Information You Can Use in Business and Life

Leadership and Team Unitity Thoughts 2

If I agreed with you we might both be wrong and never know it until too late....if I disagree with you one of us might be right and the discussion on our discord will get us to the correct answer sooner...Best not to ask a question if all you want from me is to agree with you from the start.

Leadership and Team Unity Thought

Something I have been thinking about in one of my leadership roles...even if someone is mostly right he/she is also a little bit wrong....the mostly right person; cut the other person more slack, give more than you can even imagine right now for the greater good of the unit.

 

Teamwork and Wounded Souls

A thought on teamwork and some outcomes of discord...When personality conflicts occur professionally and someone stays and someone goes, everyone loses something....wounded souls are hard to get over and sometimes they don't recover....consider carefully the outcome of wounded souls....yeah I know sometimes it is necessary....just consider and see if there is one more thing to bend on.....

 

 

 

Searcher In Charge Health Information: Health Search for Consumers

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Over the past year I have been working on a series of videos titled Searcher In Charge: Health Information. They are findable by searching “searcher in charge” in YouTube. I have also provided the individual links to each video at the end of this message. These videos are produced by myself, Lark Birdsong, through the Information Literacy Initiative at the University of Washington, Information School.

 

The goal of the video series is to provide consumers who go online a way to find basic health information using an information literacy approach to finding, analyzing and evaluating quality health sources. The words “information literacy” are not used in the videos as they are produced for consumers, yet the concepts of information literacy are included. The target market is adults who go online for health information. Yes, that is a large market and some adults will be able to use the videos and others will not. The videos provide plenty of search examples for the health consumer and the videos can be replayed as needed by the consumer so they can gain the information.  Currently there are seven videos in the series with an average time of approximately 6 minutes and 50 seconds. Another video is provided as tips for viewing the videos and one more video on health sources will be added. A few key notes:
 

·         The video series highlights the importance of health care providers for finding quality health information

·         The use of libraries and librarians for finding quality information is highlighted

·         Tips for finding quality health sources are provided

·         Tips for analyzing websites and other sources of information are included

·         Tips for evaluating the quality of the results is provided

·         Search examples in Google and Bing are included that use MedlinePlus and the Mayo Clinic websites

·         The videos have some logic if played in order yet any video could be viewed as a standalone video

·         Production, images and other features improve as the video series progresses

·         The video series allows for embedding and credit is requested if embedded (Searcher In Charge Health Information, produced by Lark Birdsong, Director, Information Literacy Initiative of the University of Washington Information School, [lark@larkbirdsong.com or 303-884-8666])

·         Video #7 will include sources of quality health information; more details below

·         I also plan to use websites in video #7 that direct consumers to libraries that might have health information such http://www.publiclibraries.com/ (USA specific). I have other entry points into libraries beyond the USA such as http://www.123world.com/libraries/, http://www.worldcat.org/,  http://www.libdex.com/country.html, http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/  and will add other sources for this area if I receive recommendations.

 

I have not produced the last video on health sources for Searcher In Charge Health Information #7 yet. I have been gathering quality health sources that help a health consumer with more general questions find quality entry points. I am open to other health sources and  would like to gain feedback on quality health sources that might be good starting points with health questions. I am not sure how I will format this last video and what information will be included as it might depend on the number and type of recommendations I receive. If you have any suggestions I am appreciative of your thoughts. Also feel free to forward this information if you believe it would be useful to others.

 

 

Individual Links to each video:

Searcher In Charge Video Series Viewing Tips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5NQyqh53g

Searcher In Charge Health Information #1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40U8ymsp3Fw

Searcher In Charge Health Information #2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MDTkF8WglE

Searcher In Charge Health Information #3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bTHVUIYHAo

Searcher In Charge Health Information #4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzinjiYb3-w

Searcher In Charge Health Information #5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNJcTNlAzEQ

Searcher In Charge Health Information #5 More Details http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhwL7hEIcg

Searcher In Charge Health Information #6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocz2Mo764es

 

 
Thanks for your time and suggestions.

All About Steve with Sandra Bullock and Why I Loved This Movie

I loved the movie All About Steve with Sandra Bullock. It is getting bad reviews which is too bad in my opinion. An interview by Sandra Bullock towards the end of video on All About Steve .

I think Sandra Bullock did a wonderful job of acting the character Mary (All About Steve Movie Trailer)  and here is why I recommend this movie.

In the movie the character Mary (Sandra Bullock) was comfortable and confident in who she was, no matter what her behaviors were. She was true to herself, did not pretend to be someone else, change her behaviors for others, make excuses for what she did and followed her path with empathy and confidence in herself. In Mary's own words "it's about choosing your path and committing to it."

IMHO this is a the best way to live your life because you can move into what is waiting for you without the burden of looking over your shoulder wondering what people think. If a person is still getting comfortable with herself/himself the feelings of being contented in one's own skin, maximum productivity and creativity to do one’s best work, must wait.

At the end of the movie Mary showed many reasons why she was a more giving, mature person by being true to the gifts of who she was. She let the male character take credit for getting them out of the hole, went to her friends after she got out, saw Steve telling her to never change, and witnessed all the people cheering for her. Those folks cheering, wished for themselves Mary’s traits of being true to herself and her acceptance of her “goofy” behaviors in addition to Mary's good deeds.

I know I am not a movie critic. I know I loved this movie regardless of what others think. I have seen it twice and purchased the movie. Sandra Bullock, thank you for the character you played. You were great, not many folks would play this character's role and you did a wonderful job acting in the movie All About Steve. 

In my opinion the polar opposite roles you played in Blind Side and All About Steve in one year plus the delightful The Proposal, puts you at the top of your game. Thanks for three great movies in 2009.

 

Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals

Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Mark Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, is a study on the moral behaviors of non-human animals. The authors provide evidence that "animals possess empathy, compassion and a sense of justice, a moral code not unlike our own" for the reader to consider. As an owner of many dogs, it seems intuitive that moral decisions would be made dogs as they are compassionate and kind, which in my belief, leads to moral choices by dogs. The authors provide research that other non-human animals make these decisions. The book is interesting to read with examples of moral behaviors by non-human animals. In one study the Diana monkeys had to put tokens in a slot to receive food. When one elderly female could not put her token in the slot, another Diana monkey inserted the token for her.

It is nice to read of examples by humans and non-human animals, that show moral choices being made to help others in a positive manner. The authors provide evidence that extends the quantity of "good deeds" performed in the world. I am glad to have and know of the non-human animals moral reasoning. 

John Wooden on Life and Teamwork

I have long been a fan of John Wooden who recently celebrated his 99th birthday. His wisdom on life, people and basketball is vast. The quotes below are a few that are worth embracing.

• "Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow."

• "The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

• "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

• "Don't give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you." Los Angeles Times

John Wooden on his 99th Birthday

Thresholds of Complexity and the Economic Crisis

I am reading a book by John D. Barrows titled  One Hundred Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know: Math Explains Your World (100 Essential Things). His discussion on thresholds of complexity had applicability to reaching solid decisions. Mr. Barrows notes that thresholds of complexity occur as complex situations are built step by step over time. In the end the overall structure is strikingly different than its local structure. The whole has a property not shared by its parts.

An analogy with the economic crisis can be made by looking at what happen to mortgages (given to many incapable of repaying), then resold, converted into various financial instruments and credit default swaps (CDS). The sellers of the CDS do not necessarily need to own the underlying security, have any capital reserves behind it or be regulated.

If I look at thresholds of complexity from a relational viewpoint and in reverse, I can see where there was a "whole" the single mortgage and as it was taken apart, it became more and more complex and had nothing to do with the original mortgage that had some security behind it (the home). The parts and the whole were nothing alike.

 
I know the economic crisis is much more complex and was caused by many factors. What I find interesting is that thresholds of complexity concept can be used as a way of thinking and analyzing to achieve better outcomes.

As you make decisions that are critical and have a large impact, look at the parts and the whole, ask if it makes sense, are there truly relationships that make sense as each part is put together or taken apart. Do they stay linked and add value. Look at it in reverse. Has it become to complex, thresholds of complexity reached and there is no value.

To tie this back into my example, and in a very simple form, if I look at a credit default swap that has no security behind it, no relationship what so ever to the original mortgage, no regulation of the CDS, it makes no sense. It reached a threshold of complexity and lost all its value as an investment.