Business REINVENTION

U.S. students are improving in math and science, but are still lagging behind their counterparts in many other countries. One of the reasons for the poor performance is funding inequality. About half of our education funding for public schools comes from local property taxes, resulting in large disparities in funding between wealthy and impoverished communities. This is a sharp contrast to the situations in other developed countries where school districts typically receive equal funding on the basis of the number of students enrolled, regardless of local wealth. Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF) is pioneering new solutions to help students and teachers meet these challenges. The foundation has helped students achieve dramatic improvement in math and science. In this episode, Muhammed Chaudhry, President and CEO for SVEF, will discuss their approach to help students achieve their full potential in the critical areas.

The travel industry is the world’s largest employer. Several trends are reshaping the industry. The sharing economy for example, is blurring the line between hotels and short term rentals. As hotels and airlines take control of their own inventory, and turn away from third-party sites such as Expedia, will more travel search engines and other players look toward the home sharing market for growth? Please join me and Jen O’Neal, CEO and Founder of Tripping.com, to explore the changing face of the hospitality industry.

With the business environment becoming more competitive than ever, many companies are wrapped-up in the notion that if they don’t grow rapidly, they will not survive. Magazines are full of top 10 lists that measure success by size and wealth. In this episode, Inc’s editor at large, Bo Burlingham, will talk about his book, Small Giants, in which he discusses companies that strive to be great instead of big and define their own success. We will gain insight into how these companies thrive by creating a positive impact on the businesses and the lives of the people that they come in contact with.

Many technologies are designed to conquer nature or natural events. But now we’re seeing businesses in wide range of industries look to nature for innovative ideas. Biomimicry takes inspiration from nature to solve human problems, and has attracted the attention of companies such as Apple and IDEO. The number of innovations based on biomimicry design is on the rise. Chris Allen, CEO of Biomimicry 3.8, and Anthony Brennan, CTO of Sharklet, will provide insight into this emerging sector, its impact on innovation and its future.

Insurance has become a commodity for many people but that’s about to change with innovative startups entering the market. Executives in the industry are expecting digital technology to transform the marketplace within the next few years, according to a study by Accenture. This week, we will take a look at Metromile to get a glimpse of the innovations that are happening in the insurance business. Tina Wong, Director of Marketing at Metromile, will join me to discuss their business strategy and the future of the insurance industry.

Thanks to the growing Hispanic population, soccer’s popularity continues to climb in the US. In addition, it now ranks as the second favorite sport among Americans age 12-24, according to the new ESPN/Luker poll. David Kaval, President of San Jose Earthquakes, will join me to discuss the business strategies that have helped boost season ticket sales by 42%. We will also explore the new technologies that are helping to reinvent the in-stadium experience and innovate the business of sports entertainment.

How do the world’s savviest talent judges find superior talent? In this fast-changing global market, great talent is the key for companies maintaining competitiveness. George Anders, the Pulitzer Prize winner and top writer for The Wall Street Journal and Forbes, will share with us insight from his new book, “The Rare Find. We'll also hear from Joy McGovern, Head of Client Services of Global Mindset Institute at Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management. She'll discuss what some companies are doing to address the increasingly urgent need for global leaders who can manage the challenges in the new world environment.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, recently said that while mobile is the key platform of today, virtual reality will be one of the major platforms of tomorrow. He predicts that virtual reality technology can change the way we work, play and communicate. The technology had been associated mostly with gaming but new applications are being developed rapidly. Business Insider estimates shipments of VR headsets will grow at a 99% compound annual growth rate between 2015 and 2020, and the market could be as big as $2.8 billion by 2020. This week, Beck Besecker, CEO of MarxentLabs, and Aaron Hilton, Executive Chairman of Conquer Mobile, join me to discuss the reasons behind the new interest in VR technology and the key players’ race to build a dominating ecosystem.

Innovation can often be counter-intuitive, or it can simply embody the repurposing of ideas from other industries. The Space Monkey device moves the cloud into your home, using a peer-to-peer local storage network and making it easy to store and share your digital content without dealing with your Internet connection. The market for public cloud services is expected to exceed $200 billion by 2016, according to Forbes. Clint Gordon-Carroll, co-founder of Space Monkey, will talk about the trends in the cloud computing industry and how he plans to succeed in the category.

More than 10 years after social media and mobile phones went mainstream, marketers are still trying to make sense of the fast-changing media landscape and consumer behaviors. The change has compelled companies to rethink their organizational structure and alignment in addition to their capability to harness big data and respond to market intelligence. In this episode, I will talk with David F. Giannetto, the author of “Big Social Mobile – How Digital Initiatives Can Reshape the Enterprise and Drive Business Results”. We will discuss the impact of social and mobile marketing on organizational structure, business planning, and marketing leadership. David will share best practices for closing the gap between today’s trendiest digital initiatives—big data, social media, and mobile technology designed to generate friends, data and downloads—and traditional organizational goals focused on creating customers, revenue and profit.

By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9.2 billion, 34 percent higher than today. With companies like Google racing to extend our lives, are we going to have enough food to feed an increasing population who are living longer than any time in history? Over $2.3 billion in venture money was invested in agtech in 2014. In this episode, we will explore how precision agriculture is transforming one of the world’s oldest industries. The advanced technologies are helping farmers collect real-time data and predict a variety of variables, such as plant stress level and water usage, to optimize decisions concerning planting, fertilizing and harvesting. I will discuss the implications for large and small farms as well as for consumers with Dr. Alex Thomasson, Professor of Biological & Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University, and Dr. Jim Ostrowski, VP of Engineering at Blue River Technology.

We first featured 3D printing technology on the show in 2012. How has it evolved and what has the industry learned about market needs? In this episode, I will speak with guests from Autodesk, Shapeways and Wohlers Associates about the progress and impact the sector has made in the last 3 years. We discuss new implications for other industries and re-examine the future of the 3D printing market. Panelists – James Page, Senior Product Manager of Spark at Autodesk Tim Caffrey, Senior Consultant at Wohlers Associates Michael Weinberg, IP and General Counsel at Shapeways

Delancey Street is the leading residential self-help organization for substance abusers, ex-convicts, homeless and others who have hit bottom. For 40 years, the ground-breaking social enterprise provides an environment where the “untouchable” learn to develop their strengths, hold each other accountable, and run successful restaurants, moving companies, landscaping businesses and bookstores without any professional help. In this episode, we will speak with the founder and CEO of Delancey Street, Mimi Halper Silbert, to learn about the keys to influence behavior and inspire reinvention. Businesses can learn from Delancey Street about how to create an organization that inspires and enables change.

Since the Slow Movement stared in 1986, the business environment has become even more complex and fast-paced. Has the movement failed or is the explosive pace of change finally driving businesses and consumers to embrace the movement and deal with our addiction to speed? This show is for trend watchers who are looking for new opportunities as well as busy professionals who want to take control of their lives and reboot business results. I will speak with Carl Honoré, author of In Praises of Slowness and The Slow Fix, about organizations that are adopting the philosophy of the Slow Movement and companies that are taking advantage of the trend to grow their businesses.

There are many articles and experts that are predicting the end of brick-and-mortar stores. Is it possible to reverse this downward slide? Will implementing disruptive technologies alone save the traditional retailers? Are online retailers really invincible? Doug Stephens will join me to examine the future of the retail industry. He'll provide a thought-provoking perspective about the root causes of the demise of traditional retailers. We’ll also discuss critical strategies retailers should be considering in order to revitalize their businesses, and energize their customers. Doug is the founder of Retail Prophet and one of the world’s leading retail industry futurists. His work and thinking have influenced agencies and brands including Target, Home Depot, Disney, Crayola, WestJet, Citibank, and Razorfish. He's the author of the groundbreaking book: The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism.

As competition intensifies, businesses are going beyond online tracking to find better data for their marketing strategies. Hugo Boss now uses body heat to track shoppers and identify areas in the stores that are most visited. Other advertisers use facial recognition technology in their digital advertising display to tailor personalized message to the shopper. Miinome, a start-up in Minneapolis, is betting that genetics-based advertising is the next big thing. Paul Saarinen, CEO of Miinome, will shed light on the company’s vision and innovative business model that will change the relationship between the marketers and the consumers. What new advertising models will emerge from this? Should we be concerned or intrigued? Please join us for a discussion to learn more about the new trend.

Juniper Research warns that annual cost of cyber security breaches could reach $2.1 trillion by 2019 as mobile devices and the Internet of Things networks proliferate. Cyber attacks are now the most lucrative crime - something that no CEO can ignore. In this episode, Mike Kirwan will deconstruct cyber threats - to help many of us who don’t have a technical background understand the key issues and learn how to strategize a better cyber security plan to reduce business risk. The program also highlights innovative approaches that may change the way the cyber security industry thinks about crime-fighting solutions in the future. Mike currently serves as CTO at HITCare. He was an IT executive at VeriSign, Bank of America, PayPal and Kaiser previously.

For over a decade, technologists have been predicting the down fall of traditional retail stores. eCommerce has been taking market share from the physical channel as the use of Internet increases. The problem worsened when smartphones became ubiquitous and turned stores into showrooms for eCommerce sites. But the advancement of technology is now helping brick and mortar stores to turn the tide and reinvent the way they operate. This week, Shelley E. Kohan, VP of Retail Consulting at RetailNext, joins me to discuss the transformation of physical retailers and how they are using new insights of customer behaviors to optimize performance across the organization

Financial crises, disruptive technologies and intensifying competition have brought on radical change and volatility for companies. Scientists and technologists are now learning to uncover innovative ideas and borrow efficient designs from nature. But does nature also offer leadership lessons that can help us manage the increasing level of uncertainty, speed of change and limited resources to achieve business transformation? Please join me for a thought-provoking conversation with the Denise DeLuca, co-founder and director of BCI, Biomimicry for Creative Innovation.

Drought and flooding are raising real business stakes for companies in many industries ranging from beverage, food, apparel, retail, and energy to the semiconductor sector. The 2030 Water Resources Group predicts that the demand for water will exceed supply by 40% by 2030 and that closing this gap could cost as much as $50–60 billion a year for the next 20 years. Increasing water-related risks are pushing businesses to rethink their water strategy to ensure that they can continue to grow amid sustainability challenges. In this episode, Will Sarni, Director and Practice Leader of Enterprise Water Strategy at Deloitte Consulting, joins me to discuss the trend and best practices. We also explore business opportunities created by the current water crisis.