The Happy Secret to Better Work

Shawn Achor | “We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backwards? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk from TEDxBloomington, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that actually happiness inspires productivity.”

I think I should pause to celebrate the occasion
That today I discovered the meaning of life
Is not in the answer, or in how I would reckon it.
It is in the asking:
What is the meaning of *our* life?
That is the only question that can stretch to hold
All of the askers, and all of the answers.
A Walk in the Park
To be sure, focusing beyond the single bottom line does not necessarily imply forgetting about the “profit motive.” However, it does mean transcending it toward a mode of wealth and wellbeing creation that pursues personal, social, cultural, and ecological benefits and wholeness in addition to financial results… This dimension is the oxygen of business, but to view it as the sole purpose and meaning for existence rather than to use it as a means for accomplishing great things is to grossly underconceptualize our potential.
Alexander Lazslo and Kathia Castro Laszlo, ”Systemic Sustainability in OD Practice”                                   

magnolius:

Trash sculptures/portraits by French artist  Bernard Pras - Bernard creates various portraits made entirely out of trash and found objects. Check out his site for more.

The Syrian government is cracking down on dissidents, as evidenced by this hole in the wall of a convent.  The government claims that terrorists are responsible for the damage.

The Syrian government is cracking down on dissidents, as evidenced by this hole in the wall of a convent.  The government claims that terrorists are responsible for the damage.

I am thankful for good, challenging work to do and the learning curve that comes with it.  I am thankful for a group of crazy writers who are companions in word-smithing.  I am thankful for whoever is responsible for the cotton that somehow made it from a field into a factory into a sweater into my hands onto my body on a cold day like this.  And I am thankful for my wife, who folded it and put it away yesterday on the shelves she installed in our bedroom.

Beginning the Learning Event | Chardin 145 | January 28th 2012

Beginning the Learning Event | Chardin 145 | January 28th 2012

Open the video in a new window to see it.

I reject the notion that a corporation is a person.  Why?  Because the interests of any individual in a particular company are diffused into one overriding goal: profit.  One’s ability or invitation to compete relies on one’s willingness to “play the game” of acquiescing to the desires of one’s superiors within the organization, or, ultimately, its shareholders.  To insist on another set of rules based on equity, equality, ecology, or even humanity is to eject one’s self from the system.  The system dictates the rules.  Thus we are stripped of rights and intrinsic dignity, while some insist on those rights for corporations. 

I am realizing that the cultivation of visual skills learned in OSR—in settings ranging from design to business to communication—is strategic, and is coherent with the transition that the world has been making for the last twenty years.