Friday Fives
Friday Fives
A round up of five things that have caught our eye (or ear) this past week.
1. SUPPORTING OUR NEXT GENERATION OF ENTREPRENEURS
This summer the team have jumped on board with the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland and their Summer Lab, and are mentoring a number of the teams going through the programme. Not only is it pretty awesome to be able to help inspire our next generation of innovators, we’re also pretty excited to learn a lot from these teams who are made up from multiple faculties with an international mix thrown in for good measure. Stay tuned for updates on our teams leading up to pitch day in late Feb. We’re all pretty competitive so it’s sure to be an interesting journey!
2. ROBOTS & HUMANS - AND HOW THE TWO CAN WORK TOGETHER
We were disappointed to have missed Vivienne Ming when she was in New Zealand last year with Project Connect talking about AI for good applications and the ethics associated with this. We’ve been following her work with interest, and in this recent interview she talks about her latest venture, Socos Labs, and the impact of AI on creativity and work - hot topics for the O/TG team.
Vivienne’s perspective on the importance of building a creative economy for life in an AI dominated world, and the work that Socos Labs is undertaking to foster this in the next generation, is inspiring. And this concept of focussing in on human creativity as the area that AI can’t replicate is one that is an important part of the ongoing debate and concern around the future of work.
“If you want to know how AI actually should be thought of: it’s a tool. It’s a paintbrush. It is part of a whole set of tools to creatively explore the world.”
3. CLOSING THE CULTURE GAP
PwC’s Strategy+Business publication is a regular read for us here at O/TG HQ, and this week we’ve been looking at their latest thoughts on organisational culture, and how to close the gap between rhetoric and reality when it comes to transformation. The article itself takes a company-centric lens to the issue, but we’re always interested in the parallels for broader ecosystems, particularly for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Aside from the interesting data metrics looking at differences between management and employees when it comes to perceptions on culture, the good stuff comes at the end where the authors suggest four practical ways that the culture gap can be closed. All of these can be applied in a broader ecosystem context, so be sure to add these to your toolbox if you’re a leader or influencer in your local ecosystems.
Read more: https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Closing-the-Culture-Gap
4. SAM ALTMAN ON HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL
Sam Altman is someone who knows what’s he talking about. As President of Y-Combinator, one of the world’s most renowned startup accelerators, and co-chairman of OpenAI, he has seen more than his fair share of founders and entrepreneurs changing and disrupting business on a global scale.
His latest blog post is a great long read, and is Sam’s first crack at distilling down the principles he’s observed about how to achieve success, no matter what your chosen field or goal.
Some of his ‘13 thoughts’ are not surprising (“work hard!”), but others are not so obvious and very insightful. All of them are on the money. Weekend homework for us at O/TG is how we can apply these to our own efforts to build a business with global impact … let us know how you could apply these in your own endeavours!
Read more: http://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful
5. QUANTUM COMPUTING 101
Ever wondered what on earth quantum computing was and why it matters? In this video from Wired, IBM's Dr. Talia Gershon (Senior Manager, Quantum Research) takes up their challenge of explaining quantum computing to five different people; a child, teen, a college student, a grad student and a professional. For the not so techie, and the techies amongst us, this is a great way to get your head around a complex subject and be able to articulate it to others. It is also one in a series of Wired videos where they challenge experts to break down complex subjects - well worth checking out.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWJCfOvochA