Why Silicon Valley’s Heyday Might be Over

In 2002, PayPal, the online payments giant, was sold to eBay for a cool $1.5 billion. Overnight, many of PayPal’s core employees got very rich. Rather than calling it a day, however, the so-called PayPal mafia went on to found and invest in a wave of new start-ups. You may have heard of some: Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Yelp, Zynga and Kiva . . . to name just a few.

From one buyout, an entire ecosystem of wildly successful tech companies was spawned in Silicon Valley. In fact, over the last decade, the PayPal Mafia’s track record has been nothing short of extraordinary, with one promising start-up after another propelled to billion-dollar status and well beyond.

So what’s their secret? Was there something in the water? Did PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin teach employees some Jedi entrepreneurial magic? Maybe. (Thiel does believe humans can live forever.) But the likeliest explanation is a bit more mundane: The PayPal buyout gave some very young, very ambitious people the confidence to try for another big win and an experienced network to fund them.

If that’s all there is to it, then I’ve got a question. Why does Silicon Valley get to have a monopoly on innovation? Why aren’t new tech mafias springing up elsewhere? The Internet radically decentralized information and ideas. So why is start-up success still confined mainly to one corner of California?

The question isn’t just academic. I’m CEO of a growing social media company headquartered not in the Bay Area but 1,000 miles north in Vancouver, Canada. The city has a solid cluster of new and legacy tech companies, from Electronic Arts to mobile game developers. We’ve got tech entrepreneurs. We’ve got tech incubators. We’ve got world-class universities.

So what’s standing in the way of a brand new tech mob - a Maple Syrup Mafia - taking hold right in my backyard and turning Vancouver into the next global tech hub?

Well, to be honest, there are a few hurdles.

The Seduction of Selling Out

Money comes to mind first. Right now, cities all over the world are home to start-ups with billion-dollar potential. But it’s the nature of the tech industry today that promising companies are spotted fast and bought cheap by the Googles and Twitters and Microsofts of the world. Having been a struggling entrepreneur for most of my life, I understand the allure of selling out. You’ve got a good idea but limited revenue and often significant debt and - suddenly - someone shows up with a few million dollars.

But maybe it’s time we took Sean Parker’s lines from The Social Network to heart. A million dollars isn’t cool anymore. A billion dollars is cool. It’s critical that tech entrepreneurs grow their companies, develop steady revenue streams and only then think about an exit. It seems worthy to note here that a young, Vancouver-based Flickr - one of the Internet’s first real photo-sharing sites - was sold to Yahoo for a paltry $35 million in 2005. $35 million may not sound paltry. But a similarly promising photo-sharing site called Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 billion last year. And it’s only when we start talking about 10-digit exits that the prospect of creating a true PayPal-style mafia becomes a reality.

Which is why I plan to hold out. Four years ago, I developed a tool that lets you access different social media accounts - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. - from one interface. Simple concept. But it took off. Today, HootSuite has over 300 employees and six million users, and it’s used by three-quarters of Fortune 100 companies. We’ve had tempting offers, not to mention requests to move to San Francisco, and we’ve turned them all down.

We’re committed to growing an amazing, billion-dollar-plus company in Vancouver. In fact, the dollar value isn’t as important as the legacy of the company and the culture of homegrown innovation it inspires. When (and if) a liquidation event happens, the HootSuite team will be left with financial resources, network and a lot of expertise - key ingredients for a Maple Syrup Mafia.

Another Missing Link: Tech Education

But it’s not quite that easy. The PayPal mafia thrived not only because it was well funded but because it had ready access to tech talent. This is where lots of global cities - Vancouver included - come up short. The reality is that we’re contending with a major shortage of developers, engineers and programmers. Universities are simply not turning out enough grads with the requisite tech skills. (If this seems absurd in a climate of global recession and mass unemployment, it should.)

And the magnetic allure of Silicon Valley means that people with qualifications are migrating en masse to the Bay Area. An estimated 350,000 Canadians alone currently live and work in the Valley - an entire lost generation. It’s no exaggeration to say that much of the world is in the midst of a global brain drain of engineering talent.

Case in point: Next month, Facebook is scheduled to open a temporary satellite office in Vancouver, whose express purpose is to attract and groom software engineers for an ultimate move to company headquarters in California. The lifespan of the project is one year: roughly the amount of time needed for Canadians to get a permit for full-time work in the U.S.

For a Maple Syrup Mafia to flourish, universities here need to counter this loss of talent by exponentially increasing the number of tech grads - and fast. Consider this an open challenge to the ivory tower. In a few years’ time, Vancouver will be flush with tech capital, and some smart people will be gunning to build the next Facebooks and Instagrams. Will entrepreneurs have to import talent from elsewhere or - worse still - be forced to pack up for San Francisco because they can’t fill jobs? The answer depends on how effectively the educational system is able to funnel students into engineering programs now and send the message that the jobs of tomorrow are in tech.

Rise of the Maple Syrup Mafia?

But enough of the doom and gloom. It’s important to note that a Maple Syrup Mafia - and other tech families like it - would have a few key advantages over the vaunted PayPal Mafia. It’s not exactly a secret anymore that Silicon Valley is the place to be if you want to ride tech’s next gravy train. As a result, promising start-ups are swamped with offers from venture capitalists and angel investors, which drives up the price of investing dramatically. Bargains aren’t likely to be found, and busts are as common as booms. Meanwhile, competition for engineering talent is fierce. Add to that an extremely high cost of living, and you’ve got a climate that’s not entirely conducive to business investment and growth.

That’s where the rest of the world has an edge. While Silicon Valley may enjoy a formidable concentration of capital and talent, it hardly has a monopoly on ambitious ideas and capable entrepreneurs. Investors willing to bet on opportunities outside the Valley will discover it’s far easier to get in on the ground floor. Margins are considerably higher. There’s far less hype and spin to wade through, making it easier to identify real gems. Plus, local governments can be very helpful with tax breaks and other subsidies for companies committed to high-tech jobs.

And let’s not forget about lifestyle. With all respect to Palo Alto, life in a semi-arid industrial park isn’t for everyone (even if you can get some really good tacos). I have a feeling that my hometown - which just so happens to be one of the world’s most liveable cities, chock full of mountains, ocean, progressive politics and some exceptional street food of its own - might make an attractive alternative.

There’s room for more than one family in the tech mob. PayPal’s kingpins may rule Silicon Valley. But the Maple Syrup Mafia - and others like it - are gathering steam elsewhere. Will the years ahead bring a sweeter brand of Canada-based innovation to the tech world? I hope so - Our team is banking on it.

8 Things Productive People Do During the Workday

Forget about your job title or profession – everyone is looking for ways to be more productive at work. It’s time to set down your gallon-sized container of coffee, toss out your three-page to-do list, and put an end to those ridiculously long emails you’ve been sending.

Experiencing a highly productive workday can feel euphoric. But contrary to popular belief, simply checking tasks off your to-do list isn’t really an indication of productivity. Truly productive people aren’t focused on doing more things; this is actually the opposite of productivity. If you really want to be productive, you’ve got to make a point to do fewer things.

Recently I spoke with project management and productivity genius Tony Wong to find out the secret to a more productive workday. He provided me with some excellent insight into what he and other like-minded productive individuals do during their work week.

Harness your productivity by taking note of these eight things:

1. Create a smaller to-do list. Getting things accomplished during your workday shouldn’t be about doing as much as possible in the sanctioned eight hours. It may be hard to swallow, but there’s nothing productive about piling together a slew of tasks in the form of a checklist. Take a less-is-more approach to your to-do list by only focusing on accomplishing things that matter.

2. Take breaks. You know that ache that fills your brain when you’ve been powering through tasks for several hours? This is due to your brain using up glucose. Too many people mistake this for a good feeling, rather than a signal to take a break. Go take a walk, grab something to eat, workout, or meditate – give your brain some resting time. Achieve more productivity during your workday by making a point to regularly clear your head. You’ll come back recharged and ready to achieve greater efficiency.

3. Follow the 80/20 rule. Did you know that only 20 percent of what you do each day produces 80 percent of your results? Eliminate the things that don’t matter during your workday: they have a minimal effect on your overall productivity. For example, on a project, systematically remove tasks until you end up with the 20 percent that gets the 80 percent of results.

4. Start your day by focusing on yourself. If you begin your morning by checking your email, it allows others to dictate what you accomplish. Set yourself in the right direction by ignoring your emails and taking the morning to focus on yourself, eat a good breakfast, meditate, or read the news.

5. Take on harder tasks earlier in the day. Knock out your most challenging work when your brain is most fresh. Save your busy work – if you have any – for when your afternoon slump rolls in.

6. Pick up the phone. The digital world has created poor communication habits. Email is a productivity killer and usually a distraction from tasks that actually matter. For example, people often copy multiple people on emails to get it off their plate – don't be a victim of this action. This distracts everyone else by creating noise against the tasks they’re trying to accomplish and is a sign of laziness. If you receive an email where many people are CC'd, do everyone a favor by BCCing them on your reply. If your email chain goes beyond two replies, it’s time to pick up the phone. Increase your productivity by scheduling a call.

7. Create a system. If you know certain things are ruining your daily productivity, create a system for managing them. Do you check your emails throughout the day? Plan a morning, afternoon, and evening time slot for managing your email. Otherwise, you’ll get distracted from accomplishing more important goals throughout the day.

8. Don’t confuse productivity with laziness. While no one likes admitting it, sheer laziness is the No. 1 contributor to lost productivity. In fact, a number of time-saving methods – take meetings and emails for example – are actually just ways to get out of doing real work. Place your focus on doing the things that matter most as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Remember, less is more when it comes to being productive during the workday.

Tech Conferences Are Destroying the World. I Have A Solution

Tech conferences aren't about the content, it's about the conversation. The conversations in the lobby, the hallways, over meals, across seats. The ability to connect with large numbers of people in an informal setting away from the office. In fact, the personal contact is so good that people travel long distances, mainly by airplane, to get a seat: San Francisco, New York, Austin, Paris, London, Hawaii and beyond.

If you attend a few of these you're sure to grow your network and influence. And you know what else? YOU'RE DESTROYING THE WORLD VIA INCREASED CARBON EMISSIONS.

One roundtrip flight from NYC to SF or Europe creates warming effects of roughly three tons of carbon emissions per person. Oh, that's just the equivalent of 10,000 miles driven in a car. No biggie...

So all these folks tweeting about a greener planet and installing Nest thermostats, there's one thing you could do that might really make a difference: stop flying as much. Seriously, I know that every event is so important that in the moment it seems like a great idea to attend but you're creating a shittier world for my daughter. Since I go to some of these myself I guess I'm part of the problem. Besides trying to cut down on unnecessary plane travel, here's what I'd suggest:

Conference Organized Should Bake Carbon Offset Into the Ticket Price

Carbon offsets are a market-based solution where you can seek to reduce your carbon footprint not by changing your behavior, but by paying to reduce carbon emissions elsewhere. Most of the big tech conferences are pretty inelastic because many attendees are affluent or expensing their tickets. Toss another $100 in there. No one will care.

The 1 Thing a Business Leader Must Do to Succeed

Sadly, 25% of businesses fail within their first year and an astonishing 70% of businesses fail within ten years. So, if you're thinking about starting a business or you've recently made the leap, how can you optimize your chances of success? What is the single most important factor in determining your success? I asked this question of 10 successful business leaders from the Young Entrepreneur Council, and their answers are below, followed by mine:

1. Build A Strong Leadership Team

We used to invest in technology. Then it was marketing. Then we woke up and realized it was all about the people. Bringing in the best, seasoned, Director/VP-level talent over the past 18 months has really helped the owners bring the company's goals back in focus. Do your systems, workflow and technology always need to be evolving? You bet. But at a certain point in company's growth, you will NEED an experienced leader helping you architect those things if you want to go to the next level. - Andrew Loos, Attack

2. Have A Great Mindset

Your mindset drives so much in business: the risks you take, opportunities you pursue, challenges to tackle, confidence level and vision. The great thing is that even if you have doubts and fears now, your mindset can change and grow with you as an entrepreneur. The things that once terrified me are now easy to manage and I understand much better why entrepreneurship is an excellent avenue for personal growth and development! - Kelly Azevedo, She's Got Systems

3. Execute

Hands down, continuing to execute to accomplish your goals is the single most important factor in making your business a success. Without continual execution, businesses sink. However, executing on the right goals will not only keep you from sinking, it will help you excel. - Stacey Ferreira, MySocialCloud

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4. Have a Passion for Change

At Star Toilet Paper, we have a deep-seated yearning to change the world and that is what we are doing and will continue to do. Each and every week, we have a weekly email that we sign off with, "Let's change the world and disrupt the status quo." Having an internal team slogan like that really helps bring out the best in us and continues to fuel our passion. - Bryan Silverman, Star Toilet Paper

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5. Create Value

Purchase decisions almost always come down to value --- customers must realize a benefit from working with your business. That can mean a multitude of things, such as cost savings, convenience, reliability, increased quality, etc. Effectively providing value is integral to the long-term success of your company; not only does it assist in retaining your current customers, but also provides the highest-quality referrals you can ask for when attempting to gain new business. - Charles Bogoian,Kenai Sports, LLC 

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6. Work With Clients Who Share Your Beliefs

Being ourselves and working with companies who share our beliefs is everything. We believe design makes a difference and we look to work with companies who agree. We also work with companies who know the people inside the building are what counts. Working with companies with soul has been the key to our success. - Chuck Longanecker, digital-telepathy

7. Focus

It's so tempting early on to chase after every interesting idea and business opportunity. Learning to say "no" or at least "not yet" is paramount to every entrepreneur's success. Focus on what's most important. Your customers and investors will thank you for it eventually. - Ryan Buckley, Scripted, Inc.

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8. Serve Your Customers

By providing your product or service in a fast, convenient, and friendly way, you'll establish your business as one built for the long term. Any unsatisfied customers should be compensated to ensure they'll still consider you for future business. Happy customers are everything. - Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

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9. Remain Unsatisfied

I am famous internally for saying "we're almost there" when referring to the business. The truth is that "there" is a constantly moving goal post. As a team, we have a positive but relentless and never-satisfied attitude, which in turn results in our company always pushing for better and never being complacent. - Lauren Friese, TalentEgg

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10. Hire the Right People

I was telling my team just last week that regardless of how much we market or sell, if we don't create good products (in our case, websites), then we can't progress. It's people who create those sites, so hiring the best developers (or widget makers, or whoever makes your business succeed) is vital to keeping the engine of your business running. - Hassan Bawab, Magic Logix

These are the single most important things a leader must do to succeed in business according to ten successful young entrepreneurs. But wait - there are 10 different factors listed above! So which, in fact, is most important?

My answer to this question:

Focus is the single most important factor in determining your success as a business leader.

Focus means understanding what your priorities are in any given hour, day, month, quarter or year. Focus means knowing what's most important - product, service, hiring, fundraising, sales or innovation, and then concentrating on that one thing. Focus means knowing what's not as important in any given time period. Without focus, it's easy to wander - it's easy to become reactive instead of proactive - it's easy to fail. With focus and determination, you and your team will understand what's most important, and help you execute - to success. So that unlike that 70%, you can beat the odds and maintain a successful business over time.

My Best Mistake: Nearly Getting Fired

Most CEOs get to this job without once having been fired. They are so good at work, or maybe just impressing those who judge their work, that they have no idea how it even feels to be fired.

But I do.

When I was 28, running products for a company I’d co-founded, the CEO called to say that I had a problem with the board, that I probably couldn't overcome it, that I'd have to leave the company.

And that was it. Every firing happens differently except in this one respect: the person being fired can't believe how fast it happens.

I asked to meet the board’s chairman, whom I idolized for building a supercomputer, for speaking French, for founding a company, for dressing like James Bond. The meeting was set for the next day.

It was 8 p.m. Sunday, too late to call family back east. I cleaned my room. I called my ex-girlfriend. I realized how few friends I had. I thought about all the obvious mistakes I hadn't fixed because I would have first had to admit they were mistakes. Someone else would get to fix them now. I couldn't sleep.

The next day, the chairman explained why I was being fired. I listened to him like I had never listened to anyone in my life. In 45 seconds, he did what almost no one paid to be your manager usually has the guts to do: he explained what was wrong with me as plainly as if I were a dented car.

At the end of it, I said I wouldn't leave. I promised to change. I cried.

“Glenn,” the chairman said, looking away. “Please.”

Then he said, "We're going to give you one more chance." He never said why.

I went back to work. I changed. All the things I imagined my successor doing, I did. The company went public. The CEO and I became good friends. I was able to look on my eight years there as a success, not a failure.

I once read that what makes a tragedy so hard to bear is the feeling that it so easily could have gone the other way. This feeling is also what makes our triumphs so giddy.

You Don’t Have to Have the JobSince then, I've never stopped feeling lucky. It’s important for a CEO to feel lucky. When I was just starting out in my career, I’d heard Jim Barksdale say, “You don’t have to have the job.” I thought then that it meant you could leave whenever you wanted.

But now I realized it also meant you couldn't just take your job for granted. I've sometimes wondered if Bill Gates would still be burning to save Microsoft today if only he had earlier been fired from it, as Steve Jobs was fired from Apple.

Feeling lucky also fills you with love. Most CEOs walk around the office like we own the place, without realizing that the place itself isn't worth owning: a business's value comes from the people who walk out the door every night, who have to decide each morning whether to walk back in. One of the simplest things you can do as a leader is honor their choice, and appreciate their work.

Accepting the Gravity of What You've Done To Another Person
Nearly being fired changes you in other important ways. To this day, I can’t bear to hear that firing someone is best for the person being fired. That may occasionally turn out to be the case but everyone should be clear that the person is being fired only because it’s best for the company.

She is the one who will have to go home and explain to her family what happened. She will remember that day for the rest of her life, and may never completely come to terms with it.

So my role at Redfin isn't to meddle with whether a manager should fire someone, only with how it is to be done. The first sign of civilization among primitive societies was how we buried our dead; by the same token, one measure of a company’s culture is how it handles those who have to go.

Redfin hasn't always been as humane as we should. Firings are botched because no one on either side has much experience with it, and everyone gets erratic. But we try.

Demolishing the FortressThe most profound impact of my own experience with being fired came from what I said to my old chairman to save my skin: “I can change.” Even now, more than ten years on, at a different company, I'm still changing.

Most people spend nearly all their energy trying not to change. This is what the philosopher William James meant when he wrote the mind's main function was to be a fortress for protecting your ego from reality. When the mind has to accommodate a new fact, James argued, it doesn't settle on the change to its model of reality that is most likely to reflect reality. It protects the fortress, calculating the smallest possible modification to its bulwarks that can account for the new fact.

Nearly being fired demolishes your fortress. Instead of being invested in the way you've been and what you've done, you become invested in whom you’ll be.

This shift is the best possible thing that can happen to you. Have you ever noticed that the happiest people on the planet are born-again converts to a religion? It isn't the religion by itself that makes them happy, otherwise all religious people would be happy.

It’s the shift from loving yourself to loving your ability to change yourself. When I left my meeting with the chairman I finally knew how bad of an executive I was. But I told him that, more than any other executive in his portfolio of companies, I was the one most committed to getting better. I told everyone around me I was trying to get better, so everyone would help.

Sometimes nothing helps. I lie on the bed at the end of a bad day and tell my wife I am tired of myself, because I can never seem to change. She asks me if I think I will get any better in ten years. Face down, I shake my head. Then she asks me if I was much worse ten years ago. We both know I was horrendous back then. I sit up. I see what she means.

The greatest kindness my wife has shown me is to think of me as a work in progress, an unfinished symphony. Professionally, my symphony is to be the world’s best CEO. At my current rate of improvement, that will happen when I’m 94. But I'm trying to move that up.

The Tech Industry’s Darkest Secret: It’s All About Age

They don’t prepare you for this in college or admit it in job interviews. The harsh reality is that if you are middle-aged, write computer code for a living, and earn a six-figure salary, you’re headed for the unemployment lines. Your market value declines as you age and it becomes harder and harder to get a job.

I know this post will provoke anger, outrage, and denial. But, sadly, this is the way things are in the tech world. It’s an “up or out” profession — like the military. And it’s as competitive as professional sports. Engineers need to be prepared.

This is not openly discussed, because employers could be accused of age discrimination. But research, such as that completed by University of California, Berkeley, professors Clair Brown and Greg Linden shows that even those with masters degrees and Ph.Ds have reason to worry.

Brown and Linden’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census data for the semiconductor industry revealed that although salaries increased dramatically for engineers in their 30s, these increases slowed after the age of 40. After 50, the mean salary fell by 17% for those with bachelors degrees and by 14% for those with masters degrees and Ph. Ds  And salary increases for holders of postgraduate degrees were always lower than for those with bachelor’s degrees (in other words, even Ph.D degrees didn't provide long-term job protection).

It’s the same in the software industry. Prominent Silicon Valley investors often talk about youth being an advantage in entrepreneurship. If you look at their investment portfolios, all you see are engineers who are hardly old enough to shave. They rarely invest in people who are old.

It may be wrong, but look at this from the point of view of the employer. Why would any company pay a computer programmer with out-of-date skills a salary of say $150,000, when it can hire a fresh graduate — who has no skills — for around $60,000? Even if it spends a month training the younger worker, the company is still far ahead. The young understand new technologies better than the old do, and are like a clean slate: They will rapidly learn the latest coding methods and techniques, and they don’t carry any “technology baggage.” The older worker likely has a family and needs to leave the office by 6 p.m. The young can easily pull all - nighters.

What the tech industry often forgets is that with age comes wisdom. Older workers are usually better at following direction, mentoring, and leading. They tend to be more pragmatic and loyal, and to know the importance of being team players. And ego and arrogance usually fade with age.

During my tech days, I hired several programmers who were over 50. They were the steadiest performers and stayed with me through the most difficult times.

It can be difficult for some companies to justify paying the age premium. For tech start ups in particular, it always boils down to cost: Most can’t even afford to pay $60,000 salaries, so they look for motivated, young software developers who will accept minimum wage in return for equity ownership and the opportunity to build their careers.

We can blame the employer, but in a free economy you can’t really force any company to hire workers who have the wrong skills or to pay higher salaries. Larger companies develop products for global markets and have global workforce.  They will hire where they can get the best skill for the best price.

So, whether we like it or not, it’s a tough industry, and the onus is on employees to keep themselves marketable. I know that many people will take offense at what I have to say, but here is my advice to those whose hair is beginning to grey.

• Move up the ladder into management, architecture, or design, and diversify your experience. Work with business executives in your company, in areas such as sales, finance, marketing/product management, legal, and operations. Develop a broader set of skills that make you more valuable to your employer and that differentiate you from others with just coding skills.

• Become an entrepreneur. Despite what some investors say, older age is an advantage in the startup world. You know more about industries and markets, and have ideas for products that the world actually needs and a better ability to motivate and manage than a kid out of school does.

• Keep your skills current. This means keeping up to date with the latest trends in computing, programming techniques, and languages, and adapting to change. To be writing code for a living when you’re 50, you will need to be a rock-star developer and be able to out-code the new kids on the block. Top developers are always in demand and companies will readily pay top dollars for them.

• If you’re going to stay in programming, realize that the deck is stacked against you. Even though you may be highly experienced and wise, employers aren’t willing or able to pay an experienced worker twice or thrice what an entry-level worker earns. Save as much as you can when you’re in your 30s and 40s, and be prepared to earn less as you gain experience.

Finally, I don’t know of any university, including the ones I teach at, that tells its engineering students what to expect in the long term or how to manage their technical careers. Perhaps it is time to let students know what lies ahead and prepare them for their difficult careers.

Google Glass, the beginning of wearable surveillance

Editor's note: Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration, is chairman and co-founder ofThe Chertoff Group, a global security advisory firm.

(CNN) -- Imagine a world in which every major company in America flew hundreds of thousands of drones overhead, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, collecting data on what Americans were doing down below. It's a chilling thought that would engender howls of outrage.

Now imagine that millions of Americans walk around each day wearing the equivalent of a drone on their head: a device capable of capturing video and audio recordings of everything that happens around them. And imagine that these devices upload the data to large-scale commercial enterprises that are able to collect the recordings from each and every American and integrate them together to form a minute-by-minute tracking of the activities of millions.

That is almost precisely the vision of the future that lies directly ahead of us. Not, of course, with wearable drones but with wearable Internet-connected equipment. This new technology -- whether in the form of glasses or watches -- may unobtrusively capture video data in real time, store it in the cloud and allow for it to be analyzed.

Some will say these new devices are no different than existing technology, like handheld video cameras or iPhones with audio recording functions. But there's a huge distinction.

The emerging new technology is not designed with significant storage capacity. Instead, its default mode is for all data to be automatically uploaded to cloud servers, where aggregation and back-end analytic capacity resides.

So, who owns and what happens to the user's data? Can the entire database be mined and analyzed for commercial purposes? What rules will apply when law enforcement seeks access to the data for a criminal or national security investigation? For how long will the data be retained?

As some members of the Supreme Court recognized last year when they considered the use of only a single stream of data -- GPS location -- creating a life stream of data points paints a mosaic picture of a person's actions and habits. Who owns that mosaic?

Service providers may argue that the terms of service approved by customers will set limitations on how their collected data can be used. But even if customers can truly make informed decisions about the storage and handling of such data, they have no right to consent to the use of data that is collected about passersbys whom they record, intentionally or not.

Ubiquitous street video streaming will capture images of many people who haven't volunteered to have their images collected, collated and analyzed. Even those who might be willing to forgo some degree of privacy to enhance national security should be concerned about a corporate America that will have an unrestricted continuous video record of millions.

What is to prevent a corporation from targeting a particular individual, using face recognition technology to assemble all uploaded videos in which he appears, and effectively constructing a surveillance record that can be used to analyze his life?

Concerns like this have motivated at least one bar owner to ban Google Glass from the premises. The proprietor thinks that continuous observation of patrons in the bar will strip them of their anonymity and put a damper on their spontaneity. In other words, why go to a bar when someone there is wearing a device that may be recording your every bad joke after you've had too many drinks?

Maybe the market can take care of this problem. But the likely pervasiveness of this type of technology convinces me that government must play a regulatory role.

Before we get too far down this road of ubiquitous surveillance, real-time upload and comprehensive analytics by cloud providers, we should pause to consider the implications. We need to consider what rights consumers have, and what rights nonparticipant third parties should have.

We need to be judicious in how to balance innovation with privacy. The Federal Trade Commission and Congress need to take a look at this new technology before it becomes common. The new data collection platforms right in front of us are much more likely to affect our lives than is the prospect of drones overhead surveilling American citizens.

Google Glass

Are You A Leader Or A Manager??

What is the difference between managers and leaders? What sets them apart?

I have found over the years running various different companies that not all good managers go on to make great leaders.That might sound strange but I have always been a big believer in differentiating between managing a group of people and leading a company. The best leaders are the ones who are always looking to move the business they run onto the next stage of its development.

However, being a good manager is a skill that is developed over time and comes with plenty of experience. Knowing how to deal with your workforce on an individual and collective basis is a vital part of any well run organisation or business.

It has long been a mantra of mine that the key ingredients of any successful business are the people who work for it. Get the right mixture of people working for you and you will be well on the road to success. Having the right management team in place is a prerequisite if you want to ensure that your workforce is going to operate to its full potential.

But being a great leader involves a completely different set of skills and many businesses often make the mistake of failing to differentiate between the two.

When I am looking to elevate someone to a leadership role within one of my companies, I am looking for a very specific set of qualities. I am looking for people who have passion, commitment, conviction and most important of all - vision.

The need for a strong leadership team should never be underestimated, it's that team that will really make the difference on every level. People like to know that the company they are working for has a clear sense of direction and purpose.

Generally speaking if you want commitment from your staff then you have to demonstrate to them that the executive team share that commitment.

The commitment that employees make to the company they work for should never be underestimated or undervalued. That is why identifying the right calibre of people to fill leadership roles is so important.

I have found that too many companies, particularly those run by owner-managers, do not think about succession planning until it is too late. Not planning properly for the future can be a fatal mistake, as a company without a proper leadership team in place is always going to fail.

The trick to having a successful succession strategy in place is to park your ego and look at the situation in a logical way. Not everyone can be around forever, and if truth be told, often a company can benefit from having a fresh injection of talent and ideas right at the very top.

I would say it is vital to identify people who are going to lead a company forward rather than just manage the business. That is why it is so important to differentiate between management and leadership.

Once you have done that, the next thing to do is place your trust in the new leadership team, take a step back and let them get on with the job.