Sleep No More, Zimbardo and Milgram

Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo are two recognized psychologists that conducted a some of the most famous social experiments in history to try to better understand human behavior.   What they were trying to prove in their own ways was that behavior can be significantly altered by your surroundings, and a certain environment will induce you to behave in ways that you would not expect to under normal circumstances.  

Enter Sleep No More, a fascinating and different type of theater play, created by an group called Punchdrunk.  Instead of attendees sitting and watching the show in traditional style, they are given masks, walk through rooms, decide when to interact with actors, follow actors into rooms, and even eat and drink.   Every decision the viewer makes shapes your experience, and by being anonymous participants do things that they would normally not do.   Often, at the end of the show, attendees are surprised of their actions.

Read all about behavior, your surroundings and Sleep No More in the latest Freakonomics podcast, Fear Thy Nature.

Are you sure you would act as usual, if your surroundings change significantly?

The Flip a Coin With a Twist Method

Ever been in a dilemma, and have no idea what to do?

When implications are so big that even an conflict resolution diagram will not help you find an answer, there is always the traditional "flip a coin" advice.  But is it really effective?

Although flipping a coin may feel that you are leaving your decisions to randomness, there is an alternative method with a twist, that includes your gut feelings.

Making  decisions is part of life.   When unable to decide, the flip a coin with a twist may help you out.

So what will it be?  Heads or Tails?

Instant America Infographic

In a world were information can be accessed immediately with the tap of a finger, the click of a mouse or a couple of keystrokes, have you asked yourself how the instantaneous world we live in has changed our behavior?

OnlineGraduatePrograms.com created an interesting infographic that shows how impatient we have all become.  To illustrate through an example:

• 1 in 4 people abandon a website that takes more than four seconds to load.

The internet has become as essential as electrical power, one of the great inventions of the ultimate geek.

I just have to wonder what Nikola would have done with the internet.

Are You A Linchpin?

If you don't know about Seth Godin's Linchpins, maybe Hugh's illustration can help to understand the gist of it.

Bottom line:  Are you indispensable?  If not, what are you doing about it?

The Laws of Subtraction - Free Preview

Matt May, the former Toyota consultant and innovation expert, is in the process of writing his newest book, The Laws of Subtraction.

Matt has reminded us over the years that what constitutes an elegant solution is the ability to remove excess detail, and even leave some things unresolved so that users can fill in the blanks.  The Laws of Subtraction guide us through three critical choices inherent in every difficult decision in business, work and life:

• What to pursue versus what to ignore?
• What to leave in versus what to leave out?
• What to do versus what to don’t?

You can download a free preview of his new book, were the Laws of Subtraction are discussed:

• What isn’t there can often trump what is.
• The simplest rules create the most effective experience.
• Limiting information engages the imagination.
• Creativity thrives under intelligent constraints.
• Break is the important part of breakthrough.
• Doing something isn’t always better than doing nothing.

In a world were time is limited, it is essential to decide what not to focus on, and just subtract it from your life.

TEDs Top 20 Talks of All Time

You've probably watched many TED videos before.

If not, TED was a venture started in 1984, as an annual conference with speakers sharing new ideas about Technology and Design.   Afterward, it's objective was to promote "ideas worth sharing" about different topics that impact our life, and has featured speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Clinton, Larry Page and many other celebrities.

Regardless of your acquaintance with TED videos, it might be worth your while to look at the top 20 TED Videos of all time.

Do you have any ideas worth sharing?

Dan Pink's Inspirational Quotes

We all need some inspiration from time to time.   Need some?  Check out the three quotes that author Dan Pink keeps on this wall.

“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.”– Viktor Frankl

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”– Steve Jobs

“Being a professional is doing the things you love to do — even on the days you don’t feel like doing it.”– Julius Erving

If you haven't read Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, please do.