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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – December 31st, 2017
Recently, Apple was caught slowing down old iPhones (supposedly, to preserve battery life), and now faces at least 12 class action lawsuits because of it.
via The OatmealHere's a related graph of search trends in relation to new iPhone releases. Assume there's a Placebo Effect and confounding variables … it's still an interesting chart.
DataIsBeautiful via RedditHere are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- The Best Business and Leadership Books of 2017. (FastCompany)
- Fueled by Drug Crisis, U.S. Life Expectancy Declines for a Second Straight Year. (WP)
- NFL Cancels Sunday Night Football this Week. (Money)
- When to Decentralize Decision Making, and When Not To. (HBR)
- 4 Technology Trends that Will Transform Our World in 2018. (Fortune)
- Highlights of the Final Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. (AdvisorPerspectives)
- Twelve Books Everyone in Finance Will Be Talking about in 2018. (BPS)
- Harry Markowitz: My Advice to Investors Today. (EvidenceInvestor)
- I Need a Blockchain Vacation' Here's What Looks Overhyped in Fintech for 2018. (MarketWatch)
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IPOs of Today and Tomorrow
There's always an opportunity in the market; some are short-term speculation, others are long-term regime shifts … things that terraform industries and change our world.
I'm excited about 2018. Several new technologies have the opportunity to be game changers. So do several companies.
To put the current state of IPOs in perspective, Way back in 1996 there were 706 initial public offerings, fast forward to 2016 and there were only 105 IPOs. 2017 showed an almost 50% increase, which is great (except when you compare it to what was).
Here's a look back at some of the opportunities from years gone by. Click to see a bigger picture.
via RCM Alternatives
Twitter has struggled to monetize, despite being used by millions of people (including Donald Trump).
Any predictions for 2018?
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A Time for Possibility …
Happy New Year!
Many of you have been planning and goal setting for 2018. If you're like me, you may feel like a bobblehead from time-to-time.
There's a difference between planning for what you know you can accomplish versus shooting for what you really want.
Here's a picture of one of my holiday gifts (from my younger son, Zach).
I thought they did a pretty good job. It was created using pictures from four different angles.
Pretty clever!
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – December 22nd, 2017
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- How One Connection Could Change Your Life (In Less Than 90 Days). (Forbes)
- Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds. (NewYorker)
- Long Island Iced Tea Soars after Changing Its Name to Long Blockchain. (Bloomberg)
- How Quantum Computing Will Change the World. (NewStatesman)
- Cracking the World Famous Enigma Machine with Artificial Intelligence in Just 13 Minutes. (7WData)
- Here's How the Tax Bill Will Affect the Richest 1% in All 50 States. (CNBC)
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Just Sold $1.1 Billion Worth of His Stock. (Money)
- This Animation Shows the Explosion in ICO Funding over the Last Four Years. (Insider)
- The First $100 Billion Dollar Blockchain Company Could Be the next SAP. (Forbes)
- Worldwide Cognitive Systems and Artificial Intelligence Revenues Forecast to Surge past $47 Billion in 2020, According to New IDC Spending Guide. (IDC)
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Can You Afford To Think Linearly in this Exponential Age?
Human's can't do a lot of things. Honestly, the fact that we're top of the food-chain is pretty miraculous.
We're slow, we're weak, and we're famously bad at understanding large numbers and exponential growth.
Our brains are hardwired to think locally and linearly.
It's a monumental task for us to fathom exponential growth … let alone its implications.
Think how many companies have failed due to that inability … Radioshack couldn't understand a future where shopping was done online and Kodak didn't think digital cameras would replace good ol' film. Blockbuster couldn't foresee a future where people would want movies in their mailboxes, because "part of the joy is seeing all your options!" They didn't even make it long enough to see "Netflix and Chill" become a thing.
via Diamandis
Human perception is linear. Technological growth is exponential.
There are many examples. Here is one Diamandis calls "The Kodak Moment."
In 1996, Kodak was at the top of its game, with a market cap of over $28 billion and 140,000 employees.
Few people know that 20 years earlier, in 1976, Kodak had invented the digital camera. It had the patents and the first-mover advantage.
But that first digital camera was a baby that only its inventor could love and appreciate.
That first camera took .01 megapixel photos, took 23 seconds to record the image to a tape drive, and only shot in black and white.
Not surprisingly, Kodak ignored the technology and its implications.
Fast forward to 2012, when Kodak filed for bankruptcy – disrupted by the very technology that they invented and subsequently ignored.
via Diamandis
Innovation is a reminder that you can't be medium-obsessed. Kodak's goal was to preserve memories. It wasn't to sell film. Blockbuster's goal wasn't to get people in their stores, it was to get movies in homes.
Henry Ford famously said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Steve Jobs was famous for spending all his time with customers, but never asking them what they wanted.
Two of our greatest innovators realized something that many never do. Being conscientious of your consumers doesn't necessarily mean listening to them. It means thinking about and anticipating their wants and future needs.
Tech and A.I. are creating tectonic forces throughout industry and the world. It is time to embrace and leverage what that makes possible. History has many prior examples of Creative Destruction (and what gets left in the dust).
Opportunity or Chaos … You get to decide.
Onward!
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What Type of Leader Are You?
The leadership in your company is often the difference between a good company and a great company.
Leadership (not just the boss, but the top-level managers as well) can make or break a company.
Am I hands-on or hands-off? Am I encouraging my team to grow? Have I made our company objectives and values inherent?
These are all questions that we – as leaders – need to be asking.
As you answer those questions, you can also be thinking about what leader archetype you follow …
- Laissez-Faire leaders are hands-off. They don't directly supervise employees or provide regular feedback. Highly trained employees may benefit from this style, but most employees find this a hindrance.
- Transactional leaders show the difference between a leader and a manager. They're worried about tasks and provide reward/punishment based solely on task completion.
- Autocratic leaders make decisions without the input of others. They possess total authority and impose their will on their employees. This can benefit low-level employees who require close supervision. This will stifle creative employees.
- Participative leaders are democratic. They value the input of their team members but hold ultimate decision-making power. This can cause challenges when there's a time crunch.
- Transformational leaders require high levels of communication from their management team. They motivate employees through effective communication and high visibility. This requires more involvement from the various layers of management.
Or you can check out this less serious flowchart to see which fictional boss you are.
via FastCompany
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – December 17th, 2017
I just saw the new Star Wars with my family.
It's a bit crazy to think about what percentage of my life occurred since the original came out
I can still remember watching the first one.
BTW, I'm not 60 yet … but, I am pushing double nickels.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
- LeBron James: Keeping a Billion-dollar Body in Shape. (CNN)
- Success Strategies from a Self-made Billionaire. (TonyRobbins)
- When Robots Dream: AI Systems May Learn Better and Faster If They Can Sleep'. (Siliconangle)
- Machine Ethics and Artificial Moral Agents. (KDNuggets)
- The CIA is Telling Us How the Agency Uses Americans' Data. (Mashable)
- FCC Revokes the Net Neutrality Rules. (NordVPN)
- Janet Yellen Calls Bitcoin 'Highly Speculative'. (CNN)
- Driverless Cars Will Change Auto Insurance. Here's How Insurers Can Adapt. (HBR)
- This Investor Says Millennials are 'Starting to Buy Homes in a Big Way'. (CNBC)
- Google Leads in the Race to Dominate Artificial Intelligence. (Economist)
