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Nothing can be taken for granted. NOTHING!

By Yoram Yahav

What if

Pharmaceutical drug company – Teva, is an example of a corporation I truly admire. Established over one hundred years ago, the founding families never realized that it was going to turn into the world’s leading generic drug company.
What was so special about the growth of this company was its legendary chairman Eli Horowitz; a true visionary who could “see into the future”, figure out a new niche in the market place, bring the right people to replace him as a CEO and inspire the workers of Teva to think big.

Three years ago, I asked Eli to join a fantastic group of people for a project outlining the future of Israel. I was keen on futuristic scenario planning methodologies already then and I remember challenging Eli privately on one possible scenario: What if Copaxon, a leading drug that Teva manufactures and accounts for 25% of its sales, disappeared?

“It is not going to happen,” he said. More>

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Entrepreneur:  Harness Your Subconscious!

By: Prof. Shlomo Maital.

Harnessing the unconscious

Psychologists Say:  Goal Pursuit Operates Unconsciously! My wife, a psychologist, drew my attention to a fascinating article in Science this month by Ruud Custers and Henk Aarts from the  Netherlands’ Utrecht University. Here is what they found:

“As humans, we generally have the feeling that we decide what we want and what we do.”

This belief, that we control our destiny, set our goals and drive our behaviors based on them,  is fundamental to much of what we teach in innovation and in entrepreneurship.  It is fundamental to the whole strategic process involving vision, mission, objectives, goals, strategies.

But “scientific research suggests otherwise”.    They cite studies showing “apparently, when people are persuaded to consciously set a goal to engage in behavior, their conscious will start to act out unconsciously.” More>

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Test driving the future with Better Place

By: Debbie Meltzer

Test driving a Better Future

Truth is when you get a go on the test track, the drive is exceptionally smooth. No roar, no purr, no splut. The Renault ZE – a standard sedan on the outside with EV technology inside was surprisingly quiet. Acceleration was seamless. The sprint is 0-60 mph in 10 seconds. The breaking was subtle.

The cool factor is embedded in the dashboard where information on breaking, battery capacity and the nearest charging station are  displayed. The software could possibly interface with future power-monitoring technology to feed power from parked cars. Like!

The unsettling factor is the lithium packed battery that Better Place will own and the infrastructure for servicing them. This range may suit short distances, but what happens when you turn into, let’s say, the Pan American highway or the Autobahn? What happens when you drive along more challenging terrain demanding more power?

Better Place hasn’t found all the answers yet, even though their tour guides will lead you to believe otherwise, but they seem to be overcoming some fierce challenges.

Their vision – to change the transportation landscape is beginning to surge. Slowly but surely they are overcoming near-impossible hurdles. More importantly, by doing so, they are dictating the pace of the electric car infrastructure. More>