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There are plenty of reasons to innovate. Especially now more than ever before, sustained innovation is the means to developing marketplace showstoppers that lead to profitable growth. Innovation is not a luxury that can be placed on the back burner, even for today’s successful companies. So before beginning your next innovation effort, here are some key questions to consider for mapping out an effective innovation plan.

Who could be better as a Republican vice presidential pick than a young, attractive, up-and-coming rising star who happens to be a woman of color, a mom of young children and the governor of an important Southern state? The GOP is sorely in need of repairing the damage it’s done to itself with the “women’s vote” by finding a woman for the VP slot. That should have been South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, but she can’t and won’t be the one to help them out with that in 2012.
Haley has been seen as a new Republican star for many years, especially after her 2010 move from the South Carolina state house to the governor’s office, even though her state is known more for its support of white men like Newt Gingrich than it is for being any sort of bastion of opportunity for minorities. In light of her story, many political observers believed she would be right at the top of the VP short-list in 2012.
But that’s never going to happen. Why? One reason — Sarah Palin.
When things were looking uncertain in Haley’s bid to move from being a state representative to the governor’s office in 2010, Palin came to the rescue with her freshly-minted Mama Grizzly

A wonderful thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. My friend Brett invited me to a cabaret show that he was doing with his 83-year-old father, Pappy. The show was lovingly called “C’Mon, Get Pappy.” Always looking for fun events to invite the clients that I work with in my matchmaking business, I even posted it to my events page on my website, and invited several people to join me.
On a beautiful Sunday in February I made my way to the Duplex to see who was joining me. Since my husband could not join me, I was looking forward to hanging out with some clients and enjoying the

Over the course of 30 years, the island of Boca Grande in Florida went from having zero iguanas to over 10,000. This invasive species was making it impossible for native plants and animals to survive. The island finally decided to do something about it; they called George Cera.
read full news from www.huffingtonpost.com

Michele Mikesell: Hugo, Oklahoma | Mikesell’s latest circus-inspired exhibition entitled, Hugo, Oklahoma, is an homage to a literal town established in 1901 in Southeast Oklahoma and is a return to her favorite subject: The Circus. Because of the flat landscape, warm weather, and green grass, Hugo has remained a favorite spot in the United States for traveling circuses to weather the winter months, since 1937. Dubbed “The Circus City,” Hugo is currently home to three nationally known circuses, including the last traveling three-ring big top circus in the country.
Mount Olivet Cemetery is what particularly drew Mikesell’s interest in the town, and is the catalyst for this group of paintings. Sectioned off by four granite posts topped with elephant statues, “Showmen’s Rest” is one of only two cemeteries in the country dedicated to passed circus

Some strange and fantastic things are happening in the world of retail entrepreneurship. Granted, I’m the last person who should be testifying to what’s new and interesting in any part of retail, what with generally treating store visits as guerilla expeditions — in, get something, out — but this is different.
Here is why. What is happening is next-generation retail, the combination of changing ideas of money, location, service, distribution and shopping. In other words, pretty much everything that constitutes The Experience Formerly Known As Retailing (TEFKAR) is in wicked flux.
Let’s start with shopping

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were discussing President Obama’s performance in the area of education — more specifically P-20 education, which begins in preschool and ends with graduate school. As is usually the case when we debate matters of education politics, the debate became quite contentious and in the end we had to agree to disagree. In response to that debate, I decided to write an opinion piece, assessing Obama’s education record. Toward the end of the article, I will issue a letter grade (A-F) denoting my assessment of the president’s level of performance in education

I’ve pretty much stopped writing posts exhorting policy makers to engage in deficit-financed fiscal stimulus, not because we no longer need it — we do — but because it feels like a waste of time. With the fading of the Recovery Act along with state and local budget cuts, U.S. fiscal policy has turned contractionary (see fiscal drag figure here).
Yes, the economy is getting better, and pretty consistently at

I met a boy. A boy that would change my life. Not just any old boy, but a 6’7″ basketball player from San Diego State. His name is Tim

“Sometimes I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”
I think often of this quote from the 2001 movie, Zoolander, where Will Ferrell’s character is exasperated that everyone in the fashion industry can’t see that Ben Stiller’s character is a one-trick pony. It’s exactly how I feel every time I hear the latest “higher wages kill jobs” argument from one of the restaurant industry’s hired guns.
Now the rhetoric is about to get even more heated. Last week, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the “Rebuild America Act,” which would raise the federal tipped minimum wage, which has been stuck for over twenty years at $2.13 an

As a kid, Shane Gring spent hours with Legos. Shane hoped to turn his childhood passion for building into a career as an architect. But like millions of others, Shane graduated in the middle of the economic crisis. Instead of becoming an architect, it looked Shane might become an unemployment statistic, another talented young person who couldn’t find work and moved back home.
During his senior year in college, Shane volunteered with Habitat for

Thoughtful but funny in a low-key way, Nanni Moretti’s We Have a Pope examines the idea of papal succession through a fictional story that reminds us just how daunting the job itself must be.
After the death of the old pope in this story, when the College of Cardinals gathers in conclave to consider who should succeed as head of the Catholic Church, Moretti reads the minds of the various cardinals as they wait for the vote-count to begin – and their thoughts are universally the same: “Please don’t choose me.”
Eventually, the conclave settles on elderly Cardinal Melville (Michel Piccoli), who seems shocked at his selection. He is so shocked, in fact, that he blurts out that he can’t do the job.
So even though the puff of white smoke has been sent up, signaling that a pope has been chosen, the new pontiff does not appear on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, where the assembled faithful await their first glimpse of the new

When Gallup came out with a new poll showing the president opening up an 18-point lead with women, pundits blamed the war on women. But according to a new study, Republicans might have someone entirely different to blame: Ann Romney.
No, I’m not referring to when she went on the radio and was asked about how her husband “comes off stiff.”
“Well, you know, I guess we better unzip him and let the real Mitt Romney out because he is not!” she said, explaining why some Republican operatives yearn for the days of Sarah Palin’s message discipline.
In fact, the academic study that helps explain the country’s gender gap has nothing specifically to do with Ann Romney, but rather the fact that she doesn’t work outside the home. A recent study by Sreedhari Desai, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that men in traditional marriages with stay-at-home wives had negative attitudes about working women and organizations led by women, and they were more likely to deny opportunities to women.
Desai and her fellow researchers conducted a series of experiments, including one with married graduate students looking for jobs. Those in traditional marriages (that is, one in which the wife did not work outside the home) were much less likely to seek interviews for openings with companies that had higher percentages of women on their board or for which women would be doing the interviewing.
Another experiment asked male managers to pretend to be executives and recommend applicants for advancement, except the two, Diane and David, applicants had the same experience and education.
“Those who were in traditional marriages were less likely to recommend Diane and more likely to recommend David,” said Desai.
This spills over into 2012 as we fight the war on women like some kind of real-life Mad Men

Courage is a word we typically associate with soldiers, firefighters, policemen and women, and others fighting on the frontlines to keep all of us safe from harm. But courage can also be ascribed to those who push fear, stigma and discomfort aside to talk about that which society keeps in the shadows. These individuals are courageous because their actions — combating secrecy by communicating openly — protect us from harm, especially the most vulnerable among us.
Many researchers believe nearly five children die every day in America from abuse and neglect — some 2,500 a year. Every year during the month April, communities across the country come together in support of this startling issue and focus on prevention and awareness raising to reduce the number of American children who sadly are victims of abuse.
A crime of secrecy, child abuse tragically breeds within our society because it is difficult to talk

A series of unfortunate events has led to a decision by the U.S. government to cut off funding to UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Among its many efforts, UNESCO has been a driving force behind global efforts that have helped put millions more children into school during the last two decades. As our 21st century world becomes increasingly interconnected and interdependent, the need for multilateral solutions to global challenges like poverty and illiteracy has grown by leaps and

During a session I had with my new coach last week it became clear to me that I’ve been addicted to struggle for much of my life. While I wasn’t super excited to admit this, it has actually been quite liberating to address my struggle addiction directly and to see how it impacts just about every aspect of my life and work. How about you? Are you addicted to (or at least very familiar with) struggling in your own life?
As I’ve thought about it more over this past week, I realize that I have some real resistance to allowing things to come easy, and that my attachment to struggling runs deep within me (as it does for so many people I know and work with). Here are some of the main “reasons” I’ve used and beliefs I’ve held for many years to justify my own struggling:
If I don’t have to struggle for something, it doesn’t really mean all that much.
If things come easy to me, other people will get jealous, won’t like me, and/or won’t respect me.
It’s not fair for things to be easy for me (i.e., I have to struggle) — especially with so many people having such a hard time these days.
I actually get off on struggling and suffering — I’m quite familiar with it, and I’ve used it as motivation to change and “succeed” for much of my life.
My ability to work hard, overcome adversity, and rise above challenges are all things my ego uses to feel superior to others.
If I don’t struggle for something, when it happens I won’t feel like I deserve it.
Struggling allows me to avoid taking responsibility for certain aspects of my life and keeps me “focused,” so I get to avoid uncomfortable feelings, situations, and circumstances I don’t really want to deal with.
Can you relate to any of these? Maybe you have others as well.
Getting in touch with some of these reasons and beliefs has been both painful and eyeopening at the same

For Jews, the exodus from Egypt is the paradigmatic freedom story for all generations.
In the Book of Exodus, Moses tells the Israelites to “remember this day on which you went out from Egypt, from the house of bondage, how Adonai freed you from it with a mighty hand. … You go free on this day, in the month of Aviv…” (Exodus 13:3-4).
One can read the repetition of the words “this day” to imply that the Exodus took place at a specific moment in the past, but that the possibility of redemption — communal or personal — is also always available “this day.”
But this leads to an interesting challenge in verse 14: “And tomorrow, when your child asks you [about the Exodus]

For many people with elderly relatives, the joy of knowing that your family member has enjoyed a long life is often mixed with fear of what the future may bring regarding his or her health. Not to mention the fear of someone possibly harming him when he’s too vulnerable to fend for himself. But very rarely do we worry about the elderly physically harming others, particularly at 100 years old. Yet when Theodore Sypnier was paroled in 2009 at the age of 100, his family so feared him that they declined any future contact with

Ah, the live auditions, when we can no longer blame the coadges for making ridiculous and unfair choices. Pressure’s on us now, America.
There was a lot of build up about what “The Voice” coadges would be wearing during the first week of live performances since we’d seen them in the same attire — including Christina’s discus hat — for two weeks. And this time, Christina disappoints.
The pop songstresses has ditched the bedazzled plate she called headgear and looks almost completely

Every year, the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC) order pilots to be considered for the fall season. A pilot, as you may know, is the first episode of a TV series and the final step in a long development process from idea to screen.
From the 87 drama and comedy pilots ordered this year, a new crop of television shows will be selected — and I read the scripts for each and every one of them. Over the course of this week, I’m walking you through the network’s pilot slates, offering a bit of analysis on their present schedules and providing you with a rundown of the drama contenders. (Plus, a little bit of info about the comedies, too.) Of course, not all of these shows will find their way to your TV set — in fact, most of them you may never hear of again.
[NOTE: The versions of the scripts that I am commenting on were not necessarily final drafts and therefore could have changed in both content or title between my having read them and production -- though, drastic changes are unlikely.]
NBC is a bit of an

Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 5, Episode 18 of The CW’s “Gossip Girl,” entitled “Con Heir.”
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and in the case of this week’s “Gossip Girl,” I actually found that old adage to be true. While recent episodes have stumbled blindly from one plot contrivance to the next with little logic to connect them, the show’s April 2 return, “Con Heir,” seemed shockingly coherent. True to form, there were schemes, lies and highly public familial spats, which is pretty much 90 percent of what we tune in for, no?
Of course, your overall enjoyment of the episode may have hinged on whether you’re wholly invested in seeing the Dan/Blair love affair play out after years of delayed gratification, or whether their copious attempts to copulate had you tossing your Chuck/Blair-loving cookies in a fit of rage. If you fall into the latter category, I have a feeling that “Gossip Girl” has started down a path that will have you loathing the rest of the season, so it might be time to grin and Dair it, or jump ship while there are still lifeboats

Did they or didn’t they? Chances are, if you tuned in to tonight’s “Dancing With the Stars,” then you know why I’m asking this question.
Maria Menounos and her partner Derek Hough had a little romp on the ballroom floor that quickly escalated into one of the steamiest performances in “Dancing With the Stars” history. Somewhere between rumba and racy, Maria and Derek ended up on the floor, and it looks like the two may have shared more than choreography.
To me, it looked like the two definitely

Previously on “Smash”: “It was idealistic to think we could do this without a star.” “Marilyn is not some sweet little gay-male fantasy.” “You’re not straight?” ONEREPUBLIC! “It’s a dirty business.”
Presented without commentary, the most absurd, comical, self-serious and/or humorless moments from episode 9, “Hell on Earth,” in chronological order.
1. “Slut.”
2. “Julia, the adoption papers; where are they?”
3. Tom’s haircut.

Europe’s in crisis. Unemployment is at a fifteen-year high after climbing for ten straight months, thanks to the austerity measures imposed on it by conservative leaders in France, Germany, and the international financial community.
But if you think things are bad over there, imagine what they’ll be like if Republican budget measures are imposed here. The GOP budget makes European austerity look like summer camp.
Ever wonder why lemmings jump off cliffs?
While England Slept
Great Britain blazed the trail for Europe with a series of steep cuts to government spending – and it soon led the continent in economic