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Are You Marked for Greatness?

Internet Capital Group has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in companies that are looking to make their mark in e-commerce. John Hamm evaluates and advises the entrepreneurs who run those companies. Here are the character traits that he looks for. Cheryl Dahle

Are You on the Right Track?

It's exciting to rewrite the rules of business and build high-performance companies in record time. But when do you start to calculate the human toll associated with the pursuit of your personal success? George Anders

Family Values

Thanks to the punishing demands of the new economy, marriage has become more complex, more stressful, and more difficult. These couples have designed marriages that work. Keith H. Hammonds

Gold Standard

The Mitchell Gold Co. is bringing overdue change to an out-of-touch industry: home furniture. But unlike so many other mavericks, its primary competitive weapon isn't the Internet. Instead, the company is deploying a smart sense of design. Ron Lieber

Hollywood's New Game

Technology and entertainment can mix -- if you combine the right strategy with the right kind of organization. That's the lesson behind the rise of Sega GameWorks. Although the company is based in Hollywood, the model is pure Silicon Valley. Chandler Burr

How to Make Your Mark

There has never been a better time for one person, with brains and commitment, to have a huge impact on a company, on an industry -- even on the world. Cheryl Dahle

Natural Leader

Rayona Sharpnack is a teacher and a mentor to some of the most powerful women in some of the most important companies around. Her message: Don't worry so much about what you need to know. Instead, figure out who you need to be. Cheryl Dahle

Natural Leader (Continued)

Cheryl Dahle

Positive Deviant

Jerry Sternin's job was to help save starving children in Vietnam. Faced with an impossible time frame, he adopted a radical approach to making change. His idea: Real change begins from the inside. David Dorsey

The Man Who Loved Chairs

Rolf Fehlbaum, CEO of Vitra, really cares about chairs. His company is a celebration of what to some is the most mundane object in the office -- but to him is a source of passion. Jill Rosenfeld

Weathering the Storm

Weather.com is one of the Web's most unlikely success stories. It has parlayed its loyal following and its philosophical take on the weather into a site that is on course to attract 3 billion page views this year. Chuck Salter

What's the Best Way to Do Good?

Unit of One Lucy McCauley and Christine Canabou

Report From the Future

Africa.net

Report From the Futurist Christine Canabou

Andy Grove to CDU: Why Are You Looking at Me?

Consultant Debunking Unit Jill Rosenfeld

Bonuses Aren't Just for the Bosses

Brad Hill is teaching rank-and-file workers in tough jobs how to devise incentive plans. In the process, they're being rewarded with things that money can't buy -- more dignity and a greater sense of purpose. Rekha Balu

Curator of the Enlightened Orchard

Job Titles of the Future: Roya Zamanzadeh Astrid Sandoval

GM Has a New Model for Change

"Change takes guts. It takes imagination. It takes commitment," declares John Taylor of General Motors's APEx team. APEx is designing radically new concept cars -- and changing the concept of change inside GM. Anna Muoio

Heat-Sensitive

A cooking thermometer that's great for seasoned pros and nervous novices alike. Nate Nickerson, Assistant Managing Editor

Huddle Up!

Meeting I Never Miss Erika Germer

I'll Be Home For ...

Hard up for some last-minute gift ideas? Erika Germer

If the Phone Rings, Answer It

What's Your Problem? Zoe Barton

My Favorite Bookmarks - James Marcus

Picks from the CEO of UniversityAngels.com Fast Company

My Favorite Bookmarks - Michael Wood

Picks from the VP of Teenage Research Unlimited. Fast Company

One for All

Easy listening. Amy Wilson Sheldon

Road Rules - Rule 26

Flight delayed? Catch up with friends. Christine Canabou

Shhhh? Not At This Library

The BPL's youth wing has been transformed into a spiffy haven for neighborhood kids. Bonnie Schwartz

Six Degrees of Super-Mediation

Looking for IT talent? An obscure part? The bigger the Web gets, the harder it is to find what you're looking for. The solution: a human search engine powered by bounty hunters. Chuck Salter

Talk Is Cheap. Let's Have a Conversation

What the new economy needs now is a good chat, says Oxford University professor Theodore Zeldin, who wants us to have conversations about the emotional, intellectual, and cultural dimensions of work. Ian Wylie

Those Were the .Com Days

Your stock price is down 80%. All of a sudden, that ".com" at the end of your company's name feels like a four-letter word. Life in the Internet economy can't get much worse, can it? Be afraid. Be very afraid. William C. Taylor

Upper Hand

A stocking-stuffer-worthy gadget. Amy Wilson Sheldon

VP of Hacker Relations

Job Titles of the Future: Ned Lilly Astrid Sandoval

Net Company

Banking on the Web

SEI Investments became a financial-services juggernaut by helping banks and mutual-fund companies rethink and automate their operations. Now it is up to Judith Tschirgi to rethink SEI's success -- and to migrate the company to the Web. Cathy Olofson

Built at Light Speed

These days, most Internet startups are hoarding their cash and downsizing their dreams. Not Cogent Communications. The company is on a 12,000-mile dash to build a new network for high-speed Internet access. George Anders

Click! Do You Get the (Digital) Picture?

Click Here Dawn Farrell

Does Adam Simms Have a Sale?

The CEO of iMotors.com wants to use the Web to sell his customers exactly the used car they want at a no-haggle price. But first, in a brutally harsh climate for dotcom retailers, he has to sell his strategy. Do you buy his model? Constance Loizos

Here, Charity Begins On-Site

One Click Faster Amy Wilson Sheldon

Keep on Truckin' - to the Web

Career Move Amy Wilson Sheldon

Put People Before Technology

My Smartest Mistake Astrid Sandoval

She Knows How to Play the Game

The startup revolution is as much about the democratization of capital as it is about the creation of new technologies. So why do women-led companies still receive only 4.6% of all venture funding? Katharine Mieszkowski

What's So Wild About Wireless?

The wireless Web is going to be huge, right? But how much of its promise will actually materialize? Are we in the early stages of the next Internet fad? Here's how the most serious players around separate sense from nonsense. George Anders

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