Weekly Download 15.10

Here’s a recap of news and notes from around the Web that caught my attention over the past week or so.

First there was the bullwhip effect. Now, the new concept is called the Cobra Effect, a similar lesson expressed in a different way. I like it. These “effects” underscore that you need to understand the broader context (system) to effectively solve the problem. Systems thinking is a critical management and leadership skill.

Guilty as charged: I have lots of “Baker-isms.” None of them are original or unique, but supposedly there is at least one list being kept. It figures that this summary of crazy work-related phrases caught my eye. How many do we use within our organizations and never even think about it? Perhaps we could start a “swear jar” and have to put in a quarter each time we’re caught using one.

What makes a great bagel? Here’s one analysis. Regardless of the science behind it, I can still practically smell the bagels I would pick up on a road trip from Evanston back to Wisconsin. Kaufman’s is the master, IMHO. My local resident expert (Steve Lipton) would even agree.

Weekly Download 15.9

Here’s a recap of news and notes from around the Web that caught my attention over the past week or so.

12 Essential Life Tips That Are Counterintuitive But True is quite thought provoking. Also watch the embedded video on mirror neurons and the soft wiring of mammalian brains (or access directly on YouTube at RSA Animate – The Empathic Civilisation).

I heard author/trainer Cy Wakeman speak a few years ago in Milwaukee. She is a good presenter and a solid realist, but has a unique view on work/life challenges. See Guilty of Self-Sabotage? Find Your ‘Happy’ Again By Ditching the Drama and Spreading the Love.

The Brain’s Fast Mode hit home. What a concept: separating the type of work you’re doing to fit your state of mind! I try to reserve early morning for Slow Mode items that require my mind to be free from distraction or creative tasks, like writing. The rest of the day quickly kicks into Fast Mode.

Weekly Download 15.8

To avoid looking like the old guy with Ray Ban aviators trying to look cool, check out how teens currently view the various social media tools. Written by an actual teen.

Iphone Killer: the Secret History of the Apple Watch is an interesting chronicle of the watch’s development.

In The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, author/neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explains how our brains are overloaded by the data in our lives today, and how we try to cope and compensate. Learn more by reading the Wall Street Journal’s review. I found it interesting, given the topic, that Levitin himself had a hard time being succinct—the book runs 496 pages. Perhaps his brain was overloaded.