What entrepreneurs can learn from underdogs, generation flux’s secret weapon, iPhone therefore I am: Best of the Web

Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell has a new book out, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.

In this video he talks to Issie Lapowsky of Inc. about the business lessons from his book. He looks at why entrepreneurs are disagreeable, and why that’s a good thing and how disadvantages can be advantageous.

Generation flux

Fast Company is running a series called “Generation Flux”. The moniker is being used by Robert Safian to describe “the group of people best positioned to thrive in today’s era of high-velocity change”.

“Fluxers are defined not by their chronological age but by their willingness and ability to adapt. These are the people who are defining where business and culture are moving. And purpose is at the heart of their actions. Don’t confuse this with social service. For these folks, a mission is the essential strategic tool that allows them to filter the modern barrage of stimuli, to motivate and engage those around them, and to find new and innovative ways to solve the world’s problems.”

Safian has interviewed Chipolote chief executive Steve Ellis and actor, musician and tech executive Jared Leto among others to paint a picture of a rising breed of business leaders who are animated not just by money but by the pursuit of a larger societal purpose.

“Their motivation may be personal, emotional, and, yes, moral; and yet their idealism is rewarded in the marketplace,” he says.

iPhone, therefore I am  

In The Monthly, John Maloney considers how we cope with time alone in ‘iPhone Therefore I Am’. Maloney looks at conventional wisdom that we’re now so reliant on our mobile cache of digital distractions that simply having a little think has become intolerable.

“Perhaps our minds aren’t degenerating, but disseminating, beyond their traditional cranial confines. And when our hapless peers pressed that shock button, perhaps they were evincing a reflex to use their brains, rather than escape them – or rather, to use them by escaping them,” he says. 

Image credit: Flickr/Poptech2006