Breakpoint Book

Business, Biology, and Technology: “The truth about Competitive Advantage”

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In case you haven’t already heard, Breakpoint, by Jeff Stibel is being cited as a must read for business people. The book has made it into the Top 20: “What Corporate America is Reading” list compiled by Brian Solis and is rapidly gaining interest amongst America’s brightest leaders. Stibel is the Chairman and CEO of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. and Chairman of BrainGate, as well as on the boards for University of Southern California, Brown, and Tufts University.

In addition to Breakpoint, Mr. Stibel has published a number of books and academic articles related to business, economics and other topics, such as neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Business books play an integral role in the evolution of business development, strategic thinking, corporate culture and the overall way that leaders mature, grow and adapt to our ever-progressing society.

The book is distinct from other influential books because it looks at business through a different lens than the rest. Rather than focusing primarily on corporate strategies and other traditional business topics Breakpoint examines correlation between biological systems and technology.

Within the complex world of biology, bigger is rarely better in the long run, and the deadliest creatures are usually not the large or aggressive ones like the lion but the small, out-of-sight ones like viruses and bacteria. Mr. Stibel compares this biological phenomenon to the internet and he takes the position that it is the quality of a network that is important for survival, not the size, and all networks—the human brain, Facebook, Google, even the internet itself—eventually reach a breakpoint and collapse.

The corporate and technological success equation is Quality ≠ Size

Exceptional companies are using their understanding of the internet’s brain-like abilities to create a competitive advantage by building more effective websites, using cloud computing, engaging social media, monetizing effectively, and leveraging a collective consciousness.

The mantra that Jeff has established around the Malibu office is “Work Hard, Play Hard” and because of this focus on quality the company has been able to achieve amazing things. From the company culture to innovative product development, Mr. Stibel truly does lead by example as he encourages both internal and external company initiatives that encourage small business and community growth.

Amidst all the peripheral noise of traditional business books Mr. Stibel has written a truly impactful piece that shows the reader where biology, technology, and business intersect. In a consumer-driven market where corporate responsibility matters and corporate cultures are thriving, it is important to remember that quality will always trump size in the long run.

 

Photo Credit: Mo Riza, Flickr

 

Google Is Already in Our Nests – By Jeff Stibel

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Last month, Google bought Nest Labs, a company that makes smart home thermostats and smoke detectors. While a few applauded the acquisition (mostly geeks and tech investors), much of the reporting centered on privacy fears and predictions of doomsday advertising scenarios. It’s just the latest story exploiting our collective fear of the growing “internet of things” and distrust of the companies who leverage it.

Read the whole article where it originally appeared.

Photo Credit:plantronicsgermany, Flickr

The Future of Facebook and the Internet | Interview with Jeff Stibel

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Breakpoint author Jeff Stibel speaks with Rick Van Cise of KOMO radio about the how the world’s largest social network, Facebook, can take proactive measures to reach equilibrium after its breakpoint instead of following the likes of Friendster and Myspace into obscurity.

Furthermore, he notes that though the internet is not going anywhere, how we access and use it will. Our relationship with the internet has already begun to change, thanks largely to the popularity of apps, and will only continue to as technology progresses.

For reference, How Facebook Can Avoid a Slow, Painful Death is the Wired article mentioned during the interview.

When Teams Prevent Greatness – By Jeff Stibel

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Our society reveres individual greatness. We root for the Kobe Bryants and Peyton Mannings of the world, we are mesmerized by the likes of Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg, we follow every move made by Warren Buffet and Elon Musk. Individuals have a special place in our world, and we attribute much of society’s success to unique people—Einstein, Newton, Da Vinci, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr.—instead of the teams and movements behind them. It goes without saying that there is often an army of people that drive an individual to success. But individuals, acting alone, can do extraordinary things.

Read the whole article where it originally appeared.

Breakpoint View: Entrepreneur Jeff Stibel on Why the Web Will Implode – Excerpt from Silicon Valley 411

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Screen Shot 2013-09-24 at 3.04.03 PMWhen Mark Zuckerberg announced an initiative to bring Internet access to the 2.5 billion people not yet connected, Jeff Stibel’s first thought was that Zuckerberg just put the Internet on a fast-track to implode.

But, he adds, that shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been around for a while, because it’s happened before. Lots of times.

Stibel, a brain scientist and entrepreneur, is author of the evocatively titled bestseller Breakpoint: Why the Web Will Implode, Search Will Be Obsolete, and Everything Else You Need to Know About Technology Is in Your Brain. Stibel will discuss his book on Sept. 27 at the C2SV Technology Conference, an event sponsored by Metro.

The full article originally appeared on Silicon Valley 411.

Author interview – Jeff Stibel, ‘Breakpoint’ – An Excerpt from Engineering and Technology Magazine

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Screen Shot 2013-09-18 at 10.07.15 AMThere will come a point when the Internet will reach its physical limit and hit what author Jeff Stibel calls ‘breakpoint’. But that is not necessarily as catastrophic as it sounds.

We could be forgiven for thinking that the Internet is infinite. In scale it is certainly the biggest thing humans have ever invented, and there is no doubt, at least not in Jeff Stibel’s mind, that it has grown to “epic proportions”.

We’re used to reading that if an alien arrived on Earth it would probably assume that the Internet was the largest living organism on the planet, and yet the author of ‘Breakpoint’ says that it has a long way to go before it becomes as sophisticated as a human brain. This is because, while computers are very good at storing information and making calculations, they have nothing like the brain’s power to communicate. In fact, when we hook up two computers together the result is only a “rudimentary brain”.

Original article appeared on Engineering and Technology Magazine. Read the full article.

What Does Breakpoint Mean?

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With people come networks, and with networks come breakpoints. Whether you’re in social media, business, or just dealing with people, a network forms and eventually hits its limit.

Lucky for you, you can acquaint yourself with these so-called breakpoints before it happens. Author Jeff Stibel reveals that “by learning about [the consistent cycles of networks in biology] you can learn how to build better businesses.”

Quirkily enough, ants are the key to understanding how to deal with a breakpoint. Ants know when they hit their breakpoint. So, instead of producing more and more ants, they take their 10,000 or so ants and become a sophisticated, collective society that sustains itself.

If you want to learn more about the sophistication of ant colonies and how to know a breakpoint when you see one, get your copy of Breakpoint today!

 

(CC photo credit: davecobb)

What Biological Networks Tell Us About Business Networks

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Now that Breakpoint has been released I’d like to tease to you with some of the insights unleashed in the book.

Hunky Ant

Hunky Ant

You’re probably wondering why there’s a hunky ant in our promo video. I can’t give it all away (I’ve got to lead you on a little bit) but I’ll give you a little something:

In Breakpoint, author Jeff Stibel explains that “science and history give us a guide for just around everything.” Ant colonies, as such a stable network formed of such simple organisms, model this concept well. In fact, a collective ant colony has the same number of neurons as the human brain and consequently functions similarly. All networks follow the same pattern–let it be the neuronal network of your brain, the social network of facebook, or a network of ants

For more insight on how ant colonies, and biological networks in general for that matter, relate to business networks, get your copy of Breakpoint!

Why Does Growth Stagnate for Companies? For One Thing, It’s Natural

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1.2_p21_network_growthThere are countless examples of companies whose life cycles can be represented by the adjoining graph. There is the period of rapid growth, after which the company hits a peak, then settles into a plateau or state of equilibrium. At this point, shareholders start to get worried, share prices go down, and everyone begins to speculate about the future of the company.

The following article explains why this process is natural, and almost essential for a long life cycle of any company. These periodic slowdowns are inevitable, though management can and should strive to make decisions that slow down the decline and reverse it quickly. In order to make these decisions, it is crucial to understand the forces responsible for slowing down these seemingly unstoppable companies.

Read more in this article by Ron Ashkenas: Why Successful Companies Stop Growing

For Press Inquiries or Speaking Engagements, Contact: Heather Herndon / HHerndon@dandb.com / 310-919-2290