The Economist
Happiness doesn’t just make people happy—it also makes them healthier. John Weinman, professor of psychiatry at King’s College London, monitored the stress levels of a group of volunteers and then inflicted small wounds on them. The wounds of the least stressed healed twice as fast as those of the most stressed. At Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Sheldon Cohen infected people with cold and flu viruses. He found that happier types were less likely to catch the virus, and showed fewer symptoms of illness when they did. So although old people tend to be less healthy than younger ones, their cheerfulness may help counteract their crumbliness.
Happier people are more productive, too. Mr Oswald and two colleagues, Eugenio Proto and Daniel Sgroi, cheered up a bunch of volunteers by showing them a funny film, then set them mental tests and compared their performance to groups that had seen a neutral film, or no film at all. The ones who had seen the funny film performed 12% better. This leads to two conclusions. First, if you are going to volunteer for a study, choose the economists’ experiment rather than the psychologists’ or psychiatrists’. Second, the cheerfulness of the old should help counteract their loss of productivity through declining cognitive skills—a point worth remembering as the world works out how to deal with an ageing workforce.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Top 10 HBR Blog Posts of 2010
HBR
10 most popular posts of 2010, as measured by that most inarguable of website metrics, pageviews:
1. 12 Things Good Bosses Believe
2. Six Keys to Being Excellent at Anything
3. How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking
4. Why I Returned My iPad
5. The Best Cover Letter I Ever Received
6. How to Give Your Boss Feedback
7. You've Made a Mistake. Now What?
8. Define Your Personal Leadership Brand
9. Why Companies Should Insist that Employees Take Naps
10. Six Social Media Trends for 2011
10 most popular posts of 2010, as measured by that most inarguable of website metrics, pageviews:
1. 12 Things Good Bosses Believe
2. Six Keys to Being Excellent at Anything
3. How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking
4. Why I Returned My iPad
5. The Best Cover Letter I Ever Received
6. How to Give Your Boss Feedback
7. You've Made a Mistake. Now What?
8. Define Your Personal Leadership Brand
9. Why Companies Should Insist that Employees Take Naps
10. Six Social Media Trends for 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
50 Acts that Enhance Novelty at Work
Brain Leaders and Learners
50 doables below add brainpower to derail workplace toxins and launch innovations leaders crave for a new era. Understand your proclivity for novelty, and begin to step toward more innovative outcomes for success in a new era.
New research about novelty’s power in the brain – only yields its elixirs to those who take advantage. How so?
50 doables below add brainpower to derail workplace toxins and launch innovations leaders crave for a new era. Understand your proclivity for novelty, and begin to step toward more innovative outcomes for success in a new era.
New research about novelty’s power in the brain – only yields its elixirs to those who take advantage. How so?
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Rethinking How We Learn and Work
Ellen Galinsky Huffington Post
Why, asked psychiatrist and author Edward Hallowell, do we get our best ideas in the shower? He was addressing an audience of educators and families sponsored by the 92nd Street Y in New York City, asking them to rethink how we are raising and teaching children.
Hallowell answered himself. It is the one last refuge, he said, the one place where we aren't being bombarded by media and where we can be alone with our thoughts and feelings.
Why, asked psychiatrist and author Edward Hallowell, do we get our best ideas in the shower? He was addressing an audience of educators and families sponsored by the 92nd Street Y in New York City, asking them to rethink how we are raising and teaching children.
Hallowell answered himself. It is the one last refuge, he said, the one place where we aren't being bombarded by media and where we can be alone with our thoughts and feelings.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Why The Best Bosses Are Confident But Not Really Sure
Psychology Today
You're confident but not really sure. That's a state of mind that sounds paradoxical, but at times it really is true. In fact, it's the essence of what developmental psychologist John Meacham called the "attitude of wisdom." And it's a good description of some bosses who strike a healthy balance between knowing and doubting.
Meacham's insight, which was developed much further by organizational psychologist Karl Weick, was that the people we consider wise have the courage to act on their beliefs and convictions at the same time that they have the humility to realize that they might be wrong, and must be prepared to change their beliefs and actions when better information comes along.
You're confident but not really sure. That's a state of mind that sounds paradoxical, but at times it really is true. In fact, it's the essence of what developmental psychologist John Meacham called the "attitude of wisdom." And it's a good description of some bosses who strike a healthy balance between knowing and doubting.
Meacham's insight, which was developed much further by organizational psychologist Karl Weick, was that the people we consider wise have the courage to act on their beliefs and convictions at the same time that they have the humility to realize that they might be wrong, and must be prepared to change their beliefs and actions when better information comes along.
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Fallacy of the Great Idea
ChangeThis
The simple truth is that it is quite possible to create a thriving business without a big idea.
Yes, the world needs people with grand ideas who are willing to take big risks to further progress. In truth, most “great ideas” will never make their investors a penny. True, some companies have made billions from a unique product, but close inspection of many world-beating businesses reveals that their unique selling point is hard to pin down. Can anyone honestly tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi? And at the end of the day, McDonalds and Burger King both sell burgers.
In almost any industry you consider, the incumbents will be stuck in their ways. Small, nimble businesses can quickly integrate the latest ideas into their offerings. A lack of resources can act as a great spur to thinking laterally. Make it a mission to implement industry best practice into all areas of your business, and the next “great idea” may be a seemingly minor change you make to an existing industry.
The simple truth is that it is quite possible to create a thriving business without a big idea.
Yes, the world needs people with grand ideas who are willing to take big risks to further progress. In truth, most “great ideas” will never make their investors a penny. True, some companies have made billions from a unique product, but close inspection of many world-beating businesses reveals that their unique selling point is hard to pin down. Can anyone honestly tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi? And at the end of the day, McDonalds and Burger King both sell burgers.
In almost any industry you consider, the incumbents will be stuck in their ways. Small, nimble businesses can quickly integrate the latest ideas into their offerings. A lack of resources can act as a great spur to thinking laterally. Make it a mission to implement industry best practice into all areas of your business, and the next “great idea” may be a seemingly minor change you make to an existing industry.
Monday, September 13, 2010
50 Awesome Quotes on Risk Taking
from Blogging Innovation
1. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Goethe
12. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
19. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
21. “The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan
45. “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
48. “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” – Andre Gide
1. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Goethe
12. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
19. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
21. “The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan
45. “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
48. “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” – Andre Gide
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