The smile that shines through tears

Worth While

By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It is easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is one who will smile,
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth,
Is the smile that shines through tears.

It is easy enough to be prudent,
When nothing tempts you to stray,
When without or within no voice of sin
Is luring your soul away;
But it's only a negative virtue
Until it is tried by fire,
And the life that is worth the honor on earth,
Is the one that resists desire.

By the cynic, the sad, the fallen,
Who had no strength for the strife,
The world's highway is cumbered to-day,
They make up the sum of life.
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile,
It is these that are worth the homage on earth
For we find them but once in a while.

1️⃣ From wildlife biologist to tech entrepreneur: Divvy founder Blake Murray's story

🦅 Blake Murray is no ordinary entrepreneur. The CEO of Divvy, an automated corporate expense management platform, comes from a long line of tech innovators, starting with his father, who has become a legend in the industry.

Blake's father, a Stanford MBA graduate, attended a fireside chat by a young Steve Jobs in the 1970s, which inspired him to take action. After a lot of persistence and cold-calling, he was eventually hired by Apple, becoming one of its earliest team members. He was responsible for developing the famous 1984 commercial and, more importantly, forming a close relationship with Jobs.

The tech industry was a different beast back then, and Blake's father was an albatross amid the brilliant and hard-charging young people surrounding him. His advice and experience were something Steve Jobs himself sought out, even coming over late at night to talk about how to balance his life.

2️⃣ Twitter in talks with NBCUniversal's Linda Yaccarino to become the company's new CEO

Yaccarino, who oversees roughly $13 billion in annual ad revenue at NBCUniversal, is a respected advertising executive with a deep understanding of the industry.

She has been with NBCUniversal for more than a decade, where she has been an industry advocate for finding better ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising. As head of NBCU's advertising sales, she was vital in the launch of the company's ad-supported Peacock streaming service.

3️⃣ Regional banks could face higher borrowing costs as investors demand higher yields

Investors are demanding higher yields to own the bonds of regional banks, threatening to further pressure lenders already being hit by rising deposit costs.

The extra yield, or spread, on regional-bank bonds over U.S. Treasurys had risen in many cases by about two percentage points or more since early March, when the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank spurred a broad investor retreat from all but the largest U.S. banks.

4️⃣ Google Unveils New AI-Powered Features, Products at I/O 2023

Google's annual developer conference, I/O, took place this week, and the company unveiled several new features and products incorporating artificial intelligence (AI).

Google committed to using AI responsibly. The company said it would be rolling out new safety features for AI in evaluating images and that all AI-generated images will have metadata and markup.

The company's focus on AI is a sign of the growing importance of the technology. AI is being used in a wide range of applications, from healthcare to transportation, and it is expected to play an even more significant role in the future.

5️⃣ SoftBank bets on AI after Alibaba windfall

The Japanese technology investor said Thursday that it cut its investments to about $3 billion in the fiscal year that ended March 31, less than a 10th of its assets the previous fiscal year. It had said it was playing defense after many of its startup investments went sour during the recent tech downturn.

But SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said the company is now ready to start reinvesting, with a focus on AI. He said SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is "as excited today as when he launched the company" about the potential of AI.SoftBank bets on AI after Alibaba windfall.

The Future of Work With Leading Expert Tony Jamous

TODAY | 12:00 MST | Author Tina Seelig

Dr. Tina Seelig is the Executive Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars and Emeritus Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford School of Engineering. She teaches courses on leadership, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford.

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