Tom Byers, in his talk at the Entrepreneurial Thought Leader speaker series, discusses how a CEO should evolve as a startup goes through its phases. He quotes Randy Komisar in drawing an analogy between a CEO’s evolution and types of dogs. As a startup is just getting off the ground, the CEO should be like a retriever, seeking venture capital and trading equity for ideas and dollars. As the startup matures, the CEO should be like a bloodhound, sniffing a trail and setting a strategy for the company. Once the startup is established, you need a husky as a CEO, one with temperament and high-energy for the long haul.

I recently listened to a podcast from MBA Podcaster titled MBA Must Reads: Experts Share Their Top Recommendations on the Books that will Prepare You for Your Application, Business School and Your Career Beyond School. Following are the books cited in the podcast:

1. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn
2. Costing the Earth: The Challenge for Governments, the Opportunities for Business by Frances Cairncross
3. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Freidman
4. The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success – A Practical Guide To The Fulfillment Of Your Dreams by Deepak Chopra
5. How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization by Jeffrey J. Fox
6. Winning by Jack Welch, Suzy Welch
7. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
8. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard, Spencer Johnson
9. The Brand You 50 : Or : Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an ‘Employee’ into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion! by Tom Peters
10. The Trusted Advisor, by David Maister, Charles Green, and Robert Galford
11. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
12. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
13. Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
14. Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
15. The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures by Frans Johansson
16. Songbook by Nick Hornby

On March 7, 2008, Apple announced the launch of an iPhone Developer Program. Software developers now have the ability to develop, debug and distribute applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Kleiner Perkins, the famed Silicon Valley VC has set up a $100 million fund to invest in companies building applications for the iPhone. In addition, Apple announced an entry into the enterprise market, which could deal a huge blow to RIM’s Blackberry. Is this finally going to catalyze the long awaited convergence of mobile devices and make the iPhone as ubiquitous as the PC?

Mobile devices have been open to developers for a while – Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Apple has a distinct advantage in that it is capitalizing on its incredible momentum first with the iPod and then with the iPhone. Also, Apple’s timing is impeccable; simultaneously announcing the availability of the SDK and its plans to enter the enterprise market. The buzz created in media is enormous. Secondly, Apple’s offering takes care of not only the development of third party applications but also provides a platform for its distribution. While all the other comparable platforms enable development, they fall short on offering a distribution mechanism, which is critical to drive adoption.

Finally, if I can read all my eMails, browse the web through a full-featured browser, listen to music, watch videos and take advantage of really cool third-party apps to come, all through my iPhone, I no longer have to carry any other mobile device. Which starts to beg the question, can I also make do without my laptop in most cases?

I just watched a trailer of an episode from PBS’s e2 series on energy, entitled “Green Apple“. David Owen, a journalist for The New Yorker contends that suburban sprawls, by design, are energy unfriendly due to the necessity of driving everywhere. He talks about New York being the greenest city, using Manhattan as an example and citing the proximity of resources and amenities that make it possible to either walk or take public transportation to your destinations, thus helping conserve on fuel usage.