Both storytelling and humor are very powerful skills to have in today’s world. Storytelling gives you the ability to frame information and valuable insight in ways that people connect with on an emotional level – and we’ve all experienced how a well crafted story is easier to recall than some cold hard facts. This is basically because we can relate to the common experiences described in stories to understand the situations.
Similarly, humor is just as valuable because its a medium through which you can approach every situation: conflict between people, mediating compromise, raising morale, establishing rapport, communicating difficult messages, building relationships, and so on. Its been said that the ability to understand, appreciate, and use humor is seen as one of the highest forms of intelligence.
The whole point I’m making here is simply that we need to acknowledge these so called “soft” skills and how much value they truly have because it is these types of skills that will be key for the future. Here’s a little story I found on The Walrus & The Oyster Blog thats a great example of story and humor working together:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish” “Me first! Me first!” says the administration clerk. “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.” Poof! She’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep. “I want to be in Hawaii,relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.” Poof! He’s gone. “OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”
Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.
I recently watched a TED Talk by Sarah Kay, it was spoken word, which I myself really enjoyed (see it below).
After watching it I scrolled down to the comment sections and there was quite the back and forth going about what Sarah Kay had performed was amateur and wasn’t ‘real’ poetry. Many said that it had to be much more powerful, not use mainstream cliches, be more catered to the individual instead of the audience. Others argued that the entire point of spoken word was to connect with the audience, however it may be.
The question I have is what is art then? There seem to be many conflicting views on what makes something art. In my opinion I feel that it is just the expression of an individual that has no purpose but to really be shared with others, a gift if you will. Its not about the recognition or money or fame, but genuinly sharing one’s feelings and experiences. Do you think Sarah Kay’s work was art or not?
What is the true value of a degree of any sort? BA, MBA, PhD? The more I understand how things work, it seems to me that the major benefit of getting a degree is that it simply opens doors to opportunities, it essentially serves as a rite of passage into the real world. When you go to an interview, the presence of your degree is just another tick in the check box of qualifications that show you belong. What’s surprising is once you get a job and start your career, the value of your degree drops dramatically. Who cares about your GPA, that you were honors, that you got a double major, what matters most at that point is your experience.
Aside from the opportunities, you also get some level of instant credibility, that you are qualified, but is this the right way to do things? Just because you have a PhD you can do research and be a professor, is that all it takes? Just because you’re an MBA you should know how to handle finance and the economy – we saw how this one turned out. It seems that these degrees have allowed us to make assumptions about the quality of the people and their capabilities.
All of this leads back to our education system, in which we cover plenty of material, but are we really learning in a classroom setting? Can this compare to real world experience? Should we have to go through at least 16 years of education for the opportunities and credibility it intermittently allows us, despite the fact that we may not be truly qualified? Ultimately, I feel there’s a major need to rethink education and the assumptions that have been become accepted throughout society, but that’s just me.
One of my favorite comics is Dilbert by Scott Adams, the following two cartoons are part of a series he did on MBA’s recently.
Ok, this one may be a little unfair and extreme, but its still quite hilarious. The next one is my favorite though.
This one I have to say I agree with completely, simply because I feel like you actually learn and gain value from real world experience, not from studying cases. I think the biggest flaw with the case methodology is the fact that you can’t fail, you can’t be wrong, and therefore you can’t really learn.
In a recent article from Blogging Innovation, Tim Kastelle explores the idea of how “being wrong is the only way to learn.” He goes on to identify the benefit of experimentation, failure and discovering things on your own. This idea of failure and experimentation is a missing component from the MBA, and I think if you don’t know how to fail and experiment and learn, you really don’t have much to fall back on. Schools in general frown upon the idea of failure, but they’re depriving us of one of the most important and valuable lessons in life.
There’s been a lot being said around the role of the internet in society nowadays and a hot trend we are seeing is its value in social activism and its perceived role in achieving democracy. But is it all good, and how much of a role does it actually play? In an RSA Animate Talk from Evgeny Morozov, we look at both sides of the issues, how there is not any real evidence or understanding of how the internet effects politics, and how the view on this subject is far too narrow, often ignoring the bigger picture. You can see the talk below.
Currently we have seen a lot of discussion in regards to the power of Twitter in the protests in Iran, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and more. In an article from Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker, he explores if Twitter is essential for the social movement occurring in Egypt. He concludes that “people with grievance will always find ways to communicate with each other” and quite simply that Twitter is just another way for this communication to occur, but by no means a needed one.
In a counterargument, Brian Solis focuses on the fact that it is not so much about the technologies, but truly about the networks being utilized. It is this point that Solis feels that Gladwell is ultimately overlooking because it is the power of the network that has become easier to manifest through the social media efforts.
I can see merit in both viewpoints, but overall I think we should support those involved in the protests who are fighting for what they believe in. If Twitter is essential or not, is simply not that important.
Education has been a hot topic lately and one of the biggest innovation to occur in this space as of late has been the Khan Academy. The Khan Academy is an amazingly simple yet brilliant platform that utilizes web video to engage with students and teach effectively. It all started with Salman Khan (the founder of the organization) creating videos that he posted on YouTube for his cousins in math. It has since exploded into a fully fledged organization, dedicated to teaching a number of core subjects through video. There have been a few features that have been developed since its inception that truly add value to the platform.
1). Measurables
This is a huge component as now you can follow the students progress in such detail that its easy to address issues and identify problem areas. The data collected shows you which areas are of struggle, which were easy, how much time was spent, etc. All things that were never available before and all of which give a huge advantage for the teacher and their effectiveness.
2) Practice Makes Perfect
The other major benefit from the platform is the ability to go at your own pace and practice problems until you’ve got a concept down. In classes you usually take a test or do homework and if you don’t know a concept or two, you still get by, but that can come back to haunt you. With the online tracking, its clear what a student struggles with and the exercise platform ensures that you learn how to solve that problem, so you never miss out.
From the measurables and the practice exercises you get a Knowledge Map that can show you the progress of a student, concept to concept. It allows you to see the path needed to reach the next topic, what areas need to be focused on to get there, and overall how the student is progressing. An example of a knowledge map is seen below.
Essentially this platform gives you a number of benefits such as the ability for the teacher to give more directed attention to individual students, allow other students to teach one another, and implement flip thinking teaching styles (lecture at home, homework in class), all of which are very innovative in regards to the education setting.
This is the future of education and it will be interesting to see how this grows in the coming years. You can watch Salman Khan’s TED Talk from the recent conference below and also check out the website here.
I’m currently reading The Element by Sir Ken Robinson (great book by the way) and he briefly touched on the concept of ‘groupthink’ and how it affects individuals.
Groupthink occurs in a group who make decisions based on avoiding conflict, accepting the perceived expectation, and ignoring individual beliefs. Essentially this occurs in a group where the expectation and the need to conform often overrides the value of independent thought, despite the potential outcome. We see such behavior in business, where managers may agree with CEO’s or upper management, on the basis of not going against the authority figure even if they may disagree with a decision. A great example is seen in the cartoon below.
It seems that those who are conditioned to this groupthink mentality of not speaking up are more prone to behave similarly in the professional world, so the source of the issue needs to be addressed. The first instance of groupthink is often experienced in school, through the defined hierarchy, the social clicks, and the strict rules. The entire basis of education is more focused on the collective instead of the individual, which thereby ignores individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking.
Greater focus on personal development is paramount for the future of our education systems. At least thats my opinion, what do you think?
This quote from Siddhartha is what Seth Godin used to conclude his newest book Poke the Box and I think it does a fantastic job in summarizing what its all about. Seth Godin has been emphasizing the value of delivering/shipping/finishing things for awhile now, and this latest book is focused on the other end of the spectrum, starting. We need to push ourselves to take the risk, to make something happen, to believe in ourselves, and simply start.
What I like most about Seth Godin’s interpretation of starting is that it never ends until you finish. Each new day you are starting again, it takes practice and discipline and starting is a constant practice until there’s no work left to do. Poke the Box is a quick read that has a clear message and worth checking out, but in the meantime we should take the advice of the quote to heart and try not to make these two critical mistakes.
You know all those things you wish you could do or want to learn to do “someday”. Well the key to fulfilling those wishes is using your free time effectively. How you spend that extra 30 minutes or couple of hours in a day are vital to being able to achieve your goals. During that time you could…
Watch an episode of your favorite TV show vs. Workout
Play video games vs. Start your blog
Mindlessly browse Facebook vs. Learn a language
Watch video after video on YouTube vs. Create something
Go shopping vs. Work on a business idea/project
Ultimately the choice is up to you, so the next time you have some free time, really think about how you want to spend it and what’s important to you.
The mp3 Experiment from Improv Everywhere is a creative, participatory event that truly shows the power of an organized tribe. Basically, people download an mp3 file provided by Improve Everywhere, and they all start listening to this mp3 at a specifc, place, date, and time. The ominous voice on the mp3 gives the listener instructions, which leads to some really interesting actions that you wouldn’t see otherwise.
The seventh edition of the mp3 Experiment was held in New York in 2010 and you can see a video of it below.
Check out the previous editions, as well as info on the next one being held in Cape Town at Improv Everywhere. It would be interesting to explore this concept further and see what you could do for innovative marketing campaigns. What did you guys think?
