Inspiration Archives - Page 2 of 2

What’s YOUR Sustainability Blueprint?

Inspiration29 November 2010892Views 0Likes 1Comment

" ...none of us can fully understand the impact our actions are having on the planet. Yet interconnected we all are. And as these same expert scientists have been saying, time for keeping our planet in balance is now rapidly running out." Define your Sustainability Blueprint. Start by reflecting on your business and/or profession: What…

How To Be Alone

Inspiration17 August 2010343Views 0Likes 1Comment

Link: YouTube - How To Be Alone. A beautiful poem about being alone. In a social order that does everything in its power to stop you from being alone with its commercial and manufactured entertainment, we forget that it is ok to be alone. That it is important to learn to be alone. Alone is a way of…

Forget Brainstorming

Inspiration4 August 2010884Views 0Likes 0Comments

What you think you know about fostering creativity is wrong. A look at what really works. Brainstorming in a group became popular in 1953 with the publication of a business book, Applied Imagination. But it’s been proven not to work since 1958, when Yale researchers found that the technique actually reduced a team’s creative output:…

The Creativity Crisis

Inspiration4 August 2010614Views 0Likes 0Comments

The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. Yet it’s not just about sustaining our nation’s economic growth. All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the…

Using computers to teach children with no teacher

Inspiration21 July 2010338Views 0Likes 0Comments

A 10-year experiment that started with Indian slum children being given access to computers has produced a new concept for education. Professor Sugata Mitra has watched the children teach themselves - and others - how to use the machines and gather information. Follow up experiments suggest children around the world can learn complex tasks quickly with…

What if We’ve Created the Wrong Environments for our Brains?

Inspiration21 July 2010831Views 0Likes 0Comments

Jonah Lehrer makes an intriguing argument that in high pressure situations, rather than exerting every last ounce of energy on concentrating, people should take breaks and focus on something else. This is one of several arguments I've seen in the last week or so suggesting that some aspect of how we structure our work lives--from…

The Buzz on Disappearing Bees Grows Louder

Inspiration14 July 2010706Views 0Likes 1Comment

There's no denying the wave of horror that washes over you at the moment you finally connect the dots and realize that there's a crisis looming — and no one is listening. Case in point: the plight of the humble honeybee. It's no secret that colony collapse disorder, viruses and even exceptionally hard winters are…

The Emergence of a Biosphere Economy

Inspiration14 July 2010595Views 0Likes 0Comments

Almost 200 years ago, Thomas Newcomen built the world’s first commercially successful steam engine in order to pump water out of deep coal mines. In the process, he handed humanity the keys to the Earth’s fossil-fuel resources, an event which, in turn, helped fuel the Industrial Revolution. Ever since that moment, the natural world has…

Tiny Homes, Foldable Furniture, Walkable Futures and Our Brains on Time

Inspiration14 July 2010647Views 0Likes 0Comments

The Secret Powers of Time, a fascinating talk exploring the ways different people look at the future, with thought-provoking observations about the ways technology is changing our relationships to time. If the world can rally $18 trillion in new investments by 2030, we could supply 95% of the energy needed globally with renewables by 2050, says…

Hope: Don’t Leave Home Without It

Inspiration14 July 2010584Views 0Likes 0Comments

“The force multiplier throughout history,” write Gallup research veterans Bruce J. Avolio and Fred Luthans, “has often been attributed to the leader's ability to generate hope." Leaders are purveyors of hope. With the unease caused by the Great Recession, it is easy to spiral into a negative state of mind and ignore the promising signs…

Link: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Motivatio

Inspiration14 July 2010411Views 0Likes 0Comments

This is going to be the last blog post I ever write. That’s it. After this one you won’t be reading any more articles by me online. In fact, the only reason I’m writing this is because I promised Tina I would and I don’t want to let her down. If I promise someone something I…

J K Rowling on the Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

Inspiration17 June 2010345Views 0Likes 0Comments

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination | Harvard Magazine Inspiring advice on the lessons of failure and imagination. The speech brings to me the importance of holding failure and success, practicality and imagination in a paradoxical balance. (tags: Failure Imagination Harvard)