On the Farnam Street blog:

While it’s not very glamorous to take career advice from a raccoon or a panda, we can learn something from them about the dilemmas we face. Do we want to be like a raccoon, able to survive anywhere, although never maximizing our potential in a single area? Or like a panda, unstoppable in the right context, but struggling in an inappropriate one?

A well researched and thoughtful piece about the generalist v specialist dilemma. Confession: I’m still yet to find a reasonable answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” However, I worry about it less and less. I figure that not knowing is a part of the voyage of intellectual and emotional discovery.

Dave Snowden, writes:

Now complexity is uncomfortable to any organisation (which in fact means more or less all organisations) as it challenges several key assumptions. In particular the assumption that you get set clear objectives for a desired future state, that things that work once will repeat as is, that cases from the past provide recipes for future action and so on. In a complex system we:

1 - start journeys with a general sense of direction but without precise targets.
2 - have to be comfortable with what is inherent and unavoidable uncertainty
3 - need real time feedback, with the flexibility to respond and change quickly
4 - can’t avoid some understanding of theory, which has to act as a enabling constraint on action
5 - are ethically responsible for the unintended consequence of any intervention

Some interesting thoughts from Dave, and a nice reminder of some of the key principles for working in complexity.

Eillie Anzilotti, writing for Fast Company:

Our use of screen-based technologies—smartphones, tablets replacing waiters at restaurants, and so on—is wrecking our ability to interact with actual humans. To listen.

Others with shared concerns about how a world shaped by technology is affecting our ability to really listen to each other.

Interestingly, IDEO has designed a new, interactive form of discussing difficult and complex topics called Creative Tensions. This looks very similar to Sociometry, which is a useful method where participants express their opinion through their position in the space.

Brené Brown, writes:

There’s much more to true belonging. Being ourselves means sometimes having to find the courage to stand alone, totally alone. It’s not something we achieve or accomplish with others; it’s something we carry in our heart. Once we belong thoroughly to ourselves and believe thoroughly in ourselves, true belonging is ours.

Another great piece on TED.com’s Ideas blog.

This seems counter-intuitive, but also makes a lot of sense. I’m fascinated by the idea that instead of transcending suffering, we must instead, move towards turbulence and doubt – what Pema Chödrön calls the journey of the warrior-bhodisattva ¹.

Claire Lew, writing for Signal v. Noise:

Yet for as much we seem to talk about it, do we really know what culture is?

If we want to influence our company culture, we have to start with a keen understanding of what culture actually is.

This article cuts to the core of why attempts to influence and change cultures are often ineffective.

This has been a recent challenge for me. Convincing leaders that changing a culture is not about just changing the artefacts is hard. It’s difficult for people to go deeper to surface their underlying assumptions. It’s even more difficult to ask them to examine their resulting behaviours.

Celeste Headlee on TED.com’s Ideas blog:

Often subtle and unconscious, it’s the desire to take over a conversation, to do most of the talking, and to turn the focus of the exchange to yourself.

Fascinating read. The bias towards talking about ourselves and the urge to steer conversations towards us is an unconscious and unsuccessful attempt at empathy. I’m guilty as charged and will make a concerted effort to be more conscious of this.

I also really enjoyed Celeste’s insightful talk: 10 Ways to Have Better Conversations.

Vivek H. Murthy, writing for the Harvard Business Review:

Our understanding of biology, psychology, and the workplace calls for companies to make fostering social connections a strategic priority. A more connected workforce is more likely to enjoy greater fulfillment, productivity, and engagement while being more protected against illness, disability, and burnout.

Some sobering statistics relating to the ‘loneliness epidemic’, and an impassioned plea for companies to do more to foster and cultivate social connections.

Hannah du Plessis:

As difficult as it is to be unseen and unheard because of your difference, there is a greater danger, a greater difficulty. You may begin to question your own worth, to believe that you are somehow deficient. This is an easy conclusion to come to. “If I am repeatedly disrespected, then maybe I am not worthy of respect.”

A heartfelt and reaffirming message.

Euan Semple:

What if the thin veneer of civilisation is an unnecessary fiction? What if it is actually an artificial constraint on our better natures, a means of maintaining power and status through fear and perceived dependency? What if underneath it we are actually less afraid, less divided, less cruel and more kind than we have been conditioned to think we are?

I really enjoy Euan’s inquisitive musings like this one. More of us should be challenging the status quo and ask these sorts of questions.

Brandon Klein, writing for Fast Company:

As workplaces become less hierarchical and more reliant on interpersonal problem-solving, rather than just tactical execution, facilitation is becoming a job skill you’ll need to rely on more and more.

It’s great to see the importance of good facilitation being talked about in the mainstream media. No arguments from me.