Tag: Entrepreneurship
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First Reactions to the World Foresight Forum. A Note About Empowerment.
I find the idea of “inspirational leadership” vacuous. The excitement of an individual about a topic or an idea, top-down inspiration, is bullshit. What if I told you that I don’t want someone to tell me what to do or how to think. What if I don’t want someone to precipitate that “inspired”, energized feeling…
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Why Inspirational Speaker-Entrepreneurs Are So Disappointing
An excerpt from my most recent Flyover Geeks post. Read the whole thing here. What is it that makes a charismatic leader? Is it his or her message, or its delivery? Or is it something else, perhaps the inclination of the audience to believe it? In 1978, 918 people died at the Peoples Temple Agricultural…
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On Being an Entrepreneur: A Maker’s Manifesto
Below is an excerpt of an essay I wrote for Flyover Geeks. Read the whole thing here. As the (very) unofficial higher-education reporter for Flyover Geeks, I’ve said a lot about college, what’s wrong with it, some of its good bits, and how it needs to change. The first piece I published here was about…
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Winklevoss, v. [trans.]
1) [tech startup-specific] Coerce (someone) with technical expertise in computer science to build the startup idea of a non-technical founder, usually with a minimal ownership stake in the final product. : Tony has a really good idea for a web application, but will have to winklevoss a technical cofounder. 2) [general] Manipulate those with expertise to…
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So I’ve Got This Really Big Idea
I have an idea for a web-based application (with the eventual release of an iPad app as well) which acts as a platform for collaborative note-taking. I’ve already figured out the user interface (though I’m always looking for advice), and most of the front-end functionality and basic frameworks.
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The Echo Chamber
Inside the echo chamber. Shouting match with the walls. Friends, a blithe coterie singing merrily inward. To and from each other. To no other but themselves. Go forth they say: Collaborate. Create. Succeed. Make Possible. Live Expansively. Fund and Incorporate. Drive and Innovate. Rise above. Embrace uncertainty. Seize. Attack ferociously. Make it bleed. Sustain. Run…
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IncubatorU
Now, I’m sure hordes of grumpy old men in tweed jackets collectively carp about the increasing focus on commerce in the classroom, about the decay of classic liberal arts dogma about Truth and Beauty, and all that jazz. What I say to that: grow up. Fact: for as long as a college degree is a…
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On Redefining Intellectual Entrepreneurship
The intellectual entrepreneur is one who develops, researches, discovers, or learns in order to fulfill objectives beyond the attainment of credentials, approval of peers, or furthering of career goals in a manner or process primarily outside the bounds of extant educational institutions, systems, and pedagogies.
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Why Young Geeks Leave School
For this series, I’ve Skyped gawky, venture-capitalized college kids who’re still grappling with acne. It seems as though tech entrepreneurs are getting younger.