Welcome to the January issue of The Exponential Executive.

In this Issue

	The 10 Most Significant Breakthroughs of 2007 ... and What They Mean for the Future
	Jump the Curve is in Book Stores ... and Online
	The Accelerating Pace of Disruption ... and Dangerous Curves
	Innovations and Opportunities
	From Second Life to Synthetic Life

In Other News

The world is moving fast and to "jump the curve," executives and organizations alike need to think different. Four different strategies you might want to consider are: "Betting On it," Employing Zero-Gravity Thinkers; Setting Discontinuous Goals; and Taking a Non-Incremental Approach to the Future.

If you are interested in seeing how other companies are jumping the curve, I'd encourage you to read how Google is employing predictive markets; General Motors is using nanotechnology; or Microsoft wants to get inside your head.

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The 10 Most Significant Breakthroughs of 2007 ... and What They Mean for the Future

Smaller transistors, paper batteries, the Human Microbome Project, multi-touch computers; advances in brain-computer interfaces and robotics; carbon-dioxide eating technologies; wireless energy; genome transfer; and stem cell research all made great strides this year. Their collective impact on the future of industry will, however, be even greater. For a quick overview of how they might impact the business landscape in the years ahead, click here.

Jump the Curve is in Book Stores ... and Online

Although the corresponding website to my new book, Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies, has been live since September, the book was only officially released this month. It is now available in most major bookstores and online at such sites as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. If you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in the book, I encourage you to pick up a copy. All you have to do is click this button.

The Accelerating Pace of Disruption ... and Dangerous Curves

In the past few weeks, NetFlix has moved aggressively to once again transform the video/movie rental business; Intel announced it is getting into the mobile communications business; Fujitsu pulled out of the plasma TV industry; and AOL revealed it will be pulling the plug on Netscape. All of this activity is further evidence of the accelerating pace of disruption -- and it is only going to get worse in the future because there are dangerous curves ahead. Find out why here  and here.

Innovations and Opportunities

As regular readers know, I write a weekly column entitled "Innovations and Opportunities" for the online financial investment newsletter, The Motley Fool. In the column, I discuss how key scientific and technological breakthroughs from the past week could lead to some profitable opportunities in the near future. This past month saw interesting breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer and heart disease, as well as five intriguing predictions from IBM about the five technologies that will most influence our lives in the next five years.

From Second Life to Synthetic Life

To "jump the curve" effectively, the Exponential Executive needs to stay abreast of advances in a variety of diverse fields. To this end, the new virtual reality site, Second Life, and the emerging field of synthetic biology might not, at first glance, appear to have much relevance to your business. You may, however, be surprised at how these technologies could impact your future success. A look at how IBM is employing Second Life can be viewed here, and an overview of synthetic biology is discussed in this post .