Clippings

Seth's Blog: Why ask why?

The secret to creativity is curiosity.

We often forget to teach kids to be curious. A student who has no perceived math ability, or illegible handwriting or the inability to sit still for five minutes gets immediate and escalating attention. The student with no curiosity, on the other hand, is no problem at all. Lumps are easily managed.

Same thing is true for most of the people we hire. We'd like them to follow instructions, not ask questions, not question the status quo.

Yet, without "why?" there can be no, "here's how to make it better."

via sethgodin.typepad.com

Years ago, someone asked me what I feared most, and I answered "losing my curiosity." I am grateful for Seth Godin's energy and insights.

Love the Process and Improve Your Speaking Skills

Pretty amazing improvement, isn’t it?

Here are the words which accompany Lessons of the Hoop:

Practice makes… improvement. Try, then try again, and again. Try it slowly, even if it barely counts. Watch for hesitation or you’ll miss your chance. Just keep going. Document, even if you never plan to share. Repeat it over, and over. Stretch your limits. Try different sizes, even if it’s ridiculous. Seize the moment. Celebrate success. Get tangled up. Stop and breathe. Stay creative. Challenge yourself. Remove distractions. Laugh. Accept the uncomfortable. We only learn if we … drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop, drop. And most importantly, try not to judge yourself. Practice makes… improvement. Be strong. Find balance. Take risks. Play hard. Smile, and… love the process.

How Does This Apply to Public Speaking?

Many of the lessons learned by Sandra are the same ones that public speakers must learn.

Let’s consider how these four apply to speaking:

  1. Practice makes improvement.
  2. Document, even if you never plan to share.
  3. Accept the uncomfortable.
  4. Stretch your limits.
  5. Love the process.
via sixminutes.dlugan.com

From the Six Minutes blog, another cross-disciplinary speaking lesson. Click through for the whole lesson.

Connecting the Dots

President Obama today said that intelligence agencies failed to connect the dots, disparate pieces of information that when woven together should have triggered more alarm.

In reality, all of us live surrounded by an increasing number of disparate pieces of information: a blog post here, a few Tweets over there, that newspaper article from yesterday, that book on your Kindle, the headlines on your web browser, a conversation overheard at Starbucks. The list goes on and on....

And at its best, we'll do more than just connect the dots, but we will blend them to create new meaning and new innovations ... just as the great Impressionist painters like George Seurat formed colors in their masterpieces from a complex array of overlapping micro burst of distinct and separate colors.

From Jeffrey Cufaude, a brilliant reframing and use of current events. With David Brooks's piece in the New York Times, the best I've seen on the Christmas incident. Since I've started writing, Diane Rehm has begun an interview with Atul Gawande on his writing on the need for checklists, and she surprised me by suggesting another way we could connect the dots by saying that Dr. Gawande must be in sync with President Obama not just on health care reform but on national security as well. A audio transcript should be available shortly.

Later in the day, I found this on the Tom Peters site

The late CIA Director William Casey insisted that employees read the management classic In Search of Excellence to encourage every officer to take personal responsibility for solving problems, rather than kicking them on to the next guy in line. CIA Director Leon Panetta should use these searing events to foster a culture of initiative and accountability at a CIA that wants to do the job—but that needs leadership and reform.

Future of Technology | PBS NewsHour | Jan. 4, 2010

JARON LANIER: Oh, I think this is going to be so fun.

If you think about the "Avatar" movie, which many people are enjoying, imagine, in 10 years, that you will be able to make up stuff at that level of intensity yourself. And I think, in 10 years, no kid who can't make up something like "Avatar" in an afternoon is going to be able to get a date. And I think that is going to be just great.

via pbs.org

The NewsHour put together an incredibly interesting program yesterday, closing with an interview with Esther Dyson, Paul Saffo, and Jaron Lanier on the future of technology. I think Lanier best captured the enthusiasm and the excitement and the promise that technology holds (as well as the obligation and the responsibility to learn it and use it well). Click through for video and transcript of what I think was a remarkable session. Google phone today, CES not too far away, and an Apple announcement later this month--it is going to be a lot of fun.

Interview with Judith Jamison: More on Passion

JUDITH JAMISON: They do. They have to. They have to -- otherwise, what are they dancing here for? There's no point.

If you're just here to see how many pirouettes you can do, or how high you can raise your leg, or how high you can jump, that's not what gives memories. I mean, people don't remember me for how high my legs went, even though they went up very high, and how many pirouettes I did. They don't remember me for that. They remember me and any other dancer because something touched them inside. It's an indelible memory on the heart and in the mind.

via pbs.org

The passion theme popped up everywhere yesterday, this time in an interview with dancer and choreographer Judith Jamison