Gates Predictions Fulfilled; Mrs. Jack’s Hacks; Disruptors; Econ Recon: #FakeNews?

Bill Gates Fifteen Predictions

Peter Drucker once suggested that one of the best things executives could do was to record the predictions they made and then revisit them after the fact to get some perspective on the soundness of their thought processes. In his 1999 book, “Business @ the Speed of Thought,” Bill Gates made a number of calls that seem to have hit the mark. Here are the outcomes of fifteen of his predictions set forth in this book 18 years ago.

To be sure, in the early 90’s Mr. Gates was late in seeing the promise of the Internet itself, but these calls deserve some kudos for the man who vowed to “put a computer on every desk” …..and in large measure did!

Mrs. Jack’s Hacks

Most business people consider a LinkedIn profile to be as necessary as an email address. For many employers, it is taking the place of a resume to a greater or lesser degree.

Suzy (Mrs. Jack)  Welch, who in a former life was the editor and contributor of the Harvard Business Review, offers three useful, simple and perhaps surprising suggestions for your LinkedIn profile that she strongly believes will improve your chances of finding the job you want. Take 97 seconds for this CNBC video about ‘Mrs. Jack’s Hacks.’   (After the 12 Second T-Mobile Commercial)

Disruptors Don’t Have to Be Jackasses

In his most recent book “The Ideal Team Player,” Patrick Lencioni outlines his thoughts on what makes a “Jackass” and why it is important to keep them off your team.

But what about Steve Jobs? His untimely death led to several books, movies and documentaries about what made him so successful in disrupting the computer world. Many of these analyses suggest that to be a successful “disruptor” you have to be more than a little bit of a jerk. The recent travails of Uber founder Travis Kalanick might seem to add credence to this hypothesis for some.

But maybe this isn’t necessarily so. Adam Grant of Wharton Business School who wrote “Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success”  recently shared some opposing views to the conventional wisdom you need to be a jerk to make big things work.

Find out why he says “To Be a Disruptor You Don’t Have To Be An A******” (you can fill in the blanks).

Econ Recon: #FakeNews?

Donald Trump has forced the phrase “fake news” into the lexicon as regards political reporting. Economist Brian Wesbury thinks that the description could be applied to the business world as well. Check his short blog entry “Debt Laden Companies? # Fake News?

Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics also takes the media to task for casting doubt on the near term health of the economy. The media may not want to be confused by facts, but Dr. Beaulieu will be happy to share some May economic results with you and what they really mean for the road ahead.