Assessing the impact of societal issues: A McKinsey Global Survey

It has been amazing to see terms such as "triple bottom line" and "social return on investment" move from the social sector into the boardroom. This global survey details how executives feel and think about the soft stuff that have hard business consequences.

clipped from www.mckinseyquarterly.com Executives expect the environment, including climate change, to affect shareholder value far more than any other societal issue during the next five years. Their concern now exceeds that of consumers. Most managers are personally worried about global warming. Only one in ten reports not worrying at all, and just 3 percent say they do not believe that it is happening. Corporate political influence and involvement, health care and other employee benefits, and job losses from offshoring also rank high on the sociopolitical agendas of business leaders. Executives indicate that companies are getting a little better at managing sociopolitical issues and understanding what the public expects of them.

Nancy Andreasen: On Creative People

Nancy Andreasen, M.D., Ph.D.

Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at The University of Iowa; Institute of Medicine member; Editor in Chief, The American Journal of Psychiatry; 2006 Vanderbilt Prize Winner for outstanding woman in biomedical research

As part of the Discovery Series Lectures, Andreasen speaks on life, literature, science, children, women and creativity. Although they may have moments of self-confidence coupled with self-doubt, she finds creative people as having a natural innocent and humility that drives them to push against themselves. They are not driven by a "prize". Most often, creative personalities are driven towards answering a question or creating something.

"They are driven," notes Andreasen "by a sense that they haven't gotten it quite right."

This sense of disquiet comes from a profound acknowledgment. "Most find that creativity is a gift. If you've got something that is a gift, you don't feel that it belongs to you. That's what keeps creative people humble."

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Monkey Mind: Fast Kids, Slow Brain Growth & ADHD

PHOTO: Sita Magnuson

My friend David Owens, a brilliant professor, product innovator and currently CEO for Griffin Technology Inc., calls it "monkey mind". So do the practitioners of Buddhism (see Taming the Monkey Mind by Cheng Wei-an). The Monkey Mind Manual aptly describes the metaphor and dedicates an entire blog to the subject:

Monkey Mind is a Buddhist term that vividly describes the way our minds stay busy, keeping us away from inner peace and true happiness. I think it is the antithesis of mindfulness. At times I convince myself that my monkey is more agitated and on worse behavior than many: it usually jumps to conclusions, has wild swings of mood, and growls too frequently. Really, though, I'm not alone. Our monkeys are all prone to such behavior.

Monkey Mind is, of course, endemic to human beings of all chemical make-ups. However, it is a serious challenge to kids who brim with the energy and distraction of ADHD--not to mention their parents, teachers, siblings and police officers! Of course, some of us who like the way we operate wear the label as a badge of honor. (Sort of like John Belushi's character, in Animal House who wears a food-stained sweatshirt that simply reads: COLLEGE.)

Those of us with diagnosed (medically or culturally) as living with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or Hyperkinetic Disorder as officially known in the UK, are generally considered to be dealing with a developmental disorder, largely neurological in nature, affecting about 5% of the world's population. Researcher have mapped the disorder to other affects on the brain's development.

clipped from www.reuters.com Children and teenagers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have developmental delays of up to three years in some regions of the brain, U.S. researchers said on Monday. "The sequence in which different parts of the brain matured in the kids with ADHD was exactly the same as in healthy kids. It's just that everything was delayed by a couple of years," said Dr. Philip Shaw National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health. Shaw said the delays are most pronounced in regions of the brain that are important for controlling thought, attention and planning. ADHD is a condition suffered by about 2 million U.S. children that often becomes apparent in preschool and early school years. Children with ADHD have a tougher time controlling their behavior and paying attention. The finding was based on imaging studies involving 223 children and teens with ADHD and 223 without the disorder.

Manic Comic Preachers

This group of international comic artists and illustrators picks a theme (kittens, hobos, moustaches) and dips their quills into the surreal every Thursday night. The results are posted on their blog.

clipped from stldrawingclub.blogspot.com STL Drawing Club OUR SKETCHBOOKS WEIGH A TON WE DRAW EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT clipped from stldrawingclub.blogspot.com STL Drawing Club has gone global with the addition of Maximo "Max" Vento. Max is an up and coming graphic novelist who hails from Spain. His first book is due out in his homeland by the end of the year. Clean shaven, baby-faced Max gives us his take on our mustache theme. clipped from stldrawingclub.blogspot.com In honor of the upcoming FBC mustache ride we all drew mustache themed drawings last night. You know what that means!!! NOTE: I'm not crying in that self-portrait, those are eye boogers. Although YOU'D probably cry if you were driving a hot-rod made entirely out of your own mustache.

The Writing On The Wall

Good penmanship is more than just a quaint skill. A new study shows that it's a key part of learning.

By Raina Kelley | NEWSWEEK | Nov 12, 2007 Issue

clipped from www.newsweek.com Many educators say yes, for reasons having nothing to do with thank-you notes. Handwriting is important because research shows that when children are taught how to do it, they are also being taught how to learn and how to express themselves. A new study to be released this month by Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham finds that a majority of primary-school teachers believe that students with fluent handwriting produced written assignments that were superior in quantity and quality and resulted in higher grades—aside from being easier to read. The College Board recognized this in 2005 when it added a handwritten essay to the SAT—an effort to reverse the de-emphasis on handwriting and composition that may be adversely affecting children's learning all the way through high school and beyond. Emily Knapton, director of program development at Handwriting Without Tears, believes that "when kids struggle with handwriting, it filters into all their academics.

World Usability Day

Think of this day next time you try to figure out the self-checkout aisle!

clipped from www.worldusabilityday.org "Making Life Easy!" World Usability Day was founded to ensure that the services and products important to life are easier to access and simpler to use. The focus for World Usability Day 2007 -- November 8, 2007 -- is healthcare. Whether it's new medical devices or technologies; drug research, approval, or delivery; patient forms or medical record sharing; emergency disaster planning; increasing the functionality of hospitals; or everyday healthcare delivery, EVERYONE is affected by usability in healthcare.

JibJab Animations Starring You!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!The masters of pixel-based puppeteering have made it easy for us to insert unsuspecting loved ones into hilarious productions.

(This is my wife and myself dancing very similarly to how we perform at weddings!)

10 Ways to Improve Your Press Releases

These helpful tips are great for drafting many other communication tools, too. Brochures. Take-aways. Instructions for your kids.

clipped from www.visualthesaurus.com There are many voices calling for the death of the press release. What is needed is not execution but reform. I wrote a moby-post on my blog listing 62 Ways to Improve Your Press Release. Here are ten suggestions that relate to the process of writing (other tips deal with managing the process and alternatives to press releases):

Sunny Side of the Brain

clipped from features.us.reuters.com WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Imagine receiving a big chunk of cash in the future. Or winning a prize. Chances are, such optimistic thoughts are coming from two places in the brain that play an important role in enabling people to, as the old song says, accentuate the positive, New York University scientists said Wednesday. Pinpointing the brain regions involved in optimism and positive thinking about the future, the researchers said, may also have shed light on what might be going wrong in people with depression. The researchers used sophisticated brain imaging to track brain activity in 15 young adults -- seven men and eight women -- while they asked them imagine future scenarios. They included getting a lot of money, winning an award, going to a birthday party or ball game or the zoo, being lied to, the end of a romantic relationship, going to a funeral and others.