Piggybacking on our last post, here is Dr. Carol Dweck’s TEDx talk about the power of adopting a growth mindset and believing that you can improve your skills in just about anything!
Category: Learning (Page 9 of 25)
The right people in the right seats on the bus: this is the metaphor from the first Jim Collins best-seller ‘Good to Great’. In that book – published in 2001 – the author identifies what leaders need to do, in order to see their teams and organizations excel. And he uses the power of an image to communicate the following concept.
According to Collins, leaders who are able to transform their organizations begin not by setting a direction, but by getting the right people on the bus – and the wrong people off the bus.
Actually great leaders understand the following three simple truths:
1. If you begin with “who,” rather than “what”, you can more easily adapt to a changing world.
2. If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away, because they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.
3. If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company.
Assembling the team is the first crucial point. Then a leader has to develop a vision (the direction of the bus), to remove obstacles to high performance (that is, maybe people are not exactly in the right seats and need to be assigned to the right role) and to help people with diverse talents and interests building trust in each other.
It is an hard work, but leaders need it to accomplish objectives with the right people.
Image source: http://bit.ly/16TU0QU
We have all been told that thinking outside-the-box is often the secret to finding resolutive solutions to our problems. In a world that seems to be evolving faster and faster, it is imperative that we find ways to adapt ourselves and our businesses to new circumstances and new challenges.
But due to the way our mind works, it is often harder than expected to actually think out of the box. First of all, what box are we talking about? And second of all, if we get out of that box, where are we supposed to go.
This is precisely the problem that Alain Iny, BCG Associate Director, and Luc De Brabandere, BCG Senior Advisor, address in their book “Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity”.
They propose a new form of strategic creativity, which they defined “thinking in new boxes”, that helps people tap into their creativity while being sure of addressing the right questions.
We must come up with many new boxes, and then choose the most appropriate one to solve our problem.
The authors outline a 5-step approach to thinking in new boxes:
- Doubt Everything – Challenge your current perspectives. The way you are thinking right now could be preventing you from developing new solutions.
- Probe the possible – Maintain self-awareness while re-examining the world around you. Explore all options and be conscious of what is happening within and outside your environment.
- Diverge – Generate many new and exciting things, even if they seem absurd and opposing. Jot down even those ideas which are unpopular and unattractive. But always keep in the back of your mind the framed question that you began with.
- Converge – Evaluate and select the ideas that will drive breakthrough results.
- Reevaluate – No idea is a good idea forever. Embrace the change. Always reevaluate, relentlessly.
If you wish to learn more you can:
- Watch Alain Iny’s TED talk:
- Watch Luc De Brabandere’s TED talk:
So many times we are required to come up with sensible and insightful observations to make during a conversation. And many times we find ourselves struggling with organizing our ideas properly and more importantly conveying them effectively to our audience (whether small or large).
The Instant Speech is a powerful yet really simple technique to help us in those situations where we want to tell a story or get across a message in a few words.
There are 3 steps to creating the general framework of an Instant Speech:
- Decide your Key Message
- Choose 3 points or topics to support it
- Deliver your Instant Speech with confidence
To read more about this and to get more tips on Public Speaking you can visit Jezra Kaye’s website Speak up for success
Image source: Pixabay (CC0)
Mind Maps are a tool introduced by Tony Buzan which help organize our thoughts and ideas through key words in a hierarchical yet creative manner. Mind maps can be used for anything from studying, to tackling problems, to making decisions and even preparing for our next job meeting.
Here are the main steps to creating a mind map:
- Take a blank piece of paper and place it horizontally
- Write the core concept you wish to analyze
- Add branches which represent the main ideas which are linked to that concept
- Each branch can have further branches stemming from it
- Lines representing the branches should be thinner as you get further away from the central point
- Be creative: use colors, use curvy lines, use images which help evoke certain ideas
- DO NOT FOLLOW A LINEAR PATH: you can go back to branches and add or subtract as you wish
Most important of all, find your own mind mapping style. In order to make ourselves be understood by others, we must find our voice!
Here are two TED talks on Mindmaps:
If you want to learn more about mind mapping, you should check out these previous articles:
The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps (part 1)
The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps (part 2): the success formula
Have you ever wished you could remember the names of all the people you met at that last networking event? Have you ever wondered how to read more books when the time available to us seems to be less and less?
Enter Jim Kwick: otherwise known as “memory superhero”. World expert in speed-reading, memory improvement and optimal brain performance, Jim was able to rewire his brain to function at top speed and is now teaching others to do the same.
In this wonderful “The School of Greatness” podcast episode Jim Kwik shares with host Lewis Howes his story and some tips about mastering the art of memory.
For example, he shares his method for remembering someone’s name: all you have to do is keep in mind BE SUAVE.
- Believe
- Exercise
- Say the name
- Use it
- Ask about it
- Visualize
- End by saying their name
Remembering someone’s name is perceived as a sign of caring. When people think you care, they trust you. Trust is what any leader wants from his co-workers.
So start working on your memory skills! As Jim says, “If knowledge is power, learning is a superpower.”
Here is the link to listen the episode:
3 Ways To Master Your Memory and Unlock Your Inner Superhero
You can visit Jim Kwik’s website where you can learn more about his method and the courses he offers.
Why do some peace summits succeed while other fails? In this work of Marcus Holmes and Keren Yahri-Milo, the authors highlight the importance of empathy between leaders. In fact, they first demonstrate that numerous findings suggest that empathy—the ability to understand the cognitive and affective states of others without necessarily sympathizing with them—is required for overcoming long-standing hostilities.
In this regard, they significantly report the words of the UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold: “you can only hope to find a lasting solution to a conflict if you have learned to see the other objectively, but, at the same time, to experience his difficulties subjectively”.
Hence, demonstrating empathy to your adversary is not a signal of weakness or vulnerability but a demonstration that you are negotiating in good-faith.
You can read more about this issue here
Image source: Yuriy Somov – Wikimedia Commons
The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish be thought to be. Socrates
Image source: Flickr – thierry ehrmann (CC BY 2.0)
Emtithal was 10 when she learned what the word “genocide” meant. She lived in Darfur and she didn’t understand why they were burying so many people.
She started writing poems to convince people to hear and see what was happening.
Emtithal “Emi” Mahmoud continues writing poetry to witness and to make people more sensitized to the humanity who stands behind such tragedies.
In this TED, Emi shares two wonderful poems with the public.
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