Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
My favorite US National Holiday, Super Bowl Sunday, is coming soon! I’m rooting for the Seahawks because I have family in Seattle. I hope my allegiance to the defending champions doesn’t “deflate” the hopes of my Boston-based friends (insert drum rim shot here).
Here are your share-worthy links for the Social Media ReInvention Community. Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday Brunch!
1. Fast Company: Katie Couric — I’m In This Giant Petri Dish Where Anything Is Possible. Danielle Sacks’ profile of Katie Couric is a study in two (2) reinventions:
- A Career: Couric
- An Industry: Journalism
Couric’s views on the news industry’s current state reads like a passage from The Innovator’s Dilemma (direct quotes follow):
“When you’re a part of an established entity, there’s so much incentive to maintain the status quo.”
“Being on television in recent years, you just didn’t feel like you were on the cutting edge of where journalism was going. It seemed almost . . . what is the word where something seems kind of antiquated, or precious? Quaint! Our ideas of television seemed quaint to me, even as I was in it.”
Her role as global anchor for Yahoo! News is high-profile and risky. I love it!
Katie Couric keeps moving. She continues adapting and reinventing herself. Result: Relevance.
2. Scientific American: A Learning Secret — Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop. Old school pen and paper versus new school laptop and tablets. Working with material versus capturing data. Learning versus memorizing.
There’s a difference (direct article quotes):
“New research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer demonstrates that students who write out their notes on paper actually learn more.”
“In each study, however, those who wrote out their notes by hand had a stronger conceptual understanding and were more successful in applying and integrating the material than those who used took notes with their laptops.”
“Thus, taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in some heavy “mental lifting,” and these efforts foster comprehension and retention. By contrast, when typing students can easily produce a written record of the lecture without processing its meaning, as faster typing speeds allow students to transcribe a lecture word for word without devoting much thought to the content.”
My undergraduate years described in two (2) words: Freak Show.
Mediocrity characterized my college grades (a generous self-assessment). I improved as an MBA student because I loved the coursework. Devouring Harvard Business Review case studies till 3 AM was enjoyable.
Undergrad plant biology (not so much). My D+ proves it.
My takeaways to earning high grades and increasing content retention based on Scientific American’s research and my undergrad experience:
- Study What You Love
- Hand Write a Shit-Load of Notes
3. Economist.com: The Network Effect. I emailed the article hyperlink to Judy Robinett, author of How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+100 for Turning Your Business Network into Profits. Judy teaches how power connectors add value to other people’s professional lives and by helping their business connections reach their goals.
True power connectors genuinely want to people in their network to succeed. When one becomes a bridge to helping others achieve their goals, that’s how one achieves her/his reputation as indispensable. Power connectors prioritize serving and further the needs of their connections.
Without expectating something in return.
The Economist author’s premise is the exact opposite. His view: successful networking is based on trickery, manipulation and deceipt (especially among the power elite). Here are some direct quotes:
“The first principle for would-be networkers is to abandon all shame. Be flagrant in your pursuit of the powerful and the soon-to-be-powerful, and when you have their attention, praise them to the skies.”
“But shamlessness needs to be balanced with subtlety. Pretend to disagree with your interlocutor before coming around to his point of view; that gives him a sense of mastery. Discover similar interests or experiences.”
Judy submitted a great rebuttal to the article. As of writing this post, her comment hasn’t been posted.
Your Turn
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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