What I’m Reading – July 18, 2012. Here’s a list of a few things I’m skimming and looking at.

  • Why Tech Is Driving More Urban Renewal – by Mark Suster. The shifting trend sees startups–and tech companies, entrepreneurs, colleagues, and VC’s–pushing to locate back into areas of social density where people want to be. From Twitter’s move back to SF to trends across other US cities, will urban migration patterns continue? One VC weighs in.
  • Creativity: “Want to be more creative? Pick a problem you care about and get to work.” Scott Berkun.
  • More Startup Talent Needed in STEM fields:  How American Can Get More Startup Talent – from June 2012. It turns out we still need more people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) jobs, and we’ll have a shortage in 2018, to the tune of about 250,000 people:

“This scarcity of talent has received a lot of attention in connection with high-flying Silicon Valley companies: Google threw around $100 and $50 million offers to keep their top talent from fleeing to Twitter, and some companies pay tens of thousands to recruiters for even junior talent. Startups feel the same pressure: TechCrunch describes a “war for talent” among young firms, and anyone who has chatted with the CEO of a fast-growing tech company knows how much time they devote to identifying and wooing top technical talent.”

  • Marissa Mayer was named CEO of Yahoo, which caused a flurry of attention, again, to the idea of women being at the top and the disparity between men and women in leadership; shortly after her appointment, she revealed she’s also having a baby boy this Fall. What do you think?
  • What about making friends when you’re older? The New York Times talks about the decline in making new friends post-college, post-summer camp, as a straggling adult. Is this true for you? I think it has to do with the sedentary nature of singular jobs and the lack of intermingling, and “networking” is today’s smarmy way of trying to figure out how to connect to other people. My opinion? It’s not just about getting people into the same room or location. We have to figure out ways to let people build trust through shared experiences—not necessarily easy ones, either—and things that change up the context or environment we’re in. Remember summer camp? Where’s summer camp for adults? (Don’t worry – I’m working on it).