Image: https://hbr.org

January is the big month for buying gym memberships. The excesses of the holiday season leave many of us looking to make improvements in our lives — a search that often leads straight to the elliptical machine.

But what about your job and career? How have those been working out?

Many people spend most of their waking hours at work or thinking about work. In the dim chill of a Monday morning in January, the prospect of another year at a job that fails to satisfy can be daunting, if not downright depressing.

Senior executives will earn between $1,231 and $1,900 more in annual salary in 2017, according to the new SES pay table, effective Jan. 1.

For members of the Senior Executive Service under a certified SES performance appraisal system, the maximum annual salary will increase to $187,000 in 2017, up from $185,100 in 2016. Senior executives at the maximum SES pay rate who are not under a certified SES performance appraisal system will see their annual salary grow to $172,100 from the 2016 level of $170,400.

Imagine that you found a drug at a government lab that others passed over which promises to cure, not just treat, certain blood cancers. You entered into a cooperative R&D agreement where your funding doubled the lab’s budget in a critical research area while they leverage the expertise of your company. You’re a small American company taking on the big boys, with a state of the art facility hoping to be first to market with a revolutionary therapy.

Last year was fairly eventful, and higher education news was no exception. To reflect on 2016's passing and what may come next, Inside Higher Ed presents its fifth annual in-and-out list. Happy 2017.

In 2002, professors Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, two of the best known academic researchers on goal-setting, wrote an article in American Psychologist summarizing their 35 years of research. Among their findings:

Provided geopolitical movement doesn’t derail his best laid predictions, Gordon Orr sees a year of slowing economic growth, headaches for multinationals, demographic anxiety, and buyer’s remorse for soccer tycoons.

My base case for China’s outlook this year assumes increased trade friction with the United States, with tariffs raised on specific product categories (such as steel and some agricultural goods), and, while I don’t expect across-the-board disruptions, a few high-profile companies will be forced to choose between accommodating the demands of the Chinese or US government.

Oceanographers are carving up the world’s seas like the last of the holiday turkey. A new 3D map sorts global water masses—from deep, frigid circumpolar waters to the oxygen-starved Black Sea—into 37 categories. The map groups together marine regions of similar temperature, salinity, oxygen and nutrient levels. It has been available for only a few months, and researchers are still working through how they might use it. But its international team of developers hopes that the map will help conservationists, government officials and others to better understand the biogeography of the oceans and make decisions about which areas to preserve.

CFOs Look to Impact Sales & Marketing Execution to Deliver on Optimistic 2016 Company Performance Expectations

The CFO Alliance, a global community of senior financial leaders and decision makers promoting connectivity and knowledge sharing amongst leading financial executives, conducted its 6th annual CFO Sentiment Study to provide insights into the strategic planning and financial outlook of CFOs for 2016. Our study is unique in that it is designed to offer insights into how CFOs plan to address challenges and capitalize on opportunities in 2016 rather than merely identifying them.

Blood cancer treatments may one day include special dietary restrictions: researchers have found that an essential amino acid plays a crucial role in the creation of blood stem cells—a discovery the scientists say could lead to a potential alternative to chemotherapy and radiation. Valine is one of 10 essential amino acids—protein building blocks that are crucial to life but cannot be made by the human body. It must therefore be obtained through diet and is found in protein-rich foods such as meat, dairy and legumes.

An infographic based off of Oxfam’s newly released report shows how only 10 companies control nearly all of the food and beverage brands we know.

The report titled “Behind the Brands” calls out the Big 10 global conglomerates:

Image: http://www.nationofchange.org

You’ve probably heard that protein is the key to a satisfying meal. And when you think of the nutrient, your go-to is probably some type of meat. But a new study suggests that veggie-based proteins—specifically, beans and peas—may actually fill you up and keep you satisfied longer than animal protein.

Plant-based choices are not only better for the planet, the researchers say, but may also help people lose weight.

It’s that time of year again. The pressure is on to make New Year’s resolutions: Lose weight. Get to meetings on time. Interact more with your direct reports. A few goals are put on a list…and are forgotten by January 3rd. While this annual ritual of reflection is well intentioned, it rarely changes behavior because it focuses on what you do (or should do), not the deeper question of why you do it.

Boston Scientific has made a name for itself with devices that are implanted into the body to prevent heart attacks. But through its Connected Patient Challenge, launched last month, the company is looking to get more involved in the kind of preventative medicine that’s based on the data generated by doctors, patients and the growth of wearable devices.

The healthcare industry’s transition toward value-based care is forcing providers to adopt new and emerging business models in lieu of traditional fee-for-service payment. At their core, these business models have the principle of value-based reimbursement, in which providers must meet certain quality care standards while controlling costs in order to get paid.

They say 2016 was a year of change. For me, this was especially true.

Ten months ago, after nearly a decade in Silicon Valley, I packed up with my family our assorted belongings, realizing too late that half of our stuff apparently consisted of toys. We moved from the western edge to the heart of America, literally from the end of the frontier to its beginning. We now live just steps away from the original California Trail in Kansas City, where I serve as Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. It’s been a thrilling and welcome adventure.

True entrepreneurship involves a mindset of solving problems. But real success goes well beyond the bottom line to impacting lives and leaving a legacy.

Many global challenges need innovative solutions that, no doubt, will be solved by entrepreneurs. Established industries like health care, education, and alternative energy are ripe for disruption. This creates abundant opportunities for those who want to step up and become the next Larry Page, Elon Musk or Bill Gates.

Anki’s Cozmo is one of the most ambitious attempts yet at bridging the gap between video games and real-world toys, an increasingly popular trend. Unlike most so-called “smart toys,” Cozmo is powered by emotional emulation software that lets the toy evoke different responses to stimuli. Pick him up and he may furrow his eyes in an angry scowl or giggle, depending on his “mood.” Cozmo’s intelligence and endearing behavior make it truly feel like a toy come to life.

Facebook’s shadowy Building 8 research team needs help from academia to invent futuristic hardware. But today’s pace of innovation doesn’t allow for the standard 9-12 month turnaround time it takes universities to strike one-off research partnerships with private companies.

Enter SARA, aka Facebook’s “Sponsored Academic Research Agreement.”

I answered the call of the woods that I mentioned in my last missive. I’m off alone, wandering the trails and contemplating nature. I feel my mind clearing as the clutter gets flushed away.

Hopefully you took my advice and you too are off clearing your mind in your favorite way.