In his book “Real Leaders Don’t Follow,” Silicon Valley management consultant and former senior executive Steve Tobak busts many of today’s most popular leadership and entrepreneurial myths. Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen sees himself as a visionary, an idea man; that much is clear from his book, Idea Man: A Memoir[…] Read On
My parents spent their entire adult lives working at jobs they hated. They were miserable. It was painful to watch and even more painful to experience growing up. It truly sucked for everyone involved. Naturally I decided early on not to do that. I figured that whatever I did for[…] Read On
When Alexander Fleming accepted the Nobel Prize for co-discovering Penicillin in 1945, he warned that misuse could enable bacteria to develop resistance to his miracle drug. You can’t get much more prescient than that. Today’s Earth is a veritable Petrie dish of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And like the Martians in H.[…] Read On
Most of what I do for a living involves getting other people to think and act differently. In other words, to do the dreaded “c” word: change. The irony is, when it comes to changing, I’m just as stubborn as everyone else. I don’t always practice what I preach. And[…] Read On
Well into my third decade on this planet I barely knew the difference between left and right. My political philosophy was simple: If you have to rely on the government for anything, you’re doomed. Besides, I had way more important things to think about like world domination and curing hangovers.[…] Read On
Sometimes we get so fixated on solving a problem that’s gotten under our skin that we don’t realize the solution is worse than the problem. If you’ve ever gone full Bill Murray in Caddyshack on a backyard critter, you know what I’m talking about. A couple of years ago I[…] Read On
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen wants to teach machines common sense. Maybe he should start by teaching humans. The Seattle Seahawks owner and mega-investor has earmarked $125 million for a project so artificial intelligence can “approach human abilities,” he said. Oren Etzioni, CEO of AI2, Allen’s AI research center, added that[…] Read On