UPS just dropped my next 3 books. All three from Malcolm Gladwell
August 1, 2009 at 11:52 pm | In Books, Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: Amazon, blink, change, decision making, genius, geniuses, Malcolm Gladwell, moral animal, Nonzero, Outliers, robert wright, the moral animal, The Tipping Point, tipping point, Wikinomics
Hi everyone!
I arrived home from a day trip to Hershey Park, PA and found the three books I ordrered by Amazon in the mail. The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers. All from Malcolm Gladwell. I’m really exited 
(I have been thinking of getting a Kindle, but the feeling I had today when I opened my mail is not going to be matched downloading an e-Book. I babysat them for over an hour and I WROTE A POST even before reading the intro. No e-Book reader for now.
Expect some posts permeated with this ideas in the near future. I have the gut feeling that It’s going to be as enlightening as reading one of my last triad of books. Nonzero, The Moral Animal (link to previous article) and Wikinomics.
Have you read any of Gladwell’s? What did you think? I’ve read that Blink’s underlying theories need a little polishing.
In the case you haven’t heard about this books, specially The Tipping Point, here’s a few words: Continue reading UPS just dropped my next 3 books. All three from Malcolm Gladwell…
@ work don’t give orders. Empower!
July 28, 2009 at 4:41 am | In HR, Management, Work | 9 CommentsTags: ask, chain of command, challenge, change, co-workers, commitment, communication, cooperation, decision making, efficacy, efficiency, empower, empowerment, feedback, give orders, goals, how to, how to empower, ideas, job, Management, motivation, opinions, orders, organizational chart, pro-activeness, problem, Work
I learnt something today.
Yesterday I had a meeting with the director of my program in which we agreed to make some minor changes in my unit. Today I broke the news to my team and they weren’t welcome very cheerfully, especially by veteran staff. Why? Obviously (now that I have time to think), people doesn’t like being told what to do. They are not kids (kids don’t like it either). Even if you say it in the nicest tone, in them it’s going to resonate as if you were howling orders. People who occupy the lower levels of the organizational chart often know and are aware of things that the management levels can’t see. There’s a problem of distance. As you go up, your scope gets more macro and with this comes a loss; you start losing detail. The micro stuff starts to become more difficult to see and directly control. Sometimes, when we are pursuing a lofty goal we lose sight of the elements that give shape to that plan, thus crippling its efficiency and efficacy. Losing the feedback and cooperation of the people in the lower links in the chain of command is something that can’t be afforded.
While attempting to communicate the new bearing I made two big mistakes. First, I gave a command. Secondly, I left no space for constructive feedback or dissent. I dis-empowered (if the word exists. If it doesn’t; Mr. Webster, please add it to your book) the people I work with every day. So I’ve decided that from now on I’m following this 4 simple steps. Continue reading @ work don’t give orders. Empower!…
A bilingual environment affects infant development, changes personality
June 22, 2009 at 3:37 am | In Daily Life, discoveries, psychology, research | 6 CommentsTags: adolescents, bilingual, bilingual environment, brain, change, children, cognitive, cognitive development, development, evolutive, executive function, experience, household, infant, kids, language, learning, life, mental retardation, mild, mind, pathology, personality, physiological, research, youngsters
Have you ever wondered if there was any difference in human brain development or change in personality when a person has grown up in a bilingual household or environment?
Researchers from Baruch College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, studied how bilingual people’s personality is unconsciously affected when switching languages, according to an article published by Reuters.
Also, a team of experts from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste affirms that in order to cope with the two languages they deal with, infants have to develop their executive function sooner to adapt to that particular environment. Thus, cognitive development is boosted in that area.
Is your baby going to be a smarter guy? Cognitively speaking, he won’t be smarter, but he’ll grow to become a much more flexible person. According to research done by Patricia Kuhl, from the University of Washington “bilingual people aren’t cognitively smarter, but they are more cognitively flexible,” [...] “Practice at constant switching improves an aspect of their cognitive abilities. They become more facile at adjusting to new situations and inventing new situations.”
There is an intimate relationship between who we are and how we express ourselves . The way we speak and think determines who we are. Languages are structured in different ways, thus our way of thinking will be different. The good news is that potentially we can be more than one of us without the “stress of having Dissociative Identity Disorder” 
Future Shock. Too much change in a too short period of time
April 10, 2009 at 9:00 pm | In Daily Life, Society | 1 CommentTags: acceleration of time, change, communications, Future Shock, globalization, internet, mass media, news, online world, product life cycles, real time, social trends, technological advances, wired world
Times are changing, they always are. The particularity nowadays, is that things are changing faster than ever almost everywhere.
Alvin Toffler coined the term “Future Shock”. He referred to it as a “personal perception of too much change in a too short period of time”.
We are experiencing an immediacy of the future. The future is no longer in the future, or at least not as distant as it used to be. One other issue is that with the state of things, we are already witnessing or seeing the future before it happens (which also makes it feel closer). No, I haven’t built a time machine… yet. Think about this. Every time a new product goes out to the market we already know with quite some time in advance how that product is going to be, what’s it going to do, how it’s going to look like. And this happens because since the start of the R&D process, developers and manufacturers are already advertising or giving updates on that product.
Think about product life cycles. For how long did you keep the TV that you bought in the 80s? Remember your first walkman? Mine lasted for almost 8 years. Since 2001 when the 1st iPod came out I have already owned 4 of them, and I’m thinking of replacing mine with an iPhone soon. Continue reading Future Shock. Too much change in a too short period of time…
Psychoanalysis: yesterday vs. today. Why we need to adapt to our new world
April 1, 2009 at 2:14 am | In Psychoanalysis, Society, psychology, therapy | 6 CommentsTags: adapt, change, cognitive psychology, cognitive sciences, culture, evolutionar, evolutionary psychology, fantasies, Freud, freudian, mind, modern world, post modern world, Psychoanalysis, Society, unconscious, victorian society, WWI
How do I start? It´s gonna be difficult to write this post in a way that everyone can ready it and at the same time don´t commit heresy by not being rigorous and awaken the wrath of my colleagues.
Also, I don´t want to get into the “politics” of Freudian Psychoanalysis and the “war” it´s into against other branches of Psychology such as cognitive sciences.
The point I´m trying to prove is that Freudian Psychoanalysis and the people who study and has studied it (me included) have some points and miss some others.
I think Freud was dead right regarding the dynamics of the unconscious mind (the existence of unconscious processes is not arguable). (mental note: avoid being technical) Once you understand the theory and articulate it, you can trace behaviors back to its´ elemental state. It´s a tool to comprehend how the human (animal) mind functions while in contact with culture.
The error (I´m not being modest here, sorry) I often see, is that its´ application to our “real world” (I´m really using those two words very loosely) often fail. And why do I think so? Continue reading Psychoanalysis: yesterday vs. today. Why we need to adapt to our new world…
Psychologist. Currently working as a Program Coordinator in the Devereux Foundation in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
I studied at the University of Buenos Aires. My professional experience includes working in HR for HSBC Bank Argentina and in two mental health facilities performing psychological evaluations.
Management, social media and tech are my other interests and I’m always keeping myself updated with cutting edge information. If this also interests you, follow me to my other blog http://tek-topic.com/
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