Business
Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.
Ricardo Semler tells businesses to get rid of “boarding school” rules
Ricardo Semler broke through thanks to a radical reorganization of Semco, the company he took over from his father when he was barely twenty years old. Ricardo Semler was unhappy and made a radical change. Employees were no longer obligated to come to the office. They could set their own salary. Read More...
Making cars from tomato waste: a Heinz and Ford partnership
The challenge for sustainable business is to turn waste from one process into fuel for another. That’s the driving principle of the emerging circular economy. Here’s one inspiring example. Heinz uses two million tons of tomatoes each year for its famous ketchup and is looking for a use of its Read More...
Smart device connects car, home, fridge
Nest was initially a smart thermostat that learned your heating and cooling cycles and adjusted them automatically, which saves Nest owners money. This week the recently acquired Google company opened up its interface to teams of developers, now making it possible for smart appliances, wearable Read More...
The sharing economy: the web enables direct business between people.
The rapid Internet transformation of economy and society shows an interesting new trend: The emergence of the sharing economy. Traditional services are overtaken by citizens and consumers directly doing business with each other. Lyft and UberX replace taxis. Airbnb provides an alternative for Read More...
North-South reversal: Third world microloans help fight poverty in US
Since the 1970s microfinance has become a major instrument for poverty alleviation in developing countries. One of the leaders of this movement, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, is now partnering with Capital One support women, often single moms, living below the poverty line in the US. Reversing the Read More...
How to be more productive– intuitive tips that actually work
Chris Baily, recent business school graduate, spent the last year researching ways to be more productive. His approach isn’t scientific or randomized, but his suggestions are intuitive– for the most part. Follow these three suggestions below and immediately start doing more in less time. 1) Read More...
Viewing foreign aid as an investment– not as a charity handout, will benefit all
Shifting the way we view foreign aid is integral in the future success of aid initiatives. A common way of perceiving aid is as a handout to someone in need with no plans of future return on your donation. This is wrong. The interlaced global economy we are part of is not as isolated as that– Read More...
Urban Organics
An abandoned brewery in a ‘food desert’ in Saint Paul, Minnesota has started its second life as an agricultural business and fish farm. The company, Urban Organics, works with aquaponics– a growing technique that creates a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants where crops are Read More...
Adding tech to agriculture grows the same amount of produce with 1/2 the water.
The average American uses 80 gallons of water per day for bathing, laundry, drinking, etc. That number blows up to 2000 gallons per day if you factor in the water used to produce the clothes you wear, or the water used to refrigerate your food, or the biggest culprit– agriculture. Agriculture Read More...
Rooftop farm grows 5 tons of veggies, 1,800 pounds of fish
Have an old industrial building with a large roof lying around? Probably not, but if you do Urban Farms will deliver a full-scale rooftop garden–aquaponics system. The package is a modular system and includes a greenhouse, a modified shipping container that could be used as an office or kitchen, Read More...