Entrepreneur, 10-19-2016 -- Everyone fails in life, and failure can be a crushing experience. The only thing that separates successful people from the rest is how they respond after they fail. When facing obstacles, you have to decide if you’re going to let them be the excuse for your failure or if you’re going to make them the story behind your success. “There is no failure. Only feedback.”   -- Robert Allen When you adopt the right attitude, failure is a great teacher. Failure interrupts your routine and gives you an opportunity to explore new solutions, but only if you have the right attitude. Psychologist Albert Bandura conducted a study that showed just how great a role our attitudes play in the face of failure. In the study, two groups of people were asked to complete an identical management task. The first group was told that the purpose of the task was to measure their management abilities. The other group was told that the skills required to complete the task were improvable and that the task was merely an opportunity to practice and improve. The trick was that the researchers made the task so difficult that all participants were bound to…

Entrepreneur, 10-10-2016 -- With expectations of rising venue, profits and employment, manufacturers appear optimistic about prospects for the industry and their companies. According to the 2016 RSM Manufacturing Monitor survey results, nearly 70 percent of manufacturers in the United States and around the world are anticipating an increase in operating profits—this comes after a year in which the average profit (as a percentage of revenue) was 17 percent. More than half of the companies surveyed expect to increase their workforce; three-quarters expect to increase revenues, many by more than 10 percent. Some sectors—particularly automotive, aerospace and construction materials—have had a record-breaking year. But economics are cyclical, and other sectors—energy, agriculture and general industrial manufacturing, among them—are experiencing a decrease in demand, limiting their profitability and growth. Many of these companies are experiencing flat or declining revenues.  For companies to break out of a cycle of diminishing revenues—and for others to achieve their ambitious expectations for growth—a number of areas should be considered. Growth: Buffeted by the headwinds of a strong U.S. dollar, sluggish global growth, weak economies in Europe and other regions, geopolitical uncertainty, and still-low commodity prices, manufacturers’ output has essentially been stagnant since May 2015 and capacity utilization…

10-10-2016 -- On a foggy Monday morning in Silicon Valley this week, I took a ride in Google’s self-driving car and nothing happened. That’s a big deal. That’s because the company announced its self-driving car project, which was created in 2009, has racked up over two million miles of driving experience. It’s a significant marker for Google — no other company has that many miles of fully self-driving experience. But that landmark actually doesn’t mean much on its own, because the real milestone is how well the technology has developed in that time. “It’s a nice round number, but it’s really about the quality of those miles,” said Google’s head of self-driving tech Dmitri Dolgov. “We’re building a driver,” he later added. Indeed, because after riding in Google’s car, it was clear that two million miles in four cities, along with the millions of miles a day the company does in simulated rides, has helped the technology develop from what is basically a nervous teen student driver to the equivalent of a more experienced licensed person who drives every day. Mistakes are still made and collisions happen — Google has been involved in 14 real ones so far, 13 of…

Better Than Yesterday To break out of a stalling career mindset six years ago, Matt Schaeffer made the conscious choice to challenge himself every day. Today, he stands atop the 12-volt industry as Installer of the Year.   Words by Ted GoslinPhotos by Tim Causa Not everyone knows what they want to be when they grow up. Some wander the world in search of a dream job with no particular focus, hoping that some mystical force will guide them into their ideal life. But it doesn’t work that way. Some people never find their calling and wind up taking whatever career path is most convenient. And then there’s Matt Schaeffer. At the age of 11, Schaeffer received his first four-wheeler and fell in love. Cars became a passion off the bat for the future installer, who learned quickly what his favorite hobby and future career would become. “I became obsessed with building it, customizing it, making it my own. I even got into making panels and customizing my four-wheeler,” Schaeffer said. “Then when I was in high school I got an Eclipse GSX. Using the mentality I had with my four-wheeler, I customized the GSX with panels, fabricating and installing.”…