One of my favourite poems is “If—” by Rudyard Kipling. The poem is instructive, laying out the qualities of a successful “man.” Blatant gender reference aside, the poem can be useful in another way: as a guide for leaders and CEOs, regardless if they are male, female or otherwise. The instructions are harsh but true. […]

Early one morning, I logged into a soundcheck for a virtual panel discussion. The A.V. folks asked us to answer the question, “What did you eat for breakfast?” as a means of testing the connection. After hearing responses ranging from toast, eggs, yogurt, cereal, etc., it was my turn. I paused briefly and answered: “In […]

I have never once bought a lottery ticket. My father and mother taught me that there are no short cuts to successfully reaching one’s goals. Hard work and “stick-to-it-iveness” is the only way. They didn’t just preach this as an adage, they modeled it with their tireless commitment to pursuing their visions. I was fortunate […]

One thing I’ve been thinking about these last few months is, in fact, how I think. Have you ever wondered about your own programming? How can I be sure that my thought processes, and ultimately my decisions, are unbiased and adaptable? Physicist Richard Feynman talked about how cognitive dissonance can foil wise decision-making. He said: […]

  Is a CEO supposed to be impervious to doubt and fear? You have to think about a lot of stressful things as a CEO: delivering for your customers; generating revenue; retaining your amazing team; doing right by investors; and so much more. Some say that doubt and fear can be debilitating, but for me […]

Tell us the best news you received this past quarter about your business. This has been my most exciting quarter yet. My team and I reached some very important milestones with our prototype, we took second place in the Energy New Venture Competition, and we were shortlisted for the National Angel Capital Organization’s (NACO) Most […]

What technology challenges have you faced over the past few months and what steps have you taken to overcome them? We’ve had no technical challenges to overcome so far, but it is still early days. We did a lot of homework interviewing experts around the world before we began, that way we could design around […]

What is your company trying to do? Summit Nanotech wants to “green up” the lithium mining industry, increasing the yield of lithium production in a way that’s less harmful to the environment. The solution lies in a field of nanoscience that I have been working in for quite some time. Now that you’re a finalist, […]