Category: Career in the Collaborative Age

How the French School System Develops the Feeling of Unworthiness in students

Following up on the previous post ‘How to Respond When You Feel Unworthy‘ I would like to share with my French readers how it is becoming increasingly obvious to me that the French school system specifically develops the feeling of unworthiness in students.

In particular in competitive classes like ‘Preparatory Classes’ for major schools or in elitist high schools, teachers tend to try to motivate students by telling them they are no good, much less clever than the previous class, that they have no change of ever succeeding etc.

This behavior has many consequences: those who survive the treatment self-select themselves, and this fosters the feeling of unworthiness in students which will follow them up all their life.

In many other countries, even in competitive classes, teachers generally seem to tend to be more supportive of students, and encourage their successes.

I would maybe even suggest that this behavior in France has some substantial long-term consequences on the psyche of the elite students which form after some time the country’s elite.

I am not quite sure about the reason for this behavior but it is becoming now quite obvious to me, having been living abroad and having now children than enter those competitive classes. Maybe we should try to change this, in particular in view of the changes in the world surrounding us!

Share

How Low Expectations Is The Secret to Happiness

In the excellent TED talk by Barry Schwartz about the Paradox of Choice, he reminds us that modern society and the large choice in everything is increasing substantially our expectations, creating unhappiness (and depression) as a result. And there he reminds us that “the secret to happiness is: low expectations“.

As he exposes from the historical perspective, “The reason that everything was better back when everything was worse is that when everything was worse, it was actually possible for people to have experiences that were a pleasant surprise. Nowadays, the world we live in — we affluent, industrialized citizens, with perfection the expectation — the best you can ever hope for is that stuff is as good as you expect it to be. You will never be pleasantly surprised, because your expectations, my expectations, have gone through the roof.“

This wise thought about expectations is worse remembering from time to time. As I meet sometimes people who always want more, I wonder whether I should remind them that having little expectation is the key to wonder, amazement and finally happiness.

Share

How Innovation Cycles Became More Frequent Than Generation Cycles

I recently read an analysis of the current issue facing our societies which I found interesting: the fact that in recent times, the innovation cycles have become shorter than the typical 25-30 years generation renewal cycle.

Accelerating innovation cycles since 2 centuries

We know that it can be difficult for a generation to accept new ideas and concepts and that it often takes a generational renewal to transform beliefs and usage (by the way this effect is particularly important in scientific, academical and research circles).

With innovation cycles now becoming shorter than a typical generational cycle, we raise the challenge of people having to transform their worldview, way of working and usage of technology within their own generation. And it is clear that our society is not particularly well prepared for that challenge: for example, the lack of adult education and the fact that studies are generally uniquely undergone in younger years.

I like the idea to consider this observation as a potential root cause of many tensions and issues we observe in our current society. It is powerful enough to create a lot of good questions about the need to support current generations through a workplace and social transformation that will create 2 or 3 major transitions through their adult life.

Share

How Deadly Powerpoint Can Be in Reality

In a previous post ‘How Memos Are More Powerful Than Powerpoints to Structure Thoughts‘ I argued against Powerpoint as a way to develop adequate content. In this excellent post ‘Death by PowerPoint: the slide that killed seven people‘, an actual example of a deadly powerpoint slide is exposed: an engineers’ slide during the analysis of the incident on the Columbia space shuttle launch that eventually lead to the loss of the spaceship upon re-entry.

In this example, the content of the slide is accurate, but the way it is presented, highlighting the wrong part of the content, may have led to take the wrong decision. The actual technical argument (the event that happened was way beyond any test or simulation and thus, available data points could not be used) was hidden in small font at the back of the slide. Again, a well argued technical note would possibly have led to structure it differently and more time could have been taken to review evidence (read the full post, it is extremely enlightening).

Another take away from this post if of course, that the way information is presented on the slide is also essential in the meaning that is conveyed, and that may people probably don’t read beyond the title!

I recently had another argument about the usage of powerpoints, this time for preparation of consulting commercial proposals. Again, I find that in that case where it is all about building a compelling story, powerpoint is not the most adequate mean. At best a shortcut.

As any tool, Powerpoint takes skill to use it properly and in the right situations. And we have not learnt enough that other tools can be used more effectively in many instances. I think I may start a crusade against the usage of Powerpoint as a cognitive shortcut in any situation!

Share

How the Dunning-Kruger Effect or Illusory Competence Impacts Organisations

I knew about it and observe it regularly, but it did not know it had a name: the Dunning-Kruger effect. It is basically the illusion of being competent when one is not. This is specifically applicable when someone starts to learn in a new field.

The Dunning-Kruger effect or “the cognitive bias of illusory superiority” would stem from “an internal illusion in people of low ability and from an external misperception in people of high ability“. What is quite amazing is that apparently this cognitive bias has only been formally described and documented in 1999!

The funny part of course is that “The identification derived from the cognitive bias evident in the criminal case of McArthur Wheeler, who robbed banks while his face was covered with lemon juice, which he believed would make it invisible to the surveillance cameras.”

More seriously, this illusion has daily unfortunate consequences in organisations, and I have observed also that the education system of some countries tends to increase prevalence.

At least the next time you encounter this symptom you’ll be able to put name on it!

Share

How the New Service Platforms Bring More Self-Respect Into Service

In this opinion post ‘The Servant Economy‘, a few interesting discussion points are raised about the transformation of the service economy brought by the intermediation platforms such as Uber, delivery companies etc. Those are around since about a decade, so it might be time to take stock of the changes they brought.

Old fashioned servants

Can we describe what happened by the “unkind summary […]: venture capitalists have subsidized the creation of platforms for low-paying work that deliver on-demand servant services to rich people, while subjecting all parties to increased surveillance“? There is some substance in this description, but I am not so sure it describes it all.

While of course those platforms have created a gig economy and no “real jobs” they have also provided substantial opportunities to many people, making them free agents instead of having them subject to the arbitrary will of bosses and employers. They have created more self-respect for more people. Some may be struggling with this, but I believe it is a fact.

The post also asks what is really the value added by those new services. “Looking at this incredible flurry of funding and activity, it’s worth asking: These companies have done so much—upended labor markets, changed industries, rewritten the definition of a job—and for what, exactly? Now you can do stuff that you could already do before, but you can do it with your phone“. And of course most of those companies are not profitable and rather consume huge amounts of capital. Still they do provide services that were difficult to access, and have transformed the personal transformation industry across many countries. I am using the global nature of those applications on quite regular basis to resolve local transportation issues when I am travelling.

I would thus not be so pessimistic about the changes brought by the new service platforms. They bring change, and I also believe that they have the potential to bring more self-respect of the independent agents that they bring together.

Share

How to Work for making a Statement in the World

Following up on the post ‘How Dangerous It Is to Define One’s Identity by Work: Workism‘, I found this interesting counterpoint from Mitch Joel: ‘Loving The Work That You Do‘. He reacts to the Atlantic article about workism. As we spend a lot of our time actually working, it is best to make it for some purpose, to make a statement in the world!

“The article in The Atlantic isn’t taking a shot at anybody who is engaged, in love and passion about their job. The Atlantic is just questioning how hard we are all working, what we’re working for and – maybe – if we’re letting our work define our life’s purpose much more than we should.”

“Why work eight-plus hours a day (and be away from your family and friends) if it’s just a job? Why do all of that heavy lifting if you don’t love it, when you could be with your family (or practicing a music instrument, or doing art, or… you get the idea)? What is the point of working if it doesn’t make a statement?”

Let’s work to make a statement. I find this expression quite magic. Make a dent in the world, make a statement.

Share

How Dangerous It Is to Define One’s Identity by Work: Workism

Following up from our previous post ‘How the Balance of Work Time Between Rich and Poor has Dramatically Changed‘, this excellent Atlantic article highlights concerns about workism: ‘Workism Is Making Americans Miserable‘. Workism is about work becoming an identity and pervading all aspects of our lives, becoming an obsession.

“The economists of the early 20th century did not foresee that work might evolve from a means of material production to a means of identity production. They failed to anticipate that, for the poor and middle class, work would remain a necessity; but for the college-educated elite, it would morph into a kind of religion, promising identity, transcendence, and community. Call it workism.”

Specific american aspects are quoted in the post – with which I do not agree totally: in my travels to the US I have observed that while american engineers don’t take holidays, their working day is generally shorter and ends on a fixed time, which may not be the case in other countries.

Nevertheless, the issue of work having become a means to personal identity is an important issue; and the article also develops the case of millennials trapped in student debt exhausting themselves at work. Advice like finding your passion to justify long hours at work may be subject to caution.

In any case it is certain that if work is your only identity, you face a problem, because you may get retrenched or face a substantial issue some day. In that case it is better to have one’s identity defined in a more robust way.

Share

How the Balance of Work Time Between Rich and Poor has Dramatically Changed

In previous centuries and roughly until the mid XXth century, the few rich were idle, bored, and enjoying sports and other ways to spend time; and the poor worked extra long hours in dire conditions just to survive. It is amazing how this has changed – nowadays it is almost the reverse: the upper middle class and rich people generally work intensely, while the working class has on average more leisure, or at least more time away from formal work.

Early 20th century leisure: a tea party

Although this might be changing with the gig economy regarding the working class, with working hours going up again for some categories, the amazing observation is more for the wealthy part of the population, which is generally working very intensely nowadays – with the potential exception of some super-rich billionaires.

Wealthy and upper-middle-class persons are nowadays most often very highly paid and very highly busy professionals, with little time availability for leisure – even more so when family requirements take up the precious remaining time. Of course this has significantly changed from previous times where wealth was often primarily derived from mariage and inheritance.

This trend for the wealthy to work even more is now being called by some “workism” as a psychological or even almost religious need to work a substantial part of the time, as part of personal values or education.

This trend seems to reinforce itself with the Fourth Revolution, which is in strong need of highly educated engineers, and which is at the same time automatizing manual labor tasks. The wealthy educated will work more, be more constantly on line, while the less educated will have more time for themselves.

Amazing how in less then a century, the balance of work has shifted!

Share

How Writers’ Income Sources Are Changing

In this excellent New-York Times article ‘Does It Pay to Be a Writer?‘, the problem of writer compensation is analyzed in depth. There is a significant shift in writers’ compensation patterns at work over the last decades and faster even in the last few years.

There are less opportunities to write for a living – “Writing for magazines and newspapers was once a solid source of additional income for professional writers, but the decline in freelance journalism and pay has meant less opportunity for authors to write for pay.”

And those opportunities pay much less: “In the 20th century, a good literary writer could earn a middle-class living just writing,” said Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild, citing William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and John Cheever. Now, most writers need to supplement their income with speaking engagements or teaching. Strictly book-related income — which is to say royalties and advances — are also down, almost 30 percent for full-time writers since 2009.” A survey in the US is also quoted showing the median compensation for writers to have fallen by 40% in a few years.

Writing has thus become more of a commodity. On the other hand we also need to relativise the statement that writer wan’t make a living – historically most writers have had to supplement income with other activities, except for those writing bestsellers or being famous for some other reason. Still, income gets lower for pure writing in the gig economy and one century ago it was possible to make a decent living just writing some pieces for newspaper, which is not any more the case today.

This reinforces the observation that writing today must be part of a global package of activity – some will be journalists, professional speakers, consultants, other professionals for which writing is a way to communicate to part of the public and spread their message.

Share

How Bounding Back is More Important than Failing

I like this quote: “It is not how far you fall, but how high you bounce, that counts“. Attribution is controversial, but it remains quite relevant.

Increasingly I find that the behavior in front of adversity is what counts. It is all too easy to appear to do the right thing when events and luck provide success. And sometimes it is just luck but we still believe it is our skills.

Being able to recover from failure in a constructive way and fight back is what really makes the difference. And sometimes it is better to hire people who have struggled and maybe even failed, because it is far more instructive on ourselves and on how to do things right than just to coast through success.

I am not saying we should intend to fail, but that what’s really makes the difference is how we react in front of adversity.

Share

How Virtual Creatures Invade Our Connections and our World

Virtual creatures start to be everywhere in our environment: major instagram influencers are hired by leading brands that are in fact virtual, virtual news anchor presenters appear. Maybe your next connection on your preferred social network will be virtual? Tough times for starlets, like exposed in this post ‘Brands Are Creating Virtual Influencers, Which Could Make the Kardashians a Thing of the Past‘.

Lilmiquela, a famous virtual Instagram influencer

Virtual creatures may look safer and more docile: no risk of personal crisis and unprofessional behaviors outside the screen, and full control of the behavior on screen. They can be made as attractive as needed, and may be fully adapted to the audience – many of those virtual influencers are colored.

At the same time of course we’re losing a certain dose of humanity, making interactions with those influencers and brands even more… virtual and distant from our day-to-day life. Those won’t have the same day-to-day issues and challenges we face as humans. Also, their perfection will look even more unapproachable for us poor imperfect humans.

I believe this trend is here to stay and will even be enhanced further with AI bots coupled with virtual creatures. It will also be harder to distinguish those virtual connections. Another reason to stay grounded in our humanity and being less influenced by the perfect pictures we find of others on social networks!

Share