With Apple's recent announcement of their direct sales of not just smartphones, but phone & plan bundles, mainstream customers are about to experience a big, visible change in mobile business models. While lots of articles do a great job comparing Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Plan to similar carrier-specific offerings, there's another issue at hand behind the scenes as Apple closes the loop of the iPhone experience.

Mark Bonchek describes how true leadership comes from empowering individuals with the tools, guidance, and confidence they need to succeed.

Mark Bonchek describes how organizations can use decision principles to empower employees to take action that is both timely and aligned with the organization's principles.

Emotional intelligence is a real, and really important, factor at play in any business which employs and serves human beings. Leaders are learning how to leverage the impact that emotional intelligence—sometimes called “soft skills”—has in business, from individual careers to organizational culture. Articles on the subject are no longer relegated to fringe publications or social sciences, in fact mainstream business journals like Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and FastCompany have been talking about it for several years. The thriving conscious capitalism movement, the emergence of B Corps , and sold-out conferences like Wisdom 2.0 are all further evidence that more and more professionals and companies are taking the human element of business very seriously. This means that not only is the industrial age model of treating people like machines an outdated one, but companies who aren’t engaged with their employees and customers on a human level are at a competitive disadvantage in an increasingly networked world.

Software used to be sold as any other product: a box on a shelf (or a download equivalent) and either basic post-purchase support or paid support contracts. Users would have to wait for a new release to get new features.