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Scientists have discovered proof that the evolution of intelligence and larger brain sizes can be driven by cooperation and teamwork, shedding new light on the origins of what it means to be human. The study appears online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and was led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin: PhD student, Luke McNally and Assistant Professor Dr Andrew Jackson at the School of Natural Sciences in collaboration with Dr Sam Brown of the University of Edinburgh.

There really is an advantage to working together!

Blog on professional development, 12/7/09 "In the newer flatter models, there are still leaders and followers but not so many layers in between, and that ratio seems to be evening out and actually shifting towards more leaders than followers. In others words, when an employee feels empowered and is driven to leverage all the tools available today for better decision-making (the collective human knowledge is now free and accessible), then really, organizations need to set goals and truly get the heck out of the way. The flatter models are working and they are working great. In addition to being flat, they are also virtual and function-based as opposed to departmental or vocation-based. So, whoever has the expertise necessary to achieve a goal is sought after and their knowledge is harnessed. In some cases, this functional expertise could very well be outside the traditional walls of an organization. As we start 2010, let's be open to performance instead of accountability, to flatter models instead of traditional hierarchies, and to achieving greater success by empowering those who we compensate to perform."

Research study by Gloria Mark, Stephen Voida, and Armand Cardeno, 2012 on impact of work with/without email "ABSTRACT We report on an empirical study where we cut off email usage for five workdays for 13 information workers in an organization. We employed both quantitative measures such as computer log data and ethnographic methods to compare a baseline condition (normal email usage) with our experimental manipulation (email cutoff). Our results show that without email, people multitasked less and had a longer task focus, as measured by a lower frequency of shifting between windows and a longer duration of time spent working in each computer window. Further, we directly measured stress using wearable heart rate monitors and found that stress, as measured by heart rate variability, was lower without email. Interview data were consistent with our quantitative measures, as participants reported being able to focus more on their tasks. We discuss the implications for managing email better in organizations" CONCLUSIONS Our study has shown that there are benefits to not being continually connected by email. Without email, our informants focused longer on their tasks, multitasked less, and had lower stress. It is an open question to what extent the effects we found in our study might be sustainable. How the benefits of reduced email usage might outweigh the known benefits of email in reaching larger numbers of people rapidly with information is not clear. What our study suggests is that the tradeoffs among email usage, work pace, stress, and collaboration need to be more closely explored. There will always be new "zombies" lurking with advances in information technology, and we must continue to be vigilant in assessing the human costs that are incurred when these advances are adopted in the workplace.

Linda Stone's blog, April 20, 2012. Runs something called The Attention Project. New terms: conscious computing, email and screen apnea, continuous partial attention Excerpt: "Thirty years ago, personal computing technologies created a revolution in personal productivity, supporting a value on self-expression, output and efficiency. The personal communications technology era that followed the era of personal productivity amplified accessibility and responsiveness. Personal technologies have served us well as prosthetics for the mind, in service of thinking and doing. Our focus has been on technologies as prosthetics for the mind, and human-as-machine style productivity. This has led to burn-out, poor health, poor sleep, and what I call email apnea or screen apnea. We wonder where our attention has gone. Turns out, it's right where we left it - with our ability to breathe fully. We can use personal technologies that are prosthetics for our beings, to enhance our lives. I call this Conscious Computing. We can use technology to help enable Conscious Computing, or we can find it on our own, through attending to how we feel. For advice from a musician on how to do Conscious Computing, I interviewed the organist, Cameron Carpenter. Conscious Computing with the help of passive, ambient, non-invasive Heart Rate Variability (HRV) technology is poised to take off over the next few years. It has the potential to help all of us learn the skills that musicians, athletes and dancers have, that immunizes them from email apnea."

Forbes, 10/22/13, by Jacquelyn Smith "Entrepreneurial spirit is a mindset. It's an attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out change, rather than waiting to adapt to change. It's a mindset that embraces critical questioning, innovation, service and continuous improvement. "It's about seeing the big picture and thinking like an owner," says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker, author and president of Humor at Work. "It's being agile, never resting on your laurels, shaking off the cloak of complacency and seeking out new opportunities. It's about taking ownership and pride in your organization." Sara Sutton Fell, CEO and founder of FlexJobs, says: "To me, an entrepreneurial spirit is a way of approaching situations where you feel empowered, motivated, and capable of taking things into your own hands. Companies that nurture an entrepreneurial spirit within their organization encourage their employees to not only see problems, solutions and opportunities, but to come up with ideas to do something about them." Entrepreneurial companies tend to have a more innovative approach to thinking about their products or services, new directions to take the company in, or new ways of doing old tasks, she adds. "Entrepreneurial spirit helps companies grow and evolve rather than become stagnant and stale." According to Jay Canchola, an independent human resources consultant, entrepreneurial spirit is also associated with taking calculated risks, and sometimes failing. "

Soroptomist's volunteer online community entitled Live Your Dream.org that matches volunteers with volunteer opportunities within the Soroptimist focus: women's economic empowerment, ending violence against women, fighting human trafficking.

Survey by Seth Kahan of 135 executives of trade associations and professional societies among others. Listed innovation priorities for future: educational offerings mentioned 101 times (135 survey participants), member experience--78, meetings--65, ...technology--56 Interesting innovations identified by survey participants on page 17 starting with this one: identifying a unique way of delivering women's leadership programming. Many organizations do it, most for their internal staff development, but don't do it well. We want to drop anchor in a crowded ocean and dive deep below the surface for our reach. Another one: creating an institute to advance the profession: research, human capital and practice management. Yet another: practice Portal www.asha.org/practice-portal/

A number of great quotes offered by Tom Peters on leading in the 21st century, September 2014. Tom Peters: Today's technology tools give you great opportunities to do 73 things at a time or to at least delude yourself that you are. I see managers who look like 12-year-olds with attention deficit disorder, running around from one thing to the next, constantly barraged with information, constantly chasing the next shiny thing. The only thing on earth that never lies to you is your calendar. That's why I'm a fanatic on the topic of time management. But when you use that term, people think, "Here's an adult with a brain. And he's teaching time management. Find something more important, please." But something more important doesn't exist. Tom Peters: Unless you were born with a very, very silver spoon, you're going to spend the majority of adult life at work. Why shouldn't this be a joyful experience or an energetic experience or a vivid experience? If you're a leader, your whole reason for living is to help human beings develop-to really develop people and make work a place that's energetic and exciting and a growth opportunity, whether you're running a Housekeeping Department or Google. I mean, this is not rocket science. It's not even a shadow of rocket science. You're in the people-development business. If you take a leadership job, you do people. Period. It's what you do. It's what you're paid to do. People, period. Should you have a great strategy? Yes, you should. How do you get a great strategy? By finding the world's greatest strategist, not by being the world's greatest strategist. You do people. Not my fault. You chose it. And if you don't get off on it, do the world a favor and get the hell out before dawn, preferably without a gilded parachute. But if you want the gilded parachute, it's worth it to get rid of you.

"Eisenhower was a good leader because he knew how to be political and get things done while remaining humble and, more importantly, human." The 6 leadership tips that Eisenhower believed made a good leader.

article by Nick Morgan in HBR in March 2011. 5 tips/assumptions (does not recognize that visual cues could be present in online meeting) 1. Recognize that virtual meetings are suboptimal and plan accordingly. (not for solving disagreements or revving up people) 2. Plan virtual meeting in 10 minute segments (attention span limits) 3. Pause regularly for group input (do not want to keep people on mute to allow them to take care of other chores) 4. Label your emotions, and ask others to do the same ("Lacking visual cues...") 5. Don't neglect the small talk--but use video (video small talk before the meeting with 30 second/1 minute clips of what they're up to) "Virtual meetings will never replace the need for humans to exchange emotional and unconscious non-verbal information through face-to-face exchanges, but they can be made to do for all but the most important purposes."

from Forbes.com, Leadership: Jeanne Meister reports that the average worker today stays at each of his or her jobs for 4.4 years, millennials for less than 3 years, and Gen Y for less than 2. The changing landscape of the economy as well as the desire for younger generations to have challenging, fulfilling work results in this job-hopping. For Gen Y, it is a necessity as they are hard pressed to find consistent, full time work any other way.

Interesting book. Chapter 17 - Computer Networks of Global Civil Society begins with a suggested charter document of human communications.

article on ed-tech buzzwords such as flipped classroom and digital humanities by Jeffrey R. Young, 8/28/15

Forbes, August 17, 2015 by George Anders on how Slack and other successful tech start-ups rely on those with a broader-based, or liberal arts education, to humanize and make apps and plug-ins more user-friendly and just plain friendly. The rebirth of the liberal arts education??

good diagram of automation and humans and how to make sure you are always relevant. Outlines how you can step up, step aside, step in, step narrowly, or step forward.

Pretty amazing list of influences that lead to engagement, by Tom Vander Ark, August 12, 2015 on his Getting Smart site

Dr. Tuajuanda C. Jordan is president of St. Mary's College of Maryland, a small liberal arts school. Jordan was trained as a biochemist, but had a liberal arts education and was exposed to natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and the arts while attending college. This is a very articulate and clear essay on why liberal arts education matters, and how learning to question is its most valuable trait.

from The Future of Work. Elizabeth Segran "For women in tech, a humanities background can be an added liability, since there is already a perception that they are less competent at science and math. Danielle Sheer says that when she joined Carbonite, her first impulse was to hide her lack of knowledge and retreat at meetings. However, she quickly changed strategy, deciding it was more important for her to ask questions to fully grasp the technology. She's spent hours tinkering with the software and working with engineering teams to learn about it. She says her colleagues are supportive, even if she sometimes slows them down. "By articulating complicated technical or strategic ideas in plain English, you'd be amazed at how much progress we've made solving problems," she says. "We've become very good at assuming that we don't have the same definition.""

blog by Eli Dourado on March 6, 2013 on binge learning. Excerpt: A combination of technology (DVRs) and market service providers (Netflix, Hulu, On Demand) have transformed how and when and where we watch "television." I suspect that students want the same things. Technology and market forces appear to be reshaping how and when and where we learn. Perhaps we education providers should pay attention. But the kind of bingeing that people might like to do with online courses is entirely different. Most people who sign up for an online class at Udacity or Marginal Revolution University want to take the class for its own sake, not as a requirement for some broader credential. The point is not to learn and forget-it is to indulge an interest. This seems like a more natural way to learn than traditional educational structures can offer: develop an interest and mercilessly indulge it until another interest supersedes it. It is a method that conserves the mental energy associated with willpower, leaving more of the brain's resources to focus on the material itself. Since it relies on the student actually being interested in the class, it is hard to fit into a physical schooling environment, where classes have to begin on a schedule, go slow enough for everyone to keep up, and run in parallel with other classes. Online education also saves the resources associated with context switching. Humans are notoriously bad multitaskers. Each time a high school student has to change classes, she has to quickly stifle the thoughts and questions raised in previous classes to focus on the current class. She has to expend mental resources remembering where the previous session of the current class left off. And when she returns to the class that stimulated the thoughts that had to be stifled, she may not recall them. Far better to focus on-or even to binge on-one subject until she is at a good stopping point.

Wonderful blog post on social learning by Sahana Chattopadhyay, October 19, 2014. Identified by Jane Hart. Excerpt: "Then comes the dichotomy of having an enterprise collaboration platform where no one is sharing, where there are no conversations happening, no debates and questions. It's a ghost town. At the end of the day, the platform doesn't matter. The culture of the organization does. An organization with an essentially command and control approach, an overly competitive outlook, and a repressive environment is not yet ready for social learning." Does this mean the employees are not engaging in "social learning"? Not at all. Learning has been social ever since human life was born on this planet and will continue to be so, with or without technology. Individuals will get their work done by talking to peers, reaching out to their network, and bringing their #pln and #pkm to work.