Brain Based Biz

Vision Stuck?

2012-01-25T19:20:00.003-05:00

Why is it so easy to miss part of an illusion? Check out the Mask of Love, in the Best Illusion of the Year Contest. Did you find yourself viewing the solution or looking at the animated version before you saw more than one vision?

I'm still curious about the couple ready to kiss. No matter how hard I tried, I missed seeing them inside the "mask." That led me to look at the solution. Did you experience that, too? Once your brain perceives both solutions it easily flips from The Mask of Love or the couple about to kiss. But the lesson here goes a bit deeper. How so?

When leaders do not see other views in business interactions, they miss opportunities. For example, when Goal-Free Living, was featured on the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, publicity connected to Oprah nearly killed Stephen Shapiro's business. Though Stephen moved his vision 90 degrees, for radical new possibilities, many of his clients were unable to shift more than 5 degrees from their narrow view or stuck position as Shipiro now did.

Because he had an innovative vision, Stephen Shipiro capitalized on national publicity to shift-up content and open different distribution channels. Sadly, his clients fell into a routine, so they missed greater opportunities through Steve's bigger vision.

Curiosity opens your awareness. Ready for adventures to arise?

What Do Looks Have to Do with Success?

2011-12-28T17:14:00.001-05:00

Good looks impact success

Good looks provide people with a wow factor that overwhelmingly lands the job, promotion and raise. That's because good-looking people charm interviewers, get hired faster and are more likely to make more sales, Sue Shellenbarger of Wall Street Journal points out.

"Attractive people are likely to earn an average of 3% to 4% more than a person with below-average looks. That adds up to $230,000 over a lifetime, Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor at University of Texas claims. "Even an average-looking worker is likely to make $140,000 more over a lifetime than an ugly worker."

Not that much alters attraction, Hamermesh claims. Though looks can be altered by clothing, cosmetics and other short-term investments, effects are minor. Surgery pays back less than $1 for every $1 spent, but you might feel better overall.

Unfair, but why are people attracted to good looks?

People focus more on people they find attractive, recent research shows. And, individuals tend to view beautiful people as more intelligent, friendly and competent than others. Participants in a recent University of British Colombia study were able to "order" personality traits of attractive people more accurately than others. Traits examined were: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness.

Personality Traits Influence Attractiveness in the Eye of the Beholder

Women and men, who display honesty and helpfulness are perceived as better looking. In contrast, people who are rude and treat others unfairly appear to be less attractive. This shows that cognitive processes and expectations modify judgments of attractiveness. It pays to develop your interpersonal intelligence.

Too Good Looking?

In some cases, you can be too good looking for your own good, and it works against you, Heidi Halvorson reports. Being beautiful can cause jealousy and a variety of other emotional responses in others, even in universities where we would least expect it. Advantages of being beautiful don't guarantee greater successes.

Not too surprisingly, "attractive applicants for a graduate scholarship received more favorable ratings from opposite-sex raters, psychologist Maria Agthe found, "but not from same-sex raters. Men were not necessarily impressed by another man's handsomeness, whereas women actually penalized female applicants for beauty.

Countering Attractiveness Bias

What if... applicants solicit peers' advice on ways to stand out during interviews?

What if... you spend time developing your interpersonal intelligence?

What if... you consider a conservative, professional look if interviewer is of the same sex?

What if... leaders are more aware of their own biases when promoting someone? Ask how much a person's looks influence you.

What if... you question your own reasoning?

Collaboration Revs Results

2011-11-30T17:38:00.004-05:00

Bantering ideas back and forth triggered new insights for me and four other leaders around around the table. Innovative possibilities spoken helped us see past familiar approaches to consider the experimental. At times ideas were spoken so quickly it was hard to keep up!

Intellectual bantering takes energy and focus. Intellectual bantering led all of us to shape a new product based on joint input. How does that happen?

The session was disruptive since we named insights as we experienced "ahas." Ellen Weber introduced a "Talking Stick," with the rule that the person holding the stick was the only one who could speak. But we blurted our "ahas," bypassing the rules. Sharing novel ideas before "losing them" seemed a priority. The talking stick just didn't work this time around. Brains in high gear can't easily be reigned in. Our disruptive session resulted in plans for an innovative product.

Why does unconventionality work?

New Associations Since the five of us were from unrelated fields, we came with a variety of questions, other than those usually asked. Our perspectives were vastly different and from the onset, we knew our brains approached problems uniquely.

Novelty Three leaders outside our field, with different talents, knowledge and experience came at what we do at the Mita Brain Center with very unique suggestions... completely outside our box. Our brains leaped to possibilities with new targets in mind.

Pull While it's so easy to default to favorite approaches or wisdom learned along the way, we were forced by the "pull" to sail in new seas. Visiting leaders introduced us to The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion, by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison. We continually challenged one another, leading us to rely on working memory throughout the session. The working memory, holds very few bits of new information. I outsourced ideas by jotting them down so I could research them more after our session.

Energy Each one of us came to the table with a passion to innovate. As the team kept firing questions, we explored possibilities for a joint product. Through this framework, the five of us considered what's broken in bureaucracies to develop a tangible product that's needed.

Shape Future meetings are on the docket, and we look forward to reviewing initial blueprints. We've exchanged several emails wondering how this or that piece might be helpful. Big ideas were shaping themselves, prepping us for our next meeting.

The human brain comes wired for cooperation. Getting together with leaders outside our field launched a mutual dance. Beginning steps carried the rhythm of promise. Now we anticipate next steps together and where this leads.

Patience

2011-10-26T13:26:00.001-04:00

Losing it! If you sort and review all Tweets referring to patience, you'll find a majority speak of losing patience, or needing more patience. Why do so many people lose it daily?

Flying in the fast lane Seems like the pace of life's more like a sixty-yard dash than a marathon. On the job, individuals are asked to do more. Naturally folks rush at what they do to fit more into a day. Frazzled feelings and impatience results in rushing. So even more time's needed to reach daily targets. That's not too surprising since adrenaline races through your body and without even realizing it, you're in "fight or flight" mode. Not only does rushing wear you out, it ages you prematurely.

Power of distractions Little joy's present - when folks rush. No wonder diversions bring momentary pleasure and relieve stress. A conversation with a buddy, daydreaming about a vacation getaway or simply doodling diverts focus from repetitive tasks. Whoa... diversions create more stress by taking away precious time. Consequently, folks must break a world record finish time to complete their laps for the team project by the deadline.

What is patience? "Simply put, it's the art of learning to wait and then of turning that waiting time into something good for you. Of course, this isn't always easy, not even close. Whether it's waiting for something good, like a birthday party, or dealing with deep pain like the death of a loved one, patience is all about time."

10 tactics to grow patience Try one or many on for size...

1. Daily targets - help organize your time. Jot them on a daily planner or list them on your phone. See if you get the same pleasure as me as you check these off. I learned to manage my time more efficiently when I began doing this daily. See how these work for you.

2. Hourly beeps - can focus attention and steer you clear of distractions. You will get more done and have time for activities you enjoy at the end of a day.

3. Exert more wait power "Instead of exerting our willpower to get everything done as fast as possible," Boston Globe columnist Deborah Kotz points out, "we need to exert more 'wait power,'" as described in The Power of Patience, a best seller by M.J. Ryan. "If not an intrinsic part of your personality, this habit -- like all others -- must be practiced and learned slowly over time," Kotz notes. "What better time to start, though, than this week, which would try the patience of even the calmest souls?"

4. Sleep's dividends - When you feel well-rested, "you have more energy, mental clarity, resilience for the hard things, patience, and wholehearted caring for others," neuropsychologist Rick Hanson notes. Sleep primes your body and brain. How much capital did you deposit in your sleep bank this week?

5. Power through knowing Most people are not aware of the events that drain patience. By writing to know you can be your own change agent. If you are willing to journal about losing it, you can develop a personal patience process. Try a short paragraph daily so that it's quick and easy!

6. Three deep breaths When you feel you are losing patience concentrate on breathing deeply at least three times. This takes focus off the problem and gives you a chance to step back and calm down.

7. Be attentive to events causing you to lose it As you tune in more you can tune out by physically stepping back. Try smiling or say, "Let me think about that more and I'll get back to you." More thought on your part will help you gain needed patience.

8. Baroque music Baroque's pace equals that of your heartbeats as you work at your desk. See if it helps you pick up the pace of your work as it does for me. Baroque helps you focus!

9. Picture your caricature Imagine yourself as a cartoon character when you lose patience and how you'd prefer to be caricatured. Begin to live the new reality.

10. Act opposite of problem Dr. Ellen Weber shows how stress masks as savior and strikes as killer. Your ability to spot good plummets with the cortisol chemicals’ effects from stress. While you’ll be typically hit with about 22 stressors on any ordinary day, it takes an awareness of stress to use serotonin strategies for well being in response to daily stress strikes. Ellen lists 10 brainpowered pathways away from stress.

Brainfire for Twitter

2011-09-27T12:54:00.002-04:00

Brainfire for Twitter

"Don't let Twitter rewire your brain," Connected Manager, Wayne Tramel advises on the heels of a fast-paced and adventurous interview with Dr. Ellen Weber, of the Mita Brain Center. "If it feels like all social media and online communications managers use is somehow changing us, you're right. The way most of us work in the constant world of "tweetfacelinkblogging" can literally make you crazy," Wayne points out.

At the end of the day, the human brain is not static, nor is this interview. For options to wire your brain intentionally rather than letting Twitterverse reshape it for you, tune in Cranky Middle Manager Show titled, Inside the Brains of Slugs.

Enterprising

2011-09-23T15:51:00.005-04:00

Enterprising

"I'm planning to start a business to earn more money," the fifteen-year-old boy shared confidently. "I'm not earning all I need with just my paper route."

"What kind of business do you plan to start," I responded inquisitively.

"A snow shoveling service."

"How will you get customers, Kelby," I quizzed, since I was very anxious to see how much he thought this through.

"I'm planning to send a letter to five of my paper route customers at a time." I will tell them if they want their driveways clean on the mornings we get a snow fall, I am willing to come and shovel their driveways.

"Wow, Kelby, that's a lot of work. Do you think you can get up that early to get to their homes and do the shoveling before school?"

"Yes, that's why I only want about five customers. I could only handle that many. If some of the first five people do not want my service, I will send letters out to five more."

6 enterprising ways Kelby designed his business:

saw the big picture. Kelby thought through the possibilities of a feasible business in his community.
planned well ahead of the winter season.
built on his successful paper route inventively. He'd received ongoing tips for his dependable work so paper route customers knew his character.
figured out how he could get customers with a ingenuous marketing scheme.
problem-solved to fit the work into a narrow time frame.
did not take on more than he knew he could handle.

When so many college students are unable to find work after they graduate, it does not look any better for a teen Kelby's age in the economic climate ahead. It is refreshing to see Kelby's start-up approaches in action, since he's building problem-solving savvy no matter what he intends to do in life. This gives him opportunity to gain business experience at a young age and prepare himself for future applications.

Enterprising skills are so needed in the 21st century. Think creatively about how each of us can support our youth to prepare.

Unleash Your Smile!

2011-09-12T13:08:00.000-04:00

Smiles brought such pleasing responses from family and friends, as a child, that I began to capitalize on smiling. As a young adult, people nicknamed me smiley. Smiling at folks is so natural for me now, I don't even think about it. Often people say that are attracted to me because of my smile. I started thinking more about the power of a smile and discovered exactly why it can be so potent.

Smile for Smile In a crowd, I find it fascinating to smile intentionally one-on-one at folks who pass by me. To make it more personal, I look each individual in the eye as well. With few exceptions, each person smiles back, though we are strangers.

Mirror Effect Intriguingly, the mirror neurons in another person's brain respond when she sees someone's action with a specific intent behind it. Random actions don't have the same effect, David Rock notes. Why? mirror neurons seem to be the brain's mechanisms for understanding another person's goals and objectives, and the upshot is feeling connected to her.

A smile must be genuine - people easily detect a fake smile

Unleash the power of your smile by smiling...

at a spouse or colleague - especially when you don't feel like it. As the smile is returned it can transform your mood.

when introduced to someone new. A smile enhances an opportunity to make a lifetime friendship from that connection.

at an appropriate moment as you listen intently to unique ideas or someone's story.

when you face intense events such as an accident or death of a loved one. I find that it takes my mind to the most pleasant experiences I've had with the person and smiling calms me down.

when someone close lets you down. Giving them a genuine form of encouragement can turn an event upside-down, which could otherwise cause a problem.

to begin your day with sunshine inside. Your actions form inside out...

at folks many just pass by. People in wheelchairs, from other cultures, too thin, too heavy and especially those with purple tips in their hair feel a lift from you. I find as I go a step further to initiate a conversation by asking a 2-footed question, I am blessed.

when people serve you well - or even fail to. Somehow it lifts the service up a notch.

when you "have to" write an essay or blog. Missing motivation and inspiration return.

as you look for solutions to problems. Get into an activity that really makes you smile. In 20 minutes or less hat brings a solution aha and it might work for you.

Play it forward... Make a difference as you unleash your smile to others. Any more ideas you'd like to share?

Money and Contentment

2011-09-02T19:25:00.001-04:00

Money and happiness

I'd rather focus on money than people... Paul verbalized as he led a seminar for building savvy financial choices. His words stuck and I couldn't let go of them. Interestingly, money - even the thought of it - reduces satisfaction from life's simple pleasures...

Studies show that a person's ability to savor experiences predicts their degree of happiness. Savoring leads to emotions of joy, excitement, wonder, contentment and gratitude. You can develop an emotional attachment to money, as much as you might for relationships you hold most dear. Your brain rewires for more of what you do and focus on. Because of the emotional pleasure connected to savoring money, it creates a strong pattern for more such pleasure.

The Rich Really Are Different

"The rich really are different, and not in a good way," explains psychologist and social scientist, Dacher Keltner. "Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish."

In fact, he says, the philosophical battle over economics, taxes, debt ceilings and defaults that are now roiling the stock market is partly rooted in an upper class "ideology of self-interest."

Unlike the rich, lower class people have to depend on others for survival, Keltner argued. So they learn “prosocial behaviors.” They read people better, empathize more with others, and they give more to those in need.

In video recordings of conversations, rich people are more likely to appear distracted, checking cell phones, doodling, avoiding eye contact, while low-income people make eye contact and nod their heads more frequently signaling engagement.

Momentary Happiness

Higher income women have more momentary happiness and less overall life satisfaction, according to statistics. To determine the level of contentment in lower versus higher income women, the two were compared in data from a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey. Alan Kruger, an economist from Princeton and his research colleagues found that those with higher incomes had more chores and less fun. For example, higher income women "devoted more time to working, commuting, childcare, and shopping and were under more stress and tension than those in lower income brackets."

Men making more than $100,000 a year spend about 20% of their time on passive leisure activities such as watching television and socializing. Meanwhile, men whose annual income were less than $20,000 spent more than 34 percent of their time dedicated to passive leisure.

Contentment

What brings you real contentment anyway?

Gratitude Thankfulness is essential to achieving well-being.

Relationships Family and friends bring large measure of psychological wealth.

Creativity Exploration and discovery makes us feel open and alive and boosts resilience and satisfaction with life.

Faith Opens a window to the meaning of life and by embracing God we find inner contentment.

Nature Relaxes and refreshes mind and soul.

Learning Leaping to meet new intellectual challenges and using gifts and talents in new ways.

Laughter A lighthearted attitude often brings aha moments when you need them most.

Courage Inner strength to stand up for what is best for yourself and others.

Empathy Caring about and helping others.

What would you add to this list?

More Mental Oomph though Others!

2011-07-18T22:05:00.003-04:00

Just go down diagonally... and see that without questions, targets, expectations, multiple resources and reflection, you would have stagnation, Jared said. Stagnation's totally opposite of growth in Mita's Growth chart. Though Ellen Weber and I developed and used the Mita Growth chart extensively, we never saw what Jared saw twelve years later, just by tracing your finger through Mita's five missing steps. And, stagnation is totally opposite of the growth you want, Jared smiled knowingly. It looked so very simple once Jared pointed it out. Why did we miss it? Perhaps we were just too close to it...

People are more creative for others than for themselves, according to researchers Evan Polman and Kyle Emich. The working principle is called construal-level theory, which simply means we tend to think in more abstract terms about far-away problems (or problems belonging to people not as close to us) — and thinking in the abstract generates more creative solutions, Polman and Emich conclude.

Boost your business skill as a negotiator, manager, product designer, marketer or advertiser by:

Asking someone, in a coffee shop or anywhere else you might be in a line, for a solution.
Naming your problem to a networked cloud online, you would have access to many remote people who will likely share a solution quite quickly.
Imagining you will solve the problem for someone else or coming up with words of advice for another professional in your circumstances.

See what you get for answers. And, while you're at it, let someone else do it for you!

After all, Jared had a very keen insight about Mita's Growth chart, and it was the first time he saw it.

Thoughts?

Fuel Your Brain as You Fill Your Plate

2011-06-16T21:00:00.001-04:00

Fuel Your Brain as You Fill Your Plate

What do you fill your plate with? Interestingly, how we fill our plates affects mental acuity especially for folks middle age and booming. Include your snacks on the plate, too, because they are part of your brain fuel. A tell-tale discovery shows why...

When younger, I had a job with a lot of repetitive tasks. To pep up my day, I took a bag of tiny, wonderfully flavored jelly beans to work. You know the kind with lime, coconut, raspberry, apple, blackberry and so many tantalizing flavors? Once I put one in my mouth, I wanted more and before I realized it, the whole bag disappeared. I noticed my vision was a bit blurry and I also seemed to lose my pep. The incident put a real scare in me and I decided that I needed to concentrate on eating well. At that moment, I quickly changed my approach to sugar. The changes made a difference to my ability to both think and see clearly. That was 20 years ago and the bonus is my working memory performs at the top.

Like me, have you had reason to drastically change the way you fill your plate?

10 Foods to Fuel Your Brain as You Fill Your Plate

Grains:

Barley - a chewy cereal grain with a nutlike flavor or... a great addition for homemade soups. Barley's rich with dietary fiber and selenium and is considered one of the world's healthiest foods. Selenium works as an antioxidant enzyme to prevent cellular damage from free radicals. You benefit by improved moods, increased energy as well as increased cognitive function and clarity.

Oats - try nutty oat bread for delicious flavor and amazing texture or... fix a steaming bowl of oatmeal to start your day. Oats are low in saturated fat and cholesterol... a good source of fiber, thiamin, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese. Researchers are investigating the ways oats may help enhance cognition as people age.

Protein

Almonds High in Vitamin E, almonds also provide plenty of riboflavin, magnesium and manganese. Almonds can help lower your cholesterol level and provide increased protection against heart attacks. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that is valuable in protecting cell membranes, which adds to brain health as we age.

Wild Fish and Sea Food Natural Omega-3 fatty acids play a crucial role in brain function, plus they may reduce the risk of heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids are highly concentrated in the brain and appear to be important for cognitive (brain memory and performance) and behavioral function. In fact, infants who do not get enough omega-3 fatty acids from their mothers during pregnancy are at risk for developing vision and nerve problems. Symptoms of omega-3 fatty acid deficiency include fatigue, poor memory, dry skin, heart problems, mood swings or depression, and poor circulation.

Vegetables

Tomatoes Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes, which could help protect against the kind of free radical damage to cells which occurs in the development of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's.

Sweet Potatoes Not only do sweet potatoes have dietary fiber, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium, they also contain beta-carotene, which boosts your memory.

Fruits

Avocados Almost as good as blueberries in promoting brain health. Though the avocado is a fatty fruit, it's monounsaturated fat, which contributes to healthy blood flow. Healthy blood flow means a healthy brain. They also help lower blood pressure. Because hypertension is a risk factor in declining cognitive abilities, lower blood pressure definitely should promote brain health. Since avocados are high in calories, using only 1/4 to 1/2 an avocado works well to spice up a salad or serve as a side dish.

Blackberries Try this delicious fruit to boost your brain's ability to retain and recall information. They provide the necessary nutrition the brain needs, such as folate to stimulate the brain, omega-3 fatty acids to enhance the brain’s function, and tryptophan, which provides needed serotonin and can relieve depression and insomnia.

Besides, the anthocyanins found in blackberries can prevent degenerative brain diseases. The older we get the harder it is to learn new things.

The reason? In order to process new information our brain cells need to “talk” to each another. Yet, as we age those cells become inflamed making it harder for them to communicate with one another.

Blackberries can get the conversation flowing again. According to a 2009 Tufts University study blackberries have powerful antioxidants (polyphenols) that help to stop inflammation and encourage your brain to soak up new information.

Dairy

Low Fat Yogurt High vitamin D content found in yogurt boosts brain functions. for instance, metabolic pathways for vitamin D have been found in the hippocampus and cerebellum areas of the brain - involved in planning, processing and forming new memories. In one research study, 35% of participants with sufficient vitamin D levels had higher cognitive performance on brain function tests.

Low Fat Milk A low saturated fat/low glycemic index diet can reduce the concentration of a protein in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease, according to recent research. By drinking low-fat milk, improved performance on certain memory tests in both groups of study participants.

Ready to fuel your brainpower to increase your mental agility?

My mom used to say, "you are what you eat." She was very careful to follow the original pyramid as I was growing up. I can even remember having liver once a week because she thought it was one way to ensure that we had lots of iron. But even that has changed as scientists have learned too much red meat does us more harm than good. Isn't that just one indication we need to stay tuned with new research and change old habits?

What would happen to your well-being if you kept these additional USDA recommendations in mind as you fill your plate daily?

Balance calories by enjoying your food but eating less of it and avoiding over sized portions.
Increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables; make at least half of your grains whole grains; and drink fat free or 1% milk.
Reduce the consumption of sodium in foods such as soup, bread, and frozen meals; reduce sugary drinks and replace with water.

Seize the Day - Power Up Creativity

2011-05-16T13:34:00.002-04:00

C Carpe Diem - Seize inspiration and
R Run with ideas to see where they can take you
E Explore and play, never stopping...
A Angle your line for hours as a person who fishes
T Talk with creatives and people outside your field till your brain's abuz-z-z-z-z
I Initiate from within - unleashing your potential
V Vacuum cobwebs - relax and refresh your spirit
I Idle the motor - simply daydream when you feel like it...
T Touch your soul - Thank God and be grateful
Y Yes, yes, yes.

Look at creativity through another viewfinder to see the action in your brain

C Curiosity and discovery can increase rewards to brain through dopamine, a natural drug
R Rewire brain by doing creative acts & your brain builds neuron pathways for creativity
E Engages amygdala where brain processes emotional information that feeds zeal & novelty
A Adjust speed of brain waves by selecting music that enhances your creative activity.
T Target your working memory to try new skills
I Insightful thinking increases activity in temporal lobes, which enable applications you try
V Vary work activities to tap your brain's multiple intelligences
I Improves focus and problem solving through brain's natural serotonin
T Tap into sensory information stored in parietal lobes to enhance visualization of places and events
Y Yield to a sense of improvisation and self-expression that originates in the brain's frontal lobe

Is Your Vision Moving "Full Steam Ahead?"

2011-05-06T17:10:00.002-04:00

What makes people with vision so astoundingly vibrant and successful? Full Steam Ahead draws you into life events though a story that touches you in ways how-to books cannot. Ken Blanchard and Jesse Lyn Stoner offer fascinating insights about the transformative power unleashed by vision in a small insurance company.

From the start, your curiosity is roused with Ellie's, as she puzzles over a voice mail message she finds on her phone ending with...

I believe there is nothing wrong with average lives and average accomplishments; most of the good of the world builds on the accumulated efforts of everyday people. But a life should strive for greatness, as Lincoln seemed to know.

"Who was Jim, and why was his message in my voice mailbox? This was something I hadn't expected in the business world... Each morning, I was intrigued by the brief message that began with the words 'Good morning, everyone. This is Jim."'"

Ellie's wonderment led to greater curiosity.

Interestingly, curiosity releases dopamine in your brain, which leads to heightened motivation. And when you find the answers you are rewarded by further releases of dopamine, which leave you feeling good. No wonder Ellie's curiosity is such a driving force throughout the story.

Ellie soon learns that Jim, the company head, has been leaving the messages to make a personal connection to company employees and create a small company feeling. However, Jim does not believe he can create the same kind of spark within the company as his Dad and he goes so far as to admit his work does not seem exciting or fulfilling. Not too surprisingly, myths people hold in their brains about their abilities can keep playing out. Here's why... Thinking of oneself as "lesser than," when it comes to performance, is but one of the many myths people create in the brain and the more they tell themselves that, the more deeply entrenched it becomes. But leaders can stretch past ability myths by doing the opposite.

After Ellie joined the firm things begin to change for Jim...

Ellie asks many questions to figure out how the pieces fit. She's the catalyst to help Jim rework the elusive vision puzzle from the inside out. Jim realizes that his Dad had a vision of what he wanted the insurance company to be, and everyone shared in that, but knows it's lacking for him. Ellie finally asks, "But if you don't have a vision, how do you get one? What is it that makes a vision?"

Some people just don't get why it's important to have a vision, and worse yet they have no idea how to create one. And, some businesses get people organized around a vision and then lose the focus. Worst of all some companies create a vision when they need to downsize. So... a way to create a vision that inspires and motivates is direly needed.

As Jim and Ellie struggle to figure out the answers, you enter the process with them and walk alongside as they work out a clear vision for Carpenter Insurance Agency. Jim and Ellie decide to hold early morning meetings to answer some of Ellie's questions.

During their meetings they figure out how purpose, a picture of the future and clear values are intricately woven into vision. Coming to grips with failure when gaps cause difficulty, makes the impact realistic. But, you see how Jim and Ellie, stick to it and find real answers that fit their context. Though your company might be quite different, you see practical approaches that can be adjusted to work for you or your organization.

Blanchard and Stoner create a bonus for readers by narrowing down main parts of their understanding in charts. You'll be inspired to create a vision for a workplace, department, team or even yourself personally as you draw from the tools provided. You'll see the how's of doing it.

Full Steam Ahead provides the empowerment you need to bring vision to your organization in a way that's insightful, clear and meaningful. When a vision's shared it energizes people with a new excitement about coming to work, and they're enabled to circumvent barriers more easily.

If you order your copy today on May 6 [today] Ken Blanchard and Jesse Lyn Stoner will make a donation of all online profits to Give Kids the World. This second edition sold over 250,000 copies and has been translated into 21 languages.

Teen Brains Susceptible to Facebook

2011-04-26T20:39:00.002-04:00

Teen Brains Susceptible to Facebook

96% of College students use Facebook... when you think about that statistic, it's amazing, but not surprising since this generation is highly energized by technology. "Well-balanced youth often use these sites to further enhance the positive relationships they already have," according to University of Virginia psychologists. But there's a downside for others...

Teens who have behavioral problems and difficulty making friends, or who are depressed, may be more inclined to use social media in negative and sometimes aggressive ways, or not to use such sites at all.

Teens are spending a lot of time hooked up and average of 6 hours a day, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Parents, researchers and educators are trying to figure out what all these hours plugged in are doing to their brains.

The teenage brain is an unfinished product," explains David Walsh, psychologist and author of Why Do They Act that Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen In the teenage years, says Walsh, one of the major circuits that's developing is the prefrontal cortex. 'The circuits that are under construction during the teen years have to do with impulse control, management of aggression, emotional regulation, self regulation a lot of executive functions of the brain," he says.

It's also the reason teenagers are famous for having to pull all-nighters, not thinking through the consequences of downloading porn onto mom's computer, or piercing their tongues. That's because the prefrontal cortex also handles planning, reasoning and social skills, says Jordan Grafman, who heads the cognitive neuroscience section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. "It's what makes us human," he says and because it's still developing, "it's very susceptible to trends and changes that happen during the adolescent years."

The amazing infographic below mirrors these findings visually as it reveals Facebook's good and bad impact on high school and college age youth.

Infographic on overall Facebook user stats:

Via: Online Education

10 Divergent Strategies - Break through the Box!

2011-04-21T17:48:00.005-04:00

All creativity imagines an alternative universe ~ August Turak

Thinking Outside a Less Intact Box

Why is it that creative people tend to break rules? Innovators imagine something that will work better. They don't like being boxed in, but somehow have a glint in their eyes for the adventure of a challenge. Is that where you see yourself?

Intriguingly, creativity may have come into the world by a lie... An early inhabitant on our planet imagined a fake water hole and made it seem realistic to a competing tribe so that competitors picked up stakes and moved to settle in that locale. "All creativity imagines an alternative universe," Turak finds. "A universe that does not yet exist, and in this sense every creative act is 'untruthful.'"

Consider the mad artist...is there a link between highly creative people and mental illness? After all, Vincent Van Gogh and Sylvia Plath, represent a popular perception that creativity and madness go hand in hand. Some scientists recently found that "divergent thinking, or the ability to think outside the box, involves the brain's dopamine communication system." A Swedish research team, who investigated the dopamine connection further, discovered that "people who had lower levels of dopamine receptor activity in the thalamus also had higher scores on tests of divergent thinking--for instance, finding many solutions to a problem." They think outside a less intact box, since previous works shows that people with schizophrenia also have lower dopamine receptor activity in the thalamus.

So what exactly does this have to do with work? Everything. Here're examples of divergent thinking that break norms...

1. Great guerrilla marketing "means developing a sixth sense for knowing when and how to creatively cut corners," August Turak notes. "It requires a sort of impish instinct for breaking rules. But it also means successfully walking that invisible line between creativity and unethical chicanery."

"Every great guerrilla marketer is a bit of a scamp; a person who is constantly evaluating the rules that make up conventional thinking looking for the ones just screaming to be broken. If the bowling ball is the implacable enemy of the egg, guerrilla marketing is the implacable enemy of all the assumptions that pass for business as usual."

2. From Mentor to Mindguide "Both experts and upstarts claim to see unlimited potential in shared wisdom, Dr. Ellen Weber points out. "Yet seasoned mentors advise clever cronies to operate much like themselves, in spite of rapidly changing horizons."

"Few would disagree – it’s time to shift tutoring approaches to reflect more balanced and reciprocal coaching. Guidance based on mutual brainpower potential, and experience from differences, rather than on entitlement, age or seniority."

3. Conversation as a "non-zero sum" game The world is fast changing from the 500-year tradition of individualism since it is not working in today's world. Individualism leads to a zero-sum game which polarizes positions. Collaborative conversations take people in a more productive direction that benefits humankind. "One player's gain does not translate into the other's loss, Melinda Blau concludes. Such conversation helps us to think differently and see new creative possibilities.

4. Experimentation - a part of every employee's work In order to develop a culture of experimentation, H. James Wilson and Kevin Desouza suggest that "organizations should provide employees with a multitude of opportunities to question, observe, and engage in new experiences." Some key strategies are:

a. Increase managerial attention. Managers can encourage employees to experiment with their ideas, but even go so far as requiring experimentation when ideas are being developed and proposed.

b. Develop employees' skills on basics of conducting experiments.

c. Use experimentation in spite of the fact it'ss a messy and untidy process. Experiments usually don't lead to fruitful results.

d. Start presentation series for researchers and practitioners. Sharing extends insights. Both researchers and practitioners seek quality outcomes to present to wider community.

5. Fail Harder Though failure goes against the grain, Jorge Barba reminds us that massive failure advances the creative process. "Success is a lousy teacher compared with failure," Mohawn Sawnney of the Kellogg School of Business finds. "We learn a lot from failure, because failure makes us more receptive to new ideas and failure is easier to diagnose than success." Sawhney suggests that companies should document, celebrate and reward failure by focusing on Famous Mistakes.

Ad house Wieden+Kennedy created a mural to display such a divergent approach.

6. Best leaders are great followers Nearly everyone sees him or herself as a leader. But where are the followers? Michael Hyatt asks. On the flip side, history’s worst leaders never learned to follow. As a result, they became tyrants, making the lives of their own followers miserable, Hyatt contends. He sees unassuming qualities in great followers: clarity of role; obedience with the ability to follow orders; servants willing to do the job joyfully; humility that shines light on other leaders; and, loyalty in public with private influence.

7. Weird rules boost creativity Strangely enough, weird rules can boost a company's innovative output. 10 years ago Stanford professor, Robert Sutton introduced his methods in Weird Ideas that Work.

Some of the guidelines include:

Reward success and failure; punish inaction,
Find some happy people and get them to fight,
Ignore people who have solved the exact problem you face,
Hire "slow learners" (of organizational code),
Seek out ways to avoid, distract, and bore customers.

"Rules which fight against the normal corporate norms," Lifehacker's Dave Drager concludes, "have been proven to foster creativity within organizations."

8. Power of Play In a quest to "escape the tyranny of technique," Kate Arms-Roberts discovered InterPlay, an integrated system encompassing all the parts of your life--"a sanctuary for those who seek to be spontaneous, affectionate, open to truth, playful and real," according to leader and guest blogger, Kate Arms-Roberts. InterPlay's foundations build on "improvisational practices using song, story, silence, dance and community and a set of principles that can be applied to any moment in life.to help break the rules." Consider Ann's experience...

Storytelling forms of InterPlay loosen me up. When I struggle to make the words tell my story, Babbling in a Made-up Language releases me from the pressure of precision. When I am running over with ideas, I Could Talk About is a form that gets the ideas out without requiring me to do anything with them; I just have to list them. If my body is stiff or my words are stilted, I can shake things up by telling Big Body Stories that involve movement or dance as well as words.

How might improvisational play launch new creativity in your work?

9. Gaming changes disliked routines If you take the Tube to work in London, travel can be fun rather than bearable with Chromaroma. Here's how it works:

Chromaroma will import the user's Tube, bus and bike journey history, awarding points for each trip. For each user, Chromaroma tracks statistics on the number of swipes, achievements, “missions,” “collections,” places, identities, modes of transport, seasonal highlights and passengers encountered as the user travels around the city, along with the number of stations “captured,” records set and overall rank. By watching their own travel details, users can investigate new ways to travel and new destinations; "multipliers" and bonus points are available by working with a team, building up connections with fellow passengers, and discovering “mysteries” attached to a particular location. Beyond competition and conquest, Chromaroma's gameplay “opens up the beauty in the city's transport flows and reveals to its most persistent players some of the mysteries of travel, and even the strange characters travelling through the tunnels in the centre of the system, who may hold the secrets to your city.”

Gaming is used successfully for call center motivation as employees create teams and vie to win trips by most successful calls. Who would guess gaming can be motivating rather than distracting!

10. Solutions do not necessarily address problems Luke Williams tells the story of how Jonah Straw and friends discussion turned to "disruptive business ideas." One of Jonah's friends asked, "how crazy would it be if some company started selling socks that didn't match? Jonah's friends thought it was a terrible idea. It was soon forgotten by everyone, but Jonah, who couldn't let go of it. It led Jonah to launch Little Miss Matched.

"Most people in business are trained to focus only on problems: things that don’t work and need fixing," Williams finds. He says, "It’s more effective to start by identifying something in your business or industry that’s not necessarily a problem, and then go about methodically breaking it down." To do so try the following steps:

~ What do you want to disrupt? Define the situation you want to challenge. Define it in a sentence.

~ What are the business cliches? Identify assumptions that influence the way insiders or outsiders thing about your situation such as "hackneyed beliefs that govern the way people think about and do business in a particular space...We don’t consciously think about these things because 'that’s the way they’ve always been.'"

~ What are your disruptive hypotheses? Poke the status quo by generating several disruptive hypotheses to fill in the answer to, "I wonder what would happen if we ________." Think about opposites as you do this.

~ What can you invert? Red Bull was developed by Coca-Cola as an expensive soda, whereas their others were inexpensive. It may cost double the price of other colas, but it sure will give you a shot of energy when you need it.

~ What can you deny? In the case of Zipcar the company did not need to see the customer or complete paperwork. And, it started renting by the hour. consumers liked the process since they no longer needed to wait in line, fill out papers, listen to pressure to upgrade or add all kinds of insurance. Customers simply apply for membership and they can reserve vehicles online.

Try focusing on something that you take for granted at your business and use Luke Williams' steps to see what hatches.

Let's face it, people who live disruptive thinking, may not be not so crazy after all, considering all the innovations that emerge.

Tribute to the Human Brain!

2011-04-14T20:54:00.002-04:00

Imagine the brain,
that shiny mound of being,
that mouse-gray parliament of cells,
that dream factory,
that petit tyrant inside a ball of bone,
that huddle of neurons calling all the plays,
that little everywhere,
that fickle pleasuredome,
that wrinkled wardrobe of selves stuffed into the skull like too many clothes into a gym bag.

~ Diane Ackerman, An Alchemy of Mind (2004)

What Do You Do with Criticism?

2011-04-12T16:17:00.003-04:00

During a state conference, when I began working with Ellen Weber, someone asked a question that I perceived totally "put down" brain research. Ever experience that?

My defense quickly emerged. I explained findings that defended why Mita brainpowered strategies work. Since this was my first time to receive critique during a presentation, I did not realize the more I defended, the more my critic chimed up to prove the opposite.

Though one woman in an audience of fifty people, she was able to divert the attention of all, as we were ten minutes into the program. But once launching this defense, Ellen soon diverted everyone's attention by asking a question that roused curiosity. We were back on track. As a result I began to reflect and change my approaches to critique.

This was an early and necessary lesson as I began the Mita work to facilitate change of long established methodologies by innovating effective solutions with the brain in mind. If you are an innovator, you soon learn how to deal with making mistakes related to critique.

"We don't want people to tell us something negative," Karen Wright declares, "unless we ask for it and are ready to hear it. And defensiveness is a natural first response. If you're on the receiving end, take a deep breath." Our strong reactions to negative feedback connect tightly to the way our brains work.

Interestingly, the human brain processes positive and negative data in different circuits. And, negative tracks are hypersensitive compared to positive ones, according to John Cacioppo, neuroscientist at University of Chicago. And, bullying happens, but in today's world where it may threaten your standing, "it is far easier to use feedback," Scott Young at Lifehacker advises, "instead of automatically assuming it is a personal attack." No wonder my initial reaction was to defend, since I sacrificed to help Ellen get Mita Leadership launched well. In my mind, the woman's words were a "put-down" to all I stood for.

Learning to orchestrate well!

The trick is to learn strategies to effectively deal with initial critique:

Separate yourself from emotions "Whether you are with someone you love, hate, know little or just met," Bala says, "in the first moments when you realize that you are being criticized you will react the same. Your heart beats faster, skin temperature goes down and you even lose peripheral vision. Because you feel under attack, your first instincts are to focus on that feeling, making it more intense. You will then feel like withdrawing or retaliating. Just remember that both instinctual responses are akin to saying, I don't like your comments therefore I will give you more power. Attempt to do neither as both fight or flight responses leave you with fewer options, not more."
Imagine a triangle of three contenders, the critiquer, yourself and the topic of criticism. In your mind's eye see both yourself and the critiquer staring at the criticism to solve together, rather than using sharp points to take each other out.
Thank the person for the comment This can be disarming. It takes away the need for one person "to be right." It gives you the presence of mind to move ahead.
Ask a two-footed question that leads to exploration of other possibilities. You might start in this way... "What ideas have you used in past to overcome...?" "What has worked for colleagues who faced the issue of...?"
Take it as advice and learn from it. Though it may have seemed negative initially, what can you learn that might assist in improvements?
Ignore it. Take space to consider it later.
Offer to answer later Often, a criticizer will have more important things to do later and will not take the time. If genuine and she wants to help, then ask questions that bring more understanding. If meant to diminish, the critiquer lost an audience and will merely leave.
Let go of it If you linger on negatives, you give your brain a message that you don't have what it takes to accomplish your goals. The more you let that notion fester, the worse it becomes in your mind. Instead, let it go as soon as possible and concentrate on new strategies to overcome future darts that may come your way.

These strategies work. One of the brilliant things about Ellen Weber is that she welcomed me as a collaborator not long after I started working with her, though I saw myself as unready. That meant she was willing to let me make mistakes and grow into that "crown" she saw for me. There's no easy way around it - mistakes teach us more than our successes.

Truth is that I dwelt on my failure at that early conference for several days following. Though Ellen recaptured everyone's focus and made the most of time remaining, I felt horrible. I grew new skills to learn from mistakes and change as a result of the incident.

How are you equipped to handle criticism like a maestro and use it to your advantage?

Crankiness and Its Antidotes

2011-04-08T11:37:00.052-04:00

Ted Coine remarked that he felt cranky the other day, so he grabbed a bite to eat. Somehow that remark about crankiness aroused my curiosity about the topic. What makes us cranky anyway, and what can we do about it? If you ever awaken feeling so cranky that you're ready to take off somebody's head, why not share what you do to overcome it.

Causes of Crankiness:

Self Control: People on diets are known to be irritable and quick to anger, researchers David Gal and Wendy Liu find. They just don't welcome messages that nag them to control their behavior. "People who attempt to practice more self-control are attracted to aggressive art and public policy appeals, according to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Sleepless Night: If we pull an all-nighter or experience a sleepless night we might be very cranky and moody next day. The sleep-deprived brain will swing to extremes of euphoria or crankiness, neither of which is good for decision-making. Sleep deprivation shuts down the brain's key planning and decision-making regions, Matthew Walker and his UC, Berkeley research team found.

Shift Work: Though shift workers may get 4-5 hours of sleep a night, they build up an increasing sleep debt. As time progresses, fatigue increases. Trouble is they become more irritable, and then it's easy for anger to flare as they take out frustrations on family, and fellow workers. Check tips from the Healthy Shift Worker and the Mayo Clinic for better sleep

Nasty Role Models People around you greatly influence your actions, Nancy Grant Halvorson notes in her review of Robert Sutton's, Good Boss, Bad Boss. Here is why...

Throughout Good Boss, Bad Boss, Sutton emphasizes the enormous power of social influence. We emulate the people around us, often unconsciously. And as he writes, "emotions are remarkably contagious." Anxiety, cynicism, selfishness, and negativity rub off. So if you are surrounded by cranky jerks, you just might begin to behave that way yourself without realizing it.

Mirror neurons in your brain are equipped to mimic other people’s feelings or reactions, either for well-being or toxins.

Chores An overload of mundane or housekeeping chores can be overwhelming and frustrating, leading to irritability and crankiness. This can be especially true if the whole load lands on one person after a work day or on the weekend. Every time we send a message to our brain about how much we hate doing chores, the stronger the aversion to chores becomes.

Stress "Symptoms such as headaches, irritability and depression can actually be signs that your stress levels are too high," Beth Rifkin says. When people habitually react to challenges poorly they keep wiring for more of the same. Cortisol is released in the brain, causing people to be indecisive, poorly organized and cranky. Over time, cortisol can literally shrink your brain. It may be impossible to resolve issues or embrace growth, but it doesn't have to be that way, if you begin acting in the opposite direction.

Genes The reality is that genes can make women cranky, though I am wondering if a comparable study was done with men. "Genetic variations that deal with the body's mood management chemistry are linked with anger, aggression and hostility in women," according to a University of Pittsburgh study. "The results counter some common beliefs that women are to blame for their hostility. And genetic tests for anger could help predict a woman's likelihood of other anger-related diseases." Women who had greater tendency toward aggressive and angry behaviors had lower levels of serotonin in their system.

The only way to get past something that leads to crankiness, is to begin to work against it. And, believe it or not, your actions can even change genetic make-up. It will take some focus and work on your part. So here goes...

Antidotes for Crankiness

Find rewarding activities Most people enjoy relaxing, playing a game or listening to music. If you intentionally include activities we enjoy during the day, you are less likely to revert back to moodiness or aggressive responses, even if you are on a diet. Preferred rewards might include something other than food, for that "feel good" sensation. By diverting attention from diet or things you "can't have" focus your thoughts instead on actions you can enjoy.

Pay Back Sleep Debts "Tacking on an extra hour or two of sleep a night is the way to catch up," says Lawrence J. Epstein, medical director of Harvard-affiliated Sleep Health Centers. "For the chronically sleep deprived, take it easy for a few months to get back into a natural sleep pattern."

When banking extra hours, lengthening the hours and intensity of your sleep are critical. Your most refreshing sleep occurs during deep sleep. And when you sleep more hours, you allow your brain to spend more time in this rejuvenating period.

Create a Pleasant Workplace To avoid toxins in a work place find workers who model characteristics you desire to see more of: good listeners, collaborative team player, welcoming to diversity, and caring of others. "Imagine a workplace that builds more on people’s strengths, Dr. Ellen Weber says, "and you’ll be staring down problems that prevent growth." Tap organizational brainpower to energize productivity on the job.

Delegate tasks effectively You can choose to keep on this path or go by a new road map. At work you can avoid "doing it yourself to have it done right," by learning to effectually delegate tasks, according to Gregory P. Smith. Start by determining what you will delegate, clarify the results you want to see, define responsibilities, communicate authority over the delegated task and set a timeline. To prevent problems, plan a series of follow-up meetings. And, to avoid having the whole delegated task dumped back on you, stick to the delegation program.

At home, enlist family help by explaining how you feel. Create a list of chores that need to be done and have the family sign up for the jobs and offer plenty of praise and thanks for jobs well done, followed up by a reward system.

Do the opposite The more you work in an opposite direction to problems and stress, the more you will rewire your brain for the opposite and build new habits that work in your favor. Here are some starters:

If you wing your days, what if you used daily targets to organize time effectively?
Rather than vehemently expressing your thoughts, what if you stepped back and replied with honesty, yet very respecting of the other person? Serotonin, the chemical hormone for well being is emitted through respectful tone. Dangerous levels of cortisol come with poor tone.
Instead of putting challenges aside, what if you were to team with others to solve them?
Before letting metamessages roll out of your mouth, what if you plan to be welcoming, grateful, and encouraging of others?
To find an alternative to busyness, what if you schedule some activities you enjoy, while you cut down on others?
If things distract flow on the job, what if you listen to classical or ambient music as you work?
When you tense up at work, what if you practice progressive muscle relaxation?
Rather than sitting too much, what if you begin to exercise in ways you enjoy? Exercise keeps you mentally alert and physically fit.

Choices are yours. Create a "what if" solution to overcome your problem with stressors.

Rewire beliefs and actions We can actually rewire our brain by choosing new beliefs and actions, according to Dr. Bruce H. Lipton, even if we were born with genes that tend toward anger, hostility and aggression. "The new biology reveals that we ‘control’ our genome rather than being controlled by it," Lipton finds. Because of the brain's great capacity for plasticity, we can rewire by practicing activities that bring more serotonin to our lives to experience the calm, and contentment we desire.

Where to from here? The last phase of the MITA's five phases is to reflect so you can adjust what's not working well and change it. Find out what works best as you "play" with several of these to overcome a cranky habit. The brain leaps to novelty, so why not be free to change-up what you do as you work to overcome crankiness?

Thoughts?

More to Wegmans Fresh Cinnamon Raisin Bread than Meets the Eye!

2011-03-29T11:46:00.004-04:00

Ever wake up with a desire for fresh cinnamon raisin bread to go with your coffee? I did this morning. Ellen Weber, raved about Wegmans freshly baked cinnamon raisin bread at least twice in the last two days. The thought of it kept playing in my mind. I could almost taste it...

So I headed to the nearby Wegmans. After scouring the shelves, no cinnamon raisin was evident.

I caught a baker's attention and asked if they had any cinnamon raisin bread in the oven.

"We don't right now. We're all out," he smiled broadly. "But I'll bake some and have it ready for you in 40 minutes. Promise to come back?"

"You bet I will."

"I'll have it for you then," he promised enthusiastically.

Four plump, round loaves graced the shelf upon my return. As I selected one, it warmed my hands, when I picked it up. I caught the attention of the baker and thanked him as I signaled "thumbs-up."

Wegmans employees go out of their way to assist customers. Their smiles and welcoming greetings make shopping pleasant. No wonder Wegmans Food Markets rank third on the Fortune 500 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2010.

Five reasons employees like working at Wegmans:

Wegmans reaches out to the community Wegmans serves the local community providing employee scholarships that help improve their skills. These are open to any employee who wants to compete. Wegmans provides at-risk, urban youth with skills they need to succeed, part time work and work-site mentors through the Hillside Work Scholarship Connection. Wegmans taps peoples' gifts and talents in ways that propel them forward.
Employees are challenged to surpass customer expectations daily. They're rewarded by many customers like myself who sing their praises to others. The human brain leaps to solve problems and find solutions. When firms like Wegmans empower employees, like John Schaub, the baker at the Perinton store, to go the extra mile, both employees and customers are winners.
Career opportunities are open to all Employees can rise to new positions through options for personal growth and professional development. People raise their abilities by "doing and learning, not by watching and reading," according to J. Robert Baum, Director of Entrepreneurship Research at the University of Maryland.
Benefits rank high for both part time and full time employees in spite of a tough economy. Wegman's offers flexible scheduling, a fast-paced fun environment, competitive pay, and comprehensive benefits including quality health care, dental coverage, 401(k) retirement savings plan, and a retirement plan amongst many others. When Wegmans rewards workers, it leads to greater satisfaction and well-being in the workplace.
Diversity is welcomed as an opportunity Wegmans sees diversity as a way to inspire new thinking, which supports their drive toward continuous improvement. This is a key to brainpowered leadership.

As Ellen Weber and I shared this delightful bread, we each enjoyed more than one piece! But, a lot more brainpower went into it than meets the ordinary eye!

Thoughts?

Enhance Your Creativity

2011-03-21T12:26:00.008-04:00

Ink Spray Journal Map

Ever lose your drive when you're writing or working on a project? The following 5 strategies work well to put you back in gear...

1. Classical music enhances creativity and intellectual pursuits. Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart work well to keep you focused so that you achieve a state of effortless concentration and enjoyment or "flow." Try playing any of the following when you approach your creative project today:

St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach
Nisi Dominus by Vivaldi
Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach
Rondo in A by Mozart
Piano concertos nos. 20, 21, 23, 24 by Mozart
The Four Seasons by Vivaldi
Canon in D Major by Pachelbel
Violin Sonata no. 5 in F Major, op. 24 "The Spring" by Beethoven

2. 5 Tips Past a Creative Rut Ever try mediation by doing something else as Lori McNee suggests? Here's how to start...

Stop waiting for inspiration to strike. As the old saying goes, "A watched pot never boils."
Pick something monotonous to do like mowing the lawn or washing the dishes. Your brain will keep working on an inspiration, like a pot cooking stew on the back burner.
Once your mind starts to wander, you'll be surprised how quickly it will start generating ideas.
The trick is to record the ideas as soon as they pop up, so you don't forget them.

I like to keep 3 x 5 cards and a pen in my pocket so I don't lose sight of new insights. What's your tactic?

3. Romance Your Creativity The creative process is very much like a relationship, the Idea Champions remind us. "And like most relationships, it usually begins with fascination -- that curious state of mind that keeps you spellbound, charmed, and aroused." But we all know that soon wears off. What then?

If you are serious about your current hot idea, be willing to get closer to it. Be willing to go from the romance stage to an intimate relationship.

Understand what the creative process is -- an impossible-to-deny encounter with yourself -- your fears, your power, your vision, and what drives you to play the game of life.

Above all, do whatever it takes to put the elation back into your relationship to creativity.

I'm in, are you?

4. Stop Multitasking "Have your technology tools begun to manage you?" Myra While asks. If you're constantly multitasking, you are deluding yourself because the brain literally focuses on one thing at a time. Can you take focus away from driving for more than a moment? The reason is that your brain bottlenecks. And...

Constantly switching between even small tasks creates brain overload. Studies in which people's brains are scanned while multi-tasking clearly show that switching between tasks consumes a large portion of the brain's processing capacity.

5. Leverage Your Creative Fears Fears are actually something we *create,* Marianne Mullen says. Knowing that fear never goes away, you can truly learn to leverage your fear, and she provides seven steps to to just that.

Name it
Own it
Disprove it
Claim it
Act on it
Acknowledge it
Repeat it - Make a strong commitment to your creativity and trust in yourself that taking risks can only create more confidence and that you ARE getting stronger than your fears.

To see the details for each one, awaken your creativity by leveraging it or work these out in your way.

Once I published 12 Sparks for Heads-Up Creativity, on Forbes' Mind Makeover, I could not let go of my project. Ever have that happen? Would you be willing to share a strategy to "fire up" your creativity? If so, provide the details or a link where I can find it.

Ink Spray Journal Map by Joanna Paterson.

Could it be time for a change?

2011-03-06T11:46:00.001-05:00

Brains bored by lectures

If you went down the hall and peered inside Bologna's standard 11th Century lecture room, you wouldn't feel as if you were in a museum. You would feel at home, John Medina says in Brain Rules

Distractions more interesting

Minus mikes and PowerPoints, what's the difference?

Innovations are incubated when leaders and learners are facilitated to follow their natural curiosity about a topic through playful explorations.

Celebrating Innovation!

2011-03-03T11:43:00.002-05:00

Community guests asked questions

There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions. ~ Charles Proteus Steinmetz

What difference does it make for MBA's to celebrate findings from solution strategies they tried at work? Plenty. When St. John Fisher MBA students exhibited innovative solutions for community guests, it stretched their skills. Guests' questions and insights surprised and pleased young MBA leaders throughout the evening.

Targeted possibilities with community leader, Jim Murphy

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. ~ Dr. Wayne Dwyer.

Students targeted an improvement they wanted to make for a problem in their workplace. These young MBA's picked local leaders' brains for solution ideas. They designed and implemented a strategy at work to overcome the issue.

Quality Outcomes Expected

The important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution ~ Anonymous

MBA student leaders expected quality outcomes. They worked as teams to design exhibit materials to share findings with community visitors.

Move all resources available

Accomplish things never before accomplished by using parts of your brain never before used at work. ~ Ellen F. Weber

Guests visited colorful booth exhibits, which included games, video demos, healthy snacks, poster displays and music. Conversations between community visitors and vibrant young leaders filled the room. They shared experiences and learned from each others' wisdom.

Reflect to adjust and change

Change starts when someone sees the next step. ~ William Drayton

From the beginning, these young leaders made changes and adjustments as they reflected with classmates throughout the course. They asked, "What is the next step?" and, "Where to from here?"

Dr. Jason Berman celebrates Fisher MBA

Dr. Jason Berman added to the celebratory atmosphere by bringing a decorated cookie
to share with all.

Daily Social MediaTeasers Snag You?

2011-01-26T18:02:00.003-05:00

Ever hit a formidable wall once you begin to write? If I’m writing with great inspiration, I’m highly motivated to stick with the topic and further insights seem to keep coming to mind. Writing flows easily.

On the other hand, if I’m writing because I need to, I often begin, but distractions fill my mind, which keep taking me elsewhere. In this highly charged social media era, many tempters like email, Twitter or Facebook tease me to take just a quick peek. Before I realized it I'm snagged for half an hour. The time slips away!

Piers Steele, University of Calgary psychology professor in the Haskayne School of Business on procrastination explains this phenomenon in a recent interview for The Toronto Star:

We’ve always tended to go for the short-term pleasure instead of something more rewarding but longer term. So we do a lot of things like Facebook or video snacking at the cost of long-term and larger goals. What predicts procrastination is not just who you are, but also your environment — the amount of temptation around you. We now live in a world supersaturated with powerful short-term temptations. Our environment has become motivationally toxic.

Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation (2011), has analyzed why we habitually put things off... They are:

1. Confidence in your ability to finish a task. The less confident you are, the harder it is to get motivated.
2. Rewards you get as you work on the task. If it’s boring, your mind slides off the task.
3. Rewards not experienced until task is complete.

But that's not all... he’s researched ways we can train ourselves to choose today over mañana. Steel suggests strategies to help you overcome each temptation that may snare you. Intriguingly, all might overwhelm you at once...

Low confidence - "...Take cues for what is possible by watching what other people do. Inspiration and confidence tend to be contagious. If you hang out with people who are positive and doing things, it’s easier to be infected."
If you hate the task - You can artificially pack some rewards for yourself at the end for completing the work. Or you can mentally reframe it. You don’t like cleaning your house, but you like socializing with friends. So you reframe it: I want an inviting place for my friends. You add extra motivational oomph from seeing the task from a better angle.

Put your mirror neurons to work since as you try using the same tactics as people who inspire you, the doing of rewires your brain as you sleep that night. When you try using the tactic again it becomes much easier for you. Later you can add your own special touches to it.

Another method you might consider comes from Peter Gollwitzer's "If-Then planning" strategy. For those of us who always slide off course when we list a New Year's resolution, it's often because we make these fairly general. You might say, for instance, you want to exercise more to lose some pounds.

"For starters, it's not nearly specific enough," Heidi Grant Halvorson (Feb. 2011) points out. "You would need to say what exercise you plan to do and how often per week you plan to do it. "The if-then version of this plan spells out exactly what you will do in the critical situation."

Halvorson shows the formula in a way that's easily remembered:

If X happens, then I will do Y.

These plans work so well because they speak the language of your brain: the language of contingencies. Humans are very good at encoding information in "If X, then Y" terms and using this process (often unconsciously) to guide our behavior. Deciding exactly when and where you will act on your goal creates a link in your brain between the situation or cue (the if) and the behavior that should follow (the then).

I've already stayed on track when temptations hit, by saying the If-Then approach to important tasks I want to accomplish. If I picture myself at the end of a work day with a desk piled high with tasks undone and and incomplete To-Do list, I have to work later. Instead I picture myself reading a book I'm enjoying as I enjoy a cup of herbal tea.

Through mental contrasting, people can contrast a “desired future with the reality that impedes its realization…” (Oettingen, 2000). By thinking through these opposing realities, not only do people begin to problem solve what steps need to be taken to make the desired future happen, but also to avoid harsh realities in store when we're snagged by social media tempters.

Thoughts?

Multitasking Leave You Frazzled?

2011-01-12T14:18:00.002-05:00

Do you feel overwhelmed on the job as text messages arrive on your cell, the phone rings and someone steps into your work space? One professional woman in her early 60's said she came home exhausted after work. "When she put a loaf of bread in the dryer, she said she knew she had to stop burning the candle at both ends," Edward T. Creagan, M.D. of the Mayo Clinic shares.

Throughout the day, I get curious about who's sent me an email or what's happening around the world, so I quickly check Twitter or my email for a quick update. But my attention quickly moves to these formats and off my current work. Even though I think I can trust my will-power to check at scheduled points in a day, before I know it I look in without thinking and my focus shifts. Is this true for you as well?

Imagine this... "Allison Miller, aged 14, sends and receives 27,000 text messages a month, according to Seth Godin. "Hey, that's only about sixty an hour, every hour she's awake."

Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress. And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends, fractured thinking and lack of focus persist. In other words, this is also your brain off computers.

Added to that, the nonstop interactivity is one of the most significant shifts ever in the human environment, said Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco.

For example, when Gloria Mark, University of California at Irvine researcher first started her faculty job, she only completed a small portion of what she hoped to do in a day. "Madness," she thought. "I'm trying to do 30 things at once." Mark decided to figure out why multitasking worked against her. Mark, a scientist of human-computer interactions conducted a research study to find out more.

When she "crunched the data, a picture of 21st-century office work emerged that was, she says, far worse than I could ever have imagined." Is this typical at your workplace?

Each employee spent only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and whisked off to do something else. What's more, each 11-minute project was itself fragmented into even shorter three-minute tasks, like answering e-mail messages, reading a Web page or working on a spreadsheet. And each time a worker was distracted from a task, it would take, on average, 25 minutes to return to that task. To perform an office job today, it seems, your attention must skip like a stone across water all day long, touching down only periodically.

Though Gloria Mark and Mary Czerwinski, an interruption scientist, separately looked at people working at their desks, a pattern emerged. People stuck all kinds of Post-It notes around their computer screens. Workers swore this made them feel calmer.

Consider this possibility...

But did more screen area actually help with cognition? Czerwinski mulled it over. As a result, she compared the number of tasks completed for a group of 15 workers at a 15 inch monitor versus the number of tasks the same workers completed at a 42 inch monitor. Productivity...

On the bigger screen, people completed the tasks at least 10 percent more quickly - and some as much as 44 percent more quickly. They were also more likely to remember the seven-digit number, which showed that the multitasking was clearly less taxing on their brains. Some of the volunteers were so enthralled with the huge screen that they begged to take it home. In two decades of research, Czerwinski had never seen a single tweak to a computer system so significantly improve a user's productivity. The clearer your screen, she found, the calmer your mind. So her group began devising tools that maximized screen space by grouping documents and programs together - making it possible to easily spy them out of the corner of your eye, ensuring that you would never forget them in the fog of your interruptions.

These insights can help us work more effectively with our brain than against it.

What's your experience?

Hmmm... think I'll see where I can get a good buy on a larger computer monitor. You?

12 Ways to Give Yourself as a Holiday Gift

2010-12-24T11:20:00.000-05:00

Kindness Abstract by CarolsCamera

What if you gave yourself during your holiday celebration? Here's how taking leadership to carry it out, might bring extra holiday zip and happiness for others...

Discover a new talent in a family member you had not realized and praise it when you see it in action. Praise raises the level of serotonin released in the brain. All benefit as they hear your words since it brings well-being to all..

Help with holiday prep and clean-up Holidays take much work and even putting your hands to do dishes, setting the table, decorating or cleaning up gift-wrap brings more joy to all.

Surprise others with acts of kindness These do not cost a cent. Begin to look to see how you can give others a hand and step in to do it. It's the doing that counts.

Sing holiday songs together Music moves the brain waves to bring joy through the pace and rhythm of a joyful tune. Your active involvement with family and friends enhances mood for you and others. If you want to stay in tune, put the instrumental version on in the background. Who knows, you may sound professional! Take it further and go sing for an elderly neighbor!

Write a note to someone who might need it during the holiday. Perhaps sending a note someone in the hospital or a person who has faced a recent crisis will bring them a touch of caring.

Play games with children and teens Games are lots more fun with more players. Ask them for suggestions and follow through even if you are not familiar with Wii, a computer game or a new board game. It's the being a good sport that matters most. Would you agree?

Wrap and give photos from past celebrations Often these bring back happy memories and fun all these years later. Make a gift of one for each member of your family or for friends.

Listen more than talk It's so easy to tell and on top of that to give advice. By listening, we capture the heart of others.

Take on the role of servant Ask yourself "What if I helped to..." With this kind of attitude, it changes the aspect of your holiday celebration. It's a way of humility much needed in our world. Not too surprisingly, others see what you do and pitch in to help. This is the work of Mirror Neurons in action. It also models for children a thoughtful approach to life.

Laugh more Talk over funny happenings of past gatherings. These usually bring tears to the eyes with a rollicking belly laugh. If nothing else, watch a funny comedy together such as, Christmas Vacation.

Volunteer at Soup Kitchen By actively involving yourself to do something to help the less fortunate, it changes your own spirit.

Act on a promise you let go Because of busyness we can easily let go of promises. Recall one and offer to follow through this holiday season.

Humor - a Lifetime Elixer

2010-12-20T10:44:00.002-05:00

"You're a little pill," my hubby exclaimed in exasperation, as he frowned down at our son. Sean, wide-eyed and innocent looked up at his Dad with a smile and quipped "You're an aspirin!" Sean's quick wit sparks the room any day since it matches the event and rouses a stir. Do you know people like that?

One of the reasons I enjoy collaborating with Ellen Weber is she draws from natural wit daily. To see her humorous flashes, check out Dinner Blew Up -- But Not the Deal and you can quickly see how she has ability to laugh at herself, no matter what. Once when presenting in Puerto Rico, we stayed in a hotel hosting the Miss Universe Pageant. One morning Ellen was not feeling well so was advised to see the doctor who was on call for contestants. When Ellen's named was called to see the physician, she tripped on a floodlight wire and fell as she walked to the door. In front of all the contestants waiting there. She experienced one of the most gregarious belly laughs I have ever witnessed. Ellen's gifts of wit and banter work well for her as she makes business deals or just engages others as she networks. If a group we're working with loses steam, Ellen jump-starts the action with a well-timed joke. Ever tried it?

Humor benefits social vitality and personal well-being. For starters humor:

Enhances workplace culture "More than four decades of study by various researchers confirms some common-sense wisdom: Humor, used skillfully, greases the management wheels. It reduces hostility, deflects criticism, relieves tension, improves morale, and helps communicate difficult messages, Fabio Sala declares in the Harvard Business Review. Sala reminds us that, "the key to the effective use of humor is how it’s deployed. Don’t try to be funny. But do pay closer attention to how you use humor, how others respond to your humor, and the messages you send. It’s all in the telling."

Boosts personal well-being "As you laugh," Ellen Weber shows that "your brain creates enzymes for clear thinking, better learning and adventures brimming over with possibilities in spite of turbulent times."

Bonds people within organizations "Humor can be a cohesive force in organizations--as anyone who's ever traded jokes at the water cooler or laughed over lunch with colleagues understands," Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, concludes. "Instead of disciplining joke-crackers, as Ford did in the last century, organizations should be seeking them out and treating a sense of humor as an asset. It's time to rescue humor from its status as mere entertainment and recognize it for what it is--a sophisticated and peculiarly human form of intelligence that can't be replicated by computers and that is becoming increasingly valuable in a high concept, high-touch world."

Adds snap to presentations Have you noticed how many presenters can bring humor to ice breakers and the beginning of a slideshow only to forget it soon after as all the boring slides drone on? Keep in mind that humor, to be effective must coincide with the barometric pressure of people in the group. If it falls, be ready to bring in the sunshine.

Strengthens family and friendship bonds Just as Sean and Ellen add zip to family occasions, laughing together helps build bonds and strengthen ties. Sharing laughter is powerful since it adds joy, vitality and resilience. Humor is an effective way to heal resentments, disagreements and hurts. It unites people during difficult times. As I spoke about my dear mother at her funeral, I summed up two of her gifts as follows, "Love and laughter overflow."

What's your current humor gauge?

Rate yourself 1 - 4 in the following areas. 1 Low, 2 Fair 3 Average 4 Excellent

____ Ability to laugh at yourself

____ Can tell joke and keep punchline in tact

____ Enjoy a belly laugh daily

____ Refrains from jokes at other's expense

____ Regularly look for humor to share

____ Can turn circumstance into witty statement

____ Easily gets the meaning of a joke

I still have much growth to go... How about you?

Interestingly, the "brain's right hemisphere plays an essential role in understanding and appreciating humor," psychologist Daniel Pink finds from studying neuroscience research. Incongruity often enters into humor. Not too surprisingly, the brain's logical left side does not deal with surprise and incongruity well, Pink adds.

Humor represents one of the highest forms of human intelligence. "Cognitive abilities required for humor comprehension" according to Shammi and Struss's research, "include abstract reasoning, mental flexibility and working memory -- all are complex, higher mental functions believed to be associated with the frontal lobes."

How might you play a bit with humor's sparkle at your Christmas gathering?

What If You See Yourself as Others See You?

2010-12-13T15:24:00.000-05:00

“He who knows others is learned; He who knows himself is wise.” - Lao-tzu, Tao te Ching

Though many of us think we know ourselves better than others, think again. We are not the know-it-alls we think we are, a psychologist at Washington University claims.

Interestingly, we play different roles throughout a day depending on people or situations we encounter. The faces we assume throughout a day generally depend on our responsibilities more than anything else, according to Andrea Matthews. Not too surprisingly, over time we fall into routines for roles in each social context. For instance, think about ways you speak differently to managers and team members than friends or family.

"I think that it's important to really question this knee-jerk reaction that we are our own best experts," Simone Vazire says. While we might be more accurate in assessing our internal barometer such as anxiety, satisfaction or impatience; people who know us well are more proficient at assessing our intellect-related traits such as creativity, problem solving, and intelligence. Even a complete stranger can tell if I am an extrovert or introvert. Agree?

Perhaps we think we have our act together whereas others do not. Here's why...

We judge ourselves differently than others and it causes a disconnect. These differences can produce disagreement and conflict. Understanding the psychologocial basis of differences might help solve some negative effects.

We have blind spots about our behaviors. "By soliciting feedback from other people," Sam Gosling notes, "we can learn more about ourselves and how we're coming off. Only by understanding how we're seen can we make sure we're sending the right signals."

We have "dark spots" --things neither we or others realize. These might be unconscious motives, such as ambition that stems from the fact that your parents didn't think you would amount to much.

We reveal our own character as we talk about others. Seeing others positively reveals your own positive traits, Bill Hendrick finds, whereas negative words could show a sign of depression or narcissim.

If you think you're caring and friendly, and your colleagues, friends and family say you do not come across that way, you might pay more attention to your behaviors.

Consider tendencies that affect people around you on the job. Rate yourself in the following areas first. Then, ask at least three colleagues to complete it anonymously and compare results.

1. Not evidenced 2. Average evidence 3. Above average evidence 4. Outstanding evidence

____ Motivated
____ Recognizes others
____ Open to feedback
____ Timely contributions
____ Goal setter
____ Creative input
____ Inspires others
____ Decisive
____ Changes quickly when need arises
____ In Touch with Reality
____ Has People Smarts
____ Learner
____ Open-minded
____ Listens and hears

Thoughts?

Actions or Intentions?

2010-12-02T21:18:00.004-05:00

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Peter Drucker

Ever developed a great action plan and didn't follow through after a training session? If you are like me, a motivational speaker can pump my juices. Our intentions to implement the plan soar to a peak. But what does it take to follow through?

7 Road bumps that prevent follow-through

1. New concepts lost if not acted upon When a coach leaves after a concentrated training session, people's urgent tasks cry for attention. Tasks usurp focus so that newly learned information can easily spill out of the brain's working memory. Three or four fresh details fill the working memory's temporary storage capacity. When learning is fresh it works well to take immediate action to begin using it.

2. Should do When a person says she should do the first step in an action plan, the words do not reflect immediacy so it can be set aside for long periods of time and perhaps abandoned. Margaret Meloni lists three levels of intention revealed through words used.

• Level One: I should or I need – This indicates recognition of or a desire to make a change or take an action, but is not an action plan.

• Level Two: I want or I am going to – Now the talk about a change or action is being transformed into a plan, it may make the top of the to-do list.

• Level Three: I am – A clear statement of intention reflecting action and ownership for the results. This is the execution and this is where an intention becomes a reality.

3. Fear stands in the way If fear creates a barrier between where you are now and where you want to be Carolyn Rubenstein suggests you ask WHY. When you get to the bottom of your fear, you can face it and take the bold action needed to start the first step of your plan.

4. Boss shuts down ideas "Stubborn bosses treat change as if they have 'cooties,'" Lyn Taylor contends. "They don't want to touch it, get near it, or handle it themselves unless they initiate the change. Why? Many people want to initiate change themselves so they make the work environment uncomfortable for those wanting to follow through with a new action plan.

Tyrant bosses, want to be right, get the recognition and avoid risks just to maintain the status quo.
Taylor offers these solutions:

Choose your words carefully To get better footing, Taylor suggests you use positive language to relax your boss when he's stuck in a rut. Words of affirmation will calm him," and thus release serotonin, a brain chemical of well being.

Offer choices and compromises that empower your "Terrible Old Tyrant." Rather than asking questions that lead to yes/no answers, offer your boss choices. Change "Can we end the meeting early today?" to "Should we end at 4:00 or 4:30?" That gives your boss decision making power.

Align your needs with boss's - "Remind your boss how your ideas reinforce her larger objectives," Taylor suggests. Keep showing that you are on the same page.

5. Procrastination Everyone has things they want to do, but can't seem to start the first step. So what's the answer to this foot dragging? Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen suggest that you put together an "unschedule", a chart of your time that is already taken, as a way to see how much time you really have left for your goals.

Since you did not start this habit yesterday, it is deeply embedded in your brain's basal ganglia. The more you do an action, the more your brain has rewired dendrite brain cells for repeating the same action. Good news is that human brain has great plasticity and can rewire for a new approach. So each time you start early and accomplish a task the more this new pattern will be rewired in your brain's memory bank - the basal ganglia.

Burka and Yeun suggest how to develop better work habits methodically, one step at a time. They recommend starting a 2-week program right away using varied strategies. Here are some they list:

Avoid perfectionism
Be specific
Make goals that are observable
Take small steps
Reward yourself!

Add some sure fire strategies of your own so you get started today.

6. Lack of Focus Stifles Follow-through "Those leaders who lack the focus and attention to detail needed to apply leverage and resources in an aggressive and committed fashion will perish," Mike Myatt observes. "Leaders who do not possess a bias toward action, or who cannot deliver on their obligations will not be successful. Leadership is about performance…Intentions must be aligned with results for leaders to be effective."

If a leader is easily distracted during a coaching session, she misses some of the detail. Since the human brain is easily bored, Ellen Weber explains why "you might think other people or work bore you and that is why you are not getting ahead." It is a myth. "Reality," according to Weber, "is that boredom is more a habit formed in brains, and shaped by your choices."

7. Innovation is rhetoric rather than reality When people inside large organizations were asked to describe their corporate innovation system, almost none could do it, Gary Hamel discovered. " When asked if innovation is rhetoric rather than reality, they said, overwhelmingly, 'It's rhetoric. We don't see the reality.'"

One explanation for this is that top management is paying lip service to innovation, according to Gary Hamel. "But another -- and far more likely -- explanation is that senior leaders do not have a clear, well-developed model of what innovation looks like as an organizational capability. And since they don't know what it looks like, they don't know how to build it." One reason is that they focus just on products and services. And, second, many organizations "devote much more energy to optimizing what is there than to imagining what could be. Hamel's answer is that "we need to create constituencies for "What Could Be."

A way past the rhetoric, is to unleash the passion for innovation company-wide. That is taking the first step!

What would you suggest to insure intentions are acted upon quickly to create fresh realities?

Braden Kelley Interview on Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire

2010-11-19T19:59:00.003-05:00

"Passion is a prerequisite not just for getting started with innovation: people leading innovation projects must have enough passion to fight through, over, around or under any obstacles they may encounter in their effort to make a new idea a reality..." - Braden Kelley, Author of Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire

Braden Kelley

Braden Kelley’s, Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire, fires up any organization with timely strategies to rekindle structure, culture and vision. Braden uses many case studies that open a window as to what innovation strategies work well for some and what are problematic for others. Each chapter proposes enlightened alternatives to blockages firms encounter.

Blinded by the Light – Vision Blockages
Peering in the Dark – Strategy Blockages
Setting a Course Blindfolded – Goal Blockages
What Are They Really Thinking? – Insight Blockages
Shining a Light on the Customer Problem – Idea Generation Blockages
Picking a Winner Without Looking – Idea Evaluation Blockages
Going to Market Blind – Idea Commercialization Blockages
Have You Had an Innovation Lobotomy? Organizational Psychology Blockages
Do Your Policies and Processes Keep People in the Dark? Information and Structural Blockages
Keeping the Lights On – Sustainability Blockages

Braden Kelley sizes up organizational innovation, the status quo. He identifies its underlying assumptions and shows some of the old rules which should be broken such as, separate Research and Development Departments. In so doing, organization-wide innovation is possible. Kelley urges organizations to jump the gate and do something unique as they did earlier in bringing an original innovation to market.

Amazing graphs and charts help project the big picture. You ask thoughtful questions related to the impact of culture in an organization - questions help readers pinpoint opportunities for cultural change. Here are some examples:

Is it okay to fail in our organization?
Is failure permitted and possibly even celebrated?
Is learning from failure valued and embraced?

Braden's chapter on an Innovation Lobotomy drew my attention since I use brain based strategies in working with clients of the MITA International Brain Center.

Interestingly, Braden discovered psychological blockages cause greatest trouble for organizations as they make changes. Here's how these relate to newly discovered facts about the human brain:

Most people are afraid to fail so they are less likely to take risks. Vivid memories associated with emotional events such as how team members were treated in past when experiments failed. Strong memories of harsh treatment are stored in the amygdala of each team member's brain. The memory literally rushes back any time a new risk arises, and freezes many from ever venturing forth again. On the other hand, reflection to figure out where to from here, can turn harsh situations around for those willing to step forward with a thoughtful risk.

Organizational culture has a profound impact since trust levels can make or break initiatives. Many organizational models are broken today and brainpower must be recharged for innovation to thrive.

Braden offers these brilliant antidotes:

Breaking out of the mold increases peoples' ability to imagine breakthrough solutions. More brainpower comes into play when employees' gifts and talents are valued in ways that new solutions can lead change.

Flexibility to stretch beyond comfort zones. The human brain's equipped to tackle toxins from folks who are stuck in a rut to create the new.

During my interview with Braden Kelley I zeroed in blockages related to people and organizations who experience an Innovation Lobotomy. During the interview you'll note Braden's passion for and wisdom about innovation shine.

I highly recommend Braden's book.

Reflect to Adjust and Change

2010-11-12T13:54:00.000-05:00

Each of us does a lot of thinking daily, but some are more effective than others. "We all think about our own thoughts, feelings and decisions," Dr Steve Fleming of UK's University of London notes. "Even if we don't get feedback when we make a choice, we often know intuitively if it's a good or a bad decision," Fleming adds. Ever think about your own thinking?

Introspection, or deep reflection differs from decision-making or learning, which can be assessed by measuring improvement in the performance of a task, or whether choices are made correctly.

On the other hand, it would be hard for others to judge your reflective acumen since they may not necessarily see outward signs of improvement.

Want more intrapersonal intelligence? Dr. Ellen Weber, CEO of The MITA Brain Center, provides insights you can use to improve yours.

Leaders need intuitive brainpower for better decisions, common sense for keen insights, contentment in your own company, simple ability to laugh more on a busy day. Thanks to neurogenesis, we now know these intrapersonal traits (that grow novel leadership) also increase with use. Panic a bit too fast? Feel sidelined a bit too much? Run from risks or new adventures? Grow sad when others celebrate family ties without you? Leaders who enjoy a heaping dose of intrapersonal smarts, add contentment and turn tough challenges (such as attack from another) into opportunities to move forward without sinking.

Interestingly, people strong in intrapersonal intelligence have a bigger associated area in the brain.

You'll find additional insights about building courage, values, curbing anger, common sense, and coping in toxic work environments.

What if... and where to from here? Be the person you most want to be as you increase reflective wisdom to adjust and change.

Experience Stimulating Conversations?

2010-11-09T08:53:00.005-05:00

Rich conversations tickle the mind and challenge us to think in new ways. Questions prime the well of ideas within the mind. Sharing insights from our knowledge and experience builds on others' contributions, and the bigger picture takes shape. People start considering solutions to a problem differently than when they first joined us. Or, all of us learn more about why a person thinks as s/he does.

Challenging exchanges of ideas might be just about life, philosophical in nature, show concern for worldwide issues or concerning latest science and technological innovations. Or it may be meeting new people and listening to what makes them tick. Have you been engaged in a conversation lately that you hated to end because it was so fascinating? Stimulation does not come by talking about the weather.

One of the reasons I love collaborating with Dr. Ellen Weber is that conversations we have about ideas keep me thinking and researching for hours. Ellen has an uncanny ability to turn ideas upside down. I suggested that we extend our conversations to more people since they were so stimulating. She caught that idea and invited many new people to her home. She began to blog and she went so far as to join Twitter. When I realized how much she seemed driven to exchange ideas with others, I tried my hand at it. Nothing can turn me back since I experience the creativity and dopamine that accompanies it.

Social Media Turned the Tide of Conversation - Social media is changing the way we interact with others. Many folks say they miss the engagement of personal conversation if they mostly engage others online. As a result it's not surprising for them to take a laptop to a cafe so they have an arena for personal and online conversations. Our whole family is engaged in Facebook for instance and it's full of the latest photos and descriptions of events. Business leaders find it an easy form to share their work and market their products. Some can be both addicted to and distracted by these new community worlds. But people enjoy these new worlds because they are engaging in challenging and powerful interactions with others.

MITA two-footed questions for starters Ellen invented the notion of a two-footed question to help people escape the kind of boring questions that are usually asked. For instance, if you were to ask, "When it comes to storage, why is less more," the question does not connect to you personally because it is only about the topic. It concentrates only on knowledge.

Not too surprisingly, if the second foot is inserted, the one that directly connects to you, all of a sudden your ideas are solicited and welcomed. The question would now be: "When it comes to storage, why can less help you gain more and what difference does that make to you?" The question now draws from intellect and experience. You are emotionally attached to your experiences and more easily challenged.

Right and left brain

Ellen Weber notes that two-footed questions work best when you follow the human brain’s natural proclivity to resolve puzzles. The opposite is to stress over problems, and research shows that stressed brains rely more on habits that lock you into ruts, rather than progress with winning innovations.

The right brain leaps to solve puzzles and challenges since it is primed through curiosity. On the other hand there are a few people who like to show off their knowledge and they are driven by trivia questions and TV shows such as, "Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?" The left brain penetrates the knowledge. The combination of both the right and left brain is the powerhouse available for you to test.

How might you engage in new conversations by asking two-footed questions at your dinner table tonight? One might be, "How did you use your right and left brain today at work or school?" Thoughts?

8 Strategies to Reboot Your Brain for Active Listening

2010-10-26T14:23:00.001-04:00

As someone talks about an innovative project do you find exciting ideas sizzle in your mind? At times, I can begin to run with just one piece of what a colleague says and think very creatively. Whoa, I am not listening. Do you have a similar issue? Interestingly, as you mull over a new idea in your mind, you miss a portion of what the other person says. Listening takes intentional focus.

The way our brains work, deeply affects listening capability. Here's why...

Not too surprisingly, at least three facets of how the human brain works, impact our listening and speech patterns. When we hear an exciting idea, we may be tempted to build on that in our own mind. Our brain's neurotransmitters release dopamine, helping us to feel the pleasure of a reward. The pleasure we receive from forming new ideas in our minds may work at odds with truly listening to another person.

Likewise, patterns of past interactions stored in your basal ganglia, impacts personal mental mindsets. For instance, if you have attended workshops, meetings, company training sessions, or have not engaged in meaningful conversation with certain people, you can see why you will need extra spark to be attentive.

Over time, the speech patterns we adopt culturally, affect the way we listen to others. The brain's basal ganglia, described by Dr. Ellen Weber, is a "mental storehouse for habits, routines and ruts for every lifetime experience you've encountered." If you are used to forming new ideas so you can respond during a pause as someone else talks, you do not listen well.

The brain mainly focuses on one thing at a time. For instance this is why it is impossible to text and drive at the same time since multitasking causes the brain to bottleneck. Perhaps this bottle necking proclivity shows exactly why it takes such intentional focus to truly listen to someone as s/he speaks. So how do we begin to focus more on listening?

"Interest or importance is inextricably linked to attention," according to John Medina in his book, Brain Rules. Medina notes that researchers refer to this as arousal.

8 Strategies to Reboot your Brain for keen listening...

Value the speaker When you listen well, and give another person's thoughts keen contemplation before you answer, you serve both yourself and that person well. Why not take a card or memo pad to events to jot down key words that jog your ideas later? In this way you can engage even more of the other person's idea and you will have even more to go on later.

Eye contact counts When you truly look at some one's eyes as he or she speaks, you jack up your focus. If you are in a busy room full of activity, you could be easily distracted. Laughter, catching part of a joke, seeing someone you want to contact, can take away your attention quickly. Because the brain tends to focus on one thing at a time, I have to really focus on the eye contact. It makes a difference for me. You?

MITA Two-footed questions As you listen intently ask questions that take the person's ideas to a new angle or a facet you want to know more about. People enjoy telling you their best ideas. By keeping the focus on that person's interest, you can go deeper with him or her. In so doing, you will find that you will have more buy in yourself. The conversation thus moves from neutral, to one in which you are keenly interested. As you gain interest, you are bringing more of your right brain, the creative side, to the conversation.

Active listening A friend from China, Wen Ma, shared that in his culture people listen actively and contemplate the person's point and take time before they respond. Active listening can improve a sales person's abilities to engage well since it listening well enough to respond to clients' needs helps clinch all-important deals.

Words block distractions If you find your mind is distracted when someone speaks, say a word in your head such as, "focus," or "clear the mechanism." Then replace this with a key word you hear from the person speaking to move your thoughts with his or hers.

Posture counts - lean in By leaning in as you listen, it boosts your concentration and creates a deeper connection to other people.

Practice makes perfect If you can see the need to improve on past listening habits you've developed, as have I, they can be changed. And it's related to the human brain's amazing plasticity. Very recently researchers began to explore this aspect of the brain even more.

Here's a listening test found on Psychology Today. Start with their analysis to change where you stand...

Thoughts or additions?

Do You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT?

2010-10-22T11:09:00.002-04:00

At eleven, Alan Fine pictured himself as a "severely asthmatic, skinny and painfully shy kid," desperately desiring to play tennis. Pitted in tennis finals against a thirteen-year-old, six feet tall, captain of the Welsh school rugby team--"the school 'jock,'" Alan focused on his wins 6-4, 4-0. When he thought he might be school tennis champ with just two more wins, he froze. From that moment, Fine desired to be a tennis champ. Through stories, Alan Fine shows uncanny insights that led him to understand the interference that holds people back.

Alan inspires everyone to develop a way forward for performance peaks. Alan Fine's GROW design, simply clarified in You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT, details how using inside out approaches, leads to removal of interference that stifles progress.

Intriguingly, an unlikely source - a shy, uncoordinated, girl - provide Fine even bigger breakthrough answers to interference. The nine-year-old had Fine's best instruction, yet she was barely able to hit a tennis ball over the net, five times consecutively. Fine experienced a eureka insight as he perceived his instructional tips were "getting in her way." Not too surprisingly, Alan told her to forget his past instructions. Instead, he simply told her to say bounce when the ball touched the ground and hit when the ball hit her racket. The girl hit the ball over the net 53 times in a row. Two simple words increased her performance 1000% or 10X. Amazingly, each of us holds that same potential. It's a matter of the athlete perceiving the strategy inside out rather than outside in.

For a performer's journey to be GREAT, Fine starts with Faith, Fire and Focus. You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT, reveals Alan's inside out process to apply simple doable actions to leap forward. Alan creates questions that connect the performer to the problem. Interestingly, he poses these similar to MITA Two-footed questions that tap into curiosity, because people are challenged to find answers. Here's an example of Fine's questions a performer can reflect on to name a specific Goal:

What issue do I want to work through?
What do I want from this GROW "session" (meaning time devoted to resolving the issue)?
What are the consequences if I do not take action?

Reality questions direct the performer to consider obstacles and determine if the goal is realistic. In thinking about Options, the performer contemplates what could happen if anything could be done to make progress. In the Way Forward, a performer reflects on ways to act on options and how to go about it. The process helps the performer to GROW.

Alan Fine creates more than mere intellectual understanding of inside out concepts by relating his personal experience, using anagrams that easily show processes involved for breakthrough performance as well as publishing stories from people who achieved breakthrough performance. Additionally, Alan created a website so that people can access his blog and other free items related to his work.

With deep foresight, Alan tackles some of the difficult issues coaches or performers might face when they get stuck. In Chapter Nine, "What do you do when. . .?" Fine shares questions he was asked over the years and he shows what works and what does not. For instance, some people think they need to be told what to do. Though it takes time, he shows how to avoid merely giving advice, but to empower the person to create consistently high-performance.

You ALREADY Know How to be GREAT is a pleasure to read and leaves you wondering where you can use Alan's thoughtful processes to ante up performance as you tackle critical issues at work or sports. In this innovation era, the inside out process empowers leaders and managers to find solutions to failing systems. Fine's GROW resources can prime any athletes' or managers' Faith, Fire and Focus, for a transformational journey.

Donna Mah Delaughter - Innovative Leader

2010-10-07T22:45:00.028-04:00

Flies dive-bombed Dr. Ellen Weber’s hair as she attempted to capture curiosity from her young students. Irritated by relentless insects, Ellen asked a few boys in class if they’d get rid of sluggish fall flies. Within minutes the whole class joined in, slamming books on the monstrous cluster flies, who'd unfortunately picked Ellen’s classroom as a place to spend winter. Suddenly imaginary flies apparently alighted on many students’ heads, since text books batted heads like bats to ping pong balls. In a few minutes, chaos subsided, buzzing ceased, laughter quieted and class resumed with questions about leadership that differs.

Donna Mah Delaughter, a student in that class over thirty years ago, retold the tale recently. Through laughter and colorful stories about Ellen's challenges to reach beyond barriers, Donna attributes many of her own marked leadership skills. Her abundant risk- taking qualities and innovative mind sharpened through Ellen’s facilitation during her top role on the debate team. Donna and several of her peers on the team went forward to win a national trophy. As a young teen in a Canadian school at the time, Donna began a journey that launched life-long learning and never looked back.

Donna recognized her father as a person who prodded her to think beyond stereotypes. He and his family found their way to Canada after they emigrated from China. He wanted his children to be all they could be and though women in his country had been restricted, he envisioned much more for Donna. He said she could even be a doctor if she wanted, and her mother consistently supported Donna's visionary plans.

Donna Mah Delaughter worked her way up the ranks to achieve a top level position as Accountant for SIRAS, a subsidiary of Nintendo. Her quickness and innovative spirit flow unsparingly at the request of SIRAS’ President. She hopes to leave a legacy in life and in work, and in this capacity enjoys mentoring new employees as well as volunteering her time to counsel teens in her church. Donna gives much of her time and talent away and in that role has gained much and benefited all!

In A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink shows that in the new Conceptual Age in which we live, we need to go beyond the mind that merely crunches numbers. We now need people with a very different kind of mind--one that is both creative and full of empathy. Donna has amazing ability to understand what makes fellow workers tick. She forges many relationships and cares for others. She recognizes patterns as she mines data from many data banks and makes new meaning from it. And best of all, Donna loves to play with ideas, challenges and possibilities. During her interview Donna challenges us to think of ourselves as the actual owner of the company where we work.

Below Donna shares insights that help us see the heart and soul of her innovative leadership.

Practice May Not Make Perfect!

2010-10-04T01:27:00.002-04:00

Interestingly, rote practice, the kind of practice in which you do something over and over, may not gain you much. Mixing in a variety of skills, however, will. The idea that practice does not necessarily make perfect seems paradoxical, and it relates to the way your brain functions.

Practicing variable skills antes up retention of the skill. It's so, because each time golfers use a different club or vary a shot, they solve the motor problem anew... and perhaps from a fresh perspective.

Problem solving engages the brain's prefrontal cortex, associated with higher level learning. Some folks have no idea that sports skills reach to higher cognition in the brain, especially when some folks refer to high school athletes as "jocks."

I'm an avid golfer. At our local course, I noticed some golfers spend a great deal of time hitting a drive, over and over, at a golf range. According to USC and UCLA research findings, doing the same skill over and over, leads to a lesser degree of retention - since repetition engages the primary motor cortex, associated with simple motor learning.

"We gravitate toward a simple, rote practice structure because we're basically lazy, and we don't want to work hard," Carolee Winstein, a USC researcher on the study reports.

A lot of what we do learn comes through observing how others accomplish a skill. "Imitation learning," according to Robert Sekuler, Brandeis neuroscientist, "is crucial for acquiring many of the skills used in daily life." It's the "monkey see, monkey do" principle. Trick is... to duplicate that in your own life. Try doing it yourself - shortly after giving yourself enough observation time to capture nuances involved - while these are still in the brain's working memory. That's critical!

You can see why smart problem solving's needed to acquire a motor skill! My practice sessions will be revamped - that's for sure.

How would you rate the methods you've used to lift up your kinesthetic skills?

TGIM or TGIF?

2010-09-21T11:23:00.001-04:00

What would it take to create TGIM
where you work?

Fewer workers than ever say, Thank Goodness It's Monday [TGIM], according to the latest Conference Board National Survey. Why is it workers perceive work as a downer ? Interest on the job was the number one answer - even above money factors, or factors influencing their standard of living.

Interest springs from curiosity, challenge, creativity or working out a conundrum. Personal interest jump-starts the human brain's proclivity for stepping up to the plate to learn, surpass the challenge or solve the mystery. Not too surprisingly, novelty's a motivator for most people on the job. Since our brains are wired to avoid boredom and ruts, when a stimulus activates the brain. If they've felt a dopamine rush in past with a job well done, they want it yet again. You see dopamine, a natural brain chemical, brings a high level of satisfaction, and is reward in itself.

What happens then, when so many workers open workplace doors on Monday mornings, dreading the whole day? What would it take for a CEO, manager or worker to create a challenging work environment - one where productivity reigns? It does not take rocket science to figure out the answer.

Move workers' rich resources - hidden in the treasure houses of their brains

Here are suggested starters based on MITA methods to tap all eight of workers' multiple intelligences:

Nature nurtures the mind and the work environment you create greatly affects a worker's day. If you work in a cubical how might you make your space pleasing by including plants?

Music changes mood and can enhance well-being and focus on the job. What music could boost your Monday mornings?

Walking on a treadmill while working antes up energy and proficiency. Consider some treadmill desks to energize workers. The brain benefits from the extra oxygen generated as you walk since the human brain needs 21% of the body's oxygen to operate at peak performance.

Meet with people who push you out of your comfort zones We are the sum of the people we spend most time with, Paul Sloane notes. Have lunch with work colleagues who are different than you and can stir your thinking in new ways as you see new perspectives.

Why not nurture your inner innovator? Reflect to see where you fit in best and adjust your overall attitude toward life and work- approach your Mondays with an open mind and cultivate the belief that possibilities and solutions are there for you. Look for the unexpected.

Write a proposal for the CEO with suggestions on how make Mondays more upbeat by creating a brain friendly work culture. Zappos, CEO Tony Hsieh formed a theory, "if you create a work culture that fosters well-being, good practices and (eventually) good profits will naturally flow out of the operation." How how can it happen in your workplace?

List two things you want to do on Monday. Plan ahead to do something you will enjoy doing during your work day. By rebooting your brain and organizing ahead, you will make your job more rewarding.

Use spatial tools to enhance your next work project Our visual intelligence helps us see through a new lens. Ideas emerge from pictures in our minds. Why not simply doodle or sketch your idea on scrap paper before putting into words?

How might you make Mondays a day you anticipate at work, rather than days you dread?

Handshakes Reveal More than You Think!

2010-09-02T12:59:00.001-04:00

At the end of every meeting, Jim Street grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed it so hard it hurt. I never could figure out why he did that, but it gave me a bad impression. I strived to figure out his intentions and watched to see if he did similarly to others.

Not too surprisingly, your handshake reveals much about confidence and trust. So what does it take to execute one well? Based on recent findings by British scientist, Geoffrey Beattie twelve things determine the quality of a handshake.

The formula for the perfect handshake looks like this:
PH = √(e2 + ve2)(d2) + (cg + dr)2 + p{(4< s >2)(4< p >2)}2 + (vi + t + te)2 + {(4< c >2 )(4< du >2)}2

Here’s a key to the equation, including proper levels of each factor on a 1-5 scale:

(e): eye contact (1=none; 5=direct) — 5

(ve): verbal greeting (1=totally inappropriate; 5=totally appropriate) — 5

(d): Duchenne smile — smiling in eyes and mouth, plus symmetry on both sides of face, and slower offset (1=totally non-Duchenne smile (false smile); 5=totally Duchenne) — 5

(cg): completeness of grip (1=very incomplete; 5=full) — 5

(dr): dryness of hand (1=damp; 5=dry) — 4

(s): strength (1= weak; 5=strong) — 3

(p): position of hand(1=back towards own body; 5=other person’s bodily zone) — 3

(vi): vigor (1=too low/too high; 5=mid) — 3

(t): temperature of hands (1=too cold/too hot; 5=mid) — 3

(te): texture of hands (1=too rough/too smooth; 5=mid) — 3

(c): control (1=low; 5=high) — 3

(du): duration (1= brief; 5=long) — 3

Sensory input from thermal and pressure receptors during a handshake is sent to your brain's parietal lobe. The message travels to deeper areas of the limbic system for an emotional interpretation to judge how the shake felt, David Givens notes.

“The rules for men and women are the same: right hand, a complete grip and a firm squeeze (but not too strong) in a mid-point position between yourself and the other person, a cool and dry palm, approximately three shakes, with a medium level of vigour, held for no longer than two to three seconds, with eye contact kept throughout and a good natural smile with a slow offset with, of course, an appropriate accompanying verbal statement, make up the basic constituent parts for the perfect handshake,” notes Beattie.

"Since in much of the world a handshake is both a visual and a tactile index of your concern for other people," Givens points out. "A rule of thumb is not to hold back." Givens reveals many tips about what is expected in your handshake when you visit other countries.

How do you rate your current handshake? Tap into these strategies as you meet an important contact or go for that critical interview!

Expect Top Possibilities?

2010-08-30T09:06:00.003-04:00

Expect Possibilities

What specific dividends do you expect today? Yes, even in the face of problems that defeat people around you. Life tends to take a forward leap – toward new possibilities anticipated, for those who act on what could be. Despite naysayers and doubters, the brain kicks into gear in response to expectations. While it took a solo flight to reach her top prediction, one high school kid Hani, simply ran toward the best and remained solidly in the direction of her dream, until it materialized.

A poor Indonesian girl in dog-eared clothes, waited till she spotted a teacher in the parking lot of an elite Indonesian school. Hani approached the teacher, and in a soft voice asked, "Could you help me with English?" Jamie Winship, an idealistic young English teacher, saw courage in the girl’s approach, especially since she likely knew this school shunned under-privileged Indonesian students.

When Jamie asked why Hani wanted to improve her English, she responded without a pause, …” to attend American university." Moved by the young girl's raw boned dream, Jamie agreed to meet after school. The language lesson extended into months, as Hani refused to waver no matter how much work it took. As soon as she finished her regular school day, she rode the bus for an hour to work on new English lessons that Jamie prepared. Not only did Hani’s study habits outrank top efforts in the elite school, she pushed herself to master the basics in college level English. Hani stuck to a daily grind of meeting every challenge that English raised between her expectations to attend a US college and her underprivileged station in life.

By focusing on possibilities Hani harnessed creativity enough to act on them. In this way she rewired her brain for more of the same. Luckily human brains reshape by what you do in a day, so that regardless of setbacks, a finer big picture can shape and drive expectations.

As customary, new scholarship opportunities arrived in Jamie's mail. As she read vast requirements, Jamie feared Hani had no hope to qualify. She could not list an involvement in clubs or sports. Hani's school had none. Jamie mentioned the scholarship to Hani, and at the same time told her to plan more "realistically" for her future. Hani looked somberly at Jamie as she ran through the fine print, and when Jamie finished, she asked her mentor to submit her name. When naysayers doubt your chances, do your expectations hold?

Jamie didn’t have the heart to turn down Hani, and though she explain the truth about Hani's academic life, she also described on the application, Hani's courage and willingness to work for what she expected.

Jamie then prepared Hani to take an English Fluency test, in Jakarta. That meant Hani needed to learn to use computers, in spite of never having touched one before.

On the test day, a letter from the university arrived in Jamie's mailbox. Jamie thought it was a cruel time to receive a rejection letter, but to prepare Hani for the disappointment, she read the letter out loud. Hani had been accepted! Jamie was ecstatic and leaped for joy around the room. This bewildered Hani, who sat quietly smiling – watching.

Jamie learned something that day, that Hani had known all along.

As I read Hani's story in Chicken Soup for the College Soul, I was inspired and energized by Hani’s reward for sticking to possibilities expected, rather than focusing on problems. Yesterday, as Dr. Ellen Weber and I responded to new contacts, and moved the MITA Center forward, we made top progress. Today, we expect more of the same despite rough spots in the current recession. What do you expect, and what step today would start you in that direction?

Completing "Good Intentions" Is an Elixir

2010-08-10T22:02:00.001-04:00

The pictures in my collage frame at work were almost four years old. But, I always did other jobs first. Though it was my best intention to do it, it never happened. Today I awakened with a different determination. Rather than checking my email and Twitter messages, I deliberately chose to finish two tasks that I had been putting off.

I located some action pictures of our summer fun together, cut them and put them in the frame. It brought liveliness right from the start and refreshes my spirit every time I glance at it.

Another intention was to order a subscription to Inc. & Fast Company Magazine. I located the crumpled order form at the bottom of my purse, filled it out and put it in the mail. One of the reasons I ordered these is that every article stirs new insights and ideas related to MITA work. I look forward to the upcoming issues and new possibilities.

Even though target is the second step of MITA, I struggle most in this area. Completing these two tasks brought such pleasure to my day that I now choose to include one "intention" within each daily checklist. It worked like an elixir for a pick-me-up. And now I want more rewards like this.

Are you hitting your bull's eyes? Thoughts...

Meetings that fire your brain!

2010-07-31T13:57:00.000-04:00

Ellen Weber has some amazing gifts for facilitating inspiring meetings. No one touches her skills to crank up brainpower from entire groups. And she ends right on time or even early. On a whim, I jotted down several strategies Ellen seemed to pull from a hat to make this happen.

Ellen was amazed to see these listed so I encouraged her to write a book. Since many folks agonize about ways make meetings effective, whether a participant or facilitor, it seemed like a winner. When Ellen saw the list, her creativity hit the top with ideas that would not wait. She hunted and pecked vehemently to type the first draft.

Strategies in the book [in press] are written for leaders and learners who expect more brainpower for innovation at meetings. If you were to use this book [in press] to guide your next meeting, what topics would you like to see addressed?

Thought and Risk

2010-07-29T09:54:00.001-04:00

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. George S. Patton

Was that a man... beginning to run across the 390? Instantaneously, I realized the the truck ahead of me was screeching to a halt. I slammed on my brakes, hoping I would not run into the truck... Luckily the car stopped with not a yard to spare.

Surprisingly, the man dashed back to his car with a ladder. Why would someone rush out into speeding traffic on two lanes of a four lane highway to rescue a ladder? We'll never know.

Some leaders take financial risks - venture forth to open a new business, or perhaps leave a solid job to pursue another. Many risk opening doors to opportunity and change. Leaders step up to these challenges to gain the rewards.

Interestingly, some "people are more turned off by losses than they are turned on by gains," according to Craig Fox's research findings. Reward centers in our brain "turn on," not only when we make decisions about potential rewards, but also "turn off" when we think about losing money or whatever it is that we risk.

To take a risk then, involves pushing against fear and hesitation we may encounter to step out. Calculating risks helps to set the pace.

Thoughts?

12 Memory Boosters

2010-07-08T16:24:00.003-04:00

Forget anything you needed to know today? Good news! Though memory formation remains a somewhat mysterious process, by approaching daily choices mindfully, you begin to bank more assets in your memory account. And, cost is minimal.

Over the last decade, neuro-research discoveries reveal more about what impacts human memory... See which ones could ratchet up your capabilities.

1. Memory Links to 40 Winks If your priority is to carry through items on tomorrow's to-do list, think about it just before you go to bed and then sleep on it. Sleep enhances people's ability to remember and do something in the future. A place, situation or circumstance -- encountered the next day -- often sparks an intended action.

2. Blueberries Sharpen Memory -- Once in your system they "cross the blood brain barrier" to improve cellular communications and enhance neuron connectors. Blueberries are full of flavanoids to empower learning and recall.

3. Doodles Boost Memory and Concentration You can escape a speaker's monotonous voice by doodling critical information you need to know later. Doodling images helps maintain attention and prevents distraction.

4. Calorie Reduction May Improve Memory - Eating essential nutrients and cutting down on calories enhanced participants' ability to recall words with few errors, in a recent research study.

5. Magnesium Supplement Helps Boost Brainpower A new magnesium compound, magnesium-L-Theronate, shows much promise to enhance short- and long-term synapses crucial for learning and memory. Watch for this compound since I'm not sure how soon we might see the new formula on store shelves.

6. Distractions interrupt the brain's memory-making ability Tune in tasks so your circuits run at full power rather than being short circuited. You'll find 10 suggestions for starters...

7. Memory Palace Technique Play a bit with the Memory Palace.... According to Litemind, Luciano Passuello of Brazil, its fun to learn and easy to use. Interestingly it has been used since ancient Rome and is responsible for amazing memory feats. Learn a foreign language, prepare for a test or remember the sequence of a presentation. Here's how...

Choose a Palace - any place you remember vividly. It might be a room in your home, your work place or a route you take frequently.
List Distinctive Features - Analyze your room or route methodically, such as viewing a room from left to right or figuring out a system to view in the same way.
Imprint Palace on Your Mind to make sure you have the route or place 100% imprinted on your mind. Tips to visualize: Enter your palace and mentally note the distinctive features and if necessary list them on a piece of paper. Visualization is key.
Associate Items with Distinctive Features Create Memory Pegs - For instance, if you want to recall items on a shopping list and your palace is your home, put one item at a time perhaps starting with the front door of your mind. As you select each item, use your imagination to make each crazy, outrageous or fun. We remember these kinds of things easily. If it's boring it doesn't work!
Visit Your Palace - If you follow the same route through your palace and begin with your first chosen distinctive feature, the memorized items will come to your mind instantly.

8. Rest Mind to Strengthen Memories Taking a coffee break after a class can help you retain information you just learned. "Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned," Lila Davachi, of NYU's Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, finds. However, these boosts were only seen in experiences that were later memorable.

9. Stress Curtails Memory and Kills Brain Cells About 75% of Americans suffer from stress-related conditions. Chronic overreaction to stress overloads the brain with the powerful hormone, cortisol, which is intended for short-term duty in emergency situations. Too much cortisol released in the body, can prevent the brain from laying down a new memory, or from accessing already existing memories.

When we use strategies to manage stress and cut down when hit with overloads, more well-being is restored in daily life.

10. Serotonin Levels Cultivate Brain Benefits - Dr. Ellen Weber notes, "Serotonin is a chemical that can add focus and higher problem solving skills to transform any ordinary day." She adds that cultivating serotonin is a matter of choice especially when we face turbulent times... When we learn to act calmly and give ourselves just a few moments to "step back" and reflect, we can approach crisis with choices and tone that work for us rather than against us.

Calm is far less dependent on daily events that go well, and stress does not remain simply because the chips are down. That’s likely not surprising if you observe life’s abundance in people who laugh, care, give or lead well, in spite of tough times. They learn to access serotonin in good and bad times. How so?

11. Exercise Increases "Mental Fitness" A brisk walk's a simple exercise, yet it's especially good for the brain, since it increases the amount of oxygen and glucose reaching the brain. People who take brisk walks daily, show significant improvement in memory, improve learning ability, concentration and abstract reasoning.

12. Challenges Keep Memory Functioning Well as People Age - Activities such as searching the internet keeps the brain active because of the range of choices it involves making. Reading, writing, solving puzzles, playing cards and other games, and especially learning something new, such as painting, delay, precipitous memory declines. So go beyond normal routines to create new adventures daily.

How might you start building assets for your memory account?

Unexpected Elixer

2010-06-30T16:07:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, after two taxing meetings, it was cool to come home and discover an email announcing that Brain Based Biz listed as number 11 for Business Leadership Blogs, 2010. Incredulous!

I knew nothing about Awarding the Web and Online MBA rankings and had no idea who nominated me. But, it worked as a surprise elixer. Fact is, I almost deleted it thinking it might be the kind of snake oil @mikefixes discussed with @ellenfweber and me today over lunch. But, before deleting, I checked it out and decided to accept the honor. It encourages everything I do on Brain Based Biz.

If you've had a similar experience, to find an unexpeced elixer that lifts up your work, it brings much well being. Now you see more of how the brain chemical serotonin, operates to benefit you.

Stick to It - You Can Do It!

2010-06-24T17:15:00.007-04:00

If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something. ... it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein

My eight-year-old Toshiba laptop died last week. A 14" light, Toshiba Satellite, with long lasting battery power fit my needs to a T. But, its systems were new and unfamiliar. My basal ganglia, the brain's storehouse for memory was full of patterns that were familiar and comfortable. In trying to get new email operating smoothly as in past, I fought against data systems that did not allow me to insert needed information. Everything was totally different. The fight to work with the new laptop's systems taxed my brain to the utmost.

You see I had begun to work in my brain's working memory. Trying to get everything up and running caused much discomfort since all was new and unfamiliar. When I reached that point, I set everything aside to come back at a later time when I could think more clearly. Then, I worked a chunk at a time so that I did not get overwhelmed.

This morning a technician gave me a hand to convert my Outlook Express mail to Windows Live Mail. Expert help lifts us over the bumps. I can already see advantages to the new.

Our brains have great plasticity. We can accomplish things never before accomplished by using parts of your brain never before used. ~ Ellen Weber

Six Tips to Boost Problem Solving Brainpower

2010-06-15T17:59:00.002-04:00

What does it take for a top notch problem solver? A good guess... When a barrier stands in the way of finalizing a project, a hunch can lead us to creative solutions. Why? The brain's remarkable flexibilty helps us look at context as we consider possible answers.

Some people solve problems frequently so they've built in their brain many neuron pathways for this process. Problem solving's a skill that can be learned. These six tips boost the process...

Accuracy is key Define the problem. Relationships and facts are the nuts and bolts of problem solving. Good problem solvers are often compulsive about making sure they have all the facts and take time to do so. For instance, cutting edge scientists create models when working on novel product solutions. On the other hand, poor problem solvers often miss a piece.

Einstein once said that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.

Remain open to possibilities Staying open-minded to see how an option might work, is key. On the other hand, if statements like, it can't work, won't happen or takes too much, come to mind or are shared by team members, it stifles the creative process. Remain focused on likely options to find what does work.

Hook what you know to mental pictures When faced with a new situation, people frequently search for relationships. Often there are several parts so it works to break the problem down into chunks. Seeing the problem through a different lens can be helpful, such as doodling, graphing it, creating a diagram. Creating a mental picture works well.

Daydream Daydreaming allows our minds to wander as our brain puts together a solution. Possibilities pop into your mind as you walk, listen to music, or even work at a routine task.

Ask others for ideas Frequently technology requires us to problem solve at the MITA International Brain Center. Dr. Ellen Weber and I needed to participate in video conferencing last week. There were several issues involved to make everything work. I was able to test several technical solutions I tried in past to solve similar problems, but one stumped us. Finally, Ellen phoned a young MBA doctoral candidate, who is talented technologically, for the final solution.

Sleep on it During sleep the brain continues to work on problems. If you wakened with an aha in past you know how effectively it works.

If you want to build top notch problem solving acumen, just do it. Develop solutions yourself before asking others. You will build more dedrite brain cells each time you solve an issue. What additional tips might you add for creative problem solving?

Ask for Directions - Saving face or time?

2010-06-07T10:16:00.001-04:00

The GPS took me to one of many hospital buildings where I needed to go for an appointment. Unfortunately, it could not show me the most convenient parking lot so I asked a delivery man beside the road, where was the best place to park. He directed me to a lot behind the building. What do you do when you're on the run and need directions?

Not too surprisingly, men and women have a whole different take when it comes to asking directions according to Deborah Tannen. Have the differences ever roused your curiosity? Willingness to ask has a lot to do with point of view and hierarchy.

From a woman's point of view, asking directions involves a quick connection to a stranger and getting what you need without losing time, Tannen suggests. On the other hand, from a man's perspective, he would be putting himself in a one-down position to a stranger -- an uncomfortable experience, Tannen notes. Many men might also see this as counterproductive, since if the other person really doesn't know, he could send you on a wild goose chase in order not to appear one- down. So for most men, it makes more sense to find the way on their own.

The right hippocampus of the human brain houses the mental maps that we use to find our way around. Added to that the human brain is hard wired for hierarchy. We learn these cultural approaches early on in life so we can be stuck in a rut. Willing to take a risk change, since humans can rewire their brains by using a different approach?

Interestingly, the delivery man took a few minutes to find out more specifics from another person. What is your experience with directions? A year ago I tried to find the parking lot on my own, located one quite far away and was late. This year I asked for directions to save time. Do you ask or try to find your way on your own?

Listening Beams from the other Side of Questions

2010-05-27T12:52:00.002-04:00

Create a connection with people by leaning in and listening intently when they are speaking. ~Heshie Segal

"I'm great," flowed from my lips, just as the clerk began to inquire, "How..." Since my response came ahead of the rest of the sentence, I had not anticipated what she really wanted to say. Do you form your next input as others speak? If we do, we really don't hear. Good listening is on the other side of asking questions.

As the clerk completed her sentence, "...can I help you," I anticipated the familiar, "How are you today," and I was dead wrong. Because of my mistake, it stopped me in my tracks. Ever catch yourself doing this? It's common in our culture to wait for pauses and jump in, unlike conversation in Japan, where speakers pause and answer after they have time to think about what was said.

Interestingly, you can succeed more in business by really listening. "An executive's greatest asset in growing their business is their ability to listen," according to George Dennis. He lists three recommendations to help make this part of your leadership style:

Really hear
Rather than rushing in to deliver answers, simply listen. Stay in the moment instead of thinking about how you'll respond while the other person is talking. "Hear and understand the need," Dennis recommends. "Let it soak in and then answer the call."

Promote dialogue, not monologue
Wait until the person is finished speaking and then repeat words back to let them know you are fully engaged in conversation. It's a way to gain conficence from employees or potential customers, Dennis finds.

Consider body language
Listening is active! Nods, eye contact, and other reactions give a signal to another person that you listen and hear. If you look at your watch or avoid eye contact when someone speaks to you, you make employees or clients uncomfortable.

People in the U.S. have a mindset to act and this makes listening difficult, Mary Jo Asmus notes.

Why? Because listening isn’t considered something that gets results. Our workplaces (understandably) are geared toward taking action to achieve results.

So we’re constantly in motion, taking action because it’s what we (think) we get paid to do. Our days are filled with meetings, phone calls, email, fixing things. We talk TO and AT others and think we’ve accomplished something.

Productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires work and practice. Tom Lewis and Gerald Graham list these 7 tips for effective listening

Concentrate on what others say
Send nonverval message that you listen and hear
Avoid early evaluations
Refrain from getting defensive
Practice paraphrasing
Listen and observe for feelings
Ask questions

You can test yourself by giving a peer Lewis and Graham's Listening Quiz. How do you rate?

1. During the past two weeks, can you recall an incident where you thought I was not listening to you?

2. When you are talking to me, do you feel relaxed at least 90 percent of the time?

3. When you are talking to me, do I maintain eye contact with you most of the time?

4. Do I get defensive when you tell me things with which I disagree?

5. When talking to me, do I often ask questions to clarify what you are saying?

6. In a conversation, do I sometimes overreact to information?

7. Do I ever jump in and finish what you are saying?

8. Do I often change my opinion after talking something over with you?

9. When you are trying to communicate something to me, do I often do too much of the talking?

10. When you are talking to me, do I often play with a pen, pencil, my keys, or something else on my desk?

When you feel like you really connect with someone, you might say you are on the same wavelength. As you focus on the ideas or questions of another person, your brain filters out distracting thoughts to help you focus. But it's your choice.

Listening is a gift you give to others. Others gain respect and confidence that when they speak, they also feel heard. You can see how critical the other side of questioning is. What will you change in the way you listen?

Dynamic Meetings with More Brainpower

2010-05-24T22:22:00.002-04:00

Discover new strategies to make your meetings dynamic. The Lead Change Group is sponsored a free teleconference, May 25, 8-9:30 pm.

Join Susan Mazza, author of the Random Acts of Leadership blog, as she interviews Dr. Ellen Weber and Dr. Robyn McMaster from the MITA International Brain Center to learn how to apply brain based strategies to meeting effectiveness.

Here's more about what we'll be talking about...

People constantly complain that “meetings suck” where they work, and surprisingly few feel they can transform these fiascos. Yet since meetings continue to be one of the primary structures we use for having the conversations that support us in communicating and working effectively together, can they be transformed to be satisfying, productive uses of our time and energy? We say yes!

We'd welcome your questions at this interactive session.

Who is your neighbor and why should you care?

2010-04-29T12:15:00.000-04:00

How are you interacting in your neighborhood? Recent research shows that when you're active in civic organizations such as churches and civic associations, a spirit of closer association and spirit develops even in poverty areas. Why is that?

People get to know each other and begin to care not only about themselves, but also those living in proximity a mindset for causes to improve their world emerges. When like-minded people create churches, entrepreneurial businesses, faith-based civic engagement and vote, the likelihood of violent crime goes down, whether in poor rural or inner city neighborhoods, according to a recent study.

On Bob Smith's WXXI radio interview with a neighborhood researcher yesterday, the researcher told a story, which revealed he did not know his neighbors well. Because he was conducting a survey, he met a middle-aged woman in his neighborhood who was a medical diagnostician. She had diagnosed her own malignant tumor and as a result was not working for awhile, since she was now under treatment. She had physical needs that were hard to meet alone such as shopping for food.

The researcher matched her up with an older woman in the neighborhood. who had plenty of time on her hands and wanted to make a difference. The older neighbor now came to her home, and gladly helped meet some of the needs she had. The researcher was very fulfilled because he was able to put these two neighbors in touch. And the story made me think.... you?

Being a good neighbor makes a difference in our growth as a caring leader and as a spiritually strong person in the varying roles we find ourselves in a given day.

You might be interested to know that these were identified as intelligences by Howard Gardner of Harvard University. When activated in your brain, they can be identified through MRI's. Interpersonal or social intelligence means that you interact and communicate and exchange ideas easily with others. For many it is very natural from a young age. Today much of these is with family and friends only. What if you also took time to introduce yourself to a neighbor you don't know well and invite that person [or family] to a picnic this spring?

On the other hand, the Intrapersonal intelligence is your sense of who you are - your emotions, spiritually, self-worth, ethics, values, confidence and caring for others are part of this intelligence. In many ways this part of your brain is the hub for choices, actions, and is the essence of your personality that others see daily. Interestingly, the more you stretch yourself through new actions, the stronger you become in each. Each time we act on something, more neurons for that action are created in specific regions of the brain.

Building both a strong interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence is key to creating the kind of world around us that is rich in spirit.

Who is our neighbor and why should we care?

A Good Laugh Bursts from the Soul

2010-04-27T20:15:00.001-04:00

"A smile starts on the lips, a grin spreads to the eyes, a chuckle comes from the belly; but a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, overflows, and bubbles all around” ~ Carolyn Birmingham

Laughter's good medicine... Mirthful laughter

helps decrease cortisol, leading to stress reduction
increases production of antibodies
enhances mood through increased endorphins
lowers bad cholesterol and systolic blood pressure
raises good cholesterol
decreases inflammation in diabetics

Ever notice how laughter's contagious? The mirror neurons in our brain lead us to mimic those around us.

Hope you enjoyed a good laugh with a friend today.

Plants Enhance Workplace Well Being

2010-04-23T16:30:00.007-04:00

Does your workplace environment nurture your mind? It can. If your office has both a window view and/or plants, you can cut down on stress and anxiety.

Many recent studies on job satisfaction reveal that workers who spend more time in offices under artificial light, or in cubicles with no outside view, report reduced job satisfaction. Light also decreases stress levels, and plants offer nature's dividends to your work environment.

A manager friend described going to a local nursery, picking out colorful potted plants and putting one on each employee's desk, first thing in the morning. Smiles erupted all around and he noticed more productivity, that day. Fresh potted blooms and plants in your office can your serotonin level. Think of doing this as a serotonin tap for yourself and others, if your manager or supervisor doesn't. The addition of many plants can enhance well-being for all and make people feel better at work.

In particular, Jonathan Kaplan, points out that plants have been shown to...

Lower blood pressure (systolic)
Improve reaction times
Increase attentiveness
Improve attendance (at work and school)
Raise productivity (at work)
Enhance well-being
Enrich perceptions of the space
Lower levels of anxiety during recovery from surgery
Boost job satisfaction

Helps me to think twice about including fresh plants in my office. You?

Indoor plants at work also improve the air quality by removing pollutants, in addition to boosting creativity and productivity, in addition to improving comfort levels according to Smith and Pitt's article published in the Journal of Corporate Real Estate (2009). Smith and Pitt argue that indoor plants have potential to alleviate sick building syndrome symptoms.

I need all the serotonin taps I can get throughout a work day. Hmmm... my next outing is to the nursery!

8 Triggers for Workshop Flops

2010-04-18T22:10:00.001-04:00

Do you look forward to workshop presentations? If not, why not? Choices by leaders and participants often cause workshops to flop. Flops originate in people - presenter and participant alike. Ever spotted these culprits?

Presenter gaffes

1. Ike - Incessant talker ... Boredom sets in when folks sit and listen passively. Though Ike finds high stimulation through personal interest and deep research on a topic, does not mean the audience connects similarly. The human brain is easily distracted when people merely listen to someone talk, no matter how famous.

2. Irma - Indifferent Warmth makes a difference in the way people receive Irma messages. A leader's body language reflects how receptive she is to people and their contributions. A roll of the eyes or lack of eye contact distances Irma from participants.

3. Peppy - PowerPoint Wizard One of Peppy's recent presentation included 77 slides with a text overdose. Imagine sitting through that! There's little power and less point.

4. Freddy - Factoid When Freddy leads managers to memorize new concepts or theories on transformational leadership, it does not guarantee they can actually do it on the job. Why? When people learn something new, if they use it or teach it to someone else, it enhances their ability to transfer the skill in many environments. The action of using a skill rewires brain dendrites and enhances memory.

Participant turn-off's

5. Peter - Peacock Takes a leader off topic by introducing a red herring to focus attention elsewhere. Peter is needy. Growth is needed in intrapersonal intelligence, since weakness is apparent in these actions. This is problematic at a workshop and frustrates both presenter and participants.

6. Norma - Know-It-All Announces she knows everything already. Norma is not open to learn and add to what she understands already. Narcissism is the culprit here and a person like Norma often cries for attention both intellectually and status-wise.

7. Tom - Take-Over When people begin to work in groups, without a good plan to give equal time to each person, Tom begins to dominate, perhaps to control or to "show off" what he knows. Others in the group often do not contribute as a result.

8. Sally - Stuck-in-a-Rut Sally's stuck in a "comfort zone," likes her own way of doing things and isn't about to change..

What does it take for a presenter to stir the brain power of each person present? Ellen Weber offers excellent approaches to make workshops win. What would you add?

Time melting away on you?

2010-03-30T17:59:00.002-04:00

Find yourself running out of time daily and staying up late? You'd benefit by embracing new organizational tactics!

Here's how...

By working smarter and not harder, you'll line up your days to work with your brain rather than against it.

You and I can benefit from Lolly Daskal's amazing teleseminar: THE MASTERS OF TIME on April 7th - 8th designed to assist busy leaders like us to find even more balance, control and choice. We can become an even more productive, master of our time. Best part is teleseminar's FREE!

Here're highlights:

We'll gain from expertise of nine leaders in different fields

Dr. Ellen Weber - Learn, Live and Lead with the Brain in Mind

Ellen is founder and Director of the International MITA Center, a brain based leadership renewal center, located in Rochester, NY. She published several books and dozens of articles about using more brain for innovative workplace solutions. Her well respected brain based approaches appear in top national and international journals, periodicals and newspapers, as far away as Dubai. Ellen provides tactics to work with your brain to improve time management.

Mike Song - Manage Your Email Before It Manages You

Mike is co-author of "The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You" and is one of America's leading experts on email efficiency and etiquette.

Maria Gracia - Let's Get Organized Now!

Specializes in helping people get better organized to live the kind of stress-free life they've always dreamed of. Over a million visitors visit Maria's Get Organized Now web site yearly!

David Peter Stroh - Managing Your Time as a Leader

David co-evolved an innovative approach to Executive Time Management to help leaders and organizations improve performance in sustainable ways despite increased workload and declining resources. His clients include: Shell, Johnson & Johnson, Partners Healthcare, Hewlett-Packard, World Bank, NASA, and the Kellogg and Soros Foundations.

Marilyn Paul, Ph.D. - Manage Your Workload. Don’t Let It Manage You

Marilyn is the author of the best-selling book, It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys: The Seven-Step Path to Becoming Organized (Penguin Compass, 2004), which has sold 150,000 copies worldwide. An executive coach, Marilyn's special expertise focuses in time management, recovering from disorganization, and managing workload systemically.

Maruxa Murphy - Take Back Your Life

Maruxa knows the power “SOS – Shiny Object Syndrome” holds for a business person and provides steps she’s taken to live outside the prison of these Shiny Objects.

Dr. Eric Wolterstorff - Move Roadblocks - Reach Your Goals!

Eric will help you change all three of your memory systems to get you where you want to go. With over 25 years experience in the field of trauma, interpersonal dynamics and organizational performance, he is an internationally recognized speaker and trainer for professionals, organizations and religious and cultural groups.

Charrise McCrorey - Regain Your Valuable Time

Charrise is a Certified Business and Personal Coach, who specializes in helping people get clarity on what they want in life. She'll show you how to uncover fear and activate courage to manage your life.

Megan McDonough - Holistic Approach to Work/Life Balance

An award-winning author of Infinity in a Box, Using Yoga to Live with Ease, and the soon-to-released book titled A Minute for Me; Megan helps people get clear so they can get the results they want. Megan is a marketing consultant to wellness organizations, a corporate trainer for work/life balance workshops, and a yoga instructor.

Lolly Daskal - Time Management From The Inside Out

Lolly Daskal teaches us that TIME MANAGEMENT is all about working from the inside out. With her practical approach she will not only help us manage our time using new insights, but it will also help each of us manage life.

Don't worry if you can't make it to hear all the speakers during the free LIVE Time Masters Summit on 4/7/10 - 4/8/10. There will be a chance to get access to the replays as well.

Here's how: Start with TIME MASTER recorded teleseminar.
TIME STRATEGIST
TIME SENSEI

Box up troubles to move on

2010-03-28T20:18:00.001-04:00

When trouble strikes we have a tendency to dwell on all facets of the event. Maybe it's a lost chance for a job or the purchase of a new home we desired.

Interestingly, you can change your outlook on trouble by sticking something related to the disappointment in a box or envelope according to a Rotman School of Management study. The physical act of putting materials related to an unpleasant experience, even a written recollection of it, improved people's negative views and created closure.

Just telling people to "move on," doesn't work. "What works is when people enclose materials that are relevant to the negative memories they have," Dilip Soman finds. "It works because people aren't trying to explicitly control their emotions."

People who move on benefit with an optimistic view of the future. To let go and move on boosts individual's immune systems.

As individuals shift from a negative to more optimistic view, it enhances activation in the brain's anterior cingulate and amygdala, which often malfunctions in depression.

Physically putting something in a box or envelope goes a step further than merely thinking about it. I find this a powerful strategy to move past distressing events that might otherwise overwhelm me and stop me in my tracks.

What works for you to shift gears to move on when trouble comes?

Your Brain on Trust

2010-03-15T13:19:00.001-04:00

People take more action when you take more interest. #notrust Chris Brogan

Hmmm... as I read Chris's statement, the following thoughts bulldozed through my head about "no trust":

more money spent on software to keep hackers away
car insurer notice to cancel policy because hubby had two minor accidents in snow, though they sell policy in snow belt
high pressure telephone marketers wanting to move money from my pocket to theirs through manipulative talk
e-mail pfishing
social media account theft - viral crooks
identity theft
politicians who sit in Albany and Washington with more of their interests in mind than the people's they represent

Jim, a friend with a business start-up, encountered a slick businessman who kept his fee to himself until after a session explaining how he could market and double profitability. Immediately after the session, the businessman promptly sent Jim a bill for $2,000, payable in 30 days. Business friend advised Jim not to pay, when he took his problem to them. He held tight. Unbelievably, he was sent a notice to appear in court for non-payment. Jim was advised this time to go to court and take what evidence he had. Jim held firm, went to court, and the judge dismissed the case, and ordered the businessman to pay the court fees. I wonder how many in Jim's shoes pay up because of fear.

A lot of folks take interest in our ability to get ahead and make money, but who's interest do they have in mind? As you can see, I've developed a level of skepticism... and I'd like to tackle that.

Are you curious as to how how trust is formed in people's brains. Are people rewired for less trust because there appears to be more "snake oil" salesmen out there than there used to be?

Two regions of the brain affect trust: the amygdala, which processes fear, danger and possibly risk of social betrayal; and an area of the striatum, part of the circuity that guides and adjusts future behavior based on reward feedback. Swiss scientists found that oxytocin affects people's responses positively specifically related to trust. Since our brains have great plasticity and can be rewired, I hope to rewire mine to be more open, yet careful, too.

Our brains wire more easily for negative connections and these are harder to overcome, while positive connections are harder to create and tend to leave faster. Why is this true? Ellen Weber shows that

Fear tactics or stress over-stimulate the amygdala and excite the brain’s circuitry. Threats, for instance, increase dangerous cortisol chemicals and lower levels of serotonin, the adrenalin for well-being.

Not too surprisingly, first impressions count when you want to build a lasting trust, according to researcher Robert Lount. He suggests a person forms a first impression and sticks to it, looking for future cues that are consistent with this first impression.

In a recent study of people from 29 Asian countries shows that individuals with high levels of trust in the mass media tend to be healthier.

These findings align with Steve Rubel's assessment that "trust in experts rises - social media and PR still win." At the same time, however, trust in peers surprisingly dropped from 47% to 27%.

Rubel adds:

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, you name it are by far the fastest and most effective ways for an any individual or a company to build a thought leadership footprint... All it means that we'll have to work harder to build credibility through online thought leadership. If you're doing this with scale, you will win.

The punchline: All this means is less fluff and more substance. And that's a good thing.

You can rewire your brain for more trust, though in these times it takes conscious focus and effort. Global companies see trust as a major focus today. Are you working to establish trust as you take interest in others?

I will listen to hear what others say and contemplate it... You?

Gratitude: 5 Tips to Generate More

2010-03-09T18:22:00.005-05:00

Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty. - Doris Day

Birthdays lead me to reflect and realize amazing wealth in money can't buy. If I measured my wealth in money - it's infinite and abundant.

Had you ever thought gratitude makes a difference in your happiness? Gratitude is listed first in a list of five things that make you happy. Being optimistic, counting your blessings, using your strengths and committing acts of kindness follow gratitude.

Expressing gratefulness: gratefulness needs expression to make a difference. What are some of the ways you express thanks to others? Here are 5 for you to consider:

1. Expressive writing is one way to practice gratitude. Dr. Steve Toepfer tried an experiment with students in his class. He asked student volunteers to write letters of gratitude to people positively impacting their lives. Students wrote a letter every two weeks with ground rules that it had to be "positively expressive, required some insight and reflection, was nontrivial and contained a high level of appreciation or gratitude."

"I saw their happiness increase after each letter, meaning the more they wrote, the better they felt," says Toepfer, who also witnessed improvement in participants' life satisfaction and gratitude throughout the study.

2. Pay gratitude forward: A kind act often is what makes us grateful to others. For instance, when I first started blogging, Ellen Weber, Brad Shorr and Servant of Chaos were three people who took time to comment on articles. That encouraged me. As a result, I began to pay it forward by commenting on many other blogs.

3. Reconsider lack of gratitude to family and people close to us: At times family members get the brunt of our emotions because we take them for granted without realizing it. But, what if we were to think of ways we are grateful for them? "See if it's possible to notice and get in touch with helpful, supportive ways in which your family has loved you," Jonathan Kaplan urges.

4. Gratitude fills your glass half way: It's up to us to make it full. Good news is that gratitude increases levels of serotonin, a brain hormone, which flows through your brain, and increasing your well-being. "Grateful thinking—and especially expression of it to others—is associated with increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy." Pouring serotonin into your glass at daybreak makes sense.

5. Embrace your job through gratitude: Begin by reviewing the "sweet spot" of your day. For example a physician, "eased his professional struggles with a positive trick of the brain. 'Every morning when I start my internal rant against the ridiculous requirements of my new practice group, I force myself to STOP and picture one patient I feel I helped the day before. That soothing image brings my stress level down enough to get through another day.'"

Next time I waken, "cranky," I'll work on shifting gears by thinking of something meaningful from the day before. Hmmm... I'll even write a note. You?

Act Opposite to Feelings - Kindness Counts

2010-02-28T15:36:00.002-05:00

Kindness is acknowledging the judgmental voice and dismissing it so to have an authentic, present conversation with a loved one [or colleague]. Kat Tansey

To do the opposite of what you're feeling goes against the grain especially when another person is set in her ways or he is mad at you. Turning things upside down frequently involves going against common sense and your intuition all at once.

Hard...? You bet!

Doable? It can be done... because the brain holds plasticity and can rewire. Good news is that fresh experiences lead to neuron growth even in maturity. The brain rewires itself following such an experience. As you focus more on that disagreeable person's good qualities and act kindly, the more these actions are rewired into your brain's basal ganglia.

Ellen Weber suggests we need to snip our amygdala, when temper flares.

Even today, you might feel the sting of words spoken by a trusted colleague, open a card from a family member and find any affection obvious from its absence, or encounter a person you care for who makes plans that deliberately exclude you. Each encounter that stings, rejects, criticizes, or diminishes you also locks steel jaws onto your amygdala. Luckily though, jaws that create intense emotional pain, can also become a trigger to snip your amygdala before you snipe back and intensify the damage. How so?

Rather than judge a culprit’s motives, regret your own weaknesses, or focus on deciphering what that person could be saying in meta-messages spoken, simply snip away. Sure, use good tone, and name the problem honestly rather than deny it exists, but then take mental scissors to snip your well being from any tethers to maligning words or thoughtless acts. The snipping leaves you mentally in a place to grow from the experience, or even offer an olive branch in response – rather than in a place of depression.

When someone nose dives into your well-being, it can cause pain in the chest. But, showing simple acts of social kindness can blunt the brain’s response and lead pain to subside. Act opposite that nudge to put out a person's lights and watch your own brain reignite.

Change begins within... Kindness counts!

Does your game plan include surprise?

2010-02-16T19:00:00.046-05:00

Isn’t that the beauty of real creativity, that you wake up every morning not knowing what you’re going to discover? Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action

Coach adds surprise to game plan Are you open to surprise? Surprise comes when we least expect it... and maybe we miss it at times because it looks too simple... The New Orleans Saints were behind as they started the second half of the Superbowl. They came in with a very simple play, an onside kick, but the Indianapolis Colts did not expect it just then. It gave the Colts the momentum to win. Goes to show what surprise can do for a well-oiled team or even individuals. I thank Brad Shorr for the "aha."

A novel suggestion: "You ought to create a room for yourself now that your children have left," a friend suggested. My hubby had an office in our home for years, but not once did I entertain that possibility. Her words came as total surprise.

"Yes, what a superb idea," I replied almost simultaneously as inspiration welled within me.

"I'll tag along as you pick out colors and decide on furniture and accessories," she offered. "Then I'll help with painting, and tasks to pull it off."

We lunged into the work - selecting a carpet and new slipcovers, sewing a Roman curtain, painting walls, choosing just the right prints and furniture... When completed, the splendid atmosphere encouraged me to create in many ways. Eventually I wrote my doctoral dissertation here, and I continue to design projects and write here.

Because I followed through with my friend's surprising suggestion, it led to unexpected results, such as going back to university after earning a masters three decades ago. Are you a person who lives for surprise and do you know others who do?

Are you curious as to why some people dive in when a surprise comes, while others linger and then let it go? Here's the bigger picture...

Novelty The challenge of something different stirs the human brain. Novelty's a motivator for most folks. An unexpected stimulus sparks desire for humans to explore and learn. Since our brains are wired to avoid boredom and ruts, when a stimulus activates the brain, most people explore further in search of some kind of reward at the end. Often release of dopamine which brings a high level of satisfaction, and is reward in itself.

People who welcome new experiences have stronger connections between their memory and reward brain centers than people who tend to avoid anything new, research now shows.

Pay it forward - Hank Wasiak cites an example of The Martin Agency's Asset Based Thinking (ABT). They took a daring extra step in the midst of recession when they had to cut 5% of their staff. They actually "paid prospective employers to hire the people they had to lay off….one half of the first month’s salary up to $4,000. An offer with a potential price tag of $100,000. Not an insignificant commitment in tough times," Hank exclaims.

Paying it forward is an amazingly powerful action according to Hank since it...

Gives a person an edge up
Shows person is valued - a self esteem boost
Creates sustainable positive ripple effect
Shows other colleagues that firm treats employees well - more motivated employees
Establishes an incentive and opportunity to hire where there might have been none

Ever consider creating opportunity by paying it forward?

"What talent would grow from your corner of the world if you simply acted today on what you do best," Ellen Weber asks, "in spite of the strikes against you?" To turn this around when crisis hits Ellen challenges us to...

Turn what you do well into meaningful work To get started Ellen suggests that we reflect then leap. Ponder this, "if a new career path could happen for you, what would you do differently today to rev the engines?"

By now you may ask, can people find surprises in work that is mired in rules? Possibly... And, Mark McGuinness explored this with intriguing findings...

Spontaniety comes from following the rules Amazing patterns emerge when simple rules are established. Mark McGuinness summarizes this phenomenon to flesh it out a little more. "...Creators are more like gardeners than architects, planting and watering the seeds to help them grow, but with no control over the emerging forms."

Why not "play it simple," and see what results. What about...

using one new tactic throughout the day? I spoke a lot of negatives in a day, without even realizing it. When I concentrated on speaking and reacting in a more positive way, I was able to break a very detrimental pattern. Focusing on the good changed me and ways I react to others.

switching your daily preferences? I used to watch TV and now I'd rather read or write which requires more brainpower.

stretching beyond what you think you can do? Often I'd stop short of stepping past comfort zones. I would cringe at the notion of carrying on a conversation with leaders. Ellen Weber challenged me to do it by asking 2-footed questions. Conversations centered on the leader this way because I let my curiosity guide me. Questions focused on the other person and their interests. Since people love to talk about themselves, using 2-footed questions helped me get beyond a nervousness I'd had. The tactic was simple, but it changed everything.

What's one simple action you'd add to the above list that would be sure-fire surprise for others?

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogimogi/ / CC BY 2.0

Try Brainwriting

2010-01-24T11:49:00.001-05:00

Brainstorming sessions work successfully for many. But, what happened at your last brainstorming session? A reality check comes when brainstorming's used in toxic meetings or is led by a poor facilitator. Note that Sara Superstar vies with Paul Peacock to impress the leader while Jimbo doodles and Mariah slams her fist to catch attention and contribute. Works like clashing cymbals. Ever see it in action where you work? Here's an alternative to consider or even to mix sessions up a bit...

Try Brainwriting Ideas come thoughtfully... one bounces off another, everyone has voice, and many folks work well in a quieter setting. Best part is you don't necessarily need a leader and it improves superior idea generation, according to Peter Heslin, business professor at SMU.

Brainwriting offers many variations... A theme for the session might be written on the board. Underneath a two-footed question's listed, linking each participant to the theme.

Write - Folks sit around a table each with a slip of paper, a different color pen or even different color sticky notes. Each person writes an idea on the note and passes it to the right.

React - Once each person reads what's written, each one writes a reaction that comes to mind. If a person can't think s/he leaves the paper blank so there's no pressure.

Review - When each note's brimming with about five ideas, place it in the middle of the table. When slips are complete everyone analyzes. Review leads to a "systematic consideration of each idea," according to Heslin.

Select - Each person makes a list of favorite ideas and the most popular are recorded. Result- Lots of surprises that can make a difference.

Benefits -

ideas spark quickly and people don't lose best thoughts since they can write them down immediately
people can contribute equally - no chance for personality clashes
ideas generated simultaneously so can be judged by merit
people gain confidence in their contributions
community builder

Brainwriting variations you would enjoy

http://www.mycoted.com/Brainwriting

http://creatingminds.org/tools/brainwriting.htm

http://litemind.com/brainwriting/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Brainwriting,-A-More-Perfect-Brainstorm&id=510585

Ellen Weber - An Inspiration

2010-01-18T17:37:00.008-05:00

Ellen Weber inspired me from the very first time I met her. Huffington Post writer, Gail Goodwin, of Inspire Me Today interviewed Ellen to see what makes her tick... Don't miss it... inspiration is catching!

In Gail's fast moving podcas t, she asks probing questions to find out why Ellen's so interested in neuroscience and what led her to be a "pathfinder for change."

Happy Weekend!

2010-01-13T21:09:00.006-05:00

What do you most look forward to - your week or weekend? Most people are happiest on days without work, Richard Ryan, psychologist at University of Rochester finds.

Men and women alike get an emotional and physical boost starting Friday afternoon through Sunday regardless of age, education, salary, marital status or total work hours. Wonder why?

"Weekends are better because we connect with people we care about and we have the freedom to manage our own day," says Ryan. "Wherever you don't have autonomy or don't feel relatedness, your well-being will be lower." Ryan adds that's more likely to be at work.

Free time over the weekend is critical since it gives us space to "repair, rejuvenate and get back our energy."

Since we expect more pleasure during the weekend we highly anticipate it. Dopamine, a brain chemical, influences how people make choices. This neurotransmitter produced in several areas of the brain has a role in signalling pleasure expectations from anticipated weekend events.

Happy weekend!!! And better yet, create ways to make your work more like play!

Stretch Past Ability Myths

2010-01-13T12:35:00.004-05:00

"…I opened the page and scrolled all the way down to the bottom of the page, expecting to see ourselves in the last 10 positions for the Best Coaching Blogs 2009," Frederique Murphy relates…

"As you know this is not where we had been ranked at, but that is where I first looked. That means that for a quick second or two, my little voice (yes, you know that one…!) had decided that there was no way I could be anywhere else other than the bottom of that list."

If you entered a contest and received results in an email, would you first look at the top or bottom to see where you ranked? Please take a minute to complete the poll you see just to the right of this blog.

Frederique says she quickly interrupted the pattern -- of seeing herself as lesser than and began to look at the top in the belief that she truly could rank at the top.

Evidently over time, Frederique had wired into her brain she was not in the top ten for accomplishing a big goal, such as writing one of the 10 Best Coaching Blogs 2009. No doubt the mindset that she might not be right at the top began in childhood. She's not alone according to research.

I can relate to this because I developed a similar mindset through varied experiences K-12. For instance, I was one of the last players chosen for any of the kickball teams all through elementary school. So I began to think of myself as not good in sports. Do you relate to this as well? Though, a late bloomer, I took up golf and have played tournaments and won... in my 60's!

Thinking of ourselves as "lesser than," when it comes to performance, is but one of the many myths we create in our brain about our capabilities. Myths such as this one are wired into our brain's basal ganglia, the storehouse of patterns and routines we experience daily over time. The number of times we wire these into our brain, the more deeply entrenched the belief. Dr. Ellen Weber explains this myth in relation to beliefs about learning and performance...

MYTH: Some things are impossible for some people to learn or perform well, in reasonable time limits.
Reality: Hook even difficult facts onto one thing you know already and learning or doing new skills increases in less time.

Frederique said she listened to the little voice for one or two seconds... the voice that told her to look at the bottom.

All of us face situations when we revert back to patterns and routines stored in our brain's basal ganglia. Frederique points out that she stopped her glance quickly, to glance at the top of the list. As a coach, she was very mindful about what was happening. So she immediately changed her unthinking first move to look for her name at the top of the winners list, fully showing her confidence.

Rather than allowing our minds go into autopilot when doing something, we can instead take thoughtful actions... that transform.

Good news is that the human brain has great plasticity so that enables us to change habits or beliefs about ourselves that we formed long ago. The more you do something in the opposite direction, the more you rewire your brain for the new. Stretch and go for it!

If you have a story to add or comments, please do comment. I'd welcome your thoughts.

Sleep to Prime Body & Brain!

2010-01-11T22:10:00.001-05:00

How much capital did you put in your sleep bank this week? Since Night Owls and Early Birds may skimp on sleep, it gives us pause to reflect on how much sleep we've had in the last week. We benefit with plenty! Just consider...

Brain practices day's lessons as we sleep As you try a new recipe or try your hand at fixing your snow-blower, your brain creates new dendrite connections. These reactivate and strengthen your long term memory at night.

Sleep helps you problem solve Try asking yourself a question about something you're curious about or even a problem you want to solve, just before you go to bed, Dr. Ellen Weber advises.

More sleep increases athletic performance Members of the Stanford tennis team maintained their regular schedules. They slept and worked out as usual. Then the players extended their sleep to 10 hours a night for five to six weeks. It made a difference. After increasing sleep, their drill performance increased.

Sprinting drill times dropped on average to 17.56 seconds from 19.12 seconds. Hitting accuracy, measured by valid serves, improved to 15.61 serves, up from 12.6 serves, and a hitting depth drill improved to 15.45 hits, up from 10.85 hits.

Getting enough sleep is vital to academic success Does it make sense that adequate sleep is vital for people to feel awake and alert, maintain good health and work at peak performance?

"New research highlights the importance of sleep in learning and memory," Dr. Lawrence Epstein reports. "Students getting adequate amounts of sleep performed better on memory and motor tasks than did students deprived of sleep."

Good sleep is important in regulating emotional responses As you sleep your brain selectively preserves memories that are emotionally significant and relevant to future goals when sleep follows soon after learning. Effects persist for as long as four months after the memory is created, according to research findings of Jessica Payne of Harvard Medical School. She notes selectivity within emotional scenes, with sleep only consolidating what is most relevant, adaptive and useful about the scenes. It was even more surprising that this selectivity lasted for a full day and even months later if sleep came soon after learning.

Link between sleep and weight If you are trying to lose weight, a good night's sleep might be critical. A recent study of nurses at Walter Reed Army Medical Center reveals that study participants who got less than six hours sleep per night) tended to have higher body mass index [BMI] than long sleepers. Arn Eliasson, lead researcher says there are several possible reasons...

Lack of sleep may disrupt natural hormonal balances, triggering overeating. Stress could also be a factor -- contributing to less sleep and more eating in the same people.

Sleep boosts ability to learn a language In an earlier study University of Chicago of Chicago professors found that...

Ability of students to retain knowledge about words is improved by sleep, even when the students seemed to forget some of what they learned during the day before the next night's sleep.

Sleep debt can be repaid... "Tacking on an extra hour or two of sleep a night is the way to catch up," says Lawrence J. Epstein, medical director of Harvard-affiliated Sleep HealthCenters. "For the chronically sleep deprived, take it easy for a few months to get back into a natural sleep pattern."

When banking extra hours, lengthening the hours and intensity of your sleep are critical. Your most refreshing sleep occurs during deep sleep. And when you sleep more hours, you allow your brain to spend more time in this rejuvenating period.

As you erase sleep debt, your body will come to rest at a sleep pattern that is specifically right for you. Sleep researchers believe that genes—although the precise ones have yet to be discovered—determine our individual sleeping patterns. That more than likely means you can't train yourself to be a "short sleeper"—and you're fooling yourself if you think you've done it. A 2003 study in the journal Sleep found that the more tired we get, the less tired we feel.

Hmmm... good reasons to sleep in on Saturday mornings?

Act on Empathy

2010-01-03T10:16:00.016-05:00

If we see a friend going though tough experiences, most of us step up to help in some way. We act with empathy, since we're prompted to do more than if we merely feel sorry. It's helping with the intention of enhancing that friend's well-being.

Empathy leads to altruism. "Altruism is a choice and something that we can actively cultivate when we observe others in need," according to psychologist, Lidewij Niezink.

Ten years after Columbine, educator David Levine is giving workshops to help students practice empathy as a way to overcome violence in schools. Levine says,

Empathy is a bundle of social skills. It really is starting out with the natural inclination that children have to reach out when someone's having some struggles and then as they get older, teaching them ways to use that natural feeling, to not just feel what someone else is feeling, but do some things to help them.

Acting on empathy can turn lives around...

Change didn't come easy for Quentin Marcus Moore. He wrestled and fought it for years.

"I'd start thinking, like, I wanted a better life, because I had just had my first child," he says. "So I wanted a better life for him, instead of me just going through life gang-banging, shooting people. But it was, like, going through a dark smoke: OK, I'm leaving the gang, but I'm going through cliques and crews in order to get to a place where I can work and be able to have a job and see how it was in the working world.Empathy can turn lives around...

Quentin's path eventually took him to Homeboy Industries, where he works as a case manager. And now as a case manager he describes himself as a "light through the darkness to find out what people's needs are - transportation, education, spiritual guidance - and then we place them in programs or at agencies where those needs can be met." A lot of the change that took place for Quentin came about because he now helps others and "every day he sees homies changing from being hardcore bangers to more mature young adults."

Similarly, expelled from school at just 14, Marvin Osemwegie spent his days wandering the streets of Peckham, South London, getting in with the wrong crowd. An organization, From Boyhood to Manhood, made a difference in Marvin's life. He explains it...

"It helped me with my self development, with my temper, and I learned how to control myself.

It meant I was able to go out there and have an effect like I was supposed to, rather than going out there and being a nuisance wherever I went."

After two years in the programme, Mr Osemwegie went to college, where he gained five GCSE's and then three A-Levels. He plans to help other youth turn themselves around in the same way. Mr Osemwegie is one of a group of former FBTM students now forming their own business, Streets 2 Success, which will mentor young boys in the area and help them fulfill their ambitions in life.

Interestingly, there may be a basis in neurobiology for wisdom's most universal traits, which researchers, Jeste and Meeks found to include such "attributes as empathy, compassion or altruism, emotional stability, self-understanding, and pro-social attitudes, including a tolerance for others' values."

Empathy activates the brain's pre-frontal cortex, when a person ponders a situation calling for altruism. And, moral decision-making is a combination of rational (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in sustaining attention and working memory), along with emotional/social (medial pre-frontal cortex. Since the human brain has great plasticity, we can grow more new neuron dendrite connections each time you or I act on empathy. Just think we grow more wise as we do!

What fruits of empathy in action left an impression on you?

Thrive at night?

2010-01-01T16:13:00.000-05:00

Did you stay up late last night to usher in the New Year? While some folks thrive as they stay awake late into the night, others don't. Night owls have different brains! You'd be interested in what's behind this...

While some folks find that ideas and good work occur late at night, others who try find themselves very drained in the morning. Not too surprisingly, at 9:00 a.m., other folks' brains work at prime. What makes the difference in night owls and early risers?

Night owls have a gene that works more resiliently than those without. Their brains become more active as they tire. Scans show that these folks responded to fatigue by garnering more brain structures to help them perform well on a memory test, according to recent research.

Brains definitely function differently for night owls and early birds

Using magnetic resonance imaging-guided brain stimulation, scientists tested muscle torque and the excitability of pathways through the spinal cord and brain. They found that morning people's brains were most excitable at 9 a.m. This slowly decreased through the day. It was the polar opposite for evening people, whose brains were most excitable at 9 p.m.

Other major findings:
Evening people became physically stronger throughout the day, but the maximum amount of force morning people could produce remained the same.

The excitability of reflex pathways that travel through the spinal cord increased over the day for both groups.

These findings show that nervous-system functions are different and have implications for maximizing human performance.

No matter which circadian rhythm is genetically wired in your brain, work with, rather than against the way your brain is wired as much as possible. When night owl friends play stimulating games on New Year's eve and you feel sleepy, try to stay where the light is bright. Bright light is known to increase your alertness at night.

Thoughts?

Willpower Not Enough?

2009-12-31T16:55:00.003-05:00

What do you want to accomplish in the coming year? Like me, you no doubt named goals you want to make a reality. In past years I relied on strong willpower and determination to see me through. But, somewhere along the way, I joined the 78% of people who fail to keep all their New Year's goals. Why is that?

Interestingly, willpower's not enough! Unless we're committed, we're easily distracted. Ever procrastinate about exercise after a long day at the desk, or eat some strawberry delight loaded with whipped cream after a huge meal? Temptations can quickly take us off track. We easily remain in the computer chair to avoid moving when we could go for a hike or begin aerobics. Only a few go after goals with something more than just willpower. Why isn't willpower enough to meet goals?

A new study, published in Psychology and Health, reveals that if you use your willpower to do one task, it depletes you of the willpower to do an entirely different task.

"Cognitive tasks, as well as emotional tasks such as regulating your emotions, can deplete your self-regulatory capacity to exercise," says Kathleen Martin Ginis, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University.

You'd also be interested in ways our brain affects willpower:

Liberating Effects of Losing Control Relinquishing some willpower or self-control is paradoxically tonic for many individuals.

Interestingly, there are differences in brains of self-controlled individuals versus those who struggle staying on track... "While everyone uses the same single area of the brain to make these sorts of value-laden decisions, a second brain region modulates the activity of the first region in people with good self-control," according to Antonio Rangel of Caltech, "allowing them to weigh more abstract factors--healthiness, for example--in addition to basic desires such as taste to make a better overall choice."

Good news is that the human brain has great plasticity and can change. So the more we practice control, we're also more likely to consider many factors before making a choice.

5 Strategies to meet goals by using more of your multiple intelligences. Here're just a few suggestions

Do it through Daily actions - A daily checklist can be motivating and helps insure you complete tasks involved in meeting a goal, whether that is to read material for a project or to keep calorie count below a certain level. Spatial and Logical-mathematical intelligences

Reward yourself when reaching milestones - People like milestones. By setting milestones along the journey to meet a goal, whether it is getting a college degree or swimming more yards in the length of a minute, choosing rewards appropriate to your accomplishment is important. They work as motivators. Intrapersonal intelligence

Learn from failures If you're impulsive and dropped out of college once and you were not able to obtain a position you enjoy, by keeping this in the back of your mind as you complete the next lengthy report due, the work involved will seem well worth the effort it takes. "Impulsive individuals show a switching pattern, resisting current temptations if they recall having succumbed," according to researchers. "Both impulsive and non-impulsive people did a better job of resisting temptation when they recalled past instances of resisting temptation along with their reasons for resisting." Intrapersonal intelligence

Focus on the future "If we are feeling fresh, it's easy to focus on our goals and exert self-control. But when we've already tested the limits of our self-control, it's harder to keep going," the Agrawal and Wan explain. "This is when focusing on the big picture helps us to keep our eyes on the goal and push ourselves harder. In contrast, focusing on the immediate situation only emphasizes how we've already maximized the extent of our willpower and hinders self-control." By picturing myself on the stage to receive my diploma, I was able to stay up at night to complete all the research, analysis and writing necessary for my doctorate. Spatial intelligence

Play motivating music Music moves your brain waves and can change a mood. Play music you consider up-beat prior to times allotted to work on goal daily, and you'll be ready to make great strides on your goal. What's your first choice? Musical intelligence

What works for you? Name a strategy that helps you past "willpower" that sometimes fails. That will provide us a jump start for 2010!

Building Social Worlds

2009-12-03T21:15:00.007-05:00

People build social worlds as they meet and talk to others. Interestingly, when two people interact, their brains also become a single complex system, Andreas Roepstorff finds.

As we meet more people online, we network with those who inspire and take our thoughts to new places. We count these fold as friends. Two online friends, who share compelling ideas and noteworthy posts are, Liz Strauss and Mark McGuinness. Recently, each asked me to write a guest blog - for me an opportunity to collaborate with them and extend my work with MITA International Brain Center in new arenas. I leaped to the challenge...

The Blogging Brain - Ever wonder what goes on in the brain of a blogger? Liz Strauss was curious about that and asked me to write a post for Successful Blog.

The 8 Types of Creative Intelligence - Mark McGuinness, author of Lateral Action, wanted to know more about creativity and the brain. Interestingly, creativity often comes through novelty. The multiple intelligences open pathways to creativity, especially as you tap into the ones you don't tend to use.

Mark emailed me midweek to say that the article "really took off on Twitter!"

The internet dramatically increases possibilities for social interactions along with the type and number of friends we might have. In this case, an invitation to write a guest blog for two top-notch bloggers, opened an opportunity for me to interact with their regular readers and consider what they had to say. You could think of this experience as an adventure into Liz and Mark's social worlds.

Dr. Ellen Weber and I recently met Liz Strauss and Steve Roesler at the Bloggers Hub at the World Business Forum 2009. What fun!

Left to Right, me, Dr. Ellen Weber, Steve Roesler, Liz Strauss

Who Shoulders Blame and Why Should We Care?

2009-11-28T14:40:00.002-05:00

Ever miss seeing a person in your side-view mirror? When something goes wrong, pointing a finger's more often a first reactions rather than admitting a mistake? Ever wonder why blaming someone else comes so easily?

Photo by a2gemma

Consider this scenario...

At work, a note with an outlined project got lost in the pile on my desk. A week later when Dr. Weber inquired if the project was ready, I asked for the details. It was humbling to realize I had been careless. I confessed that I somehow lost it.

Why is it so hard to admit a mistake?

Ego and social conditioning.

We all want to look good. A natural instinct arises to protect our self-image. Over time, unless we learn to own up to mistakes and be accountable, we easily blame a circumstance to "save face."

We see many other people blaming others in the course of a week. Blaming others is soon embedded in our brains, since we witness it frequently. It works like a mirror-image. The old saying, "Monkey see, monkey do," best describes the action as discussed by Dr. Daniel Glaser.

However, letting ego and social conditioning shape our actions often spells disaster. And in this recession, fear can become more of a factor driving actions...

"Blame creates a culture of fear," Nathanael J. Fast of Stanford said, "and this leads to a host of negative consequences for individuals and for groups."

A manager can keep a lid on the behavior by rewarding employees who learn from their mistakes and by making a point to acknowledge publicly his or her own mistakes, Fast says. Managers may also want to assign blame, when necessary, in private and offer praise in public to create a positive attitude in the workplace.

Or, managers could follow the lead of companies such as Intuit, which implemented a "When Learning Hurts" session where they celebrated and learned from mistakes, rather than pointing fingers and assigning blame. The blame contagion research provides empirical evidence that such a practice can avoid negative effects in the culture of the organization.

Capitalize on more magic from your mirror neurons! By paying more attention to leaders who "celebrate and learn from mistakes," we'll create a brain-friendly work culture where people thrive and productivity reaches peaks.

How might you use these strategies to create a more brain-friendly climate that energizes others, rather than blaming them when mistakes are made where you work?

Memorize More - Outsource Less

2009-11-23T08:27:00.010-05:00

"Try using your memory more," Stephen DeMaio cautions in the Mangement Tip of the Day at Harvard Business Publishing. Though today's technology opens a warehouse of tools to keep schedules, records of life - text, photos and other archives, we're relying much less on our brain to store these. Can you recall phone numbers you use often or can you picture a visual map of where the doctor's located, whom you visit yearly?

When calculators came on the scene, memorizing multiplication tables became less important. PDA's, smart phones and GPS devices eliminatied the need to memorize schedules or phone numbers and to dicipher maps.

Why does it matter? "What we're outsourcing to technology," David Bucci, Dartmouth College observes, "we're not relying on our brains to do any more."

If we learn to use technology and new apps, doesn't that stimulate the brain to learn to do new tasks? Yes, but there's a downside as well... "Recording everything you do takes people out of the "here and now," Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College notes. "Constant documenting may make people less thoughtful about and engaged in what they're doing because they are focused on the recording process."

Here's the clincher about why committing more to memory and stimulating our working memory works in our favor... "The key thing is that the sedentary brain, just like the sedentary body, is going to atrophy," Bucci affirms.

Consciously challenge your brain to do more! For instance, create ways to turn boring tasks into fun at work. Memorize favorite scriptures, telephone numbers or friend and family birthdays.

As we age, the more we learn and put in our memory bank, the longer we'll enjoy mental acumen.

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