Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category
The Joy of Stats – making data visible (and fun)
Hans Rosling’s BBC program “The Joy of Stats” is a real “mind-opener” for non-fiction storytellers who want to engage audiences in the swirling world of data that surrounds us today.
Four Reasons Any Action Is Better than None
I usually don’t repost business advice info, but this column made a lot of sense to me.
Four Reasons Any Action Is Better than None
Rosabeth Moss Kanter – Harvard Business ReviewIt’s well-known that busy people get the most done. Their secret is simple: They never stop moving.
Of course, sitting still can be a good thing if it involves renewal, reflection, and focused attention (or having meals with the family). But sitting still can be a bad thing if it involves procrastination, indecision, and passivity.
Companies heading downhill have passive cultures. Unmade decisions pile up. Opportunities are lost. No one wants to risk making a mistake. It becomes easier to sit it out than get into the game. One of my favorite examples involves the backwater bank in which employees would send customers who had complicated problems to the rival bank across the street, rather than try to do anything.
In contrast, in companies with high levels of innovation, people take initiative. They start new things. They don’t wait to be told. They get routine work done efficiently in order to free up the time to get involved in something new. Here are some of the reasons.
Small wins matter. Small wins pave the way for bigger wins. A nudge in the right direction, as Cass Sunstein and the new behavioral economists tell us, can lead to major tipping points (per Malcolm Gladwell) when you achieve critical mass. As I saw in my study of business turnarounds and sports teams, confidence — the expectation of a positive outcome that motivates high levels of effort — is built on one win at a time.
Accomplishments come in pieces. A journey of a thousand miles is daunting. The single step with which the journey begins is manageable. Every step you take now adds up by getting that much closer to a goal. Busy people in high-productivity environments tend to take just one more action, return one more phone call, set one more thing in motion before calling it quits for the day. By tomorrow, new demands will start piling up. Mental tricks like dividing big tasks into numerous small steps make it possible to identify immediate actions to get big things off the ground.
Perfection is unattainable anyway. Forget perfection. Just do it. So what if you’re wrong? You can always try again. In an uncertain world of rapid change, business strategy includes room for improvisation. Live by some classic slogans: Best is the enemy of good. (Don’t wait for perfect conditions.) Nothing ventured, nothing gained. (It takes a little risk to get rewards.)
Actions produce energy and momentum. It simply feels better to take action than sitting around navel-gazing and getting sluggish. Overwork can bring stress, but, in fact, many studies show that the important factor in work stress is lack of control. Identifying a positive action is a way to feel in control. Getting moving doesn’t drain energy; it tends to build energy. For people trying to solve the national obesity epidemic, or just to lose a few pounds, exercise is more fun than dieting.
These principles represent more than management tips. They reflect a can-do philosophy that is essential for any entrepreneur or any place that wants more entrepreneurs. The only way to activate potential is to support action.
Sometimes it doesn’t seem easy. Organizational cultures, autocratic bosses, uncooperative co-workers, long losing streaks, the uncertainty of shifting industry conditions, and big world events like natural disasters and revolutions can stop people in their tracks. But those who emerge triumphant, and get the most done anyway, are the people who would rather take action, any action, than wait around.
Lance Weiler is bringing a transmedia education project to Montreal
Forty children and two teachers on different sides of the continent will work together this fall to produce stories and artwork about a robot. These artifacts will board a commercial rocket and, through an actual space launch, make their way to the International Space Station. The “dean” of transmedia is taking transmedia storytelling in some great (and local) directions.
Robot Heart Stories
This fall I’ll be releasing an exciting new participatory storytelling project focused on experiential education, storytelling and creative collaboration.
A robot has crash landed in Montreal and now must make her way to LA in order to find her space craft and return home. Two third grade classes in underprivileged neighborhoods, one in Montreal (French speaking) and the other in LA (English speaking) engage in an experiential learning project that utilizes math, science, history, geography and creative writing to place education directly in the hands of students. By using collaborative problem solving and creative writing the students help the Robot make her way across North America. The project concludes with an actual space launch! That’s right the robot along with copies of the students stories and artwork will board a commercial rocket that is headed to the space station later this fall.
Jeb Corliss the flying man
I had seen some brief videos of base jumpers and their wingsuits, but today saw an editor’s reel that featured this “wingnut”.
Corliss is pretty wild – his dream is to land from a free fall without a parachute. He wants to build a giant landing ramp that he would slide down stomach first (at 110 mph or so) to come to an eventual halt.
In the meantime, he keeps practicing ever more extreme flights to refine his control while flying the wingsuit.
In his most recent video he decides to get a close up look at Switzerland’s geology:
Nathan Sawaya: The Art of the Brick
Mad as hell!
How can something created in 1976 still seem as if it were created last night?
Great stuff – Peter Finch as Howard Beale in Network:
