The following information is used for educational purposes only.
Joe Kowan: How I beat stage fright
Filmed Nov 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TED@State Street
Humanity's fine-tuned sense of fear served us well as a young species, giving us laser focus to avoid being eaten by competing beasts. But it's less wonderful when that same visceral, body-hijacking sense of fear kicks in in front of 20 folk-music fans at a Tuesday night open-mic. Palms sweat, hands shake, vision blurs, and the brain says RUN: it's stage fright. In this charming, tuneful little talk, Joe Kowan talks about how he conquered it.
By day he's a graphic designer, and by night Joe Kowan is a quirky folk singer-songwriter.
Transcript:
Joe Kowan: I have stage fright. I've always had stage fright, and not just a little bit, it's a big bit. And it didn't even matter until I was 27. That's when I started writing songs, and even then I only played them for myself. Just knowing my roommates were in the same house made me uncomfortable.
But after a couple of years, just writing songs wasn't enough. I had all these stories and ideas, and I wanted to share them with people, but physiologically, I couldn't do it. I had this irrational fear. But the more I wrote, and the more I practiced, the more I wanted to perform.
So on the week of my 30th birthday, I decided I was going to go to this local open mic, and put this fear behind me. Well, when I got there, it was packed. There were like 20 people there. (Laughter) And they all looked angry. But I took a deep breath, and I signed up to play, and I felt pretty good.
Pretty good, until about 10 minutes before my turn, when my whole body rebelled, and this wave of anxiety just washed over me. Now, when you experience fear, your sympathetic nervous system kicks in. So you have a rush of adrenaline, your heart rate increases, your breathing gets faster. Next your non-essential systems start to shut down, like digestion. (Laughter) So your mouth gets dry, and blood is routed away from your extremities, so your fingers don't work anymore. Your pupils dilate, your muscles contract, your Spidey sense tingles, basically your whole body is trigger-happy. (Laughter) That condition is not conducive to performing folk music. (Laughter) I mean, your nervous system is an idiot. Really? Two hundred thousand years of human evolution, and it still can't tell the difference between a saber tooth tiger and 20 folksingers on a Tuesday night open mic? (Laughter) I have never been more terrified -- until now. (Laughter and cheers)
So then it was my turn, and somehow, I get myself onto the stage, I start my song, I open my mouth to sing the first line, and this completely horrible vibrato -- you know, when your voice wavers -- comes streaming out. And this is not the good kind of vibrato, like an opera singer has, this is my whole body just convulsing with fear. I mean, it's a nightmare. I'm embarrassed, the audience is clearly uncomfortable, they're focused on my discomfort. It was so bad. But that was my first real experience as a solo singer-songwriter.
And something good did happen -- I had the tiniest little glimpse of that audience connection that I was hoping for. And I wanted more. But I knew I had to get past this nervousness.
That night I promised myself: I would go back every week until I wasn't nervous anymore. And I did. I went back every single week, and sure enough, week after week, it didn't get any better. The same thing happened every week. (Laughter) I couldn't shake it.
And that's when I had an epiphany. And I remember it really well, because I don't have a lot of epiphanies. (Laughter) All I had to do was write a song that exploits my nervousness. That only seems authentic when I have stage fright, and the more nervous I was, the better the song would be. Easy. So I started writing a song about having stage fright. First, fessing up to the problem, the physical manifestations, how I would feel, how the listener might feel. And then accounting for things like my shaky voice, and I knew I would be singing about a half-octave higher than normal, because I was nervous. By having a song that explained what was happening to me, while it was happening, that gave the audience permission to think about it. They didn't have to feel bad for me because I was nervous, they could experience that with me, and we were all one big happy, nervous, uncomfortable family. (Laughter)
By thinking about my audience, by embracing and exploiting my problem, I was able to take something that was blocking my progress, and turn it into something that was essential for my success. And having the stage fright song let me get past that biggest issue right in the beginning of a performance. And then I could move on, and play the rest of my songs with just a little bit more ease. And eventually, over time, I didn't have to play the stage fright song at all. Except for when I was really nervous, like now. (Laughter)
Would it be okay if I played the stage fright song for you? (Applause)
Can I have a sip of water? (Music) Thank you.
♫ I'm not joking, you know, ♫ ♫ this stage fright is real. ♫ ♫ And if I'm up here trembling and singing, ♫ ♫ well, you'll know how I feel. ♫ ♫ And the mistake I'd be making, ♫ ♫ the tremolo caused by my whole body shaking. ♫ ♫ As you sit there feeling embarrassed for me, ♫ ♫ well, you don't have to be. ♫ ♫ Well, maybe just a little bit. ♫ (Laughter) ♫ And maybe I'll try to imagine you all without clothes. ♫ ♫ But singing in front of all naked strangers scares me more than anyone knows. ♫ ♫ Not to discuss this at length, ♫ ♫ but my body image was never my strength. ♫ ♫ So frankly, I wish that you all would get dressed, ♫ ♫ I mean, you're not even really naked. ♫ ♫ And I'm the one with the problem. ♫ ♫ And you tell me, don't worry so much, you'll be great. ♫ ♫ But I'm the one living with me ♫ ♫ and I know how I get. ♫ ♫ Your advice is gentle but late. ♫ ♫ If not just a bit patronizing. ♫ ♫ And that sarcastic tone doesn't help me when I sing. ♫ ♫ But we shouldn't talk about these things right now, ♫ ♫ really, I'm up on stage, and you're in the crowd. Hi. ♫ ♫ And I'm not making fun of a nurtured, rational fear, ♫ ♫ and if I wasn't ready to face this, ♫ ♫ I sure as hell wouldn't be here. ♫ ♫ But if I belt one note out clearly, ♫ ♫ you'll know I'm recovering slowly but surely. ♫ ♫ And maybe next week, I'll set my guitar ringin' ♫ ♫ my voice clear as water, and everyone singin'. ♫ ♫ But probably I'll just get up and start groovin', ♫ ♫ my vocal cords movin', ♫ ♫ at speeds slightly faster than sound. ♫ (Applause)
In this blog, teachers, students and all those who have some kind of interest in the English language will find useful, interesting, curious and funny things to be used in their classes or for their personal enjoyment.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
HEALTH/MED/GralInt-TED Talks-Paula Johnson: His and hers … healthcare
The following information is used for educational purposes only.
Paula Johnson: His and hers … healthcare
Filmed Dec 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TEDWomen 2013
Every cell in the human body has a sex, which means that men and women are different right down to the cellular level. Yet too often, research and medicine ignore this insight -- and the often startlingly different ways in which the two sexes respond to disease or treatment. As pioneering doctor Paula Johnson describes in this thought-provoking talk, lumping everyone in together means we essentially leave women's health to chance. It's time to rethink.
Dr. Paula Johnson is a pioneer in looking at health from a woman's perspective.
Transcript:
Some of my most wonderful memories of childhood are of spending time with my grandmother, Mamar, in our four-family home in Brooklyn, New York. Her apartment was an oasis. It was a place where I could sneak a cup of coffee, which was really warm milk with just a touch of caffeine. She loved life. And although she worked in a factory, she saved her pennies and she traveled to Europe. And I remember poring over those pictures with her and then dancing with her to her favorite music.
And then, when I was eight and she was 60, something changed. She no longer worked or traveled. She no longer danced. There were no more coffee times. My mother missed work and took her to doctors who couldn't make a diagnosis. And my father, who worked at night, would spend every afternoon with her, just to make sure she ate.
Her care became all-consuming for our family. And by the time a diagnosis was made, she was in a deep spiral.
Now many of you will recognize her symptoms. My grandmother had depression. A deep, life-altering depression, from which she never recovered. And back then, so little was known about depression.
But even today, 50 years later, there's still so much more to learn. Today, we know that women are 70 percent more likely to experience depression over their lifetimes compared with men. And even with this high prevalence, women are misdiagnosed between 30 and 50 percent of the time.
Now we know that women are more likely to experience the symptoms of fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain and anxiety compared with men. And these symptoms are often overlooked as symptoms of depression.
And it isn't only depression in which these sex differences occur, but they occur across so many diseases.
So it's my grandmother's struggles that have really led me on a lifelong quest. And today, I lead a center in which the mission is to discover why these sex differences occur and to use that knowledge to improve the health of women.
Today, we know that every cell has a sex. Now, that's a term coined by the Institute of Medicine. And what it means is that men and women are different down to the cellular and molecular levels. It means that we're different across all of our organs. From our brains to our hearts, our lungs, our joints.
Now, it was only 20 years ago that we hardly had any data on women's health beyond our reproductive functions. But then in 1993, the NIH Revitalization Act was signed into law. And what this law did was it mandated that women and minorities be included in clinical trials that were funded by the National Institutes of Health. And in many ways, the law has worked. Women are now routinely included in clinical studies, and we've learned that there are major differences in the ways that women and men experience disease. But remarkably, what we have learned about these differences is often overlooked.
So, we have to ask ourselves the question: Why leave women's health to chance? And we're leaving it to chance in two ways. The first is that there is so much more to learn and we're not making the investment in fully understanding the extent of these sex differences. And the second is that we aren't taking what we have learned, and routinely applying it in clinical care. We are just not doing enough.
So, I'm going to share with you three examples of where sex differences have impacted the health of women, and where we need to do more.
Let's start with heart disease. It's the number one killer of women in the United States today. This is the face of heart disease. Linda is a middle-aged woman, who had a stent placed in one of the arteries going to her heart. When she had recurring symptoms she went back to her doctor. Her doctor did the gold standard test: a cardiac catheterization. It showed no blockages. Linda's symptoms continued. She had to stop working. And that's when she found us. When Linda came to us, we did another cardiac catheterization and this time, we found clues. But we needed another test to make the diagnosis. So we did a test called an intracoronary ultrasound, where you use soundwaves to look at the artery from the inside out.
And what we found was that Linda's disease didn't look like the typical male disease. The typical male disease looks like this. There's a discrete blockage or stenosis. Linda's disease, like the disease of so many women, looks like this. The plaque is laid down more evenly, more diffusely along the artery, and it's harder to see. So for Linda, and for so many women, the gold standard test wasn't gold.
Now, Linda received the right treatment. She went back to her life and, fortunately, today she is doing well. But Linda was lucky. She found us, we found her disease.
But for too many women, that's not the case. We have the tools. We have the technology to make the diagnosis. But it's all too often that these sex diffferences are overlooked.
So what about treatment? A landmark study that was published two years ago asked the very important question: What are the most effective treatments for heart disease in women? The authors looked at papers written over a 10-year period, and hundreds had to be thrown out. And what they found out was that of those that were tossed out, 65 percent were excluded because even though women were included in the studies, the analysis didn't differentiate between women and men. What a lost opportunity. The money had been spent and we didn't learn how women fared. And these studies could not contribute one iota to the very, very important question, what are the most effective treatments for heart disease in women?
I want to introduce you to Hortense, my godmother, Hung Wei, a relative of a colleague, and somebody you may recognize -- Dana, Christopher Reeve's wife. All three women have something very important in common. All three were diagnosed with lung cancer, the number one cancer killer of women in the United States today. All three were nonsmokers. Sadly, Dana and Hung Wei died of their disease. Today, what we know is that women who are nonsmokers are three times more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than are men who are nonsmokers. Now interestingly, when women are diagnosed with lung cancer, their survival tends to be better than that of men. Now, here are some clues. Our investigators have found that there are certain genes in the lung tumor cells of both women and men. And these genes are activated mainly by estrogen. And when these genes are over-expressed, it's associated with improved survival only in young women. Now this is a very early finding and we don't yet know whether it has relevance to clinical care. But it's findings like this that may provide hope and may provide an opportunity to save lives of both women and men.
Now, let me share with you an example of when we do consider sex differences, it can drive the science. Several years ago a new lung cancer drug was being evaluated, and when the authors looked at whose tumors shrank, they found that 82 percent were women. This led them to ask the question: Well, why? And what they found was that the genetic mutations that the drug targeted were far more common in women. And what this has led to is a more personalized approach to the treatment of lung cancer that also includes sex.
This is what we can accomplish when we don't leave women's health to chance. We know that when you invest in research, you get results. Take a look at the death rate from breast cancer over time. And now take a look at the death rates from lung cancer in women over time. Now let's look at the dollars invested in breast cancer -- these are the dollars invested per death -- and the dollars invested in lung cancer. Now, it's clear that our investment in breast cancer has produced results. They may not be fast enough, but it has produced results. We can do the same for lung cancer and for every other disease.
So let's go back to depression. Depression is the number one cause of disability in women in the world today. Our investigators have found that there are differences in the brains of women and men in the areas that are connected with mood. And when you put men and women in a functional MRI scanner -- that's the kind of scanner that shows how the brain is functioning when it's activated -- so you put them in the scanner and you expose them to stress. You can actually see the difference. And it's findings like this that we believe hold some of the clues for why we see these very significant sex differences in depression.
But even though we know that these differences occur, 66 percent of the brain research that begins in animals is done in either male animals or animals in whom the sex is not identified.
So, I think we have to ask again the question: Why leave women's health to chance? And this is a question that haunts those of us in science and medicine who believe that we are on the verge of being able to dramatically improve the health of women. We know that every cell has a sex. We know that these differences are often overlooked. And therefore we know that women are not getting the full benefit of modern science and medicine today. We have the tools but we lack the collective will and momentum.
Women's health is an equal rights issue as important as equal pay. And it's an issue of the quality and the integrity of science and medicine. (Applause) So imagine the momentum we could achieve in advancing the health of women if we considered whether these sex differences were present at the very beginning of designing research. Or if we analyzed our data by sex.
So, people often ask me: What can I do? And here's what I suggest: First, I suggest that you think about women's health in the same way that you think and care about other causes that are important to you. And second, and equally as important, that as a woman, you have to ask your doctor and the doctors who are caring for those who you love: Is this disease or treatment different in women? Now, this is a profound question because the answer is likely yes, but your doctor may not know the answer, at least not yet. But if you ask the question, your doctor will very likely go looking for the answer. And this is so important, not only for ourselves, but for all of those whom we love. Whether it be a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend or a grandmother.
It was my grandmother's suffering that inspired my work to improve the health of women. That's her legacy. Our legacy can be to improve the health of women for this generation and for generations to come.
Thank you. (Applause)
Paula Johnson: His and hers … healthcare
Filmed Dec 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TEDWomen 2013
Every cell in the human body has a sex, which means that men and women are different right down to the cellular level. Yet too often, research and medicine ignore this insight -- and the often startlingly different ways in which the two sexes respond to disease or treatment. As pioneering doctor Paula Johnson describes in this thought-provoking talk, lumping everyone in together means we essentially leave women's health to chance. It's time to rethink.
Dr. Paula Johnson is a pioneer in looking at health from a woman's perspective.
Transcript:
Some of my most wonderful memories of childhood are of spending time with my grandmother, Mamar, in our four-family home in Brooklyn, New York. Her apartment was an oasis. It was a place where I could sneak a cup of coffee, which was really warm milk with just a touch of caffeine. She loved life. And although she worked in a factory, she saved her pennies and she traveled to Europe. And I remember poring over those pictures with her and then dancing with her to her favorite music.
And then, when I was eight and she was 60, something changed. She no longer worked or traveled. She no longer danced. There were no more coffee times. My mother missed work and took her to doctors who couldn't make a diagnosis. And my father, who worked at night, would spend every afternoon with her, just to make sure she ate.
Her care became all-consuming for our family. And by the time a diagnosis was made, she was in a deep spiral.
Now many of you will recognize her symptoms. My grandmother had depression. A deep, life-altering depression, from which she never recovered. And back then, so little was known about depression.
But even today, 50 years later, there's still so much more to learn. Today, we know that women are 70 percent more likely to experience depression over their lifetimes compared with men. And even with this high prevalence, women are misdiagnosed between 30 and 50 percent of the time.
Now we know that women are more likely to experience the symptoms of fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain and anxiety compared with men. And these symptoms are often overlooked as symptoms of depression.
And it isn't only depression in which these sex differences occur, but they occur across so many diseases.
So it's my grandmother's struggles that have really led me on a lifelong quest. And today, I lead a center in which the mission is to discover why these sex differences occur and to use that knowledge to improve the health of women.
Today, we know that every cell has a sex. Now, that's a term coined by the Institute of Medicine. And what it means is that men and women are different down to the cellular and molecular levels. It means that we're different across all of our organs. From our brains to our hearts, our lungs, our joints.
Now, it was only 20 years ago that we hardly had any data on women's health beyond our reproductive functions. But then in 1993, the NIH Revitalization Act was signed into law. And what this law did was it mandated that women and minorities be included in clinical trials that were funded by the National Institutes of Health. And in many ways, the law has worked. Women are now routinely included in clinical studies, and we've learned that there are major differences in the ways that women and men experience disease. But remarkably, what we have learned about these differences is often overlooked.
So, we have to ask ourselves the question: Why leave women's health to chance? And we're leaving it to chance in two ways. The first is that there is so much more to learn and we're not making the investment in fully understanding the extent of these sex differences. And the second is that we aren't taking what we have learned, and routinely applying it in clinical care. We are just not doing enough.
So, I'm going to share with you three examples of where sex differences have impacted the health of women, and where we need to do more.
Let's start with heart disease. It's the number one killer of women in the United States today. This is the face of heart disease. Linda is a middle-aged woman, who had a stent placed in one of the arteries going to her heart. When she had recurring symptoms she went back to her doctor. Her doctor did the gold standard test: a cardiac catheterization. It showed no blockages. Linda's symptoms continued. She had to stop working. And that's when she found us. When Linda came to us, we did another cardiac catheterization and this time, we found clues. But we needed another test to make the diagnosis. So we did a test called an intracoronary ultrasound, where you use soundwaves to look at the artery from the inside out.
And what we found was that Linda's disease didn't look like the typical male disease. The typical male disease looks like this. There's a discrete blockage or stenosis. Linda's disease, like the disease of so many women, looks like this. The plaque is laid down more evenly, more diffusely along the artery, and it's harder to see. So for Linda, and for so many women, the gold standard test wasn't gold.
Now, Linda received the right treatment. She went back to her life and, fortunately, today she is doing well. But Linda was lucky. She found us, we found her disease.
But for too many women, that's not the case. We have the tools. We have the technology to make the diagnosis. But it's all too often that these sex diffferences are overlooked.
So what about treatment? A landmark study that was published two years ago asked the very important question: What are the most effective treatments for heart disease in women? The authors looked at papers written over a 10-year period, and hundreds had to be thrown out. And what they found out was that of those that were tossed out, 65 percent were excluded because even though women were included in the studies, the analysis didn't differentiate between women and men. What a lost opportunity. The money had been spent and we didn't learn how women fared. And these studies could not contribute one iota to the very, very important question, what are the most effective treatments for heart disease in women?
I want to introduce you to Hortense, my godmother, Hung Wei, a relative of a colleague, and somebody you may recognize -- Dana, Christopher Reeve's wife. All three women have something very important in common. All three were diagnosed with lung cancer, the number one cancer killer of women in the United States today. All three were nonsmokers. Sadly, Dana and Hung Wei died of their disease. Today, what we know is that women who are nonsmokers are three times more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than are men who are nonsmokers. Now interestingly, when women are diagnosed with lung cancer, their survival tends to be better than that of men. Now, here are some clues. Our investigators have found that there are certain genes in the lung tumor cells of both women and men. And these genes are activated mainly by estrogen. And when these genes are over-expressed, it's associated with improved survival only in young women. Now this is a very early finding and we don't yet know whether it has relevance to clinical care. But it's findings like this that may provide hope and may provide an opportunity to save lives of both women and men.
Now, let me share with you an example of when we do consider sex differences, it can drive the science. Several years ago a new lung cancer drug was being evaluated, and when the authors looked at whose tumors shrank, they found that 82 percent were women. This led them to ask the question: Well, why? And what they found was that the genetic mutations that the drug targeted were far more common in women. And what this has led to is a more personalized approach to the treatment of lung cancer that also includes sex.
This is what we can accomplish when we don't leave women's health to chance. We know that when you invest in research, you get results. Take a look at the death rate from breast cancer over time. And now take a look at the death rates from lung cancer in women over time. Now let's look at the dollars invested in breast cancer -- these are the dollars invested per death -- and the dollars invested in lung cancer. Now, it's clear that our investment in breast cancer has produced results. They may not be fast enough, but it has produced results. We can do the same for lung cancer and for every other disease.
So let's go back to depression. Depression is the number one cause of disability in women in the world today. Our investigators have found that there are differences in the brains of women and men in the areas that are connected with mood. And when you put men and women in a functional MRI scanner -- that's the kind of scanner that shows how the brain is functioning when it's activated -- so you put them in the scanner and you expose them to stress. You can actually see the difference. And it's findings like this that we believe hold some of the clues for why we see these very significant sex differences in depression.
But even though we know that these differences occur, 66 percent of the brain research that begins in animals is done in either male animals or animals in whom the sex is not identified.
So, I think we have to ask again the question: Why leave women's health to chance? And this is a question that haunts those of us in science and medicine who believe that we are on the verge of being able to dramatically improve the health of women. We know that every cell has a sex. We know that these differences are often overlooked. And therefore we know that women are not getting the full benefit of modern science and medicine today. We have the tools but we lack the collective will and momentum.
Women's health is an equal rights issue as important as equal pay. And it's an issue of the quality and the integrity of science and medicine. (Applause) So imagine the momentum we could achieve in advancing the health of women if we considered whether these sex differences were present at the very beginning of designing research. Or if we analyzed our data by sex.
So, people often ask me: What can I do? And here's what I suggest: First, I suggest that you think about women's health in the same way that you think and care about other causes that are important to you. And second, and equally as important, that as a woman, you have to ask your doctor and the doctors who are caring for those who you love: Is this disease or treatment different in women? Now, this is a profound question because the answer is likely yes, but your doctor may not know the answer, at least not yet. But if you ask the question, your doctor will very likely go looking for the answer. And this is so important, not only for ourselves, but for all of those whom we love. Whether it be a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend or a grandmother.
It was my grandmother's suffering that inspired my work to improve the health of women. That's her legacy. Our legacy can be to improve the health of women for this generation and for generations to come.
Thank you. (Applause)
BUS/GralInt-TED Talks-Yves Morieux: As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify
The following information is used for educational purposes only.
Yves Morieux: As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify
Filmed Oct 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TED@BCG San Francisco
Why do people feel so miserable and disengaged at work? Because today's businesses are increasingly and dizzyingly complex -- and traditional pillars of management are obsolete, says Yves Morieux. So, he says, it falls to individual employees to navigate the rabbit's warren of interdependencies. In this energetic talk, Morieux offers six rules for "smart simplicity." (Rule One: Understand what your colleagues actually do.)
BCG's Yves Morieux researches how corporations can adapt to a modern and complex business landscape.
Transcript:
I have spent the last years trying to resolve two enigmas: Why is productivity so disappointing in all the companies where I work? I have worked with more than 500 companies. Despite all the technological advances -- computers, I.T., communications, telecommunications, the Internet. Enigma number two: Why is there so little engagement at work? Why do people feel so miserable, even actively disengaged? Disengaging their colleagues. Acting against the interest of their company. Despite all the affiliation events, the celebration, the people initiatives, the leadership development programs to train managers on how to better motivate their teams.
At the beginning, I thought there was a chicken and egg issue: Because people are less engaged, they are less productive. Or vice versa, because they are less productive, we put more pressure and they are less engaged. But as we were doing our analysis we realized that there was a common root cause to these two issues that relates, in fact, to the basic pillars of management. The way we organize is based on two pillars. The hard -- structure, processes, systems. The soft -- feelings, sentiments, interpersonal relationships, traits, personality. And whenever a company reorganizes, restructures, reengineers, goes through a cultural transformation program, it chooses these two pillars. Now, we try to refine them, we try to combine them. The real issue is -- and this is the answer to the two enigmas -- these pillars are obsolete. Everything you read in business books is based either on one or the other or their combination. They are obsolete. How do they work when you try to use these approaches in front of the new complexity of business? The hard approach, basically is that you start from strategy, requirements, structures, processes, systems, KPIs, scorecards, committees, headquarters, hubs, clusters, you name it. I forgot all the matrix, incentives, committees, middle offices and interfaces. What happens basically on the left, you have more complexity, the new complexity of business. We need quality, cost, reliability, speed. And every time there is a new requirement, we use the same approach. We create dedicated structure processed systems, basically to deal with the new complexity of business. The hard approach creates just complicatedness in the organization.
Let's take an example. An automotive company, the engineering division is a five-dimensional matrix. If you open any cell of the matrix, you find another 20-dimensional matrix. You have Mr. Noise, Mr. Petrol Consumption, Mr. Anti-Collision Properties. For any new requirement, you have a dedicated function in charge of aligning engineers against the new requirement. What happens when the new requirement emerges? Some years ago, a new requirement appeared on the marketplace: the length of the warranty period. So therefore the new requirement is repairability, making cars easy to repair. Otherwise when you bring the car to the garage to fix the light, if you have to remove the engine to access the lights, the car will have to stay one week in the garage instead of two hours, and the warranty budget will explode. So, what was the solution using the hard approach? If repairability is the new requirement, the solution is to create a new function, Mr. Repairability. And Mr. Repairability creates the repairability process. With a repairability scorecard, with a repairability matrix and eventually repairability incentive. That came on top of 25 other KPIs. What percentage of these people is variable compensation? Twenty percent at most, divided by 26 KPIs, repairability makes a difference of 0.8 percent. What difference did it make in their actions, their choices to simplify? Zero. But what occurs for zero impact? Mr. Repairability, process, scorecard, evaluation, coordination with the 25 other coordinators to have zero impact.
Now, in front of the new complexity of business, the only solution is not drawing boxes with reporting lines. It is basically the interplay. How the paths work together. The connections, the interactions, the synapses. It is not the skeleton of boxes, it is the nervous system of adaptiveness and intelligence. You know, you could call it cooperation, basically. Whenever people cooperate, they use less resources. In everything. You know, the repairability issue is a cooperation problem. When you design cars, please take into account the needs of those who will repair the cars in the after sales garages. When we don't cooperate we need more time, more equipment, more systems, more teams. We need -- When procurement, supply chain, manufacturing don't cooperate we need more stock, more inventories, more working capital. Who will pay for that? Shareholders? Customers? No, they will refuse. So who is left? The employees, who have to compensate through their super individual efforts for the lack of cooperation. Stress, burnout, they are overwhelmed, accidents. No wonder they disengage. How do the hard and the soft try to foster cooperation? The hard: In banks, when there is a problem between the back office and the front office, they don't cooperate. What is the solution? They create a middle office. What happens one year later? Instead of one problem between the back and the front, now I have two problems. Between the back and the middle and between the middle and the front. Plus I have to pay for the middle office. The hard approach is unable to foster cooperation. It can only add new boxes, new bones in the skeleton.
The soft approach: To make people cooperate, we need to make them like each other. Improve interpersonal feelings, the more people like each other, the more they will cooperate. It is totally wrong. It is even counterproductive. Look, at home I have two TVs. Why? Precisely not to have to cooperate with my wife. (Laughter) Not to have to impose tradeoffs to my wife. And why I try not to impose tradeoffs to my wife is precisely because I love my wife. If I didn't love my wife, one TV would be enough: You will watch my favorite football game, if you are not happy, how is the book or the door? (Laughter) The more we like each other, the more we avoid the real cooperation that would strain our relationships by imposing tough tradeoffs. And we go for a second TV or we escalate the decision above for arbitration. Definitely, these approaches are obsolete.
To deal with complexity, to enhance a novel system, we have created what we call the smart simplicity approach based on simple rules. Simple rule number one: Understand what others do. What is their real work? We need to go beyond the boxes, the job descriptions, beyond the surface of the container, to understand the real content. Me, designer, if I put a wire here, I know that it will mean that we will have to remove the engine to access the lights. Second, you need to reenforce integrators. Integrators are not middle offices, they are managers, existing managers that you reinforce so that they have power and interest to make others cooperate. How can you reinforce your managers as integrators? By removing layers. When there are too many layers people are too far from the action, therefore they need KPIs, matrix, they need poor proxies for reality. They don't understand reality and they add the complicatedness of matrix KPIs. By removing rules -- the bigger we are, the more we need integrators, therefore the less rules we must have, to give discretionary power to managers. And we do the opposite -- the bigger we are, the more rules we create. And we end up with the Encyclopedia Britannica of rules. You need to increase the quanitity of power so that you can empower everybody to use their judgment, their intelligence. You must give more cards to people so that they have the critical mass of cards to take the risk to cooperate, to move out of insulation. Otherwise, they will withdraw. They will disengage. These rules, they come from game theory and organizational sociology. You can increase the shadow of the future. Create feedback loops that expose people to the consequences of their actions. This is what the automotive company did when they saw that Mr. Repairability had no impact. They said to the design engineers: Now, in three years, when the new car is launched on the market, you will move to the after sales network, and become in charge of the warranty budget, and if the warranty budget explodes, it will explode in your face. (Laughter) Much more powerful than 0.8 percent variable compensation. You need also to increase reciprocity, by removing the buffers that make us self-sufficient. When you remove these buffers, you hold me by the nose, I hold you by the ear. We will cooperate. Remove the second TV. There are many second TVs at work that don't create value, they just provide dysfunctional self-sufficiency. You need to reward those who cooperate and blame those who don't cooperate. The CEO of The Lego Group, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, has a great way to use it. He says, blame is not for failure, it is for failing to help or ask for help. It changes everything. Suddenly it becomes in my interest to be transparent on my real weaknesses, my real forecast, because I know I will not be blamed if I fail, but if I fail to help or ask for help. When you do this, it has a lot of implications on organizational design. You stop drawing boxes, dotted lines, full lines; you look at their interplay. It has a lot of implications on financial policies that we use. On human resource management practices. When you do that, you can manage complexity, the new complexity of business, without getting complicated. You create more value with lower cost. You simultaneously improve performance and satisfaction at work because you have removed the common root cause that hinders both complicatedness. This is your battle, business leaders. The real battle is not against competitors. This is rubbish, very abstract. When do we meet competitors to fight them? The real battle is against ourselves, against our bureaucracy, our complicatedness. Only you can fight, can do it. Thank you. (Applause)
Yves Morieux: As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify
Filmed Oct 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TED@BCG San Francisco
Why do people feel so miserable and disengaged at work? Because today's businesses are increasingly and dizzyingly complex -- and traditional pillars of management are obsolete, says Yves Morieux. So, he says, it falls to individual employees to navigate the rabbit's warren of interdependencies. In this energetic talk, Morieux offers six rules for "smart simplicity." (Rule One: Understand what your colleagues actually do.)
BCG's Yves Morieux researches how corporations can adapt to a modern and complex business landscape.
Transcript:
I have spent the last years trying to resolve two enigmas: Why is productivity so disappointing in all the companies where I work? I have worked with more than 500 companies. Despite all the technological advances -- computers, I.T., communications, telecommunications, the Internet. Enigma number two: Why is there so little engagement at work? Why do people feel so miserable, even actively disengaged? Disengaging their colleagues. Acting against the interest of their company. Despite all the affiliation events, the celebration, the people initiatives, the leadership development programs to train managers on how to better motivate their teams.
At the beginning, I thought there was a chicken and egg issue: Because people are less engaged, they are less productive. Or vice versa, because they are less productive, we put more pressure and they are less engaged. But as we were doing our analysis we realized that there was a common root cause to these two issues that relates, in fact, to the basic pillars of management. The way we organize is based on two pillars. The hard -- structure, processes, systems. The soft -- feelings, sentiments, interpersonal relationships, traits, personality. And whenever a company reorganizes, restructures, reengineers, goes through a cultural transformation program, it chooses these two pillars. Now, we try to refine them, we try to combine them. The real issue is -- and this is the answer to the two enigmas -- these pillars are obsolete. Everything you read in business books is based either on one or the other or their combination. They are obsolete. How do they work when you try to use these approaches in front of the new complexity of business? The hard approach, basically is that you start from strategy, requirements, structures, processes, systems, KPIs, scorecards, committees, headquarters, hubs, clusters, you name it. I forgot all the matrix, incentives, committees, middle offices and interfaces. What happens basically on the left, you have more complexity, the new complexity of business. We need quality, cost, reliability, speed. And every time there is a new requirement, we use the same approach. We create dedicated structure processed systems, basically to deal with the new complexity of business. The hard approach creates just complicatedness in the organization.
Let's take an example. An automotive company, the engineering division is a five-dimensional matrix. If you open any cell of the matrix, you find another 20-dimensional matrix. You have Mr. Noise, Mr. Petrol Consumption, Mr. Anti-Collision Properties. For any new requirement, you have a dedicated function in charge of aligning engineers against the new requirement. What happens when the new requirement emerges? Some years ago, a new requirement appeared on the marketplace: the length of the warranty period. So therefore the new requirement is repairability, making cars easy to repair. Otherwise when you bring the car to the garage to fix the light, if you have to remove the engine to access the lights, the car will have to stay one week in the garage instead of two hours, and the warranty budget will explode. So, what was the solution using the hard approach? If repairability is the new requirement, the solution is to create a new function, Mr. Repairability. And Mr. Repairability creates the repairability process. With a repairability scorecard, with a repairability matrix and eventually repairability incentive. That came on top of 25 other KPIs. What percentage of these people is variable compensation? Twenty percent at most, divided by 26 KPIs, repairability makes a difference of 0.8 percent. What difference did it make in their actions, their choices to simplify? Zero. But what occurs for zero impact? Mr. Repairability, process, scorecard, evaluation, coordination with the 25 other coordinators to have zero impact.
Now, in front of the new complexity of business, the only solution is not drawing boxes with reporting lines. It is basically the interplay. How the paths work together. The connections, the interactions, the synapses. It is not the skeleton of boxes, it is the nervous system of adaptiveness and intelligence. You know, you could call it cooperation, basically. Whenever people cooperate, they use less resources. In everything. You know, the repairability issue is a cooperation problem. When you design cars, please take into account the needs of those who will repair the cars in the after sales garages. When we don't cooperate we need more time, more equipment, more systems, more teams. We need -- When procurement, supply chain, manufacturing don't cooperate we need more stock, more inventories, more working capital. Who will pay for that? Shareholders? Customers? No, they will refuse. So who is left? The employees, who have to compensate through their super individual efforts for the lack of cooperation. Stress, burnout, they are overwhelmed, accidents. No wonder they disengage. How do the hard and the soft try to foster cooperation? The hard: In banks, when there is a problem between the back office and the front office, they don't cooperate. What is the solution? They create a middle office. What happens one year later? Instead of one problem between the back and the front, now I have two problems. Between the back and the middle and between the middle and the front. Plus I have to pay for the middle office. The hard approach is unable to foster cooperation. It can only add new boxes, new bones in the skeleton.
The soft approach: To make people cooperate, we need to make them like each other. Improve interpersonal feelings, the more people like each other, the more they will cooperate. It is totally wrong. It is even counterproductive. Look, at home I have two TVs. Why? Precisely not to have to cooperate with my wife. (Laughter) Not to have to impose tradeoffs to my wife. And why I try not to impose tradeoffs to my wife is precisely because I love my wife. If I didn't love my wife, one TV would be enough: You will watch my favorite football game, if you are not happy, how is the book or the door? (Laughter) The more we like each other, the more we avoid the real cooperation that would strain our relationships by imposing tough tradeoffs. And we go for a second TV or we escalate the decision above for arbitration. Definitely, these approaches are obsolete.
To deal with complexity, to enhance a novel system, we have created what we call the smart simplicity approach based on simple rules. Simple rule number one: Understand what others do. What is their real work? We need to go beyond the boxes, the job descriptions, beyond the surface of the container, to understand the real content. Me, designer, if I put a wire here, I know that it will mean that we will have to remove the engine to access the lights. Second, you need to reenforce integrators. Integrators are not middle offices, they are managers, existing managers that you reinforce so that they have power and interest to make others cooperate. How can you reinforce your managers as integrators? By removing layers. When there are too many layers people are too far from the action, therefore they need KPIs, matrix, they need poor proxies for reality. They don't understand reality and they add the complicatedness of matrix KPIs. By removing rules -- the bigger we are, the more we need integrators, therefore the less rules we must have, to give discretionary power to managers. And we do the opposite -- the bigger we are, the more rules we create. And we end up with the Encyclopedia Britannica of rules. You need to increase the quanitity of power so that you can empower everybody to use their judgment, their intelligence. You must give more cards to people so that they have the critical mass of cards to take the risk to cooperate, to move out of insulation. Otherwise, they will withdraw. They will disengage. These rules, they come from game theory and organizational sociology. You can increase the shadow of the future. Create feedback loops that expose people to the consequences of their actions. This is what the automotive company did when they saw that Mr. Repairability had no impact. They said to the design engineers: Now, in three years, when the new car is launched on the market, you will move to the after sales network, and become in charge of the warranty budget, and if the warranty budget explodes, it will explode in your face. (Laughter) Much more powerful than 0.8 percent variable compensation. You need also to increase reciprocity, by removing the buffers that make us self-sufficient. When you remove these buffers, you hold me by the nose, I hold you by the ear. We will cooperate. Remove the second TV. There are many second TVs at work that don't create value, they just provide dysfunctional self-sufficiency. You need to reward those who cooperate and blame those who don't cooperate. The CEO of The Lego Group, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, has a great way to use it. He says, blame is not for failure, it is for failing to help or ask for help. It changes everything. Suddenly it becomes in my interest to be transparent on my real weaknesses, my real forecast, because I know I will not be blamed if I fail, but if I fail to help or ask for help. When you do this, it has a lot of implications on organizational design. You stop drawing boxes, dotted lines, full lines; you look at their interplay. It has a lot of implications on financial policies that we use. On human resource management practices. When you do that, you can manage complexity, the new complexity of business, without getting complicated. You create more value with lower cost. You simultaneously improve performance and satisfaction at work because you have removed the common root cause that hinders both complicatedness. This is your battle, business leaders. The real battle is not against competitors. This is rubbish, very abstract. When do we meet competitors to fight them? The real battle is against ourselves, against our bureaucracy, our complicatedness. Only you can fight, can do it. Thank you. (Applause)
TECH/GralInt-TED Talks-Guy Hoffman: Robots with "soul"
The following information is used for educational purposes only.
Guy Hoffman: Robots with "soul"
Filmed Oct 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TEDxJaffa 2013
What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots -- including two musical bots that like to jam with humans. Can robots and humans interact the way that human beings interact with each other? Guy Hoffman researches embodied cognition and intelligence in robots.
Transcript:
My job is to design, build and study robots that communicate with people. But this story doesn't start with robotics at all, it starts with animation. When I first saw Pixar's "Luxo Jr.," I was amazed by how much emotion they could put into something as trivial as a desk lamp. I mean, look at them -- at the end of this movie, you actually feel something for two pieces of furniture. (Laughter) And I said, I have to learn how to do this. So I made a really bad career decision. And that's what my mom was like when I did it. (Laughter) I left a very cozy tech job in Israel at a nice software company and I moved to New York to study animation. And there I lived in a collapsing apartment building in Harlem with roommates. I'm not using this phrase metaphorically, the ceiling actually collapsed one day in our living room. Whenever they did those news stories about building violations in New York, they would put the report in front of our building. As kind of like a backdrop to show how bad things are.
Anyway, during the day I went to school and at night I would sit and draw frame by frame of pencil animation. And I learned two surprising lessons -- one of them was that when you want to arouse emotions, it doesn't matter so much how something looks, it's all in the motion -- it's in the timing of how the thing moves. And the second, was something one of our teachers told us. He actually did the weasel in Ice Age. And he said: "As an animator you are not a director, you're an actor." So, if you want to find the right motion for a character, don't think about it, go use your body to find it -- stand in front of a mirror, act it out in front of a camera -- whatever you need. And then put it back in your character.
A year later I found myself at MIT in the robotic life group, it was one of the first groups researching the relationships between humans and robots. And I still had this dream to make an actual, physical Luxo Jr. lamp. But I found that robots didn't move at all in this engaging way that I was used to for my animation studies. Instead, they were all -- how should I put it, they were all kind of robotic. (Laughter) And I thought, what if I took whatever I learned in animation school, and used that to design my robotic desk lamp. So I went and designed frame by frame to try to make this robot as graceful and engaging as possible. And here when you see the robot interacting with me on a desktop. And I'm actually redesigning the robot so, unbeknownst to itself, it's kind of digging its own grave by helping me. (Laughter) I wanted it to be less of a mechanical structure giving me light, and more of a helpful, kind of quiet apprentice that's always there when you need it and doesn't really interfere. And when, for example, I'm looking for a battery that I can't find, in a subtle way, it will show me where the battery is. So you can see my confusion here. I'm not an actor. And I want you to notice how the same mechanical structure can at one point, just by the way it moves seem gentle and caring -- and in the other case, seem violent and confrontational. And it's the same structure, just the motion is different. Actor: "You want to know something? Well, you want to know something? He was already dead! Just laying there, eyes glazed over!" (Laughter) But, moving in graceful ways is just one building block of this whole structure called human-robot interaction. I was at the time doing my Ph.D., I was working on human robot teamwork; teams of humans and robots working together. I was studying the engineering, the psychology, the philosophy of teamwork. And at the same time I found myself in my own kind of teamwork situation with a good friend of mine who is actually here. And in that situation we can easily imagine robots in the near future being there with us. It was after a Passover seder. We were folding up a lot of folding chairs, and I was amazed at how quickly we found our own rhythm. Everybody did their own part. We didn't have to divide our tasks. We didn't have to communicate verbally about this. It all just happened. And I thought, humans and robots don't look at all like this. When humans and robots interact, it's much more like a chess game. The human does a thing, the robot analyzes whatever the human did, then the robot decides what to do next, plans it and does it. And then the human waits, until it's their turn again. So, it's much more like a chess game and that makes sense because chess is great for mathematicians and computer scientists. It's all about information analysis, decision making and planning.
But I wanted my robot to be less of a chess player, and more like a doer that just clicks and works together. So I made my second horrible career choice: I decided to study acting for a semester. I took off from a Ph.D. I went to acting classes. I actually participated in a play, I hope theres no video of that around still. And I got every book I could find about acting, including one from the 19th century that I got from the library. And I was really amazed because my name was the second name on the list -- the previous name was in 1889. (Laughter) And this book was kind of waiting for 100 years to be rediscovered for robotics. And this book shows actors how to move every muscle in the body to match every kind of emotion that they want to express.
But the real relevation was when I learned about method acting. It became very popular in the 20th century. And method acting said, you don't have to plan every muscle in your body. Instead you have to use your body to find the right movement. You have to use your sense memory to reconstruct the emotions and kind of think with your body to find the right expression. Improvise, play off yor scene partner. And this came at the same time as I was reading about this trend in cognitive psychology called embodied cognition. Which also talks about the same ideas -- We use our bodies to think, we don't just think with our brains and use our bodies to move. but our bodies feed back into our brain to generate the way that we behave. And it was like a lightning bolt. I went back to my office. I wrote this paper -- which I never really published called "Acting Lessons for Artificial Intelligence." And I even took another month to do what was then the first theater play with a human and a robot acting together. That's what you saw before with the actors. And I thought: How can we make an artificial intelligence model -- computer, computational model -- that will model some of these ideas of improvisation, of taking risks, of taking chances, even of making mistakes. Maybe it can make for better robotic teammates. So I worked for quite a long time on these models and I implemented them on a number of robots. Here you can see a very early example with the robots trying to use this embodied artificial intelligence, to try to match my movements as closely as possible, sort of like a game. Let's look at it. You can see when I psych it out, it gets fooled. And it's a little bit like what you might see actors do when they try to mirror each other to find the right synchrony between them. And then, I did another experiment, and I got people off the street to use the robotic desk lamp, and try out this idea of embodied artificial intelligence. So, I actually used two kinds of brains for the same robot. The robot is the same lamp that you saw, and I put in it two brains. For one half of the people, I put in a brain that's kind of the traditional, calculated robotic brain. It waits for its turn, it analyzes everything, it plans. Let's call it the calculated brain. The other got more the stage actor, risk taker brain. Let's call it the adventurous brain. It sometimes acts without knowing everything it has to know. It sometimes makes mistakes and corrects them. And I had them do this very tedious task that took almost 20 minutes and they had to work together. Somehow simulating like a factory job of repetitively doing the same thing. And what I found was that people actually loved the adventurous robot. And they thought it was more intelligent, more committed, a better member of the team, contributed to the success of the team more. They even called it 'he' and 'she,' whereas people with the calculated brain called it 'it.' And nobody ever called it 'he' or 'she'. When they talked about it after the task with the adventurous brain, they said, "By the end, we were good friends and high-fived mentally." Whatever that means. (Laughter) Sounds painful. Whereas the people with the calculated brain said it was just like a lazy apprentice. It only did what it was supposed to do and nothing more. Which is almost what people expect robots to do, so I was surprised that people had higher expectations of robots, than what anybody in robotics thought robots should be doing. And in a way, I thought, maybe it's time -- just like method acting changed the way people thought about acting in the 19th century, from going from the very calculated, planned way of behaving, to a more intuitive, risk-taking, embodied way of behaving. Maybe it's time for robots to have the same kind of revolution.
A few years later, I was at my next research job at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and I was working in a group dealing with robotic musicians. And I thought, music, that's the perfect place to look at teamwork, coordination, timing, improvisation -- and we just got this robot playing marimba. Marimba, for everybody who was like me, it was this huge, wooden xylophone. And, when I was looking at this, I looked at other works in human-robot improvisation -- yes, there are other works in human-robot improvisation -- and they were also a little bit like a chess game. The human would play, the robot would analyze what was played, would improvise their own part. So, this is what musicians called a call and response interaction, and it also fits very well, robots and artificial intelligence. But I thought, if I use the same ideas I used in the theater play and in the teamwork studies, maybe I can make the robots jam together like a band. Everybody's riffing off each other, nobody is stopping it for a moment. And so, I tried to do the same things, this time with music, where the robot doesn't really know what it's about to play. It just sort of moves its body and uses opportunities to play, And does what my jazz teacher when I was 17 taught me. She said, when you improvise, sometimes you don't know what you're doing and you're still doing it. And so I tried to make a robot that doesn't actually know what it's doing, but it's still doing it. So let's look at a few seconds from this performance. Where the robot listens to the human musician and improvises. And then, look at how the human musician also responds to what the robot is doing, and picking up from its behavior. And at some point can even be surprised by what the robot came up with. (Music) (Applause)
Being a musician is not just about making notes, otherwise nobody would every go see a live show. Musicians also communicate with their bodies, with other band members, with the audience, they use their bodies to express the music. And I thought, we already have a robot musician on stage, why not make it be a full-fledged musician. And I started designing a socially expressive head for the robot. The head does't actually touch the marimba, it just expresses what the music is like. These are some napkin sketches from a bar in Atlanta, that was dangerously located exactly halfway between my lab and my home. (Laughter) So I spent, I would say on average, three to four hours a day there. I think. (Laughter) And I went back to my animation tools and tried to figure out not just what a robotic musician would look like, but especially what a robotic musician would move like. To sort of show that it doesn't like what the other person is playing -- and maybe show whatever beat it's feeling at the moment.
So we ended up actually getting the money to build this robot, which was nice. I'm going to show you now the same kind of performance, this time with a socially expressive head. And notice one thing -- how the robot is really showing us the beat it's picking up from the human. We're also giving the human a sense that the robot knows what it's doing. And also how it changes the way it moves as soon as it starts its own solo. (Music) Now it's looking at me to make sure I'm listening. (Music) And now look at the final chord of the piece again, and this time the robot communicates with its body when it's busy doing its own thing. And when it's ready to coordinate the final chord with me. (Music) (Applause)
Thanks. I hope you see how much this totally not -- how much this part of the body that doesn't touch the instrument actually helps with the musical performance. And at some point, we are in Atlanta, so obviously some rapper will come into our lab at some point. And we had this rapper come in and do a little jam with the robot. And here you can see the robot basically responding to the beat and -- notice two things. One, how irresistible it is to join the robot while it's moving its head. and you kind of want to move your own head when it does it. And second, even though the rapper is really focused on his iPhone, as soon as the robot turns to him, he turns back. So even though it's just in the periphery of his vision -- it's just in the corner of his eye -- it's very powerful. And the reason is that we can't ignore physical things moving in our environment. We are wired for that. So, if you have a problem with maybe your partners looking at the iPhone too much or their smartphone too much, you might want to have a robot there to get their attention. (Laughter) (Music) (Applause)
Just to introduce the last robot that we've worked on, that came out of something kind of surprising that we found: At some point people didn't care anymore about the robot being so intelligent, and can improvise and listen, and do all these embodied intelligence things that I spent years on developing. They really liked that the robot was enjoying the music. (Laughter) And they didn't say that the robot was moving to the music, they said that the robot was enjoying the music. And we thought, why don't we take this idea, and I designed a new piece of furniture. This time it wasn't a desk lamp; it was a speaker dock. It was one of those things you plug your smartphone in. And I thought, what would happen if your speaker dock didn't just play the music for you, but it would actually enjoy it too. (Laughter) And so again, here are some animation tests from an early stage. (Laughter) And this is what the final product looked like. ("Drop It Like It's Hot") So, a lot of bobbing head. (Applause) A lot of bobbing heads in the audience, so we can still see robots influence people. And it's not just fun and games.
I think one of the reasons I care so much about robots that use their body to communicate and use their body to move -- and I'm going to let you in on a little secret we roboticists are hiding -- is that every one of you is going to be living with a robot at some point in their life. Somewhere in your future there's going to be a robot in your life. And if not in yours, then in your children's lives. And I want these robots to be -- to be more fluent, more engaging, more graceful than currently they seem to be. And for that I think that maybe robots need to be less like chess players and more like stage actors and more like musicians. Maybe they should be able to take chances and improvise. And maybe they should be able to anticipate what you're about to do. And maybe they need to be able to make mistakes and correct them, because in the end we are human. And maybe as humans, robots that are a little less than perfect are just perfect for us. Thank you. (Applause)
Guy Hoffman: Robots with "soul"
Filmed Oct 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TEDxJaffa 2013
What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots -- including two musical bots that like to jam with humans. Can robots and humans interact the way that human beings interact with each other? Guy Hoffman researches embodied cognition and intelligence in robots.
Transcript:
My job is to design, build and study robots that communicate with people. But this story doesn't start with robotics at all, it starts with animation. When I first saw Pixar's "Luxo Jr.," I was amazed by how much emotion they could put into something as trivial as a desk lamp. I mean, look at them -- at the end of this movie, you actually feel something for two pieces of furniture. (Laughter) And I said, I have to learn how to do this. So I made a really bad career decision. And that's what my mom was like when I did it. (Laughter) I left a very cozy tech job in Israel at a nice software company and I moved to New York to study animation. And there I lived in a collapsing apartment building in Harlem with roommates. I'm not using this phrase metaphorically, the ceiling actually collapsed one day in our living room. Whenever they did those news stories about building violations in New York, they would put the report in front of our building. As kind of like a backdrop to show how bad things are.
Anyway, during the day I went to school and at night I would sit and draw frame by frame of pencil animation. And I learned two surprising lessons -- one of them was that when you want to arouse emotions, it doesn't matter so much how something looks, it's all in the motion -- it's in the timing of how the thing moves. And the second, was something one of our teachers told us. He actually did the weasel in Ice Age. And he said: "As an animator you are not a director, you're an actor." So, if you want to find the right motion for a character, don't think about it, go use your body to find it -- stand in front of a mirror, act it out in front of a camera -- whatever you need. And then put it back in your character.
A year later I found myself at MIT in the robotic life group, it was one of the first groups researching the relationships between humans and robots. And I still had this dream to make an actual, physical Luxo Jr. lamp. But I found that robots didn't move at all in this engaging way that I was used to for my animation studies. Instead, they were all -- how should I put it, they were all kind of robotic. (Laughter) And I thought, what if I took whatever I learned in animation school, and used that to design my robotic desk lamp. So I went and designed frame by frame to try to make this robot as graceful and engaging as possible. And here when you see the robot interacting with me on a desktop. And I'm actually redesigning the robot so, unbeknownst to itself, it's kind of digging its own grave by helping me. (Laughter) I wanted it to be less of a mechanical structure giving me light, and more of a helpful, kind of quiet apprentice that's always there when you need it and doesn't really interfere. And when, for example, I'm looking for a battery that I can't find, in a subtle way, it will show me where the battery is. So you can see my confusion here. I'm not an actor. And I want you to notice how the same mechanical structure can at one point, just by the way it moves seem gentle and caring -- and in the other case, seem violent and confrontational. And it's the same structure, just the motion is different. Actor: "You want to know something? Well, you want to know something? He was already dead! Just laying there, eyes glazed over!" (Laughter) But, moving in graceful ways is just one building block of this whole structure called human-robot interaction. I was at the time doing my Ph.D., I was working on human robot teamwork; teams of humans and robots working together. I was studying the engineering, the psychology, the philosophy of teamwork. And at the same time I found myself in my own kind of teamwork situation with a good friend of mine who is actually here. And in that situation we can easily imagine robots in the near future being there with us. It was after a Passover seder. We were folding up a lot of folding chairs, and I was amazed at how quickly we found our own rhythm. Everybody did their own part. We didn't have to divide our tasks. We didn't have to communicate verbally about this. It all just happened. And I thought, humans and robots don't look at all like this. When humans and robots interact, it's much more like a chess game. The human does a thing, the robot analyzes whatever the human did, then the robot decides what to do next, plans it and does it. And then the human waits, until it's their turn again. So, it's much more like a chess game and that makes sense because chess is great for mathematicians and computer scientists. It's all about information analysis, decision making and planning.
But I wanted my robot to be less of a chess player, and more like a doer that just clicks and works together. So I made my second horrible career choice: I decided to study acting for a semester. I took off from a Ph.D. I went to acting classes. I actually participated in a play, I hope theres no video of that around still. And I got every book I could find about acting, including one from the 19th century that I got from the library. And I was really amazed because my name was the second name on the list -- the previous name was in 1889. (Laughter) And this book was kind of waiting for 100 years to be rediscovered for robotics. And this book shows actors how to move every muscle in the body to match every kind of emotion that they want to express.
But the real relevation was when I learned about method acting. It became very popular in the 20th century. And method acting said, you don't have to plan every muscle in your body. Instead you have to use your body to find the right movement. You have to use your sense memory to reconstruct the emotions and kind of think with your body to find the right expression. Improvise, play off yor scene partner. And this came at the same time as I was reading about this trend in cognitive psychology called embodied cognition. Which also talks about the same ideas -- We use our bodies to think, we don't just think with our brains and use our bodies to move. but our bodies feed back into our brain to generate the way that we behave. And it was like a lightning bolt. I went back to my office. I wrote this paper -- which I never really published called "Acting Lessons for Artificial Intelligence." And I even took another month to do what was then the first theater play with a human and a robot acting together. That's what you saw before with the actors. And I thought: How can we make an artificial intelligence model -- computer, computational model -- that will model some of these ideas of improvisation, of taking risks, of taking chances, even of making mistakes. Maybe it can make for better robotic teammates. So I worked for quite a long time on these models and I implemented them on a number of robots. Here you can see a very early example with the robots trying to use this embodied artificial intelligence, to try to match my movements as closely as possible, sort of like a game. Let's look at it. You can see when I psych it out, it gets fooled. And it's a little bit like what you might see actors do when they try to mirror each other to find the right synchrony between them. And then, I did another experiment, and I got people off the street to use the robotic desk lamp, and try out this idea of embodied artificial intelligence. So, I actually used two kinds of brains for the same robot. The robot is the same lamp that you saw, and I put in it two brains. For one half of the people, I put in a brain that's kind of the traditional, calculated robotic brain. It waits for its turn, it analyzes everything, it plans. Let's call it the calculated brain. The other got more the stage actor, risk taker brain. Let's call it the adventurous brain. It sometimes acts without knowing everything it has to know. It sometimes makes mistakes and corrects them. And I had them do this very tedious task that took almost 20 minutes and they had to work together. Somehow simulating like a factory job of repetitively doing the same thing. And what I found was that people actually loved the adventurous robot. And they thought it was more intelligent, more committed, a better member of the team, contributed to the success of the team more. They even called it 'he' and 'she,' whereas people with the calculated brain called it 'it.' And nobody ever called it 'he' or 'she'. When they talked about it after the task with the adventurous brain, they said, "By the end, we were good friends and high-fived mentally." Whatever that means. (Laughter) Sounds painful. Whereas the people with the calculated brain said it was just like a lazy apprentice. It only did what it was supposed to do and nothing more. Which is almost what people expect robots to do, so I was surprised that people had higher expectations of robots, than what anybody in robotics thought robots should be doing. And in a way, I thought, maybe it's time -- just like method acting changed the way people thought about acting in the 19th century, from going from the very calculated, planned way of behaving, to a more intuitive, risk-taking, embodied way of behaving. Maybe it's time for robots to have the same kind of revolution.
A few years later, I was at my next research job at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and I was working in a group dealing with robotic musicians. And I thought, music, that's the perfect place to look at teamwork, coordination, timing, improvisation -- and we just got this robot playing marimba. Marimba, for everybody who was like me, it was this huge, wooden xylophone. And, when I was looking at this, I looked at other works in human-robot improvisation -- yes, there are other works in human-robot improvisation -- and they were also a little bit like a chess game. The human would play, the robot would analyze what was played, would improvise their own part. So, this is what musicians called a call and response interaction, and it also fits very well, robots and artificial intelligence. But I thought, if I use the same ideas I used in the theater play and in the teamwork studies, maybe I can make the robots jam together like a band. Everybody's riffing off each other, nobody is stopping it for a moment. And so, I tried to do the same things, this time with music, where the robot doesn't really know what it's about to play. It just sort of moves its body and uses opportunities to play, And does what my jazz teacher when I was 17 taught me. She said, when you improvise, sometimes you don't know what you're doing and you're still doing it. And so I tried to make a robot that doesn't actually know what it's doing, but it's still doing it. So let's look at a few seconds from this performance. Where the robot listens to the human musician and improvises. And then, look at how the human musician also responds to what the robot is doing, and picking up from its behavior. And at some point can even be surprised by what the robot came up with. (Music) (Applause)
Being a musician is not just about making notes, otherwise nobody would every go see a live show. Musicians also communicate with their bodies, with other band members, with the audience, they use their bodies to express the music. And I thought, we already have a robot musician on stage, why not make it be a full-fledged musician. And I started designing a socially expressive head for the robot. The head does't actually touch the marimba, it just expresses what the music is like. These are some napkin sketches from a bar in Atlanta, that was dangerously located exactly halfway between my lab and my home. (Laughter) So I spent, I would say on average, three to four hours a day there. I think. (Laughter) And I went back to my animation tools and tried to figure out not just what a robotic musician would look like, but especially what a robotic musician would move like. To sort of show that it doesn't like what the other person is playing -- and maybe show whatever beat it's feeling at the moment.
So we ended up actually getting the money to build this robot, which was nice. I'm going to show you now the same kind of performance, this time with a socially expressive head. And notice one thing -- how the robot is really showing us the beat it's picking up from the human. We're also giving the human a sense that the robot knows what it's doing. And also how it changes the way it moves as soon as it starts its own solo. (Music) Now it's looking at me to make sure I'm listening. (Music) And now look at the final chord of the piece again, and this time the robot communicates with its body when it's busy doing its own thing. And when it's ready to coordinate the final chord with me. (Music) (Applause)
Thanks. I hope you see how much this totally not -- how much this part of the body that doesn't touch the instrument actually helps with the musical performance. And at some point, we are in Atlanta, so obviously some rapper will come into our lab at some point. And we had this rapper come in and do a little jam with the robot. And here you can see the robot basically responding to the beat and -- notice two things. One, how irresistible it is to join the robot while it's moving its head. and you kind of want to move your own head when it does it. And second, even though the rapper is really focused on his iPhone, as soon as the robot turns to him, he turns back. So even though it's just in the periphery of his vision -- it's just in the corner of his eye -- it's very powerful. And the reason is that we can't ignore physical things moving in our environment. We are wired for that. So, if you have a problem with maybe your partners looking at the iPhone too much or their smartphone too much, you might want to have a robot there to get their attention. (Laughter) (Music) (Applause)
Just to introduce the last robot that we've worked on, that came out of something kind of surprising that we found: At some point people didn't care anymore about the robot being so intelligent, and can improvise and listen, and do all these embodied intelligence things that I spent years on developing. They really liked that the robot was enjoying the music. (Laughter) And they didn't say that the robot was moving to the music, they said that the robot was enjoying the music. And we thought, why don't we take this idea, and I designed a new piece of furniture. This time it wasn't a desk lamp; it was a speaker dock. It was one of those things you plug your smartphone in. And I thought, what would happen if your speaker dock didn't just play the music for you, but it would actually enjoy it too. (Laughter) And so again, here are some animation tests from an early stage. (Laughter) And this is what the final product looked like. ("Drop It Like It's Hot") So, a lot of bobbing head. (Applause) A lot of bobbing heads in the audience, so we can still see robots influence people. And it's not just fun and games.
I think one of the reasons I care so much about robots that use their body to communicate and use their body to move -- and I'm going to let you in on a little secret we roboticists are hiding -- is that every one of you is going to be living with a robot at some point in their life. Somewhere in your future there's going to be a robot in your life. And if not in yours, then in your children's lives. And I want these robots to be -- to be more fluent, more engaging, more graceful than currently they seem to be. And for that I think that maybe robots need to be less like chess players and more like stage actors and more like musicians. Maybe they should be able to take chances and improvise. And maybe they should be able to anticipate what you're about to do. And maybe they need to be able to make mistakes and correct them, because in the end we are human. And maybe as humans, robots that are a little less than perfect are just perfect for us. Thank you. (Applause)
GralInt-TED Talks-Shereen El Feki: A little-told tale of sex and sensuality
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Shereen El Feki: A little-told tale of sex and sensuality
Filmed Jun 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TEDGlobal 2013
“If you really want to know a people, start by looking inside their bedrooms," says Shereen El Feki, who traveled through the Middle East for five years, talking to people about sex. While those conversations reflected rigid norms and deep repression, El Feki also discovered that sexual conservatism in the Arab world is a relatively new thing. She wonders: could a re-emergence of public dialogue lead to more satisfying, and safer, sex lives?
Shereen El Feki works and writes on sexuality and social change in the Arab world.
Transcript:
So when I was in Morocco, in Casablanca, not so long ago, I met a young unmarried mother called Faiza. Faiza showed me photos of her infant son and she told me the story of his conception, pregnancy, and delivery.
It was a remarkable tale, but Faiza saved the best for last. "You know, I am a virgin," she told me. "I have two medical certificates to prove it."
This is the modern Middle East, where two millennia after the coming of Christ, virgin births are still a fact of life.
Faiza's story is just one of hundreds I've heard over the years, traveling across the Arab region talking to people about sex. Now, I know this might sound like a dream job, or possibly a highly dubious occupation,
but for me, it's something else altogether. I'm half Egyptian, and I'm Muslim. But I grew up in Canada, far from my Arab roots.
Like so many who straddle East and West, I've been drawn, over the years, to try to better understand my origins. That I chose to look at sex comes from my background in HIV/AIDS, as a writer and a researcher and an activist. Sex lies at the heart of an emerging epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa, which is one of only two regions in the world where HIV/AIDS is still on the rise.
Now sexuality is an incredibly powerful lens with which to study any society, because what happens in our intimate lives is reflected by forces on a bigger stage: in politics and economics, in religion and tradition, in gender and generations. As I found, if you really want to know a people, you start by looking inside their bedrooms.
Now to be sure, the Arab world is vast and varied. But running across it are three red lines -- these are topics you are not supposed to challenge in word or deed.
The first of these is politics. But the Arab Spring has changed all that, in uprisings which have blossomed across the region since 2011. Now while those in power, old and new, continue to cling to business as usual, millions are still pushing back, and pushing forward to what they hope will be a better life.
That second red line is religion. But now religion and politics are connected, with the rise of such groups as the Muslim Brotherhood. And some people, at least, are starting to ask questions about the role of Islam in public and private life.
You know, as for that third red line, that off-limits subject, what do you think it might be?
Audience: Sex.
Shereen El Feki: Louder, I can't hear you.
Audience: Sex.
SEF: Again, please don't be shy.
Audience: Sex.
SEF: Absolutely, that's right, it's sex. (Laughter) Across the Arab region, the only accepted context for sex is marriage -- approved by your parents, sanctioned by religion and registered by the state. Marriage is your ticket to adulthood. If you don't tie the knot, you can't move out of your parents' place, and you're not supposed to be having sex, and you're definitely not supposed to be having children.
It's a social citadel; it's an impregnable fortress which resists any assault, any alternative. And around the fortress is this vast field of taboo against premarital sex, against condoms, against abortion, against homosexuality, you name it.
Faiza was living proof of this. Her virginity statement was not a piece of wishful thinking. Although the major religions of the region extoll premarital chastity, in a patriarchy, boys will be boys. Men have sex before marriage, and people more or less turn a blind eye.
Not so for women, who are expected to be virgins on their wedding night -- that is, to turn up with your hymen intact. This is not a question of individual concern, this is a matter of family honor, and in particular, men's honor.
And so women and their relatives will go to great lengths to preserve this tiny piece of anatomy -- from female genital mutilation, to virginity testing, to hymen repair surgery.
Faiza chose a different route: non-vaginal sex. Only she became pregnant all the same. But Faiza didn't actually realize this, because there's so little sexuality education in schools, and so little communication in the family.
When her condition became hard to hide, Faiza's mother helped her flee her father and brothers. This is because honor killings are a real threat for untold numbers of women in the Arab region. And so when Faiza eventually fetched up at a hospital in Casablanca, the man who offered to help her, instead tried to rape her.
Sadly, Faiza is not alone. In Egypt, where my research is focused, I have seen plenty of trouble in and out of the citadel. There are legions of young men who can't afford to get married, because marriage has become a very expensive proposition. They are expected to bear the burden of costs in married life, but they can't find jobs. This is one of the major drivers of the recent uprisings, and it is one of the reasons for the rising age of marriage in much of the Arab region.
There are career women who want to get married, but can't find a husband, because they defy gender expectations, or as one young female doctor in Tunisia put it to me, "The women, they are becoming more and more open. But the man, he is still at the prehistoric stage."
And then there are men and women who cross the heterosexual line, who have sex with their own sex, or who have a different gender identity. They are on the receiving end of laws which punish their activities, even their appearance. And they face a daily struggle with social stigma, with family despair, and with religious fire and brimstone.
Now, it's not as if it's all rosy in the marital bed either. Couples who are looking for greater happiness, greater sexual happiness in their married lives, but are at a loss of how to achieve it, especially wives, who are afraid of being seen as bad women if they show some spark in the bedroom.
And then there are those whose marriages are actually a veil for prostitution. They have been sold by their families, often to wealthy Arab tourists. This is just one face of a booming sex trade across the Arab region.
Now raise your hand if any of this is sounding familiar to you, from your part of the world. Yeah. It's not as if the Arab world has a monopoly on sexual hangups.
And although we don't yet have an Arab Kinsey Report to tell us exactly what's happening inside bedrooms across the Arab region, It's pretty clear that something is not right. Double standards for men and women, sex as a source of shame, family control limiting individual choices, and a vast gulf between appearance and reality: what people are doing and what they're willing to admit to, and a general reluctance to move beyond private whispers to a serious and sustained public discussion.
As one doctor in Cairo summed it up for me, "Here, sex is the opposite of sport. Football, everybody talks about it, but hardly anyone plays. But sex, everybody is doing it, but nobody wants to talk about it." (Laughter)
(Music) (In Arabic)
SEF: I want to give you a piece of advice, which if you follow it, will make you happy in life.
When your husband reaches out to you, when he seizes a part of your body, sigh deeply and look at him lustily.
When he penetrates you with his penis, try to talk flirtatiously and move yourself in harmony with him.
Hot stuff! And it might sound that these handy hints come from "The Joy of Sex" or YouPorn. But in fact, they come from a 10th-century Arabic book called "The Encyclopedia of Pleasure," which covers sex from aphrodisiacs to zoophilia, and everything in between.
The Encyclopedia is just one in a long line of Arabic erotica, much of it written by religious scholars. Going right back to the Prophet Muhammad, there is a rich tradition in Islam of talking frankly about sex: not just its problems, but also its pleasures, and not just for men, but also for women. A thousand years ago, we used to have whole dictionaries of sex in Arabic. Words to cover every conceivable sexual feature, position and preference, a body of language that was rich enough to make up the body of the woman you see on this page.
Today, this history is largely unknown in the Arab region. Even by educated people, who often feel more comfortable talking about sex in a foreign language than they do in their own tongue. Today's sexual landscape looks a lot like Europe and America on the brink of the sexual revolution.
But while the West has opened on sex, what we found is that Arab societies appear to have been moving in the opposite direction. In Egypt and many of its neighbors, this closing down is part of a wider closing in political, social and cultural thought. And it is the product of a complex historical process, one which has gained ground with the rise of Islamic conservatism since the late 1970s. "Just say no" is what conservatives around the world say to any challenge to the sexual status quo. In the Arab region, they brand these attempts as a Western conspiracy to undermine traditional Arab and Islamic values. But what's really at stake here is one of their most powerful tools of control: sex wrapped up in religion.
But history shows us that even as recently as our fathers' and grandfathers' day, there have been times of greater pragmatism, and tolerance, and a willingness to consider other interpretations: be it abortion, or masturbation, or even the incendiary topic of homosexuality. It is not black and white, as conservatives would have us believe. In these, as in so many other matters, Islam offers us at least 50 shades of gray. (Laughter)
Over my travels, I've met men and women across the Arab region who've been exploring that spectrum -- sexologists who are trying to help couples find greater happiness in their marriages, innovators who are managing to get sexuality education into schools, small groups of men and women, lesbian, gay, transgendered, transsexual, who are reaching out to their peers with online initiatives and real-world support. Women, and increasingly men, who are starting to speak out and push back against sexual violence on the streets and in the home. Groups that are trying to help sex workers protect themselves against HIV and other occupational hazards, and NGOs that are helping unwed mothers like Faiza find a place in society, and critically, stay with their kids.
Now these efforts are small, they're often underfunded, and they face formidable opposition. But I am optimistic that, in the long run, times are changing, and they and their ideas will gain ground. Social change doesn't happen in the Arab region through dramatic confrontation, beating or indeed baring of breasts, but rather through negotiation.
What we're talking here is not about a sexual revolution, but a sexual evolution, learning from other parts of the world, adapting to local conditions, forging our own path, not following one blazed by another. That path, I hope, will one day lead us to the right to control our own bodies, and to access the information and services we need to lead satisfying and safe sexual lives. The right to express our ideas freely, to marry whom we choose, to choose our own partners, to be sexually active or not, to decide whether to have children and when, all this without violence or force or discrimination.
Now we are very far from this across the Arab region, and so much needs to change: law, education, media, the economy, the list goes on and on, and it is the work of a generation, at least.
But it begins with a journey that I myself have made, asking hard questions of received wisdoms in sexual life. And it is a journey which has only served to strengthen my faith, and my appreciation of local histories and cultures by showing me possibilities where I once only saw absolutes.
Now given the turmoil in many countries in the Arab region, talking about sex, challenging the taboos, seeking alternatives might sound like something of a luxury.
But at this critical moment in history, if we do not anchor freedom and justice, dignity and equality, privacy and autonomy in our personal lives, in our sexual lives, we will find it very hard to achieve in public life.
The political and the sexual are intimate bedfellows, and that is true for us all. no matter where we live and love.
Thank you.
(Applause)
Shereen El Feki: A little-told tale of sex and sensuality
Filmed Jun 2013 • Posted Jan 2014 • TEDGlobal 2013
“If you really want to know a people, start by looking inside their bedrooms," says Shereen El Feki, who traveled through the Middle East for five years, talking to people about sex. While those conversations reflected rigid norms and deep repression, El Feki also discovered that sexual conservatism in the Arab world is a relatively new thing. She wonders: could a re-emergence of public dialogue lead to more satisfying, and safer, sex lives?
Shereen El Feki works and writes on sexuality and social change in the Arab world.
Transcript:
So when I was in Morocco, in Casablanca, not so long ago, I met a young unmarried mother called Faiza. Faiza showed me photos of her infant son and she told me the story of his conception, pregnancy, and delivery.
It was a remarkable tale, but Faiza saved the best for last. "You know, I am a virgin," she told me. "I have two medical certificates to prove it."
This is the modern Middle East, where two millennia after the coming of Christ, virgin births are still a fact of life.
Faiza's story is just one of hundreds I've heard over the years, traveling across the Arab region talking to people about sex. Now, I know this might sound like a dream job, or possibly a highly dubious occupation,
but for me, it's something else altogether. I'm half Egyptian, and I'm Muslim. But I grew up in Canada, far from my Arab roots.
Like so many who straddle East and West, I've been drawn, over the years, to try to better understand my origins. That I chose to look at sex comes from my background in HIV/AIDS, as a writer and a researcher and an activist. Sex lies at the heart of an emerging epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa, which is one of only two regions in the world where HIV/AIDS is still on the rise.
Now sexuality is an incredibly powerful lens with which to study any society, because what happens in our intimate lives is reflected by forces on a bigger stage: in politics and economics, in religion and tradition, in gender and generations. As I found, if you really want to know a people, you start by looking inside their bedrooms.
Now to be sure, the Arab world is vast and varied. But running across it are three red lines -- these are topics you are not supposed to challenge in word or deed.
The first of these is politics. But the Arab Spring has changed all that, in uprisings which have blossomed across the region since 2011. Now while those in power, old and new, continue to cling to business as usual, millions are still pushing back, and pushing forward to what they hope will be a better life.
That second red line is religion. But now religion and politics are connected, with the rise of such groups as the Muslim Brotherhood. And some people, at least, are starting to ask questions about the role of Islam in public and private life.
You know, as for that third red line, that off-limits subject, what do you think it might be?
Audience: Sex.
Shereen El Feki: Louder, I can't hear you.
Audience: Sex.
SEF: Again, please don't be shy.
Audience: Sex.
SEF: Absolutely, that's right, it's sex. (Laughter) Across the Arab region, the only accepted context for sex is marriage -- approved by your parents, sanctioned by religion and registered by the state. Marriage is your ticket to adulthood. If you don't tie the knot, you can't move out of your parents' place, and you're not supposed to be having sex, and you're definitely not supposed to be having children.
It's a social citadel; it's an impregnable fortress which resists any assault, any alternative. And around the fortress is this vast field of taboo against premarital sex, against condoms, against abortion, against homosexuality, you name it.
Faiza was living proof of this. Her virginity statement was not a piece of wishful thinking. Although the major religions of the region extoll premarital chastity, in a patriarchy, boys will be boys. Men have sex before marriage, and people more or less turn a blind eye.
Not so for women, who are expected to be virgins on their wedding night -- that is, to turn up with your hymen intact. This is not a question of individual concern, this is a matter of family honor, and in particular, men's honor.
And so women and their relatives will go to great lengths to preserve this tiny piece of anatomy -- from female genital mutilation, to virginity testing, to hymen repair surgery.
Faiza chose a different route: non-vaginal sex. Only she became pregnant all the same. But Faiza didn't actually realize this, because there's so little sexuality education in schools, and so little communication in the family.
When her condition became hard to hide, Faiza's mother helped her flee her father and brothers. This is because honor killings are a real threat for untold numbers of women in the Arab region. And so when Faiza eventually fetched up at a hospital in Casablanca, the man who offered to help her, instead tried to rape her.
Sadly, Faiza is not alone. In Egypt, where my research is focused, I have seen plenty of trouble in and out of the citadel. There are legions of young men who can't afford to get married, because marriage has become a very expensive proposition. They are expected to bear the burden of costs in married life, but they can't find jobs. This is one of the major drivers of the recent uprisings, and it is one of the reasons for the rising age of marriage in much of the Arab region.
There are career women who want to get married, but can't find a husband, because they defy gender expectations, or as one young female doctor in Tunisia put it to me, "The women, they are becoming more and more open. But the man, he is still at the prehistoric stage."
And then there are men and women who cross the heterosexual line, who have sex with their own sex, or who have a different gender identity. They are on the receiving end of laws which punish their activities, even their appearance. And they face a daily struggle with social stigma, with family despair, and with religious fire and brimstone.
Now, it's not as if it's all rosy in the marital bed either. Couples who are looking for greater happiness, greater sexual happiness in their married lives, but are at a loss of how to achieve it, especially wives, who are afraid of being seen as bad women if they show some spark in the bedroom.
And then there are those whose marriages are actually a veil for prostitution. They have been sold by their families, often to wealthy Arab tourists. This is just one face of a booming sex trade across the Arab region.
Now raise your hand if any of this is sounding familiar to you, from your part of the world. Yeah. It's not as if the Arab world has a monopoly on sexual hangups.
And although we don't yet have an Arab Kinsey Report to tell us exactly what's happening inside bedrooms across the Arab region, It's pretty clear that something is not right. Double standards for men and women, sex as a source of shame, family control limiting individual choices, and a vast gulf between appearance and reality: what people are doing and what they're willing to admit to, and a general reluctance to move beyond private whispers to a serious and sustained public discussion.
As one doctor in Cairo summed it up for me, "Here, sex is the opposite of sport. Football, everybody talks about it, but hardly anyone plays. But sex, everybody is doing it, but nobody wants to talk about it." (Laughter)
(Music) (In Arabic)
SEF: I want to give you a piece of advice, which if you follow it, will make you happy in life.
When your husband reaches out to you, when he seizes a part of your body, sigh deeply and look at him lustily.
When he penetrates you with his penis, try to talk flirtatiously and move yourself in harmony with him.
Hot stuff! And it might sound that these handy hints come from "The Joy of Sex" or YouPorn. But in fact, they come from a 10th-century Arabic book called "The Encyclopedia of Pleasure," which covers sex from aphrodisiacs to zoophilia, and everything in between.
The Encyclopedia is just one in a long line of Arabic erotica, much of it written by religious scholars. Going right back to the Prophet Muhammad, there is a rich tradition in Islam of talking frankly about sex: not just its problems, but also its pleasures, and not just for men, but also for women. A thousand years ago, we used to have whole dictionaries of sex in Arabic. Words to cover every conceivable sexual feature, position and preference, a body of language that was rich enough to make up the body of the woman you see on this page.
Today, this history is largely unknown in the Arab region. Even by educated people, who often feel more comfortable talking about sex in a foreign language than they do in their own tongue. Today's sexual landscape looks a lot like Europe and America on the brink of the sexual revolution.
But while the West has opened on sex, what we found is that Arab societies appear to have been moving in the opposite direction. In Egypt and many of its neighbors, this closing down is part of a wider closing in political, social and cultural thought. And it is the product of a complex historical process, one which has gained ground with the rise of Islamic conservatism since the late 1970s. "Just say no" is what conservatives around the world say to any challenge to the sexual status quo. In the Arab region, they brand these attempts as a Western conspiracy to undermine traditional Arab and Islamic values. But what's really at stake here is one of their most powerful tools of control: sex wrapped up in religion.
But history shows us that even as recently as our fathers' and grandfathers' day, there have been times of greater pragmatism, and tolerance, and a willingness to consider other interpretations: be it abortion, or masturbation, or even the incendiary topic of homosexuality. It is not black and white, as conservatives would have us believe. In these, as in so many other matters, Islam offers us at least 50 shades of gray. (Laughter)
Over my travels, I've met men and women across the Arab region who've been exploring that spectrum -- sexologists who are trying to help couples find greater happiness in their marriages, innovators who are managing to get sexuality education into schools, small groups of men and women, lesbian, gay, transgendered, transsexual, who are reaching out to their peers with online initiatives and real-world support. Women, and increasingly men, who are starting to speak out and push back against sexual violence on the streets and in the home. Groups that are trying to help sex workers protect themselves against HIV and other occupational hazards, and NGOs that are helping unwed mothers like Faiza find a place in society, and critically, stay with their kids.
Now these efforts are small, they're often underfunded, and they face formidable opposition. But I am optimistic that, in the long run, times are changing, and they and their ideas will gain ground. Social change doesn't happen in the Arab region through dramatic confrontation, beating or indeed baring of breasts, but rather through negotiation.
What we're talking here is not about a sexual revolution, but a sexual evolution, learning from other parts of the world, adapting to local conditions, forging our own path, not following one blazed by another. That path, I hope, will one day lead us to the right to control our own bodies, and to access the information and services we need to lead satisfying and safe sexual lives. The right to express our ideas freely, to marry whom we choose, to choose our own partners, to be sexually active or not, to decide whether to have children and when, all this without violence or force or discrimination.
Now we are very far from this across the Arab region, and so much needs to change: law, education, media, the economy, the list goes on and on, and it is the work of a generation, at least.
But it begins with a journey that I myself have made, asking hard questions of received wisdoms in sexual life. And it is a journey which has only served to strengthen my faith, and my appreciation of local histories and cultures by showing me possibilities where I once only saw absolutes.
Now given the turmoil in many countries in the Arab region, talking about sex, challenging the taboos, seeking alternatives might sound like something of a luxury.
But at this critical moment in history, if we do not anchor freedom and justice, dignity and equality, privacy and autonomy in our personal lives, in our sexual lives, we will find it very hard to achieve in public life.
The political and the sexual are intimate bedfellows, and that is true for us all. no matter where we live and love.
Thank you.
(Applause)
GralInt-TED Talks-Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model.
The following information is used for educational purposes only.
Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model.
Filmed Oct 2012 • Posted Jan 2013 • TEDxMidAtlantic
Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16-years-old.
Cameron Russell has stomped the runways for Victoria's Secret and Chanel, and has appeared in many magazines. But she is much more than just a pretty face.
Transcript:
Hi. My name is Cameron Russell, and for the last little while I've been a model. Actually, for 10 years. And I feel like there's an uncomfortable tension in the room right now because I should not have worn this dress. (Laughter)
So luckily I brought an outfit change. This is the first outfit change on the TED stage, so you guys are pretty lucky to witness it, I think. If some of the women were really horrified when I came out, you don't have to tell me now, but I'll find out later on Twitter. (Laughter)
I'd also note that I'm quite privileged to be able to transform what you think of me in a very brief 10 seconds. Not everybody gets to do that. These heels are very uncomfortable, so good thing I wasn't going to wear them. The worst part is putting this sweater over my head, because that's when you'll all laugh at me, so don't do anything while it's over my head. All right.
So why did I do that? That was awkward. Well, hopefully not as awkward as that picture. Image is powerful, but also image is superficial. I just totally transformed what you thought of me in six seconds. And in this picture, I had actually never had a boyfriend in real life. I was totally uncomfortable, and the photographer was telling me to arch my back and put my hand in that guy's hair. And of course, barring surgery, or the fake tan that I got two days ago for work, there's very little that we can do to transform how we look, and how we look, though it is superficial and immutable, has a huge impact on our lives.
So today, for me, being fearless means being honest. And I am on this stage because I am a model. I am on this stage because I am a pretty, white woman, and in my industry we call that a sexy girl. And I'm going to answer the questions that people always ask me, but with an honest twist.
So the first question is, how do you become a model? And I always just say, "Oh, I was scouted," but that means nothing. The real way that I became a model is I won a genetic lottery, and I am the recipient of a legacy, and maybe you're wondering what is a legacy. Well, for the past few centuries we have defined beauty not just as health and youth and symmetry that we're biologically programmed to admire, but also as tall, slender figures, and femininity and white skin. And this is a legacy that was built for me, and it's a legacy that I've been cashing out on. And I know there are people in the audience who are skeptical at this point, and maybe there are some fashionistas who are, like, "Wait. Naomi. Tyra. Joan Smalls. Liu Wen." And first, I commend you on your model knowledge. Very impressive. (Laughter) But unfortunately I have to inform you that in 2007, a very inspired NYU Ph.D. student counted all the models on the runway, every single one that was hired, and of the 677 models that were hired, only 27, or less than four percent, were non-white.
The next question people always ask me is, "Can I be a model when I grow up?" And the first answer is, "I don't know, they don't put me in charge of that." But the second answer, and what I really want to say to these little girls is, "Why? You know? You can be anything. You could be the President of the United States, or the inventor of the next Internet, or a ninja cardio-thoracic surgeon poet, which would be awesome, because you'd be the first one." (Laughter) If, after this amazing list, they still are like, "No, no, Cameron, I want to be a model," well then I say, "Be my boss." Because I'm not in charge of anything, and you could be the editor in chief of American Vogue or the CEO of H&M, or the next Steven Meisel. Saying that you want to be a model when you grow up is akin to saying that you want to win the Powerball when you grow up. It's out of your control, and it's awesome, and it's not a career path. I will demonstrate for you now 10 years of accumulated model knowledge, because unlike cardio-thoracic surgeons, it can just be distilled right into -- right now. So if the photographer is right there and the light is right there, like a nice HMI, and the client says, "Cameron, we want a walking shot," well then this leg goes first, nice and long, this arm goes back, this arm goes forward, the head is at three quarters, and you just go back and forth, just do that, and then you look back at your imaginary friends, 300, 400, 500 times. (Laughter) It will look something like this. (Laughter) Hopefully less awkward than that one in the middle. That was, I don't know what happened there.
Unfortunately after you've gone to school, and you have a résumé and you've done a few jobs, you can't say anything anymore, so if you say you want to be the President of the United States, but your résumé reads, "Underwear Model: 10 years," people give you a funny look.
The next question people always ask me is, "Do they retouch all the photos?" And yeah, they pretty much retouch all the photos, but that is only a small component of what's happening. This picture is the very first picture that I ever took, and it's also the very first time that I had worn a bikini, and I didn't even have my period yet. I know we're getting personal, but I was a young girl. This is what I looked like with my grandma just a few months earlier. Here's me on the same day as this shoot. My friend got to come with me. Here's me at a slumber party a few days before I shot French Vogue. Here's me on the soccer team and in V Magazine. And here's me today. And I hope what you're seeing is that these pictures are not pictures of me. They are constructions, and they are constructions by a group of professionals, by hairstylists and makeup artists and photographers and stylists and all of their assistants and pre-production and post-production, and they build this. That's not me.
Okay, so the next question people always ask me is, "Do you get free stuff?" I do have too many 8-inch heels which I never get to wear, except for earlier, but the free stuff that I get is the free stuff that I get in real life, and that's what we don't like to talk about. I grew up in Cambridge, and one time I went into a store and I forgot my money and they gave me the dress for free. When I was a teenager, I was driving with my friend who was an awful driver and she ran a red and of course, we got pulled over, and all it took was a "Sorry, officer," and we were on our way. And I got these free things because of how I look, not who I am, and there are people paying a cost for how they look and not who they are. I live in New York, and last year, of the 140,000 teenagers that were stopped and frisked, 86 percent of them were black and Latino, and most of them were young men. And there are only 177,000 young black and Latino men in New York, so for them, it's not a question of, "Will I get stopped?" but "How many times will I get stopped? When will I get stopped?" When I was researching this talk, I found out that of the 13-year-old girls in the United States, 53 percent don't like their bodies, and that number goes to 78 percent by the time that they're 17.
So the last question people ask me is, "What is it like to be a model?" And I think the answer that they're looking for is, "If you are a little bit skinnier and you have shinier hair, you will be so happy and fabulous." And when we're backstage, we give an answer that maybe makes it seem like that. We say, "It's really amazing to travel, and it's amazing to get to work with creative, inspired, passionate people." And those things are true, but they're only one half of the story, because the thing that we never say on camera, that I have never said on camera, is, "I am insecure." And I'm insecure because I have to think about what I look like every day. And if you ever are wondering, "If I have thinner thighs and shinier hair, will I be happier?" you just need to meet a group of models, because they have the thinnest thighs and the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes, and they're the most physically insecure women probably on the planet.
So when I was writing this talk, I found it very difficult to strike an honest balance, because on the one hand, I felt very uncomfortable to come out here and say, "Look I've received all these benefits from a deck stacked in my favor," and it also felt really uncomfortable to follow that up with, "and it doesn't always make me happy." But mostly it was difficult to unpack a legacy of gender and racial oppression when I am one of the biggest beneficiaries. But I'm also happy and honored to be up here and I think that it's great that I got to come before 10 or 20 or 30 years had passed and I'd had more agency in my career, because maybe then I wouldn't tell the story of how I got my first job, or maybe I wouldn't tell the story of how I paid for college, which seems so important right now.
If there's a takeaway to this talk, I hope it's that we all feel more comfortable acknowledging the power of image in our perceived successes and our perceived failures.
Thank you. (Applause)
Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model.
Filmed Oct 2012 • Posted Jan 2013 • TEDxMidAtlantic
Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16-years-old.
Cameron Russell has stomped the runways for Victoria's Secret and Chanel, and has appeared in many magazines. But she is much more than just a pretty face.
Transcript:
Hi. My name is Cameron Russell, and for the last little while I've been a model. Actually, for 10 years. And I feel like there's an uncomfortable tension in the room right now because I should not have worn this dress. (Laughter)
So luckily I brought an outfit change. This is the first outfit change on the TED stage, so you guys are pretty lucky to witness it, I think. If some of the women were really horrified when I came out, you don't have to tell me now, but I'll find out later on Twitter. (Laughter)
I'd also note that I'm quite privileged to be able to transform what you think of me in a very brief 10 seconds. Not everybody gets to do that. These heels are very uncomfortable, so good thing I wasn't going to wear them. The worst part is putting this sweater over my head, because that's when you'll all laugh at me, so don't do anything while it's over my head. All right.
So why did I do that? That was awkward. Well, hopefully not as awkward as that picture. Image is powerful, but also image is superficial. I just totally transformed what you thought of me in six seconds. And in this picture, I had actually never had a boyfriend in real life. I was totally uncomfortable, and the photographer was telling me to arch my back and put my hand in that guy's hair. And of course, barring surgery, or the fake tan that I got two days ago for work, there's very little that we can do to transform how we look, and how we look, though it is superficial and immutable, has a huge impact on our lives.
So today, for me, being fearless means being honest. And I am on this stage because I am a model. I am on this stage because I am a pretty, white woman, and in my industry we call that a sexy girl. And I'm going to answer the questions that people always ask me, but with an honest twist.
So the first question is, how do you become a model? And I always just say, "Oh, I was scouted," but that means nothing. The real way that I became a model is I won a genetic lottery, and I am the recipient of a legacy, and maybe you're wondering what is a legacy. Well, for the past few centuries we have defined beauty not just as health and youth and symmetry that we're biologically programmed to admire, but also as tall, slender figures, and femininity and white skin. And this is a legacy that was built for me, and it's a legacy that I've been cashing out on. And I know there are people in the audience who are skeptical at this point, and maybe there are some fashionistas who are, like, "Wait. Naomi. Tyra. Joan Smalls. Liu Wen." And first, I commend you on your model knowledge. Very impressive. (Laughter) But unfortunately I have to inform you that in 2007, a very inspired NYU Ph.D. student counted all the models on the runway, every single one that was hired, and of the 677 models that were hired, only 27, or less than four percent, were non-white.
The next question people always ask me is, "Can I be a model when I grow up?" And the first answer is, "I don't know, they don't put me in charge of that." But the second answer, and what I really want to say to these little girls is, "Why? You know? You can be anything. You could be the President of the United States, or the inventor of the next Internet, or a ninja cardio-thoracic surgeon poet, which would be awesome, because you'd be the first one." (Laughter) If, after this amazing list, they still are like, "No, no, Cameron, I want to be a model," well then I say, "Be my boss." Because I'm not in charge of anything, and you could be the editor in chief of American Vogue or the CEO of H&M, or the next Steven Meisel. Saying that you want to be a model when you grow up is akin to saying that you want to win the Powerball when you grow up. It's out of your control, and it's awesome, and it's not a career path. I will demonstrate for you now 10 years of accumulated model knowledge, because unlike cardio-thoracic surgeons, it can just be distilled right into -- right now. So if the photographer is right there and the light is right there, like a nice HMI, and the client says, "Cameron, we want a walking shot," well then this leg goes first, nice and long, this arm goes back, this arm goes forward, the head is at three quarters, and you just go back and forth, just do that, and then you look back at your imaginary friends, 300, 400, 500 times. (Laughter) It will look something like this. (Laughter) Hopefully less awkward than that one in the middle. That was, I don't know what happened there.
Unfortunately after you've gone to school, and you have a résumé and you've done a few jobs, you can't say anything anymore, so if you say you want to be the President of the United States, but your résumé reads, "Underwear Model: 10 years," people give you a funny look.
The next question people always ask me is, "Do they retouch all the photos?" And yeah, they pretty much retouch all the photos, but that is only a small component of what's happening. This picture is the very first picture that I ever took, and it's also the very first time that I had worn a bikini, and I didn't even have my period yet. I know we're getting personal, but I was a young girl. This is what I looked like with my grandma just a few months earlier. Here's me on the same day as this shoot. My friend got to come with me. Here's me at a slumber party a few days before I shot French Vogue. Here's me on the soccer team and in V Magazine. And here's me today. And I hope what you're seeing is that these pictures are not pictures of me. They are constructions, and they are constructions by a group of professionals, by hairstylists and makeup artists and photographers and stylists and all of their assistants and pre-production and post-production, and they build this. That's not me.
Okay, so the next question people always ask me is, "Do you get free stuff?" I do have too many 8-inch heels which I never get to wear, except for earlier, but the free stuff that I get is the free stuff that I get in real life, and that's what we don't like to talk about. I grew up in Cambridge, and one time I went into a store and I forgot my money and they gave me the dress for free. When I was a teenager, I was driving with my friend who was an awful driver and she ran a red and of course, we got pulled over, and all it took was a "Sorry, officer," and we were on our way. And I got these free things because of how I look, not who I am, and there are people paying a cost for how they look and not who they are. I live in New York, and last year, of the 140,000 teenagers that were stopped and frisked, 86 percent of them were black and Latino, and most of them were young men. And there are only 177,000 young black and Latino men in New York, so for them, it's not a question of, "Will I get stopped?" but "How many times will I get stopped? When will I get stopped?" When I was researching this talk, I found out that of the 13-year-old girls in the United States, 53 percent don't like their bodies, and that number goes to 78 percent by the time that they're 17.
So the last question people ask me is, "What is it like to be a model?" And I think the answer that they're looking for is, "If you are a little bit skinnier and you have shinier hair, you will be so happy and fabulous." And when we're backstage, we give an answer that maybe makes it seem like that. We say, "It's really amazing to travel, and it's amazing to get to work with creative, inspired, passionate people." And those things are true, but they're only one half of the story, because the thing that we never say on camera, that I have never said on camera, is, "I am insecure." And I'm insecure because I have to think about what I look like every day. And if you ever are wondering, "If I have thinner thighs and shinier hair, will I be happier?" you just need to meet a group of models, because they have the thinnest thighs and the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes, and they're the most physically insecure women probably on the planet.
So when I was writing this talk, I found it very difficult to strike an honest balance, because on the one hand, I felt very uncomfortable to come out here and say, "Look I've received all these benefits from a deck stacked in my favor," and it also felt really uncomfortable to follow that up with, "and it doesn't always make me happy." But mostly it was difficult to unpack a legacy of gender and racial oppression when I am one of the biggest beneficiaries. But I'm also happy and honored to be up here and I think that it's great that I got to come before 10 or 20 or 30 years had passed and I'd had more agency in my career, because maybe then I wouldn't tell the story of how I got my first job, or maybe I wouldn't tell the story of how I paid for college, which seems so important right now.
If there's a takeaway to this talk, I hope it's that we all feel more comfortable acknowledging the power of image in our perceived successes and our perceived failures.
Thank you. (Applause)
GralInt-TED Talks-Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days
The following information is used for educational purposes only.
Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days
Filmed Mar 2011 • Posted Jul 2011 • TED2011
Is there something you've always meant to do, wanted to do, but just ... haven't? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals.
Matt Cutts is an engineer at Google, where he fights linkspam and helps webmasters understand how search works.
Transcript:
A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days. The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you've always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days. It turns out, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit -- like watching the news -- from your life.
There's a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges. The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable. This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month. And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I also noticed that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew. I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work -- for fun. Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges.
I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days. Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel from scratch in 30 days. It turns out, all you have to do is write 1,667 words a day for a month. So I did. By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you've written your words for the day. You might be sleep-deprived, but you'll finish your novel. Now is my book the next great American novel? No. I wrote it in a month. It's awful. But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don't have to say, "I'm a computer scientist." No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I'm a novelist."
(Laughter)
So here's one last thing I'd like to mention. I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick. There's nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges. In fact, they're a ton of fun. But they're less likely to stick. When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this.
(Laughter)
So here's my question to you: What are you waiting for? I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot for the next 30 days.
Thanks.
(Applause)
Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days
Filmed Mar 2011 • Posted Jul 2011 • TED2011
Is there something you've always meant to do, wanted to do, but just ... haven't? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals.
Matt Cutts is an engineer at Google, where he fights linkspam and helps webmasters understand how search works.
Transcript:
A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days. The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you've always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days. It turns out, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit -- like watching the news -- from your life.
There's a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges. The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable. This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month. And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I also noticed that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew. I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work -- for fun. Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges.
I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days. Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel from scratch in 30 days. It turns out, all you have to do is write 1,667 words a day for a month. So I did. By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you've written your words for the day. You might be sleep-deprived, but you'll finish your novel. Now is my book the next great American novel? No. I wrote it in a month. It's awful. But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don't have to say, "I'm a computer scientist." No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I'm a novelist."
(Laughter)
So here's one last thing I'd like to mention. I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick. There's nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges. In fact, they're a ton of fun. But they're less likely to stick. When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this.
(Laughter)
So here's my question to you: What are you waiting for? I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot for the next 30 days.
Thanks.
(Applause)
LIFE/GralInt-¿Estás satisfecho con la vida que tenés?
The following information is used for educational purposes only.
¿Estás satisfecho con la vida que tenés?
La pregunta es inevitable si uno está dispuesto a descubrir el misterio de la felicidad. Datos, estudios y un test que ayudará a responder esta pregunta tan necesaria para cumplir los sueños
Por Eduardo Chaktoura
Foto: LA NACION / Alma Larroca
Como las olas del mar, la pregunta llega una y otra vez: ¿cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? Y, aunque decidamos evitarla, como los caracoles, nuestras voces interiores no callan. El proceso va por dentro. El mar no se detiene. El movimiento, su espíritu, su energía, así como las nuestras, fluctúan de manera inevitable, por influencia de cientos de factores naturales y otros tantos condicionamientos de los que, en muchos aspectos, somos absolutamente responsables.
Aunque a muchos aún les cueste aceptarlo, y prefieran resignarse o enojarse con el mal tiempo , sepan que muy a pesar de todo siempre se puede elegir (o evitar) ser felices.
¿Cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? -otra ola roza la orilla.
Si bien soportar la cuestión de manera latente sería como vivir bajo el agua, agobiados por el zumbido y la presión; nuestros registros de bienestar o satisfacción/insatisfacción son cotidianos, permanentes, inevitables.
"Me siento bien, me siento mal. Estoy triste, feliz, enérgico, agotado. Soy optimista, pesimista. Tengo fe, estoy desilusionado. Estoy condenado al fracaso, lo voy a lograr. Voy a ser feliz."
No está de más tomar nota de los pensamientos, frases, dichos y estados de ánimo que se han hecho costumbre, que parecen haberse enquistado como creencia. Todo se desaprende.
El norte de nuestra brújula existencial, dependerá siempre de la afección (positiva o negativa) de cada experiencia, de la interpretación que hagamos de cada una de nuestras emociones (positivas o negativas).
En definitiva, se podría comenzar por entender la satisfacción como la experiencia subjetiva de bienestar (el equivalente a la sensación de felicidad), así como de lo que resulte de la auto-valoración, de los registros de nuestra autoestima.
Mis deseos, mis sueños, mis actos (positivos o negativos) en consecuencia; mi interpretación de los resultados, mi capacidad de control (y descontrol); mis dosis de optimismo y esperanza, de creatividad, de voluntad (de pesimismo).
Tenemos la capacidad de elegir, más allá de cualquier adversidad. Tal vez alguien más ya se haya convencido o esté predispuesto a escuchar cómo hacerlo.
¿Cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? -otra ola.
Es tan personal la respuesta que, más allá del enloquecedor canto de sirenas de este mundo actual, tan exitista y de consumo, si alguien pretende encontrar el gran tesoro , sería aconsejable comenzar por tomar conciencia plena de nuestros verdaderos mapas emocionales, de nuestros recursos y fortalezas, de nuestro verdadero propósito.
Tal vez hoy alguien tenga el privilegio de descubrir que no es feliz porque está atrapado en la red de un proyecto ajeno; porque tal vez tenga toda su energía puesta en un plan que ya no le resulta propicio o funcional; porque tiene miedo a ser o quien realmente desea.
De nada servirá si no tenemos proyectos u objetivos concretos, reales, sentidos, posibles, coherentes con el resto de nuestros propósitos.
"Tener metas contradictorias o sentir ambivalencia hacia ciertos objetivos reduce la felicidad", dice Alan Carr, director del doctorado en Psicología Clínica del University College de Dublín. En su libro Psicología Positiva, la ciencia de la felicidad , sugiere que "debemos considerar a fondo nuestros diversos objetivos e intentar desarrollar un conjunto de metas que sean vitales entre sí. Así, pues, debemos intentar organizar nuestro tiempo para poder trabajar cada día, aunque sólo sea un poco, en pro de su consecución".
Así como revisar cuán sinceros, precisos y coherentes son nuestros proyectos y deseos, puede resultarnos de gran utilidad ver qué resulta de los tests o escalas de satisfacción y felicidad que podemos autoadministrarnos.
El principal objetivo de la psicología positiva es comprender y facilitar la felicidad y el bienestar subjetivo. Este novedoso modelo de la psicología ofrece aportes fundamentales en torno al buen vivir. En lugar de hacer énfasis en los déficits o el trauma, con estricto rigor científico, se ocupa de investigar sobre todo aquello que necesitamos saber para responder de la mejor manera a la pregunta que, inevitablemente, llega una y otra vez.
Tal como certifica en su libro Alan Carr, el profesor Ed Diener, de la Universidad de Minnesota, agrupó los datos de 916 estudios sobre la felicidad, la satisfacción con la vida y el bienestar subjetivo, que fueron realizados a más de un millón de personas de 45 países.
Entre otras cuestiones, Diener comprobó que "la persona normal es moderadamente feliz", al obtener como resultado una puntuación media de 6,75, en torno a una escala que iba del 0 (mayor infelicidad) al 10 (extrema felicidad), y donde 5 indicaba un nivel o valor neutro. Si bien la media se sostiene en materia de género y edad, el informe indica que "hay más mujeres y más personas jóvenes que comunican una felicidad o una infelicidad extremas, en comparación con los hombres y con las personas de más edad". También se registraron "fluctuaciones de poca importancia en materia de felicidad a lo largo de la vida", así como se supo que "la satisfacción con la vida aumenta ligeramente con la edad, mientras que disminuía levemente la afectividad positiva".
Dentro de los rasgos de afectividad positiva (dimensión en las que se registran sensaciones emocionales agradables) se contempla como valor agregado la capacidad de extroversión, jovialidad, seguridad en uno mismo, capacidad de atención, estado de alerta o decisión (y acción).
Estos datos universales obtenidos por Diener coinciden con los resultados de los estudios realizados en Argentina por TNS Gallup a lo largo de estos 20 años. El último reporte sobre un total de 1012 entrevistas realizadas cara a cara en todo el país da cuenta de que el 52% de los argentinos son bastante felices, mientras que el 32% (3 de cada 10) son muy felices, y el 14% son muy poco o nada felices.
Cada cultura, con su historia y sus geografías, con su capacidad de producción y riqueza nacional, influirá en la constitución de una radiografía emocional con sus consabidas particularidades (positivas o negativas).
Cada quien sabrá (o se le aconseja saber) qué aspectos y en qué medida influyen sobre lo que se puede considerar como más o menos satisfactorio respecto de la vida que uno tiene.
Más allá de cada experiencia subjetiva, los estudios universales dicen que los registros bienestar/felicidad/satisfacción (la afección o afectividad positiva) "están asociados con una mayor satisfacción en el trabajo y en la vida conyugal, así como se pueden reforzar mediante una actividad física regular, un patrón de sueño adecuado, el trato frecuente con amistades íntimas y el esfuerzo por alcanzar objetivos valorados".
La radiografía emocional de los argentinos, según TNS Gallup, revela que "las principales razones de felicidad/satisfacción guardan relación con la familia (39%), la buena salud (29%), el tener trabajo (22%), el vínculo con los hijos (18%), el "tener lo que quiero" (10%), entre otros aspectos.
En la Argentina, el principal motivo de insatisfacción o infelicidad refiere a tener problemas económicos (29%), de salud (15%), laborales (14%), familiares (12%), la pérdida de un ser querido (10%), estar o sentirse solo (6%), entre otras consideraciones.
¿Qué es lo que me permitiría ser feliz?
La genética, el estilo de personalidad y la cultura influyente no determinan nuestra forma de experimentar y entender la plenitud, así como, más allá de semejantes influencias (no determinaciones), podemos elegir nuestro propio rumbo. Pero antes de analizarlo en profundidad, es necesario reconocer algunos otros conceptos clave.
La felicidad tiene dos aspectos fundamentales: uno afectivo (la experiencia emocional) y otro cognitivo (la interpretación o valoración de cada experiencia).
El profesor Diener es quien propone entender estos dos aspectos en torno a ámbitos tan esenciales para el hombre como la relación con uno mismo, con la familia, los amigos o compañeros, la salud, el trabajo, la economía, el ocio.
En torno al ámbito personal (la relación con uno mismo), Diener supone que frente a la pregunta ¿cómo vemos nuestra propia vida? (factor cognitivo), podremos experimentar emociones (factor afectivo) tales como felicidad (afecto positivo) o depresión (afecto negativo).
De esta manera, según el investigador de Minnesota, también podremos entender los componentes de nuestro bienestar subjetivo, acorde a la interpretación y la afección (positiva o negativa) que puedan despertar nuestros vínculos con los otros (¿cómo ven mi vida las personas que me interesan?), lo que resulte de nuestra realidad familiar (satisfacción con la vida actual), nuestra salud (satisfacción respecto del pasado), nuestra economía (satisfacción con el futuro), nuestro trabajo (deseo de cambiar el mundo).
Más allá de estos factores cognitivos y afectivos, es oportuno considerar la propuesta conceptual de Martín Seligman, pionero en psicología positiva, cuando en su libro La auténtica felicidad (2002), propone descubrir lo que revela la clasificación de las emociones positivas, en torno al pasado, el presente y el futuro.
De esta interpretación, seguramente, podremos capitalizar el significado y el valor diferencial de palabras y enfoques fundamentales, que nos ayudarán a pensar y elegir (siempre a conciencia plena) el camino apropiado para sentirnos cada día más felices/satisfechos.
Seligman cree que las emociones positivas relacionadas con el futuro contemplan virtudes y valores fundamentales, como son el optimismo, la esperanza, la fe, la confianza, la seguridad, en favor de lo deseado. ¿Tenemos una mirada positiva de la vida?
Las emociones positivas relacionadas con el pasado implican la sensación de satisfacción en sí misma, en función de la realización, el orgullo y la serenidad que otorga lo conquistado. ¿Somos conscientes de lo que hemos logrado, del esfuerzo y la dedicación, más allá de las posibilidades y los resultados?
Ahora bien, y esto es un valor diferencial importante, Seligman propone pensar dos clases diferentes de emociones positivas relacionadas con el presente: los placeres, que son momentáneos; y las gratificaciones, que son más duraderas.
Cuando vuelva la ola y su pregunta, tal vez sea propicio poder tener en claro estas diferencias.
Tal como explica Alan Carr en La ciencia de la Felicidad , citando textos de Seligman: "Los placeres pueden ser corporales y superiores. Los placeres corporales se logran por medio de los sentidos; las sensaciones provocadas por las relaciones sexuales, los buenos perfumes, los sabores deliciosos. En cambio, los placeres superiores surgen de actividades más complejas e incluyen sensaciones como la dicha, la alegría, el bienestar, el éxtasis y el entusiasmo. Las gratificaciones difieren de los placeres en que implican unos estados de absorción o de fluidez que nacen de realizar actividades que requieren el esfuerzo de nuestras fuerzas distintivas de nuestras virtudes".
Como para entender que podemos elegir entre dos caminos para sentirnos satisfechos con la vida que llevamos: optar entre un enfoque hedónico, que define la felicidad en función de la búsqueda del placer y la evitación del dolor, o apostar por un modelo eudemónico, pensando la felicidad y la buena vida en función de la plena realización del propio potencial.
Otra ola y otra más; el zumbido existencial de un nuevo caracol.
La felicidad se hereda, se aprende, se enseña, se contagia.
Debemos saber que llegamos a esta vida con un pasaporte más o menos directo a la felicidad. Más allá de las posibilidades ambientales, educativas y económicas del lugar en el que nos haya tocado nacer, la herencia familiar hace un aporte fundamental.
En materia genética, estudios realizados sobre gemelos demuestran que la mitad de la variación en la felicidad presente depende de factores biológicos heredados. Sin embargo, la psicología evolutiva nos demuestra que podemos desplazarnos de ese punto fijo de felicidad tan influyente.
Más allá de cuestiones biológicas, diversas investigaciones han confirmado la correlación entre afectividad positiva y estilo de personalidad. Las personas con mayor seguridad, empuje, optimismo, tienen más oportunidades que aquellos con poca voluntad, decisión, persistencia, que aquellos que tienen una mirada negativa, que viven ansiosos o de berrinche en berrinche, que creen que no podrán, que no tienen suerte, que la felicidad no es para ellos.
Contra cualquier teoría rígida o determinista, en las últimas décadas se ha descubierto el maravilloso poder de la neuroplasticidad (la flexibilidad que tiene nuestro cerebro para hacer nuevas conexiones neuronales y, en este proceso, establecer nuevos aprendizajes, nuevas miradas). También contemplarse que así como nos hemos apegado (a un modo de crianza, conducta, pensamiento, vínculos) podemos desapegarnos, desaprender, resignificar. Todo lo confirma: elegimos ser más o menos felices.
Para esto, en el ámbito familiar (así como en el educativo), tendremos que apostar a crianzas seguras, con afecto, actitud positiva, con roles y discursos bien definidos, sea cual sea la circunstancia del sistema.
Nadie podría poner en duda la influencia de la calidad del entorno y de las relaciones personales. Así como la familia y la escuela, siempre es crucial el rol del Estado.
Todo gobierno debería contemplar entre sus responsabilidades la importancia de promover leyes y acciones de gobierno que promuevan el bienestar social y, en definitiva, eleven los índices de bienestar subjetivo de los ciudadanos.
Así como ocurre en Europa y Estados Unidos, deberían incluirse en escuelas, empresas y todo tipo organismos públicos y privados, aquellos planes de entrenamiento y programas de educación emocional" que apuestan a promover el bienestar y, en definitiva, aumentan cualquier producción.
Todos deberíamos tener derecho a conocer el mar. Todos necesitamos que nos enseñen a apreciarlo, a escuchar (a conciencia plena) las preguntas (y respuestas) que van y vienen en cada ola.
¿Cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? ¿Cuán dispuesto estás a sentirte más feliz?
El cine también busca respuestas
-Me gusta esta vida que llevamos. ¿No te gusta esta vida? -le pregunta Santiago, el personaje que interpreta Guillermo Francella, a su socio y amigo de más de 30 años.
La respuesta silenciosa de Eugenio provoca lo impensado. Después de tanto tiempo de amistad (casi) incuestionable, de tanto trabajo, esfuerzo, decisiones y logros compartidos, algo desata el conflicto que propone la recientemente estrenada película argentina El misterio de la felicidad.
El debate existencial no sólo gira en torno a la decisión de vender (o no) lo que ambos convirtieron en un gran negocio, sino que el gran interrogante es lo que también le sugiere el personaje de Francella a su socio, casi como un hermano:
-¿Venderías lo que fue tu sueño de toda la vida?
En definitiva, aunque tácita, la pregunta de fondo es: ¿cuál es tu verdadero sueño? ¿Qué estás haciendo para conquistarlo?
En este sentido la nueva película de Daniel Burman es un oportuno disparador existencial.
10 sugerencias para cada día
- Identificar los verdaderos deseos. Nunca habrá felicidad si se persiguen sueños o proyectos ajenos.
- Ser precisos y concretos sobre los objetivos. Si no se tiene en claro qué es eso que tanto se desea, se perderá tiempo, energía y dinero.
- Sintonizar con las propias emociones. Aprender a tomar conciencia plena de lo que realmente se siente a cada momento. El gran objetivo, siempre: las emociones positivas.
- No olvidar qué da placer y qué gratifica. Se puede elegir entre una vida hedónica (en busca siempre del placer, evitando el dolor) o un enfoque eudemónico (ir en busca de la felicidad en función de la plena realización del propio potencial).
- Sincronizar con los relojes del tiempo. Ni ayer ni mañana; hoy, aquí y ahora. Vivir del pasado es nostalgia; vivir del futuro, ansiedad. Vivir de lo que no logré, angustia (depresión); vivir de lo que voy a lograr , además de estrés y obsesión, genera la pérdida de la oportunidad que se puede tener hoy.
- Mantener costumbres lo más saludables posibles. Cada quien, en la medida de sus posibilidades: ingerir alimentos de calidad con moderación; saborear y disfrutar de lo que tanto gusta, sin culpa, pero en su medida justa; descansar, relajarse, tratar de buscar espacios verdes y con aire puro; hacer ejercicio con regularidad (caminar, aunque más no sea). Premiar el esfuerzo con algo que realmente satisfaga.
- Fundamental promover vínculos saludables. Reunirse con amigos, cuidar las relaciones íntimas, conocer los beneficios que conlleva agradecer, perdonar y saber pedir perdón. Tratar de mantener contacto y preservar las redes familiares. Unirse con gente afín para, además de compartir, no dejar de hacer aquellas cosas que hacen bien (baile, música, deportes). Ser solidarios, revisar costumbres, estilos de pensar, sentir, decir y escuchar (comunicación).
- Buscar el reconocimiento profesional y/o económico en nuestro trabajo. Que el objetivo de éxito sea coherente con el resto de los objetivos y estilo. Si no se tiene el trabajo que a uno le gusta, no dejar de buscar la alternativa. Mientras no aparece, mientras se sigue buscando, sostenerse con los otros socios y compañeros de la felicidad: familia, amigos, actividad física, arte, ocio.
- Cuando uno siente que solo no puede, más allá del apoyo de la familia y amigos, consultar con los profesionales capacitados para ayudar a trabajar sobre trastornos, dolores y limitaciones.
- Pensar más sugerencias, compartirlas, armar grupos, tener proyectos.
Fuente: www.lanacion.com.ar/Revista
¿Estás satisfecho con la vida que tenés?
La pregunta es inevitable si uno está dispuesto a descubrir el misterio de la felicidad. Datos, estudios y un test que ayudará a responder esta pregunta tan necesaria para cumplir los sueños
Por Eduardo Chaktoura
Foto: LA NACION / Alma Larroca
Como las olas del mar, la pregunta llega una y otra vez: ¿cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? Y, aunque decidamos evitarla, como los caracoles, nuestras voces interiores no callan. El proceso va por dentro. El mar no se detiene. El movimiento, su espíritu, su energía, así como las nuestras, fluctúan de manera inevitable, por influencia de cientos de factores naturales y otros tantos condicionamientos de los que, en muchos aspectos, somos absolutamente responsables.
Aunque a muchos aún les cueste aceptarlo, y prefieran resignarse o enojarse con el mal tiempo , sepan que muy a pesar de todo siempre se puede elegir (o evitar) ser felices.
¿Cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? -otra ola roza la orilla.
Si bien soportar la cuestión de manera latente sería como vivir bajo el agua, agobiados por el zumbido y la presión; nuestros registros de bienestar o satisfacción/insatisfacción son cotidianos, permanentes, inevitables.
"Me siento bien, me siento mal. Estoy triste, feliz, enérgico, agotado. Soy optimista, pesimista. Tengo fe, estoy desilusionado. Estoy condenado al fracaso, lo voy a lograr. Voy a ser feliz."
No está de más tomar nota de los pensamientos, frases, dichos y estados de ánimo que se han hecho costumbre, que parecen haberse enquistado como creencia. Todo se desaprende.
El norte de nuestra brújula existencial, dependerá siempre de la afección (positiva o negativa) de cada experiencia, de la interpretación que hagamos de cada una de nuestras emociones (positivas o negativas).
En definitiva, se podría comenzar por entender la satisfacción como la experiencia subjetiva de bienestar (el equivalente a la sensación de felicidad), así como de lo que resulte de la auto-valoración, de los registros de nuestra autoestima.
Mis deseos, mis sueños, mis actos (positivos o negativos) en consecuencia; mi interpretación de los resultados, mi capacidad de control (y descontrol); mis dosis de optimismo y esperanza, de creatividad, de voluntad (de pesimismo).
Tenemos la capacidad de elegir, más allá de cualquier adversidad. Tal vez alguien más ya se haya convencido o esté predispuesto a escuchar cómo hacerlo.
¿Cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? -otra ola.
Es tan personal la respuesta que, más allá del enloquecedor canto de sirenas de este mundo actual, tan exitista y de consumo, si alguien pretende encontrar el gran tesoro , sería aconsejable comenzar por tomar conciencia plena de nuestros verdaderos mapas emocionales, de nuestros recursos y fortalezas, de nuestro verdadero propósito.
Tal vez hoy alguien tenga el privilegio de descubrir que no es feliz porque está atrapado en la red de un proyecto ajeno; porque tal vez tenga toda su energía puesta en un plan que ya no le resulta propicio o funcional; porque tiene miedo a ser o quien realmente desea.
De nada servirá si no tenemos proyectos u objetivos concretos, reales, sentidos, posibles, coherentes con el resto de nuestros propósitos.
"Tener metas contradictorias o sentir ambivalencia hacia ciertos objetivos reduce la felicidad", dice Alan Carr, director del doctorado en Psicología Clínica del University College de Dublín. En su libro Psicología Positiva, la ciencia de la felicidad , sugiere que "debemos considerar a fondo nuestros diversos objetivos e intentar desarrollar un conjunto de metas que sean vitales entre sí. Así, pues, debemos intentar organizar nuestro tiempo para poder trabajar cada día, aunque sólo sea un poco, en pro de su consecución".
Así como revisar cuán sinceros, precisos y coherentes son nuestros proyectos y deseos, puede resultarnos de gran utilidad ver qué resulta de los tests o escalas de satisfacción y felicidad que podemos autoadministrarnos.
El principal objetivo de la psicología positiva es comprender y facilitar la felicidad y el bienestar subjetivo. Este novedoso modelo de la psicología ofrece aportes fundamentales en torno al buen vivir. En lugar de hacer énfasis en los déficits o el trauma, con estricto rigor científico, se ocupa de investigar sobre todo aquello que necesitamos saber para responder de la mejor manera a la pregunta que, inevitablemente, llega una y otra vez.
Tal como certifica en su libro Alan Carr, el profesor Ed Diener, de la Universidad de Minnesota, agrupó los datos de 916 estudios sobre la felicidad, la satisfacción con la vida y el bienestar subjetivo, que fueron realizados a más de un millón de personas de 45 países.
Entre otras cuestiones, Diener comprobó que "la persona normal es moderadamente feliz", al obtener como resultado una puntuación media de 6,75, en torno a una escala que iba del 0 (mayor infelicidad) al 10 (extrema felicidad), y donde 5 indicaba un nivel o valor neutro. Si bien la media se sostiene en materia de género y edad, el informe indica que "hay más mujeres y más personas jóvenes que comunican una felicidad o una infelicidad extremas, en comparación con los hombres y con las personas de más edad". También se registraron "fluctuaciones de poca importancia en materia de felicidad a lo largo de la vida", así como se supo que "la satisfacción con la vida aumenta ligeramente con la edad, mientras que disminuía levemente la afectividad positiva".
Dentro de los rasgos de afectividad positiva (dimensión en las que se registran sensaciones emocionales agradables) se contempla como valor agregado la capacidad de extroversión, jovialidad, seguridad en uno mismo, capacidad de atención, estado de alerta o decisión (y acción).
Estos datos universales obtenidos por Diener coinciden con los resultados de los estudios realizados en Argentina por TNS Gallup a lo largo de estos 20 años. El último reporte sobre un total de 1012 entrevistas realizadas cara a cara en todo el país da cuenta de que el 52% de los argentinos son bastante felices, mientras que el 32% (3 de cada 10) son muy felices, y el 14% son muy poco o nada felices.
Cada cultura, con su historia y sus geografías, con su capacidad de producción y riqueza nacional, influirá en la constitución de una radiografía emocional con sus consabidas particularidades (positivas o negativas).
Cada quien sabrá (o se le aconseja saber) qué aspectos y en qué medida influyen sobre lo que se puede considerar como más o menos satisfactorio respecto de la vida que uno tiene.
Más allá de cada experiencia subjetiva, los estudios universales dicen que los registros bienestar/felicidad/satisfacción (la afección o afectividad positiva) "están asociados con una mayor satisfacción en el trabajo y en la vida conyugal, así como se pueden reforzar mediante una actividad física regular, un patrón de sueño adecuado, el trato frecuente con amistades íntimas y el esfuerzo por alcanzar objetivos valorados".
La radiografía emocional de los argentinos, según TNS Gallup, revela que "las principales razones de felicidad/satisfacción guardan relación con la familia (39%), la buena salud (29%), el tener trabajo (22%), el vínculo con los hijos (18%), el "tener lo que quiero" (10%), entre otros aspectos.
En la Argentina, el principal motivo de insatisfacción o infelicidad refiere a tener problemas económicos (29%), de salud (15%), laborales (14%), familiares (12%), la pérdida de un ser querido (10%), estar o sentirse solo (6%), entre otras consideraciones.
¿Qué es lo que me permitiría ser feliz?
La genética, el estilo de personalidad y la cultura influyente no determinan nuestra forma de experimentar y entender la plenitud, así como, más allá de semejantes influencias (no determinaciones), podemos elegir nuestro propio rumbo. Pero antes de analizarlo en profundidad, es necesario reconocer algunos otros conceptos clave.
La felicidad tiene dos aspectos fundamentales: uno afectivo (la experiencia emocional) y otro cognitivo (la interpretación o valoración de cada experiencia).
El profesor Diener es quien propone entender estos dos aspectos en torno a ámbitos tan esenciales para el hombre como la relación con uno mismo, con la familia, los amigos o compañeros, la salud, el trabajo, la economía, el ocio.
En torno al ámbito personal (la relación con uno mismo), Diener supone que frente a la pregunta ¿cómo vemos nuestra propia vida? (factor cognitivo), podremos experimentar emociones (factor afectivo) tales como felicidad (afecto positivo) o depresión (afecto negativo).
De esta manera, según el investigador de Minnesota, también podremos entender los componentes de nuestro bienestar subjetivo, acorde a la interpretación y la afección (positiva o negativa) que puedan despertar nuestros vínculos con los otros (¿cómo ven mi vida las personas que me interesan?), lo que resulte de nuestra realidad familiar (satisfacción con la vida actual), nuestra salud (satisfacción respecto del pasado), nuestra economía (satisfacción con el futuro), nuestro trabajo (deseo de cambiar el mundo).
Más allá de estos factores cognitivos y afectivos, es oportuno considerar la propuesta conceptual de Martín Seligman, pionero en psicología positiva, cuando en su libro La auténtica felicidad (2002), propone descubrir lo que revela la clasificación de las emociones positivas, en torno al pasado, el presente y el futuro.
De esta interpretación, seguramente, podremos capitalizar el significado y el valor diferencial de palabras y enfoques fundamentales, que nos ayudarán a pensar y elegir (siempre a conciencia plena) el camino apropiado para sentirnos cada día más felices/satisfechos.
Seligman cree que las emociones positivas relacionadas con el futuro contemplan virtudes y valores fundamentales, como son el optimismo, la esperanza, la fe, la confianza, la seguridad, en favor de lo deseado. ¿Tenemos una mirada positiva de la vida?
Las emociones positivas relacionadas con el pasado implican la sensación de satisfacción en sí misma, en función de la realización, el orgullo y la serenidad que otorga lo conquistado. ¿Somos conscientes de lo que hemos logrado, del esfuerzo y la dedicación, más allá de las posibilidades y los resultados?
Ahora bien, y esto es un valor diferencial importante, Seligman propone pensar dos clases diferentes de emociones positivas relacionadas con el presente: los placeres, que son momentáneos; y las gratificaciones, que son más duraderas.
Cuando vuelva la ola y su pregunta, tal vez sea propicio poder tener en claro estas diferencias.
Tal como explica Alan Carr en La ciencia de la Felicidad , citando textos de Seligman: "Los placeres pueden ser corporales y superiores. Los placeres corporales se logran por medio de los sentidos; las sensaciones provocadas por las relaciones sexuales, los buenos perfumes, los sabores deliciosos. En cambio, los placeres superiores surgen de actividades más complejas e incluyen sensaciones como la dicha, la alegría, el bienestar, el éxtasis y el entusiasmo. Las gratificaciones difieren de los placeres en que implican unos estados de absorción o de fluidez que nacen de realizar actividades que requieren el esfuerzo de nuestras fuerzas distintivas de nuestras virtudes".
Como para entender que podemos elegir entre dos caminos para sentirnos satisfechos con la vida que llevamos: optar entre un enfoque hedónico, que define la felicidad en función de la búsqueda del placer y la evitación del dolor, o apostar por un modelo eudemónico, pensando la felicidad y la buena vida en función de la plena realización del propio potencial.
Otra ola y otra más; el zumbido existencial de un nuevo caracol.
La felicidad se hereda, se aprende, se enseña, se contagia.
Debemos saber que llegamos a esta vida con un pasaporte más o menos directo a la felicidad. Más allá de las posibilidades ambientales, educativas y económicas del lugar en el que nos haya tocado nacer, la herencia familiar hace un aporte fundamental.
En materia genética, estudios realizados sobre gemelos demuestran que la mitad de la variación en la felicidad presente depende de factores biológicos heredados. Sin embargo, la psicología evolutiva nos demuestra que podemos desplazarnos de ese punto fijo de felicidad tan influyente.
Más allá de cuestiones biológicas, diversas investigaciones han confirmado la correlación entre afectividad positiva y estilo de personalidad. Las personas con mayor seguridad, empuje, optimismo, tienen más oportunidades que aquellos con poca voluntad, decisión, persistencia, que aquellos que tienen una mirada negativa, que viven ansiosos o de berrinche en berrinche, que creen que no podrán, que no tienen suerte, que la felicidad no es para ellos.
Contra cualquier teoría rígida o determinista, en las últimas décadas se ha descubierto el maravilloso poder de la neuroplasticidad (la flexibilidad que tiene nuestro cerebro para hacer nuevas conexiones neuronales y, en este proceso, establecer nuevos aprendizajes, nuevas miradas). También contemplarse que así como nos hemos apegado (a un modo de crianza, conducta, pensamiento, vínculos) podemos desapegarnos, desaprender, resignificar. Todo lo confirma: elegimos ser más o menos felices.
Para esto, en el ámbito familiar (así como en el educativo), tendremos que apostar a crianzas seguras, con afecto, actitud positiva, con roles y discursos bien definidos, sea cual sea la circunstancia del sistema.
Nadie podría poner en duda la influencia de la calidad del entorno y de las relaciones personales. Así como la familia y la escuela, siempre es crucial el rol del Estado.
Todo gobierno debería contemplar entre sus responsabilidades la importancia de promover leyes y acciones de gobierno que promuevan el bienestar social y, en definitiva, eleven los índices de bienestar subjetivo de los ciudadanos.
Así como ocurre en Europa y Estados Unidos, deberían incluirse en escuelas, empresas y todo tipo organismos públicos y privados, aquellos planes de entrenamiento y programas de educación emocional" que apuestan a promover el bienestar y, en definitiva, aumentan cualquier producción.
Todos deberíamos tener derecho a conocer el mar. Todos necesitamos que nos enseñen a apreciarlo, a escuchar (a conciencia plena) las preguntas (y respuestas) que van y vienen en cada ola.
¿Cuán satisfecho estás con la vida que tenés? ¿Cuán dispuesto estás a sentirte más feliz?
El cine también busca respuestas
-Me gusta esta vida que llevamos. ¿No te gusta esta vida? -le pregunta Santiago, el personaje que interpreta Guillermo Francella, a su socio y amigo de más de 30 años.
La respuesta silenciosa de Eugenio provoca lo impensado. Después de tanto tiempo de amistad (casi) incuestionable, de tanto trabajo, esfuerzo, decisiones y logros compartidos, algo desata el conflicto que propone la recientemente estrenada película argentina El misterio de la felicidad.
El debate existencial no sólo gira en torno a la decisión de vender (o no) lo que ambos convirtieron en un gran negocio, sino que el gran interrogante es lo que también le sugiere el personaje de Francella a su socio, casi como un hermano:
-¿Venderías lo que fue tu sueño de toda la vida?
En definitiva, aunque tácita, la pregunta de fondo es: ¿cuál es tu verdadero sueño? ¿Qué estás haciendo para conquistarlo?
En este sentido la nueva película de Daniel Burman es un oportuno disparador existencial.
10 sugerencias para cada día
- Identificar los verdaderos deseos. Nunca habrá felicidad si se persiguen sueños o proyectos ajenos.
- Ser precisos y concretos sobre los objetivos. Si no se tiene en claro qué es eso que tanto se desea, se perderá tiempo, energía y dinero.
- Sintonizar con las propias emociones. Aprender a tomar conciencia plena de lo que realmente se siente a cada momento. El gran objetivo, siempre: las emociones positivas.
- No olvidar qué da placer y qué gratifica. Se puede elegir entre una vida hedónica (en busca siempre del placer, evitando el dolor) o un enfoque eudemónico (ir en busca de la felicidad en función de la plena realización del propio potencial).
- Sincronizar con los relojes del tiempo. Ni ayer ni mañana; hoy, aquí y ahora. Vivir del pasado es nostalgia; vivir del futuro, ansiedad. Vivir de lo que no logré, angustia (depresión); vivir de lo que voy a lograr , además de estrés y obsesión, genera la pérdida de la oportunidad que se puede tener hoy.
- Mantener costumbres lo más saludables posibles. Cada quien, en la medida de sus posibilidades: ingerir alimentos de calidad con moderación; saborear y disfrutar de lo que tanto gusta, sin culpa, pero en su medida justa; descansar, relajarse, tratar de buscar espacios verdes y con aire puro; hacer ejercicio con regularidad (caminar, aunque más no sea). Premiar el esfuerzo con algo que realmente satisfaga.
- Fundamental promover vínculos saludables. Reunirse con amigos, cuidar las relaciones íntimas, conocer los beneficios que conlleva agradecer, perdonar y saber pedir perdón. Tratar de mantener contacto y preservar las redes familiares. Unirse con gente afín para, además de compartir, no dejar de hacer aquellas cosas que hacen bien (baile, música, deportes). Ser solidarios, revisar costumbres, estilos de pensar, sentir, decir y escuchar (comunicación).
- Buscar el reconocimiento profesional y/o económico en nuestro trabajo. Que el objetivo de éxito sea coherente con el resto de los objetivos y estilo. Si no se tiene el trabajo que a uno le gusta, no dejar de buscar la alternativa. Mientras no aparece, mientras se sigue buscando, sostenerse con los otros socios y compañeros de la felicidad: familia, amigos, actividad física, arte, ocio.
- Cuando uno siente que solo no puede, más allá del apoyo de la familia y amigos, consultar con los profesionales capacitados para ayudar a trabajar sobre trastornos, dolores y limitaciones.
- Pensar más sugerencias, compartirlas, armar grupos, tener proyectos.
Fuente: www.lanacion.com.ar/Revista
SOC/GralInt-El negocio de la equidad-Capitalismo consciente, consumo responsable y comercio justo
The following information is used for educational purposes only.
El negocio de la equidad
Capitalismo consciente, consumo responsable y comercio justo: tres premisas que transforman el mercado pensando en ayudar
Por Fabiana Scherer | LA NACION
Foto: LA NACION / Sergio Liste
Un negocio que no hace otra cosa más que dinero, es un negocio pobre." La frase de Henry Ford es la bandera de quienes hoy encaran el capitalismo consciente. Esta nueva corriente, liderada por el académico de origen indio Raj Sisodia y John Mackey, fundador y CEO de Whole Foods Market, está cambiando la forma de hacer negocios a nivel mundial. Desde las páginas de Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business (El Capitalismo consciente: liberando el espíritu heroico de las empresas) Mackey y Sisodia reivindican el despertar de todo el sistema con una premisa: "Imaginen un negocio que naciera de un sueño sobre cómo podría y debería ser el mundo, en el que los fundadores estuvieran listos para crear algo con relevancia, resonancia y permanencia. Un negocio que trascendiese incluso a ellos mismos". Ésta es la filosofía que sostiene el capitalismo consciente, "un paradigma transformador para los negocios que genera de forma simultánea valor y bienestar para todos los grupos de interés: valor financiero, intelectual, físico, ecológico, social, cultural, emocional, ético e incluso espiritual". Quienes abrazan esta idea aseguran que en las próximas décadas, las empresas deberán ser responsables a la hora de despertar la conciencia en el mundo. "Pensemos en Bill Gates -sugieren-, quien no fundó Microsoft con la idea de hacerse el hombre más rico del mundo, sino que vio el potencial de los ordenadores para transformar las vidas de todos." Entre otros ejemplos no dudan en citar a Steve Jobs y Jack Dorsey, fundador de Twitter.
"No necesitamos ser un héroe o un santo para tener una alta integridad. La integridad no es ni algo particularmente común ni algo excepcionalmente raro en la vida. Todo el mundo puede y debería aspirar a la integridad en su vida, esto es, a unificar sus valores y virtudes dentro de la comunidad", aseguran Mackey y Sisodia, y en este punto se detiene Julián Weich: "Está claro que no tenés que ser la Madre Teresa de Calcuta para ayudar, hay que sacarse de encima esa fantasía. Todos podemos hacer algo". El embajador de Unicef se animó a dar el gran salto y lanzó Conciencia, un agua mineral que se transformó en el primer producto social de consumo masivo del país que se rige bajo el modelo de negocios de capitalismo consciente. En verdad, la idea fue de su mujer, Bárbara, y en la empresa familiar también se anota Iara (23), la mayor de los cuatro hijos del conductor. "Buscamos ser un ejemplo de que se puede hacer negocios y a la vez ayudar - apunta Weich-. Es una buena manera de decirles a las empresas y a la gente que no es necesario quedarse con el 100 por ciento de las ganancias. Si te quedás con menos, también ganás y además, ayudás. Nosotros, con el agua donamos el 50 por ciento de lo recaudado a distintas ONG."
Julián habla de una tendencia mundial en la que las empresas analizan su misión frente a la sociedad y el medio ambiente. Michael Eugene Porter, profesor de la Harvard Business School y autoridad global reconocida en temas de estrategia de empresa, desarrollo económico de naciones y regiones, dejó en claro el camino a seguir en un artículo publicado en Harvard Business Review: "El nuevo pensamiento de negocios es vincular el éxito corporativo con el progreso social". Un nuevo paradigma, que propone la alianza entre compañías y emprendedores.
"Se trata de hacer la diferencia -reflexiona Weich- con un acto cotidiano como el de comprar agua. El consumidor elige, el precio es el mismo al de cualquier otra botella, pero con su compra tiene la opción de ayudar, por ahora, a Fundación Si y la Fundación Garrahan."
Cuando piensa en un caso que sirve como referencia, Weich no duda en nombrar a Toms Shoes, la empresa de alpargatas que por cada unidad vendida entrega una exactamente igual a un chico en situación de pobreza. En una entrevista realizada por el ex presidente Bill Clinton, el estadounidense Blake Mycoskie, cabeza de la Toms Shoes, confesó: "Decidí hacer una empresa porque era una manera sustentable de poder seguir dándoles a los chicos calzado. Si hubiésemos sido una ONG dependeríamos de donaciones, y quizás gente que me donó el primer año al segundo no lo hubiese hecho porque habrían elegido otra causa". Mycoskie considera que cada comprador se convierte en un donante de su causa y un filántropo, y es por eso que promociona sus productos con la frase ayudanos a cambiar el mundo .
Lo interesante de estas propuestas, tanto la de Toms Shoes como la de Conciencia, es el rol que ocupa el consumidor. "Sin duda, el comprador es el que elige -apunta Weich-, puede hacerlo con conciencia o no, son las reglas del juego."
Cambio de hábitos
Todos somos consumidores y la clave a la que nos enfrentamos no sólo afecta al bolsillo. "Generar conciencia a la hora de comprar -subraya Angie Ferrazzini, alma mater del mercado Sabe la Tierra- ése es un punto en el que debemos trabajar, darles una real importancia a nuestros hábitos de consumo. Podemos elegir apoyar con nuestra compra a pequeños productores que trabajan respetando la tierra y las personas; podemos optar por productos de empresas que tengan un menor impacto ambiental, y apostar también por aquellas que trabajen desde la inclusión social. Preferir lo local es otro índice de consumo responsable, una manera de apuntalar el desarrollo de una comunidad. También es importante reflexionar sobre el uso del agua, la luz, el gas, las comunicaciones, los alimentos, la ropa, la nafta. ¿Somos responsables? Hoy se impone una nueva economía en la que los negocios están basados en la ética del cuidado con y entre las personas y el planeta. Es momento de promover el bien común."
Angie Ferrazzini, alma mater del mercado Sabe la Tierra, con su marido y sus tres hijos. Foto: LA NACION / Sergio Liste
Precio y calidad ya no son factores suficientes para elegir qué comprar. El comercio ético, donde se habla de protección del medio ambiente, el desarrollo sustentable y el trabajo digno, va mucho más allá. Un caso emblemático es Guayaki, la empresa que trabaja en conjunto con productores de yerba mate orgánica certificada y bajo la sombra de especies nativas de la Mata Atlántica en Argentina, Brasil y Paraguay. "Nuestra misión -asegura el argentino Alex Pryor, uno de los fundadores- es la protección y restauración del medio ambiente por medio de la fuerzas de mercado. El factor económico existe, pero como una consecuencia. Las ventas de yerba mate nos permiten internalizar los costos sociales y ambientales. El agua, el aire, la fertilidad de los suelos, la biodiversidad, la captación de carbono, la inclusión social y diversidad cultural, éstos son los costos sociales que internalizamos, pero que en definitiva se convierten en activos, en capital social y ambiental que son de beneficio publico."
Entre los objetivos a largo plazo, Pryor resalta que "para 2020 la principal misión es proteger y restaurar 60.000 hectáreas y crear fuentes de ingresos estables a más de mil familias en la selva atlántica. Hoy estamos en un 30% de nuestro objetivo. Nuestro enfoque es la construcción de vínculos con comunidades indígenas y cooperativas de agricultura familiar a largo plazo, que son quienes están protegiendo los últimos remanentes de selva atlántica". Este objetivo de conservación y desarrollo de las comunidades se ampara mediante la comercialización de sus productos en Estados Unidos y en Canadá. "Hoy no se trata de ser la mejor empresa del mundo sino la mejor empresa para el mundo."
Una ruptura de paradigma lleva a replantearse qué tipo de líderes, dirigentes y emprendedores necesita esta nueva sociedad. "Si el empresario ha tenido la sensibilidad para darse cuenta de que no le alcanza con trabajar para su bienestar y quiere empezar a hacer algo para los demás, ya es positivo. Pero si funda una ONG con el mismo modelo con el que venía haciendo negocios, con el centro puesto en él mismo, no sirve", confesó Luis Astarloa, empresario, consultor y autor del libro Basta de líderes, necesitamos más pastores (Editorial Aquitania) en una entrevista publicada en el suplemento Comunidad de este diario.
También Julián Weich, junto con el emprededor y empresario Andy Freire, llevó al plano editorial el mensaje de que los agentes de cambios somos todos nosotros, con 5% de tu tiempo para cambiar el 100% de la vida de alguien (Aguilar). "Escribimos el libro con la idea de que sea un referente para que la gente se anime a ser solidario y no tenga miedo. Muchos no saben cómo ayudar- asegura el actor y conductor-, pero por suerte hay muchas organizaciones que no bajan los brazos."
Entre tantas ONG que trabajan alentando el consumo responsable y la concientización de productos libres de trabajo esclavo se encuentra el taller textil Mundo Alameda. "Desde un comienzo, en 2007, nuestro principal objetivo fue y sigue siendo, además de generar trabajo para los costureros de la cooperativa, despertar conciencia e informar que muchas veces detrás de una marca reconocida trabaja una persona en condiciones inhumanas", comenta Tamara Rosenberg, representante de la Fundación Alameda. Muchos diseñadores independientes les confían las producciones de sus colecciones. "Si bien no es directamente una prenda que lleva nuestra etiqueta, sí está implícito nuestro mensaje, de ser producido en condiciones dignas, y ofrecer una alta calidad de realización que asegura su competitividad en el mercado."
En 2009 estrecharon lazos con otras cooperativas y lanzaron juntos No Chains (Sin Cadenas), la primera marca global libre de trabajo esclavo, integrada por Mundo Alameda (Argentina), Dignity Returns (Tailandia), Defend Job (Filipinas), 100% Milik Pekerja (Indonesia) y la Asociación de Mujeres Trabajadores de Hong Kong. "Lo que conseguimos con esta alianza fue darle visibilidad en diferentes países a nuestra lucha y a la alternativa que proponemos."
La inclusión social es la clave para muchas de las ONG y empresas que se alían para trabajar con diversas problemáticas. Raúl Lucero es el creador de Asociación Civil Andar, una granja que educa y genera oportunidades a personas con discapacidad para lograr su desarrollo mediante el trabajo, el deporte, la cultura y la salud. Hoy, la asociación apunta a que cada joven lleve adelante su proyecto personal que le permita vivir dignamente de su trabajo, aprenda a elegir y tomar decisiones y asumir la responsabilidad de ser protagonista de su propio destino. Poco a poco comenzaron a desarrollar una serie de negocios inclusivos que tienen en cuenta las demandas del mercado, en los rubros de gastronomía, panadería, servicio de catering, huerta orgánica y artesanías. "Ofrecemos un servicio que, más allá de quién lo produce, hace valer la calidad del producto. Buscamos la excelencia, no la lástima. No se trata de caridad, sino de adquirir o contratar un servicio competitivo. La panadería es proveedora del servicio alimentario escolar del municipio de Moreno, donde actualmente proveemos a 85 escuelas", aclara Lucero, el profesor de educación física que orgulloso agrega que la asociación, desde el año último, está a cargo del bar que funciona en la Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini. "Con lo que conseguimos nuevos puestos de trabajo para personas con discapacidad y desarrollar un fuerte trabajo de concientización y trabajo articulado con los estudiantes de la escuela."
¿Por qué no crear una ONG? Alguna vez Weich se lo preguntó, pero sus 20 años de experiencia con Unicef y el contacto permanente con diferentes fundaciones le dio la respuesta. "Hay centenares de ONG que trabajan para las problemáticas más diversas. Todas necesitan y buscan quién las ayude, todas precisan plata. Entonces por qué no generar algo para que todos podamos colaborar. Mi fantasía es que podamos seguir sumando ONG a las etiquetas de la botella de Conciencia, que cada vez podamos ayudar más. Los que hacemos Conciencia sabemos que si el agua no se vende, no tiene razón de ser porque esta agua nació para ayudar."
El debate acerca de la necesidad de humanizar los negocios acapara hoy la atención en el mundo. Mackey asegura que el Capitalismo Consciente es "fundamentalmente, una filosofía, otra manera de pensar los negocios." El desafío real es como bien dice Weich "hacer una sociedad más justa, donde se comparta el riesgo y los beneficios de los negocios, pero por sobre todo echar luz a todo lo que nos rodea, a visualizar los problemas. No hay que tener vergüenza de decir que ayudar a uno le hace bien, estoy convencido que es el hecho egoísta más lindo que hay. Cada vez que ayudo me siento bien. Me hace feliz, me llena el alma y lo mejor de todo: es contagioso."
CAPITALISMO CONSCIENTE
Componentes de una nueva filosofía de mercado
1) un fin que va más allá de ganar dinero
2) el reconocimiento de la interdependencia de la empresa con sus stakeholders y la armonía de intereses
3) un liderazgo consciente, porque la calidad y el compromiso de los líderes resulta la clave de la organización
4) una cultura consciente
http://www.consciouscapitalism.org
CONSUMO RESPONSABLE
¿Necesito lo que voy a comprar? ¿Estoy eligiendo libremente o es una compra compulsiva? ¿Cuántos tengo ya? ¿Cuánto lo voy a usar? ¿Podría pedirlo prestado? ¿He buscado información para conseguir mejor calidad y menor precio? ¿Cómo me voy a deshacer de él una vez que haya terminado de usarlo? ¿Está hecho con materiales reciclables?
¿Las materias primas que se usaron son renovables?
¿Hay algo que yo posea que pueda reemplazarlo?
www.consumoresponsable.org
Decálogo del comercio justo
1 Creación de oportunidades para productores con desventajas económicas.
2 Transparencia y responsabilidad.
3 Prácticas comerciales justas.
4 Pago de un precio justo (establecido de mutuo acuerdo por todos y que puede ser sostenido por el mercado).
5 Asegurar ausencia de trabajo infantil y trabajo forzoso.
6 Compromiso con la no discriminación, equidad de género y libertad de asociación sindical.
7 Asegurar buenas condiciones de trabajo.
8 Facilitar el desarrollo de capacidades.
9 Promoción del comercio justo.
10 Respeto por el medio ambiente
FUENTES: Organización Mundial del Comercio Justo, http://wfto-la.org/ ; En Argentina, http://comerciojustoenargentina.blogspot.com.ar /
Elegí ayudar
A estas alturas del fenómeno, casi cualquier producto que necesitamos o queremos puede tener detrás el afán de ayudar. Sin relegar diseño ni calidad, y con precios competitivos, se puede consumir conscientemente a cada momento. Aquí, una breve guía para tener a mano.
Conciencia
El agua que nació para ayudar. El 50% de lo que se vende se dona a dos fundaciones. www.tomaconciencia.co ; www.facebook.com/TomaConciencia
Fundación Silataj
Fuente de trabajo para los pueblos originarios del noroeste argentino. www.fundacionsilataj.org.ar ; 4785-8371
Arte y esperanza
Desarrollo y comercialización de artesanías producidas por comunidades indígenas. www.arteyesperanza.com.ar ; info@arteyesperanza.com.ar
Guayaki
Empresa que trabaja en conjunto con productores de yerba mate orgánica www.guayaki.com.ar
Fundación San José Providente
Chocolates artesanales y Productos Solidarios. Atención de menores y sus familias en situación de riesgo. www.sanjoseprovidente.org.ar
Asociación Civil Andar
Trabaja para generar oportunidades innovadoras para el desarrollo creativo del potencial de las personas con discapacidad, www.granjaandar.org.ar , (0237) 462-5647
Red Activos
Fomenta la autonomía social y económica de trabajadores con discapacidad, www.redactivos.org.ar
La Juanita
Reconstrucción de lazos sociales www.facebook.com/cooperativalajuanita ; 4698-2581
Asociación Civil y Cultural Yo No Fui
Acompaña y promueve el desarrollo integral de las mujeres privadas de libertad y liberadas mediante programas de capacitación y producción en artes y oficios. www.yonofui.org.ar , info@yonofui.org.ar
Mediapila País
Marca de ropa reconocida por su calidad y estilo. www.mediapila.org.ar
Dear Tota
Productos para el hogar. El 10% de lo vendido se destina a la Fundación Sagrada Familia; www.deartota.com/mascasita
Mundo Alameda
Taller textil. Lucha contra el trabajo esclavo. www.mundo-alameda.com
Fundación Los Naranjos
Ayuda a adolescentes en la formación del oficio de la alfarería. www.fundacionlosnaranjos.org , (011) 4727-1967
McDía Feliz
En la última edición se recaudaron $ 6.673.437, que serán donados a la asociación La Casa Ronald McDonald. www.casaronald.org.ar/argentina
Luz de Esperanza
Taller de producción artesanal de velas ubicado la villa 31. www.facebook.com/LuzdeEsperanza , ventasluzdeesperanza@gmail.com
Sabe la Tierra
Mercado de productores. www.sabelatierra.com
Toms Shoes
Alpargatas. Por cada una que se vende se dona otra www.toms.com
Gráfica Artesanal
Producción de libros, agendas y cuadernos www.graficaartesanal.com.ar
Banco Galicia
Confeccionó una completa guía de proveedores www.galiciasustentable.com/GaliciaSustentable/Home/GS_Guia_Proveedores_Sustentables.pdf
Producción: Dolores Saavedra
Asistente de producción: Andreina Méndez
Make-up: Mariano Berguio www.marianoberguio.com
Agradecimientos: Azzaro argentina www.azzaroparis.com
Fuente:www.lanacion.com.ar (Revista)
El negocio de la equidad
Capitalismo consciente, consumo responsable y comercio justo: tres premisas que transforman el mercado pensando en ayudar
Por Fabiana Scherer | LA NACION
Foto: LA NACION / Sergio Liste
Un negocio que no hace otra cosa más que dinero, es un negocio pobre." La frase de Henry Ford es la bandera de quienes hoy encaran el capitalismo consciente. Esta nueva corriente, liderada por el académico de origen indio Raj Sisodia y John Mackey, fundador y CEO de Whole Foods Market, está cambiando la forma de hacer negocios a nivel mundial. Desde las páginas de Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business (El Capitalismo consciente: liberando el espíritu heroico de las empresas) Mackey y Sisodia reivindican el despertar de todo el sistema con una premisa: "Imaginen un negocio que naciera de un sueño sobre cómo podría y debería ser el mundo, en el que los fundadores estuvieran listos para crear algo con relevancia, resonancia y permanencia. Un negocio que trascendiese incluso a ellos mismos". Ésta es la filosofía que sostiene el capitalismo consciente, "un paradigma transformador para los negocios que genera de forma simultánea valor y bienestar para todos los grupos de interés: valor financiero, intelectual, físico, ecológico, social, cultural, emocional, ético e incluso espiritual". Quienes abrazan esta idea aseguran que en las próximas décadas, las empresas deberán ser responsables a la hora de despertar la conciencia en el mundo. "Pensemos en Bill Gates -sugieren-, quien no fundó Microsoft con la idea de hacerse el hombre más rico del mundo, sino que vio el potencial de los ordenadores para transformar las vidas de todos." Entre otros ejemplos no dudan en citar a Steve Jobs y Jack Dorsey, fundador de Twitter.
"No necesitamos ser un héroe o un santo para tener una alta integridad. La integridad no es ni algo particularmente común ni algo excepcionalmente raro en la vida. Todo el mundo puede y debería aspirar a la integridad en su vida, esto es, a unificar sus valores y virtudes dentro de la comunidad", aseguran Mackey y Sisodia, y en este punto se detiene Julián Weich: "Está claro que no tenés que ser la Madre Teresa de Calcuta para ayudar, hay que sacarse de encima esa fantasía. Todos podemos hacer algo". El embajador de Unicef se animó a dar el gran salto y lanzó Conciencia, un agua mineral que se transformó en el primer producto social de consumo masivo del país que se rige bajo el modelo de negocios de capitalismo consciente. En verdad, la idea fue de su mujer, Bárbara, y en la empresa familiar también se anota Iara (23), la mayor de los cuatro hijos del conductor. "Buscamos ser un ejemplo de que se puede hacer negocios y a la vez ayudar - apunta Weich-. Es una buena manera de decirles a las empresas y a la gente que no es necesario quedarse con el 100 por ciento de las ganancias. Si te quedás con menos, también ganás y además, ayudás. Nosotros, con el agua donamos el 50 por ciento de lo recaudado a distintas ONG."
Julián habla de una tendencia mundial en la que las empresas analizan su misión frente a la sociedad y el medio ambiente. Michael Eugene Porter, profesor de la Harvard Business School y autoridad global reconocida en temas de estrategia de empresa, desarrollo económico de naciones y regiones, dejó en claro el camino a seguir en un artículo publicado en Harvard Business Review: "El nuevo pensamiento de negocios es vincular el éxito corporativo con el progreso social". Un nuevo paradigma, que propone la alianza entre compañías y emprendedores.
"Se trata de hacer la diferencia -reflexiona Weich- con un acto cotidiano como el de comprar agua. El consumidor elige, el precio es el mismo al de cualquier otra botella, pero con su compra tiene la opción de ayudar, por ahora, a Fundación Si y la Fundación Garrahan."
Cuando piensa en un caso que sirve como referencia, Weich no duda en nombrar a Toms Shoes, la empresa de alpargatas que por cada unidad vendida entrega una exactamente igual a un chico en situación de pobreza. En una entrevista realizada por el ex presidente Bill Clinton, el estadounidense Blake Mycoskie, cabeza de la Toms Shoes, confesó: "Decidí hacer una empresa porque era una manera sustentable de poder seguir dándoles a los chicos calzado. Si hubiésemos sido una ONG dependeríamos de donaciones, y quizás gente que me donó el primer año al segundo no lo hubiese hecho porque habrían elegido otra causa". Mycoskie considera que cada comprador se convierte en un donante de su causa y un filántropo, y es por eso que promociona sus productos con la frase ayudanos a cambiar el mundo .
Lo interesante de estas propuestas, tanto la de Toms Shoes como la de Conciencia, es el rol que ocupa el consumidor. "Sin duda, el comprador es el que elige -apunta Weich-, puede hacerlo con conciencia o no, son las reglas del juego."
Cambio de hábitos
Todos somos consumidores y la clave a la que nos enfrentamos no sólo afecta al bolsillo. "Generar conciencia a la hora de comprar -subraya Angie Ferrazzini, alma mater del mercado Sabe la Tierra- ése es un punto en el que debemos trabajar, darles una real importancia a nuestros hábitos de consumo. Podemos elegir apoyar con nuestra compra a pequeños productores que trabajan respetando la tierra y las personas; podemos optar por productos de empresas que tengan un menor impacto ambiental, y apostar también por aquellas que trabajen desde la inclusión social. Preferir lo local es otro índice de consumo responsable, una manera de apuntalar el desarrollo de una comunidad. También es importante reflexionar sobre el uso del agua, la luz, el gas, las comunicaciones, los alimentos, la ropa, la nafta. ¿Somos responsables? Hoy se impone una nueva economía en la que los negocios están basados en la ética del cuidado con y entre las personas y el planeta. Es momento de promover el bien común."
Angie Ferrazzini, alma mater del mercado Sabe la Tierra, con su marido y sus tres hijos. Foto: LA NACION / Sergio Liste
Precio y calidad ya no son factores suficientes para elegir qué comprar. El comercio ético, donde se habla de protección del medio ambiente, el desarrollo sustentable y el trabajo digno, va mucho más allá. Un caso emblemático es Guayaki, la empresa que trabaja en conjunto con productores de yerba mate orgánica certificada y bajo la sombra de especies nativas de la Mata Atlántica en Argentina, Brasil y Paraguay. "Nuestra misión -asegura el argentino Alex Pryor, uno de los fundadores- es la protección y restauración del medio ambiente por medio de la fuerzas de mercado. El factor económico existe, pero como una consecuencia. Las ventas de yerba mate nos permiten internalizar los costos sociales y ambientales. El agua, el aire, la fertilidad de los suelos, la biodiversidad, la captación de carbono, la inclusión social y diversidad cultural, éstos son los costos sociales que internalizamos, pero que en definitiva se convierten en activos, en capital social y ambiental que son de beneficio publico."
Entre los objetivos a largo plazo, Pryor resalta que "para 2020 la principal misión es proteger y restaurar 60.000 hectáreas y crear fuentes de ingresos estables a más de mil familias en la selva atlántica. Hoy estamos en un 30% de nuestro objetivo. Nuestro enfoque es la construcción de vínculos con comunidades indígenas y cooperativas de agricultura familiar a largo plazo, que son quienes están protegiendo los últimos remanentes de selva atlántica". Este objetivo de conservación y desarrollo de las comunidades se ampara mediante la comercialización de sus productos en Estados Unidos y en Canadá. "Hoy no se trata de ser la mejor empresa del mundo sino la mejor empresa para el mundo."
Una ruptura de paradigma lleva a replantearse qué tipo de líderes, dirigentes y emprendedores necesita esta nueva sociedad. "Si el empresario ha tenido la sensibilidad para darse cuenta de que no le alcanza con trabajar para su bienestar y quiere empezar a hacer algo para los demás, ya es positivo. Pero si funda una ONG con el mismo modelo con el que venía haciendo negocios, con el centro puesto en él mismo, no sirve", confesó Luis Astarloa, empresario, consultor y autor del libro Basta de líderes, necesitamos más pastores (Editorial Aquitania) en una entrevista publicada en el suplemento Comunidad de este diario.
También Julián Weich, junto con el emprededor y empresario Andy Freire, llevó al plano editorial el mensaje de que los agentes de cambios somos todos nosotros, con 5% de tu tiempo para cambiar el 100% de la vida de alguien (Aguilar). "Escribimos el libro con la idea de que sea un referente para que la gente se anime a ser solidario y no tenga miedo. Muchos no saben cómo ayudar- asegura el actor y conductor-, pero por suerte hay muchas organizaciones que no bajan los brazos."
Entre tantas ONG que trabajan alentando el consumo responsable y la concientización de productos libres de trabajo esclavo se encuentra el taller textil Mundo Alameda. "Desde un comienzo, en 2007, nuestro principal objetivo fue y sigue siendo, además de generar trabajo para los costureros de la cooperativa, despertar conciencia e informar que muchas veces detrás de una marca reconocida trabaja una persona en condiciones inhumanas", comenta Tamara Rosenberg, representante de la Fundación Alameda. Muchos diseñadores independientes les confían las producciones de sus colecciones. "Si bien no es directamente una prenda que lleva nuestra etiqueta, sí está implícito nuestro mensaje, de ser producido en condiciones dignas, y ofrecer una alta calidad de realización que asegura su competitividad en el mercado."
En 2009 estrecharon lazos con otras cooperativas y lanzaron juntos No Chains (Sin Cadenas), la primera marca global libre de trabajo esclavo, integrada por Mundo Alameda (Argentina), Dignity Returns (Tailandia), Defend Job (Filipinas), 100% Milik Pekerja (Indonesia) y la Asociación de Mujeres Trabajadores de Hong Kong. "Lo que conseguimos con esta alianza fue darle visibilidad en diferentes países a nuestra lucha y a la alternativa que proponemos."
La inclusión social es la clave para muchas de las ONG y empresas que se alían para trabajar con diversas problemáticas. Raúl Lucero es el creador de Asociación Civil Andar, una granja que educa y genera oportunidades a personas con discapacidad para lograr su desarrollo mediante el trabajo, el deporte, la cultura y la salud. Hoy, la asociación apunta a que cada joven lleve adelante su proyecto personal que le permita vivir dignamente de su trabajo, aprenda a elegir y tomar decisiones y asumir la responsabilidad de ser protagonista de su propio destino. Poco a poco comenzaron a desarrollar una serie de negocios inclusivos que tienen en cuenta las demandas del mercado, en los rubros de gastronomía, panadería, servicio de catering, huerta orgánica y artesanías. "Ofrecemos un servicio que, más allá de quién lo produce, hace valer la calidad del producto. Buscamos la excelencia, no la lástima. No se trata de caridad, sino de adquirir o contratar un servicio competitivo. La panadería es proveedora del servicio alimentario escolar del municipio de Moreno, donde actualmente proveemos a 85 escuelas", aclara Lucero, el profesor de educación física que orgulloso agrega que la asociación, desde el año último, está a cargo del bar que funciona en la Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini. "Con lo que conseguimos nuevos puestos de trabajo para personas con discapacidad y desarrollar un fuerte trabajo de concientización y trabajo articulado con los estudiantes de la escuela."
¿Por qué no crear una ONG? Alguna vez Weich se lo preguntó, pero sus 20 años de experiencia con Unicef y el contacto permanente con diferentes fundaciones le dio la respuesta. "Hay centenares de ONG que trabajan para las problemáticas más diversas. Todas necesitan y buscan quién las ayude, todas precisan plata. Entonces por qué no generar algo para que todos podamos colaborar. Mi fantasía es que podamos seguir sumando ONG a las etiquetas de la botella de Conciencia, que cada vez podamos ayudar más. Los que hacemos Conciencia sabemos que si el agua no se vende, no tiene razón de ser porque esta agua nació para ayudar."
El debate acerca de la necesidad de humanizar los negocios acapara hoy la atención en el mundo. Mackey asegura que el Capitalismo Consciente es "fundamentalmente, una filosofía, otra manera de pensar los negocios." El desafío real es como bien dice Weich "hacer una sociedad más justa, donde se comparta el riesgo y los beneficios de los negocios, pero por sobre todo echar luz a todo lo que nos rodea, a visualizar los problemas. No hay que tener vergüenza de decir que ayudar a uno le hace bien, estoy convencido que es el hecho egoísta más lindo que hay. Cada vez que ayudo me siento bien. Me hace feliz, me llena el alma y lo mejor de todo: es contagioso."
CAPITALISMO CONSCIENTE
Componentes de una nueva filosofía de mercado
1) un fin que va más allá de ganar dinero
2) el reconocimiento de la interdependencia de la empresa con sus stakeholders y la armonía de intereses
3) un liderazgo consciente, porque la calidad y el compromiso de los líderes resulta la clave de la organización
4) una cultura consciente
http://www.consciouscapitalism.org
CONSUMO RESPONSABLE
¿Necesito lo que voy a comprar? ¿Estoy eligiendo libremente o es una compra compulsiva? ¿Cuántos tengo ya? ¿Cuánto lo voy a usar? ¿Podría pedirlo prestado? ¿He buscado información para conseguir mejor calidad y menor precio? ¿Cómo me voy a deshacer de él una vez que haya terminado de usarlo? ¿Está hecho con materiales reciclables?
¿Las materias primas que se usaron son renovables?
¿Hay algo que yo posea que pueda reemplazarlo?
www.consumoresponsable.org
Decálogo del comercio justo
1 Creación de oportunidades para productores con desventajas económicas.
2 Transparencia y responsabilidad.
3 Prácticas comerciales justas.
4 Pago de un precio justo (establecido de mutuo acuerdo por todos y que puede ser sostenido por el mercado).
5 Asegurar ausencia de trabajo infantil y trabajo forzoso.
6 Compromiso con la no discriminación, equidad de género y libertad de asociación sindical.
7 Asegurar buenas condiciones de trabajo.
8 Facilitar el desarrollo de capacidades.
9 Promoción del comercio justo.
10 Respeto por el medio ambiente
FUENTES: Organización Mundial del Comercio Justo, http://wfto-la.org/ ; En Argentina, http://comerciojustoenargentina.blogspot.com.ar /
Elegí ayudar
A estas alturas del fenómeno, casi cualquier producto que necesitamos o queremos puede tener detrás el afán de ayudar. Sin relegar diseño ni calidad, y con precios competitivos, se puede consumir conscientemente a cada momento. Aquí, una breve guía para tener a mano.
Conciencia
El agua que nació para ayudar. El 50% de lo que se vende se dona a dos fundaciones. www.tomaconciencia.co ; www.facebook.com/TomaConciencia
Fundación Silataj
Fuente de trabajo para los pueblos originarios del noroeste argentino. www.fundacionsilataj.org.ar ; 4785-8371
Arte y esperanza
Desarrollo y comercialización de artesanías producidas por comunidades indígenas. www.arteyesperanza.com.ar ; info@arteyesperanza.com.ar
Guayaki
Empresa que trabaja en conjunto con productores de yerba mate orgánica www.guayaki.com.ar
Fundación San José Providente
Chocolates artesanales y Productos Solidarios. Atención de menores y sus familias en situación de riesgo. www.sanjoseprovidente.org.ar
Asociación Civil Andar
Trabaja para generar oportunidades innovadoras para el desarrollo creativo del potencial de las personas con discapacidad, www.granjaandar.org.ar , (0237) 462-5647
Red Activos
Fomenta la autonomía social y económica de trabajadores con discapacidad, www.redactivos.org.ar
La Juanita
Reconstrucción de lazos sociales www.facebook.com/cooperativalajuanita ; 4698-2581
Asociación Civil y Cultural Yo No Fui
Acompaña y promueve el desarrollo integral de las mujeres privadas de libertad y liberadas mediante programas de capacitación y producción en artes y oficios. www.yonofui.org.ar , info@yonofui.org.ar
Mediapila País
Marca de ropa reconocida por su calidad y estilo. www.mediapila.org.ar
Dear Tota
Productos para el hogar. El 10% de lo vendido se destina a la Fundación Sagrada Familia; www.deartota.com/mascasita
Mundo Alameda
Taller textil. Lucha contra el trabajo esclavo. www.mundo-alameda.com
Fundación Los Naranjos
Ayuda a adolescentes en la formación del oficio de la alfarería. www.fundacionlosnaranjos.org , (011) 4727-1967
McDía Feliz
En la última edición se recaudaron $ 6.673.437, que serán donados a la asociación La Casa Ronald McDonald. www.casaronald.org.ar/argentina
Luz de Esperanza
Taller de producción artesanal de velas ubicado la villa 31. www.facebook.com/LuzdeEsperanza , ventasluzdeesperanza@gmail.com
Sabe la Tierra
Mercado de productores. www.sabelatierra.com
Toms Shoes
Alpargatas. Por cada una que se vende se dona otra www.toms.com
Gráfica Artesanal
Producción de libros, agendas y cuadernos www.graficaartesanal.com.ar
Banco Galicia
Confeccionó una completa guía de proveedores www.galiciasustentable.com/GaliciaSustentable/Home/GS_Guia_Proveedores_Sustentables.pdf
Producción: Dolores Saavedra
Asistente de producción: Andreina Méndez
Make-up: Mariano Berguio www.marianoberguio.com
Agradecimientos: Azzaro argentina www.azzaroparis.com
Fuente:www.lanacion.com.ar (Revista)
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