Espejos: Una historia casi universal

El cronista y escritor latinoamericano Eduardo Galeano comparte sus anotaciones de su libro Espejos: Una historia casi universal, en la Biblioteca Pública de la ciudad de Los Ángeles.  Una version de la hsitoria que relata la gran aventura de la existencia humana.

Por Asociación

¿Que tal si te digo que conozco a alguien a quien deberías conocer?  Pues esa es la idea que By/Association plantea.  By/Association es un servicio privado de presentaciones.  Individuos son elegidos por su creatividad excepcional, visiones de mundo y redes sociales multi-disciplinarias.  Luego estos son introducidos los unos a los otros creando conversaciones que impactan su crecimiento y que transforma el mundo que los rodea.

Me capta la atención las reglas de interacción que propone By/Association:

1. No egos.
2. Valora cada conexión.
3. Muestra curiosidad y pasión.
4. Diviértete. Reírse es muy bueno.
5. Asistir a los encuentros establecidos.

Aquí les presento varias ideas de trasfondo sobre el servicio.

Manifesto

“Innovation is an emergent phenomenon that happens when a person or organization fosters interaction between different kinds of people and disparate forms of knowledge.” —Murray Gell-Mann

By/Association seeks to reinvent the traditional notion of “networking” by enabling substantive interactions and long-term relationships.

By/Association is for people who want to make their lives, ideas, and networks richer by meeting other remarkable people. It’s not about getting help with your current need or project. It’s about connecting to people that make you better — to inspire more action, better ideas, and new ways of seeing the world.

The impact you have in your life is shaped by the people you meet. We simply seek to accelerate that process in a powerful, meaningful way.

Connection Theory

Every introduction made through By/Association is intended to foster meaningful long-term growth for our members. The community is organized on a system of “currencies” derived from the concept of “new wealth.” The process is human-driven by our Connectors, who craft introductions from sets of shared and complementary “currencies.” We continually refine ongoing connections through feedback from our members.

Some of what inspires us:

1.New ‘wealth’ - Traditionally, wealth has been based on money, family name, education, etc. But this definition of wealth is exclusionary, and even destructive. We believe that as we move into a conceptual age, the valued currencies around ‘new wealth’ should be based on creativity, innovation, and social benefit.

2.Social Origins of Good Ideas - Ronald S. Burt of University of Chicago explains that “people who live in the intersection of social worlds are at higher risk of having good ideas.” In other words, the more people you know who aren’t just like you, the better chance you have of thinking and behaving differently.

3.The Straddle - Technology should exist as a means to facilitate and enhance real-world interactions, and should not be treated as an end in itself. We believe in networking that is actually social.

4.Better Filters - Communication is now more efficient than at any other point in human history, but forces us to accept irrelevant interactions. Quality still trumps quantity. The movement towards an increasingly fleeting and fragmented world must be balanced by smart filters. And we believe these filters should be ‘human’ in nature.

5.Littlewood’s Law - According to Cambridge University professor J.E. Littlewood, mathematically, individuals can expect a miracle (an exceptional event of special significance) to happen to them at the rate of about one per month. We would like to guarantee those odds for you.

¿Sabias que?

Curas colaborativas

¿Alguna vez haz padecido de una condición de salud y luego de una larga búsqueda tu medico y tu han encontrado el tratamiento correcto para alivarte? O padeces de alguna enfermedad a la cual no encuentras cura?  Pues no estas solo.  Los amigos de CureTogether han creado un espacio colaborativo que ayuda a personas rastrear y comparar data de salud, para entender mejor sus cuerpos, tomar decisiones informadas a cerca de su tratamiento y a la vez contribuir con las investigaciones globales.

Alexandra Carmichael y Daniel Reda lanzaron CureTogether en Julio del 2008 para ayudar a seres conocidos que padecian de dolor cronico. Comenzando con 3 condiciones, el programa de expandio rapidamente a 391 condiciones de salud a peticion de miles de pacientes que han solicitado que sus condiciones sean añadidas a los estudios.  Actualmente hay 4,695 personas activamente colaborando en la busqueda de curas.  Es un esfuerzo de unificar experiencias.  CureTogether creen que en estas expereincia colectivas contienen respuestas que le serviran a millones de personas para sobrepasar sus barreras de salud  Esta iniciativa ha sido reconocida por el Mayo Clinic y otorgada el premio iSpot para ideas que transformaran la manera en la que hacemos salud.  Dato curiosos, CureTogether es financiado por sus fundadores, inversiones caritativas y no auspicia ni recibe ingresos de esfuerzos promocionales.  Un ejemplo creativo e innovador que utiliza la colaboracion como eje central.

La Teoría de la Diversión

"Life is like a piano... what you get out of it depends on how you play it."

A veces crear cambio en el comportamiento de las demás personas es más simple de lo que pensamos. El equipo creativo de Volkswagen ha creado una campaña dirigida a transformar el comportamiento humano para bien en cualquier escenario.  Le han llamado The Fun Theory.  Incluso han creado un a competencia llamada el "Fun Theory Award" en la que otorgaran 2,500 Euros para buscar métodos divertidos que promuevan cambio en el comportamiento.

Open Video - Colaboración en medios visuales

Realmente estamos viviendo momentos excitantes en cuanto a colaboración y cooperación se refiere. Aquí otro ejemplo de los esfuerzos para acortar barreras a la comunicación y al intercambio de ideas y formas de expresión de la comunidad.  Me refiero al Open Video Alliance, un consorcio de precursores de los formatos colaborativos como lo son el Information Society Project de Yale Law School, Kaltura, Miro Community, Participatory Culture Foundation, iCommons, Red Hat y Mozilla entre otros.   En la coalición se encuentran representadas universidades, organizaciones civiles, empresas e individuos.  Es curioso ver que el gran ausente en este tipo de trabajo colaborativo es el sector gubernamental.  Más adelante analizaremos esa ausencia.

Por ahora, les presento el vídeo de promoción del primer evento celebrado del 19 al 21 de junio de 2009 en NYU Law School.  ¿Y que es esto de Open Video? Pues observe, ¡en 12 lenguajes!

El poder de las metáforas Pt.2

Continuando con el tema de metáforas, a continuación un vídeo del Prof. George Lakoff que de manera simple explica la relación entre enmarcar ideas, las metáforas y nuestro cerebro.  El vídeo sirve antesala a un artículo que presenta los conceptos de las "metaforas primarias" y la teoria de la "mente encarnada" o "embodied mind".

The astonishingly deep effect of primary metaphors in our lives (excerpt)

By Jody Radzik

In 1980, cognitive linguist George Lakoff and philosopher Mark Johnson described the notion of the embodied metaphor in their landmark book, Metaphors We Live By, mapping out the brain’s amazing exaptation of its motor functions into the fundamental units of human cognition. In 1999, they wrote another landmark book, Philosophy In The Flesh, in which they further describe the “embodied mind,” the veritable (and largely cross-cultural) syntax and grammar of human reason, and use the notion to incisively critique a good cross-section of Western philosophy. Now, in 2009, these ideas are beginning to surface in more mainstream media, including a recent article written by Drake Bennett in the Boston Globe.



Metaphors aren’t just how we talk and write, they’re how we think. At some level, we actually do seem to understand temperament as a form of temperature, and we expect people’s personalities to behave accordingly. What’s more, without our body’s instinctive sense for temperature--or position, texture, size, shape, or weight--abstract concepts like kindness and power, difficulty and purpose, and intimacy and importance would simply not make any sense to us. Metaphors like this “don’t invite us to see the world in new and different ways,” says Daniel Casasanto, a cognitive scientist and researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands. “They enable us to understand the world at all.”

An embodied metaphor, or primary metaphor, is a mental reflection of an action or condition of the physical body. For instance, you “engage” “in” a “heated” conversation with your coworker, until you “cut” him “off,” or “short.” In “essence”, there is no “way” to “avoid” “using” an embodied metaphor “in” “communicating” a notion. All human cognition “rests” “on” them like an ocean “on” its seafloor. (That was an example of a descriptive metaphor.)  Now, these ideas are beginning to bear fruit in experimental psychology, and the implications of what is being discovered have the potential to reach into almost every aspect of human social life. To whit, very simple physical manipulations can have profound effects on our subsequent cognition.

El poder de las metáforas Pt.1

Cuando escucho la palabra metáfora, inmediatamente me viene a la mente una gema de película llamada "Il Postino" del año 1994.  En éste film italiano, un cartero humilde de una pequeña aldea costanera de Italia descubre el concepto de la metáfora con la ayuda del maestro Pablo Neruda y armado de metáforas sale a la conquista de su amada.

Pero las metáforas no solo nos embriagan de amor, sino que, según hallazgos científicos recientes, son la manera por la cual aprendemos, razonamos y hacemos sentido del mundo que nos rodea. El campo de "Experiential Learning" y de "Outdoor Education" ha sido pionero en el uso de las metáforas como herramienta para presentar y facilitar experiencias de aprendizaje y para reflexionar y transferir estos nuevos conocimientos para crear cambios duraderos en las vidas de los participantes.  Autores como Michael Gass, han descrito a profundidad el poder de la metafora la experiencia vivida. 

A continuación un articulo que detalla varios de estos experimentos y las implicaciones que estos resultados tienen en nuestro comportamiento.

Thinking literally - The surprising ways that metaphors shape your world.

By Drake Bennett - Boston Globe

WHEN WE SAY someone is a warm person, we do not mean that they are running a fever. When we describe an issue as weighty, we have not actually used a scale to determine this. And when we say a piece of news is hard to swallow, no one assumes we have tried unsuccessfully to eat it.

These phrases are metaphorical--they use concrete objects and qualities to describe abstractions like kindness or importance or difficulty--and we use them and their like so often that we hardly notice them. For most people, metaphor, like simile or synecdoche, is a term inflicted upon them in high school English class: “all the world’s a stage,” “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” Gatsby’s fellow dreamers are “boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Metaphors are literary creations--good ones help us see the world anew, in fresh and interesting ways, the rest are simply cliches: a test is a piece of cake, a completed task is a load off one’s back, a momentary difficulty is a speed bump.

But whether they’re being deployed by poets, politicians, football coaches, or realtors, metaphors are primarily thought of as tools for talking and writing--out of inspiration or out of laziness, we distill emotions and thoughts into the language of the tangible world. We use metaphors to make sense to one another.

Now, however, a new group of people has started to take an intense interest in metaphors: psychologists. Drawing on philosophy and linguistics, cognitive scientists have begun to see the basic metaphors that we use all the time not just as turns of phrase, but as keys to the structure of thought. By taking these everyday metaphors as literally as possible, psychologists are upending traditional ideas of how we learn, reason, and make sense of the world around us. The result has been a torrent of research testing the links between metaphors and their physical roots, with many of the papers reading as if they were commissioned by Amelia Bedelia, the implacably literal-minded children’s book hero. Researchers have sought to determine whether the temperature of an object in someone’s hands determines how “warm” or “cold” he considers a person he meets, whether the heft of a held object affects how “weighty” people consider topics they are presented with, or whether people think of the powerful as physically more elevated than the less powerful.

What they have found is that, in fact, we do. Metaphors aren’t just how we talk and write, they’re how we think. At some level, we actually do seem to understand temperament as a form of temperature, and we expect people’s personalities to behave accordingly. What’s more, without our body’s instinctive sense for temperature--or position, texture, size, shape, or weight--abstract concepts like kindness and power, difficulty and purpose, and intimacy and importance would simply not make any sense to us. Deep down, we are all Amelia Bedelia.

Metaphors like this “don’t invite us to see the world in new and different ways,” says Daniel Casasanto, a cognitive scientist and researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands. “They enable us to understand the world at all.”

Our instinctive, literal-minded metaphorizing can make us vulnerable to what seem like simple tweaks to our physical environment, with ramifications for everything from how we build polling booths to how we sell cereal. And at a broader level it reveals just how much the human body, in all its particularity, shapes the mind, suggesting that much of what we think of as abstract reasoning is in fact a sometimes awkward piggybacking onto the mental tools we have developed to govern our body’s interactions with its physical environment. Put another way, metaphors reveal the extent to which we think with our bodies.

“The abstract way we think is really grounded in the concrete, bodily world much more than we thought,” says John Bargh, a psychology professor at Yale and leading researcher in this realm.

Philosophers have long wondered about the connection between metaphor and thought, in ways that occasionally presaged current-day research. Friedrich Nietzsche scornfully described human understanding as nothing more than a web of expedient metaphors, stitched together from our shallow impressions of the world. In their ignorance, he charged, people mistake these familiar metaphors, deadened from overuse, for truths. “We believe that we know something about the things themselves when we speak of trees, colors, snow, and flowers,” he wrote, “and yet we possess nothing but metaphors for things--metaphors which correspond in no way to the original entities.”

Like Nietzsche, George Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, and Mark Johnson, a philosophy professor at the University of Oregon, see human thought as metaphor-driven. But, in the two greatly influential books they have co-written on the topic, “Metaphors We Live By” in 1980 and “Philosophy in the Flesh” in 1999, Lakoff and Johnson focus on the deadest of dead metaphors, the ones that don’t even rise to the level of cliche. They call them “primary metaphors,” and they group them into categories like “affection is warmth,” “important is big,” “difficulties are burdens,” “similarity is closeness,” “purposes are destinations,” and even “categories are containers.”

Rather than so much clutter standing in the way of true understanding, to Lakoff and Johnson these metaphors are markers of the roots of thought itself. Lakoff and Johnson’s larger argument is that abstract thought would be meaningless without bodily experience. And primary metaphors, in their ubiquity (in English and other languages) and their physicality, are some of their most powerful evidence for this.

“What we’ve discovered in the last 30 years is--surprise, surprise--people think with their brains,” says Lakoff. “And their brains are part of their bodies.”

Inspired by this argument, psychologists have begun to make their way, experiment by experiment, through the catalog of primary metaphors, altering one side of the metaphorical equation to see how it changes the other.

Bargh at Yale, along with Lawrence Williams, now at the University of Colorado, did studies in which subjects were casually asked to hold a cup of either iced or hot coffee, not knowing it was part of the study, then a few minutes later asked to rate the personality of a person who was described to them. The hot coffee group, it turned out, consistently described a warmer person--rating them as happier, more generous, more sociable, good-natured, and more caring--than the iced coffee group. The effect seems to run the other way, too: In a paper published last year, Chen-Bo Zhong and Geoffrey J. Leonardelli of the University of Toronto found that people asked to recall a time when they were ostracized gave lower estimates of room temperature than those who recalled a social inclusion experience.

In a paper in the current issue of Psychological Science, researchers in the Netherlands and Portugal describe a series of studies in which subjects were given clipboards on which to fill out questionnaires--in one study subjects were asked to estimate the value of several foreign currencies, in another they were asked to rate the city of Amsterdam and its mayor. The clipboards, however, were two different weights, and the subjects who took the questionnaire on the heavier clipboards tended to ascribe more metaphorical weight to the questions they were asked--they not only judged the foreign currencies to be more valuable, they gave more careful, considered answers to the questions they were asked.

Similar results have proliferated in recent years. One of the authors of the weight paper, Thomas Schubert, has also done work suggesting that the fact that we associate power and elevation (“your highness,” “friends in high places”) means we actually unconsciously look upward when we think about power. Bargh and Josh Ackerman at MIT’s Sloan School of Business, in work that has yet to be published, have done studies in which subjects, after handling sandpaper-covered puzzle pieces, were less likely to describe a social situation as having gone smoothly. Casasanto has done work in which people who were told to move marbles from a lower tray up to a higher one while recounting a story told happier stories than people moving them down.

Several studies have explored the metaphorical connection between cleanliness and moral purity. In one, subjects who were asked to recall an unethical act, then given the choice between a pencil and an antiseptic wipe, were far more likely to choose the cleansing wipe than people who had been asked to recall an ethical act. In a follow-up study, subjects who recalled an unethical act acted less guilty after washing their hands. The researchers dubbed it the “Macbeth effect,” after the guilt-ridden, compulsive hand washing of Lady Macbeth.

To the extent that metaphors reveal how we think, they also suggest ways that physical manipulation might be used to shape our thought. In essence, that is what much metaphor research entails. And while psychologists have thus far been primarily interested in using such manipulations simply to tease out an observable effect, there’s no reason that they couldn’t be put to other uses as well, by marketers, architects, teachers, parents, and litigators, among others.

A few psychologists have begun to ponder applications. Ackerman, for example, is looking at the impact of perceptions of hardness on our sense of difficulty. The study is ongoing, but he says he is finding that something as simple as sitting on a hard chair makes people think of a task as harder. If those results hold up, he suggests, it might make sense for future treaty negotiators to take a closer look at everything from the desks to the upholstery of the places where they meet. Nils Jostmann, the lead author of the weight study, suggests that pollsters might want to take his findings to heart: heavier clipboards and heavier pens for issues that they want considered answers for, lighter ones for questions that they want gut reactions on.

How much of an effect these tweaks might have in a real-world setting, researchers emphasize, remains to be seen. Still, it probably couldn’t hurt to try a few in your own life. When inviting a new friend over, suggest a cup of hot tea rather than a cold beer. Keep a supply of soft, smooth objects on hand at work--polished pebbles, maybe, or a silk handkerchief--in case things start to feel too daunting. And if you feel a sudden pang of guilt about some long-ago transgression, try taking a shower.

La prueba de tres

Un día en la antigua Grecia (469-399 BC), un joven filósofo se acerco a su colega Sócrates y le dijo, "¿Sócrates, sabes lo que he escuchado de uno de tus estudiantes?"

El maestro le respondió, "Detente un momento.  Antes que me cuentes, me gustaría realizar una simple prueba.  Se llama la prueba de tres."

"¿La prueba de tres?" pregunto el joven.

"Eso es correcto" continuó Sócrates. "Antes que hables de mi estudiante vamos a examinar lo que vas a decir.  La primera prueba es Verdad. "¿Estas seguro que lo que vienes a decir es absolutamente cierto?".

"No", respondió el joven. "En efecto, lo acabo de escuchar."

"Muy bien." dijo Sócrates. "No sabes con certeza si esta información es cierta o falsa. Ahora hagamos una segunda prueba, la prueba de la Bondad. ¿Lo que me vas a decir sobre mi estudiante es algo bueno?"

El joven, un poco abochornado, se encogió de hombros, como si dijera que no.

Sócrates continuo, "Aun puedes pasar el examen, ya que falta la ultima prueba, la de Utilidad. ¿Lo que me vas a decir sobre mi estudiante es de utilidad para mi?"

"No, realmente no." dijo el joven filosofo.

"Entonces" concluyo Sócrates, "si lo que me vas a decir no es ni cierto, ni bueno, ni siquiera útil, ¿para qué me lo vas a decir?

El joven reflexionando y con un nuevo sentido de vergüenza se mantuvo callado y se alejo.

La próxima vez que alguien venga a donde ti para decir algo acerca de un compañero o colega juega el papel de Sócrates.  Si por el contrario, sientes la necesidad de compartir algo de un compañero con otra persona pregúntate a ti mismo estas tres preguntas. Quizás lo que te van a decir o lo que vas a decir no valga la pena comunicar.

Una filosofía más ambale y gentil sobre el éxito

Una de las ideas más es estudiadas en la psicología de apoderamiento es el concepto del éxito y como los seres humanos definen sus creencias para alcanzarlo. Pero rara vez encontramos un filósofo que nos haga cuestionar las premisas sobre las cuales construimos las estrategias para alcanzar el éxito. Alain De Botton es escritor, filósofo y observador del entorno social.  Ha escrito varios libros acerca el amor, viajes, arquitectura y literatura.  Su estilo de escritura basado en ensayos ha sido descrita como "filosofía del todos los días".  En este vídeo describe elocuentemente la necesidad de un acercamiento más, sensible, amable y gentil hacia el éxito. 

Como los otros monos nos perciben

Los monos...un video para estimular un cambio en nuestra propia percepción. 

Estrategias Colaborativas para Manejar y Superar la Crisis

En el día de hoy 25 de septiembre de 2009, 16,970 personas, muchas de las cuales son mujeres, madres jóvenes y jefes de familia, han sido notificadas de que serán despedidas de su empleo en el servicio público. Las razones para los despidos, los ahorros que generaran al erario público y la emisión de jucio reprochable o en apoyo son temas de discusión con argumentos y debates de parte y parte. Lo que si es claro es que se ha tomado la decisión y que solo el tiempo demostrara el resultado de esta. A estos hay que añadirle los cientos de miles de empleos en la empresa privada que se han eliminado en los pasados meses debido a la crisis económica mundial y los que se eliminaran a raíz de esta decisión y tenemos una situación realmente sin precedente en la historia de nuestra sociedad.

Hace varios meses que los medios de comunicación locales han provisto numerosas sugerencias para afrontar la situación de crisis y desempleo. Es casi una nota diaria, ya sea en radio, televisión o prensa escrita y cibernética, en todo momento hay algún psicólogo, motivador, economista o comediante dando sus consejos y dino-cápsulas de como salir adelante en estos tiempos.

Estoy seguro que estas personas hacen sus sugerencias de manera sincera y con la mejor intención. Pero hay algo en común en el listado de estrategias de éxito que los expertos declaman; Todas son soluciones individuales, como si viviéramos en una jungla y el darwinismo social fuese la única regla de sobre vivencia. Todas se basan en las teorías neo-existencialistas de auto-ayuda, a lo Paulo Coelho, poniendo la totalidad de la responsabilidad (tu escogiste trabajar en el gobierno) y el esfuerzo en el individuo (eres el autor exclusivo de tu propio destino). Como si el haber escogido mi vocación de educador, trabajador social o salubrista haya sido mi error. O peor aun, como todos tenemos el potencial de llegar a ser mega exitosos, si no logras salir de esto es por que eres un fracaso. La realidad es que este reto es sistémico y mucho más complejo. Una receta de comida para el éxito o una sopa de pollo para la depresión no serán suficiente.

Inclusive hay soluciones que profundizan los problemas. Una de las alternativas más recomendadas es establecer su propia empresa. Suena muy alentador, pero (sin entrar en las probabilidades y estadísticas de fracasos en pequeños negocios a los 12 meses de fundación) el libre mercado es uno de competitividad voraz y frió. Por definición habrá perdedores. Es ponerse a competir el uno contra el otro hasta que queden unos pocos sobrevivientes.

Hacen falta propuestas de soluciones colectivas, comunitarias y colaborativas para sobrepasar esta crisis y poder emerger exitosos, más fuertes y hacia un mejor futuro.

Yo no soy guru de auto-ayuda, ni aspiro a serlo. Pero he estado pensando en cosas diferentes, en comunión, que se nutren de la necesidad de interdependencia de las personas. Aquí unas ideas.

1. Buscar alternativas comunitarias a los problemas - Digamos que hay un problema de que muchas madres no podrán costear el cuido de sus bebes e infantes. Pues quizás, la comunidad se puede encargar del cuido de los menores, asignando unas personas para esta tarea, bajando los costos de cuido y proveyendo ingresos a miembros de la comunidad. Si el gasto en alimentos es muy alto, quizás se pueda hacer compras de comida por barrio, calle o comunidad y que se logren reducir los costos de los alimentos al comprar al por mayor. O mejor aun, identificar agricultores, ganaderos, y productores locales que estén dispuestos a vender sus productos a bajos precios a "canastas comunitarias" de alimentación.

2. Conglomerarse en comunidades de intereses comunes - Dicen en el campo que todo río caudaloso fue primero muchas gotas. Nuestra sociedad se ha alejado de ver el valor de estar organizados y unidos. Los pocos ejemplos de esto se han desvirtuado en organizaciones inútiles y centradas en personalismos e intereses individuales sobre los colectivos. Aun así, creo que es buen momento para tener razones claras y tangibles para estar organizados y plantear estrategias colectivas basadas en necesidades comunes. Sí, hay que salir de la casa. Sí, hay que reunirse y conversar, dialogar, conspirar, expresar, manifestar y retar. Retar posturas, visiones y creencias. Retar colectivamente el modo de hacer país, ya que lo que estamos viviendo es resultado de este modo.

3. Lanzarse a empresas con modelos cooperativos y de sociedades - Se trata de ensanchar nuestra idea de como alcanzar el progreso. Sobrepasar el modelo individualista de "él" empresario, visionario, exitoso y talentoso. Movernos de la auto-gestión a la gestión-colectiva. Llegar a la profunda creencia que juntos lograremos más. Estuve leyendo que en el Departamento de Educación habrá sobre 1,000 secretarias y oficinistas desplazadas. Cada una de esas trabajadoras podría ir a competir por los pocos puestos secretariales existentes en la Isla. Pero si se organizaran en una cooperativa, una sociedad comercial o alguna otra estructura legal podrían ofrecer sus servicios en conglomerado a empresas y agencias gubernamentales estadounidenses que enfrentan el gran reto de integrar una población hispana en rápido crecimiento. De igual forma, todos los empleados de mantenimiento, planta física y demás trabajos diestros podrían crear una empresa PPT de servicios de construcción liviana y remodelación (que le digo por experiencia escasean los trabajadores responsables y honestos en esta industria). En fin, revisar el banco de talento no solo personal, pero colectivo y construir sobre nuestras fortalezas.

Estoy seguro que las ideas y oportunidades de actuar colectivamente ante esta crisis abundan y van mucho más allá de mi imaginación. Tengo que confesar, que aunque llevo la mayor parte de mi vida explorando maneras de unificar esfuerzos y fomentar la colaboración entre individuos, sigo siendo producto de este modo de país y por consecuencia tengo limitaciones estructurales de formación que me impiden ver más soluciones en este momento. Aun así, creo pertinente explorar soluciones en países vecinos y otros no tan cercanos que han pasado por situaciones similares o más severas y de manera colaborativa, compartir con estos estrategias comunitarias a las crisis.

A los cerca de 17,000 trabajadores mi más genuino y honesto respeto, aprecio y solidaridad. Les invito a explorar conmigo soluciones comunitarias y sepan que no importa lo solitario que parezca el camino, existen oportunidades para colaborar.

Karel A. Hilversum M.Ed.

El autor es científico social, educador y facilitador de procesos de integración y colaboración de grupos y equipos en organizaciones, corporaciones y grupos comunitarios.

El rey del Hip Hop invierte en Liderazgo

Russell Simmons es mogul del Hip Hop, empresario afro-americano, escritor, creador de conversaciones culturales, y filántropo.  Uno de sus proyectos es la creacion del African Leadership Academy.  Fundada en septiembre de 2008, el ALA une a jóvenes talentosos de 16 a 19 años de 54 naciones africanas en un programa innovador de 2 años de duración.  El programa aspira a preparar y edificar a estos jóvenes en los futuros lideres del continente.  A continuación una transcripción de una entrada hecha por Simmons en su portal Global Grind - El Mundo de acuerdo al Hip Hop (me encanta esta presunción de perspectiva!)

Scratching the Surface in South Africa

Russell Simmons

A few years ago, I founded the Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F.) (www.diamondempowerment.org) to raise support of education initiatives in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource. Most people that know about D.E.F. think of the Simmons Jewelry Co's Green Bracelet, the symbol of our cause worn by many celebrities, athletes, and a few politicians. That's great, and every time I see someone wearing it I am happy to know it's out there getting seen and making a difference.

But sometimes even I forget how important the cause is since there are so many needs in the world, not to mention in Africa. D.E.F. is supporting two programs - CIDA City Campus and African Leadership Academy - both based in Johannesburg, South Africa. CIDA is the first virtually free business college in South Africa with almost 1000 students from very difficult circumstances and most coming from extreme poverty. African Leadership Academy is based in South Africa, but has set its sights on transforming the continent by helping talented and driven students from throughout Africa get the top education that will help them fulfill the promise of their God-given talents by getting a world-class education.

Plain and simple, both of these programs are about access to resources. I promise you - you will be hard pressed to find young people who are as focused, determined, and grateful for opportunity as the students of CIDA and ALA. They deserve to be able to get an education and chase their dreams with a chance of catching them. Read this important report from the NY Times which gives us some insight into the challenges and opportunities for South African youth. Reminds me we are just scratching the surface.

-Russell

Mapas Mentales y 'Brainstorming" en Equipo

Los mapas mentales son un tremendo recurso para organizar y tener presentes todos los conocimientos y eventos necesarios para el desempeño diario.  Es una excelente herramienta para la planificacion, colaboracion, plasmar nuevas relaciones de conocimiento o crear una imagen de conceptos y relaciones complejas.  Hace muchos años que llevo utilizandolos como herramienta primordial personal y profesional ya que mi estilo preferido de interpretar el mundo es el visual.  Recientemente me tope (gracias a mi gran amigo Victor) con esta nueva technologia llamada XMind que permite de manera facil crear mapas mentales de una calidad impresionante.  Quizas lo mas importante e innovador de XMind y lo que lo distingue de otros programas similares es la integracion de conceptos de Web 2.0 como "community sharing", su plataforma open source de acceso gratuito y la capacidad de compartir mapas con otros mediante blogs y otras plataformas.  A continuacion un video explicativo del programa.  Espero que esta herramienmta nos sirva para integrarnos y acercarnos mas.

Google Wave - Una nueva conversacion en colaboracion virtual

Los genios de Google nuevamente han salido de la manada y han creado una herramienta de comunicacion y colaboracion llamada Google Wave.  Integra un sin numero de herramientas existentes como la  idea de chat, e-mail, documentos compatrtidos y  los han llevado a conversaciones "real time" integradas.  Adicional estan lanzandolo codigo abierto para que el mundo lo pueda utilizar, transformar y modificar, exponiendolo al increible potencial de la comunidad.  El video es del lanzamiento de la aplicacion.  Tiene una duracion aproximada de hora y media,  pero garantizo que les va a  estimular la imaginacion radicalmente, especialmente el traductor "real time" de 40 lenguajes!!!  Ya no hay barreras de comunicacion entre culturas!!!!!  Definitivamente el trabajo en equuipo y la colaboracion ha alcanzado un nuevo nivel.

Liderazgo en momentos de crisis

A 8 años del acto terrorista, quisiera compartir una lectura simple que resume las actuaciones de un líder en el momento de crisis.

Adicional a esto, creo que una buena manera de recordar es escuchar las diversas perspectivas de ese momento de varios escritores y estudiosos del tema de liderazgo grabadas justo diís luego del 11 de septiembre de 2001.  El listado incluye impresiones de Ken Blanchard, Marshall Goldsmith, Tom Peters, Stephen Covey y otros.  Visiten http://www.masie.com/perspectives/.

9/11 Leadership Lessons

Jeff Janssen, Janssen Sports Leadership Center

FOUR STEPS FOR CRISIS LEADERSHIP

On September 11, 2001 we witnessed both the destructive power of evil leadership and the resilient power of heroic leadership by FDNY, NYPD, and countless others.

One figure who stands tall as an example of effective leadership during the crisis is former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

Regardless of your current political leanings, Guiliani's leadership during the 9/11 tragedy is something leaders from all walks of life can learn from.

In his book titled Leadership, Giuliani writes, "It is in times of crisis that good leaders emerge."

Giuliani demonstrated that during times of crisis, leaders must do four critical things: be highly visible, composed, vocal, and resilient.

BE VISIBLE

Giuliani writes, "While mayor, I made it my policy to see with my own eyes the scene of every crisis so I could evaluate it firsthand."

During a crisis, leaders must be out front rather than running or hiding from the ordeal. They must go to the scene of disaster and stand front and center - to accurately assess the situation as well as show their concern, while also demonstrating confidence that the group will persevere.

Business author Tom Peters writes of Guiliani's courage to be visible: Rudy "showed up" - when it really mattered, on 9/11. As one wag put it, he went from being a lameduck, philandering husband to being Time magazine's "Man of the Year" in 111 days. How? Not through any "strategy," well-thought-out or otherwise. But by showing his face. By standing as the embodiment of Manhattan's Indomitable Spirit.

As a leader, be sure you don't retreat when faced with a crisis. Rather than hide from the chaos and confusion, be sure to step in to sort things out and find a solution.

Again, political preferences aside, the importance of being visible during a crisis can also be learned from George W. Bush's presidency. Like Giuliani, Americans rallied around President Bush when he went to Ground Zero and grabbed a bullhorn amid the rubble to reassure the nation.

Contrast that with President Bush's lack of a timely response to Hurricane Katrina. Bush was noticeably absent during the first few days of the crisis and his poll numbers took a big hit.

Bottom Line: Step up during a crisis to survey the scene and be there for your people.

BE COMPOSED

Guiliani writes: "Leaders have to control their emotions under pressure. Much of your ability to get people to do what they have to do is going to depend on what they perceive when they look at you and listen to you. They need to see someone who is stronger than they are, but human, too."

No matter how difficult things may seem, you must maintain your poise under pressure. People will be looking to your face as well as tuning into the tone of your voice to determine whether they should panic or remain calm; to give in or maintain hope.

As Duke men's basketball coach reminds us in his book Leading with the Heart, "A leader must show the face his team needs to see."

Bottom Line: Be sure to show your team that you are calm and in control, even though you may not exactly feel that way at the time. Your calm demeanor will go a long way toward helping your team think clearly and react appropriately during the crisis.

BE VOCAL

Giuliani writes, "I had to communicate with the public, to do whatever I could to calm people down and contribute to a orderly and safe evacuation [of lower Manhattan.]"

In addition to being visible and composed, leaders must step up in an effort to calm people down and communicate with them.

Bottom Line: You must speak up and take charge of what people are thinking and feeling at the time. You must reassure them and give them a simple yet specific plan that will get people through the crisis. Outline important action steps that they can take immediately to help themselves and the team.

BE RESILIENT

As difficult as the crisis can seem, remind people that there is hope.

Giuliani writes: "I am an optimist by nature. I think things will get better, that the good people of America and New York City will overcome any challenge thrown our way. So in the face of this overwhelming disaster, standing amid sixteen acres of smoldering ruins, I felt a mixture of disbelief and confidence... that Americans would rise to this challenge."

While your athletic challenges pale in comparison to 9/11, they can still discourage, distract, and debilitate those on your team.

Bottom Line: Give your team a sense of hope. Let them know that they have the ability to make it through the crisis.

Crecimiento Post-Traumatico

Post-Traumatic Gowth

Tony Robbins July 14, 2009

We have all heard of post-traumatic stress syndrome. We have studied how human beings deal with and react to extreme stressors they encounter in their lives: war, attack, financial ruin, illness, death. There are thousands of tragedies and crises that can produce extreme stress in human beings. But very few people have actually studied how people respond to stress in a positive way. There is something called post-traumatic growth. You can have amazing personal growth come out of extremely stressful situations. And that's what I talk to people about. When you face extreme stress you have a couple of options. One positive option is to face that stress, do something and try to deal with that problem in your life. Reappraise your life. Decide that you "have to look at life differently." It's the proactive approach.

Three benefits of extreme stress:

You Discover what you are made of. You come to realize that you are stronger than you ever dreamed. Your sense of what you are capable of shifts and becomes an "inmune system" that allows you to face other challenges in your future more easily.

It deepens all of your relationships. You get to find out who your real friends are. The depth and the appreciation of those friendships is extraordinary. When you experience an extreme stressor and you aren't able to give everyone everything they want, your fair weather friends disapear. Remember, what truly make people most happy is their internal emotional and social relationships.

Changes your consciousness. When things are going well we keep expecting things to keep going well. It puts a different perspective on your life. You value the little things in life more.

People who face extreme stress, instead of hiding from it, can experience benefits. We are all stronger than we think we are. Winter doesn't last forever and what follows is a beautiful springtime. If you remember that, you can go to work and focus on what you can do to change your life, change your perspective, rather than denying it or living in fear.

¿Que significa ser Humano?

Algunas de las mentes mas talentosas del mundo se reunen en una conversacion exquisita sobre lo que significa ser Humano. Es impresionante entender las diferentes perspectivas, tomando en cuenta la gran diversidad de areas de estudio de este grupo compuesto por Biologos, Filosofos, Neurocientificos, Antropologos, Geneticistas, Sociologos, Ingenieros de Computacion y Fisicos. Realmente una oportunidad unica de ampliar nuestra percepcion y acercarnos a entender nuestro estado de humanidad.

WDYDWYD?

Why Do You Do What You Do? Esa es la pregunta que le hizo un niño de 12 años a Tony Deifell (foto) una noche en 1999. Pregunta profunda, que nos lleva a reflexionar diariamente sobre nuestro sentido de proposito y razon de ser.

Tony decidio hacer esa misma pregunta a otras personas creando un proyecto artistico-comunitario a nivel global combinando imagenes y texto en maneras creativas. Desde entonces cerca de 3,000 imagenes respondiendo a esta pregunta han sido posteadas en el site de wdydwyd?

Y tu, ¿Por que haces lo que haces?

Moon Ball