Reese Witherspoon is pushing back against the classic career advice to “follow your dreams,” stating instead that sustainable career success comes from identifying and pursuing your talents, not just your aspirations. 

In a recent video posted to Instagram and shared with her 30 million followers, the actress and entrepreneur described talking to a young woman over the phone who wanted to leave a job she disliked. When Witherspoon asked, “What are your talents?” the woman had trouble answering. 

Witherspoon, who has starred in hits like Legally Blonde, The Morning Show and Big Little Lies, made the interaction a learning experience. Instead of chasing your dreams, “you chase your talents,” she said. Her point is that the path to meaningful success is less about romantic ideals and more about self-knowledge: figure out what you do uniquely well, and then go after that as hard as you can.

“Everybody has dreams. Doesn’t mean you’re going to be that thing. You are supposed to do what you’re talented at,” Witherspoon explained in the Instagram video. “It’s your job in life to figure out what your specific, unique talents are and go chase them.”

Witherspoon has taken her own advice. She rose to fame after starring in hit films like the 2005 musical Walk the Line and the 2014 adventure film Wild, then expanded her career by founding a successful production company, Hello Sunshine. Witherspoon sold a majority stake in Hello Sunshine in 2021 in a deal that valued the business at about $900 million.

View this post on Instagram

//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

Try inner aptitudes instead of dreams

Experts agree with Witherspoon that dreams alone shouldn’t guide a career. Leadership coach Amina AlTai told CNBC in December that passions are “by nature fickle,” and they could “fizzle out fast.” She cautioned against tying your entire career to whatever engages you in a particular season. Dreams can evolve quickly, whereas careers are long-term bets that demand staying power, she explained. 

Suzy Welch, an NYU Stern School of Business professor, also told CNBC last year that it is important to identify what you are good at, or the inner aptitudes that make you better at certain skills and competencies. This aligns with Witherspoon’s advice to “figure out what your specific, unique talents are” and follow them. 

Welch framed the pursuit of a purposeful career as finding an “area of transcendence,” where three things intersect: values, skills and interests that can financially support you. Dreams often reflect your values and interests, but Welch warned that without a real skills component and some economic viability, they aren’t enough to sustain a career.

Discovering your strengths

Witherspoon’s advice is “to do what you’re talented at,” which demands that you have to do the hard work of identifying your talents. 

According to Welch, finding where you shine could look like answering the following questions: “What do people consistently praise you for? What tasks feel easier to you than to others? Where have you produced real, measurable results?”

Welch said that recognizing these innate skills is what “unlocks the work we should engage in and the life we should lead to thrive.”

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/reese-witherspoon-career-advice-dont-chase-your-dreams

Entrepreneurship is often misunderstood as the ability to identify gaps in existing markets and fill them efficiently. That view is incomplete. It limits entrepreneurship to optimization, not creation. True entrepreneurship begins much earlier than market gaps and goes much further than problem-solving within existing structures. Entrepreneurship, in its pure form, is the act of initiating demand that does not yet exist, for markets that are still oblivious to what they will soon require.

An entrepreneur is a leader who sees truly. This does not mean seeing what is visible to everyone else. It means having a thorough understanding of going concerns — how markets currently operate, how consumers behave today, how industries define value in the present moment — and then seeing beyond all of that. True entrepreneurial vision is grounded in reality but not confined by it. It is not detached imagination; it is foresight rooted in deep understanding.

Most businesses invest their energy in addressing current demand. They analyze existing customer pain points, improve efficiency, reduce costs or offer incremental improvements. This is necessary for stability, but it is not entrepreneurship at its highest level. Entrepreneurs who merely address gaps are responding to the market. True entrepreneurial leaders evolve the market itself.

The power of foresight

What distinguishes entrepreneurial leadership is foresight — the ability to perceive potential future demands before the market becomes aware of them. These demands are not visible data points. They are not survey results. They are not trending keywords. They are emerging needs that exist only as weak signals, behavioral shifts, technological possibilities or unmet human aspirations. Potential future demand is demand that has not yet formed language, demand that consumers cannot articulate because they have never experienced its possibility.

When an entrepreneur initiates a product, whether as a service or a good, that product does not simply satisfy demand. It enables demand. It educates the market. It reshapes expectations. Before the product exists, the demand does not exist either. After the product appears, the market wonders how it ever lived without it. This is not coincidence. This is leadership.

Consider Steve Jobs, who famously ignored market research because customers don’t know what they want until you show it to them, or Sara Blakely, who didn’t just iterate on hosiery but created the entirely new category of shapewear by identifying a latent desire for confidence that women hadn’t yet articulated as a market need. Similarly, Reed Hastings didn’t just improve movie rentals; he initiated a demand for frictionless, on-demand streaming at a time when the infrastructure was barely ready, and the consumer mindset was still tied to physical discs. These leaders didn’t find markets; they authored them.

Entrepreneurship, therefore, is not about predicting the future in abstract terms. It is about actively constructing the future by bringing something into existence that reorganizes behavior. The entrepreneur introduces a new reality and allows demand to emerge as a consequence.

The essence of true leaders

This type of entrepreneurship requires true leaders. A true leader is not defined by authority, scale or capital. A true leader is defined by perception. True leaders think outside the constraints of current market logic. They do not ask how to compete better within existing demand; they ask how to elevate the market to an entirely new level. They are not interested in solving yesterday’s problems more efficiently. They are interested in making yesterday’s problems irrelevant.

True leaders do not invest their resources primarily in addressing gaps in the current market. Gaps are visible to many. Gaps attract competition. Gaps invite imitation. Market-creating leaders move in a different direction. They focus on transformation. They imagine what the market could become if new demands were introduced and then work backward to make that future inevitable.

This does not mean ignoring reality. On the contrary, it requires a deeper engagement with reality than most forms of business thinking. To initiate future demand, an entrepreneur must understand human behavior, cultural momentum, technological trajectories and economic constraints simultaneously. Foresight is not fantasy. It is disciplined imagination informed by observation.

Understanding market evolution

Markets do not evolve naturally on their own. They evolve because someone introduces a catalyst. Every major shift in consumer behavior can be traced back to an entrepreneur who saw something others did not and acted before the demand was obvious. At the moment of creation, these ideas often look unnecessary, risky or even irrational. In hindsight, they appear inevitable.

This is why true entrepreneurial leadership is rare. It demands conviction without validation. It requires the ability to act when data is incomplete and feedback is uncertain. It requires patience to wait for demand to form after the product exists, rather than expecting immediate market recognition. Many abandon this path too early because they mistake lack of immediate demand for lack of value.

Entrepreneurs who create future demand accept that resistance is part of the process. Markets resist change because change disrupts familiarity. Consumers cannot demand what they cannot yet imagine. The leader’s role is not to follow demand but to guide perception. Over time, what once seemed unnecessary becomes essential.

The difference between a business operator and an entrepreneurial leader lies precisely here. Operators refine what is known. Leaders expand what is possible. Operators work within defined boundaries. Leaders redraw the boundaries themselves.

What entrepreneurship really is

Entrepreneurship, in its truest sense, is leadership expressed through market creation. It is the courage to introduce new value systems, new behaviors and new expectations. It is the discipline to understand the present deeply enough to transcend it. It is the foresight to recognize that tomorrow’s demand must be initiated today, by someone willing to act before the market asks.

Every market that exists today was once oblivious to what it would become. Every demand that feels obvious now was once invisible. Entrepreneurs are the bridge between what is and what could be.

In that sense, entrepreneurship is not merely an economic activity. It is a form of leadership that reshapes society through intentional creation. The entrepreneur does not chase demand, but gives birth to it.

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/what-you-think-entrepreneurship-is-and-what-it-really-is/502330

Food was never a perk at Google. It was a bet on how people work.

When Helen Wechsler, Senior Director, Food Program CoE at Google, talks about the company’s food program, she does not frame it as a benefit designed to impress. 

Instead, she frames it as culture. From the earliest days, meals were how the original Google team gathered, talked and built trust. Long before sprawling campuses or polished cafes, food was the thing that brought them together and kept them there.

Today, Google provides meals and access to food for employees across its offices worldwide. Cafes, micro kitchens on every floor, coffee and tea bars, teaching kitchens and even food trucks are part of how the company feeds its people. The scale is massive, but Wechsler is clear that feeding employees is not about abundance.

“We have a captive audience,” she says. “We are feeding people every day, and that comes with a really weighty responsibility.”

Related: How to Land a Job at Google, According to a Former Manager

That responsibility is evident immediately in Google’s New York City offices, where I interviewed Wechsler. She offered me some of the spa water— I couldn’t believe how good it was.

For Wechsler, that reaction is exactly the point. “We just wanted people to drink more water,” she explains. “Spa water is a good way to do that.”

It sounds simple, almost insignificant. But those small choices are deliberate. Hydration stations that feel inviting. Details that spark curiosity. Moments that slow people down just enough to feel cared for. When food is free, indifference is the easiest failure. Wechsler calls it the shrug. Google refuses that approach.

Related: The Life-Changing Effects of Drinking More Water

“We want to be that joy in the day,” she says. “We want it to feel seamless.”

Hospitality, in this context, is not transactional. It is relational. Food becomes the cultural connector inside a highly technical environment. A reminder that no matter how advanced the work becomes, people still come together the same way they always have.

Over a meal.

Technology that cares

At Google’s scale, good intentions are not enough.

Feeding people well requires systems that can absorb uncertainty, adapt quickly and still leave room for care. Technology is what makes that possible — it protects hospitality at scale.

“Technology is your best friend if you use it correctly,” she says. “It helps you evaluate, helps you predict, helps you think in a different way.”

That philosophy shapes how Google approaches AI. The food team is not chasing automation for its own sake or looking for perfect answers. They are experimenting. Testing. Learning in public. AI becomes a tool to stretch thinking rather than narrow it.

“Play with it,” she says. “Use it, use it, use it.”

That mindset matters because Google operates with a level of unpredictability most restaurants never face. There is no register. No ordering funnel. No reliable way to know who will walk in on any given day. People come and go freely, which makes food waste a constant concern.

Related: Google Reportedly Told Its Staff to Use AI More or Risk Falling Behind

Over the past eight years, technology has helped bring clarity to that chaos. Menu management systems, recipe scaling and pre- and post-production records allow teams to compare what they expected to serve with what was actually eaten. The real breakthrough came when the data became visual.

“Until we started measuring it visually, it didn’t stick,” Wechsler says.

Today, waste is photographed, weighed and logged automatically. Images recognize the food, connect it to menus, and surface patterns that chefs can actually act on. If something consistently comes back untouched, it sparks a conversation. Maybe the recipe is wrong. Maybe the timing is off. Maybe it simply does not resonate.

Technology also supports creativity. Trim becomes spa water. Fruit scraps turn into new beverages. Excess ingredients find second lives in jams, chutneys or entirely new dishes. Measurement does not kill imagination. It fuels it.

The lesson for restaurants watching from the outside is simple. Technology should make people calmer, not busier. More thoughtful, not more reactive. When used well, it gives teams the space to care better.

Hospitality still belongs to humans. Technology just helps them see what matters.

About Restaurant Influencers

Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.

Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about Toast.

Read more: Want to Open a Restaurant? Here’s a Step-By-Step Guide

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/building-a-business/why-googles-food-program-is-actually-a-people-strategy

Artificial intelligence has dominated executive briefings, investor decks and earnings calls for the better part of three years. But here’s the part nobody likes to say out loud: Most organizations are not struggling with AI innovation — they’re struggling with AI execution.

Many initiatives look impressive in demos and pilots, but fail the moment they’re expected to operate inside a real business. They generate buzz. They produce slides. They never become production-ready systems that materially affect outcomes.

That gap between experimentation and production is where most AI initiatives die.

According to research from McKinsey & Company, while more than 70% of companies report adopting AI in at least one function, only a small minority say their efforts have translated into scaled, enterprise-level impact. The issue isn’t access to models or tooling. It’s the inability to take AI from proof-of-concept to production-ready deployment.

That disconnect between boardroom excitement and bottom-line reality tells us something important: The AI problem inside corporations isn’t technical. It’s executive and organizational.

This is not an abstract problem. It’s a leadership problem. It affects every executive who has approved an “AI initiative” because it sounded strategic, only to discover later that it wasn’t actionable, scalable or measurable.

The real reason AI projects die in pilot limbo

Across sectors from finance to healthcare to logistics, many AI initiatives stall before they ever deliver material business value. Gartner has repeatedly warned that a significant share of AI and generative AI projects fail to progress beyond pilot or proof-of-concept stages due to unclear business value, poor data readiness and governance gaps.

Why? The causes aren’t mysterious:

1. AI starts as a technology project, not a business solution: Teams build models without clearly defining the business problem or KPIs they are intended to affect.

2. Leaders don’t define success clearly before execution: Expectations on accuracy, cost, risk tolerances and decision rights are often undefined or unrealistic.

3. Accountability is fuzzy: When an AI system makes a bad recommendation inside a lending decision, pricing engine or clinical workflow, who owns the fallout? Rarely anyone with clear authority.

My experience: From buzz to business value

As a CEO, investor and founder, I’ve witnessed this pattern firsthand.

In 2024, my firm evaluated a mid-market financial services company that had invested millions in AI pilots. They had dashboards, proofs-of-concept and presentations, but no scalable deployments. Their models weren’t integrated with risk frameworks, approval workflows or governance guardrails. They failed not because the AI was bad, but because the organization never translated pilot insights into business execution.

This pattern repeats across industries: Organizations treat AI like a check in the innovation box, not a system with economic and operational constraints.

What “production-ready AI” actually means

There’s a phrase tossed around in tech circles: “production-ready AI.”

Leaders nod, but few can define it.

From an operator’s standpoint, production-ready AI must satisfy three conditions:

• Performance at scale — consistent outputs across real customers and edge cases

• Accuracy and context awareness — decisions must consider real-world complexity

• Governance and auditability — compliance, explainability and controls

When evaluating production readiness, the strongest teams stop treating AI as traditional software and instead model it as a decision-making agent inside the organization, one with autonomy, influence and real risk.

That shift changes how AI is designed and governed. Leaders explicitly define what the system is allowed to decide, what information it can access, when it must escalate to a human and who owns the outcome when it’s wrong. Without this structure, AI may perform well in isolation but fail once embedded in real workflows.

This is why ground truth validation, stress testing and ongoing performance review are not technical niceties — they are governance mechanisms. They determine whether an AI system can be trusted to operate at scale or whether it remains a controlled experiment. Without them, AI stays a demo. With them, it becomes operational.

Industry practitioners and applied AI researchers have consistently emphasized that rigorous production readiness testing, including stress testing and validation against real-world outcomes, is essential for successful deployment and long-term performance.

Why AI is a leadership problem — not a technical one

This is where executives get uncomfortable.

AI isn’t merely a software change. It changes behavior, incentives and decision pathways.

A recent Deloitte survey found that companies with strong AI governance frameworks were twice as likely to realize measurable returns on their AI investments.

That’s not accidental. When leaders insist on speed without clarity, governance and accountability fall by the wayside. Teams rush prototypes into workflows they don’t fully understand or control.

Effective AI governance means:

• Clear decision rights

• Defined escalation paths

• Human-in-the-loop checkpoints

• Loss limits and rollback procedures

Without these, AI becomes a forward-looking black box that executives don’t truly own.

The most common executive mistakes in AI

Based on my experience and supported by industry research, these are the executive behaviors that most frequently sink AI efforts:

• Mistake #1 — Approving AI without clear success metrics: If you can’t define what a meaningful outcome looks like before you build it, you don’t have an AI project; you have a guess.

• Mistake #2 — Avoiding understanding because of “technical complexity”: If leadership can’t summarize the solution in business terms, it’s not ready to be operationalized.

• Mistake #3 — Treating AI as a shortcut to innovation instead of a strategic capability: Speed without structure leads to brittle systems that fail when exposed to real use cases.

Toward an era of executable AI

The gap between AI hype and real outcomes isn’t closing by accident. It’s narrowing where organizations:

• Align AI with business KPIs

• Define accountability and governance up front

• Treat deployment as phased delivery, not a one-time launch

• Demand measurable outcomes, not demo artifacts

AI doesn’t fail because it’s too advanced. It fails because leaders treat it like a slide deck exercise.

It’s time to stop celebrating pilots and start rewarding production impact.
That’s when AI stops being a buzzword and starts being a business multiplier.

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/science-technology/why-so-many-ai-pilots-stall-and-how-winners-break/502325

Earning online does not necessarily depend on creating original articles, videos or products from scratch. By organizing, sorting and presenting existing information in a useful way, many profitable businesses are built. This approach often reduces time costs, reduces creative pressure and scales up faster than traditional content production. Regardless of media, commerce or education, curation is a reliable source of income for modern entrepreneurs.

Curation works because, while attention is finite, information is infinite.

Curating works because attention is limited while information is endless. When someone consistently highlights the best resources in a specific area, trust grows. That trust can be monetized in several practical and repeatable ways.

Why curation is a real business model

Curation is often misunderstood as copying or reposting. In fact, it involves selection, context and relevance. The value comes from deciding what matters and why it matters now. In competitive markets, this sorting function is often more valuable than originality.

Several factors explain why curated models continue to perform well:

• Information overload has increased across every industry

• Decision fatigue makes trusted filters more valuable

• Distribution is often harder than creation

• Many creators prefer reach over direct monetization

When these conditions are met, curation platforms connect demand and supply. The following five models provide practical examples.

1. Curated newsletters that monetize attention

Curated newsletters are one of the most reliable ways to earn money from curation. Instead of writing long sentences, the publisher selects the most relevant links, insights and updates from the web and distributes them on a fixed schedule. The biggest advantage is that you can continue without burning out.

The three main sources of revenue are the following:

• Premium version paid subscription

• Sponsorship frames in curation links

• Affiliate alliance linked to referral tools and products

Powerful curated newsletters tend to focus on narrow topics such as industry news, transaction tracking, job openings and research summaries.

2. Affiliate revenue through curated resource pages

Affiliate marketing requires no proprietary products or extensive content editing. In many cases, simple curation lists outperform long-sentence reviews. The reason is clarity. Visitors often seek a short list of trusted options, rather than a complete purchase guide.

Reliability is born from transparency and relevance, not compelling language. High-performance curated affiliate pages typically include:

• Distinct classification rather than ranking

• A brief background explanation of why each item was chosen

• Regular updates to remove obsolete choices

Platforms such as Amazon, Gumroad and PartnerStack support this technique in both physical and digital products.

3. Paid communities built around curated knowledge

Many experts are willing to pay to access premium information filtered in private spaces. These are not content-focused communities, but signal-based communities. Values are “shared” and “excluded.”

In this model, the curator acts as the gatekeeper. Articles, tools, case studies and opportunities are sorted before they reach the members. This saves time for people operating in fast-changing areas.

Common formats include Slack groups, private forums and email-based digests in conjunction with discussion access. Successful communities have something in common:

• Clear and professional results associated with curation

• Strict moderation for signal quality maintenance

• Limited growth for trust protection

This model is particularly effective in areas specializing in finance, marketing, technology and adoption.

4. Curated marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers

Curation also plays a core role in modern marketplaces. Many platforms have succeeded by carefully selecting the content of the publication rather than open exhibits. These build trust faster than scale-priority models.

Etsy and niche recruitment sites are good examples of curation improving conversion rates. The user revisits because the choice is not random but feels pre-approved.

Monetization usually combines one or more of the following structures:

• The posting fee by the seller

• Fees at the time of termination

• Premium rates for featured posts

Because the marketplace itself is valuable, its own content is not required.

5. Data and research curation for business clients

One of the most valuable curation models is data integration. Many companies lack the time to track trends, reports and competitive trends across multiple sources. Curators who aggregate and summarize such information can charge a premium fee.

This model is often offered in the following ways:

• Weekly industry briefing

• Competition monitoring report

• Trending snapshots for executives

Instead of conducting new research, curators integrate public data, news, submissions and expert commentary into a single, readable deliverable.

Common mistakes that limit curation income

Despite the potential, curation fails in light execution. You can’t build trust just by reposting links without context. Successful curators treat choices as responsibilities, not shortcuts.

Key challenges common to low-quality curation projects include:

• The topic range is too wide

• Ignoring update cycles

• No explanation or contextualization

• Mixing unrelated content types

Good curation feels intentional. The adoption of each piece of content meets the specific needs of a specific audience.

Curation is not an escape for those who avoid creation. It is a business model built on hobbies, discipline and consistency. In a world where information is flooded, the ability to judge what is noteworthy is rare and valuable.

For entrepreneurs who value efficiency and sustainability, monetization from curation provides a realistic path. It is not as flashy as content production, but its results often last longer.

Sign up for the Money Makers newsletter to get weekly, expert-backed tips to help you earn more money — from real people who founded and scaled successful businesses. Get it in your inbox.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/the-low-stress-way-to-generate-consistent-online-income/502343

The markets for film and TV are explosive, set to reach $1 trillion in total size by 2030. But many beieve the industry is losing the trust of fans who feel they’re “being beaten over the head with the same story, same characters.”

Studios are betting bigger on safer intellectual property (IP). Algorithms increasingly dictate development decisions. So some of the best stories go untold, and potentially lucrative projects die on the vine.

That’s why Watrfall built a new kind of entertainment platform, where creators, fans, and investors can all help bring quality stories to life and reap the rewards.

Co-founded by Golden Globe-winning actor Ron Perlman, Watrfall’s platform lets projects be funded, tracked, and monetized within a transparent, digital-first ecosystem.

Here’s how it’s different. Instead of a studio exec dictating decisions, creators submit their work for voting and fans become stakeholders in the projects they want to see get made by contributing funds. Then, once the project goes mainstream, everybody shares in potential profits.

The tech is already built, and the roadmap targets a full platform launch in Q2 2026, the company says. But that’s only the beginning of why investors are paying attention:

• Leadership includes Oscar-winning producer of Bowling for Columbine and the creator of beloved IP like Teletubbies, Inspector Gadget, and Peanuts
• More than 1,100 investors participated in Watrfall’s last raise, maxing it out in three months
• Built with next-gen video infrastructure that’s designed to reduce hosting costs and increase financial transparency
• Investors have the opportunity to unlock exclusive perks ranging from free additional shares to appearances in future films and even a dinner with Ron Perlman

With demand for content at all-time highs and creative dissatisfaction growing among both audiences and creators, Watrfall is positioned as a scalable alternative to complement and modernize Hollywood.

And timing matters. Rather than fund and benefit from a single project, by investing now, you’ll be an owner in the entire Watrfall platform.

With the transition from buildout to launch underway, this investment opportunity gives you the chance to join before commercial rollout accelerates.

Now is your chance to take part in a structural shift in how stories get funded, produced, and monetized.

Learn more about how to become a Watrfall shareholder and earn exclusive perks at invest.watrfall.com today.

This is a paid advertisement for Watrfall’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.watrfall.com/

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/money-finance/ron-perlman-is-opening-the-doors-to-hollywoods-1-trillion/502916

A research report went viral over the weekend. By Monday, the stock market was in free fall. Citrini Research published a 7,000-word hypothetical scenario dated June 2028 that painted a scary portrait of AI disrupting white-collar jobs and sparking financial contagion. The report tapped into a fear: What if AI is so good for the economy that it’s actually bad for stocks?

Many stocks named in the report tanked. Software firms Datadog, CrowdStrike, and Zscaler each plunged more than 9%. IBM fell 13%, its worst one-day performance since 2000. American Express, KKR, and Blackstone—all called out by Citrini—also tumbled.

Trade policy uncertainty also played a role in the fall. Still, the market’s response to a thought experiment shows how anxious Wall Street has become about AI disruption.

Read more

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/news-and-trends/the-dow-dropped-800-points-was-a-viral-ai-report-to-blame/502954

MIT researchers just built a 3D-printing platform that can spit out a fully functioning electric linear motor in about three hours. The advancement brings researchers one step closer to printing out a car. 

A 3D printer takes filament and produces solid objects. The process starts with a 3D model on a computer. The printer slowly builds the shape, often using melted plastic, until it creates a 3D item. 

In an article in the industry journal Virtual and Physical Prototyping, the researchers explained that their new 3D-printing system can handle different materials in a single build, switching among four different tools as it prints layer by layer. 

Instead of printing just plastic shells or simple parts, the 3D-printing system can fabricate all the key components of an electric machine in a single go, on a single platform. In their demo, the researchers printed an electric linear motor entirely on this system. 

It’s important to note that a linear motor generates straight-line motion, unlike a more complex rotating motor, like the one in a car. Researchers use linear motors in optical systems and simple robotics. 

While a linear motor is still far away from the complexity of a car engine, the development is a significant step in the right direction, researchers say. 

“This is a great feat, but it is just the beginning. We have an opportunity to fundamentally change the way things are made by making hardware onsite in one step, rather than relying on a global supply chain. With this demonstration, we’ve shown that this is feasible,” Dr. Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, one of the senior authors of the research paper, told MIT News.

3D printing is cheap

The 3D-printed linear motor matched or outperformed comparable motors made with more complex, conventional manufacturing, and only cost 50 cents in materials, the researchers found. 

In comparison, electric linear motors, which are used in telescopes and optics and medical and lab systems, range from around $300 to $800 to make at the lower end, with high-end models costing thousands of dollars. It costs more than $3,500 to build a rotary motor for a car.

The researchers did not disclose how much the 3D-printed system costs overall. 3D printers start at about $200 and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for more sophisticated machines. 

Why this matters for printing a car

If researchers can one day 3D-print advanced motors and other components, the idea of assembling a car from downloaded designs becomes more of an engineering problem than science fiction, per Gizmodo. 

Going forward, the researchers say they want to move from linear motors to rotary motors found in cars. They want to 3D-print the kind of technology seen in electric vehicles and advanced robots today. 

They also write about adding more toolheads so that the same 3D-printing platform could one day manufacture more complex electronics, including vehicle subsystems and medical devices.

“Even though we are excited by this engine and its performance, we are equally inspired because this is just an example of so many other things to come that could dramatically change how electronics are manufactured,” Velásquez-García told MIT News.

In the past few years, MIT researchers have 3D-printed electromagnets and sensors for satellites.

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/mit-researchers-3d-print-linear-motor-car-breakthrough

Uber wants to pick up customers even when they’re behind the wheel. The company announced it’s acquiring parking app SpotHero for an undisclosed sum. SpotHero offers parking reservations at more than 13,000 garages, lots, and valets across 400 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Uber plans to integrate SpotHero’s service into its app to help users find parking for events, venues, and airports.

The Chicago-based SpotHero launched in 2011 and last raised outside funding in 2019, when it secured $50 million led by Macquarie Capital.

The acquisition reflects Uber’s broader expansion strategy beyond ride-hailing and Uber Eats. The company’s delivery business—which now includes groceries and retail alongside restaurants—was its strongest revenue growth area in the fourth quarter. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Read more

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/uber-buys-parking-app-for-when-you-dont-want-an-uber/502932

Albert Einstein has a quote that says, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” When you observe nature, there are countless lessons to learn, even for leadership and building high-performing teams. Nature is a sophisticated system of interconnected individual elements that come together to form a unified whole, much like a company.

Speaking of high-performing teams, there are many elements to consider when forming one, including dedication, integrity, knowledge, accountability and more.

A few months ago, I was listening to a podcast by Andrew Bustamante, a former CIA covert intelligence officer and now a media figure, in which he spoke about a concept used within the CIA called The Four Temperaments. According to Bustamante, the CIA categorizes these temperaments into four animal archetypes: Lions, Foxes, Cheetahs and Bears. Each of these animals represents a specific characteristic that every high-performing team needs.

Let’s break down each animal archetype and examine how each one contributes to building a high-performing team.

Sign up for How Success Happens and learn from well-known business leaders and celebrities, uncovering the shifts, strategies and lessons that powered their rise. Get it in your inbox.

Lions are here to organize

Lions are often referred to as the kings of the jungle, symbolizing power and strength. One essential quality of anyone in a position of power is the ability to organize tasks, processes, and people effectively.

The lion archetype can be translated into the role of a leader within a high-performing team. Someone who brings structure and order, much like assembling the pieces of a puzzle. An effective leader sets clear priorities, removes distractions and enables the team to focus on what matters most. Organization plays a pivotal role in enhancing both efficiency and productivity in high-performing teams.

Foxes create ideas

In nature, foxes symbolize intelligence, cunning and intuition. When translated into human behavior, this archetype represents an individual with a sharp, imaginative mind who consistently generates fresh ideas to keep others engaged.

Every high-performing team benefits from a fox-like figure. A genuine thinker who can develop innovative ideas and creative solutions to complex challenges. As an ideator or creative thinker, this individual approaches problems from unconventional perspectives and thrives on thinking outside the box.

Idea generation within a team can be carried out by a single individual, or it can involve all team members. However, to foster a unified and cohesive team, it is generally recommended to hold brainstorming sessions with the participation of all members, allowing everyone to freely express and share their ideas. A business can truly grow only when people are free to share their ideas and the best ideas rise to the top.

Cheetahs will take action

Cheetahs are pursuit predators known for their speed, agility and hunting prowess. When a cheetah commits to the hunt, it channels all of its energy into swift, decisive action. This is the same attitude every member of a high-performing team must have.

Even with a well-organized team and the most brilliant ideas, progress only happens when those ideas are put into action. Without execution, even the strongest concepts lose their value. The world is full of people with brilliant ideas, but they don’t dare to take action and turn that idea into something meaningful.

In high-performing teams, doers play this critical role. They carry much of the workload and transform plans into results. To deliver desirable outcomes, they must be productive, efficient, and highly skilled. Of course, it should not be overlooked that for individuals to deliver their best performance, all necessary resources must be provided and the environment must be prepared.

Sign up for the Money Makers newsletter to get weekly, expert-backed tips to help you earn more money — from real people who founded and scaled successful businesses. Get it in your inbox.

Bears build relationships

The ability to build strong relationships is one of the most essential skills every leader must possess, whether those relationships are within the team or with external individuals. Meaningful connections significantly increase the likelihood of success by opening new opportunities and granting access to resources you may not possess, such as capital or specialized knowledge.

While the importance of networking in business is widely understood, leadership goes beyond external connections. A leader must also cultivate strong relationships within the team. This can be achieved through one-on-one interactions, as well as team meetings.

High-performing teams rely on clear communication, mutual understanding, and well-defined boundaries. When team members trust one another and communicate effectively, collaboration becomes smoother and performance improves.

If you want to build a high-performing team that consistently delivers desired outcomes, each of these Four Temperaments should be represented. Organizing, ideation, execution and relationship-building are all essential to the success of any high-performing team.

from Entrepreneur – Latest https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/the-cia-says-high-performing-teams-need-these-four-roles/502532