Reviews & References
Inspirational leadership
I saw an interesting TED talk last night by Simon Sinek. He was talking about inspirational leadership.
The basic concept is what he calls the Golden Circle. In the center is "why," the next ring out is "how," and the outer ring is "what." "What" is what you do - your service or product offerings. "How" is how you differentiate yourself from others. How you do what you do that's different and valuable. The key is why you do it - the purpose behind the whole enterprise.
Presence
In Presence, Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers look at what it takes for profound change to happen. While they come out the topic from the perspective of large organizations and systems, what they find seems directly relevant to the work that many of us are doing - trying to find our way in non-traditional career paths, making meaning while making a living.
Foursquare
I recently discovered a very cool app for my iPhone called Foursquare. It lets you connect with people in real life and in real places and also gives you the ability to get tips about places around town from people who have actually been there.
The Strange Attraction of Strange Attractors
There are some ideas that you just have to savour like hard toffee. Lately, I’ve been sucking on strange attractors. Attractors are all about complex systems. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that complex systems are all about attractors.
Simple systems usually settle on a single final resting state – tumbling rocks find the lowest point, friction eventually stops a coasting car, and people in Texas will vote for the biggest liar. But complex systems are more, well… complex. Here are a couple different websites that demonstrate the idea with some mesmerizing videos.