies on design quality and entrepreneurial risk show that the sweet spot for startups is right in the middle of Market and Technology Risk. >>>

Man and Superman: A Case for Human Happiness

By Guest Author Ajit Narayanan

This Man-Superman terminology smells like some adolescent Ayn Rand-ian fantasy, but I agree that humanity will bifurcate into two types of people: the Happy and the Not-Happy. And entrepreneurship or capital (or even skill) will not be the dividing line here.
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Man and Superman: Intersubjective Realities

By Guest Author Frank H. Levinson

In the previous three segments of this series, we looked at what a singularity is and as part of evidence for the possibility of a technology singularity, we studied the frequency and impact of five scientific revolutions. Let us now catalog the modern intersubjective realities (ISRs) that have co-evolved with the ever faster scientific revolutions and push to see how these have historically interacted and why things may be breaking down today.

Let’s now list key social structures that humans have evolved over time. Remember that all of these are really just different ISRs; thus, they are things we agree to treat as real. In other words, their reality derives only from our agreement. For instance, a $20 bill has very little intrinsic value, it is our nearly world-wide ISR agreement that gives it value. >>>

Man and Superman: Dealing with Singularity-Based Technology Acceleration

In the previous four segments of this series, we looked at what a singularity is and as part of evidence for the possibility of a technology singularity, we studied the frequency and impact of five scientific revolutions and cataloged the modern intersubjective realities (ISRs) that have co-evolved with the ever faster scientific revolutions and pushed to see how these have historically interacted and why things may be breaking down today.

In the concluding installment of this essay, we will look at how each of us experiences this personally and how our most important social structures are under duress today in ways that never happened in the past.

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Gender Equality IS a Man’s Business: But it’s a woman’s work to influence participation

By Guest Author Anita M. Sands

Twenty-three years ago, I embarked upon my professional life as a physics student in Belfast. This foray into adulthood included two immediate discoveries: my commencing class was only 10% female, and I was to be taught almost exclusively by male professors. Needless to say, it became obvious that doing well would mean not only mastering the intricacies of quantum mechanics but also dealing with some fundamental laws of nature: getting along with the guys. >>>

Paul Daugherty

Paul Daugherty is the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer of Accenture. He is the co-author of the book Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI.

His co-author H. James Wilson is Managing Director of Information Technology and Business Research at Accenture Research.

You can follow them on @ PaulDaugh and @HJamesWilson.

Human+Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI,” is available everywhere, including at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and walmart.com

Hiring for Innovation? Where do people “who have done it before” best fit in?

By Guest Author Marylene Delbourg-Delphis

In her new book, Everybody Wants to Love Their Job: Rebuilding Trust and Culture, Marylene Delbourg-Delphis draws from her extensive experience as a serial CEO, executive consultant, and board member to assesses the cons and pros of hiring people who “have done it before.”

Clichés have an advantage: they are self-explanatory. But the main drawback of these ready-made phrases is that nobody questions their meaning any longer. >>>

Innovation and disruption: Forces Turned on and off by human beings

By Guest Author Marylene Delbourg-Delphis

In her new book, Everybody Wants to Love Their Job: Rebuilding Trust and Culture, Marylene Delbourg-Delphis reflects on the demise and death of once-giants.

Companies either fail or succeed. It’s just a simple truth. There were certainly plenty of causes for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, but the primary one, according to the famous 18^th century historian Edward Gibbon, was the gradual disappearance of its citizens’ civic virtues. Similarly, the main causes of companies’ annihilation could very well be human. Employees have stopped being citizens of their company and fighting for it. They behave. They aren’t causing problems or generating liabilities. They’ve just given up on the idea that their voice matters. >>>