WATCH: The Empathic Civilization


READ: All Hail the Generalist

In psychology jargon, you anchor on your own beliefs and insufficiently adjust from them. In more straightforward language, a man with a hammer is more likely to see nails than one without a hammer. Expertise means being closer to the bark, and less likely to see ways in which your perspective may warrant adjustment. In today’s uncertain environment, breadth of perspective trumps depth of knowledge.

by Vikram Mansharamani - Harvard Business Review

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LISTEN: Charlie Kaufman on How to Tell Your Story


WATCH: The Six Habits of Highly Empathic People


WATCH: Empathy, Neurochemistry and the Dramatic Arc


READ: Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling

As social creatures, we depend on others for our survival and happiness. A decade ago, my lab discovered that a neurochemical called oxytocin is a key “it’s safe to approach others” signal in the brain. Oxytocin is produced when we are trusted or shown a kindness, and it motivates cooperation with others. It does this by enhancing the sense of empathy, our ability to experience others’ emotions. Empathy is important for social creatures because it allows us to understand how others are likely to react to a situation, including those with whom we work.

by Paul J. Zak - Harvard Business Review

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READ: Changing the World on a Shoestring

WHEN Drayton calls someone a "social entrepreneur," he is describing a specific and rare personality type -- someone, in fact, like himself. He doesn't mean a businessman who gives jobs to homeless people or devotes a share of profits to, say, the environmental movement. Ashoka's social entrepreneur is a pathbreaker with a powerful new idea, who combines visionary and real-world problem-solving creativity, who has a strong ethical fiber, and who is "totally possessed" by his or her vision for change.

by David Bornstein - The Atlantic

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READ: Fear of the Future Holding Leaders Back

India Kerala A man climb on coconut tree

The corporate sector has over decades become comfortable with a complicated environment, because it has been able to hang on to the belief it can maintain some semblance of control.

But the reality is that the exponential speed of change means it is hard for our minds to find answers using old-style thinking.

by Jo Confino - The Guardian

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STUDY: IBM’S The New Collaboration


READ: The Evolution of Trust

The big thing I underestimated was the transformation of social trust. In primitive economies, people traded mostly with members of their village and community. Trust was face to face. Then, in the mass economy we’ve been used to, people bought from large and stable corporate brands, whose behavior was made more reliable by government regulation.

But now there is a new trust calculus, powered by both social and economic forces.

by David Brooks - The New York Times

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