Lee Billings, Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars (Penguin Books, 2013)

It’s no secret that our time on Earth is limited—individually, of course, but also as a species. In fact, all life on Earth will come to an end in a billion years (give or take), maybe earlier if those warning us of the dangers of global warming are correct.

This is a scary thought, but not one to keep most of us awake at night. At least it’s not unless you’re Lee Billings or one of the astronomers and physicists he interviewed for Five Billion Years of Solitude. Sure, they’re interested in whether there is life elsewhere in the universe. However, equally as interesting as catching up with ET is the possibility of finding a new home for us before our current place is enveloped by the sun as it enters its red giant phase.

Given the fair amount of advanced warning we have, it’s not surprising that this project has been put on the backburner. Potential steps forward made possible by developing technology are constantly being delayed primarily as a result of budgetary concerns. There is, however, some talk about alternative funding avenues, a number of which feature tapping into entrepreneurial sources.

In the last decade or so, the human genome was mapped—more quickly than anyone anticipated it could be—as a result of a competitive race between public and private researchers who pushed each other along. Something similar could happen in the search for a habitable (but currently uninhabited?) nearby exoplanet, which might be rich with resources for entrepreneurial earthlings as well as our future home for when the time comes. ET, we’re on our way!

Exercise: Coming Soon to Your Workplace?

Like most people who work in an office, I spend most of my workday sitting. Although I periodically use a standing workstation or walk to the printer (right outside my office), my workday is generally a sedentary affair. Exercise is part of my evening and weekend schedule.  

Perhaps that is why a recent article in the Harvard Business Review by Carl Cederstrom and Torkild Thanem titled “The Swedish CEO Who Runs His Company Like a CrossFit Gym” caught my eye. The article profiles Bjorn Borg, a Swedish sports fashion company (yes, named for the tennis star), and in particular, its CEO, Henrik Bunge. Bunge, not like some other CEOs, has implemented mandatory company workouts.  Think your yoga class or boot-camp session at the office. That sounds simultaneously inspiring and terrifying.
  
Bunge is part of a generation of CEOs who are throwing concepts like “transformational” and “authentic” leadership to the wayside in favor of “fitness leadership.” The theory is that work and fitness go hand-in-hand: Much like at the gym, the harder you work, the better your results. Bunge was brought in as CEO in 2014, when the company was struggling. His view was that the 60 employees had to “train harder, measure our goals better, and become a better team” and that success could be achieved through a marriage of exercise and work. All employees are now required to take fitness tests twice a year and there are mandatory Friday fitness classes, team wall squat and push-up competitions, and the occasional game of ping pong.