30 Under 30 2016: Today's Brightest Young Stars And The Future Leaders Of Everything

From an initial screening list of more than 15,000 of the best of the best, the 600 women and men featured in the Forbes fifth annual 30 Under 30 are America’s most important young entrepreneurs, creative leaders and brightest stars. Name a business sector, social issue or essential institution, they are taking it on and changing the rules of the game– or creating entirely new playbooks.

In the past, youth was a handicap to professional success. Getting older meant more resources, more knowledge, more money. No more. Those who grew up in the tech age have way bigger ambitions — perfectly suited to the dynamic, entrepreneurial and impatient digital world they grew up in. If you want to change the world, being under 30is now an advantage.

Some names on this year’s list you already know: NBA champ Stephen Curry, Star Wars: The Force Awakens leading man John Boyega, plus-sized supermodel Ashley Graham, Canadian crooner Shawn Mendes and YouTube gamer CaptainSparklez (Jordan Maron). Others are superstars in their own realms. Clara Sieg is Revolution Ventures youngest and only female partner. Timothy Hwang, cofounder of FiscalNote, takes a “Moneyball” approach to forecasting pending legislation, and Spire Global’s Jeroen Cappaert sends nano-satellites into space to listen to the world’s oceans in order to track shipping, weather — and pirates. 

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2016 30 Under 30: The Standouts

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After five years, our record for picking tomorrow’s superstars can be judged by the 2016 cover. It’s a portfolio of influential past alumni, including Datto founder Austin McChord, who last year backed his way up to a unicorn valuation (and revealed that his company was providing data protection to portions of Hillary Clinton’s private email server), and Michelle Phan, who raised $100 million in September for ipsy, her 1.5 million subscriber-strong beauty business. Two years after the Collison brothers, John and Patrick, made the U30 list, they’re now on top of a $5 billion mobile payment juggernaut, and Alex Morgan won the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup as forward for U.S. Women’s National Team.

SEE THE FULL LIST: FORBES 30 Under 30 Class of 2016

The process to make the list is intense. We look at thousands of candidates from 20 different categories and consider their game-changing quotient along various dimensions, such as impact, use of cutting edge technology or creativity, scalability or adaptability, number of people reached and dollars raised/generated. There are no repeats from years past. 

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Billionaires 2015: Highlights

An army of Forbes reporters is assigned to each category to field nominations from social media and our online nomination form (check out 30-under-30-nominations) as well as personal contacts and gumshoe work. They research candidates and vet the finalists with a panel of expert judges in the field — among them billionaires Steve Balmer, Tory Burch, Robert Smith and Laurene Powell Jobs; personalities Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba and Carmelo Anthony; founders Chris Sacca and Wendy Kopp; and 2015 MacArthur Grant winner Ta-Nehisi Coates. This year we also included a dozen past Under30s as judges, including Global Citizen’s Hugh Evans and Tracy Britt, Warren Buffett’s protege.

The Class of 2016 By The Numbers*:

15,000+: Nominations

600: Winners

64%: Want to ‘Change the world’

50%: Define success as ‘Liking myself and what I do’

5 top cities of residence (in order): New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago

3 most popular undergrad schools (in order): Stanford, U. Penn, Cornell

69%: Earned college degrees

50%: Have zero college debt

63%: Identify as growing up middle class

36%: Immigrants or first-generation Americans

84%: Single

No. 1 and 2 dream mentors: Elon Musk and Sheryl Sandberg

No. 1 can’t-live-without gadget: iPhone

 Caroline Howard

Use Emotional Intelligence to Make More Money

Recently I had an incident with a service provider who simply did not want to create a report in the format I requested.

I had been challenged trying to explain what I wanted from this person, even going so far as to write what to change and add on a sample report, but to no avail. I couldn’t get the data I wanted. Then I tried creating a Google Drive document with the sums I wanted to see in certain columns and the figures that comprised those sums in separate columns.

Trust me: I wasn't asking him to build a Mars rover from scratch. I just wanted data that already existed reorganized in a different way so that I (chief salesperson, boss and paycheck signer) could use it to create my forecasts more effectively. It was simple enough or so I thought.

I was wildly agitated as this person tried to tell me that the level of detail I wanted wasn’t necessary or didn't need to be recorded, tabulated, cut and pasted the way I requested. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was about creating this report, although the frustration I felt was eerily familiar. But I was still stumped.

Then I woke up this morning and it all made sense: geometry!

Was I asking this guy to do geometry? No, but I was asking him to arrange something in a way he was unfamiliar with and he protested because he was a numbers guy and thought, This just isn’t how you relay this data. 

Related: At Work, Emotional Intelligence Pays

My go-to brain guru, Howard Gardner, taught in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences that people don't possess one specific kind of intelligence but rather individuals have multiple strengths and each person carries a unique blend of them.

A lot of the smarty pants you encountered in geometry class are probably logical-mathematical types who, as Gardner purported, do well with abstractions, reasoning, numbers and critical thinking and have the capacity to “understand the underlying principles of some kind of causal system,” which logical reasoning is closely linked to.

Well, I can barely figure out what that quote means, so clearly I am not the logical-mathematical type. But this, ahem, stubborn, vendor was. I, in fact, lean heavily toward the interpersonal type of intelligence that Gardner branded as working well with others, being sensitive to their moods and motivations and getting them to cooperate in a group.

Clearly I was failing at my own game, though, because exactly no one was cooperating. I just couldn't get this guy to see what I wanted him to create or understand that the only way I could effectively make sense of the data was to have it organized in a certain manner, one that made sense to my creative brain.  

Is it really so annoying to create a report in the format a client desires if you're paid well? Why not just make the customer happy?

This notion should be at the root of businesses: How can business owners give customers what they want and how they want it? Most entrepreneurs build their businesses backward.

But giving clients what they think they need is best delivered by using emotional intelligence.  

Here’s my formula for using emotional intelligence to make more money and save everyone a lot of angst:

Related: Smart Leaders Keep Their Ego in Check and Listen In

1. Identify a target audience that’s big enough to serve, yet niche enough so you’re not everything to everyone and ideally a group that's very frustrated with the options currently available.

2. Get inside their heads and identify exactly what's keeping them up at night.

3. Present a solution that blows away the competition. Find a bold alternative that works.

4. Meet your customers where they are. Just give them what they want, when they want it. Period. It’s the crux of selling in the new luxury market and applies to every market as long as you can charge appropriately.

5. Get over yourself. Who cares if you think proofs or spreadsheets should be formatted in a certain way. Move over superstar, successful people in business don’t focus on their way: They focus on their customer’s way.

Remember, passion is great: Most entrepreneurs build their businesses around something they're passionate about doing, which is crucial to company longevity and success. But they cannot lose sight of who signs the paychecks: the customer.

The secret formula is to start a business that you’re passionate about and provide solutions in the most efficient manner and the format your customers crave so they can still be passionate about their businesses, make money, and in return, give you more work. Hello, superfat piggy bank!

And it didn’t even take a logical-mathematical type to give you the secret. 

Related: In Business and Love, Emotional Intelligence Rules

Marley Majcher

3 Practical Lessons from Billionaire Mark Cuban

For super entrepreneur Mark Cuban, it all started with a pair of basketball shoes—but not the ones you’re probably thinking of. This particular pair of footwear has nothing to do with the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA team he owns and passionately champions.

Instead, it was this really cool pair the 12-year-old Mark thought he desperately needed. When he asked his father for them, the answer was a definitive no. Mark already had of perfectly fine pair of shoes. “When you have a job, you can get whatever you want,” his dad said.

It was a lesson young Mark took to heart. If you want something, you have to work for it. And work he did. With the help of one of his dad’s friend, Mark began selling garbage bags door to door. He promptly fell in love with business.

“I’ll never forget, they were those thin blue things,” Mark says. “He charged me $3, I sold them for $6. . . Everybody needs garbage bags, so I learned to fill a need and I learned to problem solve.""

Since that long-ago venture, Mark’s never looked back. In 1990, he sold his first company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million. His next undertaking, Broadcast.com was sold to Yahoo for $5.7 billion. In 2000, this maverick acquired the Mavericks, which is currently listed as one of Forbes’ most valuable franchises in sports. Today, he continues to be heavily involved with the team, along with many other business opportunities and ABC’s Shark Tank.

On a recent EntreLeadership Podcast, Dave spoke with Mark about his business smarts. Here are a few takeaways from their amazing conversation.

1. There’s no reason it can’t be you.

After completing college, Mark moved to Dallas, Texas, where he tended bar, sold software, and did whatever it took to learn and get ahead—even down to eating mustard and ketchup sandwiches when times were really lean. But no matter how tough, though, he never gave up. When he felt down and the odds were against them, he just worked harder.

“I say it to Maverick players and I say it to everybody in business,” Mark says. “The one thing in life you can control is your effort. If you are willing to put in the effort to start the business and you are willing to deal with the challenges and the fact you might starve or live like a student . . . If you are willing to fight through those via effort and brain power, anything is possible. There is no reason it can’t be you.”

2. Selling ultimately comes down to connecting and serving.

Through his hard work, Mark learned another valuable lesson. If you can sell, you can accomplish just about anything. And the key to selling is connecting with people while serving them.

“You are not trying to convince them of anything,” he says about potential customers. “You’re trying to show them how you are going to make their lives easier . . . There are no favors involved. It’s a win-win for everybody.”

Success, though, takes more than just a connection with people. There is a lot of hustle involved too, whether it’s garbage bags or multi-billion-dollar tech deals. “Every no gets you closer to a yes,” Mark says. “It’s a numbers game . . . It’s just a question of making the calls.”

3. Don’t be a slave to the bank.

Like Dave, Mark is passionate about staying debt free, especially when it comes to beginning a business. In fact, he says, 99% of today’s companies can be started without capital.

“If you take a loan, you are no longer the boss,” Mark says. “And your customers are no longer the bosses. Your banker is the boss. And if you hit any adversity, like every startup does, the priority becomes taking care of your banker . . . You’re no longer in a position to do whatever it takes to survive.”

For Mark, life is pretty sweet. Besides his many successful companies, his beloved Mavericks and his gig on Shark Tank, he’s recently written a book on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur: How to Win at the Sport of Business. In it, he tries to spread his simple message of success that anyone can apply.

It’s like Mark’s father always taught him. Hard work pays rewards. “There are no shortcuts,” he says.  

Dave Ramsey.

7 Business Apps Every Professional Should Download

Smartphones have given today’s mobile workers the ability to not have to worry about having everything they need before they get moving. Which is great, until they end up in a conference, airplane, or other no-reception zone without the crucial One Thing I Need. Good smartphone and tablet tools don't just provide access – they think ahead and plan for contingencies, like a personal assistant. They’re the tools that can make your job a whole lot easier.

Which apps do this? We happen to have seven of them, linked and ready for installing. The best part: all of them, except one category, are free, and the one that isn’t free is notably less than a hamburger.

1. TRIPIT

TripIt is a personal assistant for travel, especially if you give it access to your email inbox and let it scan for tickets and itineraries. Afterward, you literally don’t have to do anything except open the app to see all the details: your confirmation number, your departure time, the address of your hotel, the distance to the conference center, and the website of the restaurant you’re supposed to eat at Friday night. Open it up at least once before you journey and TripIt will hold your travel details for offline viewing, in case you don’t want to spring for WiFi on the plane. (iPhone/iPad, Android)

2. QUICKOFFICE

There are all kinds of mobile business apps that claim to work well with Microsoft Office documents, but only so many offer only read-only access. Those that do offer editing tools often want to tie you into their own cloud storage schemes. Not QuickOffice. This app was recently acquired by Google, but it still works as a utilitarian open, edit, and save solution for quick views and adjustments. We’ve talked about the importance of information mobility, and this app provides a great way for mobile workers to access documents on the go. (iTunes, Android)

3. POCKET (OR INSTAPAPER)

Which app looks and works better is a matter of taste, but both Pocket and Instapaper do their jobs remarkably well. That job: take blog posts, news articles, and other content on the web (including everything at WorkIntelligent.ly – shameless plug), strip it down to just the text and necessary images, and save them to your device for reading when you have time. Big offices used to have such “clipping services” way back when, but they didn’t let you choose your favorite font. (Pocket: iTunes, Android; Instapaper: iTunes, Android)

4. AGENDA (OR FANTASTICAL)

It’s odd how unhelpful the default calendar on an iPhone or Android can be. With how much design has gone into the OS of each, how can something as simple as a calendar cause so many headaches? Why can’t you just get an agenda view of everything that’s happening today when you start it up? Why does entering the time and date of an event feel like unlocking a bank vault? My own fix is Agenda Calendar 4, which makes smart guesses about when you want to schedule things, shows your day in a well-designed glance view, and generally gives you more information and links from an event than Calendar. If you frequently use the iPhone’s Reminders function, you might instead try Fantastical 2, which ties directly into the iPhone’s alerts and reminders systems. (Agenda: iTunes, Android; Fantastical: iTunes)

5. CHROME

Chrome is Google’s own browser. Your iPhone already has the Safari browser, and your Android phone likely has its own default browser. So why would you bother to install a browser that shows the same web pages as either of these? One big reason: if you use Chrome on a desktop computer and sign in on both your desktop and phone with your Google account, you can see and open any tab you had open on your desktop browser when you left it. Or just start typing in a few words from the page you already went to into Chrome’s search bar, and Chrome should come up with it. It feels magical (and maybe a bit creepy). (iTunes, Android)

6. CLOUDCUBE (ANDROID ONLY)

Maybe you already feel backed up, cloud-connected, and ready to grab your files from anywhere. So cloud-connected, in fact, that you sometimes have a hard time remembering in which cloud you stored that certain file, and where you have room to put that next big one. CloudCube works with all the notable syncing services: Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box, SugarSync, and more. Move files between clouds, see what’s inside each account, and even sync folders between your Android device and your services of choice. (Android)

7. IFTTT (IF THIS THEN THAT) (IPHONE ONLY)

Wouldn’t it be neat if every time you took a screenshot of your iPhone, that screenshot was automatically saved to where you want it? Or if every time you completed a Reminder on your phone, it emailed the appropriate person to let them know, automatically? Or if you could see, on your phone, every photo you’ve been tagged in from Facebook? With IFTTT (short for If This Then That), that kind of two-step, non-thinking action is entirely possible. The hardest part is thinking up the “recipes” that you want for your phone, but after playing with the website a bit, you should get a real sense of just how many things can be done without your having to even think about it. Be sure to install this iPhone app so you can take full advantage of that set-and-forget productivity(iTunes). 

Kevin Purdy.Kevin PurdyKevin Purdy

5 Habits Of Emotionally Intelligent People

Emotional intelligence is the most powerful tool for success — not only in in romantic relationships, but business, too. In fact, the same rules for achieving your goals in business also apply to love.

Here are five practices that people with high EQs use to achieve success at both work and in their personal lives:

1. Follow actions, not words. 

When I hire someone, I don’t pay much attention to lip service about accountability or hard work. Instead, I screen for a solid track record — do they meet deadlines? Make calls? Close deals? What are they doing (not saying)?

In business and personal matters, talk is cheap.

2. Check yourself. 

We’re all emotional people, and sometimes little things can turn into unnecessarily big deals. emotionally intelligent people know how to push pause before making a perceived slight into a colossal deal. Did someone interrupt you in a meeting? Instead of stewing about it or plotting revenge, consider that the person is possibly distracted by personal issues at home. Maybe they felt scrutinized by their boss that day and was over-compensating with their boisterous presentation. Rise above it and give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s not always about you.  

The same rules apply to your romantic and business relationships. Everyone has bad days and everyone has their quirks. Just because your date doesn’t feel like dancing doesn’t mean she is embarrassed to be seen with you, or that you should never go out with her again. Take the incident for what it is and move on.

3. Keep the end goal in mind. 

Those who succeed in life and business keep an eye on the big picture. This means letting go of petty perceived slights and road bumps that present themselves each and every day. When you keep the end goal at the top of your mind, it is easier to negotiate with a difficult client, create successful, win-win partnerships, and focus your energy on what is most important — not getting sidetracked by petty annoyances and putting out little fires.

That goes for relationships, too. If a long-term committed partnership with your spouse is your top priority, then you are less likely to focus on the proverbial toothpaste cap conundrums that trip up so many couples. Even bigger issues such as differences in money management or raising kids are more easily negotiated when you are both focused on lifelong collaboration.

4. Cleanse out the toxins. 

Good business feeds off good energy — and negative people can destroy an organization. Entrepreneurs with high EQs know there are enough positive people in the world that there is no need to waste valuable energy managing the toxic ones. Sometimes even high performers are not a good fit if they are manipulative, combative or otherwise a negative force in the office.  

Ditto for your love life and business relationships. If someone zaps your energy or otherwise makes you feel bad about yourself, have the strength to move on. Emotionally intelligent people have little tolerance for others who are insincere (or downright lie), critical, needy or have addictive habits. There are some people who are better out of your life — or on the other side of the courtroom.

5. Stay connected. 

Just because a relationship ends doesn’t mean that you have to obliterate the bridge. Even if a deal falls apart on a sour note, emotionally intelligent people make all efforts to take the high road and keep the connection alive and positive. You never know when you may cross paths again — or need that person in the future.

Just because a relationship doesn’t last a lifetime doesn’t mean that you must part ways as enemies. More often than not relationships end because of differences or circumstances — not personal slights. When a bridge is still available, there is far more opportunity for you to enjoy richer experiences on nearly every level.

ERIC SCHIFFER, ENTREPRENEUR

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233040#ixzz31Av49u4h