United States
Michael Kerr is an award-winning writer living in Portland, Oregon. He has published thousands of articles and blog posts for dozens of publications including Forbes, Fortune, VentureBeat, Portland Business Journal and many other books, magazines, websites and anthologies.
Ghostwriting and Thought Leadership
Way back in 1799, a French soldier in Napoleon's army in Egypt stumbled upon what would eventually become one of the most important discoveries of all time. The Rosetta Stone is a nearly one ton text-covered stele that resides in the British Museum in London.
Tech According to Gallup, 21 percent of U.S. adults cite dissatisfaction with Government as the top problem facing the nation today. That's more than double the percentage who believe second-place healthcare (9%) is the biggest challenge.
By now you've heard that Artificial Intelligence is poised to either destroy civilization as we know it or miraculously solve all of society's problems. If you're a fan of films like 2015's or the HBO series , you'll be forgiven for believing that intelligent machines will inevitably lead to a dystopian nightmare.
In the last installment of our annual Year in Review and a Look Ahead we discussed how the 1989 film Back to the Future II was eerily prescient when it imagined a fictional 2015. Despite all of things the movie got right (electronic pay, personal drones and even hoverboards to name a few), it missed one of its biggest predictions...by a single year.
For the car business, the road ahead will be winding, rocky and fraught with obstacles - much as it has always been. But with new challenges such as a globally-dispersed supply chain, tightening regulatory controls, geopolitical uncertainties, shifting demographics and increased threats from unexpected competitors, it is also likely to become all but unrecognisable in just a few short years.
Add to favorites Business as usual is over. Today, the explosion of technology choices means that your company is battling for the attention of digitally-adept customers against nimble startups determined to knock you out of the race. To win at digital transformation, you must keep your eyes focused on the road ahead and your foot firmly planted on the accelerator.
Remember when siloed email was the biggest problem enterprise collaboration tools tried to solve? That seems almost quaint in the face of the current onslaught of team messaging apps in the enterprise. With all the buzz surrounding Slack, Microsoft Teams and Workplaceby Facebook, you'd think the challenges of productivity, engagement and fragmentation were all but solved.
According to some of the top HR professionals in Silicon Valley-they've seen the future and that future is choice.
In last week's Future of Work in a Connected World blog post, we discussed how the 9 to 5 workday is becoming an outdated concept and technology is supporting this transformation to being "always on." This week, we are taking a look at how companies can attain and retain top talent.
The top-down hierarchical organizational structure that dominated 20th century business no longer works. In the information age, value is created by
When Slack introduced its new Enterprise Grid product in January, it pledged to bring "much of the same day-to-day Slack experience that users have come to know and love" to large organizations. Similarly, CRM giant Salesforce unveiled its new Einstein artificial intelligence service this past fall to great fanfare, touting it as "AI for everyone."
Since our prehistoric ancestors first scrawled images of animals on cave walls more than 40,000 years ago, storytelling has been the preeminent way for human beings to convey our needs, desires and beliefs to others. For millennia, it has been building communities by bringing people together around campfires and in theatres, pubs and coffeehouses around the globe.
John Steinbeck once said, "Anything that just costs money is cheap." That time-tested adage has never been more true-especially when it's applied to the modern US healthcare industry. Imagine being forced to spend millions of dollars on technology that promises to increase efficiency and profitability only to find yourself spending two to three additional hours each day on data entry, while also enduring 30 percent reductions in both pay and initial productivity.
Now relatively old fashioned, emails are increasingly considered to be time consuming, stressful and an obstacle to productivity. Social networks and other collaborative tools are taking advantage of the humble email's negative image, and are stepping in to replace them. But old habits die hard.
The old saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know that matters" is in desperate need of a 21st-century makeover. In today's digital workplace, a more appropriate adage might be, "What you know depends on who you know."
Technology and Business
Explore ways to manage your online reputation management to get more positive reviews, silence negative ones and even turn serial complainers into loyal cheerleaders.
These enterprising founders prove you don't need a ton of money to begin building your technology empire. Start with loads of talent and a great idea, throw in some grit and perseverance and heed the advice from those who've gone before and, who knows, you may be the next next big thing.
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While manufacturing jobs have been migrating overseas for decades, there's been a revival of DIY and craft culture here at home. As Americans become increasingly nostalgic for handcrafted this and small batch that, it is, ironically, new technologies that are filling the void in their souls.
NO PURCHASE, PAYMENT OF ANY KIND, OR INSURANCE QUOTE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE, PAYMENT, OR QUOTE WILL NOT IMPROVE THE CHANCES OF WINNING. Entrants have the option on the entry form to receive commercial communications from Sponsor and/or American Family Mutual Insurance Company ("American Family"); however, choosing to receive such communications is not necessary to enter or win.
A digital uprising in medicine has meant unprecedented changes to the U.S. healthcare system in recent years. With hastily-scrawled prescriptions and handwritten patient charts now having the life expectancy of a major character on Game of Thrones (translation: "not long for this world"), you may soon find yourself relying on new technology trends to increase the odds of your own survival.
Although she is a 20-something, Lucy Stonehill is hardly the picture of the awkward, bespectacled technology entrepreneur hunched over a keyboard. In fact, Stonehill, 27, admits to knowing nothing about information technology when she came up with the idea for her business in 2012.
For entrepreneurs young and old, social media is a powerful engagement tool. Here are some social media strategies to reach existing and new customers.
When I was a kid, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was going to be the next Boris Vallejo! (You know, the famous fantasy and sci-fi artist who always painted ripped, shirtless men and buxom, bikini-clad women atop flying dragons and Pegasuses...
Healthcare is rapidly changing and, while it's still the EMTs, nurses and physicians who save lives, IT is affecting patient outcomes in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. When it comes to patient outcomes, Dr. Colin A. Banas, M.D., the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) for the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center, is...
Social media is big. How big? Facebook alone has 1.28 billion active monthly users as of March 2014. Turning just a tiny fraction of those eyeballs into sales would be like finding the Holy Grail for most businesses.
When I was starting out in business I was naïve. Strike that-I was clueless. In fact, I knew less than nothing about running a business, and I didn't even know that. Back then, in my 20s, I dove headfirst into everything I did, arms and legs flailing.
Blogging
When it comes to the daily humiliations of freelancing, I'm a pro. I've been taken in by the promise of exposure, dealt with the frustrations of something called "payment upon publication" and been burned by editors I considered friends.
Whether interviews are your bread-and-butter or you simply grit your teeth and bear them, they are an inevitable part of every freelance writer's life. But these tools can help you streamline the interview process so you can get back to doing what you do best - writing your piece.
Several years ago, when I was just starting out as an entrepreneur, a friend introduced me to a concept he called "Serengeti Management." His premise was that, as a new employer, I was going to have to deal with any number of different personalities, each represented by a creature you might find roaming the plains...
I have been working with artists for a long time. As a gallery owner, I interacted with artists every day. They were my customers, my employees and my partners. I have, quite purposely, surrounded myself with them for my entire adult life. I love artists. Nearly all of my close friends are artists.
"Melancholia Minus Its Charms" Depression - not to be confused with normal sadness - has been called many things since Hippocrates first described the disease back in the 5th century BC. In fact, it may have been Hippocrates himself who first coined the term melancholy, which literally translates as "black bile."
If you build it, they will come. That's what I believed, when I was first starting out. I assumed that if I opened a business, customers would just show up-no major marketing effort required.
Healthcare
Posted 5/13/2015 by UHBlog In America, sports is a national pastime like, well, baseball and apple pie - and football and basketball and hockey. Each week, millions of Americans flood stadiums and tune in on TV to watch and, depending on the outcome, celebrate or mourn the performance of their favorite teams and athletes.
Posted 4/28/2015 by UHBlog Are you one of those guys who hasn't visited your doctor in years? You are not alone. Even though early detection saves lives, one-fourth of all men blow off seeing their doctors each year.
Posted 5/26/2015 by UHBlog It's only natural to want to take advantage of the warm weather by getting in some extra training outside. But with temperatures on the rise, your favorite outdoor activities may be detrimental to your health. Exercising or participating in sports in extreme heat can lead to serious conditions, such as heat illness or heatstroke.
Posted 5/5/2015 by UHBlog The days are getting longer and, as another winter quickly recedes into memory, summer is so close you can almost taste it - along with all of those delicious foods you will be cooking up on your outdoor grill.
Transition of Care program helps kids with chronic illnesses move from Children's Health into adult treatment.
Meaningful Use has meant big changes and even bigger challenges for many healthcare providers. But, for those organizations committed to health technology, there's no going back. "Meaningful Use is a bit of a double-edged sword," says Dr. Colin A. Banas, M.D., the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) for the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center....
When the body's immune system reacts abnormally to something a person eats or drinks, it's known as a food allergy. Food allergies may affect as many as 220 to 520 million people worldwide, with the majority of those sufferers being children. It is estimated that more than 12 million Americans have diagnosed food allergies.
Posted 4/2/2015 by UHBlog If you have questions about your cognitive function, ask us. So you've forgotten why you went into the dining room or you've misplaced your car keys - again. How do you know if your absentmindedness is normal or a sign of something more serious?
Posted 4/10/2015 by UHBlog For most of us, bad breath is a sign that we need to brush or floss regularly or more often. However, for many elderly people, that may be easier said than done.
Posted 4/6/2015 by UHBlog There's a new game in town. Some runners are choosing to not only test their athletic skills, but their alcohol tolerance by competing in an event known as the "Beer Mile." The sport has been gaining in popularity in recent years, especially among young athletes.
The car seat program is part of The Children's Health Trust, dedicated to making life better-and safer-for kids.
By Michael Kerr There's never been a better time to be a medical assistant. Health care-related fields are set to add 15.6 million new jobs between 2012 and 2022 - far more than any other sector of the economy, according to a December 2013 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Creative Nonfiction
On the morning of December 1, 1948, the dead body of a well-dressed man was found slumped against a sea wall near Somerton Beach in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. The man carried no identification. He had an unlit cigarette behind one ear and another one, half-smoked, pinned between his cheek and the collar of his jacket.
In the summer between my fifth and sixth grade years, my parents moved our family to a small farm in Southern Oregon. My initial distress at being separated from lifelong friends and the only home I'd ever known quickly vanished as I realized there was one overwhelming advantage to farm life I hadn't anticipated-almost anywhere I went, I was out of sight of my overprotective mother.
"How attached are you to this puppy?" the veterinarian asked my then-girlfriend, Nikki."We love him," she sobbed. We had only had Poe for two days."He has a hole in his heart," the vet said. "He probably won't live long.""What can we do?""There's not much to do."