The CEOs of the S&P 500 companies most often have an undergraduate degree in engineering, according to a research study by Spencer Stuart, an executive search consulting firm. The research is based on the companies in the S&P 500 ranking as of April 15, 2005.

Some interesting data points from the study:

• 23% of the CEOs have an undergraduate degree in engineering, followed by 13% with degrees in economics, and 12% with degrees in business administration
• 20% of the CEOs have worked for only one company throughout their career versus 26% in 2000
• Of the CEOs who followed one functional path before becoming CEO, Finance was the most often followed path, with 15%
• CEOs following one functional path throughout their career before becoming CEO has dropped significantly from 25% in 2000 to 9% in 2005.

I find the last item listed above the most interesting. What it tells me is that, more and more, to become a leader of a large organization, successful leaders will increasingly have broad experience across many functional roles.

There are several other data points on developmental background and professional experiences of the S&P 500 CEOS included in the report. See the full report.

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, among other things, gave an inspiring address to the graduating class at Bates College. Here are a couple of paragraphs from it. I encourage you to read the entire address.

"Let me make a couple of observations, because I'm sure some of you -- woe is you -- think you need sympathy. You've got student loans and all sorts of stuff to pay off. So, a little perspective on the world as I see it. Just pick up any newspaper. The polar caps are melting. There's terrorism everywhere. We're running out of fuel; we're running out of air; we're running out of water. The population is going to be nine billion people by the time you're in your mid-career. It's one depressing fact after another. Add to that, that a billion people on this planet live on less than a dollar a day. Four billion people, two-thirds of humanity, live on less than two dollars a day. So for those of you who are looking for sympathy -- not here.

"Students all over the world who are lucky enough to get an education ought to keep those facts in mind and keep asking yourselves the same question: If the world's got all these problems, and we seem to be in a rush to create new ones, and we all believe we want them solved, who's going to solve them? The four billion people who have a problem like, "Can I find water that won't kill me or my kids, my babies"? Who's going to solve them? People who are wondering whether there will be food around? The 1.6 billion people who have never used electricity?"

Enjoy the whole bunch!

Larry Page, co-founder of Google, pressed attendees at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), to do a better job at marketing their research and innovations.

Clearly much research gets done with federal, state, and corporate funding. And, with the exception of corporate funding, where there's an intended audience for the results, I would guess that quite a bit of research takes place without sufficient visibility given to the results. And while there must be some judgment applied to which efforts warrant exposure, I take Page's point to heart in that if a research effort has value to better our society, it is the obligation of the researcher to make sure that the innovation sees the light of day and can achieve the intended benefits. Otherwise, we're just wasting energy on interesting projects.

Page says much more in the coverage of his talk.

Just as I was beginning to think that I was getting too old to figure out some of the features on my phone, along comes this piece by Paul Zeven, CEO of Philips Electronics North America.

My favorite quote is the following:

That's because this is largely true. The typical competitive strategy by the less-dominant players in the electronic device market is to add features that the leaders don't have. Often, the features are added and they can check the box that the leader can't check, yet the feature is added in a way that fails to deliver due to a lack of design talent at the firm or a rush to get the product to market.

Most would argue that Apple has succeeded with the iPod due to a number of factors, yet the simplicity and completness of user experience are, by far, the most compelling reasons.

In my opinion, true innovation results in providing a simple, elegant, and usable solution to a seemingly complex problem.

Today, in a blog post titled Reinventing HTML, Tim Berners Lee, Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (aka, the W3C), announces plans to charter a completely new working group to embark on incremental improvements to HTML, the language of the web.

As the original creator of HTML, he has led the effort at the W3C to develop new standards and improve existing standards for authoring the web as we know it.

While it may not sound like a terribly innovative project, as it speaks of "incremental improvement" to HTML, the challenges lie in adding capability to HTML, while allowing the hundreds of millions of existing web pages to continue to operate properly.

As he puts it in the blog post:

This will prove to be among the most challenging collaborative efforts ever undertaken by such a large group of vital constituents. I wish them all the best and it will be fascinating to see what the next wave of the web will come to be.

The Computing Research Association has a blog called the Computing Research Policy Blog. They recently posted a piece on the issue of Innovation and Competitiveness. It's a very worthwhile read; especially if you're new to the issue.

Just last week, I attended a "convocation" event at the National Academies in Washington, DC. The convocation was held to discuss what steps could be taken to fulfill the recommendations of the Academies' report called "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future". The report is also known, affectionately, as the RAGS report.

Attendees from most states attended, including people from industry, K-12 education, and higher education. The morning was spent hearing mostly from various members of congress and senators; many of whom were there to exhort us to take local action, especially on the education front to ensure that America remains competitive in the increasingly global competitive environment. They also shared the state of the various legislative actions that attempt to fulfill the recommendations cited in the report.

Among the more inspiring speakers was inventor and technology advocate, Dean Kamen. He spoke passionately about a program he started in 1992, called FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Dean recounted the long process of bringing this innovative series of, first high-school level robotics competitions, and more recently middle-school level Lego competitions, to the nation. It was truly an inspiring story. Notably, he left us with the words of William Butler Yeats, who said Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.

The afternoon session of the RAGS convocation included several breakout sessions, with panel presentations and discussions on various topics, ranging from academic-industry partnerships to how to encourage children, parents, policy makers, and the public to be interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).

Just two days before the event, the Senate introduced authorizing (not appropriating) legislation (S.3936) intended to deliver on the RAGS report recommendations.

Interestingly, at the end-of-the-day panel session of the convocation, many of those who commented raised the issue of how the public is not aware of much of this activity or the level of seriousness of the problem. Some suggested that this needs to get the "Oprah" treatment; that there needs to be more popular uptake on the issue. As the room was mostly filled with engineers, scientists, and educators, I don't see this as likely. What I'd really like to see is for the House and Senate to give this the visibility at their level in the form of a separate appropriation bill, rather than the expected single large bill into which all of the coming year's funding is likely to be lumped, particularly given that we're already into the new year and that we're on the verge of an election.

According to the company web site "Princeton Global Housing was founded in 2005 by veteran entrepreneurs. Experienced in international real estate, and with expertise in operating startup businesses, Princeton Global recognizes the world housing crisis requires a number of government and free market interventions. Drawing on a wealth of knowledge and research, the company provides a practical solution in terms of function and economic reality."

While not directly related to the university, interestingly, Stan Allen, the Dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton (and head of architecture firm Stan Allen Architect), is among those listed as a member of the management team.

Still more interesting to me is that while there might not yet be a connection, there is related work being undertaken by the US-Africa Materials Institute, an organization led by Princeton Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering professor Wole Soboyejo. Specifically, their work in the area of Materials for Affordable Housing, seems potentially relevant to the work being done at Princeton Global.

I continue to admire and appreciate the level of effort going into serving the underdeveloped parts of the world and hope for the best for all doing this important work.

In this CNET article two engineers have developed a Solar-powered wireless networking station, with the goal of bringing the internet to the developing world. The company is called Green Wi-Fi.

There seem to be more and more projects aimed at bringing useful tools to the developing world. From this solar-powered network to solar ovens and small solar generators. It's an important trend and one that I hope to see grow in strength.

While a little more than two months old, this Inside Higher Ed article nails it on the head. There is a need for engineers to be more broadly trained and to engage them early in their education in real engineering.

Two relevant excerpts:

While the references in the piece are to Harvard and Stanford, this is precisely what is happening here in Princeton Engineering; engineering students are being engaged in engineering earlier in their education and more non-engineering students are being exposed to engineering. Among the examples of this include one of Princeton Engineering's newest courses, Engineering, Mathematics & Physics, a course that integrates all three disciplines at the freshman level.

This USA Today article sheds light on what I'd guess is a widely held misperception that all successful business leaders are outgoing, extroverted people.

Here are a few quotes from the article:

In Inc. Magazine's 2004 piece on America's 25 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs, they highlight Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.

As Jeff puts it:

While he refers to it as optimism, I think another phrase for it would be self-belief or confidence in being capable of doing something. Clearly, there are ups and downs during nearly all endeavors undertaken by man, but a preponderance of self-belief vs. self-doubt is required to accomplish most undertakings. As an amateur tennis player who disappears to televised matches of professional tennis' four major events each year, what separates the top players from the crowd (meaning the top 200 to 300 in the world) is their consistent ability to execute from a position of self-belief and confidence. You often hear the announcers talk about players that are struggling as having lost some of their confidence, or going out on the court without believing that they can win against a tough opponent.

I think that the same is true with entrepreneurship, with the added challenge that it is not a solo endeavor like tennis. You have to marshall and inspire others to your vision to be successful, including investors, employees, partners, customers, etc. And, at the same time, do this in the face of all the nay-sayers who, like Monday morning quarterbacks, can tell you a thousand reasons why it won't work.

Speaking of believing, yesterday, the upstart software company known as 37signals, announced that Jeff Bezos has made in investment in their young company through his personal investment company called Bezos Expeditions. From the 37signals announcement, it seems that they've found a like-minded soul who believes.

For example, as stated in the article:

Quoting the article...

What will be interesting is to see if they can increase the density beyond current levels (4 Mbits, vs. flash memory capabilities in the Gbits range). If so, low-power, instant-on devices may yet be in our future.