The web-based learning environment Coursera has been brought to the mobile platform this month for both iOS and Android. With Coursera, you’ll be able to take advantage of free classes, all set up to improve your life over the course of a few weeks. These classes will educate you in a wide variety of topics – everything from Chemistry to … Continue reading
Google is giving Glass a refresh, making the wearable faster and longer-lasting, though likely to infuriate early-adopters all the same as unlike before they won’t be given the opportunity to swap to the new version. The new Glass will now have 2GB of memory – double the 1GB of RAM the current Explorer Edition model has – and the promise … Continue reading
Not that sharing files from your Mac is difficult, but it could be easier. Sourcing, emailing, Air Drop — it’s a ll kind of fussy. Sharing doesn’t have to be a problem, though, and we’ve found a neat app that might make your life a lot easier when it comes time to quickly send along a folder or document. Infinit … Continue reading
Remote Control System malware has been identified by the folks at Kaspersky Lab this week as affecting both iOS (iPhone) and Android devices across the planet. This system is said to be controlled by an international infrastructure which allows this “legal” spyware to take hold of devices at the hands of the company known as HackingTeam. This “RCS” tool also … Continue reading
In a picture taken at a vigil on Sunday, a tear trickles down the face of Kate Kelly, founder of Ordain Women, and yet she appears calm and resolute. The vigil, which was attended by about 200 supporters, was in response to the disciplinary actions being taken against Kelly by leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The next day Kelly, whose actions have been embraced by many Mormon women and men working for change in the church, would learn that she had been found guilty of “conduct contrary to the laws and order of the Church” and excommunicated by the all-male disciplinary council. From the outside, it appears that she has been cut out of her community of faith for bringing attention to the fact that women within the LDS community are not allowed to be equals within the Church body, that women are restricted from most decision-making authority based upon their gender.
The LDS hierarchy disputes the notion that women are called to the priesthood. According to the website Mormon.org, an official website of the LDS church, Gordon B. Hinckley, prior President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said: “Women do not hold the priesthood because the Lord has put it that way. It is part of His program.” Women are called to other ministries, those who hold to LDS teachings agree, but not the sacred priesthood, a status that includes the authority to lead congregations, bless the sick, and perform baptisms. The case against Kelly underscores that for Church leaders there is to be no questioning of this policy unless or until there is a new revelation.
The LDS leadership is not the only Christian hierarchy that resists gender equality, as the Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention restrict women’s ordination as well. Efforts for securing equality in these organizations have met resistance similar to that experienced by Kelly. The powerful within these strands of the Christian tradition hold in common an unwillingness to concede that God can work equally through both men and women. There is a refusal among many in power to embrace the ideal expressed by Paul when he proclaimed that in Christ’s baptism there is neither “male nor female” (Gal. 3:28).
In addition, there is a seeming inability among traditions that refuse women’s ordination to acknowledge fully the implications of a history which witnesses to the fact that God’s power and love are manifest in women as in men. Not only did women, according to the Gospel of Luke, finance Jesus’ ministry (Lk. 8:3), they were among the first to share the good news of resurrection (Lk. 24:10; Mk. 16:6). In the early Church, women played important leadership roles, including deacon (Phoebe in Rom. 16:1) and apostle (Junia in Rom. 16: 7), and worked side by side with men in spreading the Christian movement (Priscilla in Rom. 16:3). Similarly, in the early history of Mormonism, as shown in educational materials collated by Ordain Women, there is a history of women embodying priestly acts, including the laying on of hands. In other words, the Christian tradition has an early record of inclusion that challenges present misogyny.
Although not a member of the LDS church, as a Christian who desires equality for women in all strands of the tradition, I stand in solidarity with Kelly. The fight of Kelly and other LDS women is the struggle of many Christian women for an equal opportunity to be faithful. Thankfully, as Hugo Olaiz, a former editor for Sunstone magazine, notes, this is a movement of “daring resilience.” The fight is not over.
For more information about how to support of Kate Kelly and Ordain Women, see “istandwithkatekellyandjohndehlin.net.”
This piece was co-authored with Marie Alford-Harkey, Deputy Director of the Religious Institute and lead author with me on the Religious Institute’s new publication, Bisexuality: Making the Invisible Visible in Faith Communities.
For too long, even the most progressive faith leaders have ignored the “B” in LGBT, leaving the presence and needs of bisexual people in congregations virtually invisible. Yet, four in 10 LGBT people identify as bisexual and many more people experience sexual attractions and behaviors with people of more than one sex or gender.
Today the Religious Institute is releasing a new guidebook, Bisexuality: Making the Invisible Visible In Faith Communities.
This new guidebook is a call to action to America’s faith communities to
The guidebook addresses the science of bisexuality, the impact that invisibility and discrimination have on the lives of bisexual persons, how Scripture and religious traditions have positively addressed bisexual issues, and how religious and lay leaders can create what the Religious Institute has labeled “bisexually healthy congregations.”
Making the Invisible Visible is grounded in a theological commitment to welcome and include all people in our faith communities. Bisexuality reminds us of the diversity, beauty, and wonder of creation. Moving beyond the binary of gay/lesbian v. straight invites people into the mystery and complexity of human sexuality and the Divine.
Religious commitment to social justice calls on us to respect the dignity and sacred worth of all persons. Faith communities and religious leaders can uphold the sacred worth of bisexual people by challenging harmful myths and stereotypes and seeking to bring healing and wholeness to bisexual persons who have often been marginalized by both lesbian/gay and straight communities.
Discussions about bisexuality can give faith communities opportunities to celebrate promote unity and shared community values by helping to underscore that everyone has a sexual orientation and that all human beings are moral agents who can discern for themselves how their faith and sexuality intersect.
The guidebook includes practical suggestions for communities on creating a bisexually healthy congregation, where people who identify as bisexual see their experiences, concerns, and gifts reflected. The guidebook provides strategies for making sure that religious professionals are educated about bisexuality and can provide pastoral care and preaching that are inclusive of bisexuality. In addition, it gives congregations resources for addressing bisexuality in sexuality education for youth and adults, in LGBT welcome, and in social action. If you would like to read more, the guidebook is available here and at Amazon.
As the Religious Institute has said in the Open Letter to Religious Leaders on Sexual and Gender Diversity, “We affirm sexual and gender diversity as gifts people offer to their congregations and communities. We urgently call for faith-based approaches that embrace this diversity and advocate justice. Living in a time of rapid social change challenges us all to create loving, respectful relationships and to honor the many ways that people live and love. While most of us may be accustomed to categorizing people as male or female, heterosexual or homosexual, binary thinking fails to reflect the full diversity of human experience and the richness of creation.”
Winter Cuteness is coming.
In the video above, watch what’s almost certainly the most adorable re-enactment of “Game of Thrones” that’s ever been made. Created by blinkbox, a video-on-demand service based out of the United Kingdom, the clip stars three pugs — Roxy, Blue and Bono — playing the canine versions of Joffrey Baratheon, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and other major characters from the series.
“When blinkbox set us the challenge of a ‘Game of Thrones’ tribute we couldn’t resist,” Phillip Lauer, who owns the three fuzzy little actors with his wife, told Glamour UK. His also said his wife, Sue, a professional photographer and designer, “spent two weeks just creating the Iron Throne alone but it was well worth it.”
The video is “indisputable proof that pugs should claim the Iron Throne,” wrote Mashable after reviewing the cute clip.
We can only dream.
My career as an executive coach began many years ago with a phone call from the CEO of a Fortune 100 company. I had just given a leadership clinic to the CEO’s human resources department. This is what I was doing in the late 1980s – advising HR departments about identifying future leaders in their companies and creating programs to form them into better leaders. The CEO had attended the session and from what I’d said he thought I might be able to help him with a VP who, though smart, dedicated, motivated, hard-working, and creative, was also a stubborn, opinionated, know-it-all. I was intrigued by this challenge.
I had coached many groups of mid-level managers who were on the verge of success, but never an individual who was already very successful and needed to make a change to be blasted into the stratosphere. I took the job – and I took it on a pay for results basis. If the VP improved, I’d get paid and if not I told the CEO it was free.
That was a couple of decades ago, and I did get paid. Since then I’ve worked with more than 150 CEOs and their management teams. My job isn’t to make anyone smarter or richer. It’s to help people identify a personal habit that’s annoying their coworkers and to help them eliminate it so that they retain their value to the organization. And, to help them develop their people as well, because you see, without their colleagues, their people and teams, these leaders, as successful as they might be, would have no one to lead.
Developing as a leader is a difficult endeavor. (If you’re reading this article you can probably relate.) Demands on leaders are increasing, meaning there is less time for focusing on change. And, the catch is that as more is expected of you as a leader, the less time you have for development, and yet improving your leadership skills is more important than ever. It’s a tricky situation. With limited time, you have to learn on the job. You have to make the most of your surroundings and ask those around you for help. You have to enlist their support as you do your best to develop yourself, your people, and your teams – even them!
It’s not easy, but I’ve developed a leadership development model that has now proven to work with thousands and thousands of people. This model is just eight steps: Ask, Listen, Think, Thank, Respond, Involve, Change, Follow Up. Following is a very short description of each step. I’ll go into more depth in subsequent blogs.
This simple model for leadership development works! If you want to get better, at work or at home, try it for yourself and see. And, if I can help you consider the possibility that despite all of your success to date you might have some things that you can change to be “even better”, then I will have done my job.
Please view my new Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Video Blog. The short video in the series “Leadership Is a Contact Sport” accompanies this article. I’ll post these blogs once a week for the next 50 weeks. The series will incorporate learnings from my 38 years of experience with top executives, as well as material from my previous research, articles and books, including What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, MOJO, Coaching for Leadership, and Succession: Are You Ready?
The blogs will also include material from my exciting new research on engagement and my upcoming book Triggers (to be published by Crown in 2015). Each video will have an accompanying written blog.
If anyone proves you should never judge a book by its cover, it’s Philani Dladla.
Sporting a flat-bill baseball hat, a colorful, striped dress shirt and beads dangling from his neck, Dladla may not look the part of a stereotypical bookworm — especially as he lives on the streets.
Termed the “pavement bookworm” by South African filmmaker Tebogo Malope, Dladla has attracted attention near and far because of his unconventional methods of making money while homeless. Instead of panhandling, Dladla reviews books and discusses authors with passers-by — impromptu book club sessions, essentially — to earn an income, according to SA People News.
Malope discovered the homeless 24-year-old late last year in Johannesburg, when he posted a sidewalk interview with Dladla (seen above) chatting about books and the positive influence they have on readers. Ever since, the pavement bookworm has gained international popularity and attracted far more pedestrians interested in some literary chats.
While Dladla earns money from selling the books he has on hand to adults, he gives away books for free to kids.
“They can still take this reading thing and turn it into their habit,” Dladla said in the video interview. “Their lifelong habit.”
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A photo of kids receiving books posted on Dladla’s Facebook page.
To Dladla, his love of books goes far beyond enjoying a good read — diving into storytelling, he said, saved him from drug addiction. Now, he hopes his passion for books rubs off on the people he engages everyday.
“Reading is not harmful. There’s no such thing as harmful knowledge,” Dladla said in the video interview. “[Reading] is only going to make you a better person.”
Dladla isn’t alone in his belief in the positive influence of books on young people. On Monday, iconic American author James Patterson announced he will donate 45,000 books to schools in New York City. Sixth-graders in the city’s five boroughs will benefit from the donation.
But you don’t need to donate thousands of books in order to make a difference, if you ask Dladla.
“You don’t have to be rich to change the world,” he wrote on Facebook. “Start with the little that you have. If you inspire one person you’ve already changed the world.”
If you would like to donate books to Philani, please contact Tebogo Malope on Facebook.
Walking into the doors of the Merchandise Mart with 40,000 other people for NeoCon 2014 makes this crazy underground world of office furniture seem like a normal way of life. While we are not saving the world, we can all sleep well at night knowing the sole job of those in the commercial interiors industry is to make your life better. Considering Americans spend over 40 hours per week on average at work, that suddenly becomes a pretty important part of improving your life.
If you’ve read this column at all in 2014, you’ve heard a lot about emerging workplace trends and current struggles in workplace design. Many of these trends were alive, well and reflected in three dimensions by the contract interiors industry at the show. So what was the biggest takeaway from NeoCon 2014? It’s that everything as we know it is changing: Work is no longer a noun. Work is a verb.
Say back in 1950, when one said, “I’m going to work,” it meant, “I am physically going to an office to do work tasks.” But now, “I’m going to work” is transitioning to mean “I’m going to _________ (insert place of choice) to do work.” Work is no longer just some place we go, but something we do and something we do in many different places that is hard to put a neat box around. The biggest struggle for this industry is translating what this shift in nomenclature means for the physical office space.
Based on the NeoCon displays, 2014 marks the biggest shift since the advent of the cubicle. It is clear the line is blurring between “furniture systems” (cubicles) and ancillary (tables, lounge seating, etc…). Need an illustration? Just take a spin around Haworth’s NeoCon 2014 showroom and you will see the new Openest line where even the individual desks appear to be a part of the ancillary package. A majority of the square footage of many showrooms was used to show creative open office solutions filled with new “third space” ideas. Most still focused on collaboration and connection with others, while Steelcase tackled Susan Cain’s world of introverts.
While many of the show trends were not brand new, here are three new-ish industry trends which were prevalent at NeoCon 2014:
Material as a Product. Immediately upon entering NeoCon, attendees registered on a table made by molo, whose walls, seating and lighting lines are all made from what appears to stem from a creative art student’s exploration of a new material. The result is a striking aesthetic and flexible designs perfect for impromptu events. Buzzispace has perhaps led this trend with its exploration of acoustical materials in infinite applications, and their 2014 showroom did not disappoint. 3form and Skyline are two other companies who have pioneered the “material as a product” trend. Both market beautiful products which create the opportunity for the designer of interior space or product only limited by what they can dream up. Another newer entrant to this category was Seeyond with its Cloud product. By creating a proprietary parametric design system called the Tess Specification Tool, creatives can easily create organic shape and complex form for ceiling and architectural elements. As where we work changes, these flexible tools will equip designers to create new types of spaces to fit new places for work.
New Postures. Whether it’s the health and wellbeing craze, new technology mediums (i.e. iPads over laptops) or simply new places of work, much attention was focused this year on new types of furniture to support and encourage movement. Izzy+has been speaking this language for quite some time with their HAG seating line, however it came to life in many new ways at the show. Height adjustable desks were literally everywhere as were fun, new un-office-like chairs like the Humanscale Ballo. KI also launched MyWay, an education focused lounge chair which not only allows, but encourages new postures and unconventional ways of sitting. But it wasn’t just limited to furniture. Knoll featured a new Ap called “Bounce,” which is exploring ways to measure and analyze workplace space utilization and work patterns which should help as we explore and experiment with new ways of working. These new postures extend to new places, too. Knoll featured an outdoor furniture setting in the front window of the showroom. The Grand Rapids Chair Company launched a new indoor/outdoor chair called Sadie with industry award winning designer Joey Ruiter. And although Landscape Forms did not exhibit at the show, the rumored growth the company is experiencing is a great indicator that outdoor space will likely be a big part of new postures and places in the new more active-throughout-the day workplace.
Customization. While the idea of customization itself is not new, the extent to which users can customize their space seems to be ever-evolving. In years past, most showrooms have been product displays. First you see product A, then product B, and so on. This year, almost every showroom was much less internally focused (here’s my product A) and much more focused on out-doing the next showroom with increasingly more creative settings using new combinations of product. Applying this type of solutions-based product combinations to real client challenges will put more pressure than ever on the contract industry for hiring. Anyone wandering the show who is new to the industry would likely tell you most companies have a lot of the same kit-of-parts. So as we approach this new “work is a verb” world, (with an impending labor gap no less) it will be up to manufacturers and service providers to walk their own talk. They have to do more than talk about the trends, but recruit and retain the best and brightest talent that will help them connect with their customers to create new, ever-more-creative and customized solutions.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
