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Needless to say those three words grabbed my attention immediately. And then when he said …

The culture of schooling is radically at odds with the culture of learning that produces innovators.

Tony Wagner

I was hooked.

Very good Ted Talk – just one gripe …

He just about opens the talk with

I came to understand, that there’s a set of core competencies every young person must be well on their way to mastery before he or she finished high school.

– critical thinking and problem solving

– collaboration across networks and leading by influence

– agility and adaptability

– initiative and entropenorialism

– effective oral and written communication

– accessing and analyzing information

– curiosity and imagination

Tony Wagner

i.e. if you have left school, sorry – we taught you all wrong as to how to succeed in the life in front of you.

What he should have said was

I came to understand, that there’s a set of core competencies every person must master.

I know he doesn’t mean it and I guess it is about education – but the implication is that you have left school then ‘we taught you all wrong’.

Keeping that in mind … well worth a watch.

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Though this Newsletter has been around intermittently for a few years now, I only harnessed it as a vehicle to share People First thinking in May of this year, Issue One going out on May 31st. Since the launch in May, readership has been steadily growing and judging by the emails received I have hit some nerves with some of the pieces. Definitely a good time to take stock and recap where we have got to.

The Recap

If you want to keep abreast with People First developments, share your best email with us and it will be done.

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As I finished this short post, I headed out to the 'google-web-net' to see if I could find a suitable and representative image. I was failing unitl I focussed on 'Redux'. The images associated with Redux are highly Redux oriented, with a high degree of focus on their logo. What you might expect, given the name - but this is not about what they do. So I kept looking and discovered this.
Let go of everything or anything and breathe.

It’s as if Karin Edgett read my mind. The image was perfect and the words so in tune with my thoughts, that I couldn’t resist.

My entry ‘let go of everything or anything and breathe’ is part of a series of paintings and haiku exploring infinity in it’s transformative sense.

Karin Edgett

Back On Topic

Interesting to read this post from Doc Searls today – which also happens to be his birthday.

Continue reading →

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I have had versions of the following post on a number of different blogs and publications for the longest time. The time has come to formalize it, since content, its ownership and how we think about it  is critical to the principles of People First.

A recent question from someone in one of my many groups …

“Why is it so difficult to find a freelance writing gig?

My reply …

Because the people who pay for writing have no clue of the value, which is why they call it ‘content’ which we know has no value and is homogenous ‘filler’ that can be swapped out at a moments notice.

Here’s my basic rule …

Please – Do Not Call ‘It’ Content!

…. book, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph, image, graphic art, poster, fine art … anything … anything but ‘content’.

Why?

Continue reading →

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To be strictly accurate – we should be talking about Blocking Trackers

… I came across this article (note if you are using an ‘ad blocker’ … then guess what – they tell you that you have an ‘ad blocker’ on …. actually I don’t use an ‘ad blocker‘ – I use a ‘tracking blocker’.

That aside, I thought I would extract some pertinent quotes from the piece and add my comments. The piece appeared in Adage and was written by Jason Jercinovic – and so all the quotes below I attribute to him. Adage says that “Jason Jercinovic is global head of marketing innovation and global brand director at Havas.”

Havas is a pretty good agency that has produced some great campaigns for Air New Zealand, Global Mental Health and Canal+ – so I kind of feel that they (should at least) know what they are doing. I’ll go further. They do – but it is clear that they remain bought into the narrative of ‘poor us – we have to do this 1 for it to work’. They don’t.

So – let’s get too it …

and no one can blame the advertising industry for rapidly adopting them.

I can!

Continue reading →

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I’m very much a Darwinian. This means I must ask myself questions like ‘How come all surviving cultures until modern time have been based on religion?’ and I draw the conclusion that religion has somehow helped people and civilizations to survive.

In the same way I ask ‘how come all sexually reproducing forms of life age (unlike e.g. amoebas, or yeast)?’ and its the same conclusion – in different words now: ‘if there has ever been a sexually reproducing species that did not age, they have not survived to tell the story’. Have there existed such failed species, then? I’m suggesting that its likely, because (unless I’m misinformed) aging is a ‘feature’.

Around the age of 45 the human body ’switches on’ aging, or rather, it switches off the function that keeps us young. Much of the research today is (unless I’m misinformed) about how to keep the stay-young-function ON. 

To be provocative – the ambition to stop aging can be seen as disrespectful of the wisdom of Darwinian nature and it has a slant toward man-made creationism.

It’s not going to end well, in each case. 

David Nordfors

It struck me as so very right – little to argue with, so recording for posterity!

Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me: Dorian is what I would like to be – Oscar Wilde

Related links

The Picture Of Dorian Gray – the book is on this list.

Darwin on Aging Theory

Why hasn’t evolution dealt with the inefficiency of ageing?

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thevogues
Nobody told The Vogues to retire.

Up every morning just to keep a job,

I gotta fight my way through the hustling mob,

Sounds of the city pounding in my brain,

While another day goes down the drain (Yeah, yeah, yeah).

but it’s a five o’clock world when the whistle blows,

No-one owns a piece of my time,

And there’s a five o’clock me inside my clothes,

Thinking that the world looks fine, yeah,

Continue reading →