Sunday, February 26, 2017

Fwd: leadership during exponential times – pt 1


How do top CEOs lead during this exponential age?

How do you manage the explosion of information and onslaught of increasing competition?

How do you sort through the abundance of opportunity and prevent getting burned out?

How do you maintain agility during today's tsunami of change?

Today's blog is the first of three parts deriving insights and advice from three incredible, forward-thinking leaders: Beth Comstock, Sue Siegel, and Arianna Huffington (their bios are below).

Beth, Sue and Arianna participated in my 2017 Abundance 360 CEO Summit in a module called "Exponential Leadership."

There is gold in this blog for any exponential leader, so let's dive in.

Meet the Exponential Leaders

Beth Comstock is the Vice Chairman of GE. In this capacity, she leads GE's efforts to accelerate new growth. She heads GE's business innovations including GE Lighting, GE Ventures, GE Licensing, GE sales, marketing and communications. And since 2008, she has served as GE's Chief Marketing Commercial Officer.

Sue Siegel is the CEO of GE Ventures. She heads their growth innovation business investing, licensing new creations. Previously, Sue was the President of Affymetrix, and she's had 30 years of combined commercial experience. She's also on my board at Human Longevity Inc., which I'm very proud of, and GE is an investor in HLI.

Arianna Huffington is the Founder of Huffington Post, the Founder and CEO of Thrive Global and a fellow Greek. She is the author of 15 books, including "Thrive - The Sleep Revolution." She's been named by Time Magazine and by all of us as one of the most influential people on the planet.

All three of these leaders had extraordinary insights to share about leadership in exponential times.

For Part 1, let's dive into Beth's top takeaways.

Beth Comstock's Eight Principles of Exponential Leadership

Beth has an extraordinary mindset as a leader at GE.

"These days, I think you have to be constantly thinking about what's next, what's new and how do I adapt," Beth began, during her address to A360 members.

Beth outlined eight principles for Exponential Leadership. Read carefully.

1. Be a Mission-Based, "Emergence Leader": If you're a leader today, your job is change and culture. It's a lot of other things, but it doesn't matter where you are in the organization, [the most important aspects] are change and culture. The old is going away (but it has not fully disappeared), the new is emerging and we're all trying to make sense of it. Change suddenly shows up and it's disruptive. An emergence leader is constantly focused on and ready for change.

2. Organize Around Information Flows: In the digital age, information moves fast. To keep up with information flows, you have to ditch hierarchy. There's no room for bureaucracy. It's about openness, candor, radical feedback and full transparency. If you organize your organization around these tenets, you'll thrive. At GE, we've really reorganized ourselves as a digital industrial company digitizing everything we can get our hands on.

3. Empower Individuals: Build a team of people who are prepared for change and empower them to do great work. The question is: how do you get people to get excited to grab power and go for it? More autonomy.

4. Define your company's "MO" - Mindset Orientation: Mindset is everything. As a leader, you must provide the vision and then allow your teams to figure their way out. Create a mindset that incentivizes them to do what they need to do the fastest, best way they can. It means they may fail. You should encourage them to fail fast, learn from their mistakes, and keep going. At GE, this process is called FastWorks, and it's built on lean startup methodology.

5. Establish Feedback Loops: Exponential leaders must both give and receive feedback -- and importantly, they have to actually use it. Beth offers three ideas here:

First: "One of the things we've done at GE is we've actually gotten rid of our employee performance reviews. Anyone in the organization can give anyone feedback. I just did a Facebook Live event last week and one of my young colleagues in the company gave me some feedback. It wasn't so good... 'You weren't looking at the camera at the right point. You looked like you were distracted.' It was hard feedback to receive, but it was encouraged."

Second: Beth suggests asking your team a very direct question that yields a lot of value: "What is the one thing that is true that you think I don't want to hear?" Beth comments that you'll be amazed what you'll learn. It's extremely valuable.

Third: Rather than doing long, convoluted employee surveys, stick to a simple feedback mechanism: Continue, or consider. You get feedback that says either "Continue doing X" or "Consider changing X to make it better." It's really simple, fast and actionable.

6. Get Used to Living in the In-Between: Exponential leaders are comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. This is going to be key to survive the change that is coming. Beth advises, "Get used to the ambiguity of working with people who know how to figure it out and who don't need as much instruction."

7. Mash Up Minds and Machines: Exponential leaders use technology to their advantage, combining the power of computing and data with human leadership. They must develop collaborations between people and machines, between artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the people operating in their company, their customers and their executives. Teams that don't do this will be left behind.

8. Prioritize Innovation and Observe Patterns That Block It: Innovating is really hard. Good leaders understand they have to navigate the tension. Sometimes leaders give up, and they don't hold their team accountable for growing. They themselves back off on it. And so is it any wonder that the people on the team deprioritize innovating? It's also important to stick around a while. I've been around my company a while, and it's only after a few years that you start to see the patterns and to understand what went wrong.

In Conclusion…

Change is coming. Exponential leaders must prepare for it and embrace it.

Beth concluded, "I think we still need great leaders with vision, the ability to find and coach people, to encourage people, to help them renew themselves, to go forward…

"I'm a firm believer that the future still depends on great leaders who can constantly reinvent themselves."

- Beth Comstock, Vice-Chair, GE

Interested in Joining Me? (Two options)...

A360 Executive Mastermind: This is the sort of conversation I explore at my Executive Mastermind group called Abundance 360.

The program is highly selective, for 360 abundance- and exponentially minded CEOs (running $10M to $10B companies).

If you'd like to be considered, apply here.

Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

A360 Digital Mastermind: I've also created a Digital/Online Community of bold, abundance-minded entrepreneurs called Abundance 360 Digital (A360D).

A360D is my 'onramp' for exponential entrepreneurs – those who want to get involved and play at a higher level. Click Here to Learn More.

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. For those with a tie to production, I recommend attending Exponential Manufacturing in Boston May 17th-19th. This Singularity University Summit will bring together 600+ leading innovators from Fortune 500s and startups alike, to answer questions such as: How will artificial intelligence and robotics impact the workforce? How will additive manufacturing fit into the mainstream economy? How will machine learning drive your supply chain? How do you get a large organization to pivot with the speed of a startup? Save up to 15% as a PHD community member. For those in the financial field, this offer is good for Exponential Finance too. First-Mover pricing on both ends March 1st


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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Fwd: Motivate and Inspire People




Motivate and Inspire People

by Jeff Wolf

Seven Disciplines of a Leader

Time to read: 2 minutes

According to a recent Gallup Business Journal article: only 30% of American workers…were engaged, or involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their workplace. An alarming 70% are not showing up to work committed to delivering their best performance, and this has serious implications for the bottom line of individual companies and the U.S. economy as a whole.

Leaders Discuss Motivation

How can leaders best motivate employees? Here are some answers, expressed in their own words:

  • "Great leaders facilitate, they don't command or control like infantry officers in combat. Even under those dire circumstances, great infantry officers understand how to motivate troops. They recognize the need for discipline, but the best of them temper it through motivational techniques. So, why do some business leaders feel the compunction to act as infantry officers (as they see them)? It's ego, pure and simple. And, in the long run, it doesn't work. Great leaders understand that facilitation is the key to motivating employees."

  • "Continuous learning is the foundation for improvement and the cornerstone of motivation. When employees learn, they grow, and when they grow they are motivated to do better jobs, to engage, to participate, to be part of the team. Learning is an inclusive experience that brings everybody into the fold."

  • "You'll really see the effects of motivation in periods of crisis. That's when a motivated team pulls together, and their combined strength is mighty powerful. It's equivalent to synergism, where one plus one equals three. Without that motivation you don't have engagement, and when you don't have engagement, results seldom exceed mediocrity."

  • "Contrary to what some leaders believe, compassionate management isn't for sissies. It doesn't mean abandoning performance standards at the expense of placating employees. It does mean empathizing with people who have problems by driving to the core reasons for those problems and providing employees with the tools to fix those problems. Compassionate management, in that sense, is a potent motivational tool."

  • "Never underestimate the effect your bearing, your facial expressions, how you walk and behave, has on employees. If you hold yourself erect, maintain a calm demeanor, keep the expression on your face consistent, and walk with a sense of purpose, even under the most stressful circumstances, it will spill over to employees, from workers through executives, and motivate them to face their problems with a sense of purpose and resolve."

  • "Motivation doesn't work when you have the wrong people working for you. Highly effective leaders hire outstanding performers, place them in the right jobs, empower them, and watch as they accomplish great things."

  • "Successful leaders never accept the status quo. They continually ask questions and seek answers and alternatives that are thoroughly explored. This is the kind of intellect that identifies hard-thinking employees and gives them the opportunity to excel."

  • "It's difficult to let go, to assign employees the responsibility to what you now do. But if want a highly motivated workforce, that's exactly what you must do. You'll be amazed at what people accomplish when they're given both the authority and responsibility for their work."

  • "True leaders meet problems head on. They don't evade, delay, avoid, and make excuses. Their ability to see things clearly, to possess the fortitude to accept responsibility, sends a clear message throughout the organization and motivates employees to do the same."

  • "One of the most destructive influences in a company is politics that flourishes unchecked. When employees see that real achievements take a backseat to fawning, servility, and insincere flattery, their motivation goes into free fall. When you find a successful leader know that they have eliminated that pernicious influence."

  • "In the successful company, its leaders have curbed the need to extract as much as possible from employees and replaced it with the need to instill value in them."

  • "One of the greatest tests of any leader is the ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees and find ways to place them in jobs that magnify those strengths and minimizes weaknesses."

Contact us today to discuss our leadership development programs, executive coaching or to have nationally acclaimed speaker and award winning author Jeff Wolf speak at your next meeting, conference or convention: madams@wolfmotivation.com 858-638-8260 or www.wolfmotivation.com

On Sale Now

Seven Disciplines of a Leader

All proceeds go to our wounded service men and women.


Wolf Management Consultants
www.wolfmotivation.com

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Fw: success = experimentation



Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
From: Peter Diamandis <peter@diamandis.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2017 11:05 AM
To: STeve
Reply To: peter@diamandis.com
Subject: success = experimentation

Today's most successful companies, the ones that are "crushing it," started as a series of crazy ideas, followed by experiments to test just how viable those ideas might be.

Experimentation is a crucial mechanism for driving breakthroughs in any organization.

If you want to create a successful, hyper-growth company, you've got to focus on empowering your teams to rapidly experiment.

Over the years I have had the pleasure of sitting down with wizards of experimentation, including Jeff Holden, Uber's Chief Product Officer; Astro Teller, CEO of X; and Jake Knapp, Design Partner at Google Ventures.

Through my conversations I have compiled a suite of best practices for running great experiments and building a culture of experimentation at your company.

In this blog we will discuss:

Building a culture of experimentation

  1. Running effective experiments
  2. Google Ventures design sprints
  3. Building a Culture of Experimentation

The only constant is change, and the rate of change is increasing.

Ultimately, standing still equals death, and the only way to succeed is to be constantly experimenting and innovating (think of it as Darwinian evolution in hyperspeed).

Hyper-growth and experimentation are very closely linked.

Jeff Bezos likes to say, "Our success at Amazon is a function of how many experiments we do per year, per month, per week, per day…"

Jeff Holden, who has built experimental engines at Amazon, Groupon, and Uber, agrees: "The philosophy is you have to build your company to be a big experimental engine and it has to start right at the beginning."

It's not easy to just "retrofit" your company with that engine later – it's a cultural shift. You have to be in the mindset of constantly testing crazy ideas, new business models, new products and new processes.

At Amazon, in the early days, they created a standard experimental platform that was available to almost everyone – meaning, if somebody wanted to test a new button or new feature on the website, they could.

The problem was that many of these experiments were useless.

Jeff Holden continues, "They had no chance of yielding any value. There wasn't any point to them. We were just kind of curious. We were just running a lot of experiments -- which have a cost, by the way -- and were taking up experimental slots [so others couldn't experiment], and things started colliding with each other."

Their solution was to create an 'Experiments Group' – if you wanted to do an experiment, you had to run it through this group.

The first question the group would ask was: What's your hypothesis?

The second question: What's the value proposition to our company?

"If you couldn't articulate your hypothesis crisply, or your hypothesis didn't matter for Amazon or Uber or Groupon, then they must not do that experiment. Oftentimes you'll send folks back to the drawing board or ask them to recast the experiment. The company learned, and we got much better."

Finally, "You have to be able to interpret the experimental results really well. It's statistics. Know the difference between statistically significant and insignificant results."

Uber, for example, runs thousands of experiments per month to test different features. They A/B test key features that are core to the business and choose the one that performs best.

"Build a team inside your organization that has an experimental ethos, and make sure that the experiment, value proposition, and hypothesis are really thought through before you invest the time and energy to actually do them."

In general, only hire people who are familiar with the experimentation/data-driven mindset and set the stage for experimentation in the beginning.

How to Launch Good Experiments

Astro Teller, Chief of Moonshots, explains that the following three principles describe a good experiment:

Principle 1: Any experiment where you already know the outcome is a BAD experiment.

Principle 2: Any experiment when the outcome will not change what you are doing is also a BAD experiment.

Principle 3: Everything else (especially where the input and output are quantifiable) is a GOOD experiment.

Seems simple enough, right?

You must ask the kind of questions to which you don't currently know the answer, but if you did, you'd change the way you operate.

If you already know the answer, or if you are testing an insignificant detail that doesn't matter, you'll just be wasting time and money.

To get good questions/experiments, you must create a culture that incentivizes asking good questions and designing good experiments.

Astro describes a very unique approach to doing just this:

"At X, we set up a 'Get Weirder Award.' The whole point of the Get Weirder Award was to focus the team on experiments and to drive home they needed to think in terms of experiments."

Teams would be challenged to ask "weird" questions – to put forth crazy ideas around framing problems differently and to design experiments that really push the limits.

Critically, Astro only gives out the Get Weirder Award after the experiments are run.

"If you give out the award after they've run the experiment, independent of the results, then people start to really feel that you don't actually care about the outcome. You care about the quality of the question. So every two weeks, we would give out an award for the best experiment."

Doing so constantly (and viscerally) reinforced the behavior of asking good questions – accordingly, at X, they've built a culture around celebrating the questions themselves.

Google Ventures: Design Sprint

A Sprint, invented by my friends Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky of Google Ventures, is a fantastic tool for rapid experimentation in your company.

I have leveraged the Sprint process across all of my companies.

Participating in a Sprint orients the entire team and aims their efforts at hitting clearly defined goals.

Sprints are useful starting points when kicking off a new feature, workflow, product, business or solving problems with an existing product.

Here are the five phases of a Sprint, typically done sequentially over the course of five days, that you can try with you team:

Day 1: Understand: Develop a common understanding of the working context, including the problem, the business, the customer, the value proposition and how success will be determined. By the end of this phase, you should also aim to identify some of your biggest risks and start to make plans to mitigate them. Common understanding will empower everyone's decisionmaking and contributions to the project. Understanding your risks enables you to stay risk-averse and avoid investing time and money on things that rely on unknowns or assumptions.

Day 2: Diverge: Generate insights and potential solutions to your customer's problems. Explore as many ways of solving the problems as possible, regardless of how realistic, feasible, or viable they may or may not be. The opportunity this phase generates enables you to evaluate and rationally eliminate options and identify potentially viable solutions to move forward with. This phase is also crucial to innovation and marketplace differentiation.

Day 3: Converge: Take all of the possibilities exposed during phases 1 and 2, eliminate the wild and currently unfeasible ideas and hone in on the ideas you feel best about. These ideas will guide the implementation of a prototype in phase 4 that will be tested with existing or potential customers. Not every idea is actionable or feasible, and only some will fit the situation and problem context. Exploring many alternative solutions helps provide confidence that you are heading in the right direction.

Day 4: Prototype: Build a prototype that can be tested with existing or potential customers. Design the prototype to learn about specific unknowns and assumptions. Determine its medium by time constraints and learning goals. Paper, Keynote, and simple HTML/CSS are all good prototyping tools for software products and 3D printing for hardware. The prototype storyboard and the first three phases of the Sprint should make prototype-building fairly straightforward. There shouldn't be much uncertainty around what must be done. A prototype is a very low-cost way of gaining valuable insights about what the product needs to be. Once you know what works and what doesn't, you can confidently invest time and money on more permanent implementation.

Day 5: Test & Learn: Test the prototype with existing or potential customers. It is important to test with existing or potential customers, because they are the ones for whom you want your product to work and be valuable. Their experiences with the problem and knowledge of the context have influence on their interaction with your product that non-customers won't have. Your customers will show you the product they need. Testing your ideas helps you learn more about things you previously knew little about and gives you a much clearer understanding of which directions you should move towards next. It can also help you course-correct and avoid building the wrong product.

Sprints offer a path to solve big problems, test new ideas, and accelerate the decisionmaking process. BTW, you can learn a lot more about the Sprint Process here: http://www.gv.com/sprint/.

Happy experimenting!

Interested in Joining Me? (two options)...

A360 Executive Mastermind: This is the sort of conversation I explore at my Executive Mastermind group called Abundance 360.

The program is highly selective, for 360 abundance- and exponentially minded CEOs (running $10M to $10B companies).

If you'd like to be considered, apply here. Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

A360 Digital Mastermind: I've also created a Digital/Online Community of bold, abundance-minded entrepreneurs called Abundance 360 Digital (A360D).

A360D is my 'onramp' for exponential entrepreneurs – those who want to get involved and play at a higher level. Click Here to Learn More.

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast


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PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230


Friday, February 17, 2017

Fwd: Abundance Insider: February 17 Edition


In this week's Abundance Insider: Robots performing eye surgery, blueprints for a large-scale quantum computer, and a 26,000x improvement in holographic technology.

Cheers,
Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ

P.S. Do You Have What it Takes? We are seeking industry disruptors, social advocates, tinkerers, innovators and leaders to participate in XPRIZE's Visioneers 2017 as part of a team to design the next generation of prizes to help push humanity forward. You must be willing to become immersed in a currently unsolved Grand Challenge, participate in deep research, talk to experts and inventors, and then talk to them again. You must be eager to debate, learn, analyze, create, and work closely with other team members. It's a tough job, but the rewards of creating impact are enormous. If you are interested in being part of the next class of Visioneers, head here: https://herox.com/XPRIZEvisioneers2017US

Japanese Firm to Open World's First Robot-Run Farm

robot farm

What it is: In an effort to dramatically boost its production, Japanese vegetable producer Spread has announced plans to roll out a full array of industrial robots by mid-year 2017. The robots can perform every task except seed planting: they will sterilize water, adjust light levels, and monitor CO2 levels, temperature and humidity. Spread will deploy these robots in a facility akin to a vertical farm, and expects to increase production from 21,000 to 50,000 heads of lettuce right away. In five years, Spread expects its robot-run farm will be able to produce 500,000 heads of lettuce per day.

Why it's important: Advances in sensors, robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning are enabling massive opportunities to solve some of humanity's grandest challenges, like feeding our growing world population. Integrated systems of exponential technologies, like this robot-run farm, are key to help us address current and future changes in agriculture and farm labor. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Jason Goodwin and Marissa Brassfield

First Ever Blueprint Unveiled to Construct a Large Scale Quantum Computer

large scale quantum computer blueprint

What it is: An international team of scientists out of the University of Sussex, Google (USA), Aarhus University (Denmark), RIKEN (Japan) and Siegen University (Germany) have developed a blueprint for a large scale ion-trapped quantum computer -- the first of its kind. One of the challenges in creating a large-scale design lies in how individual computer modules connect. Previous designs used lasers or fiber optics, but these methods were insufficient at scale. Here, the team used microwaves to allow modules to communicate, which allows for potentially 100,000 faster connection speeds than fiber link technology.

Why it's important: As we saw with Rigetti Computing at Abundance 360, we now have many teams racing for quantum supremacy -- the test of a true quantum computer. When this happens, we'll have new, unparalleled insights into medicine, materials science and the universe, and will be able to solve previously impossible problems. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Jason Goodwin

World First: Surgical Robot Performs Precision-Injection In Patient With Retinal Vein Occlusion

surgical robot retinal vein occlusion

What it is: For the first time ever, eye surgeons at University Hospitals Leuven worked with a surgical robot to operate on a patient with retinal vein occlusion. The bot injected a thrombolytic drug into the patient's retinal vein using a 0.03 millimeter needle (KU Leuven developed both the robot and needle specifically for this procedure). This task-specific surgical robot was created to address the danger of damaging the vein or retina, given that human surgeons are unable to hold the needle perfectly still for 10 minutes while injecting the drug into the thin vein. After seven years of research, this first phase demonstrated that using a robot to insert a microneedle into the retinal vein is feasible.

Why it's important: As more surgical-specific robots develop and operate, surgeries that were once challenging for human specialists will be performed with complete accuracy and consistency. What happens to longevity when we have robot surgeons all over the world, performing at a near-perfect standard? Join the Discussion

Spotted by Koen Lenssens / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Monster Wind Turbine Crushes Record For Most Energy Produced in 24 Hours

wind turbine most energy produced

What it is: MHI Vestas Offshore Wind recently revealed its upgraded 9 MW wind turbine, and in doing so broke the previous record for energy generation for a commercially available offshore wind turbine. This new design can generate almost 216,000 kWh over 24 hours -- enough energy to power the average American household for almost 20 years. The joint venture between Vestas Wind Systems and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries hopes to play an integral part in reducing the cost of energy in the offshore wind industry.

Why it's important: Innovations like this monster wind turbine will continue to demonetize the cost of offshore wind power, which is an integral part in generating a future of abundant renewable energy. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Ebay Founder Backs Universal Basic Income Test With $500,000 Pledge

ebay basic universal income

What it is: Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar recently pledged almost $500,000 USD to launch a 12-year Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot in Kenya. By granting a stipend to 6,000 Kenyans for the duration of the pilot, and some form of cash transfer to another 20,000 more, the Omidyar network is hoping to add much-needed real-world data and examples to the theory of a UBI.

Why it's important: As discussed at Abundance 360, we're seeing UBI experiments launch all over the world, from Denmark and Canada to Oakland and now Kenya. By adding funds as well as name recognition, Omidyar adds momentum to the overall UBI initiative. Will UBI help remove the fear and stress of technological unemployment, and help usher us toward a world of abundance? Join the Discussion

Spotted by Cody Rapp / Written by Jason Goodwin

Our 3D Holographic Technologies Just Got 2,600 Times Better

3d holographic technologies

What it is: The Korean Institute of Science and Technology has created the world's largest 3D hologram. Researchers improved image quality by using a deformable mirror and diffusers, which enabled them to create a larger image with a wider viewing angle. While the image is small -- 2 centimeters in height, width and depth, with a 35 degree viewing angle -- it represents a 2,600x improvement over current technology.

Why it's important: One of the challenges for mainstream adoption of virtual and augmented reality technology is the requirement for a headset or special glasses. This challenge becomes irrelevant when we can create larger 3D holograms, like R2D2's Princess Leia, without headsets. Considering the convergence of other technologies like quantum computing, haptic feedback and motion capture body suits (all developments we have covered in the past few months), a version of Star Trek's Holodeck seems more feasible than ever. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Khaled Salih / Written by Jason Goodwin

Bank of America Has Opened 3 Employee-Free Branches

bank of america employee free branches

What it is: Bank of America has opened three fully automated branches in the past month. Customers can use ATMs and participate in video conferences with the bank's employees from other branches -- all without the assistance of an in-person human. These automated branches have a smaller footprint than traditional branches, and employ technology with the intent of selling mortgages, credit cards and other auto loans.

Why it's important: One of the top AI breakthroughs for 2016-2018 in Peter's AI and Technology Convergence blog was the idea that AI will be woven into the very fabric of our lives -- physically and virtually. AI's will enable seamless interaction with devices and information, making everything personalized and easy to use -- even your finances. How might this capability change your financial decision-making? Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

What is Abundance Insider?

This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below.

Want more conversations like this?

At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here

Know someone who would benefit from getting Abundance Insider? Send them to this link to sign up.

P.S. Do You Have What it Takes? We are seeking industry disruptors, social advocates, tinkerers, innovators and leaders to participate in XPRIZE's Visioneers 2017 as part of a team to design the next generation of prizes to help push humanity forward. You must be willing to become immersed in a currently unsolved Grand Challenge, participate in deep research, talk to experts and inventors, and then talk to them again. You must be eager to debate, learn, analyze, create, and work closely with other team members. It's a tough job, but the rewards of creating impact are enormous. If you are interested in being part of the next class of Visioneers, head here: https://herox.com/XPRIZEvisioneers2017US


If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Fwd: 100 Years of Progress



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peter Diamandis <peter@diamandis.com>
Date: Sunday, February 12, 2017
Subject: 100 Years of Progress
To: STeve <stevescott@techacq.com>


<https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhdBMUWTD3iq9hcLFqgwyueq9HibbLfzG3t4h_3ySi4qEwx9F9IYRS743UoLYXvoaFkkmOBTvqUs8dUJx5avkdplkoHR49dwqoPTDqSQNMa-Fn20sN8mSVh7lMcWbfqEm3mt63aRh6xL6A71lkXxTGaoPXxNw6h_VBrofaTZlGZtEz0Nuv2=s0-d-e1-ft>

Over the last 100 years, the world has changed tremendously.

For perspective, this year at Abundance 360, I gave a few fun examples of what the world looked like in 1917.

This blog is a look at what the world looked like a century ago and what it looks like today.

Let's dive in.

In 1917...

One hundred years ago, things looked a little bit different.

1. World Literacy Rates

- 1917: The world literacy rate was only 23%.

- Today: Depending on estimates, the world literacy rate today is 86.1%.

2. Travel Time

- 1917: It took 5 days to get from London to New York; 3.5 months to travel from London to Australia.

- Today: A nonstop flight gets you from London to New York in a little over 8 hours, and you can fly from London to Australia in about a day, with just one stop.

3. Average Price of a U.S. House

- 1917: The average price of a U.S. house was $5,000. ($111,584.29 when adjusted for inflation)

- Today: As of 2010, the average price of a new home sold in the U.S. was $272,900.

4. The First Hamburger

- 1917: The hamburger bun invented by a fry cook named Walter Anderson, who co-founded White Castle.

- Today: On average, Americans eat three hamburgers a week. That's a national total of nearly 50 billion burgers per year. And now we're even inventing 100% plant-based beef burgers… produced by Impossible Foods and available at select restaurants.

5. Average Price of a Car in the U.S.

- 1917: The average price of a car in the U.S. was $400 ($8,926.74 when adjusted for inflation)

- Today: The average car price in the U.S. was $34,968 as of January 2017.

6. The First Boeing Aircraft

- 1917: A Boeing aircraft flew for the first time on June 15.

- Today: In 2015, there were almost 24,000 turboprop and regional aircraft, as well as wide body and narrow body jets, in service worldwide.

7. Coca-Cola

- 1917: On July 1, 1916, Coca-Cola introduced its current formula to the market.

- Today: Today, Coca-Cola has a market cap of about $178 billion with 2015 net operating revenues over $44 billion. Each day, over 1.9 billion servings of Coca-Cola drinks are enjoyed in more than 200 countries.

7. Average U.S. Wages

- 1917: The average U.S. hourly wage was 22 cents an hour ($4.90 per hour when adjusted for inflation)

- Today: The average U.S. hourly wage is approximately $26 per hour.

8. Supermarkets

- 1917: The first "super" market, PigglyWiggly, opened on September 6, 1916 in Memphis, TN.

- Today: In 2015, there were 38,015 supermarkets, employing 3.4 million people and generating sales of about $650 billion.

9. Billionaires

- 1917: John D. Rockefeller became the world's first billionaire on September 29.

- Today: There are approximately 1,810 billionaires, and their aggregate net worth is $6.5 trillion.

For context, Rockefeller's net worth in today's dollars would have been about $340 billion. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, is worth $84 billion today.

10. Telephones (Landlines vs. Cellphones)

- 1917: Only 8% of homes had a landline telephone.

- Today: Forget landlines! In the U.S., nearly 80% of the population has a smartphone (a supercomputer in their pockets). Nearly half of all American households now use only cellphones rather than older landlines. And as far as cost, today, you can Skype anywhere in the world for free over a WiFi network.

11. Traffic (Horses to Cars)

- 1917: In 1912, traffic counts in New York showed more cars than horses for the first time.

- Today: There were approximately 253 million cars and trucks on U.S. roads in 2015.

12. US Population

- 1917: The U.S. population broke 100 million, and the global population reached 1.9 billion.

- Today: The U.S. population is 320 million, and the global population broke 7.5 billion this year.

13. Inventions and Technology

- 1917: The major tech invention in 1917? The toggle light switch.

- Today: The major tech invention of today? CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, which enables us to reprogram life as we know it. And we are making strides in AI, robotics, sensors, networks, synthetic biology, materials science, space exploration and more every day.

14. High School Graduation Rates

- 1917: Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.

- Today: Over 80% of all Americans graduated high school this past year.

15. Cost of Bread

- 1917: A loaf of bread was $0.07 ($1.50 when adjusted for inflation)

- Today: A loaf of bread costs $2.37.

16. Speed Limits

- 1917: The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

- Today: The maximum speed limit in most cities is about 70 mph.

Just wait for the next 100 years.

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5 Marketing Strategies That Are Totally Outdated

Friday, February 10, 2017

Fwd: Abundance Insider: February 10 Edition


In this week's Abundance Insider: Skin cancer-spotting AIs, transparent fish-catching robots, and the world's largest blockchain voting experiment.

Cheers,
Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ

P.S. Send any tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and family to this link to subscribe to Abundance Insider.

Transparent, Gel-Based Robots Can Catch and Release Live Fish

mit transparent gel based robot

What it is: Researchers at MIT have developed a transparent soft robot out of hydrogel, a tough material made mostly of water. By varying the structure of the gels, the team was able to build several different types of robotic structures, from fins to handlike designs. Powered only by water pressure, the bots can move fast enough to catch a fish, produce sufficient force to push a ball, and even move slowly and deliberately to support longer-term missions.

Why it's important: Because hydrogels are themselves biocompatible and these bots are powered by water, the medical applications are numerous. Such a robot might more gently manipulate organs during surgery, or complement the biocompatible electronics and drug delivery mechanisms this team has previously developed. In turn, this enables less invasive and safer surgery, as well as never-before-seen devices that blend manipulation with better biomedical sensors and targeted drug or therapeutic delivery. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Jason Goodwin

This Ultra Cheap Material Uses Sunlight to Purify Drinking Water

material sunlight drinking water

What it is: Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have designed a photocatalytic material that can absorb sunlight and generate high-energy, oxygen-activating electrons in water. Best of all, this material also has the capacity to destroy organic compounds like bacteria. The material is fully solar-powered, which means it could easily be added to plastic to create a cheap water purifier. This recent discovery is seen as one step closer towards helping the 750 million people in the world without access to improved water. A more effective solution, yet also a more challenging one to solve in the long run, would be to purify water before it runs to ground.

Why it's important: This photocatalytic material has the potential to demonetize, dematerialize and democratize access to improved water in parts of the world where water purifiers are too expensive or complex to operate. It's one more example of how technology can make even scarce resources like clean water abundant. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Deep Learning Algorithm Does as Well as Dermatologists in Identifying Skin Cancer

deep learning identify skin cancer

What it is: Sebastian Thrun's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford has created an AI algorithm capable of diganosing potential skin cancer as well as human dermatologists. There weren't a lot of well-classified, digital skin cancer images, so the team first created a training set of over 130,000 skin disease images representing over 2,000 different diseases -- each biopsy confirmed by teams at the University of Edinburgh and the Interanational Skin Imaging Collaboration Project. When evaluated on a set of 370 new images, the AI matched the performance of 21 deramatologists in classifying the images as keratinocyte carcinoma, melanoma, and melanoma classification.

Why it's important: As we continue to see week after week, the power of AI for medicine continues to grow. Soon, AIs will outperform human trainers at rote tasks. In parallel, imagine a future where point-of-care devices or smartphones can make these initial diagnoses remotely, drastically demonetizing and democratizing medical care. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Peter Diamandis / Written by Jason Goodwin

Tesla's Second Generation Autopilot Could Reduce Crash Rate By 90%, Says CEO Elon Musk

tesla second generation autopilot crash rate

What it is: Elon Musk recently revealed that the Tesla Autopilot team aims for the second generation hardware -- installed in all Tesla vehicles produced since October 2016 -- to reduce crash rates by 90%. If this goal is achieved, that would mean Tesla vehicles would crash, on average, just once for every 10 crashes by vehicles without the company's advanced driver assist system. To put this into perspective, Autopilot's Autosteer feature would reduce the 1.3 crashes per million miles before the feature down to Tesla's lofty goal of only 0.1 crash per million miles after Autosteer. The company's 'Enhanced Autosteer' features more cameras, including Tesla Vision (Tesla's new in-house image processing system), which is projected to play a primary role in this major crash rate reduction.

Why it's important: Last July Peter wrote about the Upside of Tesla's Autopilot, and that with every single mile driven, the cars get safer and safer. Now just 7 months later, Tesla's Autopilot feature has the potential to reduce crash rate by 90%. Any previous skepticism towards automakers using new technologies like robotics and AI can now look at the data and rest assured that Tesla's second generation hardware is becoming safer by the minute and mile. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Gaetan Soltesz / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

How We Built India's Biggest Robot Company

india's biggest robot company

What it is: This BBC article profiles GreyOrange, India's largest robot company. Founded in 2008 by Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta, GreyOrange has two robots, Butler and Sorter, that can sort 3 million packages per day. Today, about 350 million of India's citizens are online, and Worldpay projects this figure to double by 2020. This market spends some $63.7 billion online per year -- and 90% of the warehouse automation segment belongs to GreyOrange. "Ten years ago, every person did not have a computer, today every person has one computer," Kohli told the BBC. "We look at robots in that sense: as everyone has one computer, in the future they will have one robot with them to help them do their work better. It's a trillion-dollar opportunity, that's the space we're fighting in.''

Why it's important: Collaborative robots will dramatically increase productivity in warehouses and manufacturing facilities. Soon, we'll see robots commanding dozens of other professions where accuracy and patience are key. GreyOrange also demonstrates how emerging technologies like robotics are being developed all over the world -- not just in traditional tech hubs around the world. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Khaled Salih / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

China Showers ¥1.15b On Rainmaking Project For Parched Northwest

china rainmaking project

What it is: In one of the largest government efforts to modify the weather, China's NRDC and Meterological Association have approved 1.15 billion yuan to cloud seed and increase rainfall in China's Northwestern Region. The NRDC plans to buy four new planes, upgrade an additional four, create almost 900 rocket launch devices, and connect another 1,856 digital devices to digitally control the systems.

Why it's important: In addition to those efforts designed to relieve drought and reduce the risk of forest fires, China has also been using cloud seeding to "clean up" air pollution in major cities. As these weather modification efforts continue, we'll gain new insights into how clouds and weather patterns form, new ideas for combating climate change, and even technologies for terraforming other planets as we move beyond our current gravity well. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Gaetan Soltesz / Written by Jason Goodwin

Votem CEO Pete Martin: Leveraging Blockchain to Secure Global Mobile Voting & Rocking the Vote

votem pete martin

What it is: Leveraging blockchain, the technology underlying bitcoin, Abundance 360 member and Votem CEO Pete Martin successfully and securely tallied almost 2 million votes without interference for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With votes coming from all 50 states, D.C., and over 100 countries, the vote is the largest use of blockchain for voting to date. In an effort to expand into government voting, Votem is first tackling U.S. military and overseas voters where online voting is already approved and being adopted, then working to more progressive state and local agencies to begin adoption in the U.S.

Why it's important: While we continue to see bitcoin values increase, it's important to remember that blockchain enables far more than purely digital currency. Hacking aside, voter turnaround is perennially low, and well-intentioned voters face obstacles that range from power outages to transportation issues and misplaced paper ballots. Imagine the implications of removing those obstacles -- how many more issues could be opened to the public? How many highly controversial issues designed purely to encourage voter turnout would go away? Join the Discussion

Spotted by Jeffrey Stern / Written by Jason Goodwin

AI Is About to Learn More Like Humans–With A Little Uncertainty

ai human learnin

What it is: This Wired article covers how, due to apparent weaknesses in neural networks, tech companies around the world are starting to shift the way they think about AI -- which some are describing as "the rise of the Bayesians." This method of starting with a hypothesis and updating it based on data counters how neural networks function. One level of this method, Gaussian process (GP), is a way of finding the optimal solution to specific problems. Neural networks sometimes suffer from the "confidence error" problem, so by using GP in identifying uncertainty, this sort of optimization can help address such errors.

Why it's important: Peter recently listed The March of Artificial Intelligence as one of the Top 10 Tech Trends Transforming Humanity today -- and deservingly so. The advanced development of AI is a massive opportunity for humanity. The speed and accuracy of AI's predictions, calculations, and solutions can help us fundamentally solve the planet's grandest challenges. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Jason Goodwin / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

What is Abundance Insider?

This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below.

Want more conversations like this?

At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here

Know someone who would benefit from getting Abundance Insider? Send them to this link to sign up.


If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230

Friday, February 3, 2017

Fwd: Abundance Insider: February 3 Edition


In this week's Abundance Insider: Poker-playing AI systems, graphene made from soybean oil, and a new cancer breakthrough.

Cheers,
Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ

P.S. Send any tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and family to this link to subscribe to Abundance Insider.

An AI Poker Bot Has Whipped the Pros

ai poker bot

What it is: The AI poker bot Libratus recently beat top professional poker players at Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino. Built by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the bot demonstrated a significant advancement in AI by being able to apply reason and intelligence in games of "imperfect information." Libratus ended with $1.8 million in chips, while the pros ended with a deficit. In an interview with Wired, Daniel McAuley, one of the professionals Libratus beat, said of the AI, "It splits its bets into three, four, five different sizes. No human has the ability to do that."

Why it's important: Just as AlphaGo AI's vanquished Asia's Go champs, this AI poker bot's consistent success in beating human professional players shows how capable AI systems are getting. As AIs continue to learn and apply reasoning in highly complex situations, we'll eventually adopt them throughout our everyday lives -- including in ways we initially deemed "impossible." Join the Discussion

Spotted by Khaled Salih / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Vespa's Creators Just Unveiled a Personal Cargo Robot

vespa cargo robot

What it is: Vespa's creators Piaggio Fast Forward recently unveiled the company's first product, a personal cargo robot named Gita. The bot can carry up to 40 pounds autonomously using maps, or by following a human operating the bot's path. While they haven't revealed details on Gita's cost, range, and further performance limitations, Piaggio plans to release a version consumers can buy for individual use.

Why it's important: Robots will soon become an integral part of our everyday lives; as this happens, we'll have to rethink the interfaces, rules and behaviors we exhibit around these technologies. Thanks to the convergence of artificial intelligence, sensing, actuator technologies and the mobile phone revolution, we're rapidly heading toward a future where robots are integrated in our day-to-day lives in a truly personalized fashion. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Scientists Cook Up Material 200 Times Stronger Than Steel Out of Soybean Oil

soybean graphene

What it is: A team of Australian scientists has discovered a method that uses soybean oil to make graphene in a lab. The process involves heating the soybean oil in a tube furnace for 30 minutes, resulting in the oil decomposing into carbon building blocks on nickel-based foil.

Why it's important: This development has the potential to significantly demonetize and dematerialize the making of graphene on a commercial scale. For more on the impressive capabilities graphene enables, check out this post from Peter. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Bjorn Russell / Written by Sydney Fulkerson

An AI Law Firm Wants to 'Automate the Entire Legal World'

ai law firm

What it is: LawGeex, founded in 2014 by commercial lawyer Noory Beecher, has created AI to automate the process of reviewing contracts -- one of the more mundane yet costly tasks, whether in-house or at a private firm. In as little as an hour, LawGeex can look across about 20 different contract types, identifying clauses that don't meet normal standards, those that might be missing, and those that might need revision.

Why it's important: Machine learning can now tackle the low-hanging fruit of the legal industry such as contract analysis, document review, and even legal research. Importantly, the story here isn't so much that AI will replace lawyers (yet), but that AI makes the process and cost of legal analysis more efficient -- eliminating potentially costly mistakes while also freeing up attorneys to focus on the more creative aspects of advisory work. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Khaled Salih / Written by Jason Goodwin

Two Infants Treated with Universal Immune Cells Have Their Cancer Vanish

universal immune cells

What it is: In a first, two infants in London have been cured of leukemia via reengineered T-cells. Using a gene editing method called TALENs, the London team made a total of four genetic changes to donor T-cells -- one that eliminated the propensity to attack the cells of another person, and another that caused the T-cell to target cancer cells directly. Although the therapy was provided in conjunction with chemotherapy, both children are in full remission.

Why it's important: Despite the caveat that the T-cell therapy was combined with chemo, it's significant that the engineered cells do not appear to have attacked the patients' tissue, which has been a major roadblock in expanding treatments to a larger set of patients. With a potential order of magnitude cost reduction, this is a big step forward for immunotherapy, not to mention the quest for eliminating bloodborne cancers and the adoption of gene editing techniques. Join the Discussion

Spotted by Cody Rapp / Written by Jason Goodwin

What is Abundance Insider?

This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below.

Want more conversations like this?

At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here

Know someone who would benefit from getting Abundance Insider? Send them to this link to sign up.


If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230