In this series, professionals attending Next:Economy share their insights on the future of work. Read the posts here, then write your own. Use #NextEconomy somewhere in the body of the post and @mention Next:Economy conference panelists when sharing. For more insight and news on the Next:Economy, sign up for the weekly newsletter here. In the U.S. alone, almost 5.9 million jobs currently go…
Earlier this year, as Donald Trump turned the Republican primary debates into an endless Friars Club Roast, my team and I started talking about this political circus and its impact on democracy. Is it good or bad to present presidential debates as glitzy, prime-time game shows? Are campaign rallies that feature more group chanting than…
In 2012, Donald Trump called President Obama “the least transparent president in the history of this country.” Then he offered to donate $5 million to charity if President Obama would release “his college records and applications” and his “passport applications and records.” Now, in 2016, Trump is facing a similar challenge from a 26-year-old Marine…
Recall Judge Aaron Persky Three months ago, former Stanford student Brock Turner was convicted on three counts of sexual felony assault, for crimes he committed against an intoxicated and unconscious woman next to a dumpster outside a frat party. Today, he is being released from Santa Clara County Jail after serving just half of his six-month sentence. While…
The Seventh Sense will help you develop a feel for the Networked Age As Joshua Cooper Ramo suggests in his important new book, The Seventh Sense, massively scaled, always-on connection changes the nature of objects and institutions. A heart-rate monitor that shares information with a million other heart-rate monitors functions differently than one that operates in standalone fashion. The…
Spoiler Alert: Richard is the best manager on the show (True spoiler alert: This essay contains spoilers about the Season 3 finale; you have been warned!) While you might think that HBO’s Silicon Valley is a hit comedy about startups, venture capital, programming, egos, sex (well, for Erlich and Jared, at least), friendship, mind-altering drugs (well, for Erlich…
Mitch McConnell and other Republican senators should do their jobs As an entrepreneur and investor, I prioritize construction and collaboration.Whether it’s a five-person start-up or a global giant, the companies that are most productive are the ones whose employees operate with a shared sense of purpose and a clear set of policies for responding to changing conditions and new…
It was an honor to speak to hundreds of entrepreneurs from around the world in the plenary session of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, hosted by The White House and the State Department at Stanford University. This post is the extended version of my remarks. Part I: Why is entrepreneurship important to society? “All humans were born…
This essay originally appeared on MIT Sloan Management Review as part of their Frontiers Essay Series. Each essay is a response to this question: “Within the next five years, how will technology change the practice of management in a way we have not yet witnessed?” Artificial Intelligence is about to transform management from an art…
Companies have many founding moments. Founding moments are the key inflection points when leaders decide to change a path in order to better, or more quickly, realize their mission. We typically only think about the first founding moment, hiring a CEO, or the IPO, when in fact there are many. Today marks a founding moment for…
Introducing the Berggruen Philosophy Prize and my nominee for it, Robert Wright “We need more welders and less philosophers,” Marco Rubio exclaimed during a presidential debate last fall. The larger point he was trying to make was about the virtues of vocational training, and the role it can play in helping young people develop relevant skills that…
Imagine yourself one hundred years from now. Yes, you’re still alive, breathing through genetically engineered pig lungs, and having dinner at your favorite restaurant. A robot waiter rolls up to refill your glass of wine, which is equipped with a sensor that allows the restaurant to automatically deduct $10 from your Bitcoin account. Your companion, who doesn’t actually…
When I wrote The Alliance with my co-authors Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh, we had a vision of transforming the world of work by helping companies and employees understand how to build stronger, longer, more honest relationships with each other. To help others adopt that vision, we co-founded Allied Talent with Chip Joyce, to guide organizations and managers on how to…
Recently I was talking with the noted surgeon, writer, and public health researcher Atul Gawande about his demanding schedule – and how he tries to manage it for maximum impact. As I described the framework I use to navigate Silicon Valley and all its potential deals and alliances, Atul suggested my approach could help any…
Since our book, “The Alliance”, came out last year, people have asked me to explain the different Tours of Duty. “The Alliance” shows how and why a manager and her employee should structure that employee’s work as a tour of duty—a specific mission that, if achieved, advances the business of the company, and the career…