Nobody likes to see their ideas stolen, but in The Knockoff Economy, Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman offer some pretty compelling reasons why copying is more than just a big compliment.
That classic after-school snack. That crunchy adulthood indulgence. That chocolatey, curiously sandy sandwich cookie for the ages that was just made to be dunked in milk. What could be more original and distinct than an Oreo cookie?
Actually, the Hydrox.
Sometimes I see people on LinkedIn who stayed in their corporate careers. A lot of them are doing really well, but most stayed pretty much in the same job. Eleven years on, I sometimes have moments when I wonder what would have happened if I’d stayed with the corporation, kept battling up the ladder. Would things have been different?
The ’08 crash wiped us out, financially and emotionally. Had we not had each other to hold onto, it could have done us in spiritually too. There’s no guarantee I would have ridden out that hurricane from the safety of a corporate shelter, but I thought several times, as I traded my house for an apartment and continued to push my ancient Camrys to the breaking point, did I do the right thing striking out on my own?
Politicians, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all types get burned out. The problem is that because they are on center stage, the little subtleties that indicate that they aren’t at the top of their game are missed. Agendas get stuck. Leaders who have been previously energetic, focused, and a bit ahead of everyone else can get behind, and inertia sets in.
Those around them begin to whisper, get nostalgic for what was, and hope that the leader can turn it around. The signs of leadership burnout aren’t as simple as noting when someone locks him- or herself away. Burned out leaders stay active, but there is a sense that they’ve lost their edge.
The problem of leadership burnout is that no one is going to tell you. You are the person in charge. You are the entrepreneur with the great ideas. You are the CEO with ultimate authority. No one is going to come into your office and tell you that you’re losing your edge. You’re going to have to monitor yourself to make sure that you are on top of your game. It is crucial that you learn the symptoms of burnout so you can make a change before it’s too late.
Here are five signs to watch out for:
Do you own a company that markets business-to-business? If so, you know how important face-to-face prospecting and selling is for success. You’ve got to network, work the phone, make sales calls and more. But increasingly, B2B marketing is happening online—and if your small business is still relying too much on in-person marketing methods, you’re going to fall behind the curve.
Your business website is the essential starting point for online B2B marketing. Today, the sales funnel of B2B has changed, with buyers typically conducting much of their research online before ever reaching out to a company to make a purchase. Where once you could reach out to prospects personally, now it’s equally important to draw them in through online marketing and content that gets them interested, provides information and answers their questions. That way, by the time they contact you, they’re halfway sold on your product or service already.
Detroit in January is largely filled with just one group of people, petrolheads.
They come to the Detroit Motor Show in droves, eager to get a peek at the latest offerings from the big three US car makers and the European manufacturers who are competing for market share in the lucrative car market.
But car firms here, while continuing to focus on horsepower, are beginning to turn their attention to processing power.
That’s because most analysts agree that if car makers want to appeal to a younger generation, who are driving approximately 23% less than they used to, they’ll need to shrink cars into, well, iPhones.
Imagine your business without an Internet connection. Customers depend on getting service from you online or via your IP phone system. Employees need to communicate and collaborate, and are often doing that online (even when they are located in the same office!) The Internet is fast becoming one of the top sales and marketing channels for small businesses.
A lot is at stake with your business, if your Internet is slow or unreliable.
Depending on where your business is located you may have many choices or few choices. Whatever your situation, here are some important considerations to take into account to choose the best Internet service provider for your business:
JANE POYNTER HAS a mesmerizing way of describing what it will be like to be shuttled to the ends of the Earth in the souped-up space balloon being developed by her company, World View.
You’ll arrive at the launch site predawn, Poynter says, and step inside a comfortable capsule with a few other passengers. You’ll lift off the ground, and float upward for an hour and a half, gently rising at a speed of about 1,000 feet a minute. When you arrive at the top of the atmosphere, Poynter says, you’ll see “the most unbelievable panorama of stars” around you. The sun, rising up over the ground below you, will begin to creep over the horizon and light up the Earth below. You’ll hover in that place for about an hour before gliding back to the ground using a rectangular parachute called a parafoil.
Fitness apps are all the rage. A raft of new companies and products want to track your steps and count your calories with the aim of melting that excess blubber. There’s just one problem — most of these apps don’t work. In fact, there is good reason to believe they make us fatter.
One study called out “the dirty secret of wearables,” citing that “these devices fail to drive long-term sustained engagement for a majority of users.” Endeavour Partners’ research found “more than half of U.S. consumers who have owned a modern activity tracker no longer use it. A third of U.S. consumers who have owned one stopped using the device within six months of receiving it.”
While the report mentioned several reasons why people don’t stick with these tracking devices, my own theory is simple: They backfire. Here are three surprising reasons why fitness apps may be making us less happy and more flabby.
Do you talk to your employees regularly? Of course you do — you email and instant message them daily, hold meetings and conference calls with them, and if they’re in the office, you stop by their desks to check in. But are you having the types of conversations that really matter?
If you find that you’re only discussing day-to-day projects and job duties with your staff, there’s a good chance they’re not feeling very engaged and connected with their work. Discussions that make employees feel valued, such as their long-term goals and personal strengths, typically happen during formal performance evaluations, but in reality, these issues should be brought up much more frequently than many managers realize.
Nobody wants to be audited by the IRS, but many taxpayers make simple mistakes that can lead to just that.
Many Americans will file their income tax return early before the April 15 deadline to receive their tax refund. Some IRS audits are randomly selected and based solely on a statistical formula, the IRS says, but other audits can happen when documents simply don’t add up.
Here are five common red flags that could lead to an audit:
