mart

Speople
Digital generations bring knowledge to life
Self-talk:
Volume 1 Three
Issue 4
AUGUST 2009
lessons for
SM
overcoming
challenges

President Curiosity and the cat:

must fix U.S. Stories on being inquisitive
education
gap Unlikely hero:
Ex-con
footballer
helps
Cash isn’t enough: kiddie-
Meaningful rewards better cons

Saving
the companyOrdinary smart people will change the organization
Wouldn’t you just love to tap these phones?
Transfer the passion
Your organization recognizes the value of knowledge. A great deal of money
has been spent on process and systems. But too many of your people aren’t
enthusiastic adopters.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could transfer their energy from those outside
social networks they love and get the same kind of knowledge-sharing and
collaboration going at work? You can.
Smart People bridges the gap
Smart People magazine taps into the social networking craze and connects
the energy to the work place. It’s a cool tool to help people realize the
benefits of both networking and knowledge working.
Now you can co-brand the magazine with special features specific to the
organization. Then you make it available to all your knowledge workers, even
clients and suppliers. They’ll love it, and it will change the culture and the
way things get done around your place.
Smart People and Smart Organizations
Contact Smart People publisher, Jerry Ash
smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com
for details. Or call him: 813.335.1355
 PDUW
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Volume 1
Issue 4
AUGUST 2009
CHOOSING
6 Self-talk
Three lessons that can help
people understand and
overcome in life and work.
8 After 150 years of
Darwin
Students seek middle ground
between science and religion.
Also in this issue
Eight norms of readers 3
The Knowledge Factor 40
KM Six Pack
Part Three of a
series of six articles
introduces newly
engaged employees and
managers to the basics
of knowledge-based
enterprise.
SM
Cover story
4 Saving the company
How ordinary smart
9 Like peas in a pod people will change the
We swim in a sea of information organization
but people prefer like-minded
views.
10 Don’t feel like it? Get over it.
We must all suffer from one of two
pains: the pain of discipline
or the pain of regret.
LIVING
12 Unlikely hero
Ex-con dreamed of pro football in prison. Now he dreams of helping kids.
14 Don’t worry, be happy
And so it is. Positive thinkers increase life
satisfaction by building resilence.
15 ‘Itsy Bitsy spider’
Musical lyrics of childhood songs could explain
unintentional attitudes.
16 Other side of anti-social
Pro-social video games make childhood
kinder, more likely to help – not hurt.
18 Memory and cognitive
function
U.S. seniors test smarter than English
counterparts on memory and cognitive
functions.
SMART PEOPLE 1
SMART PEOPLE

LEARNING CHOOSING

20 Fortune 1000 execs 24 Internet access 27 iPod Touch in

C-suite executives warn presidential Informal adult learning should classrooms?
candidates they must fix U.S. target the socially excluded. Teacher uses popular
educational gap.
25 What have I learned device for
22 The value at work?
classroom learning.
of a college A very important
education question
‘Get Rich particularly in
Slowly’ current economic
bloggers gives conditions.
you a million
reasons to stay
in school.

CREATING
28 Curiosity 30 EPA collaborates 32 Monetizing your blog
killed Smart Growth America Pro blogger says make sure your
the cat applauds interagency move passion is marketable and sell,
Two stories, on livable communities. sell, sell.
inquisitiveness
can be
dangerous but
it is a powerful
motivator.

WORKING
34 Cash isn’t 37 In defense of generalists
enough The choice over specialists
Employees make ask for cash, depends on the
but it’s the least effective form requirements of the job.
of recognition.
38 Comedy Club
36 The equity factor at work
Laughter in the workplace
This little game proves
generates profitability and
everyone keeps score in
productivity.
relationships.

2 SMART PEOPLE
 SMART PEOPLE

About Smart People

Following the eight norms of our readers
The editorial policy of Smart People magazine follows the “Eight
Norms of Net Geners” as described by Don Tapscott in his book
Publisher
Grown Up Digital. We include Digital Pioneers and Catching Up
Jerry Ash Digitals.
smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com This is a new media publication in every sense of the word. It
Managing editor is published online using the interactive channels of Web 2.0 to
Michele Ash enable ‘prosumers’ – people who want to have a hand in shaping the
michele@smartpeoplemagazine.com magazine – to collaborate on content and direction.
Technology by The Eight Norms we use as our guidelines are:
Boris Jaeger
boris.jaeger@smartpeoplemagazine.com Freedom: Net Geners demand the freedom to choose. The more the
Graphic design by
better. The Internet has enabled that right and we eagerly compete in
Associated Professional Services that environment.
designer_aps@verizon.net
Customization: The magazine will continue to evolve as Smart
Social network hosts People representatives host discussion groups in the social networks
Facebook Ning and advocate changes in the magazine.
Daniel Delgado Avigdor Sharon
Alan O’Neill Scrutiny: We expect smart people to examine our value and
Twitter determine whether our magazine is unique and worth time and
Linkedin Jack Ring
Skip Boettger Alice MacGillivray
money. And, we expect to be continually tested.
John Veitch Integrity: To earn your trust, Smart People must deliver quality,
Boris Jaeger mixxt
Boris Jaeger relevancy and truth by sharing the best of knowledge and
information from the most reliable of sources.
Collaboration: Smart People magazine has been developed in
collaboration with social networkers in an open, online worksite.
Entire contents copyrighted, 2009, by Associated
Professional Services, publisher. All rights are Our prosumers continue to be our ‘board of directors.’
reserved. Contents may not be republished (in print Entertainment: We learn and we do our best when we’re having
or electronically) without permission of the publisher.
fun. Smart People magazine is deliberately quick and lively and full
Opinions expressed are those of the writers and may of meaning, all at once.
not represent the opinion of Associated Professional
Services or Smart People magazine. Speed: No one ever said magazines were speedy. But they’ll say it
Smart People magazine about this one. The magazine may be a periodical, but the flow of
Associated Professional Services conversation is now.
1811 Atrium Drive
Sun City Center, Florida 33573 Innovation: There’s never been anything like Smart People magazine.
Phone: 813.634.4397 We dare to be different because we think differently and we urge
our readers to think differently too. We heed the Eight Norms
www.smartpeoplemagazine.com because we believe in them.

Tom Davenport David Gurteen Alice MacGillivray Robert Wendover The Smart People Magazine Board of Directors is being carefully and
Information Knowledge Smart People Generational
Technology Management Networkers Studies methodically constructed to assure broad representation of the personal
and professional interests of our audience, ranging from experts to
ordinary smart people. We invite suggestions and assistance. Contact
Jerry Ash: smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com

EDITORIAL BOARD

SMART PEOPLE 3
COVER STORY
Part I: Saving the company
How ordinary smart people will change the organization
By Dave Pollard
One of the most important
things I’ve learned in the
last few years is that, except
for senior management, no
one in most organizations
really understands what the
business of the organizations
is all about – how decisions
are made, what information is
used and how, etc.
And, at the same time,
senior management really
has no clue about what goes
on at the front lines of their
organization, or outside their
organization –
what potential
new recruits
think, what
customers
really think
about the
organization,
etc.
4 SMART PEOPLE
This should be obvious,
if you think about it. Senior
managers are insulated from
the front lines and customers.
No one wants to tell the
boss what’s wrong with the
organization – it’s a career-
limiting move.
And senior managers are
too busy to spend much quality
time with either employees
or customers. To the extent
they interact with customers
it’s with the senior managers
of those customers, who are
likewise unenlightened about
what is going on in their own
organizations. So decisions
are made, often, in a vacuum,
based on deficient and filtered
information.
As for the line employees,
they usually have never been
exposed to or taught about
what goes on in other parts
of the organization, or how
managers make decisions.
This is getting worse: The
current generation of young
employees are likely to work in
12 organizations in their
careers – not enough
time to really figure
out “the business of
the business” in any
of them.
The tragedy is
that often neither they nor
their senior managers think
they need to know what the
business is all about, unless
and until they become senior
managers themselves.
So most employees
spend their entire careers
feeling under-appreciated,
disconnected, never consulted,
and annoyed at stupid
instructions and useless
information requests from
management. And they have
tons of very useful information
about customers, operational
ineffectiveness, and what’s
going on in the world and
the marketplace that is never
solicited and never proffered.
I care about all this because
I have spent about one-third
of my career in an area called
Knowledge Management.
This discipline began about
15 years ago and has largely
followed the track of other
business ‘fads’ like business
process reengineering and total
quality management – a flurry
of investment and enthusiasm,
followed by disenchantment
and finally abandonment.
The problem with KM
is that the people charged
with introducing it into
organizations were mostly
front-line back-office people
– middle managers with
a background in library
management, IT or training.
Few of them really knew how
decisions were made or what
resources were allocated in
their organizations.
The library people saw
KM as a content management
exercise. The IT people saw
KM as a set of technology
projects (intranets, extranets,
groupware). The training
people saw KM as an e-
learning vehicle.
Senior managers were
mostly unenthusiastic, worried
it would spawn more IT
bureaucracy like email, not
seeing any new value provided
by it. Their hope, tragically,

was that KM might automate
some back office functions
and allow cost savings (e.g.,
blowing up the corporate
library).
We might be able to
understand the reasons for
KM’s failure if we looked at
the value of information to
organizations through the
eyes of senior managers, front-
line employees and customers.
Take a look back to 1975
– internal memos, typed up by
secretaries, instructed front-
line and back-office employees
what to do, and required them
to report production data
that managers could use for
making decisions.
Written information
flowed vertically, not
horizontally. Managers talked
with other managers, and
employees talked with other
employees, and occasionally
with outside colleagues, to
learn their jobs and share
what they had learned.
A few employees had
started using the Internet and
other electronic sources of
information for research, but
most research was done using
the internal library or outside
journals.
Customers received
printed marketing material
from the organization, and
submitted their orders. These
were the principal information
flows in organizations at that
time.
This actually made a lot
of sense when you consider
how senior managers saw, and
operated, their organizations.
The job of senior managers
was and is to make the
organization sustainable.
Managers do this by making
critical decisions, issuing
instructions, capturing
performance data, and
tweaking those decisions
accordingly. The variables
they need to watch and make
decisions about are:
1. Cash flow: The net result
of sales, investments,
loans and share issues,
government incentives,
operating expenses, R&D,
dividends, and capital
expenditures.
2. Share price: Investors’
assessment of future
growth in cash flow, which
is critical to obtaining low-
cost capital.
3. Risks and opportunities: (borrow from the bank) when
Threats from new and
existing competitors,
a variety of threats to
reputation and business
continuity, regulatory
changes, rate changes,
supply changes,
frauds, disasters, and
opportunities to innovate,
make acquisitions,
outsource, reorganize or
change capital structure
To manage cash flow,
managers pressure employees
to find ways to increase sales
and reduce costs. Budgets,
resource allocations, and
monthly targets and reporting
are their levers for doing so.
To manage share price,
they need to ensure that
cash flow is always steadily
rising. When cash flow from
operations fails to meet
targets, they look at layoffs,
outsourcing, capital budget
reductions, increasing
government incentives
through lobbying, cutting
dividends or reorganizing
(e.g., divesting unprofitable
operations).
To manage risks, they will
acquire, sue or out-advertise
competitors, hire PR firms to
COVER STORY
whitewash and greenwash
their social and environmental
misdeeds, put controls in
place to reduce risk of fraud,
buy insurance and hedges
to reduce exposure to rate
changes and disasters, lobby
against new regulations,
lock in or acquire suppliers,
Dave Pollard
outsource non-critical
is former chief
operations.
knowledge
To manage opportunity,
officer of Ernst &
a few will invest in Young, coaches
innovation, but for most larger entrepreneurs
organizations, it is much safer and writes “How
to acquire small innovative to Save the
companies, to use leverage World” which
ranks high on
interest rates are lower than the blog lists in
profit margins, and through Canada – http://
planned obsolescence by blogs.salon.
constantly forcing customers com/0002007
to replace or upgrade, and
locking them in to the
organization’s product.
This is what senior
managers do. It is not
surprising, therefore, that
they tend to see IT, KM and
training as “non-value-added”
activities.
They were getting the
information they needed
before the advent of
computers, so why should
they invest in new IT and
KM projects? And since
they expect and receive little
loyalty from employees, why
should they invest in training
them, when the essential
knowledge they need must
be obtained “on-the-job”
anyway?
Stopping here is like having to
wait through a TV commercial,
but Part II is worth waiting for. It
begins the look forward to see how
ordinary smart people will change
this picture.
SMART PEOPLE 5
CHOOSING
CHOOSING Self-talk
Three lessons for overcoming challenges
By Dr. Steven Steinberg
Stewart is a 47-year-old
businessman in downtown
Chicago recently diagnosed
with heart disease. Of course,
his business is going through
a rough period.
If that isn’t enough, his
two teenage children are both
having trouble at school and
his wife’s mother has been
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
Disease.
Stewart’s question is,
“Why me?”
In business and life we
encounter stress, suffering,
loss and failure. We expect
to overcome these obstacles,
understand and solve our
problems without any
difficulties or suffering.
When expectations
such as these are not met,
we go through the motions
There are three lessons that can help people to
understand and overcome in life and at work.
of life without joy, without
focus, without proper
communications, complaining
about problems, blaming
others and too stressed to
create or implement solutions.
This causes us to cry out “Why
me?”
The real question being
asked is: “Why do I suffer with
so many problems in my work
and life?”
6 SMART PEOPLE
Lesson #1: Why me? I want to
know for sure.
You will never know for
sure. Absolute truth exists, but Tarfon said, “It’s not up to you
we cannot know it absolutely.
That is the
human condition, When you focus on purpose
uncertainty.
That then the power of purpose
uncertainty is overrides the pain of problems!
the source of our
problems. With
uncertainty, we can make
mistakes that cause us pain.
With uncertainty, without
the complete answer to
life’s problems, we feel pain.
You have problems from
uncertainty, but you also have to know my purpose
freedom. Since you cannot
know for sure, you have
freedom of choice.
You can choose an
ordinary or an extraordinary
response in any situation.
What will be your
extraordinary response to
your conditions? Will you
focus on the pain of problems
or the freedom of choice?
Lesson #2: Why me? I want
to know anyway.
To be perfectly human
is to know imperfectly.
Responsibility is the ability to
respond extraordinarily in the
face of uncertainty.
Your job is to continue
your quest for knowledge
knowing that you can never
know for sure. You must then
act upon your learning.
Your responsibility is to
search for truth and do the
right thing. The historic Rabbi
to finish the job, but you are
not free from doing some of
the work.” Responsibility is
the name of the human game.
So, lesson #1 – why me? I will
never know for sure.
Lesson #3: Why me? I want
Why do you exist?
What is your purpose in
life? Searching and finding
your purpose is the key that
opens the door to success in
business and life. When you
search for purpose there are
two possible answers to life’s
problems and challenges.
The ordinary answer to
the question “why me?” is:
“because . . .”
You fill in the blank with
blame. If you can blame, you
are not responsible. Blame
turns you into a victim. Blame
looks backwards. To look
forward, to solve problems, to
see your purpose being met,
you must change your answer
to an extraordinary answer.
The extraordinary answer
to the question “why me?” is:
“So That . . .!”
You fill in the blank with
some powerful purpose, some
overriding value or some
meaningful solution to the
 CHOOSING
problems of your business n Focuses on purpose. Each problem to how to solve the
or your life. Freedom, of us was put here with problem.
responsibility and purpose some special-purpose. The three lessons of
are the values that we learn What music were you learning are one of many tools
from the three lessons. put here to make? Make that can help you understand
The key point of the three sure that when it is time and overcome challenges
lessons is that in life you can to leave this world you do while transforming your work
choose to focus on problems not go with most of your and life from ordinary to
or purpose. Focusing on music still in you. You can extraordinary.
problems causes pain and
suffering.
The power of purpose,
your “So that___!” overrides
the pain of your problems.
You must discover your “So
that___!” purpose is the
flipside of problems. Without
problems you would have no
purpose. Problems, obstacles
and challenges exist so that
we can solve them! That is
why we are in the business of
life, to serve others by solving
their problems. They, in
turn, serve us by solving our
problems. Together, we can
overcome any challenge.
Here are some tips to
keep in mind when trying to
overcome challenges:
create an extraordinary Freedom, responsibility
n Focuses on freedom.
business. Do not focus on and purpose are the values
While you cannot choose
how hard it is to play your we can use to transform our
your conditions, you are
music. Focus instead on work and our lives from an
entirely free to choose
the success and happiness ordinary place where we are
your response to those
your music can bring you. overwhelmed by challenges
conditions. Don’t focus
In business and in life and problems into an
on the challenge itself;
you must choose between extraordinary place of success
instead focus on your
blame and responsibility. and happiness.
choices regarding how to
fix the problem. Have a Overcoming challenges
begins by accepting Dr. Steven Steinberg is a dentist
future focus.
responsibility. Blaming makes with Parkinson’s disease who
n Focuses on responsibility.
one feel better in that moment. teaches that, even when facing
There are two parts to
You feel entitled to a life suffering, extraordinary living
responsibility. The first
and a business without any is always a choice we can make.
is the ability to respond.
suffering. He works with organizations and
I am free to respond
A focus on feelings, on people who want to transform
even in the presence of
rights without responsibilities, their businesses and their lives
uncertainty. The second
and on past causes never leads from ordinary to extraordinary.
part is that I am free to
to success and inner peace. Web site: www.speakingofvalues.
choose a positive ethical
The only path to overcoming com / email: contact@
and moral response.
challenges is to change our speakingofvalues.com
Responsibility implies
acting as one ought to act. focus from what caused the

SMART PEOPLE 7
CHOOSING
After 150 years of Darwin
Students look for middle ground for debate
When Charles Darwin
published his landmark book
On the Evolution of Species in
1859, his theories on evolution
were quickly accepted by the
vast majority of scientists.
The general public,
however, was not as eager to
accept Darwin’s ideas, due
largely to the fact that the
ideas challenged established
religious beliefs.
Today, 150 years after the
publication of Darwin’s book,
science and religion remain
as conflicted as ever when
it comes to the subject of
evolution.
“There is a real disconnect
between what science
says and what the
public believes,
at least in the
United States,”
says Ben Pierce,
holder of the
Lillian Nelson
Pratt Chair in
Biology
8 SMART PEOPLE
at Southwestern University in
Georgetown, Texas.
Pierce points to Gallop
Polls conducted between
1982-2004, which consistently
found that 44 to 47 percent of
Americans do not believe in
evolution.
Instead, they believe that
humans were “created by God
pretty much in their present
form less than 10,000 years
ago.”
Meanwhile, a recent
survey of more than 400
university professors in Texas,
a generally conservative state,
found that nearly 90 percent
believe modern evolutionary
biology is largely correct.
Pierce says there are four
approaches to the conflict
between science and religion.
The “Warfare Model”
presumes that one side is
right, the other side is wrong,
and the two are permanently
conflicted.
The “Separate Realms”
approach – which is taken by
many scientists – says there is
no conflict between the two
because they address very
different questions.
In the “Accommodation
Model,” science and religion
each adjust their world views
to accommodate findings
from the other field. For
example, some Biblical
scholars reinterpreted the
Genesis account of
creation when
science showed
that the world is
much older than previously
thought.
The model Pierce focuses
on is the “Engagement
Model,” which says that
both fields can profit by
understanding what is
happening in the other fields.
For example, Dr. Andrew
Newberg, director of the
Center for Spirituality and
the Mind at the University of
Pennsylvania, has developed
brain imaging techniques
to determine what happens
when people have a religious
experience, and is co-author
of the best-selling 2001 book
Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain
Science and the Biology of Belief.
Pierce says students today
are very interested in the
subject of science vs. religion
and are seeking ways to find
a middle ground between the
two fields.
In his evolution course
at Southwestern University
last fall, four students wrote
papers for their Biology
Capstone project on ways
science could be used to better
understand religion.
For example, one
student wrote a paper on
the health effects of prayer
and meditation and another
student wrote a paper on the
genetics of spirituality.
“These students put into
practice the notion that science
and religion can indeed have
something useful to say to
each other,” Pierce says.

Like peas in a pod
We swim in a sea of info but people prefer like-minded views
New analysis of data from dozens
of studies sheds new light on how
we choose what we do and do not
hear.
While people tend to avoid
information that contradicts what
they already think or believe,
certain factors can cause them to
seek out, or at least consider, other
points of view.
The analysis, reported this
month in Psychological Bulletin
published by the American
Psychological Association and led
by researchers at the University
of Illinois and the University of
Florida, puts to rest a longstanding
debate over whether people actively
avoid information that contradicts
what they believe, or whether they
are simply exposed more often to
ideas that conform to their own
because they tend to be surrounded
by like-minded people.
“We wanted to see exactly
across the board to what extent
people are willing to seek out the
truth versus just stay comfortable
with what they know,” said
University of Illinois psychology
professor Dolores Albarracín, PhD,
who led the study with University
of Florida researcher William Hart,
PhD.
The team also included
researchers from Northwestern
University and Ohio University.
The researchers found that
people are about twice as likely to
select information that supports
their own point of view (67 percent)
as to consider an opposing idea (33
percent).
Certain individuals, those
with close-minded personalities,
are even more reluctant to
expose themselves to differing
CHOOSING
perspectives, Albarracín said. They such as politicians, for example,
will opt for the information that are more motivated to learn about
corresponds to their views nearly 75 the views of those who oppose
percent of the time. them. In the process, she said, they
The researchers also found, not sometimes find that their own ideas
surprisingly, that people are more evolve.
resistant to new points of view People are also more likely to
when their own ideas are associated expose themselves to opposing
with political, religious or ethical ideas when it is useful to them in
values. some way, Albarracín said.
“If you are really committed to “If you’re going to buy a house
your own attitude – for example, if and you really like the house, you’re
you are a very
committed
Democrat –
you are more
likely to seek
congenial
information,
that is,
information
that
corresponds
with your
views,”
Albarracín
said.
“If the
issues concern
moral values
or politics,
still going to have it inspected,” she
about 70 percent of the time you
said.
will choose congenial information,
For the most part, it seems
versus about 60 percent of the
that people tend to stay with their
time if the issues are not related to
own beliefs and attitudes because
values.”
changing those might prevent them
Perhaps more surprisingly,
from living the lives they’re living,”
people who have little confidence
Albarracín said.
in their own beliefs are less likely
“But it’s good news that one out
to expose themselves to contrary
of three times, or close to that, they
views than people who are very
are willing to seek out the other
confident in their own ideas,
side.”
Albarracín said.
Certain factors can also induce
people to seek out opposing points
of view, she said. Those who may
have to publicly defend their ideas,
SMART PEOPLE 9
CHOOSING

Don’t feel like it? Get over it.

By David Benzel frustrated. “Dad! Don’t you If you’re serious about
get it? I don’t feel like it!” taking your performance at
When Tarah was 12, it was Finally it was time to work to the next level, examine
common to see her writing make the point. “Tarah, it’s your average day or week
down specific water skiing perfectly fine that you don’t and identify the situations or
goals on colored paper with feel like skiing, but what does opportunities that require you
an artistic flair. that have to do with it? Let’s to do the hard things.
Some goals were short- do it anyway.” What are the uncomfortable
term performance targets, In business and in life, items for you? Here are some
while others looked much you commonly state your possible examples.
further out at specific goals and plot your course
outcomes like making the U.S. for reaching them. However, n Completing the paperwork
Team. following a sale or
there will be many days when agreement.
you don’t n “Cold” phone calls to
‘We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain feel like prospects.
of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is doing the
work, but
n Speaking in front of a
group of your peers, or a
discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.’ go ahead group of any kind.
and do it
n Meeting strangers and
She was competitive and anyway.
engaging in small talk
determined to win a national “Feeling like it” is not a
conversations.
title. pre-requisite. In Tarah’s case,
n Confronting someone over
The family awoke one it’s theoretically possible to
a behavioral issue.
particular Saturday morning “not feel like” it all the way to
n Listening to feedback about
to find the weather windy, a national title, if she’s willing
your work.
overcast and nasty. The lake to do the work!
n Writing a report.
was rough, but not too rough Doing the hard things is
n Sticking to a budget.
to ski. often accompanied by “not
Tarah’s father knew it feeling like it.” The secret to not feeling
wouldn’t be pleasant, but they However, true champions like it, yet doing it anyway,
were planning on a good day and those successful in the is to discover the “psychic
of practice. He announced that business world are willing income” you receive when you
he’d go down to the lake and to do the hard things despite overcome the urge to avoid the
get the boat ready. their feelings at the moment. unpleasant tasks.
Tarah replied, Digging down deep Those who are good at
“Dad, I don’t really within to do the things that doing the painful, distasteful
feel like skiing must be done is the essence of tasks will tell you they
today.” He said, “I self-discipline. experience an internal pay-
understand. I’ll go The alternative looks off. It is a satisfaction on a
get the boat ready.” easier, and therefore psychological level that feels
She looked attractive, but actually rewarding and fulfilling.
surprised and said includes a heavier price in the Be prepared for the natural
again, “It’s nasty long run. tug-of-war that will rage within
out there, and I Author Jim Rohn wrote, you as you face the hard things
really don’t feel “We must all suffer from you’d rather avoid.
like practicing.” one of two pains: the pain Part of you wants to find
To which he of discipline or the pain something easier to do, but the
again replied, “I know, you’re of regret. The difference is part of you that says, “I don’t
right. I’ll go get the boat discipline weighs ounces feel like it, but I still have to do
ready.” By then she was really while regret weighs tons.” it” is the one worth listening to.

10 SMART PEOPLE

President John F.
Kennedy gave a speech to the
students at Rice University
on September 12, 1962. At
the time, many people were
asking why it was important
for the U.S. space program to
go to the moon.
Kennedy answered his
critics by posing another
question the students of the
relatively small private school
would understand: “Why
does Rice play Texas? Because
it is the hard thing!” It is
also the reason he gave for
our commitment to go to the
moon; because it’s the hard
thing we must do.
The four steps to
overcome the “don’t feel
like it” sensation can best
be described as mental
gymnastics:
1. Recognize you have
a choice. You are at a
crossroads where you
must choose between two
alternatives: the easy way
that provides relief, or the
hard way that includes
some discomfort.
2. Take yourself out of
the equation by asking
yourself three questions:
“What choice would
be made by someone I
greatly admire?” “Why
would his choice impress
me?” “What would he
gain by his choice?”
3. Reinstate yourself into the
situation by deciding if
you would like to be that
person. If so, the answer
becomes clear. The choice
is yours and so are the
rewards!
4. Take action immediately,
without hesitation or
second thought.
The gains from the pain
are positive sensations for
CHOOSING
having done the hard thing,
rather than hiding from it.
Fear and discomfort have
been overcome. Your psychic
income is earned, and with it
a reinforcement for doing it
again.
The long-term gains are
best described not by what
you get, but by what you
become in the process.
Remember, it is more
likely for you to act your way
into a feeling than it is to
feel your way into an action!
Will yourself to do the things
others won’t do and you’ll
have the things others won’t
have.
David Benzel is an author and
expert in leadership and creating
peak performance. As the founder
of Winning Ways – www.
davidbenzel.com – his experience
includes six national water-skiing
titles and five records, coach of the
U.S. water-ski team and founder/
coach of an international training
center. David is the author of the
upcoming book, From Chump to
Champ: How Individuals Go
It is more likely for you to act your
From Good to Great. Contact way into a feeling than it is to feel
David at davebenzel@cs.com. your way into an action!
Reader feedback:
Don’t trust your memory!
Reference: April issue/’Me smart? You’re kidding!’
— You are what you think.
John Veitch says memory will lie to you. Make
notes. The notes prove how unreliable memory really
is. Knowing that, he says, will make you a whole lot
smarter!
More: http://tinyurl.com/ntobaof
SMART PEOPLE 11
LIVING

Unlikely hero
LIVING Ex-con dreamed of pro football. Now dreams of helping kids
As told to Debbie Elicksen

Garry Sawatzky was an angry young man growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. After one last
physical fight with his father, he left home at age 17 and joined a bike gang. He was sentenced to 18
months on a robbery charge, and his life took a turn for the worse in 1985 when he was convicted
of second-degree manslaughter for stabbing an 18-year-old man to death – a result of a group
altercation at a Winnipeg campsite. Garry was 23 when he was incarcerated at Stony Mountain
Institution. He got out nine years later at age 32. While in prison, the thought of playing football
turned his life completely around. Here is his story in his own words.
It was very, very strange going to touch you. Think! cut right through the game.
because it just came to me. It What are you doing?” The kids act like whoever’s in
honestly just came to me. I still I said, “You’re pissing entertainment today. That’s
don’t understand how. me off!” And I think that’s how the kids act. They’re
I’m an atheist so I don’t what happens with kids a trying to act like those little
believe in all that religion lot. They succumb to that tough guys and yet down
stuff. I was in prison. I only crap. Right after that, the next deep, they’re still kids.
had a couple of years in. That’s thing you know, I’m taking We cut through all that
why it was so crazy. university courses. I found crap. I’ve been where they are.
Everyone was laughing at a way to make my own little I know what they’re feeling.
me. The bigger I got and the environment. It was like When I visit the kids
harder I worked toward it, the training camp for the mind in group homes, they’re
more it offended people. and the body. Then I was on a so unreachable. They’re so
I wasn’t taken very goal. I was on a mission. wound up, so cocky.
seriously. They said, “You’re I completed four training I tell them “When you get
going to be in your thirties cycles in one year. I had in trouble, call me up and I’ll
when you get out. Nobody’s everything planned out. The talk to you.”
training cycle went by pretty There are so many times
quick. It made the time go I’ve had to talk to them after
they’ve been in jail.
by very fast. But it did
It’s always after the fact
make the time easier.
that I have the most success
I think I’ve been
with kids because they’re
to every kiddie
so cocky until they get in
prison in the lower
trouble. Once everything is
mainland of British
taken away, that’s the time to
Columbia. I’ve even rebuild them.
talked to federal In talking to kids, I tell
inmates. I’ve talked them to daydream about
to law students and stuff – about things that are
to kids in lots of mathematically possible. If
group homes. you make a habit of doing
The kids that, if you daydream about
in prison, I things you can actually
can get right obtain, you might be far off
to them. We can but it’s possible.

12 SMART PEOPLE

If it’s not mathematically
possible, don’t dream about
it because you’re just wasting
your energy.
Football was
mathematically possible
because I had a plan. Even
though I didn’t know how
I was going to go about it,
everything fell into place.
It seemed to be luck. You
meet the right people. My life
is still like that. I’m on the
right track. I bump into the
right people.
I want to be careful how I
approach this. If you approach
too aggressively or too quickly
to change something, it’s
going to slap you on the head.
You’ve got to make it so
inviting that they want to be a
part of what you’re making.
You have to approach it
like, the existing system is
good, and we’re just trying
to make it better. All kids
may come from a different
background, but when I visit
the families I’m finding out
people are much the same.
The same thing is going on
in both parts of town. I think
people in the nice part of
town just hide it. In either case
Prison Learning Network
The jailhouse lawyer may be
the poster boy for jailhouse
learning, but there’s much
more.
In Britain, the Royal
Society for the encouragement
of Arts (RSA) includes
among its projects the Prison
Learning Network.
RSA thinks developing
the learning and skills of
offenders could make society
they’re not all good homes or
support systems.
The very first thing they
do with a kid coming to jail
is to rejoin him with their
old support system. Well, the
support system he had is what
put him there.
One of the things you’ve
got to do is wipe out his old
support system completely.
I would take the kid to a
different location than where
he lived. If he grew up in B. C.,
I’d put him on the east coast.
Here’s my step-up-to-the-
plate program:
Find the kids who are
geared for it, just like you
do for a business. Business
is going to do the proper
research to find out their
marketing strategies. They go
for it and then they win.
You’ve got to do that with
the kids. Find out the savable
and then save them.
Debbie Elicksen is provides
publishing support to self-
publishers throughout North
America. Her bestselling book,
Self-Publishing 101 (Self-
Counsel Press), is available in
bookstores and Amazon.com.
safer, more skilled and more
sustainable. Indeed, improving within the criminal justice
offender learning and skills
is critical to reducing re-
offending.
Working with key players recognized this work as
within the criminal justice
system and beyond, the RSA
Prison Learning Network
helps shape practice, policy
and public debate, while
encouraging wider community principles of their efforts.
LIVING
In the prison, former Winnipeg Blue Bomber
running back Tim Jesse saw Garry’s
physique while visiting the institution. He
began to pass the word back to his team,
and Garry was given an evaluation while
on a day pass. The media caught wind of it,
and the prison then transferred him west to
dispel the spotlight.
A few months out of prison, Garry did
get the opportunity to tryout for the Canadian
Football League (CFL) and for the next
several seasons played for more than one
other CFL team. At the same time he began
to reach out to what society would label as
the unreachable population: kids in prison.
Garry’s dream is a farm where troubled kids
can be isolated from their bad influences and
learn to start over – get a new lease on life.
But he knows to expect pushback from the
system. He has a strategy.
Garry already knows where he wants to
go, but he’ll use collaboration to fine tune
the program – a weekend with street-smart
people like himself (without college degrees
– he’s a few credits short) and then a
roundtable consultation with experts in the
field.
engagement in the prison
system.
Contracted providers
system already engage with
thousands of individuals
in prison. Government has
fundamental to achieving
reducing re-offending by 10
percent by 2010. For those
working on the frontline, it has
long been one of the central
SMART PEOPLE 13
LIVING
Don’t worry, be happy
And so it is. Positive thinkers increase life satisfaction
In 1988 Bobby McFerrin,
a jazz and a cappella vocal
performer, vocal improviser
and conductor, became a one-
hit wonder with Don’t Worry,
Be Happy, the first a cappella
song to reach number one on
the charts:
“Here is a little song I wrote
“You might want to sing it note
for note
“Don’t worry be happy
“In every life we have some
trouble
“When you worry you make it
double
“Don’t worry, be happy......”
And so it is. People who
seed their lives with frequent
moments of positive emotions
increase their resilience
against challenges, according
to a new study by a University
of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill psychologist and
colleagues.
14 SMART PEOPLE
The study, “Happiness
Unpacked: Positive Emotions
Increase Life Satisfaction by
Building Resilience,” appears
in the June issue of the
bimonthly journal Emotion.
“This study shows that
if happiness is something
you want out of life, then
focusing daily on the small
moments and cultivating
positive emotions is the
way to go,” said Barbara
Fredrickson, PhD, Kenan
Distinguished Professor of
Psychology in UNC’s College
of Arts and Sciences and
the principal investigator of
the Positive Emotions and
Psychophysiology Laboratory.
“Those small moments let
positive emotions blossom,
and that helps us become
more open. That openness
then helps us build resources
that can help us rebound
better from adversity and
stress, ward off depression
and continue to grow.”
In the month-long study,
86 participants were asked
to submit daily “emotion
reports,” rather than
answering general questions
like, “Over the last few
months, how much joy did
you feel?”
“Getting those daily
reports helped us gather
more accurate recollections
of feelings and allowed us to
capture emotional ups and
downs,” said Fredrickson, a
leading expert in the field of
positive psychology.
Building up a daily diet
of positive emotions does not
require banishing negative
emotions, she said. The study
helps show that to be happy,
people do not need to adopt a
“Pollyanna-ish” approach and
deny the upsetting aspects of
life.
“The levels of positive
emotions that produced good
benefits weren’t extreme.
Participants with average
and stable levels of positive
emotions still showed growth
in resilience even when
their days included negative
emotions.”
Fredrickson suggested
focusing on the “micro-
moments” that can help unlock
one positive emotion here or
there.
“A lot of times we get so
wrapped up in thinking about
the future and the past that
we are blind to the goodness
we are steeped in already,
whether it’s the beauty outside
the window or the kind things
that people are doing for you,”
she said.
“The better approach is
to be open and flexible, to
be appreciative of whatever
good you do find in your daily
circumstances, rather than
focusing on bigger questions,
such as ‘Will I be happy if I?
Barbara Fredrickson is the
author of the book Positivity:
Groundbreaking Research
Reveals How to Embrace
the Hidden Strength of
Positive Emotions, Overcome
Negativity and Thrive (Crown
Publishing, 2009). Web sites:
www.positivityratio.com/ and
www.unc.edu/peplab/ 

‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’
Musical lyrics prime attitude and behavior
The words to “Itsy Bitsy
Spider” tell a simple story
about an arachnid and a spout,
but simply recalling the lines
could initiate an unintentional
attitude.
That’s the focus of
research by Kansas (U.S.)
State University’s Eduardo
Alvarado, sophomore in pre-
law, who is looking at the
behaviors elicited from the
musical lyrics of common
songs.
Alvarado is working with
Donald Saucier, associate
professor of psychology at
K-State, to study the effects
priming can have on behavior
by looking at the positive and
negative responses stimulated
from music lyrics from a
variety of song categories,
including patriotic and
Christmas songs.
‘Priming’ is when
someone is exposed to a
certain environment and
his or her subconscious is
activated, and then they tend
to act in accordance with
that environment without
deliberate intent.
“One of the key
implications is that behaviors
may be malleable in the
sense that many individuals
have the capacity for similar
reactions in social situations,”
Saucier said. “Relatively small-
scale primes may activate
certain reactions, and these
may be pro-social or anti-
social depending on the
context.”
Alvarado said the
researchers wanted to see if
certain musical lyrics activated
a pro-social response, which
is a positive feeling like
empathy, or an anti-social
response, which is a negative
feeling like aggression.
Study participants had to
complete a survey and do a
lyrics exercise. For the lyrics
exercise, participants had
to fill in missing lyrics for
different songs.
The songs involved in the
study were patriotic songs,
such as “The Star-Spangled
Banner”; secular Christmas
songs, such as “Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer”;
religious Christmas songs,
such as “O Holy Night”; and
neutral songs, such as “Itsy
Bitsy Spider.”
Participants filled out a
survey that asked questions
about their religion and
their attitudes toward other
cultures and diversity.
Half of the participants
were asked to complete
the survey before the lyric
exercise, and the other half
completed the survey after the
exercise.
Alvarado said the
researchers assume people act
similarly to primes, and they
looked overall at the surveys
to see if there was a change in
the responses before and after
completing the lyrics exercise.
They wanted to see if the
songs created a pro-social or
an anti-social response. He
said the preliminary findings
showed that the patriotic
songs had a negative effect
on the participants, as shown
through their responses to
the survey’s questions about
LIVING
other cultures and diversity.
The patriotic songs made the
participants close-minded
and prejudiced.
“Once they were in
a patriotic point of view,
they were less empathetic,”
Alvarado said. “They didn’t
put themselves in other
people’s perspective.”
Though songs like “Itsy
Bitsy Spider” and “Row,
Row, Row Your Boat” were
meant to be neutral primes,
the researchers found that
they stimulated a pro-social
response.
“You wouldn’t think that
those songs were going to
put people in a certain mind
frame, but they do activate a
certain attitude,” Alvarado
said.
“We found it made people
more accepting and more
empathetic. The reason for
this we think is because we
used to listen to these songs
when we were little and they
kind of activate childhood
happiness.”
SMART PEOPLE 15
LIVING
Other side of anti-social
Pro-social video games may make children kinder
Some video games can make
children kinder and more
likely to help – not hurt – other
people.
That’s the conclusion of
new research published in the
June issue of Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, a top-
tier, peer-reviewed academic
journal.
The report presents the
findings of three separate
studies, conducted in different
countries with different age
groups, and using different
scientific approaches.
All the studies find that
playing games with pro-social
content causes players to be
more helpful to others after
the game is over.
“Dozens of studies have
documented a relationship
between violent video games
and aggressive behaviors,”
said lead author Douglas
Gentile, an Iowa State
University psychologist, “but
this is one of the first that
has documented the positive
effects of playing pro-social
games.”
16 SMART PEOPLE
Pro-social video games
involve characters who help
and support each other in
nonviolent ways.
“These studies show
the same kind of impact on
three different age groups
from three very different
cultures,” said Brad Bushman,
a University of Michigan co-
author of the report.
“In addition, the studies
use different analytic
approaches — correlational,
longitudinal and experimental.
The resulting triangulation
of evidence provides the
strongest possible proof that
the findings are both valid and
generalizable.”
One study examined the
link between video game
habits and pro-social behavior
among 727 secondary students
in Singapore, with a mean
age of 13. Students listed their
favorite games and rated how
often game characters helped,
hurt or killed other characters.
They also answered
questions about how likely
they were to spend time and
money helping people in need,
to cooperate with others and
share their belongings, and to
react aggressively in various
situations.
The researchers found a
strong correlation between
playing violent video games
and hurting others. But the
study also found a strong
correlation between playing
pro-social games and helping
others.
The second study analyzed
the long-term connection
between video game habits
and pro-social behavior in
nearly 2,000 Japanese children
ages 10 to 16.
Participants completed a
survey about their exposure
to pro-social video games,
and rated how often they had
helped other people in the last
month.
Three to four months later,
they were surveyed again, and
researchers found a significant
connection between exposure
to pro-social games and
helpful behavior months later.
“This suggests there is an
upward spiral of pro-social
gaming and helpful behavior,
in contrast to the downward
spiral that occurs with violent
video gaming and aggressive
behavior,” said Bushman.
For the third study, the
researchers carried out an
experiment with 161 U.S.
college students, with a mean
age of 19.
After playing either a pro-
social, violent, or neutral game,
participants were asked to
assign puzzles to a randomly
selected partner.
They could choose from
puzzles that were easy,
medium or hard to complete.
Their partner could win $10 if
they solved all the puzzles.
Those who played a pro-
social game were considerably
more helpful than others,
assigning more easy puzzles
to their partners. And those
who had played violent games
were significantly more likely
to assign the hardest puzzles.

Email and search #1
But teens play games, ply social networks
Despite the huge growth in
new applications such as
Internet video and social
networking, most consumers
indicate the main reason for
accessing the Internet is to use
email and gather information,
according to a survey by
Gartner Inc.
The survey of 4,770
consumer Internet users in
the fourth quarter of 2007
– which encompassed 18
countries, three regions, three
educational levels and three
income levels – found that
the third Internet interest
worldwide was online
banking, with emerging
markets being the only major
exception.
Sharing photos, videos
and files came in fourth, with
all respondents worldwide
ranking geographic navigation
services – for example Google
Earth – and shopping online as
No. 5 and No. 6 in importance,
respectively.
However, Gartner found
there is one demographic
group that is bucking the
trend, with 13- to 18-year-olds
enjoying the most divergent
Internet interests, ranging
from downloading music
and playing games online to
blogging and social networks.
“Rather than being
considered as contrarians, this
group should be regarded
as the precursors of what is
to come,” said Elroy Jopling,
research director at Gartner.
“The Internet has become a
utility for most consumers,
who use it for communicating,
gathering information
LIVING
and performing financial able to maximize utility on
transactions. However, a new each of the mediums. The
‘trickle down’ phenomenon, applications that teenagers
where teenagers lead the spawn will require a similar
evolution of consumer fixed and mobile component,”
Internet applications, heralds he said.
a new era where Internet However, Gartner predicts
applications will mimic life – that few technology and
communicating, entertaining, service providers will be able
socializing, informing, to address every element
transactional, either in a fixed of Internet applications
location or on the move.” and the need to partner
Jopling said the next with other providers will
Internet frontier will be increase. Equally, the need
mobile devices and that to to viably assess what market
succeed here, technology and a provider can address with
service providers will need its brand and the agility of its
to incorporate the utilitarian infrastructure will become
applications of email, search paramount.
and geographical navigation
services on all their fixed-line Additional information is
applications, as well as nimbly available in the Gartner report
porting them to their mobile “Consumers’ Value Perception
services. of the Internet” at http://tinyurl.
“Successful business com/neyl3r
plans will be those that are
Reader comments
Now it’s people who own ‘means of production’
If response to Smart People’s most popular story (so far) is any indication, conventional
Knowledge Management is facing some serious pushback. Charles Ehin’s ‘Unmanaging
Knowledge’ in the May issue has attracted 3,302 readers and eight of them have left
comments. Ehin’s article tells people how to tell the boss to back off – not to thwart
KM but to facilitate it.
Ehin opens a new doorway of understanding when he opines employees “own
their means of production – the gray matter between their ears. Consequently, when
they decide to join or leave an organization, they carry their means of production with
them.
Hmm. The company owned the ‘means of production’ in the Industrial age. One
more asset now in the hands of the employee. See http://tinyurl.com/n5avoh
SMART PEOPLE 17
LIVING
Memory and cognitive function
U.S. seniors test smarter than English counterparts
U.S. seniors performed significantly
better than their counterparts
in England on standard tests of
memory and cognitive function,
according to a new study.
The study is the first known
international comparison of
cognitive function in nationally
representative samples of older
adults in the United States and
England. The report is published in
the June 25 peer-reviewed journal
BMC Geriatrics.
“The
better Researchers were surprised with the results since aatresearch
cognitive
performance the U.S. has a higher
of U.S. then the British are much heavier drinkers.
adults was
surprising
since U.S. adults had a higher
prevalence of cardiovascular
risk factors, which are generally
associated with cognitive decline
and poorer mental function,”
says University of Michigan (UM)
researcher Kenneth Langa, lead
author of the study.
18 SMART PEOPLE
For the study, Langa and cognition,” said Richard Suzman,
colleagues compared data on 8,299 director of the NIA’s Division of
Americans age 65 and older with Behavioral and Social Research.
5,276 British seniors. The same “Additional research is needed
cognitive tests were administered to among these and other national
the two groups in the same year. surveys to identify the factors that
The U.S. advantage in “brain interact to affect cognitive change in
health” was greatest for the oldest older people.”
of the old – those age 85 and older. Higher levels of education
On a population level, the overall and net worth in the United States
difference in cognitive performance accounted for some of the better
between the two countries cognitive performance, according
was quite large. The cognitive to Langa, a professor of medicine at
the U-M Medical School,
investigator
the VA Ann Arbor
incidence of cardiac issues. But Healthcare System, and
a faculty associate at the
U-M ISR.
The research team
performance of 75-year-olds in the also examined data on participant
U.S. was as good, on average, as
health conditions, risk factors and
that of 65-year-olds in England. treatments for stroke, diabetes,
Data on the U.S. population
heart disease, hypertension, lung
came from the Health and disease and cancer. They also
Retirement Study, conducted by the collected data on recent symptoms
UM Institute for Social Research
of depression, and on smoking
(ISR) and funded by the National status, alcohol consumption,
Institute on Aging (NIA). Data on and limitations in performing
the UK study was common activities of daily living,
from the English including dressing, bathing, taking
Longitudinal medications and managing money.
Study of Ageing. U.S. adults reported
Both are nationally significantly lower levels of
representative, depressive symptoms than English
population-based adults, and according to Langa, this
studies designed may have accounted for some of the
to facilitate direct U.S. advantage in brain health since
comparisons of depression is linked with a worse
health, wealth and cognitive function.
wellbeing among “Other studies conducted in
older men and the mid-1990s have found that
women. fewer than 15 percent of depressed
“This study is adults in English samples received
an important step medication to treat their depression,
in helping to define compared to nearly 75 percent of
national differences depressed U.S. adults,” Langa said.
in aging and “Future research should explore
 LIVING
whether more widespread use of ISR economist David Weir,
shown a link between untreated
anti-depressant medication in the director of the Health andhypertension and an increased risk
U.S. may be one reason for the Retirement Study and a co-author
for cognitive impairment.
lower level of depressive symptoms, of the analysis, noted that other
“The fact that the greatest
cognitive
Explanations credit a higher use of anti-depressant medication, later advantage for
retirement, and better treatment for hypertension in the U.S. as reasons U.S. adults was
among the
why older adults retain cognitive skills longer than the Brits. oldest-old may
support the
hypothesis that
and in turn, the better cognitive ongoing research by ISR economist
more aggressive diagnosis and
performance of older U.S. adults Robert Willis suggests there may
treatment of hypertension and
compared to older English adults.” be a connection between early
possibly other cardiovascular risks
Langa and colleagues also found retirement and early onset of
leads to less cognitive decline,”
significant differences in alcohol cognitive decline. This provides
Langa said.
consumption between the U.S. another possible explanation for
and English seniors. More than 50 lower cognition at older ages in
Established in 1949, the Institute
percent of U.S. seniors reported no England where retirement occurs
for Social Research (ISR) is among
alcohol use, compared to only 15.5 earlier than in the United States.
the world’s oldest survey research
percent of English seniors. Previous Finally, Langa noted, while
organizations, and a world leader in the
research has shown that moderate U.S. adults reported a higher
development and application of social
alcohol consumption, compared prevalence of hypertension, they
science methodology. Visit the ISR Web
to abstinence, is linked with better also were more likely to be taking
site at www.isr.umich.edu for more
cognition among those aged 50 and medications to treat the condition.
information.
over. A number of studies have

Helping young smokers quit

What’s the best medium for this message? The Internet
Many young smokers want to quit but don’t know what Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have the
methods work. highest rates of smoking compared to any other age group,
The University of Illinois (UIC) at Chicago is leading but they have among the lowest rates of quitting, according
a $2.9 million National Cancer Institute project to increase to Mermelstein.
demand for evidence-based, Internet-based smoking A multidisciplinary team of investigators from UIC, the
cessation treatment among young adults. University of Iowa and the American Legacy Foundation
“Even though many young adults think about quitting and will work with GDS&M Idea City advertising agency to
actually want to stop smoking, develop interactive, Internet-
they tend not to use what we based ads and evaluate what
know works – evidence-based messages motivate young
approaches to quitting,” said smokers to use the evidence-
psychology professor Robin based stop smoking program
Mermelstein, director of UIC’s [www.BecomeAnEx.org].
Institute for Health Research “Our prior research has
and Policy and principal shown that if you want to reach
investigator of the five-year and engage young adults, then
study which will enroll more you need to go where they
than 3,000 young smokers via are, and the Internet is it,” said
the Internet, recruiting through Mermelstein.
sites like Craigslist.

SMART PEOPLE 19
LEARNING
LEARNING Fortune 1000 Executives
New president must fix the U.S. education gap
More than half give pre-college system a failing grade and are experiencing a shortage
in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) talent. Two-thirds are
concerned other countries’ increased access to STEM talent is impacting competitiveness.
Just before the U.S.
elections last year, the
presidential candidates
were warned by CEOs and
other C-suite executives
at America’s Fortune 1000
STEM companies that the
new president should be
very concerned about the
country’s ability to attract and
retain science, technology,
engineering and mathematics
workers.
That is needed in order to
maintain its global leadership
in science and technology.
While they believe they
and other STEM companies
have a responsibility to
support a diverse pipeline,
they also say the current
American pre-college
education system is failing to
engage girls and minorities to
pursue STEM careers.
These are among the
findings of a new survey
commissioned by Bayer
Corporation as part of its
Making Science Make Sense
initiative. In the latest Bayer
Facts of Science Education
Survey XIII, Fortune 1000
STEM executives were polled
about a host of issues related
to diversity and under-
representation of women,
African Americans, Native
Americans and Hispanics in
STEM fields and their impact
on U.S. competitiveness.
“What is most dramatic
about this survey is the
20 SMART PEOPLE
extent to which the Fortune
executives speak with one
unequivocal voice on these
issues,” said Dr. Attila
Molnar, president and CEO of
Bayer Corporation.
“Almost without
exception, they
overwhelmingly recognize
One way to counter this talent crisis, they said,
is to build a diverse STEM pipeline beginning at
the earliest educational level.
this country’s great need
to tap the potential of the
entire STEM talent pool,
and the importance of doing
so at every point on the
development continuum
beginning in elementary
school with high-quality,
hands-on, inquiry-based
science education, on through
college where STEM talent
is refined and recruited, and
then into the workplace where
it must be further nurtured
and encouraged.”
The Need: Current and
Imminent STEM Workforce
Challenges
Almost all of the Fortune
1000 STEM executives (95
percent) are concerned that
the U.S. is in danger of losing
its global leadership position
in science and technology
due to a shortage of STEM
talent, with more than
half (55 percent) reporting
their companies are already
experiencing such a shortage.
When it comes to rising
international competition,
fully two-thirds (68 percent)
are concerned that other
countries’ increasing access
to STEM talent is giving
rival companies based in
these countries a competitive
advantage over them, with
one-fifth (20 percent) saying
they are “very concerned.”
The Seed: Growing a Diverse
American STEM Pipeline
Not surprisingly, almost
all the senior executives (98
percent) say it is important
for girls and minorities to
receive a strong science and
math education beginning
in elementary school
in order to reduce their
underrepresentation in
STEM fields, with nine-in-10
(90 percent) saying it is very
important.
And, say the executives,
the most effective way for
these students to learn science
is through a hands-on,
inquiry-based approach (87
percent).
However, they believe
the U.S. education system is

falling short here. Not one
of the executives surveyed
graded the U.S. an “A” when
asked how good a job the U.S.
pre-college system is doing
in engaging and nurturing
girls and minorities to pursue
STEM careers. In fact, almost
six-in-10 (55 percent) assigned
it a failing grade of D or F.
The country’s higher
education system fares
somewhat better for its
ability to train women and
minorities for STEM careers,
with executives assigning it an
average grade of “C+.”
Overall, the U.S. education
system gets a “C” from
executives for providing U.S.
companies with diverse,
talented and skilled STEM
graduates.
“To successfully develop
a diverse STEM workforce,
we have to begin at the
beginning,” explained Dr.
Mae C. Jemison, the nation’s
first African American female
astronaut and Bayer’s national
Making Science Make Sense
(MSMS) spokesperson.
“After all, how can
we expect to graduate
the necessary numbers of
scientists, engineers and
mathematicians from college if
we don’t have enough students
coming out of high school
interested and prepared to
work and study in these
subjects?”
The Feed: Nurturing
Women and Minority STEM
Employees in the Workplace
In addition to supporting
STEM education programs
aimed at females and
minorities, the vast majority
of executives say they recruit
from colleges and universities
LEARNING
that traditionally serve women chemical engineer, renowned Bayer
and minorities. science educator and CEO of Corporation,
Still, recruiting women BioSentient Inc., an emerging headquartered
and minorities can be medical devices company. in Pittsburgh,
challenging and frustrating, “For younger employees, Pennsylvania,
according to the executives. seeing people who look like U.S., is a
Four out of five executives you achieving at the highest subsidiary of
(80 percent) report their levels in your chosen field is a Bayer AG, an
companies face challenges strong signal that a company international
in hiring adequate numbers is serious about diversity. health care,
of women and minorities for “Being actively mentored nutrition and
STEM positions. takes that seriousness of high-tech
Of those, half (50 percent) purpose one step further and materials
say they are frustrated by their shows younger employees group based
companies’ inability to hire the company is committed to in Leverkusen,
adequate numbers of women developing their talent and Germany.
and minority STEM workers. ensuring their success. It’s
The main sources of leading from the front.”
frustration include a limited
number of women/minorities In September, Smart People
qualified for STEM positions will examine the performance
(44 percent); problems of President Obama in view
identifying/locating/ of the warning Fortune 1000
recruiting qualified candidates delivered to candidate
(29 percent); and, difficulty Obama last September.
attracting/retaining them
due to company location (19
percent).
Once hired, most
executives (63 percent) report
their companies have specific
programs designed to nurture
and retain women and
minority STEM workers.
Programs are one thing; C-
suite role models are another.
While nearly all the
executives (96 percent)
recognize the importance
of female and minority role
models in senior management
positions, they are split over
how well their companies do
in providing such role models
to younger workers, with
half (55 percent) assigning
themselves an A/B grade and
half (45 percent) a C/D.
“The importance of role
models and mentors cannot
be overstated,” explained
Dr. Jemison, a physician,
SMART PEOPLE 21
LEARNING
The value of a college education
‘Get Rich Slowly’ blogger: a million reasons to stay in school
By J. D. Roth
I’ve been thinking lately about
the value of a college education. I
earned a BA in Psychology from
Willamette University, U.S., in 1991
with a minor in English literature,
and almost another minor in speech
communication. What have I done
with this degree? Almost nothing.
Yet I do not regret the money and
years I spent working to earn it.
The financial value
of a college degree
Does earning a college degree
make a difference to your future?
Absolutely. The facts are striking.
On average, those who have a
college degree earn almost twice as
much as those who do not.
According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, adults with advanced
degrees earn four times more than
those with less than a high school
diploma. Workers 18 and older with
a master’s, professional or doctoral
degree earned an average of $82,320
in 2006, while those with less than a
high school diploma earned $20,873.
Workers with a bachelor’s
degree earned an average of $56,788
in 2006; those with a high school
diploma earned $31,071. This flurry
of numbers makes more sense when
viewed in a table:
Education Avg. Income Increase
Drop-out $20,873 —
High school $31,071 48.9%
College $56,788 82.8%
Advanced $82,320 45.0%
22 SMART PEOPLE
Completing college is huge.
Over a life-time, a college degree
is generally worth almost a million
dollars. That’s money that can
be used for saving, for fun, for
whatever. The financial benefits of
a college education are significant,
and they’re very real.
Other benefits of a college degree
Obtaining a college degree isn’t
just about making more money.
According to Katharine Hansen at
Quintessential Careers, a college
education is associated with other
benefits, such as:
n Longer life-spans
n Greater economic stability and
security
n More prestigious employment
and greater job satisfaction
n Less dependency on
government assistance
n Greater participation in leisure
and artistic activities
n Greater community service and
leadership
n More self-confidence
A college education also gives
you a broad base of knowledge
on which to build. It teaches you
to solve more of life’s problems. It
gives you future reference points
for discussing art, entertainment,
politics and history.
The label on your degree
does NOT matter
I asked Michael Hampton,
director of career development at
Western Oregon University, what
advice he would offer a student
who is deciding whether or not to
attend college. He replied:
“Unless you are going to be an
engineer, architect, teacher, lawyer,
the label on your degree does not
matter.
“The degree is a check-mark (as
opposed to the focus) in most job
requirements. Many job ads will
state: ‘Business, Communications or
other degree required.’ Most folks
have the ‘other’.
“I have a BA in Speech,
Telecommunications & Film. As
a television news photographer,
youth director, communications
director, substitute school teacher,
sports marketing manager, career
programs coordinator, no one ever
said to me: “You know what? We
would like to hire you, but we’re
not sure what that label is on your
degree.”
“Honestly, at the University of
Oregon, I was looking for an ‘easy’
degree because I was not a book-
smart student.
“I was able to take mostly film
and television classes to earn my
BA, so I signed up. Again, the jobs
I went after required degrees, but
the label on the degree was not a
barrier.
“Here are some more prominent
examples:
n What was Alan Greenspan’s
major? Econ, but he studied
music first
n What was Michael Jordan’s
major? Math, then Geography
 (dropped out to play
professional basketball, later
returned to earn his degree)
n What was Lisa Kudrow’s
major? Biology
n What was Cindy Crawford’s
major? Chemical Engineering
(dropped out for modeling
career)
n What was Ted Turner’s major?
Classics (expelled for hanky-
panky)
n What was former HP CEO
Carly Fiorina’s major?
Philosophy
n What was George W.
Bush’s major? History
n What was Jay Leno’s
major? Philosophy
“If a student is struggling to get
good grades, I encourage them
to look at the course catalog and
choose a major based on the
likability of most of the classes they
would have to take, their positive
experiences with the professors
in the major, and the number of
credits they have already taken
that are compatible.
“They should set themselves up
to be successful. Getting through
the pre-reqs is a major barrier for
some.
“Combine some “fun” classes
with the challenging required
courses to try and make the
experience more enjoyable.”
Be cool – stay in school
While a college education
statistically provides a better shot
at obtaining wealth, it does not
guarantee success.
There are English majors who
end up with convenience store
careers. There are high school
drop-outs who go on to run multi-
million dollar corporations.
But obtaining a college
education improves your odds.
For some young adults, college
can seem like a waste of time. (Or
worse, a waste of money.)
Other things seem more
important. I had friends
who dropped out of school
to pursue
girlfriends
across the
country.
I had
friends who were convinced
they could make more money
by skipping college altogether.
Student loans can be so enormous Resources
that they make a person lose sight In preparing this
of the fact that they’re an almost article, I relied heavily
guaranteed investment in the on the following
future. sources:
I personally had problems
n U.S. Census Bureau:
finding a career path – I simply
Educational attainment in the
had no idea what I wanted to do.
United States
When I went entered college, I
n Free Money Finance: More
wanted to be a religion major.
education equals more pay
Then I wanted to be a writer. Then
and How I made millions off a
I wanted to be a grade school
$5,000 investment
teacher.
n Quintessential Careers: What
Ultimately I earned a
psychology degree, which has good is a college education
anyway?
had little direct benefit to my
n Financial Calculators: What
life. But the education I obtained,
is the value of a college
my campus experience, and
education?
the contacts I made have been
invaluable.
J.D. Roth has a day job, but he’s
A large part of who I am today
cutting back on hours now to follow
was forged by my experiences in
his own advice – become an ‘awesome
college. The value of a college isn’t
entrepreneur.’ Last year his blog,
just in the destination, but in the
Get Rich Slowly [http://www.
journey.
getrichslowly.org/blog], was named
“most inspiring money blog” by
Money magazine.
SMART PEOPLE 23
LEARNING

Internet access
Informal learning leveler for excluded groups
Informal adult learning crux of what they do and how In fact, the network is seen
should target the socially they do it.  Milner continues:  as central to the Learning
excluded, and make the most “Digital skills appear as Revolution the paper wants
of new technologies to level both a subject for and means to see instigated across
the learning playing field.  of informal learning in the country, and a clear
This message comes from The Learning Revolution, by role is outlined for centers
UK Online Centres, which international researchers to champion both digital
recently welcomed Secretary Gordon Dryden, from New inclusion and informal
of State for Innovation, Zealand and Dr. Jeannette learning. 
Universities and Skills John Vos, from California.  UK online centers were
Denham’s White Paper, “New technologies really involved in the consultation
which puts informal learning can empower and motivate process around the paper
and widening participation people to discover and create and were on hand at the Tate
firmly back on the adult skills in whole new ways, and at UK Modern to see its official
agenda.  online Centers that journey launch. 
Managing Director Helen often starts out as informal as UK online center learners
Milner said:   “It’s great to information gathering” she showed the Secretary of State
see the value of informal said.  “It’s then built up by some of their work, and told
learning being recognized responding to an individual’s them how informal ICT skills
and supported.  priorities and needs, focusing had helped them improve
At its best, informal on the person rather than the their lives. 
learning isn’t just a gateway to course or qualification. Milner adds:  “It’s because
‘formal’ learning or a home for “For the most socially UK Online Centres have
hobbyists – it can be a route to excluded, ‘formal’ education a local presence that we’re
social inclusion and mobility.  can be inaccessible, in a prime position to help
That’s where this paper can intimidating and impractical.  government realize this very
make a real difference to real If you need to bid for important vision. 
lives.” government foreclosure “UK Online Centres are
The organization runs a listings online, for instance, already taking laptops out to
network of you don’t want to wait until pubs, community centers and
computer term starts and sit through an even empty shops to make
centers entire ICT qualification for the access to digital skills and
helping Internet bit to come up.  That’s support as easy as possible for
people in where UK online centers as many people as possible. 
deprived come in with the support of “The Learning Revolution
communities a huge range of third sector ‘open space’ announced in the
get online, intermediaries and partners.”  paper will see us build on that
and informal Learning and support are work across the country.  In
learning is very local, personal and flexible, addition, our annual Get online
much at the often long term and often day campaign in October will
don’t include traditional fit perfectly into plans for the
educational milestones.  I’m Autumn Learning Revolution
delighted to see the Festival.”
value of that work
officially recognized Access to Denham’s speech text
and endorsed in this and video can be found at http://
White Paper.”  tinyurl.com/mqngt5

24 SMART PEOPLE

What have I learned at work?
By Jeff Cobb
Knowledge is one of the most
valuable assets each of us
possesses in this increasingly
“flat” world, and so much of
our knowledge is acquired
through our day-to-day
learning experiences at our
jobs.
Yet how often do you ask
yourself the simple question
“What have
I learned at
work?”
I know I
don’t ask it often
enough. And
for that matter, I
can’t remember
an employer
ever asking the
question of me.
But it is a
very important
question,
particularly
in the context
of current
economic conditions. It can
be the key to getting your
next job, or even keeping your
current one.
I should be clear that
I’m not talking only about
formal training or education
experiences funded by your
employer (if you are lucky
enough to get those).
While these can be
valuable, most of us learn
at least as much, if not
more, through less formal
interactions with co-workers,
customers, and suppliers, or
through our own efforts to
meet new challenges.
I am also not talking only
about achieving personal
objectives you may have
defined (or had defined for
you!) as part of review process.
Again, these can be
valuable, but the focus tends
to be on the ends achieved
rather than the context and
processes through which they
are achieved.
Context. Process. These
are elements of our workplace
learning of which we don’t
tend to be particularly
conscious on a day-to-day,
much less hour-to-hour or
minute-to-minute basis, but
which contribute significantly
to how and how much we
learn in our jobs.
Here’s a challenge: Go
into work one day soon with
a personal commitment to
be “hyper” conscious about
everything you learn that day.
Ask yourself some of the
following questions as the day
goes along:
n Does what I am doing
right now (i.e., having a
conversation, participating
in a meeting, completing a
routine task, etc.) increase
LEARNING
my knowledge or skill
level in any significant
way? How?
n What might turn this
activity into more of a
learning experience? What
do I need to do to make
that happen? What could
my employer do?
n What could I add into
my activities
for today that
would provide
for a learning
experience?
n How will I
apply what I
am learning
(at any given
moment in the
day) to future
work at my
current job, or
to a future job
of my dreams?
n What could
I take out of
my activities that does
not contribute to learning
and would not really be
missed?
n Am I learning things that
contribute in a meaningful
way to my long-term
career and life goals?
At the end of the day, sit
down and write or type out
everything you feel you have
learned during the day along
with answers to the above
questions and any others you
might have asked yourself.
Spend a bit of time
reflecting on how what you
have learned (or not learned!)
fits into your overall desires
for your career and life.
NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE 25
LEARNING

Oxford seminar
Is technology helping or hindering learning?
In recognition of “Learning at Work Day”celebrated across the
UK in May, Oxford and Epic Systems held a seminar themed
“Is technology transforming learning, and if so what does it
mean for us?”
There was widespread acknowledgement that some
tools for learning have changed, and in so doing have made
learning more accessible. Electronic search and collaborative
technologies mean we now have access to learning resources
far beyond the walls of our workplace or the ivory towers of
our universities.
This led on to an exploration of whether, by making these
tools more readily available, there had been an increase in
quantity (lifelong learning) and in ‘temporariness’ (no longer a
need to ‘know’ or remember because you can just access the
knowledge when you need it).
Concern ensued from one corner of the room that this
growth in quantity and temporariness may have led to a
diminishing quality of learning. Though, from the other corner
came the retort that surely we could not be certain about the
impact on quality at the present time, and only history would
tell.
After all, as one of Epic’s instructional designers out – in
400 BC, Socrates, spoke of the new fangled idea of ‘writing’
diminishing memory and so, by extension, learning too. Yet,
in 2009, one could hardly argue that writing has not in some
way transformed learning. Nor could one imagine either Oxford
University or Epic viewing the writing skills of a prospective
student or member of staff as an obstacle to learning!
Epic makes software for medical groups, hospitals and
integrated healthcare organizers. Web site: www.epicsystems.
com/

What have I learned at work?

CONTINUED
I know most people
reading this will shrug or
scoff and won’t do what I have
just suggested above, much
less repeat it over multiple
days or weeks and try to
develop it into an unconscious
habit, but I’m telling you, it
can be very revealing and
very powerful. And I’d go so
far as to suggest that:
1. Individuals who become
conscious of their learning
at work and take charge
of their learning at work
will be by far the most
successful in today’s
economy.
2. The primary focus of
learning professionals
should be helping
individuals become
conscious of their learning
and take charge of it.
There are a couple of
corollaries to the above. The
first is, if you undertake the
exercise above and discover
that you really are not
learning much on the job,
it may be time to look for a
better job. The second is, if
you are counting on your
employer to understand the
new dynamics of workplace
learning and want to help you
out, you may be waiting quite
a while.
In the meantime, I
strongly encourage you to try
what I’ve suggested, and if
you are willing, report back
your results on Smart People
Magazine’s Web site. In the
html version of the magazine
you can rate each story and
comment.
So, how do I know this is
truly worth doing? Well, let’s
say I learned it at work.
Jeff Thomas Cobb is an educator
and entrepreneur, and for years
has combined the two by starting
and/or helping to build e-learning
companies. He is currently
managing director of Tagoras,
a research and consulting firm.
Due to a massive server failure he
has lost all his files at Mission to
Learn / Know Better/Live Better
[http://www.missiontolearn.com]
but he’s in the process of restoring
them.

26 SMART PEOPLE

iPod Touch in classrooms?
Teacher uses popular device for learning
A Tennessee (U.S.) Tech
University curriculum and
instruction instructor’s
immediate goal is to
accumulate hundreds of blog
entries on how an iPod Touch
can be used in elementary,
middle school and high school
classrooms.
His ultimate success will
be measured in how well this
technology, less than two
years old, finds its way into
common usage.
“I’ve seen iPod technology
used in higher education a
little bit, but thought it would
be interesting to see how
our students could equip
themselves to use it in public
and private schools they’ll be
working in,” said Wendt.
Spanish major Brittney
Barker who’s working on
a secondary education
certificate says language
instruction is a perfect use for
the iPod Touch.
“I constantly had ideas
that dealt with proper
pronunciation or having a
Spanish dictionary on hand
with the iPod Touch,” said
Barker.
“The instructor could
record his or her own voice
repeating vocabulary and
then send the students
home with iPods to practice
efficiently. Many foreign
language students have
trouble with pronunciation
and they only receive help in
the classroom. With the iPods,
they can practice the correct
pronunciations anywhere.”
Joe Harold, a retired
U.S. Marine who is working
LEARNING
toward a master’s degree and options,” said Wendt. “You
a position as a middle school have reference tools at your
science teacher, says the fingertips like dictionaries,
iPod Touch puts some 25,000 and graphing calculators.
free books, plus educational There are thousands of free
puzzles, maps and games resources.”
right into his pocket. But the resources only
“It cultivates imagination make a difference if teachers
and intrigues students; that’s create
what makes them want to effective
learn,” said Harold. ways to use
He envisions doing away them. Wendt
with a lot of paper by using says he
the iPod Touch, and thinks encourages
the $229 device is a smart way students
to spend money. to lead the
Barker agrees with way in the
Harold’s observation. educational
“iPods give students new use of iPods.
reasons to be interested in The key
their own learning,” she said. is to let the
“A challenge that I think technology
we face as teachers with this live up to its
project is finding ways for name.
students to use the iPods “If you
effectively and integrating don’t let the
its components into our students
lessons with fluidity. I think touch it, it’s
many technological elements not nearly
are easily correlated with as effective,”
everyday lessons, but they are said Wendt.
sometimes distracting rather Wendt
than productive.” says he
Wendt, who purchased plans to
the devices with grant money, study the
picked a section of his two outcomes
upper division educational between the
technology classes that had class sections that used iPods
very little experience with the and the sections using more
technology in order to judge traditional instruction.
the impact on their classroom Read some of the student’s
teaching. blog posts to see how they’re
Students carried them for using an ‘entertainment’
a whole semester in order to device to learn:
become comfortable. http://tinyurl.com/mxjy5m
“All public schools in this
area have wi-fi now, so it’s a
tool that gives a teacher many
SMART PEOPLE 27
CREATING
Curiosity killed the cat
CREATING Inquisitiveness can lead to dangerous situations
What’s behind a phrase? More importantly, what’s ahead of the phrase? In today’s Knowledge
Economy, people are encouraged to be inquisitive. But ingrained into the people culture is the
old adage ‘Curiosity killed the cat’. This story and the one on the following page will help you
get over it!
By Gary Martin
Everyone knows that, despite its supposed
nine lives, curiosity killed the cat. Well, not
quite. The “killed the cat” proverb originated
as “care killed the cat.” By “care” the coiner of
the expression meant “worry/sorrow” rather
than our more usual contemporary “look after/
provide for” meaning.
That form of the expression is first recorded
in the English playwright Ben Jonson’s play
Every Man in His Humour, 1598:
“Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care’ll kill
a Cat, up-tails all, and a Louse for the
Hangman.”
The play was one of the Tudor humours
comedies, in which each major character is
assigned a particular humour
or trait. The play is thought to
have been performed in 1598
by a troupe of actors including
William Shakespeare and
William Kempe. Shakespeare
was no slouch when it came
to appropriating a memorable
line and it crops up the
following year in Much Ado
About Nothing:
“What, courage man! What
though care killed a cat,
thou hast mettle enough in
thee to kill care.”
The proverbial expression
“curiosity killed the cat,”
which is usually used when
attempting to stop someone
asking unwanted questions, is
much more recent. The earlier
form was still in use in 1898, when it was
defined in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and
Fable:
28 SMART PEOPLE
“Care killed the Cat. It is said that a cat has
nine lives, but care would wear them all
out.”
Curiosity hasn’t received a good press
over the centuries. Saint Augustine wrote in
Confessions, AD 397, that, in the eons before
creating heaven and earth, God “fashioned
hell for the inquisitive.” John Clarke, in
Paroemiologia, 1639, suggested that “He that
pryeth into every cloud may be struck with a
thunderbolt.” In Don Juan, Lord Byron called
curiosity “that low vice.” That bad opinion, and
the fact that cats are notoriously inquisitive,
lead to the source of their demise being
changed from “care” to “curiosity.”
The earliest known printed reference that
uses the curiosity form is O. Henry’s Schools and
Schools, 1909:
“Curiosity can do more things than kill
a cat; and if emotions, well recognized as
feminine, are inimical to feline life, then
jealousy would soon leave the whole world
catless.”
The earliest version that I have found of the
precise current form of the proverb in print is
from The Portsmouth Daily Times, March 1915,
in a piece headed “The Height of Curiosity”:
Mother - “Don’t ask so many questions,
child. Curiosity killed the cat.”
Willie - “What did the cat want to know,
Mom?”
The frequent rejoinder to “curiosity killed
the cat” is “satisfaction brought it back.” That
brings us to the follow-up story on the next
page where we learn the state of curiosity in
the 21st century.
Gary Martin, aka The Phrase Finder, posts
information on more than 50,000 phrases at www.
phrases.org.uk

Forget the cat
Curiosity is a powerful motivator of creative people
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
~ Dorothy Parker, American author (1893-1967)
By Andrew Eklund
Defined by my desk-side
dictionary as “a deep,
compelling desire to know
something,” curiosity is the
most important personality
trait of creative people.
Why? Ironically, it’s
because curiosity is the
motivation behind why
people ask the question
“Why?” Or, “Why not?” Or
most common of all, “What
if?”
The best rejoinder to
“Curiosity killed the cat” is
“Satisfaction brought it back.”
Creative people are filled with
an incessant curiosity about
– well, just about everything.
They exhibit a relentless
and obsessive focus on an
individual topic, and then
suddenly turn their attentive
glare to another subject, or
often many other subjects at
the same time.
Without a doubt, the act
of discovery, learning and
investigation is one of the
most powerful motivators of
creative people.
They constantly immerse
and surround themselves
with as much information as
they can get their hands on.
Whether they know it exactly
or not, they store all of this
information in their heads
as knowledge, to create and
invent ideas at a later time.
They rarely limit their
interest to particular areas;
rather, they seek out topics
which might be considered
unusual, non-traditional
or out of the ordinary to
most people – not because
it’s unusual per se, simply
because it might be useful at
another time.
Curiosity is also a natural
antidote of assumption,
because any area left
unexplained is simply too
much of challenge to leave
unexplored.
Considering how vital
the topics of creativity and
curiosity are to each other,
it’s natural there are several
parallels.
n Creativity and curiosity
are both defined and
judged by their output:
creativity creates ideas,
and curiosity creates
questions.
n Neither creativity and
curiosity is taught as
specific courses at school
or university, so most
people tend to learn
these skills by default
— meaning, we learn by
trial-and-error.
n Just as we can improve
through practice our
creative ability to generate
ideas, the same is true for
curiosity, by learning how
to form, prioritize and ask
questions.
Most curiosity about a
specific topic or problem
typically begins with this
question: What information
CREATING
and knowledge do I need to
acquire or tap into? Andrew
Eklund
Andrew Eklund, 25 years as a
communicator in the U.S., Asia,
Middle East and Australia,
has combined his trade with
his passion for creativity as a
creative director, brainstorm
facilitator and workshop
leader. Blog – Creative Streak
– http://andyeklund.typepad.
com/creativestreak. Consultancy
– www.aqus.com.
Curiosity killed
the cat sitter
The rejoinder “Satisfaction brought it back”
has a lengthy history – dates back at least to
1933.
“I’ve not been able to trace the source of
this odd reply,” Gary Martin says. “The first
citation of it that I’ve found in print is from an
Iowan college magazine, The Coe College
Cosmos.”
Perhaps the best rejoinder came in 2006
in the title of author Blaize Clement’s who-
done-it book, Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter!
In the plot, the cat sitter enter’s her friends
home to take care of a cat named Ghost. Finds
her friends lover drowned in the cat’s bowl
(only takes two ounces, you know). And the
cat inherits the fortune.
SMART PEOPLE 29
CREATING

EPA joins inter-agency effort to support

smarter growth and livable communities
In a long overdue move,
the U.S. EPA has formally
pledged to work in tandem
with the Department of
Transportation and the
Department of Housing and
Urban Development to help
American families gain better
access to affordable housing,
more transportation options,
and lower transportation costs,
according to an EPA statement.
In testimony before the
U.S. Senate, EPA Administrator
Lisa Jackson announced
her agency would join the
other two departments in an
unprecedented partnership to
Smart Growth America is a coalition of national,
state and local organizations working to improve
the ways we plan and build the towns, cities and
metro areas we call home.
The coalition includes many of the best-
known national organizations advocating on
behalf of historic preservation, the environment,
farmland and open space preservation,
neighborhood revitalization and more.
Our state- and regional-level members
are community-based organizations working
to save treasured landscapes while making our
towns and cities ever more livable and lovable.
The coalition believes that the American
people deserve healthy cities, towns and
suburbs; homes that are both affordable and
close to jobs and activities; fewer hours in traffic
and more opportunities to enjoy recreation
and natural areas; air and water of the highest
quality; and a landscape our children can be
proud to inherit. Ordinary citizens, they say,
deserve a much greater say and better options
in choosing their communities’ future.
Learn more at www.smartgrowthamerica.org/
address the deep connections
between where people live,
how much it costs, how we
get around, and the impact
those choices ultimately have
on the environment.
“Our new Partnership
for Sustainable Communities
recognizes the simple fact that
what each of our agencies do
is connected,” Jackson told the
Senate Banking, Finance and
Urban Affairs Committee.
“Where you live affects
how you get around, and how
you get around often affects
where you live.
“Both decisions
affect our environment.
Working together rather
than independently, our
three agencies can improve
the environment, the
transportation system, and
homes and communities
throughout the United States.”
“Government agencies
tend to focus exclusively on
their own issue areas,” said
Geoff Anderson, president
of Smart Growth America.
“But the issues of housing,
transportation and the
environment are so deeply
linked that any true solutions
will involve all three of these
agencies.
“Smart Growth America
is encouraged to see these
agencies working together to
solve problems rather than
trying to solve just their own
piece of the puzzle. These
goals will help all three
agencies in their partnership
to do the same thing SGA
is trying to do: make our
growth, development and
transportation fair, equitable,
environmentally sustainable
and affordable for all
Americans,” said Anderson.
Testimony from
Administrator Jackson outlines
the six overarching “principles
for livability” that will drive
this partnership, providing
a chance to measure their
success:
n Provide more
transportation choices.
Develop safe, reliable and
economical transportation
choices in order to decrease
household transportation
costs, reduce our nations’
dependence on foreign oil,
improve air quality, reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and
promote public health.
n Promote equitable,
affordable housing.
Expand location and energy
efficient housing choices for
people of all ages, incomes,
races and ethnicities to
increase mobility and lower
the combined cost of housing
and transportation.
n Increase economic
competitiveness.
Enhance economic
competitiveness through
reliable and timely access
to employment centers,
educational opportunities,
services and other basic
needs by workers as well as
expanded business access to
markets.
n Support existing
communities.
Target federal funding
toward existing communities
to increase community
revitalization, the efficiency of

30 SMART PEOPLE

public works investments and
safeguard rural landscapes.
n Leverage federal
investment.
Cooperatively align federal
policies and funding to remove
barriers, leverage funding and
increase the accountability and
effectiveness of all levels of
government to plan for future
growth.
n Value communities
and neighborhoods.
Enhance the unique
characteristics of all
communities by investing in
healthy, safe and walkable
neighborhoods – rural, urban
or suburban.
Administrator Jackson
pointed out in her testimony
that what DOT, HUD and
EPA are attempting is far
outside the usual Washington
playbook.
“By agreeing to work
together in partnership, our
three agencies have taken an
historic step,” she said.
“We have created a
framework that will guide the
cooperative development of
policies, regulations, spending
priorities, and legislative
proposals to help local, state
and tribal governments create
smarter, more livable, more
sustainable communities.
Smart Growth America
applauded the announcement
which extends a partnership
first started in March between
HUD and DOT.
It shows that the Obama
administration and these
appointed agency heads
understand that these issues
are inextricably connected,
according to Smart Growth
America.
CREATING
‘Solving Sprawl’
Stories of smart growth and a better America
The surest way for the United States to achieve greater energy independence
is through adopting smart growth policies that reduce suburban sprawl and
reduce our dependence on oil, according to a new book by a leading authority on
the American urban landscape.
Solving Sprawl: Models of Smart Growth from Communities Across America,
published by NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) in cooperation with
Island Press, looks at real-world examples of smart growth across the country.
Authors F. Kaid Benfield, Jutka Terris and Nancy Vorsanger lay bare a
common myth about sprawl – that the alternative is a halt to growth. As
Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening writes in the foreword to the book, growth
may be inevitable, but dumb growth is not.
Sprawl is all too familiar: megastores surrounded by acres of asphalt, cookie-
cutter subdivisions, traffic-clogged highways, and farmland turned into strip
malls. Poorly planned, land-hungry dumb growth eats up farms, meadows
and forests. It turns the landscape into wasteful, sterile office “parks” and
subdivisions that serve cars better than people.
Solving Sprawl tells the stories of communities that are growing and
developing without ravaging open spaces and depleting precious natural
resources. It offers a blueprint for concerned citizens, visionary architects,
developers and planners, elected officials and local governments struggling with
the problems caused by unrestrained growth.
The book looks at 35 communities – in cities to suburbs around the country
– that have followed the principles of smart growth to break the cycle of sprawl.
They are planning better, concentrating development where schools, roads
and sewer lines are already in place, and reinvesting in older communities
instead of abandoning them. They are placing homes near major transit stations
or within walking distance of shops, restaurants and offices. They are building
communities that help preserve natural, open spaces and that are more livable
and attractive than their sprawling counterparts.
Read it online: http://tinyurl.com/n9qd6o
SMART PEOPLE 31
CREATING
Monetizing your blog
Make sure passion is marketable and sell, sell, sell
High-profile, full-time professional blogger David Risley (who makes six figures annually
blogging) is interviewed by kid-blogger Carl Ocab (who banks five figures after school). If
you want to monetize your blog, listen up!
Interview by Carl (Kid-blogger) Ocab
Carl: How did you get started
blogging, David?
David: I started PCMech.com 10
years ago before blogging was
a word. I was running like a
blog even before there was
blogging software.
Carl: Hmm. That was before
the dot com crash.
David: Yes, and I was one of
the survivors of the crash.
I had sold PCMech to a dot
com company. Then the crash
came and the company began
to fail. It almost took my site
with it. That whole experience
drove me to selling my own
products and finding ways to
monetize using ads.
32 SMART PEOPLE
Carl: You mention on your The other research tool
Web site that you help people I use is Google’s key word
turn their passions into solid, search. Plug in a few key
profitable businesses. How can words for the market you’re
you tell if their passions are looking at and you can
profitable? actually see what topics are
attracting ads.
David: First, I can’t really help
people with their passions. Carl: What are the three top
That’s up to them. What I sources of traffic on PCMech?
really do is help them evaluate
the market. When people start
David: Google, Google and
Google. I don’t spend much
they’re like I was at first.
time on the social networks
I never gave marketability
except Facebook.
the slightest thought. After
having gone through it, I now Carl: Your PCMech market is
encourage people to make a pretty broad. How did you
list of topics they’re passionate stand out in the mix? And
about and then do some also, you were able to sell
market research to determine memberships. That’s cool.
which passion is actually
going to work. In some cases, David: First, when I started that
it may be a good topic to be site there weren’t as many tech
passionate about, but it isn’t blogs out there, but secondly
profitable. it was a matter of choosing a
particular sub niche within it.
Carl: What tools do you use to I decided not to get into doing
determine profitability? a bunch of hardware reviews
mainly because everybody
David: Amazon.com is a good does that. So I made a point to
one. Go there and look at the
target things that every day,
magazine section and see how
non-PC people care about.
often a magazine on your topic
is published. Carl: But, I guess people
If it’s monthly, that love to do hardware reviews
indicates there’s enough because they get a lot of free
activity to support it and stuff from companies.
people are giving them
advertising dollars. If they David: True. But if I ran a
only come out twice a year, review site I wouldn’t be
that tells you something. able to offer solutions to my
Also look at the pricing of the audience other than through
magazine. a review. I wanted more out

of my site, and I can’t pay my
bills with motherboards.
Carl: What if I said none of
my passions is profitable?
David: Well, the hard question
is “Do you really care?” There
are lots of people who just
blog for fun. And that’s fine.
On the other hand, a lot of
people get into the “making
money online” thing because
they want a good payday
– but they choose the wrong
topic. There is an intersecting
line between what is going
to work (extracting money)
and what you care enough
to write about. You’re going
to have to look for that
intersection.
Carl: Okay. Let’s say your
friend has a business and
he wants to start a blog.
What would you tell him to
concentrate on?
David: He should just say start
the thing. A lot of people
want it to be perfect before
they tell anybody about it and
it leads to this trap of never
getting off the ground. So my
best advice is to simply take
action.
I once heard a guy say
“don’t worry be crappy.” I
like the saying because it’s
catchy and kinda true. You
obviously don’t want to put
out crap but you don’t need
to be a perfectionist either.
So it’s just get the blog out
CREATING
there and start
doing some traffic
right away. And
start building a
mailing list. That’s
one of the big
mistakes I made
early on, I didn’t
start building a
list early enough.
Carl: You have
three blogs now.
How do you find
the time to write?
David: A lot of
the writing on
PCMech is not
done by me anymore. I have Carl: Your newest site is David
an employee who does a lot 3daymoney. Risley
of writing. And then I have a
couple of people I pay on a per
David: Yes, it’s a 16-module
course that shows motivated
post basis. So I don’t have to
bloggers exactly how to
write unless I feel like it. But
build a blog into a full-
on David Risley.com, I write
time business. And what’s
everything unless it’s a guest
different about this program
post.
is that it has a strong focus on
Carl: I see your blogging marketing, the art of building
income last year was around traffic and motivating the
$141,000. That’s great, man. audience.
Could you share the sources of
income?
Carl: This has been fun, David.
I’ve learned from it. Let’s stay
David: One of the things I tell in touch.
people is not to depend on
any one thing for your money.
David: Yes, and your best bet
is to contact me at my David
So I do have advertising and
Ridley site.
that includes two or three
different ad networks and one David Ridley is a geek, online
of them is AdSense. I do some entrepreneur, book author,
affiliate marketing and right consultant and technology
now a very big source (and I enthusiast. Over 10 years he has
think it is on equal footing and become an expert in the fields
beginning to pass advertising) of blogging, social media, online
is the membership program on marketing and traffic generation.
PCMech. Membership is great Web sites:
because recurring income is • www.davidrisley.com/
always good for a business. • www.pcmech.com/
And the other thing, especially • www.3daymoney.com
with the uncertain economy,
I just did not want to be
dependent on Bayer ads.
SMART PEOPLE 33
WORKING
WORKING Cash isn’t enough!
Rewards boost productivity, profitability, morale
When surveyed, employees consistently will ask for cash, but research shows that it is the
least effective form of recognition. How come?
By John Schaefer
Steve is a loyal employee who
enjoys his work, is productive
and reliable – the model
employee.
He is surprised when his
10-year service award package
offered him cash as an option.
It wasn’t like he couldn’t use
a few extra bucks, but the fact
that his employer was able to
put a price tag on 10 years of
his life left him feeling a little
cold and confused.
Why is it that when the
company offers the very thing
that employees seem to want,
it falls short of carrying the
important message – “We
care about you and are glad
you’re on our team”? Maybe it
JOHN SCHAEFER
34 SMART PEOPLE
has something to do with the
question? Asking employees
what they want tends to
imply you don’t know and
really don’t care all that much.
The moment they think
their employer is using
recognition more out of
obligation than desire, they
will emotionally disengage,
feel a bit insulted, and give
the answer they think the
boss wants to hear – “ . . . Aw,
what the heck, just give me a
gift card!”
It actually has to do a
lot more with perception
than logic. Employees want
so much to be genuinely
appreciated, that the minute
they’re given the smallest hint
they’re being manipulated
with carrots and sticks, the
organization loses.
It’s really just about doing
a few very basic things right
and in the correct order.
It requires training
supervisors to understand
some straightforward
principles, realize that it’s
to their personal benefit
to make recognition a
powerful management tool,
appeal to people’s natural
self-interests in a good way
and communicate more
effectively, so people believe
the gesture is meant.
Once honest emotional
engagement is achieved,
it is amazing how quickly
financial incentives can
go to another level of
measurable, bankable return
on investment that will have
everybody wanting more. It’s
an educational challenge that
too many companies ignore,
but are paying for over and
over again.
No one disagrees that
cash is important. However,
the data overwhelmingly
supports the fact that well-
designed incentives will out-
perform cash by more than
two to one, as well as carry far
lower tax consequences.
Supervisors will embrace
these tools when they
understand their value, see
what’s in it for them, and have
a clean, well-defined path to
run on.
A special gift valued at
one percent of an employee’s
salary, if done enthusiastically,
will generate love. But a
one bonus or raise and the
employee is looking at the
classifieds. Same dollars,
totally different result . . . it’s
all about perception!
Most companies use a
variety of disjointed programs
to recognize and reward their
people. Even if the programs
are working, it’s impossible
to determine the level of
participation and financial
return.
Imagine if an employer
orchestrated all of the tools
used to communicate with
employees so they could be
properly measured, kept
relevant to company goals and
supervisors knew the proper

way to implement them.
This would be an Umbrella
Recognition Strategy and the
benefits are numerous.
However, there can be
potential challenges involved
in transitioning to this
approach. Here are the three
steps management should be
willing to take to consider
implementing an Umbrella
Strategy:
n You need to have upper
management support.
Only then will you be able
to get all of the program
owners to open up and
provide the information
needed to analyze the
current situation and
begin to see opportunities
for improvement.
n Your team has to be
open to new ideas and
be willing to brainstorm
all viable options. One
of the few positives to
this current economic
downturn is that things
are on the table today that
would probably not be
open to discussion during
more robust financial
times.
n The goal of your
team needs to focus
on developing the
greatest ROI on your
recognition investments,
not protectionism or
departmental isolationism.
A macro view of the
situation, where everyone
is considering program
initiatives from a broad
perspective based on
company culture, mission
and long term objectives
is the secret to getting the
best overall program and
the ROI you deserve.
As you begin to evaluate
your current recognition
programs, you’ll be surprised
at both the amount of money
leaking out of the organization
in various ways and why
there may be inherent
confusion from the employees’
perspective.
We recommend a Four
Cornerstones approach:
n Communications: People
need to see where
they fit in the overall
scheme of things. Every
employee wants to
know the direction of
the organization and
the plan to get there.
Communication addresses
the “what to do” and
provides a professional,
well-organized theme.
n Training: Managers
need to know how
to give recognition
rather than just present
awards. Training focuses
on the “how to do”
and is an important
element to Performance
Improvement. Effective
training avoids your best
intentions being seen
as nothing more than
“throwing ‘em a bone.”
n Reinforcement:
Recognition is not an
event, it’s a process.
Employees need to “want
to,” but how do we
achieve this emotional
engagement? It’s done by
validating. Employees
must feel important and
appreciated when they go
the extra mile.
n Measurements: Things
that are measured tend to
improve. Measurements
address the “how are
we doing.” With the
vision and strategy in
WORKING
place, the objectives and
responsibilities of each
employee to support
the strategy must be
determined. This is
the most overlooked
part of performance
improvement programs,
because it requires
responsibility and can
often be uncomfortable.
Outstanding employees
want to be measured and
ineffective employees
want to remain invisible.
No one disagrees that
cash is important. The reality,
however, is that organizations
owe it to stockholders to
do what’s best with the
company’s money.
There’s a lot more to this
than just handing out awards
and gifts, but therein lies the
opportunity to turn accepted
expenses into significant
profits.
Companies that take on
the challenge of embracing
this new view of employee
engagement are seeing
impressive improvements
in productivity, profitability,
morale and teamwork along
with significant reductions
in turnover, recruiting and
safety related costs.
John Schaefer was a disillusioned
Industrial Engineer when
he set out to do something
about the frustration and
anxiety he witnessed in the
workplace. In 1989 he formed
his own recognition awards
company and later wrote
The Vocational Shrink-An
Analysis of the Ten Levels of
Workplace Disillusionment
(1995). Web site: www.
schaeferrecognitiongroup.com/
SMART PEOPLE 35
WORKING

The equity factor at work

By Carol Kinsey Goman A close look at the
psychology of relationships
Let’s play a game. Here are the reveals that most individuals
rules: We’ll be asked to split a automatically attempt to keep
sum of money. I get to make a mental balance between
the split and you get to choose what they contribute to a
whether to accept or reject the relationship and what they get
split. And if you reject it, both back from it.
of us will walk away empty- When employees believe
handed. they are putting more into
Rationally, their company than they
I should realize are getting back, or when
my advantage they do not perceive the
and offer a rewards distribution to be
lopsided split equitable, engagement slips
in my favor dramatically.
and you should When employees look for
accept the balance through equitable
treatment, it is their perception
uneven split
of the treatment, rather than
. . . because
the treatment itself, that
any amount of
defines reality.
money is better
than nothing. I once interviewed
Right? employees at a public
Wrong. utility where workers were
If we’re like negotiating a two-percent
everyone else raise that management was
who plays the resisting.
game, we’ll At that same time, the
end up with an fleet of corporate vans was
even split. being repainted. Instead of
Here’s why viewing this as a necessary
. . . While the expense, the employees’
fairness of the split shouldn’t perception was that it was
logically affect the second unfair of the company to
player’s decision, it nearly spend money on vehicles
always does. while it argued about a salary
If offered a lopsided split, increase with employees:
the second player will reject “How dare they throw money
the deal, and neither player at those trucks and then
will get any money. So most quibble about a lousy two-
people end up offering a percent raise!”
fifty-fifty split to the second The CEO of a chemical
person. manufacturing company
That’s the power of what put it this way: “As a leader
I call “the equity factor.” And you must make it a routine
it has everything to do with part of your decision-making
leadership in turbulent times. process to ask the question:
Will this action be perceived as
equitable?”
As companies downsize,
restructure and refocus,
employees are asked to do
more and work harder. And
they have, on the whole.
But their resentment is
most frequently seen in
their reaction to executive
compensation.
Big disparities in pay
between executives and the
work force, especially in times
of downsizing and plant
closures, can destroy employee
engagement . . . just when it is
most needed.
Here’s how one employee
sees it: “The biggest budget
cuts were employee-focused.
They eliminated all our
merit increases, rewards and
recognition programs. And
then the top management got
bonuses. I used to be a ‘gung-
ho’ employee. Now I think my
loyalty has been misplaced “
The issue here goes
beyond compensation . . . and
right to the heart of the equity
factor.
Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD, is
an author and keynote speaker
who addresses association,
government, and business
audiences around the world. Her
latest book and program topic
is The Nonverbal Advantage
– Secrets and Science of Body
Language at Work. For more
information, contact Carol by
phone: 510.526.1727, email:
CGoman@CKG.com, or through
her Web sites: www.CKG.com
and www.NonverbalAdvantage.
com.

36 SMART PEOPLE

In defense of generalists
By Larry Borsato
An old math joke goes like
this – There are two groups
of people in the world: those
who believe the world can be
divided into two groups of
people, and those who don’t.
OK, I didn’t say it was
a good joke. But it’s a way
to introduce an observation
I have about the working
world.
In it, I see two groups
of people: specialists, the
people who have a very deep
knowledge of their particular
subject areas, and generalists,
people who have adequate
knowledge in a number of
areas.
I’m a generalist. I’ve
been a software developer,
an IT manager, a director
of marketing, a salesman, a
product manager. I’ve been
reasonably good at each task,
and very good at some.
Wearing many hats
There are particular
situations well-tailored for
generalists, while others
require specialists.
In the very early days
of a startup, generalists are
preferred as they can wear
many hats and accomplish
the diverse kinds of tasks that
come up in that environment.
Companies that have evolved
past the startup stage – small,
medium and even large
businesses – tend to require
specialists who excel at
handling specific tasks.
The preference for
specialists in larger
companies means that
skilled generalists are often
overlooked. However, in the
software development field,
specialization may not matter
all that much. Jeff Atwood of
Coding Horror had this to say
about the supposed value of
specialist experience:
“It’s been shown time
and time again that there is
no correlation between years
of experience and skill in
programming. After about
six to twelve months working
in any particular technology
stack, you either get it or you
don’t. No matter how many
years of ‘experience’ another
programmer has under their
belt, there’s about even odds
that they have no idea what
they’re doing.”
Ridiculous requirements
We’ve all heard of
ridiculous experience
requirements in the
workplace. Some might even
call them prejudices.
I have been coding for
30 years using a variety of
languages and platforms,
including C++, Java and PHP.
I’ve never “specialized” in
any of them, but use them
as necessary, and can easily
learn new technologies as
they arise.
Another issue that
employers fail to understand
is that specialists may come
into job situations with other
WORKING
baggage. As noted in Dr.
Dobb’s Journal [www.ddj.
com]: “Specialists often have
difficulties working with
others: Either they lack the
humility to recognize that
other people have something
of value to offer, or they are
so narrowly focused that they
may not realize that their
work may cause someone else
to do significant rework later
on.”
I am not trying to suggest
that generalists are always
best. If you are building
banking software or you are
launching a space shuttle –
where well-defined processes
are essentially repeated over
and over in the building of
the software – then specialists
may be preferred.
However, in the Web 2.0
world – where new products
and APIs are introduced
seemingly every other week
– specialization loses its allure.
Six months of experience on a
particular platform might turn
a generalist into a de facto
specialist.
Larry Borsato has over three
decades of experience as a
software developer, marketer,
consultant, public speaker,
and entrepreneur. He follows
and frequently comments on
technology and related subjects
and loves to spot trends. Web site:
www.larryborsato.com
SMART PEOPLE 37
WORKING
Comedy Club at work:
Get serious about laughter
By Elaine Ambrose
Did you hear the joke about
the priest, the prostitute and
the politician who walked into
the employee break room?
Probably not. While there
is a time and a place for jokes,
it’s a bad idea to attempt to
be funny at work with stories
featuring religion, sexuality or
politics.
However, a well-timed
anecdote about the befuddled
customer who forgot his
address can be the perfect
icebreaker to dispel tension in
a serious staff meeting.
While timing should be
considered, experts agree that
laughter in the workplace can
be a real asset to profitability
and productivity.
After 30 years of working
in the super-serious,
chuckle-challenged
business world, I
know there is one
essential truth:
A sense of
humor will
save your job
and probably
your life.
My wicked and
warped sense of
humor
38 SMART PEOPLE
proved to be my best asset in
times of terrible trouble.
Harmless humorous
antics in the workplace are
now encouraged by many
corporations, including
General Electric, IBM and
AT&T.
Companies of all sizes,
services and products are
adhering to a philosophy that
advocates humor programs
to improve morale, relieve
stress, build camaraderie and
positively impact the bottom
line.
In an attempt to turn
the office into a comedy
club, businesses are
hiring professional humor
consultants who encourage
employees to lighten up and
get serious about laughing.
Modern medical experts
agree with the ancient
admonition that “Laughter is
the best medicine.”
A hearty belly laugh
can lower blood pressure.
Laughter exercises the lungs,
pumps more oxygen into the
bloodstream, and activates
endorphins that make people
feel good.
We were born with the
ability to communicate
with our emotions and
that includes laughing and
smiling. Yet it’s sobering to
know that young children
laugh or smile more than 400
times a day while adults are
lucky to muster up a few daily
chuckles. Kids shouldn’t be
having all the fun.
It’s important to know
that humor has a proper time
and place. You don’t want to
become known as the joke
of the company because of
tasteless and silly behavior.
Before you start wearing a
clown nose to work every day,
there are some guidelines to
remember.
Know your audience
Knowing your audience is
the first and most important
aspect of using humor at work.
First, don’t use humor
to insult or offend anyone.
Among friends, it may be
common to gang up on
one friend, joking about an
embarrassing memory or
funny comment, but that
is certainly not appropriate
among co-workers.
Also, don’t even think
about jokes or anecdotes that
include sexuality, religion,
politics, ethnic background,
or someone’s personal
appearance.
It’s a good idea to avoid
gross stuff as well, as the office
is not the place for stories that
include bodily functions.
During a briefing of a
company’s new health plan,
the male facilitator joked that
mammograms would now
be conducted at Hooters. The
men laughed. The women
threatened to sue.
Be sure to laugh at yourself
People enjoy self-
depreciating humor that’s not
too pathetic.
A middle-age speaker can
win her audience by joking
about her age.

For example, “I turned
50 years old and decided it
was finally time to travel and
see the world. Unfortunately,
many of the historical sites
are younger than I am (pause
for smiles).”
Or, “I try to wear those
tailored business suits, but
every time I suck in my
gut, my ankles swell.” As a
warning, don’t go overboard
on the self-depreciation or
they’ll start to agree that, yes,
you are a loser.
Include company anecdotes
It’s always a good idea
to joke about the things
employees can relate to,
including stories about
products, competitors,
difficult customers and
production goals.
Remember, a joke about
a co-worker from a different
department is not acceptable.
However, there are a few
occasions that you can
incorporate personal stories
about an employee.
While you would never
comment on a worker’s
weight gain, you could
compliment someone who
has lost a significant amount.
“Look at Roger. He’s our
shinning positive example of
corporate downsizing!”
Use humor to diffuse tension
The workplace can be a
very stressful environment!
Humor is a great way to
diffuse a high-tension
situation and reduce potential
personnel problems.
Companies often go
through times of high stress,
especially if quotas are
increased and sales are down.
You could start a presentation
WORKING
with a mock exaggeration. Elaine Ambrose
“The light at the end of the left the family
tunnel has been turned off potato farm
due to budget constraints.” in Idaho to
However, avoid the become a
temptation to criticize the television
boss during times of news reporter,
tension. One employee university
actually told this
executive,
joke during a heated
bank officer,
meeting: “James is
corporate
a seagull manager.
He flies in, makes a manager,
lot of noise, dumps magazine editor,
crap everywhere, motivational
and then leaves.” speaker – and
The employee who then there’s the
made the joke was domestic stuff.
encouraged to take Now author of
his humor to a Menopause
different job. Sucks. Web
site: http://
Remember . . . there Companies that incorporate tinyurl.com/
is still work to do humor into the workplace mwjubj. Blog:
While everyone deserves experience a notable decrease http://tinyurl.
his or her daily dose of humor, in staff turnover and
com/ntt8wc
it’s important to remember absenteeism.
that you’re paid to do a job, not
to be the class clown. Humor consultants
A few daily laughs will You can find more
make the workload better for information about humor in
everyone, but don’t let jokes the workplace by researching
distract you from your work. online for related books and
Also, avoid emailing jokes articles.
on company time and on Preview national speakers
company equipment . . . that’s bureaus and speakers
not in your job description. associations to find someone
For example, an employee suitable for your organization
sent out a blanket email that or business.
stated, “Can I trade my job for Contact recommended
what’s behind Door #2?” facilitators and inquire about
Unfortunately, he their costs and programs.
inadvertently included his Then schedule a regular
boss in the email distribution. humor session for your office
The boss returned the and enjoy the rewards of
following email. “Yes you can. working with happy people.
Door #2 is the Unemployment That’s so much better than
Line. Good luck.” working with crabby, stressed-
The latest business studies out employees who wouldn’t
indicate there is room in know a punch line if it hit
the office for both a work them on the funny bone.
ethic and a sense of humor.
SMART PEOPLE 39
KNOWLEDGE FACTOR
KM Six Pack #3
THE K FACTOR Technology: Not the solution, but essential support system
This is the third in a series of six articles introducing newly engaged employees and managers
to the basics of knowledge-based enterprise.
By Jerry Ash
Although often technology
is mistakenly characterized
as a knowledge management
delivery system, it can be
given credit for inspiring
the move toward knowledge
management and IT remains
KM’s most important support
system.
The era of information
and knowledge has
irreversibly changed human
culture. The Internet and
other forms of personal
communication have laid the
foundations of a new order.
People who were once
content to be led are now
less likely to blindly follow.
Patients enter their doctors’
offices already having
researched their symptoms
and they make decisions
about their own care based
on what they know, not just
what their doctors tell them.
Shoppers go online not
just to buy but to learn all
they can from every point
of view; they depend much
less on what the salesman
advises. In many cases, the
customer knows more – or
better.
Doing business with
the government is as close
as the desktop, allowing
citizens to take charge of
their own affairs, bypassing
intermediaries who have
“government connections.”
The tech effect is ubiquitous.
The impact of technology
on society is both in the
40 SMART PEOPLE
marketplace and the
workplace. People not only
thrive on the responsibility
of personal initiative and
decision-making, they expect
it.
When they go to work,
they are looking for the
technology and human
environment that will draw
on what they know as well as
what they do.
However, too few find the
right tools to support their
natural instincts to learn,
collaborate, innovate and
make the front-line decisions
needed in a fast-paced world.
In the early days the systems
were often built before the
social structure of KM was
established.
“Networks” were
based on electronics, not
humans. The fatal mistake,
as in all technology, was
offering a solution without
understanding the need or
fixing the “wetware” (the
brain component) first.
While technology is a
necessary support system
for KM, connected human
networks are necessary
for the effectiveness of
technology.
KM needs to be built
– or rebuilt – in the right
order: first establishing
a knowledge sharing
environment; then creating
and/or nurturing existing
human networks; and finally,
connecting or installing the
technology that fits the way
people work.
Unimaginable billions
of dollars were wasted in
the ‘80s and ‘90s on the
installation of data and
information dumps with
little attention to the creation
of social processes to not
only access, but activate, the
material stored.
Soon, it was known as
“information glut” and the
warehouses were gathering
electronic dust.
KM thought leaders and
practitioners still think of
technology salesmen as “the
enemy,” but the days of “IT
technology in KM clothing”
are generally past.
KM people still struggle
to separate KM from
data management and
information technology but
the savvy are beginning
to accept that data and
information are important
segments of a knowledge
management system.
Tech-based companies
now support the notion
that the human side of
knowledge management is
critical to the success of data
and information programs.
Subscribers can find KM
Six Pack #1 and 2 in the
May and July issues [www.
smartpeoplemagazine.com].
Next up: Not managing but
engaging knowledge.
 Economic crunch
affecting your people?
Is doing more with less
stressing them out?
Do something for them
and the company.
Co-brand Smart People magazine
and make it available to everyone –
employees, suppliers, even customers.
It’s one cool tool that reaches out
to the digitally connected
to transfer their passions for social
networking, online learning and
research from the outside-in.
Results: Less stress.
Happier, more creative
and collaborative workers.
And higher productivity
to offset the lean years.

for
everyone
Contact Smart People publisher, Jerry Ash
smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com
for details. Or call him: 813.335.1355
 If you believe in Smart People, raise your hand!
The people behind this magazine are the vanguard of a volunteer
community intent on helping people leverage the knowledge
and networking power of the Internet to make living, learning, choosing,
creating and working better for all of us. It is an enormous task
we undertake and we need you.
Marketing professionals • Social
networkers • Community leaders •
Prosumers • Writers • Subject
Experts • Collaborators • Partners •
Affiliates • Communicators •
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Leaders • Activists •
– and just plain ordinary smart people

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P.S. As in all sharing, you will get more

than you give by being a part of this grand
project – if you value the learning, growing
and experience to be gained here.