Actual Intelligence

If you've ever spent time with a group of people from the same industry which you're not a part, you begin to sense the have their own sayings, short forms, and acronyms. It’s almost as if they are speaking another language; their own language. 

Years ago, I was consulting a large pharma company and on one of our conference calls, I asked them to translate into English. At first, they were confused, but then they laughed and understood. 

 What do You Mean? 

We think we’re being clear, but we have to understand that our thoughts may not align with others’ understanding. When we take the time to step back, breathe, and gain more insight into how others are perceiving us, we stand a better chance of understanding each other and at times ourselves. 

 Technical speak and industry specifics are often needed, but sometimes boiling things down to the most basic level is the best way to avoid misinterpretation. If we take a moment and suspend our beliefs to check for understanding, conflict can be avoided and teamwork can be improved. 

Data in. Data out.

One idea is to find someone outside our circle to ask their opinion. Their lack of industry knowledge might unlock some questions we hadn't considered. As the AI frenzy continues, this may become a larger issue. Someone asks you to write a technical document on your work. 

You plug in what you can into the AI generation interface. It spits out what you think is a well-crafted piece you can share with the team. Then you realize self-creating data works best when the data that's fed into it is actually accurate. The real issue is when a human being starts asking questions about the content you didn't write or understand. 

Good luck!

__________________________________________________________________

Forward Steps Back

I was thinking about a situation that happened a couple of years ago that sucked. Life moved on but I still think about it. I've asked numerous people if they have events they relive in their heads over and over again. The answer is almost always yes because most of us do. But why is that?

I'm not suggesting we don't relive happy memories, but the challenges seem to cut deeper for some reason. Is it perhaps because we are still learning a lesson? I know this, the more we try and not think about those events, the more we think about them. If I was to ask you to not think about an orange elephant riding a motorcycle – good luck getting that image out of your head!

Beware of the Lizard Brain

I'd consider myself a fairly smart dude, so why can't I just tell myself to stop letting something that has already happened, which I cannot change, continue to bug me? It has to do with the part of the limbic system in our brains that is in charge of fight, flight, feed, fear, or freeze. It is our survival mechanism which decides what we do next if we are experiencing stress. It's why we can't seem to get started on the project even though we know the deadline looms.

If we have a situation, current or past, real or imagined, it will react immediately. If we are experiencing or have experienced pain, it will focus solely on that moment. When I think of that event, it's as if I am reliving it over and over again. 

Negative vs Positive

Perhaps this is more prevalent in Western culture, but we seem to do it more often when remembering negative situations over joyous ones. Do we think we don't deserve joy and need to pay for pain? I'm obviously not a psychologist but I think there's something to that. Our frontal lobe is in charge of reasoning, motor skills, higher level cognition, and expressive language. So our complicated brain starts to fight with itself. 

I've started an exercise and like most when you begin, I'm terrible at it, but I'm trying to think of five positive things in my life or events that have happened whenever a negative thought or memory crosses my mind. When I can do it successfully, it actually works. So perhaps you can try it if you can't seem to get past a negative event in your past.

I wonder how the elephant balances on that motorcycle? 

__________________________________________________________________

Acronyms and Thingamajigs

If you have ever spent time with a group of people from the same industry that you’re not a part of, you know how narrow we can all be at times. There are acronyms and terms you have no clue how to decipher. It’s almost as if they are speaking another language, their own language.

We think we’re being clear but we have to understand that our thoughts may not align with others’ understanding. When we take the time to step back, breathe, and gain more insight into how others are perceiving us, we stand a better chance of understanding each other.

Technical speak and industry specifics are often needed but sometimes just boiling things down to the most basic level is the best way to avoid misinterpretation. If we take a moment and suspend our beliefs to check for understanding, conflict can be avoided and teamwork can be improved.

It's worth a shot.
__________________________________________________________________

Keep it Simple

If you have ever spent time with a group of people from the same industry that you’re not a part of, you know how narrow we can all be at times. There are acronyms and terms you have no clue how to decipher. It’s almost as if they are speaking another language, their own language.

I was in a client meeting last week and we had to stop and realize we had become so insular we had lost the plot. One of the team members stood up and said; “Can we just speak English, please!” and it broke the ice.

We do it in our everyday lives and relationships.

We think we’re being clear but we have to understand that our thoughts may not align with others’ understanding. When we take the time to step back, breathe, and gain more insight into how others are perceiving us, we stand a better chance of understanding each other.

Technical speak and industry specifics are often needed but sometimes just boiling things down to the most basic level is the best way to avoid misinterpretation. If we take a moment and suspend our beliefs to check for understanding, conflict can be avoided and teamwork can be improved.

Maybe simple is our best strategy?
__________________________________________________________________

Lead in Plain Language

If you have ever spent time with a group of people from the same industry that you’re not a part of, you know how narrow we can all be at times. There are acronyms and terms you have no clue how to decipher. It’s almost as if they are speaking another language, their own language.

I was in a client meeting last week and we had to stop and realize we had become so insular we had lost the plot. One of the team members stood up and said; “Can we just speak English, please!” and it broke the ice.

We do it in our everyday lives and relationships.

We think we’re being clear but we have to understand that our thoughts may not align with others’ understanding. When we take the time to step back, breathe, and gain more insight into how others are perceiving us, we stand a better chance of understanding each other.

Technical speak and industry specifics are often needed but sometimes just boiling things down to the most basic level is the best way to avoid misinterpretation. If we take a moment and suspend our beliefs to check for understanding, conflict can be avoided and teamwork can be improved.

When in doubt, make it simple.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit
New Book out in 2016 – Details soon!

Lead Through Doodling

It begins before we can speak and, in some cases, continues for life. People do it in public, in private, at meetings, in airports, at family gatherings, or any other place where a writing implement can be found. Great ideas are discovered through it, strategic plans are mapped out by it, businesses have been created from it.

Sunni Brown is the leader of the Doodle Revolution. In her TEDTalk, Sunni explains why we must continue to doodle.

You may need some paper and a pen.


__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

Sunni Brown | TED

We Stand On Guard for Thee

Today is Canada’s 146th birthday. Since this site has visitors from more than 180 countries, as a proud Canadian, I thought I’d share some fun facts about our country.

Canada’s name comes from a St. Lawrence Iroquoian word, kanata, which means village or settlement. We use the metric system, most of the time.

We are saying about, not a boot. Canadian Graeme Ferguson co-invented IMAX.
The longest highway in the world is the Trans-Canada Highway which is over 7,604 kilometers or 4,725 miles. Toronto is the 30th most populated city in the world.

We prefer using the word couch over sofa. The baseball glove was invented in Canada in 1883. Canada has the world’s smallest jail in Rodney, Ontario which is 24.3 square meters or 270 square feet.

Wayne Gretzky, Michael Buble, James Cameron, Jim Carrey, Alex Trebek, Celine Dion, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Mike Myers, Justin Bieber, Leonard Cohen, Steve Nash, Ryan Reynolds and William Shatner are all Canadian.

Canada boasts a 99% literacy rate. The average life expectancy at birth is 81.16 years – the sixth highest in the world and more than 83% of Canadians have internet access compared to the US at 78%.

Silverware is called cutlery. Sorry is a perfectly acceptable response and often our default one. The country has the longest coastline in the world and Canada represents the world's 11th largest GDP.

We have butter tarts, poutine, and ketchup chips but maple syrup is not our national beverage – Google if you must. Canadian Thomas Ahearn invented the electric cooking range in 1882.

Canada has the fourth lowest population density index in the world with just over 34 million people in the second largest country in the world by land mass at approximately 9.9 million square kilometers or 3.8 million square miles.

There have been 22 Nobel Prize laureates from Canada and it's in the top five producing countries of gold, copper, zinc, nickel, aluminum, and natural gas.

Soda is referred to as pop. Canadians James Till and Ernest McCulloch are credited with the discovery of the stem cell.

Basketball was invented by Canadian James Naismith. Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world. Canadians consume an average of 23.4 pounds of cheddar cheese each year.

Now you know.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership and Culture strategist, writer, speaker, executive coach engaging leaders, collaborative teams, and strong business results.

canada

The Power of Doodling

It’s as universal as breathing. It began in our childhood and remains a part of our lives today. It happens on planes, offices, dining rooms, boardrooms, hotel suites and bathrooms. It happens alone, with others, in private and in public.

The history of the doodle stems back to the dawn of our ancestors. It has been the genesis of some of our finest concepts, theories, inventions and solutions. It is the seemingly mindless act of drawing aimlessly while in a meeting, on the phone or any other place we humans hang out. And there is a powerful and sound business reason we need to continue to doodle.

Sunni Brown is a business owner, creative director, speaker and co-author of Game Storming. She’s best known for her large-scale live content visualizations, and she is also the leader of the Doodle Revolution. In her TEDTalk, Sunni explains why we must continue to doodle.

Grab some paper and a pen while you watch.


Kneale Mann

visual credit: TED

Canada Day Fun Facts

In keeping with the multitude of celebrations today, here are some items you may not know.

The Dominion of Canada was established on July 1st, 1867 and officialy became a country April 17, 1882. So today is Canada’s birthday and she’s 144 years young. Like our American pals’ Independence Day we spend at BBQs and parades or just enjoying the extra long weekend.

The average life expectancy is 8th in the world at 81.16 years while the United States is 46th at 78.14. Butter tarts, poutine and ketchup chips are among the long list of snacks native to Canada. Our national anthem, originally entitled “Chant National” was first performed in 1880 and Canadian Parliament approved it as the unofficial anthem and renamed it O Canada in 1967 and it became the official anthem on July 1, 1980.

Over 18 million Canadians on Facebook

Though delicious, maple syrup is not our official beverage. 22% of Canadians name French as their first language. The longest border between two countries in the world is between Canada and the U.S. stretching 5,525 miles or 8,891 kilometres and known as the International Boundary. Three quarters of Canadians are online which ranks the country 4th in the world.

Canada is 3,855,103 square miles which makes it the second largest nation by land mass on earth. Remarks such as “please”, “thank-you” and “you’re welcome” are alive and well in Canada. Ice hockey is the country’s official sport. There is evidence of hockey being played in this part of the world dating back to the 10th century. The rules of the game were first published in 1877 in the newspaper The Montreal Gazette.

Loonies and Twoonies

Canada is the 9th in population density and has the 14th largest Gross National Product in the world. Besides being home to animals such as moose and grizzly bears, Canada has over 50,000 species of insects and more than 10,000 species of spiders and mites. Newfoundland was the first area of the country visited by European explorers but the last to become an official province.

23% of Canadians search LinkedIn for job opportunities. We say a-bout not a-boot. Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles or 243,976 kilometers. The population of Canada just over 34 million.

Beer and Basketball

Although symbolic, the regent of England, Queen Elizabeth II, is the Canadian head of state. The Moosehead Brewery of Saint John, New Brunswick produces over 1,600 bottles a minute. James Naismith, born in Almonte, Ontario just outside of the capital city of Ottawa invented basketball to give his YMCA students more exercise in 1892. At 74, Naismith attended the 1936 Olympic Games to witness the first time basketball was in the competition.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were formed in 1873. Today there are over 28,000 members. We eat more than 350,000 tons of cheese every year. That’s close to 24 pounds each. Canada has universal health care. From its opening in 1976 until being eclipsed in 2007, the CN Tower in Toronto was the worlds largest free standing structure. Canada is the most multi-cultural country on earth.

Happy Canada Day!

Kneale Mann

image credit: lancasteronline