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I'm in Chicago, speaking at the Quant Trading Conference. My topic was "Next-Generation Data" – what tools, technologies, and applications will be more critical for enabling alpha discovery |
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An Unexpected Overnight In Chicago – Weekly Links – May 20th, 2017
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Verne Harnish – On Scaling Up
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a video of me with Scott Harris - explaining that spending time with individuals who can understand your problems from a different point of view is the best way to 10x your growth.
Well, today, I want to share with you a conversation I had with Verne Harnish, who specializes in growth and scale. He is the founder of the Entrepreneur's Organization, Gazelles (which is a global executive education and coaching company), and Birthing of Giants (which is now called the Entrepreneurial Masters Program at MIT). So, he kind of knows what he's talking about.
Here is a brief video …
I recommend that you check out Verne's books – Scaling Up, Mastering The Rockefeller Habits, and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time.
He also offers some great one-page tools that you can download here.
Good Stuff!
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Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading – May 14th, 2017
Happy Mother's Day!
Here's to simpler times.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- Now We Know – Bill Clinton Cost His Wife the Presidency. (Washington Post)
- Creating Simple Rules for Complex Decisions. (HBR)
- Quantum Computing Demands a Whole New Kind of Programmer. (SingularityHub)
- Christian Governor in Indonesia Found Guilty of Blasphemy against Islam. (New York Times)
- Just How Crazy is the Trump Presidency? (FastCoD)
- Forbes Small Giants 2017: America's Best Small Companies. (Forbes)
- Apple Becomes First US Firm to Cross $800B Market Cap Threshold. (AppleInsider)
- IBM Faces Credit Rating Cut from S&P. (FT)
- Businessmen Start to Replace Soldiers as Israel’s Political Heroes. (Economist)
- It's Happening Again – And the Last 2 Times this Happened, The S&P 500 Fell by 57% and 19%. (Fool)
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The World’s New Most Valuable Resource … Data!
What is the #1 world commodity?
Is it Oil? Try to name a country that hasn't been reliant on it to survive.
OK, then what about water?
Nonetheless, arguably, a new commodity has taken over. In our new digital era, the #1 commodity is data. And countries (and businesses and people) are becoming even more reliant on it.
Consequently, some of the new tech titans – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft – have an unprecedented amount of data (and power).
via StatistaThe new tech titans also make a massive amount of money. According to the Economist, they collectively made over $25 billion in net profit in Q1 2017.
With those titans controlling so much of the industry, they're facing calls for them to be broken up, as Standard Oil or AT&T was.
There are questions, though. Is size, alone, an issue? Are these titans abusing their power? Do we need new forms of antitrust laws (or consumer protection laws) to handle them?
At this point, most of these titans' sites are monetarily free to use for consumers … But, does that mean that they don't require regulation? Realize, the free sites are a way to attract users, and then to sell data and ads to companies marketing to them.
One thing is for sure … Privacy is a rare commodity in a time of digital omniscience.
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – May 5th, 2017
I'm not above using obscure Mexican battles to justify a party.
Hope that you had a fun Cinco de Mayo.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- A Beginner’s Guide to Biohacking. (Bulletproof)
- How Baseballs are Manufactured. (ReliablePlant)
- Google Trips Wants to Make Your Summer Vacation Easier with New Features. (AndroidA)
- Amazon Wants to Put a Camera and Microphone in Your Bedroom. MotherBoard)
- The Inventor of Siri Says One Day AI Will Be Used to Upload and Access Our Memories. (Re/code)
- ETFs are ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction,’ FPA Capital Managers Say (Globe&Mail)
- No-Fee Stock Trading App Robinhood is Now Officially Worth $1.3 Billion. (BI)
- Life is Good for U.S. Home Sellers. (Money)
- Warren Buffett's 1991 Letter Perfectly Explains ESPN's Troubles. (Insider)
- ESPN Fires 100 On-air Personalities, Will Focus on Apps W/ More Live News & Video Streaming Features. (9to5Mac)
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Face Your Fears – Will Smith’s Video
Recently, Will Smith shared a video of himself at Skydive Dubai.
Apparently, the experience taught him much more than how to jump out of a plane.
"The point of maximum danger is the point of minimum fear."Worth a watch.via YouTube
Likewise, Tony Robbins preaches the importance of expanding your "threshold of control."
The idea is that you need to continuously push your limits and grow your tolerance of what is within your comfort zone.
Think about the problems and annoyances you had when you were 18, 13, or 8 … Chances are that they were much smaller than what you now face comfortably.
Expanding your thresholds of control, and facing your fears (and discomforts) is a big part of growth.
In my company, we call it "Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable."
The old way wasn't enough, and the tools and techniques that got you where you are, won't get you where you want to be.
So, into the unknown we go.
What do think will catapult you to that next level?
What's the first step?
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“The Absolute Dominance of the U.S. Economy”
Despite all the drama with Trump, fear of economic issues, etc. America's status as an economic superpower is intact.
The chart below tallies the GDP of nations and represents each nation's GDP as a percentage of the global economy.
via MarketWatchThe U.S. economy is by far the largest at over $18 trillion.
By Continent, Asia overshadows North America and Europe. Yet, China (America's closest competitor) only has a GDP of approximately $11 Trillion.
There is a vast difference between the "Have" and "Have Not" countries.
For example, South America's four biggest economies account for 4% of the global GDP, while Asia accounts for 33.84%.
Impressive, but I suspect that America's success (globally) engenders the same resentment that the "One-Percent" get here in America.
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The Top 50 Corporations (By Revenue)
Which are the largest corporations (based on Fortune's Global 500)?
Before we answer, keep in mind that "largest" doesn't mean most successful; revenue is only one indicator of corporate success.
via Reddit's Data Is BeautifulAny up there (or not up there) that surprised you?
Looking at it organized by nation is pretty interesting as well.
To see the full list, check out Fortune's article here.
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Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading – April 29th, 2017
Might be easier to solve a Rubik's Cube than to be President Trump. Check out his first 100 days.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
- Elon Musk and the 100 Hour Error. (MichaelHyatt)
- Gigaom's AI Startup Challenge – Finalists. (GigaOM)
- Access to Nature Reduces Depression and Obesity, Finds European Study. (TheGuardian)
- Fixing Lousy Sleep Could Keep Us Healthy Longer. (Futurity)
- Lab-Grown Meat is Almost Here. (BigThink)
- Former Fed Advisor Says the Central Bank Shouldn't Comment on Equities. (CNBC)
- Quantopian Makes First Allocations to Crowd-Sourced Algorithms. (HedgeWeek)
- Fintech: Revolution or Evolution? (Ritholtz)
- Norway to Spend $315M on World's First Ship Tunnel. (CNN)
- BlackRock Signals Active Overhaul with Shift to Quant. (FTAdviser)
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The Secret to a Successful Company …
Last week, I took 4 team members to Infusionsoft's ICON - a small business automation conference.
You might wonder why I went, and why I took so many people …
One of my core values is the idea of "Learn and Grow."
Meaning, if you grow the people, you grow the company.
Even at an artificial intelligence company, people are an invaluable resource, and if you're not giving them opportunities to better themselves you're wasting that resource.
Technology replaces a lot of what humans do, and will continue to replace more and more … the beauty of that is that it frees up your team to think better thoughts, innovate, and create a better future.
I talked with Scott Harris, Founder of Millionaire Mentoring & Ultimate Coach (and emcee of the event) about his thoughts on the subject:
He echoed that investing in your own growth, and the growth of your people (emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, intellectually) is a major key to success.
And it can be hard to do that in the same space, with the same constraints, surrounded by the same people.
While you may think the best spot to create transformation is in a quiet secluded spot, uninterrupted by the world, you can learn more while surrounded by people in the same mindset as you, but with different perspectives.
Going to a conference, or a mastermind, is a great way to be in a "solution space" with other great people and find best next steps.