CEO News
Top business stories, news, interestingness,
information, innovation, market intelligence and perhaps a little insight and inspiration. Where
will your next great idea come from?
Biomimicry in Action
Janine Benyus has a message for inventors: When solving a design problem, look to nature first.
Are We in Control of our Own Decisions?
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational, uses classic visual illusions and his own counterintuitive (and sometimes shocking) research findings to show how we're not as rational as we think when we make decisions.
Juggling Rhythm and Motion
Michael Moschen has revolutionized juggling, refining it into an art and a bit of a science.
Human-centered Design
IDEO’s David Kelley says that product design has become much less about the hardware and more about the user experience.
When Ideas Have Sex
Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas.
RSA Animate - Smile or Die Acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking.
Hans Rosling on Global Population Growth
The world's population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years -- and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth.
Obesity + Hunger = 1 Global Food Issue
Co-creator of the philanthropic FEED bags, Ellen Gustafson says hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin.
Strange Beliefs
Michael Shermer debunks myths, superstitions and urban legends, and explains why we believe them.
The Paradox of Choice
Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice.
Carl Honore Praises Slowness
Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world's emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life.
Compassion
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, asks why we aren't more compassionate more of the time.
Saul Griffith's Kites Tap Wind Energy
Makani Power has been working on giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy.
Designing Objects That Tell Stories
Yves Behar has produced some of the new millennium's most coveted objects, like the Leaf lamp, the Jawbone headset, and the XO laptop for One Laptop per Child.
Can We Eat to Starve Cancer?
Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game.
Gaming Can Make a Better World
Reality is broken, says Jane McGonigal, and we need to make it work more like a game. Her work shows us how. (Wow!)
Ueli Gegenschatz Soars in a Wingsuit
Ueli Gegenschatz took flight just about every way a human can: paragliding, skydiving, BASE jumping (from the Eiffel Tower), and most breathtakingly: by donning a wingsuit and soaring. (Wow!)
How to Listen
In this soaring demonstration, deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums. (Brilliant!)
Measuring What Makes Life Worthwhile
Chip Conley creates joyful hotels, where he hopes his employees, customers and investors alike can realize their full potential.
Let's Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs
An entrepreneur since childhood, Cameron Herold wants parents and teachers to recognize -- and foster -- entrepreneurial talent in kids.
Sweat the Small Stuff
It may seem that big problems require big solutions, but ad man Rory Sutherland says many flashy, expensive fixes are just obscuring better, simpler answers. (Brilliant!)
Bjarke Ingels: 3 Warp-speed Architecture Tales
His buildings not only look like nature -- they act like nature: blocking the wind, collecting solar energy -- and creating stunning views.
How to Make a Splash in Social Media
In a funny, rapid-fire 4 minutes, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit tells the real-life fable of one humpback whale's rise to Web stardom.
Standing Out
Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones. (Remarkable!)
How to Live to be 100+
National Geographic writer and explorer Dan Buettner studies the world's longest-lived peoples, distilling their secrets into a single plan for health and long life.
What Consumers Want
Customers want to feel what they buy is authentic, but "Mass Customization" author Joseph Pine says selling authenticity is tough because, well, there's no such thing.
Your Genes are Not Your Fate
Dean Ornish shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can affect a person at a genetic level.
How to Start a Movement
With help from some surprising footage, Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started.
The Hidden Influence of Social Networks Nicholas Christakis explores how the large-scale, face-to-face social networks in which we are embedded affect our lives, and what we can do to take advantage of this fact.
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?"
Toward a Science of Simplicity Simplicity: We know it when we see it -- but what is it, exactly? In this funny, philosophical talk, George Whitesides chisels out an answer.
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics (about TEDTalks) In a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek analysis, Sebastian Wernicke turns the tools of statistical analysis on TEDTalks, to come up with a metric for creating "the optimum TEDTalk" based on user ratings.
Build a Tower, Build a Team
Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the "marshmallow problem" -- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow.
Richard St. John's Eight Secrets of Success
Self-described average guy who found success doing what he loved, Richard St. John spent more than a decade researching the lessons of success -- and distilling them into 8 words, in 3 minutes.
A Choir as Big as the Internet
"Lux Aurumque," composed and conducted by Eric Whitacre, merges hundreds of tracks individually recorded and posted to YouTube. Wow!
Schools Kill Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
My Seven Species of Robot
Dennis Hong is the founder and director of RoMeLa -- a Virginia Tech robotics lab that has pioneered several breakthroughs in robot design and engineering.
Photos that Changed the World
Jonathan Klein of Getty Images shows some of the most iconic, and talks about what happens when a generation sees an image so powerful it can't look away -- or back.
Design Outside the Box
Jesse Schell dives into a world of game development which will emerge from the popular "Facebook Games" era. (Brilliant!!!!)
What Adults Can Learn From Kids
Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs "childish" thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism.
The Fastest-Growing Retailers
These 10 companies have found ways to post strong growth amid the worst of the downturn.
Will Wright Makes Toys That Make Worlds
In a friendly, high-speed presentation, Will Wright demos his newest game, Spore, which promises to dazzle users even more than his previous masterpieces.
Do What You Love (No Excuses!)
At the Web 2.0 Expo, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk gives a shot in the arm to dreamers and up-and-comers who face self-doubt.
How to Combat Modern Slavery
Kevin Bales is the co-founder of Free the Slaves, whose mission is to end all forms of human slavery within the next 25 years.
Deep on Design
Designer Philippe Starck spends 18 minutes reaching for the very roots of the question "Why design?" Listen carefully for one perfect mantra for all of us, genius or not.
The Simple Life
MIT Media Lab's John Maeda lives at the intersection of technology and art, a place that can get very complicated. Here he talks about paring down to basics.
All Things are Moleeds
In a presentation that can only be described as epic, comedian Charles Fleischer delivers a hysterical send-up of a time-honored TED theme: the map.
We are the Stories We Tell Ourselves
At TEDIndia, Hollywood / Bollywood director Shekhar Kapur ("Elizabeth," "Mr. India") pinpoints his source of creativity: sheer, utter panic. He shares a powerful way to unleash your inner storyteller.
Arthur Benjamin Does "Mathemagic"
Mathematician and magician Arthur Benjamin combines his two passions in "Mathemagics," a mind-boggling presentation of lightning calculations and other feats of mathematical agility.
Hans Rosling: Debunking Third-world Myths You've never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."
Keith Barry Does Brain Magic Think of Keith Barry as a hacker of the human brain -- writing routines that exploit its bugs and loopholes, and offering a revealing look at the software between our ears.
Breakthrough Touchscreen
After years of research on touch-driven computer displays, Jeff Han has created a simple, multi-touch, multi-user screen interface that just might herald the end of the point-and-click era.
Derek Sivers: Weird, or Just Different?
"There's a flip side to everything," the saying goes, and in 2 minutes, Derek Sivers shows this is true in a few ways you might not expect.
The 10 Most Innovative Viral Video Ads of 2009
This year’s Top 10 is certainly a glimpse of how the viral video ad business is evolving, and as marketers, what we can learn from that evolution.
What's the Right Thing to Do? Is torture ever justified? Would you steal a drug that your child needs to survive? Michael Sandel probes these questions -- and asks what you think, and why.
Lead Like the Great Conductors After a decade-long conducting career in his native Israel, Itay Talgam has reinvented himself as a conductor of people in business.
Optical Illusions Show How We See Beau Lotto's color games puzzle your vision, but they also spotlight what you can't normally see: how your brain works. This fun, first-hand look at your own versatile sense of sight reveals how evolution tints your perception of what's really out there.
Scott Kim Takes Apart the Art of Puzzles Scott Kim designs puzzles in the spirit of MC Escher's art and Tetris -- visually stimulating, thought provoking and suffused with broad appeal.
Ray Anderson on the Business Logic of Sustainability At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional "take / make / waste" industrial system on its head.
Life Lessons From an Ad Man Rory Sutherland stands at the center of an advertising revolution in brand identities, designing cutting-edge, interactive campaigns that blur the line between ad and entertainment.
Time-lapse Proof of Extreme Ice Loss James Balog's latest work, the Extreme Ice Survey, captures the twisting, soaring forms of threatened wild ice.
Google's Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years Google CEO Eric Schmidt envisions a radically changed internet five years from now: dominated by Chinese-language and social media content, delivered over super-fast bandwidth in real time.
How We Read Each Other's Minds Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples' thoughts -- and judges their actions.
10 Tips from Happy People Are you happy? It's a simple question, but with numerous variables underlying it. What makes someone happy? Is there more than one route to happiness and more than one way to measure it?
Revealing the People Defining Social Networks Brian Solis has compiled these useful stats about the major social networking sites including 30-day traffic, gender, age, income, # of children, and education level. If you're doing any online marketing, you'll find what he's done extremely valuable. One thing you'll notice is that women are the majority users of most sites.
New Evidence that Bullet-points Don’t Work
At last, we have some scientifically rigorous evidence to show that slides full of bullet-points don’t work. The research is the work of Chris Atherton, a cognitive psychologist.
How to Learn Faster and Remember More You do learn faster and remember more when you move from passive to active, meaningful, repeated engagement in what you are learning.
10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint A PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.
Why Women Have Sex According to a new book, there are 237 reasons why women have sex. And most of them have little to do with romance or pleasure.
The Web as Random Acts of Kindness Feeling like the world is becoming less friendly? Social theorist Jonathan Zittrain begs to difffer. The Internet, he suggests, is made up of millions of disinterested acts of kindness, curiosity and trust.
Women are Getting More Beautiful Scientists have found that evolution is driving women to become ever more beautiful, while men remain as aesthetically unappealing as their caveman ancestors.
A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure -- and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments.
Social Advertising Best Practices Social media is big and getting bigger, providing marketers with a combination of reach, relationships, and relevance.
Busted! The Sneaky Moves of Anti-social Smartphone Users In this funny talk, social strategist Renny Gleeson breaks down our always-on social world -- where the experience we're having right now is less interesting than what we'll tweet about it later.
Stand By Me Enjoy this composite audio/video of the classic standard originally released in 1955 by The Staple Singers, with contributions from musicians from every continent.
How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air
Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.
Cool New Things You Can Do With Your Mobile Phone
New York Times tech columnist David Pogue rounds up some handy cell phone tools and services that can boost your productivity and lower your bills (and your blood pressure).
Coaching For People, Not Points
With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves.
The Next Web of Open, Linked Data
20 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. For his next project, he's building a web for open, linked data that could do for numbers what the Web did for words, pictures, video: unlock our data and reframe the way we use it together.
Unveiling the "Sixth Sense
Game-changing wearable tech - a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment.
The Three Ways that Good Design Makes You Happy
Don Norman turns his incisive eye toward beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He names the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed.
Sailing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Capt. Charles Moore first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas.
Tracking the Habits of Elite Networkers from UpMo When you retrace the steps of highly successful people, you see a similar pattern. It’s not the path they follow, where they go, or the speed they travel. It’s that they’re not traveling alone. They make friends along the way that help them stay on track: They network. At UpMo, we decided to study the relationship between success and networking. We looked at what we can learn from professionals, particularly those earning $200,000 or more, in terms of how they build and leverage networks.
Beyond the Crisis Even as mega-banks topple, Juan Enriquez says the big reboot is yet to come. But don't look for it on your ballot -- or in the stock exchange. It'll come from science labs.
The Real Crisis? We Stopped Being Wise Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for "practical wisdom" as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.
Ways of Seeing Rob Forbes, the founder of Design Within Reach, shows a gallery of snapshots that inform his way of seeing the world.
What Do Consumers Really Want? Customers want to feel what they buy is authentic, but "Mass Customization" author Joseph Pine says selling authenticity is tough because, well, there's no such thing. He talks about a few experiences that may be artificial but make millions anyway.
George Smoot: The Design of the Universe Astrophysicist George Smoot shows stunning new images from deep-space surveys, and prods us to ponder how the cosmos got built this way.
An Inconvenient Genius The timeless legacy of an untimely man. How often has one person affected humanity to such a degree that were the fruits of his labor withdrawn immediately from our day-to-day existence, the world as we know it … would essentially stop? This story is about one such real-life person. Steve Kayser interviews the pre-eminent world authority on this person, Marc J. Seifer, who wrote his biography.
KIVA - Loans that change lives
Microfinancing - and how you can help entrepreneurs in the developing world build their small businesses and contribute to their communities.
212movie This movie says
it all - it's all about one extra degree of effort that will take you from
hot to "boiling." (From JoAnna Brandi.)
Human Tetris The Japanese seem to have a knack of creating the most innovative game shows, among other things. Enjoy!
Vator.tv Vator.tv is a catalyst for innovation. It is a professional network and marketplace for ideas and businesses. Anyone, across all industries, at any stage, can share ideas, products, services and businesses with the rest of the world, mainly through video. The name came from "elevator," as in "elevator pitch," which is used to describe a brief overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. (From Kare Anderson's Say it Better Newsletter.)
Hydro Train This is quite an amazing short video of several budding young Norwegian engineers messing with a train. There are more videos in a series at http://www.youtube.com/user/123hydro to encourage kids to pursue interests in science, engineering and technology. Very creative and good fun. Check out Hydro Car as well and just hope your kids don't get as creative with you. (From Paul Sloane's Destination Innovation newsletter!)
PANORAMIC
FEEDBACK PROVIDES 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK IN CHINESE, JAPANESE AND KOREAN 360-degree feedback is now available to managers in China, Japan, and Korea,
following a major multi-language release from service provider Panoramic Feedback.
Panoramic Feedback (http://www.panoramicfeedback.com)
is the leading provider of 360-degree feedback worldwide. It provides 360-degree
feedback questionnaires in more than 50 languages, including most Western
and Slavic languages, as well as the three major Asian languages.
The Club
of Amsterdam is an independent, international, future-oriented think
tank involved in channelling preferred futures. It involves those who dare
to think out of the box and those who don't just talk about the future but
actively participate in shaping outcomes. We organize events, seminars and
summits on relevant issues and publish findings & proceedings through various
off-line and online media channels. Our goal is to become a global player
and catalyst for innovation in industries, science and society. The Club
of Amsterdam is a not-for-profit foundation registered in The Netherlands.
x-act
Ltd.,
a live communication/event marketing agency in Switzerland has
developed a most powerful corporate experience!
Together500+ is a new award-winning tool that can turn your communications into an incredible
experience for your people. International clients have included Microsoft,
Hewlett-Packard, SAP, PricewaterhouseCoopers and UBS.
BIRD
GOLF ACADEMY PRESENTS THE ULTIMATE GOLF LEARNING EXPERIENCE® Learn from award winning PGA and LPGA professionals at world class resorts
and facilities. 1 or 2 (students) to 1 (professional) schools that take your
game to the next level. Professional staff includes US Open Champion, 2 time
LPGA Championship winner, founder of Golf For Women magazine, LPGA Teacher
of the Year, members of several Halls of Fame, PGA Master professionals and
many more. All schools include daily playing lessons, work on the mental game
with the legendary Carey Mumford, superior accommodations and unlimited golf.
When your game deserves the very best; there is only one choice.
IT'S
A JUNGLE OUT THERE! AUDIO SAFARI HAS BUSINESSES GOING WILD! What do wild animals have in common with difficult people? You would be surprised!
How can the same secrets of psychological survival help professionals handle
the hurricanes and tsunamis of today's a competitive jungle? Career Track
Seminars, a division of Park University has announced the release of "Go
Wild: Survival Skills for Business and Life", A self-directed learning
adventure authored by Rosemary Rein, Ph.D - a former corporate executive who
turned in her briefcase for the Costa Rican Rainforest 9 years ago and now
lectures internationally on how to apply wilderness survival skills to business
and life.
INTRODUCING
CHALLENGE CONSULTING Founded in 1992 by Managing Director Elizabeth Varley, Challenge Consulting
is a Sydney-based boutique recruitment agency specialising in executive,
permanent and temporary recruitment services. Challenge Consulting also
offers a range of other services, including online psychometric assessment,
online skills testing, professional training workshops, career guidance,
outplacement and team development. We are committed to our five core values
- Team Spirit, Innovation, Ethics & Integrity, Commitment to Outcomes, and
Perseverance - and we invite you to learn more about us by visiting our
website: www.challengeconsulting.com.au .
MiCOM Labs, Inc., is a
wireless and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) compliance testing laboratory
focused on accelerating the integration of wireless technologies into many
products and industries. Committed to equipping wireless product developers
with what they need to know, the Company recently launched a new Web site
at www.micomlabs.com that provides information about more than 200 radio frequency (RF) and electromagnetic
compatibility standards governing the use of wireless devices in many countries,
including the United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Australia,
New Zealand and others. As "The Wireless Lab," MiCOM Labs provides consulting,
testing, report generation and certification services that implement best
practices for assuring compliance with global wireless standards. The complete
scope of MiCOM Labs' accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory
Accreditation (A2LA), can be found at www.micomlabs.com/accreditations.php.
Designed and researched
in conjunction with the Anderson School of Management, UCLA and Pepperdine
University, QuadStratTM is a web-based diagnostic system which quantifies
and benchmarks an organization's strategic capabilities opposite "best practice"
as well as other participants. Free
trial available to organizational leaders.
Introducing
Franchise GATOR! Connecting Entrepreneurs with Franchise and Business Opportunities Franchise Gator is a top franchise and small business resource. Search franchises,
opportunities and business for sale listings to find in-depth information
on buying franchises and business opportunities. The CEO Refresher rates
Franchise GATOR as the best in class for franchising opportunities.
Introducing
Resume and Cover Letter Services by Resume to Referral If you are "in transition" you're not alone, and you need to invest
in your success. Teena Rose, CPRW, CEIP, CCM and Resume to Referral provide
resume services for salary growth, a smoother career transition, more interviews,
top-notch resume and cover letter designs, and advanced career [resume, cover
letter, and interviewing] strategies. Visit www.resumebycprw.com/ for additional information.
Announcing
a Website that Trains, Consults and Speaks - www.trainingconsortium.com The foundation for the site exists in its extensive database. TrainingConsortium
provides a detailed registration process for all trainers, consultants, speakers,
and vendors/organizations. This process includes valuable information such
as industry experience, area of expertise, geography, primary target audience,
and more. Users, in turn, search for trainers, consultants, speakers and vendors/companies
who match their needs and specific criteria. "The site allows searchers to
choose from more than over 200 areas of expertise and over 100 industries,"
says its founder. "Our website is a huge search engine that invites decision
makers, administrators, trainers, speakers and consultants to find resources
to meet their needs." The search is absolutely free and there is no commission
or brokerage fee for revenues generated through TrainingConsortium.
Lean
in the Office Rorry Harding, Director of Engineering at MDS Nordion is part of a team that
implemented Lean for their Engineering Change Notice process, improving the
paper flow time from 28 days to 7 in just 3 months! He shows how applying
Lean methods to remove waste from non-manufacturing operations can lead to
major bottom line savings.
Introducing
Transform People International Transform People International is a global management/training consultancy
specialising in behavioural /organisational change, leadership and team performance
improvement, conference facilitation, CRM, business & personal development.
Creativity
at Work - How's Your Innovation IQ? Looking for a breakthrough? The Creativity at Work website is designed as
a resource for developing personal creativity and organizational innovation
in the workplace. Linda Naiman works with organizations to awaken genius level
thinking through the art and science of applying creativity, innovation, and
visionary thinking to business strategy.
Management
Institute of Paris The Management Institute of Paris is a new business school striving to create
a new business attitude focusing on balanced, ethical leadership decision-making.
M.I.P. (Management Institute of Paris) was initiated by a group of successful
CEOs including Bruno Bich (CEO of BIC, France), Martin Bouygues (CEO of Bouygues,
France), Claude Bebear (Chairman of the Advisory Board of AXA, France), Charles
Burrus, (Former CEO of Burrus, Switzerland) and many others. The CEO Refresher
has given Management Institute of Paris permission to reprint selected articles
on their web site and in their newsletter.
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