Innovation
10 emerging technologies every company should pay attention to
Business leaders know they must prepare for technological upheavals in the years ahead. But keeping up-to-date on new technologies—to say nothing of understanding their complexities and forecasting those shifts—is an […]
What is cryptocurrency’s role in the future of money?
Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use online ledgers, called blockchains, to record transactions. These blockchains are decentralized, meaning the permanent record is not stored in one location but exists on […]
Why the future of technology will surprise you
Predicting how emerging technologies will impact industry is more difficult than it seems—and it seems plenty difficult. The reason is that we envision the future based on the present. We […]
Why governing AI is crucial to human survival
Artificial intelligence (AI) has already changed the world. AI algorithms have been incorporated into everyday applications—such as social media, web mapping, facial recognition, and virtual home assistants—to make them more […]
7 great books on emerging technologies (for anyone)
The world is changing, and technology is driving that change. Today, that observation is about as compelling as the insight that water runs downhill. It’s just what technology (and water) […]
Don’t let your business become anti-human: Watch for these 2 dangers.
Anti-human business practices deteriorate their charges, and there’s perhaps no greater warning of this end result than the life of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. Nobel invented dynamite in 1867 with […]
Will your product be a hit or a flop? This simple rule can help you decide.
What makes something a hit or a flop? Sit and ponder that one, and you’ll find it’s a stumper. At first, the answer seems obvious: popularity. That’s not quite right […]
The Best of the Best: Big Think+ in 2020
For many, 2020 will not be remembered as a “best of” much. We don’t need to repeat the reasons here; it’s sufficient to point out that a 100-year pandemic was […]
6 steps for building your innovation prototyping kit
Writers, filmmakers, and mythologizing biographers tend to imagine innovation originates with a lone genius who has “the spark,” that light-bulb moment when the path from inspiration to world-altering invention reveals […]
How should human values shape the future of AI?
There’s a fortune to be made in data and silicon, and everyone is out for their share. Artificial intelligence is this century’s gold rush. Its promises scintillate in them there […]
Innovate like a venture capitalist: Drive your digital transformation with the 10-5-4-1 Model.
Every organization needs the capacity to generate disruptive ideas. No one can afford to stand still and pretend that past habits will guarantee future success. If your organization isn’t ready […]
Don’t become a fossil. Evolve your business through culture.
Crocodiles have been called “living fossils.” That is, the species has remained unaltered for vast periods of geologic time. They’ve become so perfectly adapted to their ecological niche that millions […]
Is your business ready for the next black swan? Watch for these 2 signals.
Let’s talk about swans. All swans are birds or, more specifically, waterfowl. They are large and sport long, slender necks. They migrate south for the winter, traveling in that eye-catching […]
Avoid these pitfalls to achieve customer service excellence
When we look at some of the companies with notoriously bad customer service, like Comcast, Bank of America, or United Airlines, it could be tempting to say that good customer […]
The real secret to success? Get to know your customers.
It doesn’t hurt to be quick, responsive, friendly, efficient, or reliable. But for A. G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, the most important ingredient to making your customers […]
How brand evangelists can provide the ultimate word-of-mouth advertising
Any business owner wants to make sure they’re giving their customers an ideal experience. Not only are happy customers more likely to be repeat customers, but they can serve as […]
Are you the one? How to flex your value and beat out the competition
Why should customers buy from you instead of your competitors? That’s the question at the heart of making a sale in a competitive market, says Matt Dixon, Global Head of […]
If you’re making decisions without data, you’re losing time and money. Here’s why.
Every day, humanity generates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. Every minute, users are sharing nearly 500,000 tweets, watching more than 4 million YouTube videos, and conducting more than 3.6 million […]
Need to hire and get it right? Follow the hiring strategy of an interview master.
While fewer companies these days rely solely on interviews in deciding who to hire, interviews still have value in that they can reveal the difference between a candidate as a […]
This 3-step method will help you hire—and retain—millennial talent
If a new hire is expected to put in 40 hours, 50 hours, or even more at their job, their new position will be their life for as long as […]
Stand out from the pack, with comedian and author Baratunde Thurston
Social media wunderkind Baratunde Thurston says we’re living in an age of information overabundance, but that this needn’t be a problem. Just as supermarkets offer us many more choices of […]
For growth, identify what’s fixed and what’s flexible
For a startup, growth is a straightforward matter of scaling up: adding employees, setting up distribution channels, and so on. But, says David Butler in his Big Think+ video “Design […]
5-year plan? How about a 500-year plan?
Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, is a programmer. When he got the idea to begin posting free online classes, he was able to get the basic infrastructure in place […]
China’s economy: The good, the bad, and the future
Weijian Shan, chairman of the PAG group, sees a bright future for investors in China, as long as they understand the evolving nature of the country’s economic growth. Though China’s […]
Winners and losers: Understand Asia to stay on top of your game
“History is always written by the winners,” goes the saying. It’s also true that history is continually being made, and the identity of the “winner” continually shifts. In his Big […]
How LinkedIn uses personalized learning to boost company IQ
As Chief Learning Officer at Degreed and former Chief Learning Officer at LinkedIn, Kelly Palmer has thought a lot about architecting effective learning environments for employees seeking to grow their […]
There’s no hiding from what your KPIs are telling you
Key performance indicators, KPIs, are not new: It’s said that way back in the third century, China’s Wei dynasty began using them to rate the behavior of members of the […]
Beth Comstock: What a GE crisis taught me about accountability
By 2003, General Electric, now better known as GE, had a reputation problem. Its long-time image as a company at the forefront of a sparkling future had been shaken. After […]
Build resilience like a Navy SEAL. Step 1: Run a S.W.O.T analysis.
Brent Gleeson is a business consultant, author, and former Navy SEAL. In that last role, he’s learned about the importance of resiliency when working through challenges. He’s not just talking […]
Transparency today creates solid decision-making tomorrow
Business experts recommend transparency as a way to strengthen engagement by keeping employees in touch with the meaning and value of their work, and to help hold decision-makers accountable for […]