Thanks to Brett Kopf for this
http://www.shatterbox.com/
Another piece on - jobs aren't coming back... raising the demand for re-training
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/jobs-that-arent-coming-back/
Immigration as the new generational issue...
http://smartpei.typepad.com/robert_patersons_weblog/2010/05/a-generation-gap-over-immigration.html
Work/Life Award by Rosabeth Moss Kanter
http://www.awlp.org/awlp/about/html/kanteraward.jsp
Re-framing Haque's Wisdom Manifesto
http://aaltodesignfactory.fi/blogs/nitibhan/2010/05/a-wisdom-manifesto-reinterpreted-and-reframed/
Today's recommendation on how to work...
http://www.brandon-hall.com/workplacelearningtoday/?p=10546
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Flare-Up has Begun
Thursday, April 22, 2010 was a historic day. It marked the first Flare-Up, held at the Grand Traverse Pie Company in East Lansing, Michigan, and, in an appropriate Earth Day choice, focused on Michigan State University's Green Graduation.
So, what the heck is a Flare-Up and why does it matter?
For those of you familiar with today's technology environment we say "Flare-Up: not quite an IGNITE! but it Might." We had talked about the possibility of having an Ignite with a focus on the University and its community. We realized that too many good things are going on within that environment that people just don't get a chance to learn about. We needed a vehicle for enabling that. Ignite! seemed like a good option. The only problem was none of us involved in deciding that Ignite was a good idea had the time to make it happen. We decided something on a smaller scale would be better.
So we created "Flare-Up: not quite an IGNITE! but it might." A Flare-up is promoted on Twitter. It is held somewhere where a group can gather informally and where participants can purchase coffee, soda, and other drinks and morning food (The first one was held at the Grand Traverse Pie Company in East Lansing, Michigan, a place where we have been meeting informally for PIE-Ups for quite a while.) A person we want to learn from is invited to present. They have five minutes and can bring one prop. Questions and discussion after the presentation can go where it leads.
Our other goal is to make all the presentations available on YouTube. Finding an available name resulted in our channel being called "pieupflareup" channel. Here is our first video. We have a bit to learn about videography - like don't put your presenter in the sunlight - but you get the idea of where we are going. Jennifer Battle, from the MSU Office of Sustainability, talked about the Green Graduation. Her prop was the green gown and cap made out of recycled pop bottles. Sweet! You'll see that Dr. Lou Anna Simon, president of MSU and her husband even dropped in to see what was going on. How cool is that!
I guess we felt good enough about it that we plan to keep going. We believe that ideas sometimes creep out of the most unexpected cracks and can propel new ideas and new directions. So we'll keep searching the cracks and finding new things to learn more about. When we do we'll send out the Tweets and hold another Flare-Up. Because the ideas we find are not quite IGNITES! but they might!
So, what the heck is a Flare-Up and why does it matter?
For those of you familiar with today's technology environment we say "Flare-Up: not quite an IGNITE! but it Might." We had talked about the possibility of having an Ignite with a focus on the University and its community. We realized that too many good things are going on within that environment that people just don't get a chance to learn about. We needed a vehicle for enabling that. Ignite! seemed like a good option. The only problem was none of us involved in deciding that Ignite was a good idea had the time to make it happen. We decided something on a smaller scale would be better.
So we created "Flare-Up: not quite an IGNITE! but it might." A Flare-up is promoted on Twitter. It is held somewhere where a group can gather informally and where participants can purchase coffee, soda, and other drinks and morning food (The first one was held at the Grand Traverse Pie Company in East Lansing, Michigan, a place where we have been meeting informally for PIE-Ups for quite a while.) A person we want to learn from is invited to present. They have five minutes and can bring one prop. Questions and discussion after the presentation can go where it leads.
Our other goal is to make all the presentations available on YouTube. Finding an available name resulted in our channel being called "pieupflareup" channel. Here is our first video. We have a bit to learn about videography - like don't put your presenter in the sunlight - but you get the idea of where we are going. Jennifer Battle, from the MSU Office of Sustainability, talked about the Green Graduation. Her prop was the green gown and cap made out of recycled pop bottles. Sweet! You'll see that Dr. Lou Anna Simon, president of MSU and her husband even dropped in to see what was going on. How cool is that!
I guess we felt good enough about it that we plan to keep going. We believe that ideas sometimes creep out of the most unexpected cracks and can propel new ideas and new directions. So we'll keep searching the cracks and finding new things to learn more about. When we do we'll send out the Tweets and hold another Flare-Up. Because the ideas we find are not quite IGNITES! but they might!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Flare-Up...not quite an IGNITE! but it might
A "Flare-up" is:
The first "Flare-up" will be at @GTPie (Grand Traverse Pie Company, Hagadorn and Grand River, East Lansing) at 8am on Thursday, April 22, 2010.
The presenter will be Jennifer Battle, Asst. Director, Campus Sustainability, talking about Michigan State Universities "Green Commencement".
- Announced by Twitter and e-mail
- Located in an existing venue with drinks and tables
- One presenter to talk about something interesting going on in the community
- The presenter can bring one prop and will introduce the topic in 5 - 10 minutes. The rest will be Q&A and discussion.
- Presentation will be taped and posted
The first "Flare-up" will be at @GTPie (Grand Traverse Pie Company, Hagadorn and Grand River, East Lansing) at 8am on Thursday, April 22, 2010.
The presenter will be Jennifer Battle, Asst. Director, Campus Sustainability, talking about Michigan State Universities "Green Commencement".
Sunday, April 4, 2010
My Mother Had a Mangle
Back in the mid-50's my dad inherited a house from our old maid Aunt Mary. It was a beautiful house as I remember it, but that's not the story. In the laundry room there was a machine that would arouse the curiosity of any ten year old boy...a mangle. I had never seen one before. My mother, on the other hand, had supported herself through college by being line-in housekeeper for a "well-off" family and they had one. There was a sparkle in her eye when she realized that she was now a proud owner. Let me set the scene for those of you who are a bit younger.
Back then, if you can believe it, following wash day there was ironing day. No one had thought of permanent press yet or gentle cycles in washing machines. Dryers were just arriving on the household scene and clotheslines were much more common. The clothes came out of the laundry very wrinkled and the solution was...they had to be ironed. Now, I'm guessing you're thinking about the shirts and shorts and pants, ah ha, but what about the sheets. Yes, the height of luxury was ironed sheets. Smooth, sometimes starched, and ready to slither into.
Well you can imagine how long it took to iron a sheet with an iron. Not to mention that, in our house, there were five beds. That meant ten sheets...an almost exasperating job. Unless...you had a mangle.
A mangle is a set of motorized rollers one of which is heated like an iron. You feed the wrinkled item in one side and it comes out the other side smooth. Ten sheets? You could knock that off in a couple hours. It was a miracle. It left enough time in the day to watch "In Search of Tomorrow."
I remember great times "helping" my mom mangle the sheets. Of course I couldn't do it myself because it might crush my arm if it got caught. (Safety is a topic for another day.) I think my two year older sister might have operated it before she left home but why would my mom want to give up running it? It was here touch of luxury.
For most young moms today this would have been the days of their great-grandma. It's a forgotten time, a different time. Ask you grandma about it. Ask her about all the things that made up the work of a mom back then. You'll be amazed. You'll also want to give her an extra hug.
Back then, if you can believe it, following wash day there was ironing day. No one had thought of permanent press yet or gentle cycles in washing machines. Dryers were just arriving on the household scene and clotheslines were much more common. The clothes came out of the laundry very wrinkled and the solution was...they had to be ironed. Now, I'm guessing you're thinking about the shirts and shorts and pants, ah ha, but what about the sheets. Yes, the height of luxury was ironed sheets. Smooth, sometimes starched, and ready to slither into.
Well you can imagine how long it took to iron a sheet with an iron. Not to mention that, in our house, there were five beds. That meant ten sheets...an almost exasperating job. Unless...you had a mangle.
A mangle is a set of motorized rollers one of which is heated like an iron. You feed the wrinkled item in one side and it comes out the other side smooth. Ten sheets? You could knock that off in a couple hours. It was a miracle. It left enough time in the day to watch "In Search of Tomorrow."
I remember great times "helping" my mom mangle the sheets. Of course I couldn't do it myself because it might crush my arm if it got caught. (Safety is a topic for another day.) I think my two year older sister might have operated it before she left home but why would my mom want to give up running it? It was here touch of luxury.
For most young moms today this would have been the days of their great-grandma. It's a forgotten time, a different time. Ask you grandma about it. Ask her about all the things that made up the work of a mom back then. You'll be amazed. You'll also want to give her an extra hug.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
MYTH: Seniors Should Stay in their Home
We've created a rule in our society that says it is always best for seniors to say in their own home as long as possible. For many seniors this rule is sentencing them to a life of isolation and sadness. Experience is my teacher.
The theory around keeping people in their own homes is to keep them engaged in life. The false assumption that underlies this theory is that there is a direct connection between a person being in their own home and how engaged they are. Now don't get me wrong, there are situations where it is absolutely the right thing to do to help an aging senior to stay in their own home. In these situations the person usually has lived in the same location for a long time and as strong relationships with neighbors. It is not unusual in these homes to have multiple visits by neighbors each day, often with the neighbors walking in the door without knocking like family. In these situations the person usually has a large number of relatives in the area and the family has frequent interactions. In these situations the person usually still gets around easily and participates actively in community activities. I would argue that you can judge whether a person should stay in their own home by the number of non-medical people they interact with directly over the course of a week. I don't have a specific number that says stay or go but if there are many direct interactions it is probably fine for the person to stay in their home. If there are few, encouraging them to stay in their own home is diminishing their quality of life. Don't do it.
In addition, you need to base your decision on the current situation. Too often, especially those of us family members who have moved a distance away, base our decision on our memory of how active the person's house used to be. That is not good. A house that was active when family lived in the area may be very quiet now that they have moved away. A person who was active when they had a car may have no way to participate now. A person who was active when their significant other was healthy may be the isolated caregiver now and if their partner dies very often they will not be able to reconnect with people and activities they had before they were caregivers.
It would be great if everyone could stay in their own home for their whole life but many can't. Many shouldn't. Helping those seniors move into a senior living center may add years to their lives and most certainly will significantly improve their quality of life.
End the myth. Do an honest evaluation and act accordingly.
The theory around keeping people in their own homes is to keep them engaged in life. The false assumption that underlies this theory is that there is a direct connection between a person being in their own home and how engaged they are. Now don't get me wrong, there are situations where it is absolutely the right thing to do to help an aging senior to stay in their own home. In these situations the person usually has lived in the same location for a long time and as strong relationships with neighbors. It is not unusual in these homes to have multiple visits by neighbors each day, often with the neighbors walking in the door without knocking like family. In these situations the person usually has a large number of relatives in the area and the family has frequent interactions. In these situations the person usually still gets around easily and participates actively in community activities. I would argue that you can judge whether a person should stay in their own home by the number of non-medical people they interact with directly over the course of a week. I don't have a specific number that says stay or go but if there are many direct interactions it is probably fine for the person to stay in their home. If there are few, encouraging them to stay in their own home is diminishing their quality of life. Don't do it.
In addition, you need to base your decision on the current situation. Too often, especially those of us family members who have moved a distance away, base our decision on our memory of how active the person's house used to be. That is not good. A house that was active when family lived in the area may be very quiet now that they have moved away. A person who was active when they had a car may have no way to participate now. A person who was active when their significant other was healthy may be the isolated caregiver now and if their partner dies very often they will not be able to reconnect with people and activities they had before they were caregivers.
It would be great if everyone could stay in their own home for their whole life but many can't. Many shouldn't. Helping those seniors move into a senior living center may add years to their lives and most certainly will significantly improve their quality of life.
End the myth. Do an honest evaluation and act accordingly.
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