21C Learning Innovation

Nearly half of working Canadians say that work is the most stressful part of their lives, and many find work is a source of depression and anxiety, a new study says.

The online survey of more than 1,000 working Canadians was conducted last month by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Ottawa-based Partners for Mental Health, a not-for-profit organization which aims to improve how Canadians deal with mental health issues.

"* On a metaphysical level, wabi-sabi is a beauty at the edge of nothingness. That is, a beauty that occurs as things devolve into, or evolve out of, nothingness. Consequently, things wabi-sabi are subtle and nuanced.

* The beauty of wabi-sabi is an "event," a turn of mind, not an intrinsic property of things. In other words, the beauty of wabi-sabi "happens," it does not reside in objects and/or environments. By analogy, if you fall in love with someone or something—say a physically unattractive person, place, or thing—thereafter you will perceive this someone or something as beautiful (at least some of the time), even if the rest of the world doesn't.

* Wabi-sabi has a compelling pedagogic dimension. Because things wabi-sabi reveal "honest" natural processes such as aging, blemishing, deterioration, etc., they graphically mirror our own mortal journeys through existence. Accordingly, interacting with wabi-sabi objects and environments surely inclines us towards a more graceful acceptance of our existential fate.

* Wabi-sabi is, at root, an aestheticization of poverty—albeit an elegantly rendered poverty. As such, wabi-sabi is a democratic beauty available equally to rich and poor alike.

* Wabi-sabi is the antithesis of the Classical Western idea of beauty as something perfect, enduring, and/or monumental. In other words, wabi-sabi is the exact opposite of what slick, seamless, massively marketed objects, like the latest handheld wireless digital devices, aesthetically represent."

"It could make us more willing to express how we feel. Or you could say it over-simplifes our complex moods and lives. But today the Facebook status update box began offering the option to “share how you’re feeling or what you’re doing” through a drop-down menu of emoticons and media. We’re entering a more structured era of communication, where both friends and big data know exactly how we tick.

... Then there’s the fuzzy side. Emotions. Sharing how we feel. To some it comes easy, with exclamation points, colorful language, or typed-in emoticons. For them, mood sharing could let them do it fast, and with a bonus little graphic that could draw people’s eyes. But to others, saying how they feel is tough. You might fear you can’t boil down emotions like anguish or dumbfounded excitement. That you’ll lose something in translation. And you might be right.

... But the option to select and share a pre-constructed emotion could make some people more open than they usually are. And that’s whole point of Facebook."

"Scientists have found a way to read people's dreams using brain scans, a new study suggests.

... Researchers in Japan used MRI scans to reveal the images that people were seeing as they entered into an early stage of sleep. Writing in the journal Science, they reported that they could do this with 60% accuracy.

The team now wants to see if brain activity can be used to decipher other aspects of dreaming, such as the emotions experienced during sleep. Professor Yukiyasu Kamitani, from the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, in Kyoto, said: "I had a strong belief that dream decoding should be possible at least for particular aspects of dreaming... I was not very surprised by the results, but excited.""

"Less gray hair sharply reduces an organization’s innovation potential, which over the long term can greatly outweigh short-term gains.

... But there is another reason to keep innovators around longer: the time it takes between the birth of an idea and when its implications are broadly understood and acted upon. This education process is typically driven by the innovators themselves.

... For Nobel Prize winners, this process usually takes about 20 years — meaning that someone who is 38 at the time of discovery will most likely be nearly 60 when he or she receives the prize. For most eventual laureates, that interval is spent attending and making presentations at conferences, networking with colleagues, writing additional papers, editing academic journals and talking with the press.

... Let’s assume that with company resources, it will take a corporate innovator 10 years instead of 20 to educate others about the nature, implications and applications of a new idea. If that’s true, a reasonable target retention age for attaining an average level of innovation would be at least 50.

... YET despite the overall aging of the work force, many organizations are heading in the opposite direction. One executive at a major investment bank remarked with concern that the average age at his firm was 32. This phenomenon is not unique to corporations. Many medical institutions and universities  have also shifted to younger workforces. But according to research by Benjamin Jones of Northwestern University, a 55-year-old and even a 65-year-old have significantly more innovation potential than a 25-year-old.

... If an organization wants innovation to flourish, the conversation needs to change from severance packages to retention bonuses. Instead of managing the average age downward, companies should be managing it upward."

"Our brain’s Reticular Activation System (RAS), Psycho-Cybernetic Mechanism (PCM) and Amygdala work jointly in the pursuit of our safety, comfort and doing things the same old familiar way. The RAS mission is to filter out anything that does not match our internal self image. The Amygdala is constantly on the lookout for any real or PERCEIVED danger. Our PCM ensures we stay in our comfort zone and current subconscious programming.

Whenever this changes the amygdala “hijacks” our consciousness making it difficult to concentrate as our focus shifts to what is troubling us. During these attacks the amygdala floods our body with the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline) as we go into “fight, flight or freeze” mode. When this happens we unconsciously revert to our existing habits, attitudes and beliefs. This often causes us to overreact in ways we later regret. These hijacks can last for seconds, minutes, hours, days or even weeks. 

In these challenging economic times many people are currently operating day-to-day in what amounts to a chronic, low grade amygdala hijack. Awareness is the first step in dealing with these attacks. If we do not notice that we are in the midst of a hijack we have no chance of getting back to emotional balance until the hijack has run its course.

Unfortunately, we see examples and experience the personal and organizational reality of these amygdala hijacks every day. Without a “hardware update” we will be swept away by the tsunami of change headed our way.

...The development of our Emotional Intelligence is essential for us to be able to manage our amygdales fear responses. We live in a time of rapid and accelerating change. The individuals and organizations that are thriving today have a high degree of Authentic Leadership and emotional intelligence. They have the new economic currency."

Research by Hay Group, culled from its 17,000-person behavioral competency database in 2012,finds that when it comes to empathy, influence, and the ability to manage conflicts in the executive level, women show more skill than men. Specifically, women are more likely to show empathy as a strength, demonstrate strong ability in conflict management, show skills in influence, and have a sense of self-awareness.

"American folk musician Richie Havens, who was the first performer at the Woodstock music festival, has died. His family said Havens died of a heart attack in New Jersey Monday. He was 72."

"Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.... The figures showed that an estimated 6.4 million children ages 4 through 17 had received an A.D.H.D. diagnosis at some point in their lives, a 16 percent increase since 2007 and a 53 percent rise in the past decade. About two-thirds of those with a current diagnosis receive prescriptions for stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall, which can drastically improve the lives of those with A.D.H.D. but can also lead to addiction, anxiety and occasionally psychosis."

Midlife marks the beginning of what is known as “Third Age”. Third Age is an emerging life stage, running roughly from ages 50 to 75, made possible by our longer life expectancy.

"As China becomes richer, is it destined to pass the United States as the world’s most inventive nation? 

... Why are East Asian scientists and engineers generally typecast as underachievers? Part of the explanation is that there are different kinds of technological creativity. Fundamental breakthroughs generate headlines and win Nobel Prizes, but as Ralph Gomory pointed out, it is the more mundane task of turning breakthroughs into affordable products that matters economically. East Asian corporations tend to focus on this second task, and though the details of their “continuous improvement” in production technology are rarely noted in the press, their success has been a driver of the region’s spectacular enrichment in the last 60 years.