Practical wisdom - doing the right thing, at the right time - has dimensions (e.g. moment of making a decision, active parts of the brain and (un)consciousness). Malcolm Gladwell gives us some insight into the power of making a right decision, an ability everyone has, in Blink. He not only argues the power of blink, trusting on your insights, snap judgements (that take place behind a locked door: the unconscious) and your gut feelings, but also explains errors of this. Some solutions can only be found in a blink of a moment. "Taking our powers of rapid cognition seriously means we have to acknowledge the subtle influences that can alter or undermine or bias the products of our unconscious." In this way, according to Malcolm, if you take charge for the first two seconds, you can see someone for who they really are...

The importance of EQ & Wisdome in New Business

To add up to the story about left brain / right brain, I found this nice TED movie about the importance of different elements regarding to the EQ of people: improvising, social meaning, inspiration, wisdome, breaking the rules are tags for this movie. Enjoy.

Why whole-brainers will rule the world

In popular research the distinction between different functions of the left part and right part of the brains is very common and known. (for example this book). It is argued creativity is something that is located on the right side of the brains, and straight-forward thinking is located on the left side.

However, just to relate to this matter from another perspective Peter Weiler states in his book Mindmapping (ISBN: 978-90-438-0832-3), that it is absolute nonsense that creativity is located in the right part of the brains. Two parts of the brain indeed have different capabilities. This concerns at the left side for example speech and at the right side the capability to understand a situation as a whole. For the Dutch people, this article states the same.

As a result, is is not about which side of the brain is dominant but in what way the parts work together. If the brain were not functioning as a holistic part, humor would be impossible to understand and long texts would be impossible to understand since this is a result of both parts of the brain. Therefore, if you decide to only use 50 percent of your brains, thats fine. But very likely whole-brainers will rule the world.

Favela rising

Last weekend i saw this documentary on one of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and how the corrupt police and drug dealers were taking over and causing violence and killings. The documentary is about one man who decides to turn the situation around and with the help of music, start a social project in the slums. It is very inspirational documentary and shows that all it takes is a few guys, an idea and a strong belief in the idea to improve the situation. And look out for the good metaphore at the end! The website of the documentary is http://www.favelarising.com/ and maybe you can also find it in youtube or google videos...otherwise just buy it! :) Enjoy!

Oh happy days!

Lots of people will be very happy today. According to British psychologist Cliff Arnall, June 19 is the happiest day of 2009.
The scientist created a formula which includes several elements that influence the mood of people.

According to Arnall, the Friday that is closest to the start of the summer is the day that most people are typically happy. It is almost weekend and people realise that their holidays are on its way.

Enjoy!

(source: www.nu.nl)

The world's first and only web-community owned football club

Ebbsfleet United is a football club located in England, owned by its members.

Quoted from the website:

"Situated in Kent, England, Ebbsfleet United play in the Blue Square Premier, which is four divisions below the Premiership.

In February 2008, the members purchased the football club for £600,000. Just three months later, Ebbsfleet United won the FA Trophy at Wembley – the club’s greatest achievement in a history that dates back to 1890."

Imagineering student wins T-mobile battle

Hereby I can proudly say that I won the T-mobile battle at battleofconcepts.nl. Their question was: "How can we positively influence the perception of waiting time in the T-mobile shops".

A total of 129 concepts were sent in. The T-mobile jury was very enthusiastic, and rewarded my concept with the first prize and an amount of 1500 euro. The concept is now under consideration within T-mobile to see how they can make it operational. The company does not yet want to reveal anything about what the concept entitles...so I will not either. This achievement ensured me with a 34th place in the category students and Young Professionals. My victory contributed to NHTV Breda’s rising to 8th place in the ranking of Universities (of applied sciences). NHTV is currently represented in the Battle of Concepts by as many as 12 students.


What is Battle of Concepts?

Battle of Concepts is a crowd sourcing platform to which institutions and companies can introduce issues that will be resolved by students and Young Professionals (bachelors and masters up to age 30). This platform makes it possible for companies to generate the most innovative ideas and to get in touch with the people behind them. Contestants have the opportunity to win money and to be discovered by the participating companies. With a Talent Pool of 4000 members, Battle of Concepts is the largest brainstorming institution in the Netherlands. Participating companies are (a.o). Rabobank, Nuon, TNT, Mars, Dutch national and local authorities, TNO, Nationale-Nederlanden en Prorail. These companies have already made almost 300.000 euro available in prize money.

For more information...Battle of Concepts