Business Lessons from sucessful entrepreneurs and business leaders: LunchLearning.com

Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 15 minutes 51 seconds

Craig Venter, successful entrepreneur and biologist, founder of three important scientific institutions (The Institute for Genomic Research, Celera Genomics, and the J. Craig Venter Institute) is probably best known for his work at Celera, where he successfully mapped the human genome. No doubt an extremely impressive resume, but lately Venter has been taking his biological research into even bolder areas.

Venter is currently putting his efforts into the J. Craig Venter Institute, where he works to solve environmental issues through the creation of synthetic organisms. Venter has continued to push the limits of science and business through groundbreaking work, co-founding Synthetic Genomics in 2005, a company which aims to create microorganisms that will actually produce environmentally-friendly biofuels.

In this video, Venter addresses the possibility of synthesizing new life through our digital world, and how new developments in this area could help solve global issues. I’m no scientist, so I’ll let the video speak for itself, but don’t worry, you don’t need to be a biologist to understand the important implications these discoveries will have on our world!

Happy Learning!

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Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 15 minutes 5 seconds

No one can deny Steve Jobs has been an incredibly bold entrepreneur from the start. Co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. and former CEO of Pixar, Jobs has continually pushed the limits of technological innovation and artistic creation. In this commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005, Jobs casually offers up three stories, loaded with important life lessons.

Jobs discusses his college days, in particular his decision to drop out, but then “drop in” on classes. Clearly a person who often took the path less traveled in life, the lessons he learned while “dropping in” on classes were invaluable and would contribute to his success later on in life. He says, “you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards,” and encourages us to follow our hearts, to trust that one day it will all come together. As long as we are working towards what we are passionate about, it will be worth it.

Jobs talks about how he and Steve Wozniak built up Apple, starting out as just two guys in a garage. Not everything was perfect during his time at Apple. At age 30 he was essentially fired from Apple and didn’t know what to do with himself. But what he did know was what he was passionate about. Shortly after leaving Apple he created Pixar and NeXT Computer. Pixar needs no explanation of its incredible success, and NeXT was eventually bought by Apple, putting Jobs once again at the helm. This experience taught him a lot, and Jobs urges us to persevere in life, saying, “Do what you believe is great work…keep looking, don’t settle.”

At the end of the speech, Jobs discusses his recent health struggles. He urges us to use the knowledge of death to push ourselves to achieve what we want, to make necessary changes in our life and start doing what we love and what we feel is important, right away.

Don’t let the length of this video fool you, there’s plenty of knowledge and wisdom packed in! Happy Learning!

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Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 56 minutes 11 seconds

The idea of Avon Products inspires a wide range of thoughts ranging from the image of door-to-door saleswomen and house parties to that of top-line perfumes and men’s fashion. However, two things that generally do not leap to mind is a fashion juggernaut and an enabler for thousands of women across the country. As a company sometimes referred to as ‘The Company of Women’, it is only natural to find a woman standing at its helm: Andrea Jung, currently ranked as the sixth most powerful woman in the United States according to Fortune Magazine. She is a critical piece of the force of Avon and a figure well worth considering.

However, to truly grasp the concepts that drive Avon, we have to step back an era. Before women were even permitted to vote, much less be accepted in the workplace, the original founder of Avon, under the name of the California Perfume Company, decided to work with a predominantly female sales force. The spiritual element, in addition to the business logic, of female independence resonated with the company and proved to be a potent asset.

Maintaining this spirit of supporting women’s independence has done much to encourage the longevity of Avon by pushing them to explore new markets and giving the company a core concept to rally around through the ages. This center on aiding women has pushed the company to enter markets where other companies have shied away from, such as in developing countries, where women are just beginning to enter the economic environment, and grow in times of poor economic growth from people with an entrepreneurial spirit being laid off seeking new opportunities.

This video looks at a variety of elements, from the importance of spirit, constant reinvention, and the capacity to do multiple things at the same time. Whether it’s the ability to look forward at the future without losing sight of what brought you to that point or to strive towards an ideal while remaining grounded in reality, Andrea Jung is a potent woman at the head of a powerful company that has its very spirit geared towards uplifting peoples.

Reading time: 3 - 5 minutes

Video Time: 22 minutes 2 seconds

Let’s start off a week of important women in business with Sheryl Sandberg. It’s clear to anyone in the business-world that Sandberg has a pretty impressive resume. Currently the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, her past jobs include Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, and Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. This year she ranked #22 on the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune.

In this eloquent speech at a Stanford Business School Banquet entitled “Faces of Change, ” Sandberg tackles the topic of “Women in Management.” Sandberg’s speech is a perfect way to start off this week’s topic, because in it she offers us practical advice on how to make the business-world more equal. While Sandberg asserts that much has changed already and we must appreciate this, there is so much more needed. Sandberg illustrates how women continue to struggle for equality in the work-world, currently earning on average only 80% of what men make, despite earning 60% of bachelors degrees awarded. On the Wall Street Journal’s current list of the top 30 wage earners, only one woman is on this list. She explains how women are still underrepresented in top positions of power in our society, and that women who have successful careers are less likely to be married or stay married than men with successful careers.

So, how do we change things, how do we make things more equal? Sandberg gives women advice on how to stay in the work force, even while balancing the demands of a family. Her pieces of advice fall under three categories: pretend you’re a guy, don’t leave until you leave, and make your partner a real partner.

1. Pretend you’re a guy. This basically comes down to confidence. Put simply, men are more likely to overestimate their achievements and are more likely to attribute their accomplishments to talent instead of luck. Sandberg encourages women to be proud of their success. Along with confidence, Sanberg emphasizes the importance of women negotiating in the workplace; make sure you’re getting paid what you’re worth!

2. Don’t leave until you leave. Sandberg describes the issues involved with women who want to start a family and sometimes make premature decisions about their jobs because of this. She urges these women not to slow down because of future plans, and not to make apprehensive decisions. If you decide that you don’t want to leave your work, do not slow down. Continue to strive, take that promotion.

3. Make your partner a real partner. Sandberg illustrates how, according to research, in most married households women do the majority of housework and childcare even if they work full-time. These women are essentially working two jobs. The importance of having a truly equal partner in a marriage is essential to making women more equal in our society and specifically in the workplace.

Sandberg doesn’t sugarcoat it. She’s hopeful, but doesn’t deny that it’ll be hard work. She hopes to see women have more choices in the near future, but doesn’t forget the fact that men need more choices too. For instance, if a man wants to be a stay-at-home dad, he should be able to, but as of right now this is not a common choice for males.

So, enjoy this inspirational and informative speech, and hopefully you’ll learn a little about what you can do as an individual to promote equality in our workforce. Happy Learning!

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Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 24 minutes 55 seconds

Hello, my name is Alan Chang and if you’ve followed us before, you’ll know that we here at LunchLearning explore a different theme every week and if you haven’t—we do. This week, we’ll be looking at paradigm shifts that have transformed entire industries as well as newborn technologies and platforms that have the potential to bring about change yet haven’t quite matured and reached their full potential yet.

Nikesh Arora (@nikesharora on Twitter), one of the presidents of Google and responsible for strengthening their core business, discusses the gap in technology usage between generations. In addition to giving Google the focus they had lost when they grew, he was a critical piece of the puzzle for a number of other businesses, such as T-Mobile, whose industries had changed dramatically through the years.

Changes in the market are obvious in hindsight, but the secret to their importance, and success in their utilization, is to understand what is a revolutionary product and what isn’t. Mobile phones were once considered an elite product, with only the richest and most important people owning them. Similarly, until recently, as Brandon Shook explored last week, games were considered best for targeting children. Things have changed.

Social networks are rapidly increasing in prominence, visibility as well as importance. However, knowing that something is going to become the standard is not enough. Being able to determine exactly who the winner will be even a few years in advance can make a tremendous difference. Just as the landscape of the internet was different ten years ago, it will be something entirely different in ten more years. Taking steps to capitalize on these changes will strengthen your position.

Within this video, Nikesh Arora briefly considers a variety of areas ranging from viral marketing and interacting with customers to company reach and market research. All of these things, and more, have changed throughout the years and will continue to. Equally important, each of these can be directly attributed to the success of failure of a company. Somebody has to succeed, so why not you?

Think of the past, envision the future!

Reading time: 2 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 19 minutes 30 seconds

Well this is it for me, its been great sharing with you this week. I want to end my series with a look towards the FUTURE. In today’s video Jane McGonigal (@avantgame on Twitter), and a researcher at the Institute for the Future, talks about how the social aspects of online gaming can be transposed onto the real world. She believes that the social networks in online games which allow players to effectively communicate to one another will eventually become the foundation for how we will use technology in the future. As an example Jane’s social game World Without Oil shows how people can effectively create multiple solutions to a large problem in a short period of time. Her game also demonstrates how people can use new technology to creatively solve problems when given the right means to achieve a goal.

New technology helps create better products and helps small businesses advertise in inexpensive ways. Technology like Google, Facebook and Twitter give entrepreneurs the resources to target specific consumers and streamline marketing. What might sound silly now, like making the real world mirror video games, might be as normal as checking an e-mail in the future. Technology and business go hand and hand and the partnership between these two economic giants help drive change. I picked this video to remind you that technology is your friend so play nice. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Learning and Game On!

Reading time: 3 - 5 minutes

Video Time: 38 minutes 6 seconds

Today, I want to focus on Sid Meier, the Director of Creative Development for Firaxis Games. Sid realized the potential video games have for teaching and capitalized on it. In the video Sid presents Civilization, a game he helped create, as an example of how games can be used to educate. In Civilization the player jumps into the role of all powerful leader and gets to decide how he or she wants to build a society. You start the game as a small settler town, but by the end of the game you could be colonizing space. As your society grows throughout the ages, you begin to compete for resources from neighboring nations. How you choose to interact with these nations determines whether you’re an enlightened pacifist society, a war mongering nation, or anything in between. The game essentially becomes a giant economic and history lesson that lets you see if you have what it takes to create an empire that can withstand the test of time.

Sid presents how he took his video games from just being pure entertainment to a rewarding learning experience. He begins his lecture by stating that people don’t like to be taught, but they like learning. Sounds like a contradiction, right? Well, he’s right in the sense that people are not always receptive to being told what to do or how to do it. Sometimes the best way to learn is to do it for yourself and video games give the player the opportunity to do just that. When something, like history, can’t tangibly be manipulated video games can be an excellent learning tool. Sid talks about the importance of choice when it comes to cultivating a desire to learn. Everyone learns differently and Sid shows how presenting information in various ways allows people find a learning style best suited for them. He also believes that to engage an audience, the mode in which the information is presented should be entertaining. No one is going to learn anything if they’re not paying attention.

So how is this relevant to the business world and not just students? It’s easy if you think of it in terms of on the job training. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my fair share of training meetings where the trainer droned on and on about a topic and the only thing I learned was that I could draw a really cool fire breathing dinosaur. The techniques Sid uses to create a more rewarding educational experience for his gaming audience can be applied to creating more effective and dynamic training sessions.

Training doesn’t necessarily have to involve a video game. Training can take the fundamental aspects of learning that Sid mentions and use them to present the information in a way that is appealing to the audience, creates an interactive environment, and allows the trainees to learn at their own pace. I hope you enjoy the presentation.

Happy learning and Game On!

Reading time: 4 - 6 minutes

Video Time: 55 minutes 17 seconds

Peter Diamandis (@PeterDiamandis on Twitter) is the founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, which is a nonprofit institution that organizes public competitions aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. In this lecture, Diamandis speaks at MIT about technological change and the power that we have to enact that change. One of the most prevalent themes of the lecture is space exploration, and Diamandis asserts it is something we need to make a priority if we want to see scientific progress. As Diamandis touches on the history of space exploration and our first attempt to the moon, he declares that the reason we were able to achieve this goal was due to the belief that anything is possible. He states enthusiastically throughout the lecture that this belief is absolutely necessary for invention.
Diamandis explains in detail the Ansari X Prize, which was a competition that offered $10,000,000 to the first private organization that could build a reusable spacecraft and launch it twice in two weeks. The prize was won in 2004 by the team Tier One, with a spacecraft designed by Burt Rutan (Link is to a TEDtalk) called SpaceShipOne. Diamandis plays a video for the audience that highlights the journey of those involved in the Ansari X Prize. It’s incredibly inspirational, and depicts all the work, thought, and innovation that was stimulated by the project across the globe.
Diamandis explains the foundation’s new efforts towards promoting business and technology, and the goals of the foundation to continue to spur radical discoveries and breakthroughs in science. Diamindis explains that the X Prize Foundation is about inspiring humankind and “creating heroes.” He states that by putting a prize out there, it encourages people to believe that a solution or an invention is possible.
Diamandis describes how new prizes are being offered by both his foundation and by NASA, and that these could bring about “private races to the moon.” He continually emphasizes the importance of creating new industries, and discusses future X Prize possibilities in things like genetics, environment, energy, and education. He urges us to challenge ourselves and to take on “crazy ideas,” and calls on entrepreneurs to take those risks that are necessary for breakthroughs and radical change. He stresses the importance of promoting people to compete, and using this competition to make the world a better place. At on point in the lecture Diamandis asks the audience who thinks that in their lifetime they will have the chance to go to space, pretty much everyone raises their hands, and Diamandis declares that this is what’s most important; the belief is what makes things happen.
In 2007, the X Prize Foundation organized the Google Lunar Prize (@glxp on Twitter), which is still up for grabs. It’s another space exploration competition, and the goal is for a private organization to travel to, land on, and explore the surface of the moon. For more information on the X Prize Foundation, check out their website at www.xprize.org.
Enjoy, and happy learning!

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 48 minutes 44 seconds

There’s no need to give Bill Gates a lengthy introduction, we all know his outstanding accomplishments. As founder of Microsoft he helped revolutionize the personal computer and his recent philanthropic efforts are extensive. In this lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, he discusses the future of software and the many ways it will affect our lives.

The lecture starts out with a small introduction and a short comedic video that Gates plays for the audience. The video is quite humorous, involves numerous celebrity appearances, and deals with his decision to switch from full-time work at Microsoft to full-time philanthropy work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. If you want to skip the humor and dig right into the lecture, then by all means skip about 14 minutes into the video.

Gates begins his discussion by asserting that we are on the verge of numerous technological breakthroughs, and that more and more processes are now being done digitally. One example he gives is the use of encyclopedias today. Ten years ago, most people would have pulled out a hardcover alphabetized reference book, but today, we’re more likely to consult sources like Wikipedia for our information needs.

Throughout the lecture, Gates speaks in much detail about specific software advances, such as “Microsoft Surface,” which is a surface computing product that uses motion and physical objects to control digital content. Gates explains how these new innovations will change how businesses operate, making information more readily accessible to workers, and that it will make the workplace more efficient but also more exciting. Not only will businesses change, but the technology we use at home, at schools, and in scientific research will too.

In the final part of this lecture, Gates turns to the topic of global problems. He gives some examples of how to use technology to solve global problems, particularly issues involving the poorest sections of the world. Despite the many problems around the globe, he is unwaveringly optimistic about progress; he knows that people do want to help and that the opportunities are out there.

So, enjoy this extremely educational and relevant video. Hopefully you’ll learn a little something about software, and get excited about what’s to come!

Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes

Video Time: 34 minutes 59 seconds****Woz starts talking about 5:30****

Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz on Twitter) is best known for co-founding Apple Computer Inc. with Steve Jobs, and inventing the Apple I and Apple II computers. In this video, Wozniak appears at a National Kidney Foundation gathering in San Jose, CA to talk about his book, iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. Wozniak speaks animatedly about his interest in computers at a young age, his attempts throughout high school and college to invent and create, and how he and his good friend Steve Jobs finally created their own groundbreaking business. Certainly, there are many lessons we can learn from Wozniak’s fascinating and often humorous story, especially if we are facing our own challenges in the business world.

Wozniak explains how very early on in life he had a keen interest in computers. He was so anxious to learn about them, that in high school he was already designing and building “mini-computers.” Not having a lot of money or even much information at his disposal, he consulted whatever manuals he could get his hands on, and simply built and rebuilt. At one point in the video, Wozniak implies that not having the money to build a computer was actually a blessing, because this gave him the motivation to build a computer that needed fewer parts to run. Wozniak stresses how he was constantly challenging himself, and used whatever resources he had at his disposal to learn and create.

Wozniak discusses his optimism for the possibilities of technology that continued to motivate him throughout his college years. Unable to take any undergraduate computer science courses because they were simply not available at the time, he enrolled in graduate courses. He was not going to let anything stop him from learning what he was most passionate about.

Wozniak ends the speech by touching on his eventual friendship with Steve Jobs and their business collaboration which, of course, brought about Apple Inc. Wozniak beams as he reminisces about the early days of Apple, remembering the exhilaration he and Jobs felt at the prospect of a business that was their very own.

In this video, Wozniak inspires us with his resourcefulness, motivation, and optimism. He asserts that the best kind of learning in life often comes from just digging in and getting hands-on experience. Let his enthusiasm and life lessons inspire you to achieve your own goals!