Today in Global Small Business: Honoring Passover

©iStock/Elena Senyakaeva

What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Honoring Passover.
• How Easter is celebrated around the world.
• Exploring Easter around the world.
• Quote of the week:  “Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life." – Janine di Giovanni
• The world's craziest Easter traditions.
• The origin and history of the Easter egg hunt.

Happy Belated International Happiness Day

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I [Laurel Delaney] had no idea there was such a thing as International Happiness Day.  Well we can use all the happiness we can get in our world right now.

Yesterday — March 20 — was in fact International Day of Happiness. Declared by the United Nations in 2013, this special day recognizes the importance of happiness as "a fundamental goal" in people's lives around the world.

It's never too late to be happy so celebrate your happiness today and every day thereafter.  I'm happy because we've reached more than 125,000 readers to this blog!  Hooray!  Happy!

The Long-Term Risks and Benefits of AI Around the World

©iStock/Jacob Wackerhausen

The long-term risks and benefits of AI will quite likely impact people all around the world, and they will pose unique challenges that observers cannot yet understand. 

But there is significant reason to think that humanity will be better off in the future if stakeholders work to get AI governance right today. 

For those in the Global Minority who are genuinely interested in arriving at a convergence on trust with the Global Majority, one of the most powerfully obvious yet enduringly stubborn ways of narrowing the existing gap is to carefully listen to the lived experiences that, in turn, shape the priorities of the world’s largest populations. 

Addressing the roots of distrust today would carry over into safeguards far more robust and enduring in the future, online and offline. We hope this piece adds to that evolving conversation. 

Access the full article with 111 footnotes here.

A Bicycle Ride Around the World

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

“A bicycle ride around the world begins with a single pedal stroke." – Scott Stoll, a Community Professor who travelled around the world on his bicycle

The Christmas Spirit Brings Joy in People Around the World

©2020 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values." – Thomas S. Monson

Merry Christmas to all!

Fun Holiday Traditions From Around the World

©iStock/Atiwat Studio

For many Americans, holiday celebrations involve decorating homes with lights, wreaths snowmen, and reindeers – and putting up Christmas trees, finding meaningful gifts for loved ones, and of course, binge-watching holiday classics like Elf, Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

However, not everyone observes the holiday in the same way. Here are some weird and wonderful Christmas traditions from around the world.

A Look Back: 2019 New Year Celebrations From Around the World

Indiana Business Owners: Grab Your Grant Money to Export

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Indiana secured a U.S. Small Business Administration grant that that will reimburse local businesses trying to reach global markets, such as on trade missions.  All Indiana firms have to do is apply.

The state of Indiana received a $495,000 State Trade and Export Promotion grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to help small businesses export more Hoosier-made products to markets around the world. It's adding another $165,000 in matching funds, so up to $660,000 in funding will be available to Hoosier small businesses to help them sell their products or services around the world.

Bring on the STEP funding to Indiana and let's open doors to the world for business owners.

Makeup Standards From Around the World With Inner Beauty Counting the Most

Super-Sized Cargo Ship Hauling Luxury Vehicles from Around the World

How to Create Passionate Lifelong Learners Around the World

©iStock/Stepan Popov

How do you encourage students the world over to come up with an idea that is their own and belongs to no one else?  It goes like this.

So search engine giant Google had this neat idea a few years ago to allow its engineers to spend 20% of their time working on things that really interested them – the goal being to inspire creativity and indirectly increase productivity. Some significant innovations came out of Google’s 20% time. Well-publicized “20% products” have included things such as Google News, G-mail, and AdSense.

Classrooms the world over should be able to create passionate, lifelong learners the same way Google has.

It starts with empowering students to embrace their own learning. It's called a "Genius Time" concept.

Read more here.