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发帖数: 1598 | 1 BY TINA AMIRTHA8 MINUTE READ
This story contains interviews with Christian Kästner, assistant
professor at Carnegie Mellon University; Amy Hirotaka, state policy and
advocacy manager at Code.org; and Janet Siegmund, researcher at the
University of Passau.
In order to expose more students to computer science, 17 states have passed
legislation to create basic math and science requirements in the curriculum,
rather than count them as electives. But lawmakers in Texas have made
computer programming count toward a foreign language requirement, with
Kentucky and New Mexico gearing up to follow suit.
So, is coding language or math?
HOW HUMAN BRAINS INTERPRET CODING
Here’s how the debate is shaping up. Those in the math and science camp
argue that computer science encompasses more than just the “language” the
computer can interpret–specifically, it requires learning algorithm logic
that necessitates specially trained technical instructors.
On the other hand, the “code-is-a-foreign-language” proponents are
fiercely stating their case, seeing an opportunity to fill in curriculum
gaps left behind by shrinking foreign language departments in schools.
While lawmakers and educators alike fight over whether computer programming
is considered a foreign language or a math, there has been virtually no
scientific evidence to support or refute either case. That is, until now.
THE STUDY
Researchers at the University of Passau, University of Magdeburg, Carnegie
Mellon, Georgia Tech, the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, and the Metop
Research Institute put their heads together to figure out how exactly
computer programmers understand code. Their study was accepted to this year
’s International Conference on Software Engineering.
This is the first study in which scientists have looked into the brains of
programmers, using the imaging tools of neuroscience. You can find the study
here in PDF form.
Primary author of the study, computer scientist Janet Siegmund at the
University of Passau, was so interested in the “language or math” debate
that she decided to peer into the brains of computer programmers using an
MRI, in hopes of shedding some light on the issue.
“That was actually my starting point,” Siegmund says. She wanted to know
how the brain registered the act of programming, which led her to her
current research question, “How do coders understand code?”
In the experiment, 17 participants interpreted a few lines of code while
lying down inside an fMRI machine. All of the test subjects were university
students that had an undergraduate understanding of programming and the Java
language. Two of the 17 participants happened to be female.
Each person read several different Java code snippets of similar difficulty
so that the researchers could average the resulting brain imaging data. To
rule out brain activity that was not related to interpreting code, the
researchers subtracted imaging data related to an error detection task. They
found that error detection did not activate the parts of the brain that
dealt with the code interpretation task.
All of the test code consisted of several lines, at the end of which the
program would print an output. The participants’ task was to predict the
printed output after studying the code. All of the participants were capable
of understanding the code within the given time frame.
THE PROGRAMMING-LANGUAGE LINK
So, does computer programming fall into the languages subject area?
“It appears to make some sense, based on what we have learned from the
study,” Siegmund says.
But Siegmund stresses that more research would better solidify her
conclusions, especially since this was an initial attempt to answer the math
-or-language question. She says, “Actually, with these kinds of studies,
you should always say that more studies need to be done. But what we found
is that it appears to be related.”
Future studies might improve on the current experiment. “We had a very
artificial kind of testing because you really had just small source-code
snippets with, like, 20 lines of code,” Siegmund says. Anything larger
would have fallen out of the viewing area of the small mirror that was
tacked onto the inside of the fMRI machine.
What’s more is that the code could not be so difficult that the subject
could not finish the task within the allotted time. Real-world programs
usually contain numerous lines and would likely stump the external reviewer.
Christian Kästner, the second author of the study, elaborates on why
more work needs to be done. He says, “There is no clear evidence that
learning a programming language is like learning a foreign language, but our
results show that there are clearly similarities in brain activations that
show that the hypothesis is plausible.”
It is important to note that the participants did not actively write
computer programs in the experiment. They merely read code chunks for
understanding. So, it is inaccurate to definitively say that computer
programming is more a language than a math. The truth is still out there.
NEUROSCIENCE AND COMPUTER SCIENCE COLLIDE
Earlier attempts to understand programmers’ cognitive abilities used
qualitative measures and mostly relied on self-reports from the programmers
the experiments were done on. But Siegmund decided to use a hard-data method
from neuroscience to directly measure a programmer’s understanding of the
code using fMRI imaging.
The colored areas were the active brain regions when the participants read
and understood the code.
Embracing the tool carried a learning curve. “You need a lot of experience
with fMRI studies. You need to know how the machine works and what you can
do with the data,” Siegmund says.
A chance meeting with biologists at a conference brought in the know-how
that Siegmund and her colleagues needed in order to properly plan out and
interpret the data from their fMRI study. “I don’t think we would have
been there if we didn’t have the new biologists on board,” Siegmund says.
BLURRED LINES BETWEEN MATH AND LANGUAGE
The study might give insight into how reading code could impact a student’s
brain. Even so, it is difficult to know for certain if other parts of the
brain were activated.
Last year, neuroscientists did a study on patients whose brains were
implanted with electrodes. Using this invasive method, they were able to
pinpoint a region of the brain that processes numerals, called the inferior
temporal gyrus. They further concluded that this region is physically near
the area responsible for language processing.
It is possible that the fMRI in Siegmund’s study may not have been able to
detect activity in this region. Maia Szalavitz, writing for Time, wrote, “
Since the inferior temporal gyrus is so close to the ear canals, functional
MRI machines, which detect changes in oxygen use and blood flow by nerve
cells, may not be as sensitive to the activity of neurons tucked away in
that area.”
Even more evidence confounds the distinction between language and
calculation processing areas of the brain. A year 2000 study concluded that
the same region that is responsible for processing semantics is also
important when performing mental calculations. Incidentally, Siegmund and
her colleagues found activity in this same region.
No matter which way you look at it, most brain imaging studies remind
readers that activated areas that show up with the chosen imaging method
correspond to several different processes that are open to interpretation.
Siegmund and her colleagues also concede that the way they interpreted their
study’s results is open for review, writing in the paper that they might
have missed important processes.
But Siegmund reiterates, “The activation pattern that we found shows very
clear and really distinct areas are activated that are related to our
current understanding of program comprehension.”
COMP-SCI IS MORE THAN JUST CODE
Even if Siegmund’s and Kästner’s study has showed a relationship
between reading a computer program and the brain’s language centers, it
does not speak to the field of computer science as a whole.
Amy Hirotaka, state policy and advocacy manager at the non-profit Code.org,
wrote in an email to us, “Computer science is more than just code. The
fundamental concepts of computer science–like logic and problem solving–
align well with mathematics and science disciplines, extending beyond simply
learning a programming language.”
Considering now that computer science could come out of a school’s foreign
language department, Hirotaka sees issues with teacher quality down the line
. Each department has its own ways of certifying a teacher’s credentials.
It suffices to say that getting foreign language and mathematics departments
to converge on one credentialing standard would create an administrative
mess, even if it would give students more foreign language options.
Hirotaka added, “Counting computer science as a foreign language might
sound like a creative fix, but it causes major problems when it comes to
teacher certification and departmental alignment.”
PROGRAMMERS’ BRAINS IN THE REAL WORLD
School policies aside, the study could pave the way for improvements in the
programming field. Kästner is quick to point out that using
neuroscience can help us determine what makes a great programmer different
from an average one.
“We still have no clear idea how to train really good developers. For
decades researchers have found that there are individual programmers who
program more productively at higher quality and also do most of the
communication in the project. These are often referred to as 10Xers because
many studies found that they produce ten times more code, or in a tenth of
the time or do ten times more communication,” Kästner says.
He adds, “We know that these developers exist; we often quickly recognize
them. Most of us know at least one such developer, and every tech company
tries to hire them. But we have no idea how they got there or whether we
could train others to excel at similar levels. Studying how program
comprehension differs among novices, professionals, and 10Xers may allow us
to get a better understanding of what makes a truly excellent programmer.”
Siegmund imagines that the research could result in better software syntax.
“Now that we actually have a better idea of what is happening inside a
programmer’s brain, we found that it was related to natural language
processing. Maybe programming languages should be more like natural
languages,” she says.
“The more domain-specific languages, like SQL, are more close to natural
language processing. It would come closer than Java,” says Siegmund.
All things considered, the researchers’ biggest takeaway from studying
programmers’ brain activity is the possibility for even more discoveries in
computer science and software engineering.
“This opens the door for many future studies in this field. The actual
activations found in this study are nice and confirm mostly what we expected
, but the key result is a proof of concept of using fMRI as a tool in
software engineering research,” says Kästner.
If you want to get your language processing centers working away, try
perusing the Java snippets from the study here.
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06.23.17 MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE
This Is The Secret To The Success Of Everyone’s New Favorite Sex Therapist
Esther Perel has been giving relationship advice for decades, but now the
renowned Belgian psychotherapist is reaching new audiences with an
unprecedented intimate approach.
This Is The Secret To The Success Of Everyone’s New Favorite Sex Therapist
[Photo: Karen Harms]
BY RINA RAPHAEL8 MINUTE READ
They say you never know what happens behind closed doors.
But one new show helps you eavesdrop.
Half voyeuristic, half educational, Where Should We Begin is a new podcast
that lets you in on couples’ intimate therapy sessions. Launched in late
March, it invites listeners to listen in on individuals struggling with
infidelity, sexlessness, impotence, parenthood, and plenty more relationship
dilemmas.
“Many couples are often isolated on lonely islands—they don’t know if
what they’re experiencing is normal, unique, shared, manageable,” says
host Esther Perel, a renowned Belgian psychotherapist .
Each week, the relationship guru shares a 45-minute segment of a 3-hour
therapy session, featuring a wide range of couples—some are wealthy, some
are poor, some young, others grandparents. Through various voices, Perel
hopes to offer up a “mirror” to those suffering the same issues at home.
Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon, does not share metrics, but a rep confirms
that Where Should We Begin is one of the fastest growing of its podcast
catalog, currently topping their best seller list. It debuted at number 3
on the itunes.
In one episode, Perel talks with a lesbian couple in which one partner
bemoans that the other’s fixation with their children leaves little room
for her. In another, a husband and wife attempt to forge through the stages
of anger following an affair.
In one heartbreaking episode, a married couple reports they are “sexually
mismatched.” The college sweethearts are both survivors of childhood sexual
abuse and former members of Evangelical Christianity. There was no sex
prior to their wedding, and now, years later, the wife admittedly states she
’s not—and never was—attracted to her husband.
These are all people who wrote in essays for a chance to be treated by Perel
. All names have been changed, but, “we don’t change the voices and we don
’t script one word,” she confirms.
“We look for diversity of story, of issues, of class, of background, of
nationality, of language—to cover a broad spectrum of human experience,”
she says. Some will stay together, some will separate. She doesn’t promise
everyone’s problems are fixable.
Jesse Baker, vice president of original content development at Audible and
an executive producer of Where Should We Begin, originally assumed listeners
would be drawn to the voyeuristic element of the show. But fans say the
appeal lies in the listeners’ connection not only with the faceless
characters, but Perel as well.
“It might start off [as a voyeuristic experience] but 10 minutes in, you’
re thinking ‘Esther is talking to me. I do that, my partner does that, my
relationship with my mom is just like that.'”
BUILDING A REPUTATION AS A MODERN RELATIONSHIP GURU
The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Perel says both trauma and the response
to it—”living life with a vengeance”—were woven into her mentality from
a young age. Through her parents she learned the stark difference between
“not being dead” and “being alive.”
For the first two decades of her career, Perel, who speaks nine languages,
worked with refugee families and mixed couples (intercultural, interracial,
inter-religious). She has always, to some degree, worked with individuals
who are stressed, confused, navigating the new, or negotiating their status
quo.
Perel brings that mind-set to sex and love, particularly how emotional
wounds (not just of war, but of one’s childhood, an affair) impair the
human spirit, but also jump-start new paths to self-identity.
It’s why her specific work on affairs amassed millions of fans, both men
and women alike. (Her TED talk titled “The Secret To Desire In A Long-Term
Relationship” boasts nearly 10 million views, while “Rethinking Infidelity
” has over 7.6 million views.) She understands crisis management, yet comes
at it from a humorous, thoughtful perspective. She investigates the why,
without sacrificing the warmth.
Her first book, Mating in Captivity, released in 2007, examined the
paradoxical relationship between domesticity and sexual desire. It quickly
became a bestseller and now has 25 translations. She’s since spoken at
dozens of Fortune 500 companies, been dubbed invaluable by Gwyneth Paltrow,
served as a consulting producer for the Showtime drama The Affair, and
launched her own educational platform for therapists called Sessions With
Esther.
There are also plans to plans on expand into more topics with TED, including
the subject of relationships at work and, “the plight of men, masculinity,
and the rethinking of manhood.”
FINDING THE UNDERSERVED IN AN OVERSATURATED MARKET
There is no lack of relationship content on the market. Numerous podcasts
tackle modern love issues, though the majority rely on the call-in format,
in which hosts answer listeners’ questions.
There’s Dear Sugar, in which columnist Steve Almond and acclaimed Wild
author Cheryl Strayed read fans’ questions and answer in a sympathetic,
insightful manner. In Anna Faris Is Unqualified, the star of the CBS show
Mom brings on celebrity guests like Lisa Kudrow and Sharon Stone to discuss
relationship issues with a heavy does of banter. Dan Savage’s Sage Lovecast
takes a more humorous, sometimes crass approach to love, sex, and taboo
topics.
Then, of course, there’s The New York Times’ Modern Love podcast. The
critically acclaimed show, based on the paper’s weekly column, features
notable personalities like Angela Bassett and Kathryn Hahn reading poignant
essays from the paper’s library.
Each show has its own voice and unique approach to solving love dilemmas,
but Perel offers something uniquely different: Intimacy. The ability to
listen in on a couple’s seamless, vulnerable conversation in which they
bare all with a professional vastly differs from reading a fan’s two-line
question, or asking a celebrity to lend their voice to an edited newspaper
column. There are tears, strained accusations, breakthroughs.
Perel also distinguishes herself by providing refreshing a cultural,
historical, and nearly philosophical frame of how and why couples feel
tormented in an age of endless choices. Perel asks her patients to redefine
every label they use: their needs, their roles, even their gender. She asks
them to experiment with their identities and how they use language to both
separate and connect themselves.
A big part of what makes Perel so popular is that she gets how our emotional
requirements far differ from our ancestors. She explains that society asks
one’s partner to satisfy our need for stability, commitment, security, and
predictability yet simultaneously surprise us and fill us with awe, mystery,
imagination, and novelty.
“We ask from one person what we once asked an entire village to provide,”
she says. “People don’t know how to date, or how to commit, or how to
leave—all the stages and nuances are up for grabs,” she says.
Perel explains that past decades provided codified systems, via culture or
religion, that detailed how to handle relationships, what our responsibility
was, and what meaning we gave to them.
“None of that is available today—everything has to be redefined,” she
says. “It is an entire cultural system of relationships that is filled with
uncertainty and hence with self-doubt. There’s a lot more freedom, but a
lot more uncertainty.”
We are left by ourselves to figure it out, and with that, “there is a
hunger for conversations about relationships—the full spectrum of them,”
she stresses. “And the truth is not what you parade on Facebook. The truth
is a different story.”
That she’s grown a following, Perel says, speaks to a category she finds
wholly underserved.
REACHING ACROSS DEMOGRAPHICS
Perel’s audience runs the gamut, from millennial party-goers to retired
grandparents. At Summit Series, a pricey conference for entrepreneurs, “
creatives,” and tech folks, she’s been known to draw hundreds of hungover
attendees to early morning sessions. On her YouTube page, middle-aged
parents and 20-year-olds alike share their favorite quotes from her speeches
(a favorite: “In desire, we want a bridge to cross–or in other words,
fire needs air, desire needs space.”)
Perel keenly reaches out various groups, adopting her message with cultural
references to appeal to demographics at hand. They often repeat the same
sentiment: I felt like she was speaking to me.
She’s just as likely to speak at conferences for Nike or Johnson & Johnson
as she is to appear at youth-driven events like Daybreaker, described as a
sober, early morning dance party. That means her content is as much on audio
books is it is on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.
I recently saw Esther talk at the Goop conference, held in June. I sat
amongst athleisure-clad, affluent women eager to learn how to finally master
their sex life.
“This country, in particular, when it comes to sexuality, has two primary
approaches: smut and titillation,” she addressed the room. “But the
ability to talk about it as a regular topic of conversation, [one] that is
complex, theological, aesthetic, artistic, sensual, multi-layered …that’s
the beginning of it. [We need] to normalize it, to take it out of the dark
corners. You need to deal with its irrationality, its multiplicity, and then
it actually becomes this phenomenal, mysterious universe called human
sexuality.”
The room went wild, with the vast majority shouting “woooo!” as if they
had just been awarded a lifetime supply of collagen powder. When I caught up
with an attendee later in the day, she mentioned that Perel was one of the
reasons she coughed up $500 for the conference admittance fee.
“She gets how hard—and insane—dating is these days,” she sighed.
The ability to speak to a new generation of exhausted lovers–empathizing
and investigating their woes versus slapping on a simple solution–is what
propels Perel’s media empire. This is an audience that craves more than the
average advice of “plan a date night.”
Instead, Perel talks a lot about the complexity of modern life, hearkening
everything back to individual expectations. She’ll say things like, “we
used to divorce because we were unhappy—today we divorce because we could
be happier.”
Above all, says, Perel, she wants to find new ways to disseminate her
information–to reach as many diverse groups as possible. She has the books,
the online videos, and now the podcast. But the relationship specialist is,
as she was taught by her parents, passionately pursuing her life’s calling
. There might be new educational platforms, webinars, or online coaches on
the horizon as Perel attempts to invigorate individuals’ connection with
one another.
“I try to speak to people in [people’s] different languages—their
preference for learning,” she says of her various modes of information. “I
speak to them.”
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06.24.17 5:00 AM THE SCIENCE OF WORK
Want To Be More Creative And Successful? Fight The Urge To Focus
A wandering mind can be an asset if you learn how to use it.
Want To Be More Creative And Successful? Fight The Urge To Focus
[Photo: Matt Palmer]
BY JEFF GOINS4 MINUTE READ
In 1987, Mark Frauenfelder read an article in Whole Earth Review about the
indie magazine revolution and thought to himself, “I’ve got to do a zine.
” The next year, he and his wife started Boing Boing, a pop culture and
technology publication. Frauenfelder was a mechanical engineer at the time;
when Boing Boing launched in 1995 (first in print and then online), he kept
his job in the disc-drive industry—and this was after he had joined the
editorial team at Wired magazine two years earlier.
Frauenfelder did all this on the side and without any formal journalism
experience, learning as he went and having fun every step of the way. He
went on to found Make in 2005, a magazine that covered the growing “maker
movement,” and a decade after that Frauenfelder self-published a book on
magic tricks. He’s also an artist whose work graces the cover of Billy Idol
’s 1993 album Cyberpunk.
This is just how Frauenfelder’s brain works; he can’t stay stuck on one
thing for too long. “For better or for worse,” he told me, “I am really
interested in a lot of different things, and trying things out myself to see
what it’s like to actually experience producing media or other things is
always interesting.”
That’s an underappreciated hallmark of successful creatives—they’re
rarely specialists in just one thing. In fact, too much focus can prove
risky.
Related: Why You Really Need To Collaborate Less
THE RULE OF THE PORTFOLIO
When asked, “What do you do?” most of us tend to answer with a one-word
reply or start describing our work duties. But since when does a single job
description define what a person is capable of? Whether we realize it or not
, many of us assume that we’ll eventually have to commit to a certain path
in life, spend most our career doing that one thing, and not veer too far
from it or else sabotage our professional success. This, we think, is what
mastery is all about.
It isn’t. Your career can always change and evolve—in fact, the most
creative ones need to regularly. In order to thrive, you have to master more
than one skill. In the Renaissance, people embraced this intersection of
different disciplines, and those who blended them best were rightly called
“masters.” Frauenfelder says he has a hard time answering when people ask
what he does. “What I do is just pick one thing, and I’ll say, I’m a
magazine editor, or a writer, or a blogger . . . I’m just generally a
person who will do things that require creativity and communication.”
While it doesn’t fit neatly into a job description, Frauenfelder’s career
rests on a rich, diverse portfolio that allows him to do interesting and
creative work for a lifetime—even though it isn’t what you might call “
focused.” But in order to thrive in new creative age, you have to master
multiple crafts; one former Ideo designer writing for Fast Company last year
, described the competitive advantage of the “comprehensivist”: Would you
rather hire a writer who’s only good at crafting prose, or one who also
understands marketing? Would you prefer to work for a boss who only knows
how to treat people with respect? When we develop a diverse portfolio of
work, we do better and more interesting work, and we tend to avoid becoming
obsolete so quickly.
A DISTRACTIBLE MIND
That doesn’t mean creative professionals don’t genuinely struggle with a
lack of focus. Sometimes it’s hard to commit to something and see it
through to the end—but even this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A
wandering mind can be an asset if you learn how to use it.
In 1985 Michael Jackson famously paid $47.5 million for a music catalog that
included 250 songs by the Beatles. At the time, people in the industry
thought the deal was crazy, but Jackson knew the Beatles catalog was
invaluable. In the decades since Jackson’s purchase, the value of those
songs has increased more than 1,000%, to over $1.5 billion.
The acquisition was one of the greatest deals in music business history, but
it wasn’t initiated by a producer or label executive. Had Jackson been
focused solely on writing and performing his own music, he’d never have
orchestrated an eight-figure acquisition of somebody else’s. But he was
doing just what thriving artists do: He wasn’t going all-in on one big bet
—he was diversifying his portfolio.
To spot the right places to invest your time and resources, you need what
Darya Zabelina calls a “leaky mental filter.” A researcher who teaches at
Northwestern University, Zabelina says there’s a link between creative
achievement and the ability to hold multiple, conflicting ideas in mind at
once. This preserves the tension between those ideas so that they naturally
build upon one another. “People with leaky attention might be able to
notice things that others don’t notice or see connections between things,”
she told me, “which might lead to a creative idea or creative thought.”
That’s what allowed Michael Jackson to see something nobody else saw. It
let Mark Frauenfelder work on Boing Boing and Wired at the same time, not to
mention countless other projects. Both pursuits competed with each other
for his time and energy, and both flourished. Under the right circumstances,
being distractible can be a strength.
“If you think about the most creative people,” therapist Chuck Chapman
told me, “they’re the ones who innovate. They come up with the ideas, and
I think the fact that your brain is going so fast all the time and seeing so
many possibilities—that’s what creates innovation.”
This article is adapted with permission from Real Artists Don’t Starve:
Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age by Jeff Goins.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Goins is a Nashville–based writer and the author of Real Artists Don't
Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age. Follow
him on Twitter at @JeffGoins. More
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06.19.17 WORK SMART
10 Great Business Podcasts
Spend your lunch break with these tasty takes on work culture, tech, food,
fashion, and other topics.
10 Great Business Podcasts
[Illustration: Peter Oumanski]
BY CALE GUTHRIE WEISSMAN2 MINUTE READ
Looking for something new to listen to? These podcasts offer plenty to
inform, inspire, and entertain you.
1. “STARTUP,” GIMLET MEDIA
No podcast better captures the thrills and struggles of launching a company.
Created as a remarkably candid docuseries on the birth of podcasting
business Gimlet Media, it now traces the surprising stories of other
enterprises.
Sample episode: The inventor of the slap bracelet on why he made no money
from the ’90s fad.
2. “PLANET MONEY,” NPR
This show—launched in 2008 to help explain the financial crisis—offers
fascinating explorations of the intersection between economics and culture.
Sample episode: A look at why many Irish pubs are so similar. The answer? In
the 1970s, one man defined the elements of a Dublin bar, created a kit, and
sold thousands around the globe.
3. “WORKING,” PANOPLY
Each installment starts with the same question: “What is your name and what
do you do?” Guests then reveal details of their jobs, whether they’re a
neurosurgeon, a novelist, a pollster, or a clown.
Sample episode: A professional Santa spills trade secrets: Don’t work
shopping malls, wear a real fur suit, and never say, “Ho ho ho.”
4. “ABOVE AVALON,” ABOVE AVALON
A giant bite of Apple. Hosted by analyst and technology writer Neil Cybart,
this show goes deep into all things Cupertino, with some of the most
informed analysis you’re likely to find.
Sample episode: Apple is famous for its design. So why are products like
Apple Music and Apple Watch so weirdly hard to use?
5. “BROWN AMBITION,” BROWN AMBITION
Journalist Mandi Woodruff and personal-finance expert Tiffany Aliche chat
about news, relationships, and other topics, but they’re especially
incisive when discussing their successes and failures in the business world.
Sample episode: Aliche on overcoming $300,000 in debt to build a financial-
advice company.
6. “HOW I BUILT THIS,” NPR
This series explores backstories of various big businesses, from AOL to 1-
800-GOT-JUNK. The storytelling is simple and linear, leaving space for
gripping personal tales to emerge.
Sample episode: The creator of the 5-Hour Energy drink goes from Princeton
dropout to Hindu monk to beverage billionaire.
7. “EATER UPSELL,” VOX MEDIA
Editors from culinary site Eater glean insight from chefs and other industry
pros, both famous (Anthony Bourdain) and less so (cookbook photographer
Evan Sung).
Sample episode: Wolfgang Puck explains how he built his empire, then rips
into Eater’s restaurant critic, who’d panned one of Puck’s steak houses.
8. “EXPONENT,” EXPONENT
Tech watchers Ben Thompson and James Allworth tackle topics of the moment—
fake news on Facebook, Uber’s scandals—and offer broader discourse on
where the digital world is headed.
Sample episode: Thoughtful debate on what tech companies are getting wrong
about self-driving cars.
9. “I HATE MY BOSS,” WONDERY
Former Nike and Oprah Winfrey Network marketing executive Liz Dolan and
executive coach Larry Seal offer advice on your stickiest workplace
conundrums.
Sample episode: Dealing with liars in the office, plus an interview with
Airbnb’s head of talent management, Andrea Robb.
10. “LOOSE THREADS,” LOOSE THREADS
Focused on innovation and technology in the fashion industry, this podcast
digs into notable developments in manufacturing, design, retail, and other
areas.
Sample episode: How online menswear retailer Proper Cloth is tapping data
and digital tools to amp up its sales.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cale is a Brooklyn-based reporter. He writes about business, technology,
leadership, and anything else that piques his interest. More
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06.22.17
My 400-Person Company Has A Great Work Culture, And We All Work Remotely
FYI, IBM.
My 400-Person Company Has A Great Work Culture, And We All Work Remotely
[Photo: Flickr user Impact Hub Global Network]
BY JAY FRIEDMAN4 MINUTE READ
Here’s a thought experiment: Think of the two cultures of Los Angeles and
New York City. Got a mental image of both? Great. Now try to strip out
everything geographical—major landmarks, local weather, and so on. What are
you left with?
When we think of “culture,” so much of that is tied to a physical location
. And that’s just as true of work cultures as urban ones. But here at
Goodway Group, a digital marketing company with over 400 U.S.-based
employees, we have a work culture that’s earned high marks on Glassdoor and
kudos from Fortune‘s Great Place to Work initiative and the Society for
Human Resource Management—and we all work from home. In fact, around a
dozen of our team members live in RVs.
In my experience, it isn’t the tools and tech that make a 400-plus remote
workforce successful. Those things only enable remote work to happen at its
most basic level. They don’t build an effective, collaborative, award-
winning culture. Here’s what does.
Related: IBM’s Remote Work Reversal Is A Losing Battle Against The New
Normal
MAKE IT THE NORM
You know the person who works from home on Fridays? And whenever there’s a
meeting, they have to dial in but it’s basically like they’re not there?
They don’t feel like they’re there, either. Letting some people to work
from home some of the time is a recipe for frustration at best. Even if the
schedule is well laid out, the playing field feels uneven. This is
especially true if upper management is in the office and others aren’t.
Everyone has to be outside of a central office to make it work.
One of the main benefits our employees cite about working from home is that
it lets them do those important “life” things that they’d otherwise
struggle to handle if they had to commute to an office every day. Things
like spending time with their families, exercising, cooking, house work,
staying employed when their families need to relocate, and so on. By
allowing people the flexibility to tend to their lives during the workday,
you award people an incredibly valuable benefit that they grow to cherish.
If you hand this benefit out to only a select few, it’ll backfire by sowing
envy among your staff.
For those that do want to work from an office environment from time to time,
we provide WeWork memberships, which can help provide that flexibility and
interaction even though the workspace isn’t specific to our company.
Related: Want More Flexible Hours? Here’s How To Get Them Without Asking
Your Boss
HIRE PEOPLE WHO CAN THRIVE IN A REMOTE ENVIRONMENT
People usually fall into one of two categories: the “I would love to work
from home! I get so much done!” camp, and the other being, “I can’t work
from home. I just get so distracted.” What many CEOs fail to understand is
that they’re currently employing a large number of people who fall into the
first category already, those who are simply more productive out of the
office. These people are then forced into a less productive environment
because it’s just the norm.
Operating a successful remote workforce means hiring right, which is really
no different from hiring a successful onsite workforce. It’s just that
onsite employers rarely think of it this way. We use assessments like
Wonderlic’s Personal Test to screen for characteristics like “achievement
striving,” “dependability,” and “efficiency,” all of which the tool’s
developers have found are great predictors of success in a remote
environment. As part of a rigorous interview process, these assessments have
helped us get pretty good at determining early on whether someone will be a
good fit to work remotely.
DEFAULT TOWARD DOCUMENTING THINGS
Think about how many impromptu in-person conversations you have in a week.
In how many of those are agreements or decisions made? Usually quite a few,
right? But these go undocumented, simply because both parties made eye
contact and talked about it in-person, which seems to create enough
commitment on both sides for there to be follow-through. Eye contact doesn’
t have enterprise value, though. Documentation does.
When joining our company, new employees are exposed to “the wiki.” It’s
Atlassian’s Confluence, but it has achieved a kind of ever-present,
pervasive presence in our culture. Notes from every meeting are on the wiki.
My one-on-ones with my direct reports are protected to just that person and
me. But department notes, leadership team meeting notes, and most all other
meeting agendas and notes are left open. This inspires trust and
accountability, too. There are follow-up tasks on every page with the
assignees called out.
Related: How Trello Employees Use Trello
Want to know where your business has process and documentation gaps? Have
everyone work from home for a week. Seriously! If nothing else, it’s an
amazing audit tool.
GETTING TOGETHER SHOULD BE A CELEBRATION, NOT A CHORE
I’ve never met anyone who’s truly excited to go into work every day. But
we’ve found that when you rarely have a chance to get together with your
coworkers, most people are legitimately excited once an opportunity comes
around. At Goodway, we’ve been going to Deer Valley, Utah, in the summer,
and Las Vegas around the holidays for a week apiece. Those big meetups are
absolutely packed with meetings, work, and celebration.
When people arrive, they’re genuinely excited to see each other—hugs
abound because we literally haven’t seen each other in six months. For
remote employees, seeing their work family can be as exciting as seeing
extended families. And like any family reunion, come Friday, everyone is
ready to head home.
One of the main reasons companies screw up while trying to create flexible
work environments is because they do it halfway (two days a week, for
instance), or as an exception for some and not all. The “right mix” is
that there is no mix that’s right: You’ve got to go all in and commit to a
fully remote culture. Let people opt into an office environment when they
want to, and use resources like coworking spaces to accomplish that. When
people make their own choices, it shouldn’t surprise you how much more they
appreciate the results.
Jay Friedman is COO of Goodway Group, where he’s helped grow the company
from just 19 employees in 2006 to an over 400-person workforce.
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06.16.17 YOUR MOST PRODUCTIVE SELF
How To Write A Work Email When You’re Really Pissed Off
Just don’t. But if you absolutely must, do it like this.
How To Write A Work Email When You’re Really Pissed Off
[Illustration: “The British Lion’s Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger.” via
Wikimedia Commons]
BY JENNIFER ROMOLINI5 MINUTE READ
Let’s get right to it: You are writing bad emails. Usually that shakes out
one of two ways. In the first, you agonize over each word, padding your
emails with too much information, a sundae of cover-all-bases requests and
hedge-your-bets recaps with an overwrought cherry of pleasantries on top.
You spend way too much time crafting the perfect message when the recipient
is only going to skim your soliloquy for action verbs, sort out whether they
need to respond, and discard it like a flyer for Live Comedy in Times
Square.
Or else it’s the reverse: You under-think, reacting to each group email
upon arrival, rapidly crafting a response, your finger hovering over the
reply-all button so you can join the group conversation and get your name on
the board, clogging everyone’s inbox in the process.
But there are two general rules that can help save you from both scenarios.
The first: Say less. The second: Chill. And as it turns out, both rules are
super important when you’re angry.
BREATHE AND SLOW DOWN
Whenever emotions come into play, take “say less” to its ultimate extreme:
Just don’t write an email when you’re feeling angry or anxious or sad or
ashamed. Don’t speed-read an email that includes critical feedback, get
riled up, perhaps misread the message, puff up your chest, respond with
something defensive, and subsequently come across as a demented ass.
Related: Six Ways To Write Emails That Don’t Make People Silently Resent
You
If you’re experiencing an extreme level of emotion, write a draft of the
email you want to send and wait at least two hours to send it (after reading
it over first.) Don’t pop off and send something you may later regret. It
’s in writing forever.
SAY IT OUT LOUD
Read your most important emails aloud before you hit send. If they sound
testy or rude, and you don’t want to sound like that, soften the language.
Kindness is a choice (and it’s an easy one) once you let down your guard
and realize that no one can actually hurt you over this email chain.
Equally, read your correspondence aloud and listen for overly timid language
and excessive apologies—some of us do try to overcompensate when we’re
upset or frustrated instead of mouthing off. You’re allowed to be direct
and ask for what you want. Just do it with correct grammar and a few
niceties, like “Thanks.”
ERR ON THE SIDE OF FORMALITY
When in doubt, go slightly more formal. (Unless you’re writing to someone
you know well, and a formal tone would seem spiteful or passive-aggressive.)
Use all of the manners you’ve learned in this world as a civilized human.
Be friendly, but polite.
CUT TO THE CHASE
Keep it concise, direct, and to the point. Don’t include feelings or
extraneous information. This is a business email, meaning you should become
the Raymond Carver of the form, conveying your message in the most specific
and sparest of prose. Before you send, see if there are words, thoughts, or
paragraphs you can completely delete and still effectively make yourself
heard.
CONSIDER WHETHER IT’S THE RIGHT MEDIUM FOR THE MESSAGE
And as a final gut-check: Are you sure you want this message in writing, or
would you rather not have a permanent record of this conversation? Can you
achieve what you desire by picking up the phone or walking a few steps to an
adjacent cubicle? Would this actually make things less complicated?
For context, let’s apply these rules to an actual email. Imagine you’re
trying to get paid for something you’ve written, your payment is late, and
you’re following up. Here is your first draft of the email.
Hi [So-and-so who has not paid me]!
How are you? I hope you are well! I’m so sorry to bother you about this
because I know you must be super busy and I hate sounding like a nag. (
Please tell me I’m not one of those annoying people who email all the time?
This is my worst fear.)
Anyhoo: I’m writing today because I wanted to check in about my payment for
that story I wrote way back in April. I know we talked about the payment a
few weeks ago, and when last we spoke you said I’d have it by June 15th,
but now June 15th has come and gone and I still haven’t received a check.
Maybe it’s lost in the mail? My apartment building is weird right now and
it totally could have been lost or taken from the community mail table but I
just wanted to see if I should be worried about this or if the check
actually hasn’t gone out.
Totally fine either way!
Hope everything is great—I really loved working with you guys and would
love to pitch something else and write for you again. Let me know when would
be a good time to send pitches or what you guys are looking for.
I mean after this check business is all sorted out. Is there someone else I
can call/bother about this?
Just want to get to the bottom of it. Thanks so much for your time.
Best,
[Person who has not gotten paid]
Here is what you should say:
You’re annoyed, and you sound it! Here’s how you should revise that draft
before sending it:
Hi [So-and-so who has not paid me]!
I wanted to check in about payment for that story I wrote in April. When we
last spoke you said I’d have it by June 15th, but I still haven’t received
a check.
I know you’re busy—is there someone else I can call/ bother about this?
Thanks so much for your time,
[Person who has not gotten paid]
Mastering the tone of these emails is delicate. You should report the facts
while using the least emotional language possible. Start by telling them
that you’re recapping your conversation, or clarifying expectations you
might have discussed verbally. But use this judiciously–after all, you don
’t want to create a hostile environment if you can avoid it. Your temper
will dissipate, but that might not.
This article is adapted from Weird In A World That’s Not: A Career Guide
For Misfits, F*ckups, And Failures by Jennifer Romolini. It is reprinted
with permission from HarperBusiness, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.
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06.15.17 HOW TO BE A SUCCESS AT EVERYTHING
Do These Four Things To Make Your Boring Presentation Sound Interesting
All that data needs to be in there—what can you do? Well, this.
Do These Four Things To Make Your Boring Presentation Sound Interesting
[Photo: NASA/Goddard/Wade Sisler]
BY ANETT GRANT3 MINUTE READ
Let’s be real for a second: You don’t have a monumental bit of news to
report every time you have to give a presentation. Maybe the third Tuesday
of the month has just rolled around, and it’s time to update your team on
the latest batch of figures. And whatever status report, project review, or
operational details you’re going to share with them, you know it’ll be
dull.
So how do you make those basic facts and figures more than a form of
ritualized torture? Here are a few pointers.
1. TURN DATA INTO IMAGES
If you’re worried your presentation is going to be boring because it’s
heavy on numbers, try using imagery to describe the data. Numbers can become
dull if you don’t give enough context about what they all mean and amount
to. Unless you make the data concrete, your audience will start to zone out.
It’s simpler than you probably imagine. Think about the last weather report
you caught on TV. Maybe the meteorologist was reporting on the size of hail
. They didn’t list off the average hailstone’s diameter or weight; they
said “golf-ball sized” or “softball-sized.” By using imagery, they
become much more engaging and memorable. What’s more, you don’t need to be
a graphic designer to throw together effective visualizations; here are a
few tips.
Related: PowerPoint Isn’t Dead Yet—Three Presentation Tips That Still Work
In 2017
2. MAKE SURE YOU’RE SELLING SOMETHING
The surest way to wreck an already boring presentation is to just be the
messenger, delivering data or giving an update. In reality, you’re always
selling. As the CEO of a Fortune 500 company told me, “Every time you
present, you are selling. You’re either selling your idea today or planting
the seed for selling your idea in the future.”
And to sell successfully, you need to position yourself as your audience’s
trusted advisor. As Mitch Little, VP of sales for Microchip Technology,
describes in his book Shiftability, that means getting past “features” to
talk about “benefits”—matching your ideas to your listeners’ needs. They
’ll trust you when they see you as a partner whose opinion they value—who
helps them see things they might’ve missed.
Yes, that might sound like a tall order when you’re giving a quarterly
update. But try stepping back for a moment and thinking about the purpose of
that update. Move away from, “I’m just giving them information and
telling them why it’s important” toward, “I want to explore how we can
move forward together more creatively.” This change in mind-set will can
help you position your data in a more “benefits”-oriented way.
3. ADD MORE CONTEXT
Sometimes the reason your presentation is so dull is because there’s not
much numerical change since the last time you presented. This is really
common for leaders who are asked to report on market share, for instance. If
you’ve maintained the same market share since your last presentation, how
can you make that interesting?
The answer is to just add more context around the latest figures. Let’s say
your organization’s market share was the same from the first quarter to
the second quarter. To make your presentation more interesting, you could
discuss some of the outside factors that were at play. Obviously, you always
want growth. But perhaps a competitor introduced a new product—in that
case, maintaining the same level of market share was actually positive news.
You can also put information in context through comparison. For example, if
I tell you that Poland exported $1.6 billion of chocolate last year, that’s
not necessarily an interesting data point. But if I tell you that it
produced twice the amount of chocolate that Switzerland did, that might
surprise you. So if you’re having trouble making your facts and figures
sound interesting, look for comparisons.
4. SHARE SOMETHING THEY’VE NEVER HEARD BEFORE
Finally, if you’re struggling to spice up a dull presentation, tell your
audience something unfamiliar. Share a compelling conversation you had or
some insider information that few people know about yet. That can create an
“aha” moment for your audience to come away with.
Maybe you work in financial services and need to give a status report.
Unfortunately, not much has changed. But you did have an interesting
conversation with someone from the Federal Reserve, who told you that a
proposed regulation was going to be rolled out slowly. This would be
something you could tell your audience that would make your presentation
more intriguing.
You might feel like you work in a boring industry or department, but that
doesn’t mean you can’t engage your audience. These simple strategies can
help you leave more of an impact—even if the facts and figures, all on
their own, don’t.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anett Grant is the CEO of Executive Speaking, Inc. Since 1979, Executive
Speaking has pioneered breakthrough approaches to helping leaders from all
over the world--including leaders from 61 of the Fortune 100 companies--
develop leadership presence, communicate complexity, and speak with
precision and power. Executive Speaking offers both one-on-one private
coaching and group Leadership Speaking Bootcamp 360 programs. More
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06.11.17 CAREER EVOLUTION
Recruiters Explain What The Worst LinkedIn Profiles Have In Common
Recruiters and hiring managers need to find your profile in the first place.
Then they need to like what they see there.
Recruiters Explain What The Worst LinkedIn Profiles Have In Common
[Photo: Flickr user amanda lohr]
BY LARS SCHMIDT4 MINUTE READ
Recruiters spend lots of time combing through LinkedIn profiles—possibly
more than many would like. After awhile, they can start to blend together,
which means that whatever you can do as a job seeker to stick out from the
crowd (at least in a way that reflects well on you) is probably worth trying.
At a minimum, though, you’ve got to sidestep the most common mistakes and
drawbacks that recruiters encounter on LinkedIn constantly. These are some
of the issues that recruiters, hiring managers, and execs who constantly use
LinkedIn to staff their teams say the worst profiles have in common.
Related: Career Experts Make Over These Mediocre LinkedIn Profiles
1. IT’S OUTDATED
Whether you’re barely keeping an eye on what’s out there or are actively
looking for your next role, a complete and current profile can unlock doors
—and an outdated one can slam them shut. Many users treat their LinkedIn
profiles like their resumes, as a static resource they only bother to update
in times of need. That’s a bad move says Stacy Zapar, founder of the
recruiting consultancy Tenfold; she relies heavily on LinkedIn to find and
make hires.
“Think of your LinkedIn profile as an online portfolio,” she suggests. It
’s got to be “a dynamic, real-time representation of your professional
experience. If you wait until you’re actively job seeking, you may forget
key details, or you may have already gotten passed over by recruiters with
great opportunities because those details were not included in your profile.
” Even if you’re not on a job hunt, it never hurts to keep your latest
qualifications in full view of recruiters and hiring managers, this way they
can come to you with opportunities you might never have known about or
considered otherwise.
Plus, Zapar points out, “making a bunch of updates to your LinkedIn profile
all of a sudden often raises red flags with your current employer.”
2. YOUR HEADLINE SUCKS
When recruiters search profiles on LinkedIn, they see a list of candidates
that match their search criteria. The details on the search results page
itself are pretty minimal. Often recruiters don’t have much to go on beyond
job title and headline when they’re deciding whether to click your profile
and read further.
This means your headline can be a huge draw. “The headline is the first
thing we see,” says GoDaddy’s VP of talent acquisition, Andrew Carges. “
Be sure to use this valuable real estate to tell more than your job title.
Grab my attention and give me a reason to keep reading.” If you don’t, you
’ll just blend into the sea of other people with the exact same job title
as you. Not sure how to make it more memorable? See entrepreneur Cindy
Gallop’s LinkedIn profile for inspiration—her headline reads, “I like to
blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.”
But keep SEO in mind even as you get creative. LinkedIn is essentially a
search engine, and it indexes headlines, so make sure you’re also including
a couple of keywords that are relevant to your work (Gallop’s doesn’t but
still gets points for being memorable).
3. IT DOESN’T TELL A COHERENT STORY
Most users write their LinkedIn summary and experience sections to reflect
their resumes, and wind up with a linear run-through of their employers,
responsibilities, and accomplishments. This is effective at conveying what
you’ve done and where, but it doesn’t do much to help you stand out.
Consider approaching your LinkedIn profile like a story. Creative strategist
Victor Nguyen-Long takes that advice literally; each of his employer
sections reads like a mini narrative, explaining why he moved into each new
role. Here’s the first line of one of them: “After 3.5 years in Portland,
I decided I wanted to move back to Washington, DC to be closer to family.”
You don’t have to take the storytelling approach this far, but you should
go beyond just recording what and when, add some why and how. That
additional context can help your profile stand out, showcase your creativity
, and explain to recruiters what motivates you.
4. IT’S ALL BUSINESS
As Nguyen-Long also realizes, separating all things business from anything
remotely personal will leave your LinkedIn profile sounding sterile. You
want to give recruiters and hiring managers a chance to see common threads.
And not just recruiters. In fact, you never know who will be reviewing your
profile, or where they may find common ground that could give you an
advantage. Job opportunities sometimes come from surprising places. Do you
have a favorite charity or volunteer your time somewhere? Great—mention
that! Do you have projects outside your core job that you work on? Add them
to the project section. Speak other languages? Include that, too.
Go against the grain wherever you can. At a minimum, don’t just write a
bland professional overview in the summary section and leave it at that.
Throw in some details about your hobbies, interests, pursuits, and why you
do what you do. Sticking just to your business experience alone doesn’t
create a complete picture of what you’ll actually be bringing to an
employer.
5. YOU HAVEN’T WRITTEN ANYTHING
LinkedIn’s publishing platform opened up to all members a few years ago.
For bloggers and writers, adoption was easy. For most users, not so much.
You don’t have to be a prolific writer to use this feature to your
advantage. Be strategic and selective. Consider writing a couple of posts
that showcase the way you see your field, how you work, or some thoughts
about recent news in your industry. Sankar Venkatraman, a senior product
manager at LinkedIn, says these posts can be as short or long as you like,
just as long as they let you “share your experiences and expertise around a
specific field of interest.”
The goal of blogging periodically on LinkedIn is twofold, he says—to “give
recruiters further insight into your ideas, as well as improve how you show
up in searches.”
In fact, the same logic is behind avoiding all five of these pitfalls. Not
only will sidestepping these common errors make your profile show up more
often in searches, it’ll also pique recruiters’ interest once they do find
you.
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Tenfold as a
software company; it is a recruiting consultancy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lars Schmidt is the founder of AMPLIFY//, a recruiting and branding agency
that helps companies like Hootsuite, NPR, and SpaceX reimagine the
intersection of culture, talent, and brand. He's also the cofounder of the
HR Open Source initiative. More
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05.11.16 YOUR MOST PRODUCTIVE SELF
Your Brain Has A “Delete” Button–Here’s How To Use It
This is the fascinating way that your brain makes space to build new and
stronger connections so you can learn more.
Your Brain Has A “Delete” Button–Here’s How To Use It
[PHOTO: NICHD/P. BASSER]
BY JUDAH POLLACK AND OLIVIA FOX CABANE3 MINUTE READ
There’s an old saying in neuroscience: neurons that fire together wire
together. This means the more you run a neuro-circuit in your brain, the
stronger that circuit becomes. This is why, to quote another old saw,
practice makes perfect. The more you practice piano, or speaking a language,
or juggling, the stronger those circuits get.
The ability to learn is about more than building and strengthening neural
connections.
For years this has been the focus for learning new things. But as it turns
out, the ability to learn is about more than building and strengthening
neural connections. Even more important is our ability to break down the old
ones. It’s called “synaptic pruning.” Here’s how it works.
Your Brain’s Delete Button And How to Use It
YOUR BRAIN IS LIKE A GARDEN
Imagine your brain is a garden, except instead of growing flowers, fruits,
and vegetables, you grow synaptic connections between neurons. These are the
connections that neurotransmitters like dopamine, seratonin, and others
travel across.
“Glial cells” are the gardeners of your brain–they act to speed up
signals between certain neurons. But other glial cells are the waste
removers, pulling up weeds, killing pests, raking up dead leaves. Your brain
’s pruning gardeners are called “microglial cells.” They prune your
synaptic connections. The question is, how do they know which ones to prune?
Researchers are just starting to unravel this mystery, but what they do know
is the synaptic connections that get used less get marked by a protein, C1q
(as well as others). When the microglial cells detect that mark, they bond
to the protein and destroy–or prune–the synapse.
This is how your brain makes the physical space for you to build new and
stronger connections so you can learn more.
WHY SLEEP MATTERS
Have you ever felt like your brain is full? Maybe when starting a new job,
or deep in a project. You’re not sleeping enough, even though you’re
constantly taking in new information. Well, in a way, your brain actually is
full.
When you learn lots of new things, your brain builds connections, but they’
re inefficient, ad hoc connections. Your brain needs to prune a lot of those
connections away and build more streamlined, efficient pathways. It does
that when we sleep.
Your brain cleans itself out when you sleep–your brain cells shrinking by
up to 60% to create space for your glial gardeners to come in take away the
waste and prune the synapses.
Have you ever woken up from a good night’s rest and been able to think
clearly and quickly? That’s because all the pruning and pathway-efficiency
that took place overnight has left you with lots of room to take in and
synthesize new information–in other words, to learn.
Thinking with a sleep-deprived brain is like hacking your way through a
dense jungle with a machete. Its overgrown, slow going, exhausting.
This is the same reason naps are so beneficial to your cognitive abilities.
A 10- or 20-minute nap gives your microglial gardeners the chance to come in
, clear away some unused connections, and leave space to grow new ones.
Thinking with a sleep-deprived brain is like hacking your way through a
dense jungle with a machete. It’s overgrown, slow-going, exhausting. The
paths overlap, and light can’t get through. Thinking on a well-rested brain
is like wandering happily through Central Park; the paths are clear and
connect to one another at distinct spots, the trees are in place, you can
see far ahead of you. It’s invigorating.
BE MINDFUL OF WHAT YOU’RE MINDFUL OF
And in fact, you actually have some control over what your brain decides to
delete while you sleep. It’s the synaptic connections you don’t use that
get marked for recycling. The ones you do use are the ones that get watered
and oxygenated. So be mindful of what you’re thinking about.
If you spend too much time reading theories about the end of Game of Thrones
and very little on your job, guess which synapses are going to get marked
for recycling?
Related
Five Everyday Activities That Hurt Your Memory
How To Dramatically Improve Your Memory
Can Exercise Really Make You Grow New Brain Cells?
3 Simple Steps To Boost Your Memory
6 Science-Backed Methods To Improve Your Memory
If you’re in a fight with someone at work and devote your time to thinking
about how to get even with them, and not about that big project, you’re
going to wind up a synaptic superstar at revenge plots but a poor innovator.
To take advantage of your brain’s natural gardening system, simply think
about the things that are important to you. Your gardeners will strengthen
those connections and prune the ones that you care about less. It’s how you
help the garden of your brain flower.
Judah Pollack is the co-author of The Chaos Imperative, and Olivia Fox
Cabane is the author of The Charisma Myth.
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08.27.14 WORK SMART
Templates And Hints For The Perfect Email For Almost Every Situation
If every email you sent was perfectly phrased and well-received right out of
the inbox, how much time could you save?
Templates And Hints For The Perfect Email For Almost Every Situation
[BUSINESS: KAZOKA VIA SHUTTERSTOCK]
BY KEVAN LEE10 MINUTE READ
Have you ever received an amazing email, one that you’d like to print out
and pin to your wall, one that made you grin from ear to ear or slow-clap in
appreciation and reverence?
When I come across these gems, I drop them into a “Snippets” folder. I
study them, I swoon over them, and I borrow bits and pieces of them to send
better email.
Now imagine that every email you send is as great as these occasional all-
stars you receive. Impossible? Not at all. Worth shooting for? Definitely.
Related: Six Ways To Write Emails That Don’t Make People Silently Resent
You
At Buffer, we strive for 100% awesomeness in the emails we send to customers
, and that pursuit of excellence carries over to the emails we send to
teammates, colleagues, friends, and family. We want to send better email,
the kind that delivers the intended message plus the desired emotion.
So I’m happy to share some of my sources of email inspiration. These are
the templates and snippets that have caught my attention over the past few
months, and which I’m hoping to include in more of my communication in the
inbox. Think you might like to try any of these out in your daily emailing?
AN EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR SHAVING 20 HOURS OFF YOUR WORK WEEK
Author Robbie Abed took to LinkedIn to share a pair of emails that he had
used successfully to shave his workweek from 60 hours to 40 hours.
Here is email number one, which is to be sent on Monday.
Subject: My plan for the week
Jane,
After reviewing my activities here is my plan for the week in order of
priority. Let me know if you think I should re-prioritize:
Planned Major Activities for the week
1) Complete project charter for X Project
2) Finish the financial analysis report that was started last week
3) Kick off Project X–requires planning and prep documentation creation.
Scheduled for Thursday.
Open items that I will look into, but won’t get finished this week
1) Coordinate activities for year-end financial close
2) Research Y product for our shared service team
Let me know if you have any comments. Thank you!
–Robbie
The clear intention here is to set the expectation for the week ahead and
give a supervisor a clear understanding of what you’re working on.
Then, on Friday, you send a second email, summarizing what you completed
during the week and noting any open items that need further attention or
follow-up from colleagues.
Related: The Only Five Email Folders Your Inbox Will Ever Need
The idea here is simple: Set expectations early on in the week and follow
through at the end of the week. According to Abed, this provides clear
boundaries on your time, it shows your supervisor that you are responsible
and organized, and–if everything goes according to plan–it might get you
out of the office on Friday having worked zero overtime.
HOW MICHAEL HYATT SAYS NO TO GUEST BLOGGERS
Author and speaker Michael Hyatt gets a lot of email requests for a lot of
different things. One of the most popular requests is for guest blogging –
either bloggers who wish to submit guest posts to his site or other sites
looking for Hyatt to write for theirs.
Here’s how he says no to guest blog pitches.
Dear [name]:
Thanks for your interest in being a guest blogger on my site. I am grateful
that you took the time to write this post and submit it. Unfortunately, I
don’t think I will be able to use it.
I have received scores of submissions–more than I expected. As a result, I
am having to turn down many well-written posts, including yours. Sometimes
this is because the topics overlap or the posts are too general for my
audience. Regardless, because of my time constraints, I can’t really
provide more detailed feedback.
I wish you the best in your writing endeavors. If you have another post, I
would be happy to consider it.
Kind regards,
Michael
Here’s how he says no to invitations to guest blog.
Dear [name]:
Thanks so much for thinking of me as a potential guest blogger. I am honored.
Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time. It is all I can do to keep up
with my own blog! As a result, I’m afraid I will have to decline your kind
invitation.
Again, thanks for thinking of me.
Kind regards,
Michael
I’ve been on the sending and receiving end of similar emails several times
over the past few months. I happened to save a favorite “thanks but no
thanks” snippet that I thought sounded appreciative and kind yet still said
no.
I’d love to take part and it sounds like an amazing opportunity.
Unfortunately I’ll have to pass, as I’m currently a little over-committed
and won’t be able to make the time right now.
Related: Here’s When You Should Use Email Instead Of Slack
EMAIL SNIPPETS FOR SAYING NO
In the examples above, Michael Hyatt said no to guest blogging. That’s a
great start. And what about the scores of other opportunities we may need to
turn down throughout the week?
Elizabeth Grace Saunders, a time coach and trainer, shared a series of
snippets for saying no in a post published on 99U. She seemingly had a “no
” snippet for any scenario. Here are a few of my favorites.
When you receive perpetual last-minute requests:
I would love to help you out, but I already made commitments to other (
coworkers, clients, etc.) to complete their projects today. It wouldn’t be
fair to them to not follow through on what I said I would do. I will be sure
to fit this in as soon as possible. Thanks for your understanding.
When people ask you about everything instead of directly contacting the
appropriate person:
That’s not my area of expertise. I would be happy to connect you with
someone who could best help you solve this problem.
When you’re given an exceptionally short deadline:
I know this project is a high priority for you, and if it’s absolutely
necessary for me to turn something in by that date, I can make it happen.
But if I could have a few more (days, weeks, etc.), I could really deliver
something of higher quality. Would it be possible for me to have a bit more
time?
When asked to do something optional that you can’t commit to right now:
I appreciate you thinking of me, and I’m honored by the request. But
unfortunately, I don’t have the time to give this my best right now. I
think you would benefit from finding someone who can devote more time and
energy to this project.
Related: How To Cut Your Email Time In Half
7 SIMPLE SENTENCES TO SET BETTER BOUNDARIES
Could it even be as simple as a sentence? Wharton professor Adam Grant has a
pretty quick list of seven different sentences that might work to set
boundaries on your work/home life. Here’s the list:
The Deferral: “I’m swamped right now, but feel free to follow up.”
The Referral: “I’m not qualified to do what you’re asking, but here’s
something else.”
The Introduction: “This isn’t in my wheelhouse, but I know someone who
might be helpful.”
The Bridge: “You two are working toward common goals.”
The Triage: “Meet my colleague, who will set up a time to chat.”
The Batch: “Others have posed the same question, so let’s chat together.”
The Relational Account: “If I helped you, I’d be letting others down.”
Of these seven, I’ve had a chance to try Nos. 1 and 3 just in the past week
. The first felt great, as it truly was an opportunity I was excited to
pursue yet the timing just wasn’t ideal. Sentence No. 3 felt just as good;
had I committed, I would have been way in over my head. So not only was I
able to set a boundary, I was able to ensure that the work was completed the
best way possible.
HOW TO SEND THE BEST EMAILS TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
In The Customer Support Handbook: How to Create the Ultimate Customer
Experience For Your Brand, Sarah Hatter describes in expert detail exactly
which words and phrases should be used in a modern-day customer conversation
(and which shouldn’t).
Empty words (do not use):
Feedback
Inconvenience
This issue
That isn’t
This isn’t
We don’t
No
We’re unable to
I can’t
Full words (use liberally):
Thank you!
I’m really sorry
This sucks
I know this is frustrating
You’re right
That’s a great idea!
Let me check and get back to you
Thanks for sharing your idea/thoughts/taking the time to help improve the
product
Magic phrases:
“You’re right.”
“I’d love to help with this.”
“I can fix this for you.”
“Let me look into this for you.”
“I’ll keep you updated.”
Power replies:
“You’re right, we could definitely do this better.”
“Thanks for being open and honest about your experience so we can learn
from it.”
“I really appreciate you helping us improve our process–we don’t want
this to happen again.”
“I know this is a huge disruption to your day and I’m working to get it
fixed.”
I had a chance to use the “disruption” line just today with a customer who
had a less-than-ideal experience. I’m not sure if my choice of words was
what won him over or not. I am happy to say that he was super pleased to
receive my reply–nothing to sneeze at for a customer we might have wronged.
WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD OF “LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS”
Chris Gallo at Support Ops has an interesting, applicable way of looking at
that all-too-common wrap-up to the emails we send. How do you end your
conversations on email? Seems like we typically choose one of these cookie-
cutter sign-offs.
“Please let me know if you have any questions.”
“If you have any other problems, just let me know.”
“If there is anything else you need, please let me know.”
Compare this with how you end conversations in real life. Gallo points out
that none of us talk this way to our friends and family; why should we talk
this way to our beloved customers?
Perhaps the best example Gallo cites is this one:
“If there is anything else you need, please let me know.”
Should I need something else? Am I going to need something else soon? Are
you saying that I’m needy?
Instead of the stock answers, try these questions, which sound more human
and feel more conversational.
“Does this help you?”
“Did that answer your question? And does it make sense?”
“Anything else that I can help with today?”
(The above example comes from Chase Clemons’s Support Ops email guide,
which has loads more examples, if you’re interested.)
I’ve been trying these new signoffs in my personal emails for the past
couple weeks, and I will say that it can be a little disarming at first. I
definitely felt the urge to end with a token platitude rather than an open-
ended “Does this help you?”
Fortunately, it gets easier the more you use it. And I’ve had many
meaningful conversations that I might not have had otherwise.
OUT WITH THE “BUTS,” IN WITH THE EXCLAMATIONS
This one I’ve borrowed from our Chief Happiness Officer Carolyn who wrote
about her removal of every instance of “but” and “actually” from her
customer support emails.
With “but,” Carolyn removes the conjunction and replaces it with an
exclamation point, splitting one compound sentence into two simpler ones.
Sentence 1: “I really appreciate you writing in, but unfortunately we don’
t have this feature available.”
Sentence 2: “I really appreciate you writing in! Unfortunately, we don’t
have this feature available.”
With “actually,” she removes the word entirely, often opting for a new
word or phrase to open the sentence.
Sentence 1: “Actually, you can do this under ‘Settings.'”
Sentence 2: “Sure thing, you can do this under ‘Settings!’ :)”
I was inspired by these examples, so much so that I’ve gone to the extreme
and attempted to remove all “buts” from the blogposts I write and the
conversations I have. It’s interesting, even if I’m unable to follow
through 100% of the time, just to note how often the word might come up. I’
m prone to use it more often than I thought.
I’ve found that recognizing great emails is one thing, and using them is
another. This is why I started cataloging the emails I love and referring to
them regularly when I need inspiration on what to say. I go with a fairly
straightforward copy-and-paste, which can take a bit of time. The SupportOps
crew (and many of our Buffer heroes) use Text Expander to have snippets
available via a keyboard shortcut. | y****g
发帖数: 36950 | 2 太长了，跳着看了一下，是说学代码和学外语是大脑的同一个功能区？
你能不能把下面编辑一下，后面都是别的文章了。 |
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