What I see when I get a moment to pause and make a little sense of the world
Social Fitness Challenge #3: Write down what you find interesting and valuable about a different person each day.
The judgments you make about others depend not only on their behavior but also on your interpretation of their actions within a social context. By taking a few minutes to acknowledge the unique qualities of an individual you can learn to see past stereotypes and develop appreciation for those who are different from you.
Social Fitness Challenge #2: Go out of your way to open the door/hold the door open for someone.
The first step in helping someone in need is to notice that someone needs help. Opening the door/hold the door is a simple way to practice situational awareness, so when a more challenging situation arises you will be better equipped to overcoming situational forces and act heroically.
Social Fitness Challenge #1: Smile at 10 strangers to spread good will.
In the coming weeks I will be re-posting challenges from the Heroic Imagination Project. Find out more about their social fitness challenge and their generational challenge to see heroism in those with “firmly held ethics and the courage to act” in the now.
Remember when you are hiring new people this truism: “past behavior is the best indicator of future performance.” The study below reflects what happens when giving too much credence to the interview process.
Although conscientiousness is the personality factor that predicts better performance in medical school and physician practice, a new study has found that extroversion is the only personality type associated with better performance in the Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI) process.
Find the study “Do Med School Interviews Favor Extroverts?” at Futurity.org.
Margaret Heffernan suggests that we "Dare to Disagree" in order for true creativity to emerge.
Seth Godin continues to be one of my provocateurs. His short blog posts raise more questions than they answer. Below are several questions he raised over with someone getting started in a new business. These are excellent coaching questions for any of us.
A few things came up over coffee the other day. His idea is good, his funding is solid, there are many choices. Some of the questions that don’t usually get asked:
- Are you aware of your cash flow? …
- Are you trying to build profit or equity? …
- What’s your role? …
- Are you trying to build a team? …
- Which kind of risk is okay with you? …
- And finally, and most important, why? Why are you doing this at all?
Check out his original post with his commentary on “Question for a New Entrepreneur.”
A new study suggests that drinking coffee significantly reduces our skin-cancer risk. There’s a raft of other research that’s piling up evidence that regular cups of joe—six-ounce servings packed with antioxidants, polyphenols, and other health-boosting chemicals—can prevent everything from diabetes to depression to cirrhosis of the liver to stroke. Intracranial aneurysms, not so much. Scared of superbugs? Pour yourself another cup.
via Coffee Health Benefits: How Coffee Might Save Your Life – The Daily Beast.
The world may be becoming a less violent place according to recent studies. While the numbers of persons affected by violence may be large, as a percentage of population a decline is noticeable. For instance, battlefield deaths in the 20th century occurred at a rate of 60 persons for every 100,000 people (with two World Wars and its genocides). The current rate is 0.3 persons dying in battle per 100,000 people. Stepping back far enough to pay attention to the trend is difficult when the daily news brings us real stories with real blood and real violence … may this trend continue.
It seems as if violence is everywhere, but it’s really on the run.
Yes, thousands of people have died in bloody unrest from Africa to Pakistan, while terrorists plot bombings and kidnappings. Wars drag on in Iraq and Afghanistan. In peaceful Norway, a man massacred 69 youths in July. In Mexico, headless bodies turn up, victims of drug cartels. This month eight people died in a shooting in a California hair salon.
Yet, historically, we’ve never had it this peaceful.That’s the thesis of three new books, including one by prominent Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. Statistics reveal dramatic reductions in war deaths, family violence, racism, rape, murder and all sorts of mayhem.
In his book, Pinker writes: “The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species.”
via World Becoming Less Violent: Despite Global Conflict, Statistics Show Violence In Steady Decline.
I remember my dad’s reaction to the birth of our daughter followed a year later by the birth of a niece. This engineering professor suggested “its about time we learned how to celebrate daughters!” I agree and I give thanks for the Elizabeth Harbron’s of academia who create the space for women to not just survive, but thrive in the sciences … my home away from the home of my everyday work.
Rebecca Allred has fond memories of that lab at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. She and her peers spent hours there. They worked into the night for their professor, Elizabeth Harbron, because they wanted to, blowing off steam by dancing to the soundtrack of “Mamma Mia” or taking a break on Fridays to play Putt-Putt golf together.
Harbron was not only their mentor, but often a confidante. They shared their frustrations. They celebrated their successes. Several published their findings with Harbron’s guidance, a rarity for undergraduates.
“That lab was a refuge between classes. I loved being there,” says Allred, now a second-year doctoral student in the Yale University chemistry department and one of a new generation of young women who are helping change the face of the so-called STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math.
Front Porch Reflections 
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