Designers don’t create products. They create experiences. And in the time of COVID-19, when so many activities take place online, a lot of those experiences are bad. How can you ensure that you provide a stellar user experience? Try to anticipate problems and recognize potential pain points. Using new technology? Test it, then test it […]
One Person Can Make or Break Your Organization
There’s a lot of focus on leadership in business, but the truth is that every person in an organization matters. A single employee may be the difference between whether a company-wide initiative succeeds or fails. In one study about collaboration, researchers found that when one person spoke up repeatedly and did not let other members […]
Expand Your Brand
There’s more to life than LinkedIn. If you’re thinking about transitioning into a new career or even entrepreneurship, employment-focused websites can be great. But don’t overlook social media platforms as a resource to build contacts and expand your audience. Your followers on social media can help you generate influence, find business opportunities that line up […]
Why It’s Hard to Get Started
Is it possible to become too invested in your work? Obviously, entrepreneurs need to be passionate. But it’s equally important to avoid fixating on perfection, which can delay the start date of a new product or service. The goal should always be to make the first sale as quickly as possible. First-time entrepreneurs sometimes suffer from inertia, letting their fear […]
Build Trust Fast
This week, the chief executives of Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Google were grilled by the US House Judiciary Committee. Members of both major American political parties have clamored for the four Big Tech firms to be investigated for violation of antitrust legislation. The four executives—Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, […]
Predict the Future
The famed statistician Nate Silver has his work cut out for him. 2020 has been a year of great upheaval and unrest, with uncertainty in the economy, in public health, and in the upcoming US presidential election. In The Signal and the Noise, Silver’s classic book about predictions, he offers an interesting piece of advice: don’t […]
The World’s Richest Man Just Got Richer
With Amazon’s stock up more than 50 percent this year, Jeff Bezos’s fortune has skyrocketed by more than $56 billion in 2020 alone. With a current net worth of more than $170 billion, Bezos is one of many billionaires, including Elon Musk, for whom business is thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic. To reward Amazon’s frontline […]
Power Is Fickle
Is Silicon Valley growing tired of its most iconic founders? The recent grifts of figures like Elizabeth Holmes and Adam Neumann may herald an era in which people are more skeptical of leaders with eccentric beliefs and habits. In this atmosphere (and under increasing pressure from the federal government), industry titans Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg […]
Style Your Business Like a Startup
These days, everyone’s an entrepreneur. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, startups were still all the rage: eye-popping IPOs drew attention to the ways that startups used dense talent pools and perk-laden headquarters to attract top talent and generate big wins for venture capitalists and early employees. But now that the economic outlook has soured, VC […]
Break Your Smartphone Addiction
Is your smartphone draining your time? Let’s be real: app developers and social media experience designers have already admitted they design their products to be addictive. If you’re feeling strapped for time and emotionally drained by the technology, yet reach for your phone whenever you need a distraction—well, you’re not alone. Millions of people have […]