One of the Intertech Foundation’s focuses is the inspiration of young people towards the building of science, engineering and technology skills.
The 2019 STEM scholarship application deadline is March 15th and is for students interested in pursuing careers as professional software developers. This opportunity is aimed at current college students or college-bound high school seniors, who have excelled in the areas of Math and Science, to pursue college studies in the area of computer science.
If you’ve read my book, The 100: Building Blocks for Business
Leadership, or just read my posts here from time to time, you know I
highly value work-life balance. In fact, that’s the topic of the very first
chapter in The 100. Achieving balance
means working efficiently, having discipline and knowing how to prioritize and
focus.
A recent special edition of Harvard Business Review (sort of an HBR “Best of”) includes an
intriguing article, ‘Train Your Brain to Focus” by Paul Hammerness and Margaret
Moore (co-authors of the book, Organize
Your Life, Organize Your Mind: Train Your Brain to Get More Done in Less Time).
I read it with relish and indulged in a bit of guilty
pleasure when some of my own long-held views were validated by research.
Chiefly, multi-tasking is a myth. Sure, you can try to do multiple things at
once, but there’s a price. As Hammerness and Moore report “. . .
(multi-tasking) makes us more likely to make mistakes and miss important
information and cues, and less likely to retain information in our working
memory, which impairs problem solving and creativity.”
So when you tell your kids to turn off the video games while
doing their homework, you’re not being a curmudgeon – you’re teaching them an
important lesson in training their brains to focus. When it comes to your team,
you can insist on distraction-free meetings—ban laptops, mobile phones, tablets
and other gadgets. They might resist, but when creativity and thoughtful input
increases you’ll know you’re on the right track.
Easy enough, right? Sure, when you control all the
variables. But life often throws us—and our employees—curveballs: events that
trigger emotions like anxiety, sadness, anger and more. Functional brain images
reveal that these negative emotions make it extremely difficult to solve
problems or do other cognitive work.
But the authors offer a useful exercise to help keep our
brains on task when negativity threatens to derail our focus and it’s as easy
as A-B-C. They advise:
Awareness
of your options. You can stop what you’re doing and address the distraction, or
you can let it go.
Breathe
deeply and consider your options.
Choose
thoughtfully: stop or go?
Only a monster boss would expect any employee to keep
cranking when a loved dies or similarly
devastating news is received. But less drastic negative events can be managed,
the authors argue, by taking the time to decide how to react, versus simply
reacting.
I also appreciated their practical advice to start meetings
with a bit of humor (not that I’d ever tell a joke myself of course!). Turns
out “positive emotions improve everyone’s brain function, leading to better
teamwork and problem solving.”
Who knew?
Next time: Avoiding the Downside of Too Much Focus
If you pay attention to the political news, it’s easy to believe that disrespectful dialog has replaced baseball as the national pastime. While I’m a firm believer in the power of debate and discussion to generate better decisions, I do not believe what’s happening in D.C. is productive.
All people, and business leaders, must stand up for what’s right. Problem is, many business people – me included – do not like to take stands because we do not wish to risk offending others (including customers, potential customers and even employees).
But standing up for what’s right without being offensive is possible: we’ve seen it done countless times on television by the imitable Fred Rogers. We all remember Mister Rogers as the gentle, affable man who created “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” on PBS.
Fred Rogers was as warm as his famous cardigan sweaters, but he didn’t shy away from controversy. He tackled complex social issues and was a strong advocate for anti-discrimination and equal rights. This was highlighted in the recent documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” which recounts the episode when he soaked his feet alongside an African-American police officer in a kiddie pool. This was controversial because segregation was still widespread in America at the time.
Fred Rogers did not give fiery speeches (but he did testify before Congress on behalf of funding public television for children), he just did the right thing and led by example. So, I have a modest proposal for my fellow citizens and business leaders: let your actions speak for you.
My company uses technology to help clients achieve important business objectives. But we also dedicate resources (time and dollars) supporting non-profit organizations focused on the common good. From volunteerism, employee matching gifts and student scholarships, to starting the Intertech Foundation, our philanthropic efforts allow us to speak up through action for positive community values: compassion, opportunity and education.
Most recently the Intertech Foundation became a philanthropic supporter of a local children’s hospice named Crescent Cove. I liked Crescent Cove because we’d be making an impact in the community where we lived and they’re the first nonprofit in the Twin Cities to offer hospice services for kids. In the past, we’ve also supported the local Ronald McDonald House.
So, let’s be kind and inclusive. Better yet, let’s use our personal and professional actions to create the world we want to see for future generations – one that provides a place for everyone to belong and contribute. Who knows, it might even be good for business!
Below are my top five resources and posts for 2018:
The 100 Downloads: A set of 30 templates, checklists, and other tools that support ideas in my book The 100.
Software
Development: Being Agile: Written as
a part of a series on software development, this piece covers the benefits of
Agile and Scrum.
Father’s Day: On Father’s Day this year, I wrote a testament
to my dad as a father and man.
Getting Curious Gets
Results: Inspired by a
Harvard Business Review article, here are thoughts on how curiosity can improve
our business and our lives.
How
CEOs Manage Time: Also inspired by a
Harvard Business Review article, I share my $0.02 on how to effectively manage
time/life.
Below are my top five articles in other publications for 2018:
If you pay attention to the political news, it’s easy to believe that disrespectful dialog has replaced baseball as the national pastime. While I’m a firm believer in the power of debate and discussion to generate better decisions, I do not believe what’s happening in D.C. is productive.
My thanks to Minnesota Business Magazine for printing my article