During our conversation, he told me about the business incubator program at Hannah Grimes , here in Keene, NH. Last Tuesday, I had a great dinner with a new friend just outside of Boston, founder of Elite Leadership Solutions: Bob Maitland. MORE

Around the country politicians, industry leaders and small businesses have screamed their support for small business development centers and universities to get involved in creating business incubators that help build and sustain small business. The goal is admirable, small businesses stimulate economies and create more jobs. But there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction amongst small business, what do we really need from business incubators? MORE

He did well co-founding Asterand, an ethically sourced human-tissue sampling business, but lost his shirt on a jazz club and a cattle-ranching enterprise to produce low-fat beef. Charlton and Reid decided to launch TechTown, a nonprofit business incubator, which went on to spark a small renaissance in entrepreneurship in midtown Detroit. The National Journal reports that 9 of the nation's 15 million small-business owners were born before 1965. MORE

This week Pam speaks with Stan Baginskis, Senior Director, Business Incubation – Emerging Technologies at Cisco followed by more great podsafe music. Weekly Leader Stan Baginskis, Senior Director, Business Incubation – Emerging Technologies at Cisco Contact Info Send comments to podcast@weeklyleader.net Audio comments are welcomed and encouraged. MORE

I still remember when Steve Jobs was featured in business school case studies as an example of bad leadership style. Coming out of Peru, you’ll find Kola Real, formed during a coup d’état in 1988, not exactly an ideal environment for business incubation. At the time, Apple was a less-than-successful computer company, and Steve – ever the loner – had moved on to create Next, another less-than-successful one. MORE

In the technology world, we’ve seen the tremendous impact that eBay has made in helping small e-commerce businesses get off the ground. Now imagine if eBay went beyond providing a technology platform and entered the field of business incubation in a meaningful way, It’s an idea that could have a huge impact. In the start-up world, there’s a big focus on business incubators such as YCombinator–perhaps too much focus. MORE

You’ve prepared a business plan for a promising new entrepreneurial venture. You’ve got funding and the blessing of your CEO and Board to go ahead with this high-profile “experiment” Your venture could be a growth engine for your corporation’s otherwise large but slow and steady core business. MORE

Most of the recommended remedies—idea wikis, business incubators, online collaboration, design thinking, “authentic” leadership, et al —are no more than minor tweaks. Large organizations of all types suffer from an assortment of congenital disabilities that no amount of incremental therapy can cure. First, they are inertial. They are frequently caught out by the future and seldom change in the absence of a crisis. MORE

Inexperienced friends and family (and, increasingly, crowdsourced investors) lack the ability to gauge the viability of a business, or to mentor naïve entrepreneurs. This knowledge gap, I have come to believe, is best filled by savvy incubators. The first business incubator in the U.S. MORE

Internships, "after-school" apprenticeships like those offered by Citizen Schools, practical problems, and the chance for independent projects or business-building as part of formal schooling seems to encourage young people to stay in school longer, because school is more relevant — or at least that''s what some preliminary observations suggest. New business incubators are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. They feel it is inextricably linked to business strategy. MORE

The city of Wuxi in Eastern China has launched a high-profile, high-tech business incubator to lure back Chinese brainiacs who’ve gone abroad to study and work in science and engineering. But there’s one snag: the business climate in China is not exactly conducive to supporting the relatively high failure-rates of new ventures. “If Finally — after years of campaigning, the U.S. presidential election will be decided today. Unless, of course. it isn’t. MORE

Winners will be selected by the community and a panel of judges and will receive a scholarship to a June "prototyping workshop" led by COMMON , a social business incubator. We'll also see the emergence of new business models like collaborative consumption. MORE

But skepticism about design thinking has now begun to seep out onto the pages of business magazines and educational publications. Design thinking has allowed us to celebrate conventional solutions as breakthrough innovations and to continue with business as usual. MORE

That is to say, given the applied "street smarts" and talent — the art of the hustle, the leadership and prowess of running a drug business — what is it all worth? We love hearing historical stories about Robin Hood-like men, about bank robbers, pirates and outlaws on the run. MORE