今后8個月，這五大趨勢值得關注

如果你能戰略性地追逐當下最聰明的想法，公司和職業生涯都會因此獲益。

模仿大自然

不在產品中整合自然界那些最好的創意，你就相當于放棄唾手可得的金錢。仿生學如今大行其道。正如《創新啟示：大自然激發的靈感與創意》（The Shark’s Paintbrush）的作者、企業家杰伊?哈曼所說，那些有遠見的公司正在著力推出展現自然界創意的精致產品。其中包括模仿河馬防護汗液（無異味）的防曬油、模仿鯊魚皮抗菌性能的醫院墻面涂料等。大自然已經為我們解決了很多問題，為什么不利用它們呢？

擁抱人工智能

不要再擔心被機器人取代了，想想怎么利用人工智能（AI）發展你的公司吧。即使是小型公司也能從線上服務得到幫助。尋找使用人工智能的供應商，往往是獲取這種技術性價比最高的方法。例如。如果你想購買客戶關系管理軟件，就去找這個方向的供應商。與此同時關注低成本的產品，比如Grid，這家公司可以為中小型企業提供人工智能驅動的網站，價格最低只要96美元。

加入學習圈

比起坐在傳統教室或利用筆記本的網絡課程，大多數人通過目標統一的學習小組可以學到更多東西。與其一個人學習，不如在今年試試自主學習小組，比如Circles（circl.es）。它讓學習目標相同的一小群人相聚在私人視頻聊天室內——把讀書俱樂部最大的優點帶入了數字時代。

與最優秀的人為伍

如果你想要提高水平，就要與頭腦出眾的人在一起。但普通人參加的集會里，你沒有機會碰到頂尖人士。在Genius X這個只有申請才可能加入的社交圈中，用戶需要支付10萬美元才得以參加每年三次的會議。創始人喬?波里什表示：“我們希望他們的投入能得到十倍的回報。”如果有機會投資去參加真正能幫你實現目標的活動，為什么要浪費錢去那些普通的團體或會議呢？

拋棄退休的想法

別再計劃職業生涯結束以后做什么了，想辦法根據自己的情況延長它。即將出版的著作Living Your Legacy的作者約翰?安德森表示：“你人生的后半段會比前半段更具意義、更有收獲、更加富足。”年過五十的人創建的公司比年輕人更多，其中很多都是退休后創立的，還有些人會回到之前的公司做兼職。如果你能找到新的途徑繼續利用你的所學并培養下一代，那么你的未來會更加激情四射。（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正

Your business and career will benefit if you strategically pursue the smartest of today’s ideas.

Mimic Mother Nature

If you’re not incorporating the most brilliant ideas from the natural world into what you sell, you’re leaving money on the table. Biomimicry is now going mainstream. Forward-looking companies are releasing ingenious products that mirror innovations found in nature, as entrepreneur Jay Harman, author of The Shark’s Paintbrush, points out. They range from sunscreen that replicates hippos’ protective sweat (sans the odor) to hospital wall coatings that emulate sharkskin’s antimicrobial properties. Nature has already solved many problems for us; why not take advantage of that?

Embrace Artificial Intelligence

Quit worrying about getting replaced by robots and figure out how to use artificial intelligence (AI) to grow your business. Services are coming online that can help even modest-size companies. Finding suppliers who use AI is often the most cost-effective way to get access to the technology. If you’re shopping for CRM software, for instance, look for a provider that is heading down this road. And keep an eye out for low-cost options like the Grid, which creates AI-driven websites that design themselves for small and midsize businesses, starting at $96.

Join a Learning Circle

Most of us absorb far more when seated in a circle of peers who are studying the same thing than from the rows of a traditional classroom or while poring over an online course on our laptops. Instead of going it alone, make this the year you try a self-directed learning group like Circles (at circl.es). It brings together small gatherings of people who want to learn the same thing in private videochat rooms—taking the best features of book clubs into the digital era.

Mix With the Best

Surrounding yourself with great minds is critical if you want to raise your game. But you won’t brush up against top people at the gatherings mere mortals attend. At Genius X, a by-application-only network whose participants pay $100,000 to attend three meetings a year, founder Joe Polish says, “We want them to get a 10x return on their investment.” Why waste money on mediocre groups and conferences when you can invest in one great one that will really help you achieve your goals?

Retire the Idea of Retirement

Stop planning what you’ll do when your career ends and figure out how to continue it—on your own terms. “The second half of your life can be more fulfilling, more rewarding, and richer than the first half,” says John Anderson, author of the upcoming book Living Your Legacy. People over 50 are launching more businesses than their younger peers, and many corporate types are boomeranging out of retirement and back to their former firms to work part-time. Your future will be far more exciting if you find new ways to keep building on what you have learned and nurture the next generation .