British Psychological Society
Researchers rated the "smile intensity" of 230 baseball professional baseball players. Focusing on the 150 players who'd died by the time of the study and controlling for extraneous factors such as BMI and marital status, the researchers found that those who were flashing a genuine 'Duchenne Smile' were half as likely to die in any given year compared with non-smilers. Indeed, the average life-span of the 63 deceased non-smilers was 72.9 years compared with 75 years for the 64 partial smilers and 79.9 years for the 23 Duchenne smilers.
The question, of course, is does smiling make you healthier, being healthier make you smile more, or perhaps most likely, a smile is a sign of an upbeat personality, which has been linked to longevity in numerous studies -- check out this cool study of nuns in particular.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
3 Principles of Goofing Around
The Talent Code
We all know at some level that goofing around is a smart thing to do. But there’s an deeper connection to explore here that has to do with the specific kind of goofing that leads to innovation. To put it simply: it’s not about the goofer – it’s about the precise quality of of goofing.
We get some good insights into this from new research about daydreaming. As this WSJ story points out, daydreaming is not just idle time:
“People assumed that when your mind wandered it was empty,” says cognitive neuroscientist Kalina Christoff at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. As measured by brain activity, however, “mind wandering is a much more active state than we ever imagined, much more active than during reasoning with a complex problem.”
What’s more, daydreaming activity is not all equal. As the ever-insightful Jonah Lehrer points out in this story, daydreaming has been linked to all kinds of creative breakthroughs – if it’s done right.
“The point is that it’s not enough to just daydream,” [Dr. Jonathan] Schooler [a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara] says. “Letting your mind drift off is the easy part. The hard part is maintaining enough awareness so that even when you start to daydream you can interrupt yourself and notice a creative insight.”
We all know at some level that goofing around is a smart thing to do. But there’s an deeper connection to explore here that has to do with the specific kind of goofing that leads to innovation. To put it simply: it’s not about the goofer – it’s about the precise quality of of goofing.
We get some good insights into this from new research about daydreaming. As this WSJ story points out, daydreaming is not just idle time:
“People assumed that when your mind wandered it was empty,” says cognitive neuroscientist Kalina Christoff at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. As measured by brain activity, however, “mind wandering is a much more active state than we ever imagined, much more active than during reasoning with a complex problem.”
What’s more, daydreaming activity is not all equal. As the ever-insightful Jonah Lehrer points out in this story, daydreaming has been linked to all kinds of creative breakthroughs – if it’s done right.
“The point is that it’s not enough to just daydream,” [Dr. Jonathan] Schooler [a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara] says. “Letting your mind drift off is the easy part. The hard part is maintaining enough awareness so that even when you start to daydream you can interrupt yourself and notice a creative insight.”
Saturday, August 21, 2010
College 2.0: A Self-Appointed Teacher Runs a One-Man 'Academy' on YouTube
Khan Academy
Chronicle of Higher Education
YouTube Channel
The most popular educator on YouTube does not have a Ph.D. He has never taught at a college or university. And he delivers all of his lectures from a bedroom closet. This upstart is Salman Khan, a 33-year-old who quit his job as a financial analyst to spend more time making homemade lecture videos in his home studio. His unusual teaching materials started as a way to tutor his faraway cousins, but his lectures have grown into an online phenomenon—and a kind of protest against what he sees as a flawed educational system.
"My single biggest goal is to try to deliver things the way I wish they were delivered to me," he told me recently.
Mr. Khan calls his collection of videos "Khan Academy," and he lists himself as founder and faculty. That means he teaches every subject, and he has produced 1,400 lectures since he started in 2006. Now he records one to five lectures per day.
Chronicle of Higher Education
YouTube Channel
The most popular educator on YouTube does not have a Ph.D. He has never taught at a college or university. And he delivers all of his lectures from a bedroom closet. This upstart is Salman Khan, a 33-year-old who quit his job as a financial analyst to spend more time making homemade lecture videos in his home studio. His unusual teaching materials started as a way to tutor his faraway cousins, but his lectures have grown into an online phenomenon—and a kind of protest against what he sees as a flawed educational system.
"My single biggest goal is to try to deliver things the way I wish they were delivered to me," he told me recently.
Mr. Khan calls his collection of videos "Khan Academy," and he lists himself as founder and faculty. That means he teaches every subject, and he has produced 1,400 lectures since he started in 2006. Now he records one to five lectures per day.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Importance of Story
EricBrown.com
storytelling as a mechanism for knowledge capture & transfer within project teams. See a presentation on that subject here -> Stories, Projects & Knowledge Management. Here’s another article on Using Stories to Share Knowledge.
Stories have a ton of good qualities. They help set context. They help share values and beliefs. There are lots of good things about stories.
But the most important is one that we often overlook. It’s the importance of YOUR story to your life.
Chris Brogan pointed toward Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (affiliate link) a few months ago.
Chris recently said the following about Miller’s book: “It’s about the importance of living your life as if you’re the main character in an important story.”
storytelling as a mechanism for knowledge capture & transfer within project teams. See a presentation on that subject here -> Stories, Projects & Knowledge Management. Here’s another article on Using Stories to Share Knowledge.
Stories have a ton of good qualities. They help set context. They help share values and beliefs. There are lots of good things about stories.
But the most important is one that we often overlook. It’s the importance of YOUR story to your life.
Chris Brogan pointed toward Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (affiliate link) a few months ago.
Chris recently said the following about Miller’s book: “It’s about the importance of living your life as if you’re the main character in an important story.”
Sunday, August 15, 2010
A Massive Generational Change in Leadership
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/19/bill-george-generations-baby-boom-millennial-leadership-citizenship-ethisphere.html
William W. George, a professor of management at Harvard Business School who is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic and currently a director of both ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs talks about how leadership in business is going through a huge and dramatic transformation as the baby boom gives way to younger executives with very different ways of seeing the world, connecting and working. He also talks about what it takes to be a strong leader in a challenging time
William W. George, a professor of management at Harvard Business School who is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic and currently a director of both ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs talks about how leadership in business is going through a huge and dramatic transformation as the baby boom gives way to younger executives with very different ways of seeing the world, connecting and working. He also talks about what it takes to be a strong leader in a challenging time
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Secret to Success Product Innovation: Keep the Boss Out of It...
Nielsen http://en-us.nielsen.com/content/nielsen/en_us/news/news_releases/2010/june/secret_to_successful.html
Nielsen’s research of the innovation processes at 30 large CPG companies operating in the U.S. reveals that companies with less senior management involvement in the new product development process generate 80 percent more new product revenue than those with heavy senior management involvement.
BQF Innovation http://www.bqf.org.uk/innovation/2010/07/07/to-boost-innovation-just-keep-the-boss-away/
Nielsen’s research of the innovation processes at 30 large CPG companies operating in the U.S. reveals that companies with less senior management involvement in the new product development process generate 80 percent more new product revenue than those with heavy senior management involvement.
BQF Innovation http://www.bqf.org.uk/innovation/2010/07/07/to-boost-innovation-just-keep-the-boss-away/
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Creativity Crisis
Newsweek - http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html
U.S. creativity has been in decline since 1990, as measured by tests formulated by professor E. Paul Torrance. College of William & Mary professor Kyung Hee Kim, who determined the decline through an analysis of nearly 300,000 Torrance scores of children and adults, says the drop is "most serious" for younger U.S. children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The potential consequences are sweeping. The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future.
U.S. creativity has been in decline since 1990, as measured by tests formulated by professor E. Paul Torrance. College of William & Mary professor Kyung Hee Kim, who determined the decline through an analysis of nearly 300,000 Torrance scores of children and adults, says the drop is "most serious" for younger U.S. children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The potential consequences are sweeping. The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
50 Awesome Quotes on Risk Taking
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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