Achilladelis and Antonakis conducted a historical study of the dynamics and tendencies of technological innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. From this standpoint, pursuing increase in market share, major pharma companies undertake mergers and acquisitions. As the majority of specialists points out, particularly mergers and acquisitions are considered to be essential ways to obtain innovation capabilities and assuming control levers of any major technological changes within biotech industry. For instance, in the beginning of 90s, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche after creating a complex network of licensing and research agreements, embraced a new strategy that quickly moved the firm more deeply into the biotech field. In effect, Roche decided to transplant a generalized biotech capability through acquisition. It began by buying equity stakes in the biotechs with which it was collaborating, a relatively common element in the large firm/small firm alliances in this industry. But next, it broke the mold by purchasing a controlling (60%) share of the most successful of the biotech startups, Genentech. Meanwhile, the Swiss firm was spending between $130 and $140 million a year on its in-house capabilities in the new field.

By the mid-1990s, it was becoming apparent that various kinds of collaborative arrangements between biotechs and pharmaceutical companies would continue to be an important feature of the current long cycle of innovation in this industry. As Glaxo’s director of corporate development explained, “No emerging or established pharmaceutical company is large enough, or smart enough to meet all of its knowledge needs in isolation.” The front across which change was taking place in the biomedical sciences was so broad that even the largest pharmaceutical firms could no longer bring in-house all of the research capabilities they needed. Indeed, the “knowledge needs” were so pressing that they had given rise to a new subdiscipline, “bioinformatics,” that combined genomic information with computer technology in order to make data more widely available to scientists.

One of the peculiar trends regarding innovation in pharmaceutical industry is that R&D represents a major determinant of company’s competitiveness. Simultaneously, large pharmaceutical firms transfer their R&D activities to so-called dedicated biotechnology firms, because they usually have higher innovative capabilities.

The article was produced by the writer of Essay-Paper.net. Olivia Hunt is a 4-years experienced freelance writer of Essay Paper. Visit our website to learn more about our paper writing and proofreading service.

Sikkim Manipal University Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DDE) today announced the launch of Vidyadeep, a nationwide scholarship program for 1500 meritorious and deserving students of SMU-DE programs across India. Out of these 1500 scholarships, 500 scholarships will be offered to students from the North East alone. This scholarship is a ‘first of its kind pioneering initiative’ in the field of distance education in the country!

At the 2nd National Learning Centre Convention at Mysore on 14th December 2009, in the presence of representatives from more than 400 learning centres of SMU-DE in India, Brand Ambassador for Manipal Education, Anil Kumble, and Brig. (Retd.) Dr. S.S. Pabla, Vice Chancellor, Sikkim Manipal University, launched ‘Vidyadeep’. Appreciating Manipal Group’s dedication and commitment towards education and healthcare, Anil Kumble applauded the efforts of SMU-DE in making quality higher education accessible to students and aspirants from the hinterland of India. He said, “Vidyadeep is a laudable initiative to help deserving students realize their educational dreams. I am sure this is a milestone in itself. SMU-DE is revolutionizing distance education in India providing access and equity to all its students.”

The scholarship programme is in the form of upto 100% tuition fee waiver for students currently in the 1st to 5th semester for the streams of IT, Management, Journalism & Mass Communication, Fashion, Hospitality & Tourism, Allied Health, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics.

Eligibility criteria include:

Low family income Qualifying exam marks – an average of 45% and above Marks in last exam (for the 1st semester students)

Vice Chancellor of Sikkim Manipal University Brig.(Retd.) Dr. S.S. Pabla said “Commemorating our commitment to higher education for all, we are proud to launch this scholarship programme for our students. We encourage students to apply and avail this opportunity to realize their dreams”.

About Sikkim Manipal University – Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DE)

Sikkim Manipal University – Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DE) is amongst the largest distance education providers in India and offers Post Graduate, Degree and Diploma programs across 10 disciplines.  The SMU-DE was established in 2001 by the Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences as part of its efforts to bring education to the masses to fulfill the growing demand for professionals and individuals who do not have the luxury of time to join regular, full-time courses. The programs offered by SMU are recognized by the Distance Education Council (DEC) of the Government of India.

As a part of its continuous efforts to improve pedagogy and instructional system in distance learning, Manipal has recently introduced EduNxt, the next-generation interactive learning system. Affordable and easy to use, EduNxt enables a collaborative and interactive environment for learning thus shifting the Education paradigm from being ‘faculty-centric’ to a ‘learner-centric’, thus making quality education available to all, at the convenience of their own time and location.

Website: http://www.smude.edu.in

EduNxt:  http://edunxt.smude.edu.in

You can access online courses anywhere you like – at work, at home, while traveling. If you think your daily activity is not allowing you to go school then think again you can turn to NYU-ePoly and earn your masters degree in your interesting field like Online Electrical Engineering, Online Bioinformatics, Organizational Behavior, Computer engineering, Cyber Security, Telecommunication Networks, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Wireless Innovation. Also you can gain Certificate programs in Bioinformatics, Cyber Security, Computer Engineering, Power Electronics and Systems, Telecommunication Networking, Wireless communication. So no one can stop you from gaining online learning degree if you are committed. NYU-ePoly is online education department of the Polytechnic Institute of NYU.

We help online students from various part of the world to make their experience and elearning better and smoother. Our help desk is live 24/7.  We have best faculty staffing to help you make your distance education better and smooth. Online education is a simple procedure. We have weekly virtual class where professor puts up material, quiz, discussions, and various other materials for you to study. When ever a student get chance to study he access all material of week and studies weekly material. Confusions and doubts are cleared in discussions as well as personal email to professors.

Taking online education exam is also simple procedure. Professors have two categories to take exam. First is if professor wants he can create online exam on our learning platform and take exam. Second is if professor want student to give exam in blue books then student has to find a proctoring facility and fill proctoring request form to ePoly. ePoly will contact your facilities and you can give exam at that proctoring facility. So if you think to go for elearning then NYU-ePoly would be best university to study.

Biotech companies in San Diego are actively recruiting, and if you have an interest in biology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, or in one of the many related fields, then a career in the San Diego biotech industry may be for you. Biotechnology is defined as the integration of engineering and technology to the life sciences, and is also referred to as bioengineering in some circles. In biotechnology, microorganisms, and or biological substances are used in specific ways, which include, but are not limited to, drug and hormone production, food production, and waste product conversion.

As mentioned, biotechnology is a broadly encompassing term, including the fields of molecular biology, cell biology, and genetic engineering.

Molecular biology is the study of the structure and activity of the macromolecules necessary for life, which consist of DNA, amino acids, proteins, and other types of molecules.

Genetic engineering is the study of the process of creating what is known as recombinant DNA, a process that is accomplished by dividing strands of DNA and then splicing them together in different ways.

Cell Biology is the study of cellular components and the ways in which cells interact.

If you are looking for, or anticipating a search for, a San Diego biotech job, you should know that in this type of field, higher education degrees are an absolute must. A bachelors degree in a related field is considered to be the base education for a biotech professional, and it is highly recommended that those seeking to enter the biotech field obtain an advanced degree in molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, cell physiology, or a related field.

Biotechnologists can expect to spend the majority of their time in a laboratory setting, but most biotech professionals also collaborate with other researchers on projects and scientific papers detailing their experiment results and research findings. If you are currently an undergraduate looking towards a future San Diego biotech job, you should plan on coauthoring a scientific research paper with a more senior collaborator before you graduate.

Biotech professionals generally work for large biotech firms or companies, but many also find career fulfillment in academia, and in the areas of genomic, proteomic, and bioinformatics research fields. The question of whether to work for an established large biotech firm, an energetic start up company, or in the academic fields is best answered through research and by examining your own career goals and expectations.

According to a 2002 report from the Brookings Institution stated that the U.S. biotech industry is concentrated largely within Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Raleigh Durham, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. and Baltimore. In other words, good news for those seeking lucrative, fulfilling, San Diego biotech jobs.

The technology of computer science and its development mirrors the growing number of newer fields and many sub disciplines. Generally computer science deals with anything that has to do with computers. However, due to the ultra fast, technical development and rapid growth within the last couple of decades, computer science today covers many more subjects than just computers. There are so many sub fields involved like, general computer science, media informatics, technical computer sciences, networking, internet and such like.

The diversified field of Computer technology or more specifically the core discipline of computer science also deals with the sub disciplines like theories of programming languages, artificial intelligence, communication technology, databases, soft-ware engineering and bioinformatics.

Computer Science and this technology are interlinked to every aspect of today’s modern life and really provide extended help in finding progressive solutions to everyday problems. It also fills the gaps in our knowledge. Access to information is quite easy due to the fact that internet a progeny of computer technology is providing vast and interactive services to the entire world. The world is in turn becoming a global village, the distances of communication among friends and family having been virtually eliminated. The internet provides web services of different sorts such as, social networking services, chatting services which give real time interaction to users and portals providing free lance business opportunities. Moreover with the help of modern day e-commerce facilities businesses are on an upward curve of success.

Users of internet can locate the web sites of interests in a number of easy ways.

There is a variety of online content available in easy access to the common man; merchants, online banking opportunities, educational and government entities and companies listed with trade and organization names. They can also surf the net with the assistance of various web related search engines, which work magic just like genies!

Advances in the computer technology have made greater efficiencies on the hard ware side as well. Most modern day computers are now general purpose computers and they feature a high degree of programming flexibility.

As computing technology has shifted from a stand alone activity to conduct increasingly over networks, the way computers work has changed as well. Most computers used in business, and many used in the home, no longer operate in the old self contained fashion.

It seems that every one was caught by the speed how millions of people using internet started buying things online. This development posed important challenges and has implications for the technological framework of the internet.

Where, there are so many diversities found in the computer technology, software development stands as an inherently functional enterprise. Software provides the instructions that enable a computer to perform the tasks to serve the user’s needs. Soft- wares can actually control anything from the relatively simple operation of a clock to the highly complex operation of an airplane.

In the end, it would suffice to say that the computer science is about exploring the limitations of us the humans and gaining knowledge about expanding our horizons.

         Amazon is one of my favorite companies. They were among the first players in ecommerce, survived the bust and now they are among the first to venture into the Cloud Computing SAS marketplace. Right now Amazon Web Services consists of five different categories (Infrastructure, Payments and Billing, On Demand Workforce, Alexa Web Services and Merchant Services) and you know this will be just the tip of the iceberg for Amazon. I am convinced that Amazon will be a major player in the SAS marketplace not only for developers but for all aspects of business computing. They started with books on the ecommerce side and now you can buy just about anything from Amazon. I am willing to bet it will be the same path for their Web Services. Below is an outline of the main offerings for Developers that Amazon now has in Infrastructure Services.

         Let’s first take a look at Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). Simply put it is a web service that provides resizable computer capacity in the cloud, designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers. Amazon EC2’s simple web service interface allows you to obtain and configure capacity with minimal friction. It provides you with complete control of your computing resources and lets you run on Amazon’s proven computing environment. Amazon EC2 reduces the time required to obtain and boot new server instances to minutes, allowing you to quickly scale capacity, both up and down, as your computing requirements change. Amazon EC2 changes the economics of computing by allowing you to pay only for capacity that you actually use. Amazon EC2 provides developers the tools to build failure resilient applications and isolate themselves from common failure scenarios. 

          Amazon also has a simple Database designed with the developer in mind. Amazon SimpleDB is dramatically simpler than a traditional, clustered relational database, requiring no schema, automatically indexing your data and providing a simple API for storage and access. Amazon SimpleDB provides a simple web services interface to create and store multiple data sets, query your data easily, and return the results. Your data is automatically indexed, making it easy to quickly find the information that you need. There is no need to pre-define a schema or change a schema if new data is added later. And scale-out is as simple as creating new domains, rather than building out new servers.

          Amazon SimpleDB is a web service providing the core database functions of data indexing and querying. This service works in close conjunction with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), collectively providing the ability to store, process and query data sets in the cloud, making web-scale computing easier and more cost-effective for developers. 

       Amazon also has simple storage. Amazon S3 provides a simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers.

          Amazon CloudFront is a web service for content delivery. It integrates with other Amazon Web Services to give developers and businesses an easy way to distribute content to end users. Amazon CloudFront works seamlessly with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) which durably stores the original, definitive versions of your files. 

          Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) offers a reliable, highly scalable, hosted queue for storing messages as they travel between computers. By using Amazon SQS, developers can simply move data between distributed components of their applications that perform different tasks, without losing messages or requiring each component to be always available. Amazon SQS makes it easy to build an automated workflow, working in close conjunction with the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and the other AWS infrastructure web services. 

       Amazon Elastic MapReduce is a web service that enables businesses, researchers, data analysts, and developers to easily and cost-effectively process vast amounts of data. Using Amazon Elastic MapReduce, you can instantly provision as much or as little capacity as you like to perform data-intensive tasks for applications. Amazon Elastic MapReduce lets you focus on crunching or analyzing your data without having to worry about time-consuming set-up, management or tuning of Hadoop clusters or the compute capacity upon which they sit.

Using Amazon Elastic MapReduce, you can instantly provision as much or as little capacity as you like to perform data-intensive tasks for applications such as web indexing, data mining, log file analysis, machine learning, financial analysis, scientific simulation, and bioinformatics research. Amazon Elastic MapReduce lets you focus on crunching or analyzing your data without having to worry about time-consuming set-up, management or tuning of Hadoop clusters or the compute capacity upon which they sit. 

      Amazon also has Premium Support if you are experiencing operational issues or have technical questions during development, test or integration, you can contact our team of AWS developer support engineers and count on predictable response times and personalized support to help bring your issues to resolution.

http://www.cloud.in/amazon-gets-developers-in-the-cloud/

Biotech Industries and Bioinformatics:

There is always been a problem in handling growing business demands. Especially in Life science companies like Bio-Technology and Pharmaceutical companies. These companies involve in finding new medical therapies, development and production of drugs to use as medication in curing diseases. Their research assignments generally produce enormous amount of data. It causes troubles in Data Conversion, storage and integration. Life science informatics or bioinformatics can be simply explained as gathering, managing and processing these pieces of generated biological information. It plays a crucial role in the development of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Bioinformatics – Challenges and Solution:

Bioinformatics provides a devastating group of challenges. The handling and maintaining huge amount of data makes it hard to concentrate on the core business. It does not allow enough time for the standards to establish themselves in the field regardless to its rapid growth rate. Here the offshore outsourcing comes into rescue. Outsourcing has been proven to be one of the effective solutions for biotech companies to acquire great results in efficiency, cost reduction and in productive aspects. Speaking about outsourcing the next logical question pops out would be if that particular process in Life science informatics can really be outsourced? Well, if you consider outsourcing to India you can get any kind of talent in any kind of process. It is absolutely not an overstatement. Right now about 50% of the world’s outsourcing is being done to India.

Factors Driving Outsourcing to India:

According to a research, when compared to other developed countries India offers about 30-40% costs savings in overall drug discovery research and approximately about 60% cost savings when outsourcing core bioinformatics services.  Some of the factors enabling these are,

1) Lower pay costs for skilled manpower

2) Supportive government policies

3) Lower infrastructure costs

4) Time zone advantages

Outsourcing to India also reduces the operating costs, increase efficiency and decrease development period to launching period timelines. These factors drive to further reduction in R&D costs and are fueling the outsourcing of bioinformatics services to India. Regardless of these; the high quality of output in more sensitive works like Data mining, Data Processing makes the bioinformatics outsourcing services companies of India more trusted and dependable by the Pharmaceutical and Biotech clients around the globe. A new study has revealed that the Indian bioinformatics services outsourcing opportunity is expected to grow almost double by 2010 that is up to USD 62 million. These factors actually boost up the confidence to outsource bioinformatics work to India.

     In my article, I present a new tree mining algorithm, DRYADEPARENT, based on the hooking principle first introduced in DRYADE. In the project, I demonstrate that the branching factor and depth of the frequent patterns to find are key factors of complexity for tree mining algorithms, even if often overlooked in previous algorithm. I show that DRYADEPARENT outperforms the current fastest algorithm, CMTreeMiner, by orders of magnitude on data sets where the frequent tree patterns have a high branching factor. DRYADE is based on a more general tree inclusion definition appropriate for mining highly heterogeneous collections of tree data. DRYADEPARENT follows the same principles of DRYADE but uses a standard inclusion definition. The performance of the DRYADEPARENT is very fast when compare to the CMTreeMiner.

              In my article, I focus on tree mining that is, finding frequent tree-shaped patterns in a database of tree-shaped data. Tree mining can lead to many practical applications in the areas of computer networks, bioinformatics, and XML documents databases mining and hence have received a lot of attention from the research community in recent years. Most of the well-known algorithms use the same generate-and-test principle that made the success of frequent item set algorithms. The main adaptation to the tree case is the design of efficient candidate tree enumeration algorithms in order to avoid generating redundant candidates and to enable efficient pruning. However, the search space of tree candidates is huge, particularly when the frequent trees to find have both a high depth and a high branching factor. In the high branching factor case has received very little attention in the tree mining community

Hi-tech industry has a vital role to play in the development of the UK’s economy, Intellect has claimed.

The technology group suggested that people following IT career paths will be at the forefront of Britain’s efforts to recover from the recession.

As the finance and manufacturing sectors struggle, economic growth could come from the information and communication technology sector, the organisation forecast.

Jennifer Carlton, programme manager at Intellect, said: “Coming out of the recession, Intellect believes that the technology industry will be at the core of new growth in the UK, offering a better balanced economy.

“Creative industries and hi-tech manufacturers will offer the UK economy significant areas of growth if the right policy framework is adopted and if the sector is properly supported.”

Long-term challenges facing the IT industry have recently been addressed by Micro Focus.

The enterprise application management and modernisation solutions provider launched Making BrITain Great Again: The Micro Focus Technology Manifesto – Catalyst for UK Growth, Jobs & Prosperity earlier this month.

Opportunities in the IT sector

With the growing influence and promotion of technology, it is very possible that opportunities will further increase for skilled IT professionals and technology experts. Here is an overview of IT jobs and sectors within the IT & technology that will be benefited by the growth in this vital segment of modern economies:

Health Informatics

The recent developments in the Bioinformatics field have led to an increased demand for health informatics experts. Combining both medical and computer science is an exciting sector that can provide an excellent professional career path and great remuneration.

IT Infrastructure

With the ever expanding need for information and the urge of accessing it fast and securely modern IT infrastructures are the backbone of the IT world. Demand for infrastructure architects and administrators is growing along with the need for special skills and knowledge of a wide variety of technologies.

IT Support

If infrastructure is the backbone of modern IT networks then IT support professionals are definitely the link between the various hubs. Helpdesk staff, technical support engineers, first line support technicians and server support specialists are all the hidden protagonists in a non-stop process.

IT Consulting

Becoming an expert in your field can definitely boost your career and open new horizons. Consultants are a rear breed of highly knowledgeable professionals that usually work as contractors or as part of small teams. Industries such as financial software, ERPs or Energy can be a perfect outlet for developing your career. Remuneration is usually very rewarding and flexible working conditions make this sector very attractive.

Source: womeninthechnology

Women in Technology is an information portal with the latest IT jobs, news, events listings and career advice for IT graduates and women in information technology.

eurship Speech to Montgomery College

I would like to sincerely thank Steve Lang and Elana Lippa for inviting me to speak to you to-day. Topic of my speech is “Entrepreneurship and Leadership”.

What is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is a way of life.  It’s a powerful force deep down inside, driving you to achieve your dreams, despite dubious odds and the doubts of others. 

I’m sure many of you here today have the desire, the drive and the dreams to become entrepreneurs.  Dreams give us the strength that carries us through.  Indeed, I’ve often thought that perhaps it is not we who carry the dream, butthe dream that carries us.

I love entrepreneurship.  There is nothing like the excitement, glory, fun and sheer thrill of starting something from scratch and watching it grow into a large enterprise of astonishing proportions.  If you have the opportunity to be an entrepreneur, grab it.  Find passionate and driven people and lead them.  Give them all the necessary resources, and then give them some oxygen to breathe.

I can’t stress strongly enough how determined you must be, for the road to success is neither short nor easy, as the following statistics so starkly reveal:

Only 1 in 6 million high-tech business ideas become an IPO

Venture capitalists fund fewer than 1% of the business plans they receive

Founding CEOs of high-tech firms typically own less than 4% after an IPO

60% of high-tech companies funded by VCs eventually go bankrupt

It takes 3-5 years after their IPO for most high-tech companies to finally succeed1

Clearly, it’s not easy to be a successful technology entrepreneur.  Many will fail at some point, and you must learn to overcome heavy doses of frustration, burnout and disappointment along the way.

So Why Become an Entrepreneur?

For the true entrepreneur, this is a rhetorical question.  For the emerging entrepreneur, there are at least three major motivations:

The FIRST motivation is a yearning to create something novel and useful.  “To be on the cutting edge” is a necessary mantra.  The technology entrepreneur strives to fill a need in the marketplace and then develop a solution — perhaps a better communication tool, an improved optical switch or a faster bioinformatics system. 

Too many people confuse this creative problem-solving by genuine entrepreneurs with the process of merely finding hot technology companies in the market and building new companies that mimic them.  Remember, the hot technology companies are hot because they seek to solve a problem.  The copiers have neither identified a problem nor created a solution.  They simply jumped on the latest bandwagon coming down the road.

The SECOND motivation of the technology entrepreneur is build something that will last forever.  The entrepreneur must always keep ahead of the competition to sustain the enterprise as a profitable concern. 

Risk-taking is absolutely crucial because it yields the innovation that sustains your competitive edge, in a world where competitors constantly catch up to and overtake stagnant firms.  That’s why being on the cutting edge is paramount.  We have to get out of our comfort zone, venture into new horizons and experience new environments.  We must not be afraid of taking chances.  If we fail, we must simply get up and try again.  Perhaps we will fail further… but nevertheless, we must try yet again.  Success teaches you how to move forward, but failure teaches you to never go backwards.  Thus, failure is the first step to success.

The THIRD motivation of the entrepreneur is to have freedom.  Being your own boss has definite appeal.  Glass ceilings cease to exist and achievement is limited only by imagination.  Entrepreneurs are motivated by having control over their work and the flexibility to pursue their dreams.  But freedom always has a price.  With greater personal freedom, comes greater uncertainty about the future, particularly in relation to finances.  Greater personal freedom also means a less structured environment, in which greater self-discipline is required in order to thrive.  Entrepreneurs are willing to accept these risks, however, because of their absolute conviction that they have what it takes to overcome any odds.

If these three ideals do not motivate you, then the very thought of becoming an entrepreneur should be extinguished.  If a big personal cash payout seems to be glaringly missing from the list of major objectives, it is because it is not a primary motivating factor.  These three major goals are not shared by all and are inappropriate for many.  Only those that find these objectives to be self-evident should embrace entrepreneurship.

What Characteristics Make an Entrepreneur Special?

Passion is what entrepreneurs must have, first, and foremost.  They must live and breathe for their business enterprise.  They are zealots about their business models and evangels for their products or services.  They have to be.  If they weren’t, the stress and financial pressures of running a fledgling business would completely wipe them out.  The sheer magnitude of the odds that are stacked against entrepreneurs requires a special kind of irrational exuberance to overcome.  Without passion, resources will never be enough and they will quickly dissipate into thin air.  But your passion will always find a way, even when probabilities conspire against your dream.  Entrepreneurs have unshakable confidence in and enthusiasm for their business ventures that contagiously spreads to their business team.

Laser focus is another hallmark of entrepreneurs.  Many people are creative, but lack discipline.  Entrepreneurs, however, have both qualities.  When a company does not focus, it is planting seeds for future problems. An entrepreneur identifies a path towards a solution and follows that path, notwithstanding the frequent temptation to take sideroads leading to seemingly newer, more exciting destinations.  The entrepreneur knows that most of the journey down the chosen path is checkered with drudgery, yet continues down the path unswervingly, confident that there will be a reward at the end.  The entrepreneur also knows that the side roads along the way may appear appealing at first glance, but will quickly become as checkered with drudgery as the originally chosen path and likely lead to a dead end. 

Focus is power. It creates a powerful perception of resolve in the minds of your customers, employees and competitors. 

Courage is a defining trait of entrepreneurs.  To understand the odds against success and still forge ahead, knowing many battles will be lost en route, requires a certain amount of fearlessness.  Entrepreneurs are purposeful in their tactics and can think on their feet.  Yet they regularly face daunting challenges whose failure to overcome will spell certain disaster for their business ventures.  Their ability to face these challenges without fear enables entrepreneurs to succeed where others cannot.

Entrepreneurs also are leaders.  Contrary to the popular belief that entrepreneurs are mavericks who prefer to be lone wolves, entrepreneurs are visionaries that can inspire and lead their colleagues.  There are few things more compelling than people who are passionate about their work, have the discipline to achieve success, and are fearless in their outlook.  An entrepreneur builds teams and instills confidence in others.

And, of course, an entrepreneur always is thinking ahead, perpetually in motion towards well-defined goals.  Diligent pursuit of progress is a hallmark.

How Can a Student Get on The Path of Entrepreneurship?

As discussed, the fundamentals of entrepreneurship can be learned.  But like anything else, it takes discipline and practice.  That means training your mind to consider the various problems you face as a student and instead of focusing on the downside, identify the opportunity that lies within. 

For example, if predicting test questions accurately is a problem, consider developing a system that makes this easier.  Perhaps a database of all prior test questions with the best answers could be developed, with a subscription fee business model.  Perhaps the database could be expanded to all colleges so that it will be more comprehensive and can appeal to a large subscriber base. 

Chances are, the problems you face will also be faced by others and the more people impacted, the greater the opportunity. This is how new entrepreneurial businesses are formed — by searching for pandemic problems that currently lack solutions.  Keep in mind that Google was founded by students; Facebook was founded by a student; and even Microsoft was formed by Bill Gates as a student.  The opportunities to be an entrepreneur are all around you right now, if you take time to examine the challenges you face and filter them through the prism of business. 

Leadership

Once you have established a business and grabbed the available opportunities by the horns, naturally, you have to manage it effectively.  And that means drawing upon your capabilities to lead – a defining characteristic of an entrepreneur, as already discussed.  So, what does it take to be a good leader, besides the obvious traits of being passionate, disciplined and courageous?  In today’s world, it also means being compassionate, transparent, objective, and humble. 

It used to be that companies were evaluated solely on two metrics: (1) their ability to produce cash flow; and (ii) their ability to innovate.  But now, companies are also evaluated on how they perform as corporate citizens.  A company’s willingness to do things for the public good and be socially responsible is a core element of performance.  Compassion is important.  As an example, ExxonMobil is producing record profits and is churning out new technologies as fast as ever.  Yet they are being vilified in the marketplace because of a perception that they are being greedy and failing to have compassion for the middle class’s predicament of having a difficult time paying for fill-ups at the gas station.   Certainly, this is not good for sustaining corporate value.  Young entrepreneurs need to consider the need to be socially responsible if they are to lead the way to the future.

Transparency is also critically important.  Both investors and the market make their decisions related to your business partly because of trust.  People are always willing to pay a premium for peace of mind and integrity.  To build trust, an entrepreneur needs to be transparent.  Anything hidden from view will cause suspicion and undermine trust.  That means that corporate decision-making, financing, and operations need to be visible to key stakeholders.  Sometimes it’s hard to be transparent, as this can make you feel vulnerable.  But good leaders are straightforward and willing to be placed under the microscope as needed.

A corollary to transparency is objectivity.  A good leader makes decisions based on facts and a well-thought out and plainly articulated strategy.  The rationale for all decisions must be clear to viewers and fully defensible based on objective criteria.  Trust isn’t just based on being able to see everything that happens – it is ultimately based on the objectivity of decisions.

Of course, if you do get things right and are able to grow an excellent business by being a true leader, humility is important to maintain your following.  Customers, investors and employees stick with you not just out of respect for your accomplishments, but because they have become loyal friends.  Your ability to share credit with others, provide a helping hand, and support others is what creates your personal and corporate brand.  It is not a coincidence that most of the most revered business leaders are also philanthropists.  Warren Buffet, despite being the richest man in the world, is quick to give credit to others and still lives in the same middle-class house that he purchased decades ago.  Humility, rather than taking away from your accomplishments, helps build them.

Before you can become a leader, you must first focus on growing yourself.  After becoming a leader, success is all about growing others.  Here are some of the other elements of a successful leader:

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Leaders have a clear vision and ensure that others not only see the vision, but also live and breathe it. 

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Leaders create environments where people can be truly committed.

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Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence.

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Leaders exude positive energy and optimism that gets under everyone’s skin.

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Leaders have respect for all people.

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Leaders give credit to others…. and often take the blame when something goes wrong.

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Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency and credit-giving

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Leaders act with integrity in spite of the difficulty.

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Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls.

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Leaders probe and push with a curiosity that borders on skepticism, making sure their questions are answered with action.

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Leaders balance risk and reward.

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Leaders see mistakes as learning opportunities.

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Leaders are firm but fair.

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Leaders are enthusiastic.

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Leaders get everyone involved.

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Leaders are tough…yet tender.

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Leaders inspire learning by setting the example.

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Leaders celebrate.

My Experiences

I’d like to say a few words about my own experience as a CEO.  I cultivated a very vision-driven organization into a tightly-focused company whose employees all knew precisely what was expected of them, and always delivered exactly what they promised.  I gave people at all levels specific tools and metrics, and enforced fact-based decision-making.  Managers at all levels in my company honored these commitments, engaged in disciplined meetings, focused on decisions and measured progress against stated objectives.  I surrounded myself with some great performers who delivered results.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. Thank you for your time, and for your commitment to make a difference in the lives of others through entrepreneurship.  I wish all of you continued success in the future, and look forward to when our paths cross again.  I am confident you will achieve your goals.  I am sure you will rise to the challenge, and transform you passion into profits. 

Always remember, that no matter how steep the pass, or how discouraging the pace, I implore you to never give up on your goals.

So there are many facets of leadership that you must embrace as a young entrepreneur, in addition to the hard work of living the life of an entrepreneur.  This is not an easy path, but almost anything worth having is worth fighting for.  I encourage all of you to consider entrepreneurship and show that Montgomery College can continue producing the great companies of tomorrow.  I hope for some of you, the path begins today.