http://www.publicfinanceinternational.org/news/2017/04/governments-must-take-action-unleash-entrepreneurship-says-imf-head

We speak frequently in class about the role of government in fostering entrepreneurship. From easing regulations to making access to additional financing more readily available, government plays an pivotal role in cultivating entrepreneurship.

This article highlights a recent speech given by the head of the IMF. In the article, Christine Lagarde talks about the delicate role that governments must balance. She advocates the role of government in providing funding to certain technologies, while cautioning government to be aware enough to remove unnecessary barriers to competition and cut red tape. She advocates for providing more state funding to R&D and pushes the notion that it would boost GDP. The intersection of public and private financing in entrepreneurship and the competing policy agenda’s that stem from these divergent financing schemes provide for an interesting debate.

The law school curriculum is largely rooted in academia, with minimal focus on acquiring the “soft skills” necessary to excel beyond the basic, entry-level job expectations. This Forbes article presents four things we can all do within the first few weeks at a new job to excel beyond expectations. Although these are (hopefully) common-sense, I wonder if our generation could be doing more of these “entrepreneurial” tasks when we walk into a new role. The concepts identified by the author (asking questions, interacting with colleagues one on one) are simple, and perhaps easily overlooked by those of us who walk into more-complex entry level roles. Interviewers and supervisors of mine have been quick to point out that it takes showing initiative to stand out in your role, skills that we can only begin to practice in the limited amount of skills/intensive courses offered here at NDLS.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2017/04/03/four-things-to-do-in-your-first-30-days-on-the-job/#138caf0d1231

Here is an interesting article that talks about success. It’s pretty long, but the takeaway that I appreciated the most from it was the author’s distinction between expensive and inexpensive experience:

“Expensive experience is what happens when you try to do it all yourself and make a lot of pricey mistakes because you don’t know what you’re doing. It costs you precious time, money, and can even cost you your professional reputation.” (See Article), while “[I]nexpensive experience … refers to studying the strategies of successful people who have already traveled down the path you’re about to go on.” Id. 

I think that this was a unique perspective that I hadn’t thought of before. Learning from the lessons of others can be a type of experience for us!

Here is an interesting article offering advice on how to align your career with your passions. This is a useful thing to think about for small business people, but is also useful for lawyers. We should try to align what we love with what we do at work–this will make for a much happier life! It’s worth a read!

Pope Francis is no stranger to addressing entrepreneurs and innovators, as I’ve discussed in a previous blog post. Recently, Pope Francis surprised a TED Talk with a message streaming from the Vatican.

Pope Francis’s message was aimed towards “the conference’s core subject matter (technology and innovation), and seemed to be directed at the audience in the room: the founders of some of the world’s biggest tech companies, as well as politicians, artists, entertainers, venture capitalists and leaders of major cultural institutions and foundations.”

Pope Francis addressed the crowd of venture capitalists and innovators, stating: “How wonderful would it be if solidarity — this beautiful and, at times, inconvenient word — were not simply reduced to social work and became, instead, the default attitude in political, economic and scientific choices, as well as in the relationships among individuals, peoples and countries.”

His message continued: “The more powerful you are, the more your actions will have an impact on people, the more responsible you are to act humbly.”

This is an interesting article about a new trend in entrepreneurial innovation: products designed to facilitate a good night’s sleep. The article discusses the innovations of various “sleep entrepreneurs.” All of whom, the article states, have done their research. Describing one sleep entrepreneur, the article states: “Sleep disruptions, apparently, can cure sleep disruption (and Mr. Olsen, like all good sleep entrepreneurs, has the research to prove it).”

The article also discusses how companies are striving to educate their employees on the importance of sleep. One company, Aetna, “[pays] its workers up to $500 a year if they can prove they have slept for seven hours or more for 20 days in a row.”

Tom Kelley talked about the “human element” that goes into designing products or services. These sleep entrepreneurs are working to tap into that human element, and this article tracks exactly how.

If any of you subscribe to “The Skimm” to get news emailed to you every morning, you may enjoy this article about its founders. Although initially rejected by hundreds of startup investors, the two co-founders persisted and the rest is history (even Oprah subscribed!).

This article talks about one father’s goal of raising his kids in “a playborhood — a version of American kid life featured in shows like “The Little Rascals” and “Leave It to Beaver,” in which kids build forts and ride bikes outside, unsupervised — free, skirting danger, but ultimately always lucky.”

The article discusses how the father’s parenting styles overlap with entrepreneurial behavior. Mike, the father of 3, stated a problem that he noticed with parenting today: “There are a million studies documenting the negative effects of lack of free play in children . . . I asked myself: What am I going to do about it for my kids?”

Describing his solution, the article states: “He analyzed the problem like an entrepreneur, by thinking of children as consumers and seeing their time as a scarce resource.”

“Mike decided he had to corral his neighbors to sign on to his platform. He designed big neon-yellow plastic signs like those used to warn of wet floors, emblazoned with an icon of children playing and the word Playborhood. He invited kids to parties and gave the signs to their parents, to put in their yards and on the road in front of their houses so their children could ‘reclaim the streets from cars.’”

It’s a longer read, but fascinating.

This following section seemed particularly relevant to our discussions of the role of law: “Mike tells me that people sometimes ask him if he is afraid of lawsuits in the event of an injury on his property. He would never let fear of being sued dictate how he lives his life, he says. What about second-degree manslaughter, I asked: an accident enabled by negligence, if, say, another child — or even one of his own — broke his neck leaping from the playhouse onto the trampoline. (Unenclosed trampolines are a staple of personal-injury law; an estimated 85,000 children under 14 were hurt on trampolines last year.) Does he ever worry about that? He flashed me a look, then snorted with laughter.”

This is an interesting article about trends in the legal industry. It discusses a new group of attorneys that has been on the rise: the “alt. legal” entrepreneur-attorneys.

The article argues that these “alt. legal” entrepreneur-attorneys will be the most financially successful as well as best-situated to help the most amount of people. The article states: “By 2027 the legal industry will produce many billionaires, but few, if any, will be practicing attorneys – they will be alt.legal entrepreneurs solving huge problems at scale.”

The author argues that there is no better time for traditional attorneys and big-law firms to consider changing their methods and missions. The article states: “[T]here is a massive opportunity to innovate in legal.”

Worth the read, and perfectly aligns with our class discussions!