domingo, 9 de febrero de 2014

El mejor equipo del mundo - Marc Vidal

Una interesante reflexión de Marc Vidal en El mejor equipo del mundo
Corro como emprendo. Avanzo con un destino pero disfruto del camino. Si aparecen subidas pronunciadas las diviso y las valoro, las juzgo y las tomo como reto. Si aparecen bajadas reduzco la velocidad para no lesionarme o caer. Aprovecho que permiten descansar el cuerpo pero mantengo la mente en alerta. Tomo aire. Cuando lo hago en solitario disfruto de cada uno de los metros y de los golpes en el suelo, pero cuando lo hago en grupo es algo extraordinario, divertido y estimulante. Cuando encuentro un nuevo camino, vereda o lugar por el que correr, me lanzo sin mirar, casi sin preguntarme si vale la pena. Es nuevo y eso vale.

En la que enlaza a otro artículo suyo, Emprender por cuenta ajena
…Acumulan experiencia, contactos, educación y llegarán a trabajar en empresas más grandes que las mías. Lo sé y es normal, yo lo hice. Estos son “intrapreneurs” y los calo rápidamente. Toman decisiones y defienden su papel como si les fuera la vida pero sin embargo entienden que el barco puede hundirse si no mantienen a todo el equipo en la parte del barco que les toca. Aprendo mucho de quienes creen aprender de mí.
Leí ayer un artículo que los definía bien. Decía que los “emprendedores por cuenta ajena” tienen las mismas características que los empresarios, incluida la capacidad de asumir riesgos, vender sus ideas y ver oportunidades donde otros no lo hacen. Ellos optan por trabajar para una empresa con el fin de probar ideas, aprender de los errores y prepararse para tener finalmente sus propios negocios.

Keep on Learning (by learning how to learn)

"…I like a six step process that I came across and the acronym M-A-S-T-E-R as a way to master any topic…"
Learning How to Learn: What Business Leaders Need to Know | Experts' Corner | Big Think

Your grandfathers may well have had one job their entire lives. Your parents probably had two or three jobs. Today’s school-leavers face the prospect of three or four career changes during the course of their lifetime. Careers—not jobs. And some of those careers may not even exist right now.
That’s how much the digital age is revolutionizing our world.
And consider this: At one end of the business spectrum one-third of Fortune 500 companies vanish every 15 years. At the opposite end nine out of 10 start-ups fail within three years. A failure to learn, a failure to adapt, is probably a major contributing factor.

I like a six step process that I came across and the acronym M-A-S-T-E-R as a way to master any topic. In brief:
M. Motivating your Mind. You need to be motivated to learn. Frankly, if you don’t have the right attitude—if you don’t want to learn—you won’t be able to learn.
A. Acquiring the information. As discussed above, you need to acquire and absorb the information in the way that best fits your sensory learning preferences.
S. Searching out the meaning. All too often we memorize facts so they can be regurgitated to pass a test. You must make sure you truly understand the subject matter.
T. Triggering the memory. There are numerous memory strategies that can be applied (and numerous full-length books on the subject) to help you “lock it down.” Learning the meaning of the acronym MASTER is one of them!
E. Exhibiting what you know. Find a study buddy to whom you present the information. It’s a great way of testing yourself and proving to yourself that you have permanently acquired the knowledge.
R. Reflecting on how you’ve learned. Reflect on the learning experience. Not what you learned, but how you learned it. Then you’ll evolve an approach that’s perfect for you.

Atención Plena

Todos pensamos que lo que llamamos "yo" nos pertenece solo a nosotros. No es así. Pertenece a la totalidad del universo.
Usted pertenece al universo. Y el universo es más que lo que "tú" podrías llegar a desear ser.
Hardcore Zen, Brad Warner

sábado, 8 de febrero de 2014

Lujo accesible, personalización y el drama de la realidad

El artista que esconde la fábrica y su discurso publicitario de la personalización - ConsumeHastaMorir, contrapublicidad en la sociedad del consumismo

Parece que la sociedad de consumo no termina de aceptarse a sí misma entre cadenas de montaje y lineales equidistantes llenos de tetrabricks. Menos aún dentro de un taller de mano de obra semiesclava. De ahí el éxito de la cultura del lujo accesible o prestigio de masas, un cóctel aparentemente contradictorio pero que mueve sectores enteros, como el de los perfumes, bajo la aspiración de abandonar la clase media y la cadena de producción fordista que la caracteriza. La exclusividad masiva, el artista en la fábrica... relatos casi míticos pero con suficiente fuerza como para seguir dirigiendo la tarjeta de crédito.

martes, 4 de febrero de 2014

Letting go of judging people

En zen habits
Only when you let go of the judgment that has arisen, and come to a place of acceptance and curiosity and empathy, can you really help. … 
Let’s take a fake but typical example so I can show you what I mean (I’m going to bold the symptoms, so forgive the overemphasis): I see a relative who is actively harming her health, who is overweight and diabetic and yet smokes and eats junk food all the time and does other bad things. I know she can make her health better by changing her habits. I judge her for what she’s doing, think badly of her, get frustrated with her, dismiss her because she’s not worthy of my frustration. This kind of thing happens with me and lots of other people all the time — just change the details to spouse, co-worker, kid, friend and instead of unhealthy things, they’re doing something else you don’t like.
What’s going on in this example? Well, first, I’m ignorant of what she’s going through and I don’t understand the situation. She’s been depressed because of her health problems, feeling guilty, feeling stuck, feeling scared, untrusting of herself. Because of these bad feelings, she doesn’t like to think about health, and makes herself feel better through smoking and comfort food. She’s just trying to be happy. And in fact, I do the same kinds of things all the time — I fail. I feel bad. I comfort myself. So I’m not superior, even if I think I am. 
What’s more, I’m not being grateful for the great person she is, despite her health problems. She’s wonderful. By focusing on judging her, I’m not appreciating that. Instead, I’m being self-centered by focusing on how much better I am, how she’s frustrating me, how my frustration is more important than any pain she’s feeling. I’m not being curious about who she is, what she’s going through and why … instead I have made a judgment and that stops all inquiry. And from this place of judgment, I can’t help because I have closed off dialog, and have written her off. 
You can see how all of these things are harmful. They make me frustrated and unhappy, they harm my relationship with this lovely person, they stop communication and learning, they don’t allow me to help alleviate suffering, they close me off to what she has to offer me. Among other harms.

¿Ser una buena persona?

Un par de artículos de Harvard Business Review que me han resultado interesantes…


I meet people every day who admit that they aren’t comfortable with conflict. They worry that disagreeing might hurt someone’s feelings or disrupt harmonious team dynamics. They fret that their perspective isn’t as valid as someone else’s, so they hold back.
Sure, pulling your punches might help you maintain your self-image as a nice person, but you do so at the cost of getting your alternative perspective on the table; at the cost of challenging faulty assumptions; and at the cost of highlighting hidden risks. That’s a high cost to pay for nice.

The secret of having healthy conflict and maintaining your self-image as a nice person is all in the mindset and the delivery.

Here are a few tips on improving your delivery:
1. Use “and,” not “but.”
2. Use hypotheticals.
3. Ask about the impact.
4. Discuss the underlying issue.
5. Ask for help.
Conflict — presenting a different point of view even when it is uncomfortable — is critical to team effectiveness. Diversity of thinking on a team is the source of innovation and growth. It is also the path to identifying and mitigating risks. If you find yourself shying away from conflict, use one of these techniques to make it a little easier.
The alternative is withholding your concerns, taking them up outside of the team, and slowly eroding trust and credibility. That’s not nice at all.

Nine Practices to Help you Say No

Irene can’t say no. And because she can’t say no, she’s spending her very limited time and already taxed energy on other people’s priorities, while her own priorities fall to the wayside. I have experienced the same thing myself. So, over time, I experimented with a number of ways to strengthen my no.
Here are the nine practices I shared with Irene to help her say a strategic no in order to create space in her life for a more intentional yes.
1. Know your no.
2. Be appreciative.
3. Say no to the request, not the person.
4. Explain why.
5. Be as resolute as they are pushy.
6. Practice.
7. Establish a pre-emptive no.
8. Be prepared to miss out.
9. Gather your courage.

She’s still doing great work and she’s still valued by her boss and co-workers, but they’ve noticed the difference too, she told me. And not all of it is positive.
They’re respecting her boundaries — they don’t even seem to resent her for them — but she’s had to give up something she never knew was important to her: her sense of herself as someone who could do it all. It’s been hard for her to feel as valued and necessary as she did when she always said yes.
“Would you rather go back to saying yes all the time?” I asked her.
She answered me with a very well-practiced “No.”

Passionate vs stubborn : core values for entrepreneurs

- resilience
- perseverance
- ability to surround by complementary people
- think out of the box
- emotional intelligence – empathy
- humor
;-)

lunes, 3 de febrero de 2014

¿El ocaso de la clase media? y otros artículos "relacionados"

Sintetia ¿El ocaso de la clase media? Aunque no el extracto más relevante, me ha gustado su sencillez y claridad:
No se trata sólo de tener una cuenta en Twitter o en Facebook, no se trata de saber buscar en Google una información, se trata de saber utilizar esas herramientas para mejorar nuestra capacidad de construir respuestas únicas y relevantes a los retos que la sociedad nos plantea, desde encontrar trabajo hasta innovar en productos.
Otros artículos "relacionados"
Marc Vidal, Microburguesía Low-Cost
The Atlantic, Can the middle class be saved?
Interesantes comentarios.


De aquí:
Cambiar las cosas es posible
La Clase Media

No hay posicionamiento, sino ganas (¿necesidad?) de reflexión.

domingo, 2 de febrero de 2014

Afinando el cuerpomente

Comando Dharma: afinando el cuerpomente

"-Pues así -explicó el Buda- un exceso de celo, Sona, extenúa la mente e irrita más los pensamientos; como un defecto de celo conduce a la indolencia y la pereza. O sea, ambas actitudes son equivocadas.Debes aplicarte con celo sereno, esfuerzo ecuánime, controlando tus sentidos. De modo gradual, paso a paso, sobrevendrá la felicidad y con la felicidad llegarás al Nirvana."–Shakyamuni.

La leyenda de John Appleseed…

…Appleseed dejó su huella en la historia de Estados Unidos y, probablemente, en la de Apple. Además de aparecer en cada presentación de la compañía de Cupertino, el nombre puede verse también en el icono de TextEdit, el procesador de texto de Mac OS. Ampliando la imagen, se puede leer el mensaje de la famosa campaña ‘Think different’, que se presenta como una carta firmada por John Appleseed y dirigida a una tal Kate. ¿La esposa del amigo de Steve Jobs? Vaya, las historias se acaban cruzando…
Así que, ya que Apple jamás se ha pronunciado ante esta cuestión de vital importancia, tendrás que ser tú el que elija cuál de los relatos prefieres. ¿Cuál te convence más? Ya sabes que, cuando de Jobs se trata, todo se encuentra a medio camino entre la realidad y la leyenda. Así es el marketing de la manzana…