When Brotherly Bonds Become "Brotherly" Bombs

I suscribe to the Freakonomics Podcast and every once in a while an episode comes along which fascinates me so much that I feel the need to share it. That's what I'm doing this week with "Running to Do Evil", an episode about the relationship between brothers, inspired in part by the Boston Marathon bombers and a 14-year old interview with... well, I'll let you find out for yourself.

The Pursuit of Happy... eh, Mastery

Merriam-Webster calls it the "possession or display of great skill or technique." The dictionary on my computer says it's the "comprehensive knowledge or skill in a particular subject or activity." And Daniel H. Pink, in his bestselling book Drive. The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us defines it as "the desire to get better and better at something that matters." According to him it is the second (the first was autonomy) vital element of intrinsically motivated behavior: mastery.

In other words, if you want someone to be motivated about a task or a job, give them a chance to get better and better and better at it. Pursuing perfection, you might call it. But is that really such an important attitude to have? Pink is convinced it is:

Solving complex problems requires an inquiring mind and the willingness to experiment one's way to a fresh solution. Where Motivation 2.0 sought compliance, Motivation 3.0 seeks engagement. Only engagement can produce mastery. And the pursuit of mastery, an important but often dormant part of our third drive, has become essential in making one's way in today's economy. (p. 111)

More On The Hiring of Smokers

Since I recently posted about an article regarding the hiring of smokers, I thought I'd add the (very short) Freakonomics Podcast episode that tackles the same subject. Fun fact: Seventh-Day Adventists are mentioned.

Teaching in the 21st Century

I recently came across an article by Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times (online edition) that caught my eye. The title: "Need a Job? Invent It". The content: mainly about education (schools) and intrinsic motivation. So naturally I was curious.

For the most part, Friedman quotes Harvard education specialist Tony Wagner, who has written a book entitled Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World. This is what Friedman writes about his main argument: "...the goal of education today, argues Wagner, should not be to make every child 'college ready' but 'innovation ready' -- ready to add value to whatever they do."

What does he mean by that? Friedman wondered the same and asked. I particularly find the parts I highlighted in bold interesting. These are Wagner's words:

"Spiritual Smokers" In The Church?

A recent article on health care organizations refusing to employ smokers got me thinking about how we sometimes refuse to "employ" people that have committed certain sins ("spiritual smokers") in our churches. In The Ethics of Not Hiring Smokers, Harald Schmidt, Kristin Voigt and Ezekiel J. Emanuel argue that the whole point of health care organizations is to care for those with health problems.

...it seems paradoxical for health care organizations that exist to care for the sick to refuse to employ smokers. [...] It is callous -- and contradictory -- for health care institutions devoted to caring for patients regardless of the causes of their illness to refuse to employ smokers.

Doing It Your Way

According to the dictionary on my Macbook, autonomous means "having the freedom to act independently." Synonyms include self-governing, independent, sovereign, free, self-ruling and self-determining. For most of us, those are words that we associate with positive emotions. So I think it's safe to say that we like to have autonomy in our lives. And according to Daniel Pink in his book Drive. The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, it is a vital component to being motivated and successful at the workplace.

Blessed Are The Givers

Adam Grant likes to help people. He's a professor at the Wharton School and author of the new book Give and Take. A Revolutionary Approach To Success. And according to him, helping other people is the best thing you can do, if you want to be productive and successful in life. I recently came across an article on Grant written by Susan Dominus in the New York Times that is well worth the read (even though it's quite long). Below are just a few highlights:

"Grant might not seem so different from any number of accessible and devoted professors on any number of campuses, and yet when you witness over time the sheer volume of Grant's commitments, and the way in which he is able to follow through on all of them, you start to sense that something profoundly different is at work. Helpfulness is Grant's credo."