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I teach a course entitled Innovation and Entrepreneurship at a northwest Christian university.  One day I opened my computer to grade an assignment from a new student that I did not know. He made this statement in the course of his written work, “The main goal of business is to profit…”  It was an open […]

A recent article focused on the passion of Melinda Gates in her involvement with Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company focusing on “Lift” for women around the world.  She responded to an interviewer asking how she finds the right way to work with people cross-culturally. You always have to listen to what the people

Have you heard this statement?  Sometimes I weary of hearing it.  I have heard it from well-meaning pastors who apparently believe it.  I have heard it from honest inquirers.  I have heard it from people who have no idea what Business As Mission really is. It seems to me that some people have built-in biases

This week we celebrate Independence Day in America. And we begin the amazingly long and expensive run-up to the 2020 US election, which focuses on numerous topics that often touch on political and personal freedom. We are hearing more and more themes related to economics these days. As a student of economics in the 1960s,

“Did you learn anything today?”  My mother asked me that regularly when I was growing up.  She valued learning and being a child of the depression and a WWII veteran, she was keen that I find my place in a changing world both as a Jesus follower and a productive citizen. I did learn something

Throughout the month of May I have been following the progress of mallard duck incubation, hatching and early stage development in the lake not far from my house. As I observed the little ducklings in their new environment and their relationship with their mother, my thoughts turned to the similarities and contrasts with incubation and

I just completed teaching a university winter semester course in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.  All such courses in the last decade or so teach the lean startup canvas made popular by Steve Blank, Eric Reis and Ash Maurya.  This distinctive tool for startup businesses is different than traditional business planning as it starts with a search

Most of us are probably aware that LinkedIn has some amazing articles.  Also, we have heard of the Shark Tank, and one of the sharks named Robert Herjavec.  This is a reprint blog of his recent article which I used in my university class on entrepreneurship. See the original article entitled “My Five Commandments for

Recently I was invited to teach on Business as Mission (BAM) at a Midwest Christian university.  One of the sessions was a combination of classes, plus members of the community, and I was asked to talk on trends and best practices in BAM.  There are many ways one could approach this subject, so I chose

Uganda is typical of many African countries in that a valuable resource is at risk. According to the ministry of Energy, “close to 100 per cent of rural households and 98 per cent of urban households” depend on firewood and charcoal, respectively, to cook food and heat water.”  However today “Uganda’s entire charcoal value chain