​The United States is facing numerous conservation challenges affecting the nation's wildlife and natural resources. American forests and wetlands are disappearing faster than ever, and extreme weather patterns are devastating unique ecosystems throughout the country. According to The Conservation Fund, excessive development and urban sprawl together represent one of the most serious conservation issues in the US. Unsurprisingly, as metropolitan areas expand and highways carve up more of the land, natural environments shrink. New construction results in fewer places for animals to live, forage, and raise their young.

Urban sprawl is especially damaging to conservation efforts. The rapid, almost uncontrollable expansion of cities and towns into previously rural and undeveloped regions is defined by low-density housing, single-use zoning, and other harmful policies. Urban sprawl is closely connected to increased traffic, which drives pollution and collisions with wildlife. Between 1982 and 2017, urban sprawl consumed almost 45 million acres of land, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an area of land roughly the size of the state of Nebraska.

Habitat fragmentation is another major conservation issue in the US. Habitat loss can wreak havoc on local wildlife, but highways, housing communities, and structures as simple as fences can divide once continuous environments into isolated islands, which disturbs migration, mating, and other critically important behaviors. The National Wildlife Federation reports that huge portions of the nation's natural landscapes have suffered from habitat fragmentation. The Journal Science Advances reports that more than 70 percent of American forests exist within six miles of roads, clearings, or towns, subjecting these habitats to the effects of fragmentation.

Of course, climate change is a huge conservation concern not just in the US, but around the world. The complex machinations of climate change have resulted in climbing temperatures, abnormal seasonal patterns, and more intense and frequent weather events. In 2025, storms caused $115 billion in damage across the US, including a record $23 billion from weather and climate disasters. While humans dealt with loss of life and the economic fallout of climate change, wildlife suffered from lost food sources, impacted breeding seasons, and other consequences that many species simply cannot adapt to, putting them at risk of extinction.

Water pollution is a common problem throughout the country, another conservation issue that impacts wildlife as well as human health. Runoff, chemical pollution, and other problems have resulted in the contamination of about 50 percent of all natural waterways in the US, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Finally, conservationists in America are worried about the ongoing degradation of working lands, such as farms, ranches, and forests. These areas cover over half of the nation, providing homes to numerous species of flora and fauna, but over-farming and deforestation have led to an increase in ecological dead zones that provide little in the way of food or shelter.

The Conservation Fund, similar organizations, and national policy-makers are taking steps to address these and other environmental issues in America, which affect both wildlife populations and human health. Protecting vulnerable lands is critically important, but it is equally valuable to restore damaged habitats whenever possible. The Conservation Fund has joined with a network of public and private partners to protect upwards of 9 million acres. Interested parties can learn more or join the fight to conserve American habitats by visiting conservationfund.org.

​For both established corporations and newly created startups, the development of strategic, comprehensive venture building processes is an essential step toward solidifying venture-driven growth. At the earliest stage, venture building involves identifying a pressing consumer need, sometimes known as "customer pain." Before 1945, the average consumer could not have conceived of the microwave, but they would have readily shared their frustrations with not always having the time to prepare a healthy meal.

A business leader who effectively identifies customer pain and reconciles that unnamed desire with a workable product plan can use the latest technology and commercial trends to meet consumer needs. Uber, for instance, leveraged the advent of mobile phones, accessible GPS devices, and real-time payment platforms into what is for many an essential transportation provider. Despite having the scale and resources to use these kinds of technologies, larger businesses often struggle to pursue groundbreaking opportunities and execute disruptive solutions, even if they have recognized areas of customer pain.

In many ways, large corporations can look to startups when it comes to developing disruptive ideas. Establishing a series of possible solutions is a great place to begin, after which business leaders can start making small bets: pilot programs, product prototyping and testing, iterating on ideas, and pivoting as needed.

When it comes to financially supporting disruptive solutions, businesses should consider the Silicon Valley attitude: project funding is like an onion, with each layer representing a new kind of risk, be it a market gamble, a technical challenge, or a technical risk. Larger businesses frequently encounter governance risks. Ideally, whether a person is leading a big business or a small startup, they should strive to eliminate the most significant risks while using the least amount of capital. Experimental product testing affords opportunities for cost-sensitive risk mitigation, increasing the odds of securing valuable funding.

Over time, businesses should establish a venture building pipeline defined by ideation, incubation, acceleration, and scale. Larger corporations typically excel at scale, but lag behind in other areas. During the ideation phase, most businesses either find themselves with one or two clear concepts ready to incubate, an excess of ideas in need of a thorough review, or no ideas, but a market or domain they have deemed ripe for exploration. It is critically important that executives learn to properly assess ideas so that only the most valuable proposals move ahead to the incubation phase.

Most ventures require between 12 and 14 weeks of incubation, though the exact timeline can vary between projects. During this time, business leaders need to focus on customer development, business planning, and the product itself. Customer development processes allow product experts to determine whether sufficient customer pain exists to support a new venture. If the need is great enough, venture builders can turn their attention to matters of product feasibility. Finally, leaders can cultivate a robust business and operations plan to present to potential backers.

Assuming a project secures the necessary funding, venture leaders can focus on bringing a new product or service to market. The accelerate phase is where many businesses stumble, as they face risks associated with product building and testing, marketing and business models, operational economics, and supporting the personnel needed to overcome these and other challenges. Leaders can minimize the impact of these risks by aligning validation, automation, and growth acceleration efforts with the seed, Series A, and Series B funding stages, ensuring the project has the requisite capital to find the correct market fit and generate early revenue, which is paramount to long-term success.

​Great CEOs usually think like successful entrepreneurs because they both strive to make their companies better amidst rising competition. CEOs with entrepreneurial thinking focus on making money, convincing people to buy their products, and managing disruption with resilience and responsiveness. Their adaptability allows them to take risks, try new things, and keep moving forward even when plans do not work out.

To think like entrepreneurs, CEOs make innovation central. They encourage everyone to solve problems and try new ideas, allowing teams to help shape company decisions. This approach is different from the traditional decision-making process, where only some people can make resolutions. When companies adopt an entrepreneurial way of thinking, they enable their teams to be a part of the company’s decision-making process.

Entrepreneurial leaders take risks. They do not avoid uncertainty, seeing risk as a path to growth. They balance downsides with rewards to keep stability and look for bold moves to stand out in a crowded market.

CEOs who think like entrepreneurs are open to ideas. They focus on immediate challenges and what could happen in the future. Such CEOs look at things from different perspectives to determine what their competitors are doing and what their customers want. They also watch out for emerging trends in their industry. This big picture approach helps them anticipate opportunities and respond to situations accordingly.

Thinking like an entrepreneur means being comfortable with uncertainty. Many managers find this hard, but CEOs who think like entrepreneurs know they cannot control everything. They lead teams through uncertain times calmly and confidently, building resilience and keeping people engaged even without clear answers.

Entrepreneurial CEOs are open to changing plans when the need arises, understand they have to tell people where the company is going, and ensure everyone is working towards the main goal. This approach is what encourages people to do more, surpassing their everyday work. Often, entrepreneurs set big goals for themselves and try to get everyone on board. In the same way, entrepreneurial CEOs have a leadership style focused on a vision that motivates people and gets things moving.

Great CEOs avoid controlling everything. They let teams experiment, gather feedback, and adapt quickly, supporting learning and faster innovation. This freedom helps teams to learn and devise ideas fast. On the other hand, great CEOs set their teams free because they want their companies to keep getting better.

Another shared trait between entrepreneurs and CEOs is long-term strategic vision. CEOs allocate resources to initiatives with a high likelihood of succeeding in the future, rather than focusing solely on short-term performance. They balance disciplined risk with sustainable value creation.

Moreover, many great CEOs who think like entrepreneurs hardly direct every detail. They act like founders, empowering people, providing purpose, removing obstacles, and trusting teams to innovate. This approach enables large organizations to move with speed, creativity, and accountability.

When CEOs think like entrepreneurs, they do not stop being organized or even following rules. They remain curious while trying new things and also do what is right and learn from their mistakes. The CEOs who find the balance between being in control and being open to ideas help create a work environment where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and adjusting to changes, making the organization stronger over time.

​Large companies seeking growth often integrate entrepreneurial methods with strategic planning to launch businesses beyond their core operations. Venture building within an organization involves creating startup-like initiatives to address unmet customer needs or capitalize on emerging market opportunities. These ventures pursue rapid growth while leveraging the company’s established resources, capabilities, and support systems.

A key factor enabling venture building within large organizations is a structured, repeatable process. This process must remain adaptable to unexpected challenges. Venture building lets established companies create new businesses, often partnering with external teams. The objective is to address problems the organization cannot tackle with existing operations, enabling experimentation with innovative business models and approaches.

Another important driver of fast-growth ventures in established companies is the development of internal teams empowered to act independently yet draw on corporate resources. Entrepreneurs outside corporate boundaries often drive progress by focusing on customer discovery and continuous learning. Internal venture teams can leverage these practices to minimize early-stage uncertainty. By prioritizing customer-driven research and testing ideas, these teams gather insights that shape product development and confirm market fit before major investments.

Large companies typically focus on efficiency and returns. To launch high-growth ventures, they must take a different approach. First, they need clear policies and resources for new ventures. A defined venturing framework aligns new initiatives with company priorities instead of disconnected experimentation. Securing dedicated funding, executive sponsorship, and decisive processes helps teams stay aligned with corporate objectives while pursuing opportunities beyond regular operations.

Internal venture teams also build strategic networks across the organization to accelerate growth, helping the team grow fast. In start-up environments, entrepreneurs rely on advisors, potential partners, and early customers to get things moving. On the other hand, in companies, teams that work with people from other departments can access expertise, technologies, and distribution channels that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.

Corporations increasingly recognize the value of engaging external venture builders to accelerate growth. These partners bring specialized expertise to identify unmet market needs, validate ideas, and gather market feedback. They transform these insights into viable products. Corporations often excel in established domains but struggle with ambiguity and early-stage learning, so external teams provide effective methodologies and fresh momentum.

For large companies, launching new ventures regularly helps them learn even when individual ventures do not become commercial successes. When a company launches multiple ventures, it can quickly see what does not work and use that information to try something new. This continuous learning helps the company understand its customers and the market better. The team working for the company also gets to try things and learn about innovative ways of doing things, and how to understand what customers want.

Big companies can also benefit from creating portfolios of ventures instead of just working on one initiative. When a company has different projects, it is more likely that at least some ventures will achieve meaningful market traction or external funding, reducing the risk associated with betting on one idea. Corporations that engage consistently in venture building get better at finding ways to grow, moving into new areas of the market and becoming stronger competitors in their field.