OK, last of the "think tank" presentations. This is the shortest, but I think that perhaps you will find it to be the most valuable. It is a Ted Talk from Richard St. John's, who presents his "8 Secrets of Success" in 3 and a half minutes! Watch below:
And comment here on the blog - look forward to the conversation!
OK, here's a great presentation from Fred Wilson, who is one of the leading venture capitalists in America (He is a managing partner at Union Square Ventures and also founded Flatiron Partners). Here is Wilson's talk on "10 Ways to Be Your Own Boss":
Image via CrunchBaseOK, now's the time to help! Just one more day left to vote for my proposal in the GE Challenge! Here's the direct link to vote in the contest (just takes a minute to register and vote in the contest): http://challenge.ecomagination.com/ct/ct_a_view_idea.bix?c=ideas&idea_id=01B1F540-EAF5-4E54-ADF0-E9422A269A64&sms_ss=twitter
Please forward this on to your friends - real and virtual - this is a great idea that GE has for crowdsourcing potential solutions to promote clean energy and energy savings! I appreciate each and every one of you who will help by voting (and spreading the word) as the contest ends Thursday night!
Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!
David
P.S. And for some background, here's the press release from Southeastern Louisiana University's Public Information Office:
Competitive purchasing of energy could apply to individuals, groups
Contact: Rene Abadie
9/27/10
HAMMOND – A method of purchasing energy that has resulted in millions of dollars in savings by large companies and municipalities could be adapted for individual and neighborhood use with consequent reductions in energy costs, according to an expert in the field.
Reverse auctions, in which large purchasers of power match their energy consumption needs with supplier capacity, are not just creating energy cost savings but also encouraging smarter energy production and allocation on the grid, explained David Wyld, Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University.
“In deregulated environments – such as in Texas and a number of East Coast states – consumers are not limited to usual local provider but are able to purchase from a number of sources, along the lines of the deregulated telephone industry,” said Wyld. “In those environments, reverse energy would help consumers save on their energy bills and ‘go green’ in the process.”
Wyld’s proposal to develop an e-marketplace for consumers has been entered in the GE Ecomagination Challenge (www.challenge.ecomagination.com/ideas), which runs through the end of September. The challenge is seeking innovative ideas in smart energy generation and usage. Winning projects will be funded with a total of $200 million in capital. GE is using online votes to help determine the ideas that will move forward to become finalists for seed funding. Wyld is seeking votes on his “Reverse Energy” proposal from individuals and groups who support the concept at http://bit.ly/dcm5xw.
“One thing that is certain today is that for all the abundance of energy resources we have, there is a great deal of improvement in how we allocate, distribute, buy and sell electricity,” said Wyld, who serves as the director of the Reverse Auction Research Center. “With the advent of electrical deregulation in an increasing number of states, Louisiana not being one of them, and the newfound capability for businesses and consumers to actually return energy to the grid, the marketplace is ripe for a competitive bidding approach to bring real time supply and demand efficiency to the energy marketplace.”
Wyld’s proposal would be to develop an exchange site that would bring real time efficiencies to the energy market. It would be a competitive bidding exchange where individual consumers and groups of residents in an area could post their energy requirements and have rival energy providers compete for their business.
“In this environment, big utility firms would compete with both companies and individuals who would be returning excess energy capacity to the grid to supply the energy needs of individual consumers,” he explained.
Through a reverse auction process, consumers – acting individually or in concert with others in their area – would post their energy buying requirements on the exchange, he said. The pre-qualified utility companies and alternative energy providers would be able to bid for the business.
Wyld said reverse energy has the promise of incentivizing green energy procurement and bringing the benefits of competitive bidding to individuals and consumer groups.
“It’s an appropriate solution to give consumers power to choose their energy providers and for electrical power providers to compete to make green energy more available and more affordable for the growing numbers of consumers who find themselves with the right to choose their energy providers.”
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Here's a great presentation from Seth Godin, one of THE leading thinkers out there in the marketing world today (and a thought leader whose thoughts are ALWAYS on the mark!). Watch Seth's presentation on "This is broken" below:
Here's a great video from another "big idea" site that I really love and one that you should bookmark and check for good, fresh thinking on business, technology, and creativity - The 99% - (http://the99percent.com/). In this video below, Scott Belsky, CEO and Founder of Behance, speaks about "How To Avoid The Idea Generation Trap":
Interesting stuff - look forward to the discussion!
Here's another great Ted talk (what a great resource - check the collection of these at http://www.ted.com/ - and bookmark and visit this site often). This Ted talk is from Chris Anderson, the author of Free (and a number of other fine works). It is entitled "How web video powers global innovation," and it talks about crowdsourcing and the power of the Internet to accelerate innovation. Watch by clicking below:
Interesting stuff - look forward to the discussion!
Remember decision trees? Thought you'd never get to use them for yourself. Well, dust off those brain cells and see this great article below, which shows you simple methods to map-out your options for your career - and/or grad school! See:
OK, there are a ton of resume sites and resume help books out there, but this one article will tell you as much as any of them in about 2 minutes. Read it by clicking on the link below:
This is a great article from Forbes. I like how they give you tips from folks who actually succeeded at getting jobs through these job hunting strategies - and yes - tricks. See the article below:
This overview of Benchmarking was prepared by John J. Nugent IV while a Management and Accounting major in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University.
OK, we preach spellchecking in all your papers, assignments, tests in college (and as I joke with my students, Microsoft Word isn't kidding with those red and green squiggly lines!). Here's a real-life advertising story from CNN - made all the more embarrassing because of who's the client. Watch:
So, what's your worst spellcheck fail - in school or at work? What's the worst you've seen (if you have a link, post it!).
Look forward to the conversation here on the blog!
GE is running a contest through the end of September for innovative ideas in smart energy. This international context will help the company determine which projects to fund with $200 million in capital. You can see my idea, "Reverse Energy," at this link and vote for it on their GE Ecomagination Challenge site:
Your vote will help my chances of seeing the project funded - and it will be an innovative way to enable us individual consumers to take advantage of reverse auctions - like big companies and big government agencies do right now - to save on our energy bills AND help promote alternative energy through competition! Please cast your vote AND help me by posting this to your Facebook, your Twitter, your Email list, anything to help drum-up votes.
Here's a great interview with 'Griftopia' Author Matt Taibbi on what goes on behind-the-scenes on Wall Street and why it matters for the economy. Matt Taibbi is a great writer (you can read his stuff regularly in Rolling Stone). Watch his interview with Don Imus ("How Wall Street is Really Run") - and yes, there is some humor to be found in all of this financial collapse:
Comment here on the blog about the interview and the bigger story of the financial mess!
OK, there's a lot of anticipation and buzz out there over the release of the movie, "The Social Network," about Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. You can watch the trailer for the movie below:
For an in-depth look at the "story behind the story" of Facebook, watch this clip from "Morning Joe" with the author of a New Yorker cover story on the company and its leader:
So, will you go and watch the movie (or have you seen it)? Does any or all of this change what you think about Facebook? What do you see for Facebook in the future?
Steve Hartman's segments on CBS News are some of the best news being done in any format today. So, to introduce you to his work, but more importantly, to a great, inspiring story, please watch the clip below. It chronicles a young Argentinian, Sandro Giovannini, who has succeeded in life by taking a different - and difficult - path, but with - and because of - the great attitude that he has. Watch below:
Here's a great story that merges culture and sports - it comes from "60 Minutes" and it is entitled "American Samoa: Football Island" - watch below (it's one of the best stories you will watch this year):
This overview of ‘What Business Leaders Need to Know about Ethics’ was prepared by Chad Harvell while an Accounting major in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Image by Gulltaggen via Flickr
