Norm Lewis was just twelve years old in 1958, a student at the old South Public School, when he saw the film A Night To Remember, a straight forward rendering of the Titanic disaster based on the book by Walter Lord. The film was a pivotal experience for Norm, and the beginning of a life-long fascination with this most infamous nautical event.
In 1993 Norm attended a Boston conference of The Titanic Historical Society, meeting enthusiasts from all over the world. He began polling Canadian delegates on the idea of starting their own group and got an overwhelming response. In 1998, this former locksmith and transport driver became the President, Founder and CEO of the Canadian group. Radio stations from Calgary, Kitchener and Toronto all called for an interview, and within a week The Canadian Titanic Society was receiving more letters than Norm could carry.
Norm has collected a great deal of Titanic memorabilia over the years, including 110 underwater photographs taken by Ralph White, the Society’s official “Explorer in Residence” and 2nd Vice-President, who at the time of his death in 2008 had made more dives to the wreck than anyone else in the world. A pioneer in deep sea photography and cinematography, Ralph was the expedition leader for James Cameron’s 1997 epic movie. And you know the name of that one.
With the help of some volunteers, Norm also researched Norfolk County connections to the disaster, finding Titanic crew members, survivors and passengers from the rescue ship Carpathia living like Norm, in Simcoe Ontario though all have now passed away.
But perhaps most impressive, Norm Lewis is the sole architect of a twenty-foot scale model of R.M.S Titanic that has appeared in parades and exhibitions all over the province. Detailed, historically accurate, and made almost entirely out of wood, the model is the only one of its kind. It has working propellers, smoking funnels and a truly impressive digital recording of the actual titanic whistles. It took him eight years. You might call that obsession, but if you think of a twelve year old boy, rapt in fascination at one of the most spectacular and terrible stories in nautical history, you might just call it a labor of love. For the Silo, Alan Gibson.
Nobilified and Villa de Campo have partnered up to offer their customers a unique art and hospitality experience. A selection of luxurious villas offered by Villa de Campo for rent come with hand-painted portraits of each guest, which are hung throughout the Villa during their stay.
Located in La Romana, Dominican Republic; Casa de Campo is no stranger to luxury. This prestigious Resort spreads over 7,000 acres, featuring three award-winning golf courses, a clay pigeon shooting center, an equestrian center, tennis courts, pools, and restaurants, as well as 1,700 private villas populating the resort, some of which are available for rent. Villa de Campo specializes in giving customers prompt and personalized service for vacation rentals in the resort. Whether it’s understanding your needs and recommending homes to stay in or helping you book a personal chef or schedule your activities, Villa de Campo is stepping up the meaning of the saying “the customer is king”.
With
this partnership with Nobilified, Villa de Campo adds an extra touch of
personalization to one’s holiday—and we aren’t talking about personal
chefs or yacht rentals. Nobilified, which creates hand-painted oil
portraits of its customers as royalty will be using its inspiration to
paint memories of holidays for guests to keep. The paintings will be
inspired by the nature of the trip, whether a romantic couple retreat, a
golf trip with boys, or a family holiday; Nobilified’s classically
trained artists will paint the guests prior to their arrival, according a
certain theme, and have the pieces hung throughout the villa during
their stay. Guest then get to take the pieces home after their stay.
The
Nobilified special aims capture memories in the world of art. Chris
Jensen, the founder of Nobilified, says, “Our aim is to capture one’s
memories in art. We want guests of the villas to remember all the small
things that made their holiday one to remember. When they get home, they
will hang the piece, and each time they look at the piece, they will
remember their holiday. We think that is special.”
Villa de Campo
Villa de Campo offers a selection of luxury villas in which to spend your next activity-filled holiday in the Dominican Republic. Spread over 7000 acres, the Casa de Campo resort is home to over 1700 private villas of which around 100 are available for rent on villadecampo.com.
Punta Aguila #57 is true Casa de Campo villa. The beautiful five bedroom villa was built right in the middle of a beautiful bamboo forest, palms and Embauba trees in a five thousand square meter homesite.
Booking a Villa has become the perfect way to spend a holiday whether with family, friends or as a couple. Our selection of luxury villas are located throughout the entire resort and cater to various tastes and needs. Villa de Campo also includes additional amenities such as complimentary golf carts, private chefs and a holiday concierge to help you book and plan your dream stay. Casa de Campo possesses a variety of restaurants, private beach clubs, a Marina, 3 golf courses, a tennis center, an equestrian center, a spa, and much more.
Nobilified
Nobilified
is dedicated to revolutionizing the art world. Nobilified believes that
while not everyone may have the artistic skills required to paint a
masterpiece, everyone possesses an intuitively creative mind. At
Nobilified, customer dreams and fantasies are transformed into actual
works of art, which can proudly displayed in any home, dorm, office,
cabin, yacht, or even a swanky Chateau. Everyone has an artistic side,
and everyone sees the world in their own unique way. Nobilified wants
this diversity to make an imprint on the course of art history by
immortalizing customers’ wildest dreams.
In addition to providing high quality oil paintings, Nobilified wants to change the way people perceive art, by making it fun and accessible, thus giving customers the opportunity to share or gift a unique custom made oil painting with friends and family. No longer will having an oil painting of oneself hanging above the chimney be out-of-reach. This privilege used to be reserved for the upper tiers of society, but, now, it is shared with everyone, even if they are not knighted. A unique, hand-painted, oil-on-canvas work of art can add a touch of grandeur to any living quarters.
Featured image: Cupid and Psyche by Jacques Louis David
RAPID CITY, SD- Professor Travis Kowalski starts most days with a squiggle.
For the past eight years, the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology math professor has carried on a family tradition started by his father, who would ask the young Travis to make a squiggle on a piece of paper. From that squiggle, his father would create a drawing. Often, Kowalski’s father would give him a squiggle and the two would sit together drawing.
Nowadays,
Kowalski uses a napkin and markers in his “squiggle game,” and the
recipients are his two daughters – Liliana, 13, and Maia, 9. Kowalski
says he started the tradition when Liliana was entering kindergarten,
hoping the lunch napkin art would make her transition to school easier.
Each evening or early in the morning, Kowalski encouraged his oldest to draw a squiggle on a napkin. The next morning, he turned the squiggle into colorful drawings and slipped it into her lunch box. Once Maia arrived, Kowalski began doing the same for her. “She expected it,” he says.
It’s
not exactly what most people expect from a math professor at an
engineering and science university. But Kowalski, a Ph.D. who currently
serves as the interim head of the Department of Mathematics at SD Mines,
says math and art co-mingle perfectly.
His drawings range from a buffalo against a bright pink sky (drawn May 6, 2019) to an astronaut in space (Jan. 24, 2019), to Kermit the Frog (Dec. 7, 2018), to the composer Bach at his harpsichord (May 14, 2018). Kowalski posts both the starting squiggle and the finished product on his Facebook and Instagram pages.
The
two social media platforms are filled with vibrant, colorful drawings
often accompanied by clever taglines – a bear holding up a paw and
asking, “I would like some salmon, please” and a praying mantis playing a
video game under the title, “Playing Mantis.”
Known on campus for his colorful Hawaiian shirts and clever math-related ties, Kowalski is the professor whose office walls are covered with unique visual art. He’s the kind of professor who sneaks his labradoodle Cauchy, named after French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy, into class the last day of the semester to play out an obscure (to the general audience at least) mathematics joke. He’s the math teacher who so passionately talks about the subject that even the least math-minded people can’t help but get excited.
And he’s good at what he does in the classroom. So good that Kowalski was recently awarded the 2019 Burton W. Jones Award by the Mathematical Association of America. The award recognizes post-secondary level math instructors nationally who “foster student excitement about mathematics.”
“It’s cool and humbling to be part of that group,” he admits.
Donald
Teets, a Ph.D. professor in the SD Mines math department, is a previous
winner of the award and the person who nominated Kowalski. In his
nomination, Teets writes, “He is, (in this writer’s opinion) the best
teacher in a department devoted to teaching excellence.”
This
is hardly the first recognition for Kowalski, Teets says. In 2014,
Kowalski was awarded the Benard Ennenga Award, which honors one SD Mines
faculty member each year for teaching excellence; and in 2017, he won
the George Polya Award from the Math Association of America for his College Mathematics Journal article, “The Sine of a Single Degree.”
“His
lecture based on ‘The Sine of a Single Degree’ is as good a mathematics
lecture as you will ever see!” Teets wrote in his nomination.
Teets
says the thing that makes Kowalski so good at this job is his
enthusiasm, noting that students consistently rate him on classroom
surveys as “the best math teacher I’ve ever had.” He’s “innovative,”
constantly striving to engage his students and utilize technology into
his teaching, Teets says. “Like Superman wears the big ‘S’ on his chest,
Dr. Kowalski deserves a big ‘I’ for Innovator.”
As
for Kowalski’s artistic talents, Teets is equally as effusive. “As a
person who can barely draw recognizable stick figures, I am in awe of
Travis’s artistic abilities. It’s a great complement to his
extraordinary skills in mathematics!” he says.
Kowalski
grew up in California, raised by a draftsman father and a “crafty”
stepmother. “My dad drew all of the time,” Kowalski says. “That was the
home I grew up in. You drew.”
In college at University of California, Riverside, Kowalski majored in art. To finish off an academic requirement, he enrolled in Calculus 2. A good student in high school, he had already taken an advanced placement Calculus 1 class. He was class valedictorian, but “I worked hard at it. I was not a prodigy,” he says with a laugh.
He
still remembers the Riverside professor’s name who taught his first
college math course – Albert Stralka. He “taught in a way I hadn’t seen
before,” Kowalski says. “There were ideas behind the math.”
When he got an A in that class, the professor convinced him to take Calculus 3.
Next,
the professor suggested he take topology, which is the study of
geometric properties and spatial relations which are unaffected by the
change of shape or size of figures. “It’s the geometry of shapes under
change,” Kolwaski says. “That class blew my mind.”
The
rest is history – after topology Kolwaski changed his major and
embraced a love of mathematics. But he never left his art behind, and
it’s important to understand that the two subjects go hand-in-hand, he
says. “Half of mathematicians do what they do because they think it’s
pretty,” he says of the geometry of math.
As
a math professor at SD Mines, Kolwaski admits that “I still like to sit
and draw things, but I don’t have as much time anymore,” he says.
That’s where his morning squiggle drawings come in.
Each
one of Kowalski’s squiggles for his daughters takes about 15 to 30
minutes from start to finish. “The first part is to see something,” he
says. He spins the napkin around, looking at the squiggle until he
“sees” the picture that will emerge.
Mia
tends to draw extremely elaborate squiggles, sometimes lobbying for a
specific outcome – for instance a unicorn. Other times, his daughters
will bring home requests from friends for specific drawings.
Liliana
has saved all her napkins over the years, storing them in a plastic
container in her room. That made it a little easier for Kowalski when
she came to him recently to say, “What with my school schedule being so
busy and my lunch break so short and closet so full of the ones you’ve
already made me – which I love, thank you – I just don’t think you need
to make me lunch napkins anymore.” Kowalski playfully posted her words
on social media with an image from Boromir’s death from “Fellowship of
the Rings” with arrows sticking from his heart.
Kowalski
says his older daughter relented, most likely after an intervention
from his wife, and is continuing to play the squiggle game. He’s glad,
hoping that both of his daughters will always remember the squiggle game
and maybe even carry it on with their own families one day.
“It’s definitely a great memory about my dad,” he says. “Hopefully it will be the same for them.” For the Silo, Lynn Taylor Rick.
Paris, 30 May – Experts, stakeholders and government representatives will examine ways to improve exports of cultural products from the Global South, reinforce cultural entrepreneurship and improve the status of artists during the biennial meeting of the signatories to UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, at the Organization’s Headquarters from 5 to 7 June.
Government
officials and cultural professionals will address these and other
issues at three Create|2030 debates during the session:
Rebalancing trade flows: making the case for preferential treatment in culture, will examine ways to open markets to cultural goods and services from the Global South, in line with the Convention’s binding provision to grant them preferential treatment in international trade. Cultural goods and services from developing countries currently only account for 26.5% of the global trade in this rapidly growing sector. Panelists will also examine how the concentration of creative content on large online platforms is impacting the distribution of cultural products and expressions. (7 June, 10 am—1 pm, Room II)
Strengthening cultural entrepreneurship: The International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) will discuss investments in vocational training andbring together beneficiaries of UNESCO’s IFCD from
Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia and Senegal. The Fund, which aims to address
the gap between developed and developing countries in the creative
economy, has provided more than 10,000 artists and cultural
professionals with new skills in project management, business and career
development to date. (6 June, 10 am—1 pm, Room II)
Rethinking the status of the artist will explore ways to enhance
the professional, social and economic conditions of artists through
policies concerning training, social security, employment, income,
taxation, mobility and freedom of expression. (6 June, 2—5 pm, Room II)
During
the meeting, participants will also examine an Open Roadmap designed to
strengthen the Parties’ capacities to promote the diversity of cultural
expressions in the digital age, as well as other innovative policy
practices. Priorities in line with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development will be set for the next two years, with particular
attention to gender equality, fundamental freedoms, quality education,
economic growth, decent jobs, and equality between countries.
The 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
provides a framework for the design of policies and measures that
support the emergence of dynamic cultural and creative industries around
the world. The 146 Parties (145 States and the European Union) that
have ratified the Convention meet at UNESCO every two years to examine
its impact and determine future action. Twelve new Members will be
elected to the Convention’s Intergovernmental Committee during the
session.
A recent OECD report finds that low and middle income earners have seen their wages stagnate and that the income share of middle-skilled jobs has fallen. Rising inequality has led to concerns that top earners are getting a disproportionate share of the gains from global “openness and interconnection”. During a Summer 2017 meeting of OECD, employment outlook revealed that job polarization has been “driven by pervasive and skill-biased technological changes.
Founded in 1945, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) builds awareness among business executives, educators and policy makers around issues related to employment, workforce training and skills enhancement. CMRubinWorld spoke with USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson, who serves as a co-chair of the B20 Employment and Education Task Force, through which he helped develop recommendations to the G20 leaders on training for the jobs of the future. Robinson also serves on the board of the International Organization of Employers, which represents the views of the business community in the International Labor Organization.
“I think the guiding principle for government should be to protect and enable/retrain the worker, not protect the job. Policy makers and educators should focus on making sure that workers are as equipped as possible to transition to new opportunities” Peter Robinson.
Peter, welcome. How severe do you believe jobsolescence will be over the next 20 years? How big will the challenge be to offset it and maintain a growing workforce?
I really don’t think the overall effect will be as dramatic as some people fear, at least for the medium-term as far as we can tell. There is an over-hype factor at play, but the consequences still deserve serious attention. For one thing, so many of the jobs in the United States, Canada and other advanced economies are in the service sector, and involve interacting with other people. Despite all the advances in AI, we are still a long way off from robotic nurses or home health aides. Overall, history tells us that at least as many new jobs are created as are displaced by technological innovation, even though transitions can be difficult in some sectors and localities, and as long as upskilling takes place.
“The biggest threat is that our educational institutions won’t be able to keep pace with new skills demands.” — Peter Robinson
What do you think are the biggest obstacles facing college grads today trying to enter the workforce?
I actually think the greatest obstacles are faced by those who don’t make it to university or some form of higher education beyond high school (a four-year degree is not the right path for everyone). A 2014 Pew survey found that among workers age 25 to 32, median annual earnings of those with a college degree were $17,500 greater than for those with high school diplomas only. Obviously, everyone at whatever educational level needs to keep their skills sharp, and governments should join with employers and educators to instill better life-long learning. But there are far fewer established paths toward long-term employment at a middle-class level of income for those who don’t graduate from college. A greater emphasis on vocational education and apprenticeships would help. We strongly support the work being done by United States Secretary of Labor Acosta to promote apprenticeships.
Given that machines are in the process of stripping white collar workers from their jobs, what kind of skills are key manufacturing and service industries going to need from new employees?
I think the premise of your question is overstated. We’re all being told that our jobs are doomed by robots and automation. But the OECD estimates that only nine percent of jobs across the 35 OECD nations are at high risk of being automated, although of course even 9% can be generative of social difficulties. But there is an established track record across history of new technologies creating at least as many new jobs as they displace. Usually these new jobs demand higher skills and provide higher pay. The biggest threat is that our educational institutions won’t be able to keep pace with new skills demands.
“It is becoming clear that Versatility matters, in a constantly changing world, so Jim Spohrer’s IBM model of a “T-shaped” person holds true: broad and deep individuals capable of adapting and going where the demand lies.” — Peter Robinson
In an economy with a significant on-demand labor force, what competencies will these workers need to compete?
There are two types of competencies that will be needed: “technical” – or in other words, related to deep knowledge of a specific domain, whether welding or optogenetics; and “transversal,” which applies to all occupations. Those are described by the Center for Curriculum Redesign as skills (creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration), character (mindfulness, curiosity, courage, resilience, ethics, leadership) and meta-learning (growth mindset, metacognition).
How will managerial skill requirements change as a result of major structural changes that are likely, including human replacement by machines and growth of the on-demand economy?
OECD’s BIAC surveys of 50 employer organizations worldwide has shown that employers value not just Skills as described above, but also Character qualities as well. Further, it is becoming clear that Versatility matters, in a constantly changing world, so Jim Spohrer’s IBM model of a “T-shaped” person holds true: broad and deep individuals capable of adapting and going where the demand lies.
“We often hear about the need for more STEM education. But I think there is an equal need for a greater emphasis on the humanities and the arts, for their intrinsic value as well as for developing skills and character qualities.” — Peter Robinson
What central changes in school curricula do you envision, both at the secondary school and college levels?
We often hear about the need for more STEM education. But I think there is an equal need for a greater emphasis on the humanities and the arts for their intrinsic value as well as for developing skills and character qualities as described above. As David Barnes of IBM wrote recently, these skills are more durable and are also a very good indicator of long-term success in employment.
How can the evolving changes in competencies required for employment be effectively translated into school curricula? Where are the main opportunities to enable this? e.g. Assessment systems? Business/Education collaboration? Curriculum change?
I’d go back to something else David Barnes said: We need much stronger connections between education and the job market, in the form of more partnerships among employers, governments and education institutions. Everyone needs to step up and create true partnerships. No one sector of society can address this alone. OECD’s BIAC has also documented employers’ wishes for deep curricular reforms to modernize content and embed competencies in order to meet today’s market needs.
What role should government play in ensuring citizens receive a quality and relevant education given the challenges that lie ahead?
I think the guiding principle for government should be to protect and enable/retrain the worker, not protect the job. Policy makers and educators should focus on making sure that workers are as equipped as possible to transition to new opportunities as these develop, and on ensuring that businesses have the freedom to pivot and adopt new technologies and business processes.
For the Silo, C.M. Rubin. C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorld and is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.
Well
before the construction of Ontario’s present Queen’s Park Legislative
Building, Ontario was governed as the British colony of Upper Canada.
After its formation in 1791, Upper Canada’s elected Legislature first met on September 17th, 1792. As no permanent structure was built to house the Legislature in Newark, now Niagara-on-the Lake, meetings took place in a variety of locations including Navy Hall—which also served as a residence for our first Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. The first legislators were also reputed to have met in Butler’s Barracks, and also under a large oak tree.
In 1793, a site at York, now Toronto, was chosen as the new location for Upper Canada’s capital. Lieutenant Governor Simcoe initiated plans for the construction of the colony’s first purpose-built Legislative Building. Completed in 1797, the “Palace of Government,” as it was known, was located near the present-day intersection of Front and Parliament Streets. Consisting of two small structures connected by a covered walkway, they were the first in York to be made of brick.
The Legislature met there until 1813, when the building was burned to the ground in the aftermath of the Battle of York during the War of 1812-14. During this American raid, the first Mace of Ontario—made for the Legislature of Upper Canada in 1792—was seized by the American soldiers. It was later returned in 1934 by President Roosevelt as a gesture of friendship. While waiting for construction of a new building, Upper Canada’s Legislature met in several temporary locations.
The
next structure, completed in 1820 on the same site, was destroyed by an
accidental fire in 1824. As before, sessions of parliament were held
in temporary
locations, including the court house and the general hospital.
In 1832, another structure at Front and Simcoe Streets served the province well, but by the 1870s, it was in poor condition. This prompted the Department of Public Works to formulate plans for a modern facility. The legislature continued to meet in the rapidly declining structure until the opening of the present Legislative Building at Queen’s Park in 1893.
The Legislature, which has become one of my places of business and almost a second home, was proudly opened on April 4th,
1893 by Ontario Premier
Sir Oliver Mowat. It took six years to complete (1886-1892). People
were thrilled by its beauty, expanse and grandeur—not to mention its
electric lights and a new and exciting invention, electric elevators.
The
beautiful building was designed by Architect Richard A. Waite in the
Richardson Romanesque style, featuring heavy stonework, majestic rounded
arches,
and fanciful carvings. The exterior walls are pink sandstone and the
roof was covered in slate. Oak floors and cast iron pillars lined the
halls. Intricate details were added to every inch of the building’s
interior and exterior.
The structure is divided into the East Wing, West Wing, and the North Wing, which was constructed later and opened in 1913.
All in all, the building is a large home-like meeting place where I work for my constituents and the people of Ontario.
When
in Toronto, I would urge any lover of great architecture, history, and
good government to come for a visit and learn more about our provincial
parliament.
Russell Avenue in Ottawa’s Sandy Hill neighbourhood is the winner of the Canada’s Best Garden Street contest.
Toronto, ON Garden Days – The month of June hosts Canada’s three-day celebration of gardens and gardening. There are loads of Garden Days official activities scheduled across the country, and almost every province has a Flagship Event for you to enjoy. It’s the perfect time to get dirty in one’s own garden, visit a nearby public garden or spend some time in a local garden center.
You’ll be in great company
If you’re planning travelling around the province or across Canada this Summer, be sure to visit a few of the many public gardens that we’re becoming world renowned for. Dr. Richard Benfield, author of ‘Garden Tourism’ estimates that annually there are 6 million garden tourists in Canada.
And the winner is . . .
On the occasion of our upcoming National Garden Day, Friday, June 13, the Canadian Garden Council is pleased to announce the winner of the Garden Days’ ‘Best Garden Street’ Contest which celebrates the contribution that public and/or private gardens have made to the quality of life on individual streets and neighbourhoods. The winner of $1000 worth of Marks’ Choice Lawn and Garden products from Home Hardware, and the bragging rights to be named ‘Canada’s Best Garden Street’ is: Mary Moreland, Russell Avenue, Ottawa.
Garden Days spokesperson, Mark Cullen, recently said, “The partnership between the hand of man and Mother Nature has produced some of the highest quality green spaces and gardens in Canada and on earth. Garden Days, a new idea that’s all about this successful collaboration, has been sown on fertile soil. I have no doubt that the ideas and principles behind the concept will sprout and grow into national significance. And the sooner the better.”
This coming weekend join in the national celebration of everything that the Garden contributes the quality of all our lives.
Garden Days are a family affair. Photo: Pierre Boucher
Organized by the Canadian Garden Council, and kicked off with National Garden Day, always the Friday before Father’s Day, Garden Days is a three-day celebration of gardens and gardening. The program’s objective is to draw attention to Canada’s garden culture, history and innovations and to underscore the importance of public and private gardens, the values of home gardening and the promotion of environmental stewardship. For the Silo, Courtney Charette.
Injectables are quickly becoming the most popular treatment on the menu for Millennials at doctor offices and medspas. The latest survey by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) shows that 56% of facial plastic surgeons saw an increase in cosmetic surgery or injectables with patients under age 30 last year.With more patients now relying on injectables for early maintenance, AAFPRS President Fred G. Fedok, MD educates us on some of the most common injection misconceptions:
Myth: BOTOX Is Synonymous With “Injectables”
Truth: The term “Injectables” encompasses neuromodulators and fillers, which have very different functions. BOTOX is a specific brand name for a drug that is part of a group of drugs known as neuromodulators, which include also Dysport and Xeomim. Neuromodulators temporarily weaken or paralyze the muscles that are injected. They are used to diminish muscle action and thus improve small folds or wrinkles in the skin.
Fillers are used to “fill out” deficiencies or voids in the soft tissues. These can be fairly superficial or deeper voids in the underlying fat complement. Restylane, Juvederm, Boletero, and Sculptra are among the most popular fillers used in the US and North America.
Myth: Fillers Are Only For The Lower Face
Truth:Different types of fillers have different ranges of longevity, and stiffness that determine were they are best applied in the face. For instance, under the lower eyelids a facial plastic surgeon looks for filler that is good at filling volume however is not too stiff so as not to produce lumps underneath the thin skin there. In deeper areas such as the cheek, deeper deficiencies are targeted and a stiffer substance can be used.
Myth: Injectables Will Render You Expressionless
Truth: When used correctly, injectables can have a very natural result. You want to choose an experienced injector and a board-certified facial plastic surgeon who specializes in the face, head and neck to ensure the most successful, natural-looking outcomes. The result is not permanent and aging continues over time, as it does with any rejuvenation procedure.
For the Silo, Patty Mathews.
ABOUT THE AAFPRS:
The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is the world’s largest specialty association for facial plastic surgery. It represents more than 2,500 facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons throughout the world. www.aafprs.org
Not all ideas are ‘shot down’ by an intimidating boss- Albert Einstein’s formal letter paved the way to American atom bomb research.
Everyone says they want innovation in their organization, but when an ambitious employee offers it to a Boss or CEO, for example, the idea is often shot down, says Neal Thornberry, Ph.D., faculty director for innovation initiatives at the Naval Postgraduate School in California.
“Senior leaders often miss the value-creating potential of a new concept because they either don’t take the time to really listen and delve into it, or the innovating employee presents it in the wrong way,” says Thornberry, who recently published “Innovation Judo,” (www.NealThornberry.com), based on his years of experience teaching innovation at Babson College and advising an array of corporate clients, from the Ford Co. and IBM to Cisco Systems.
Neal Thornberry: ” Innovation should be presented as opportunities, not ideas. Opportunities have gravitas while ideas do not!”
Thornberry outlines a template for innovation that works:
1 Intention: Once the “why” is answered, leaders have the beginnings of a legitimate roadmap to innovation’s fruition. This is no small task and requires some soul searching.
“I once worked with an executive committee, and I got six different ideas for what ‘innovation’ meant,” he says. “One wanted new products, another focused on creative cost-cutting, and the president wanted a more innovative culture. The group needed to agree on their intent before anything else.”
2 Infrastructure: This is where you designate who is responsible for what. It’s tough, because the average employee will not risk new responsibility and potential risk without incentive. Some companies create units specifically focused on innovation, while others try to change the company culture in order to foster innovation throughout. “Creating a culture takes too long,” Thornberry says. “Don’t wait for that.”
3 Investigation: What do you know about the problem? IDEO may be the world’s premier organization for investigating innovative solutions. Suffice to say that the organization doesn’t skimp on collecting and analyzing data. At this point, data collection is crucial, whereas brainstorming often proves to be a waste of time if the participants come in with the same ideas, knowledge and opinions that they had last week with no new learning in their pockets.
4 Ideation: The fourth step is also the most fun and, unfortunately, is the part many companies leap to. This is dangerous because you may uncover many exciting and good ideas, but if the right context and focus aren’t provided up front, and team members cannot get on the same page, then a company is wasting its time. That is why intent must be the first step for any company seeking to increase innovation. Innovation should be viewed as a set of tools or processes, and not a destination.
If you’re gonna ‘demo’ your idea you better have practiced and perfected your routine before showing your boss-
5 Identification: Here’s where the rubber meets the road on innovation. Whereas the previous step was creative, now logic and subtraction must be applied to focus on a result. Again, ideas are great, but they must be grounded in reality. An entrepreneurial attitude is required here, one that enables the winnowing of ideas, leaving only those with real value-creating potential.
“Innovation without the entrepreneurial mindset is fun but folly,” Thornberry notes.
6 Infection: Does anyone care about what you’ve come up with? Will excitement spread during this infection phase? Now is the time to find out. Pilot testing, experimentation and speaking directly with potential customers begin to give you an idea of how innovative and valuable an idea is. This phase is part selling, part research and part science. If people can’t feel, touch or experience your new idea in part or whole, they probably won’t get it. This is where the innovator has a chance to reshape their idea into an opportunity, mitigate risk, assess resistance and build allies for their endeavor.
7 Implementation/Integration: While many talk about this final phase, they often fail to address the integration part. Implementation refers to tactics that are employed in order to put an idea into practice. This is actually a perilous phase because, in order for implementation to be successful, the idea must first be successfully integrated with other activities in the business and aligned with strategy. An innovation, despite its support from the top, can still fail if a department cannot work with it.
For the Silo, Neil Thornberry.
Working 9 to 5? Think about the best times to approach your boss.
Neal Thornberry, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of IMSTRAT, LLC a consulting firm that specializes in helping private and public sector organizations develop innovation strategies. A respected thought leader in innovation, Thornberry is a highly sought-after international speaker and consultant. He also serves as the faculty director for innovation initiatives at the Center for Executive Education at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. Thornberry, author of “InnovationJudo:Disarming Roadblocks & Blockheads on the Path to Creativity”, holds a doctorate in organizational psychology and specializes in innovation, corporate entrepreneurship, leadership and organizational transformation.
Why Your Kid Shouldn’t Be Guzzling ‘Energy’ Drinks Vitamins & Minerals are Safer and More Effective than
Artificial Stimulants, Says Food Science Expert
Anxiety, hypertension, elevated heart rates, interrupted sleep patterns and headaches are just some of the side effects commonly associated with energy drinks, and those problems are more pronounced in children, according to a recent University of Miami study.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. These drinks have also been linked to heart palpitations, strokes and sudden death.
The term “energy” drink is an unfortunate misnomer, says food science expert Budge Collinson. They don’t give your body energy; they stimulate you with brief jolts of caffeine and unregulated herbal stimulants, he says.
“For a few moments, you’ll get that spike, but it’s a short-term experience with a heavy long-term toll.”
So, what are some ways kids can get a healthy energy boost? Collinson offers the following tips.
• Go for a speedy bike ride together, take a brisk walk or hold foot-races in the yard. Numerous studies demonstrate the power of vigorous exercise in boosting energy. Exercise pumps more oxygen – pure, healthy fuel — into the bloodstream and to the brain and muscles for a short-term energy boost. Exercising regularly will increase lung capacity, so the body will gets more oxygen on a sustained level for the long term. Exercise also releases endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemical, which makes us feel happy. And happy people are energized people.
• Seek nutrition from a variety of sources. As humans, we need more than 40 different vitamins and minerals to keep our bodies functioning optimally. Since there is no single food that contains them all, it is important for children and adults to eat a variety, including as many different vegetables and fruits as possible. Adding a daily multivitamin supplement with essentials such as CoQ10, arginine, theanine, resveratrol and magnesium can help ensure bodies young and old are running at top speed.
• Drink plenty of water – the natural energy drink. Even mild dehydration can leave children (and adults) feeling listless, so encourage children to make a habit of drinking plenty of water. Kids need more water than adults because they expend more energy, and they may not recognize when they’re slightly thirsty. Parents, too, often don’t recognize the signs of dehydration; a national survey of more than 800 parents of kids ages of one month to 10 years found that more than half feel they don’t know enough about dehydration. A quick, light pinch of the skin on the child’s hand or arm is an easy check. If the skin is slow to resume a smooth appearance, the child is likely at least mildly dehydrated.
About Budge Collinson
Budge Collinson was the beneficiary of his mother’s natural health formula as a sick baby, which led to a deep interest in health and wellness at a young age. After years of research and seeing the growing demand for natural products with clinical support, he founded Infusion Sciences, www.infusionsciences.com. Collinson earned a bachelor’s degree in food and resource economics from the University of Florida and certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Recently, he became a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and consistently attends the Natural Products Expo, where he learns the latest science and news about nutritious ingredients. Collinson is also a go-to source for media outlets across the country for healthy lifestyle and food source discussions.
It took awhile, but eventually, Bob Hope’s UFO house sold for $13 million USD, after first being listed in early 2013 with a price tag of $50 million USD. Having gone through a couple of price cuts over the years, the most recent cut lowered the ask to $25 million USD. But with no comparable homes available, how does one actually price a concrete space ship? Seems that when $25 million was thrown at the wall, $13 million stuck.
The Palm Springs spaceship/volcano house, designed for Bob and Dolores Hope by John Lautner in 1973, needed a buyer with deep pockets who would appreciate its futuristic leanings, had appreciation for architects who think outside the box and are young at heart enough to enjoy a bit of whimsy. The buyer, California billionaire Ron Burkle, co-founder and managing partner of a private equity and venture capital firm, is well known in the Los Angeles area for his connections with the Clintons. Sporting as interesting a persona as the house, Burkle is a prominent Democratic activist and fundraiser.
At 23,000 square feet under the dramatic high undulating roof, the unique house has open spaces in the walls and ceiling which allow daylight or stars to shine through casting shapely shadows into the interior. These curved openings also allow for stunning views across the landscape and mountains while appearing to be nestled comfortably into its well-designed desert landscaping and outdoor living areas. The house also has a spa with greenhouse wall, 6 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, indoor and outdoor pools, a pond, putting greens and a tennis court.
Burkle collects other historic architecture and purchased the Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House in 2011 and also owns Greenacres that was originally built for silent comedy film actor Harold Lloyd. Patrick Jordan and Stewart Smith of Bennion and Deville Homes were the listing agents and Ron de Salvo of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage represented Mr. Burkle. Even at the greatly reduced closing price of $13 million, the sale has set a record for the highest sale price in Palm Springs beating Lautner’s Elrod House that sold for $7.7 million two months earlier. For the Silo, Terry Walsh.
Alfred Marshall’s (Principles of Economics, 1891) view of housing still goes right to the heart of what makes housing and built environment an important anthropological topic. No artifact is so clearly multi-functional, simultaneously a utilitarian object of absolute necessity, and an item of symbolic material culture, a text of almost unending complexity.
In every house the economic, social and symbolic dimensions of behavior come together. This may be why the analysis of housing has had such a wide appeal in disciplines as diverse as social psychology, folklore, economics and engineering. Anthropologists themselves have shown a new willingness to consider the house as a key artifact in understanding the articulation of economic and social change during economic development.
An ethnocentric home.
From the perspective of our own contemporary society, surrounded by houses of all shapes and sizes, where wealth and luxury are synonymous with housing, this seems obvious and commonplace. The 1980’s television show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and journals like “Architectural Review” are odes to the home as a shrine and symbol of wealth. But just as clearly, there are societies where all the houses look alike, even though all the people are not alike. Perhaps then, the assumption that there is something natural and obvious about spending on the house and home market as a marker of prestige is ethnocentric. Why the house instead of something else?
A number of anthropological approaches attempt to place the house in a theoretical context which answer this question by relating housing to social, economic, and psychological variation and change. For example, a utilitarian approach that views the house partially as a workspace links changes in the elaboration of houses to changes in the kinds of work done in the household (Braudel 1973:201). Or if the house is seen as a reflection of how all household activities are organized and divided, then the shape of the house will change as activities are modified, differentiated, or recombined (Kent 1983, 1984).
Utilitarian houses.
An even more utilitarian perspective relates the form of the house to climate, technology and the kinds of building materials that are available (Duly 1979). For the Silo, Richard R. Wilk.
Supplemental-Complete Text Principles of Economics (London: Macmillan and Co. 8th ed. 1920).
Author: Alfred Marshall
About This Title: This is the 8th edition of what is regarded to be the first “modern” economics textbook, leading in various editions from the 19th into the 20th century. The final 8th edition was Marshall’s most-used and most-cited.
Here are some quick shots I did of our place. For us, the challenge is to use every possible space and yet achieve a feeling of spaciousness. I just did a count of all the space saving/creating measures we have made over the years – about 25 – not counting replacing, enlarging and adding windows and doors – from simple shelves to complex projects involving cutting into walls and making a new room.
It has taken us more than 20 years to do this. We purchased the place and a barren 3/4 acres in 1986 for $20,000. And, it has turned out even better than we dreamed possible.
Even in this tiny space, we can lose each other. David Wells, my partner in all this, has a blog in which he talks about our life here. You may be interested: http://DavesBackPorch.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
OUR SMALL HOUSE
EXTERIOR FRONT
INTERIOR – FRONT
INTERIOR FRONT
‘HALL’ FROM FRONT DOOR TO KITCHEN
MIRROR IN ‘HALL’ TO REFLECT MORE LIGHT
OFFICE/COMPUTER (to the immediate right of above ‘hall’)
KITCHEN STORAGE AND TABLE (other side of office above)
KITCHEN – small but functional. As a former professional
cook, I have found ways to scale equipment way down,
and use my creativity to produce nutritious, interesting meals.
NEW KITCHEN DOOR ENTRY – STAIRS TO JEWELLERY STUDIO AT RIGHT
JEWELLERY STUDIO – PREVIOUS ENTRY
NEW BACK ENTRY
BEDROOM (7′ X 11′)
CLOSET – DVD STORAGE – behind door
BATHROOM w CLAWFOOT TUB – AND WINDOW LOOKING
OUT TO ‘WOODLET’ (A Spa at Home)
BATHROOM VANITY WITH BEACH GLASS MOSAIC INTERIOR WINDOW
TO LET LIGHT INTO CENTRE OF HOUSE
The white trillium is a spring wildflower with 3 distinct leaves and petals. It has been the provincial flower of Ontario since 1937 and is also the logo of the Ontario Government. It’s white flower is seen as a symbol of peace and hope.
While it is a popular belief that it’s illegal to pick the White Trillium in Ontario, in reality they are only protected in provincial parks and land owned by conservation authorities. However, if the leaves as well as the flower are picked, the plant could die as it no longer has any means to produce the energy it needs to take it through the winter into another spring.
Sometimes mutant plants with green striped petals are found in White Trilliums. These plants are diseased — infected with parasitic mycoplasmas that cause the greening. Over time, the mycoplasmas will cause deformity in the petals and eventually the death of the plant. For the Silo, Dixie Greenwood.
Mutated Painted Trillium. by Roger Grinnell (Burnsville, NC) NOTE- the four leaves courtesy: www.dougsgreengarden.com
Most people dread the moment the alarm clock goes off having to fight their way out of bed to start the day. But what if you could turn morning time into your favorite time of the day, where waking up is actually easy and more enjoyable?
Aadil Palkhivala
Yoga legend Aadil Palkhivala, known across the world as the “Godfather of yoga in the west,” and author of Fire of Love: For Students of Life and Teachers of Yoga, offers these tips that will make it easier to get going in the morning:
1. Wake up to something pleasant: The very first thing most people think about when they wake up are all the things they have to get done that day. It quickly makes them feel overwhelmed, frustrated and stressed out. Instead, start your day thinking about the things you are grateful for, and focus on the fun activities you have planned for the day. Do some Heartfull TM Meditation that focuses on deep breathing that will wake you up peacefully and put you in the mood to create throughout the day.
Lose the traditional alarm clock: Jarring the body from a deep sleep is unhealthy for the nervous system. Waking up to a softer noise that gradually increases in volume is a much better choice. Sounds from nature are soothing and naturally awake the body.
Drink a glass of warm water right away: Before you head for the coffee, drink a glass of warm water. Warm water will open up the circulation in the throat and stomach. It helps the body naturally hydrate and feel awake and alive. It also helps enhance circulation and removes toxins from the night and day before. People who drink water right before bed and when waking up are also less prone to heart attacks.
Have an organic smoothie: They say garbage in equals garbage out, so start your day with a powerful organic smoothie. Anything that contains green fruits/veggies is a good choice, along with plant-based proteins. Avoid animal-based proteins which are more difficult to digest.
Stretches: Just like you would warmup your car on a cold winter day, you need to break up the tension from the night before and get the body ready for action. Do some simple stretches that focus on the neck, shoulders, hips and spine.
6. Take a warm shower: It’s as common as the chicken and egg debate: should you shower in the morning or at night? The answer is actually both, but especially in the morning because a warm to hot shower will increase circulation in the skin, and help awake the nervous system.
Clean air: When you sleep in a room that has clean air, you’re going to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. Use an air ionizer and purifier with HEPA filter that removes odors and fumes from cleaners, aerosols, carpet and paint. HEPA filters remove more than 99 percent of airborne irritants.
For nearly thirty years, Aadil has been regarded as a “teacher of teachers,” and many of the world’s top yoga instructors have studied with him. He has a unique teaching style, mixing melodious instructions with recitations of poetry, philosophical insights, and in-the-moment humor.
Aadil and his wife, Savitri, are the founders of Purna Yoga, a holistic synthesis of yogic traditions based on the work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Discover more about Aadil and the Alive and Shine Center. For the Silo, Alex Smith.
With an increasing demand for housing in the UK and strict planning restrictions, developers are attempting to fit as much “house real estate” as possible within smaller and smaller areas.
This means that most new builds are half the size of the homes being constructed at the start of the 20th century.
Despite this eye-opening reality, there are plenty of people who are happy to sacrifice space for location – especially moving closer to the capital.
We’ve looked at this trend, determined the main pros and cons of smaller house living and even looked around the world for extreme examples of homes which push the limits of square footage. Want to weigh up the pros and cons of small house living? This graphic from our friends at storageworld.co.uk provides a great start point for your research.
Read on to find out whether you’re cut out to thrive in this new era of space-efficient living. For the Silo, Georgia Davies.
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” -Socrates There is a misconception that education is the end of a road. On the contrary, it is merely the beginning. For many of us, youth is taken up with those things we feel we need to learn and less so with all that we most desire to know. Once we come of age, we begin to truly earn our education, gleaning the knowledge we have craved all along. This is the case for many artists who spend years, decades in other pursuits having been told that their inclination toward art is unsustainable or simply wrong.
Peter Cole is is a poet who works prodigiously with painters. Recently he has worked with Terry Winters who asked him to write about his current works. Some of that series appeared in Paris Review and sparked a series of work from Winters in turn which again sparked another series of writing and so forth.
Cole’s work includes translations from Hebrew and he explains that one of the most famous aspects of translation in the 20th century is that poetry is lost in translation. To hear more about Cole’s work as well as more about the concept of translating poetry, listen to the complete interview. Diego Leclery is presently working in his studio in Queens. When he left school his work dematerialized considerably for roughly 11 years until very recently when he and his wife were able to get a house and designate studio space. At the moment he is hard at work building out a studio space. Although Leclery could have afforded a studio when he worked full time, he hesitated and waited until he could afford a practice that was entirely material and could be everything or nothing.
Diego Leclery
To hear more from Diego Leclery, including his thoughts on modern day confusion and feelings, enlightenment thinking and pre-me-too ideas, all of which culminates in an understanding of limitations, listen to the complete interview. For the Silo, Brainard Carey. Read more from Brainard by clicking here.
Can you have your cake and eat it too? That question was successfully answered by Dr. Andrew and Lisa Willis.
18 Chapman Street in historic Port Dover, Ontario has always been a home of distinction. Maintaining its unique charm while modernizing to meet dental practice requirements and renovating to meet their family needs was a challenge they were set to face. Dr. Willis has been a leading dentist for 25 years and has always had a passion for antiques. The idea to run his practice from a historic home developed carefully in his mind over those years. The challenge was to find the right property.
The Willis’ have twin daughters Lily and Daisy and family dog Chloe and creating a warm, open concept space was paramount.
Their large living space doubles as a dining area and the fireplace is often a family focal spot. Outside, a walled in ‘almost one acre’ yard offers lots of playing spaces.
For Mom and Dad, renovations to the kitchen and master bedroom. Great effort was spent on sourcing the “right” materials such as Pioneer cabinetry and restoration hardware- the antique chandeliers benefiting from Lisa’s attention to detail and research.
While work was proceeding for the family, Andrew coordinated the installation of a modern dental office situated in the front of the house. At it is at this point, where the old and the new not only meet but mix: Dr. Willis has integrated antique barn board into his office space and upon entering the office from street level, visitors are greeted with an antique dental drill- a nod to historic value of not only this home’s architecture but also to the business it lovingly and successfully houses. It is precisely this love and respect for the treasured things from the past and the fine things of the present that set this Port Dover business apart. For the Silo, Aly Devina.
Being broke sucks and you don’t have to come from a wealthy family, have the next billion-dollar idea or work 18-hour days to become rich, says self-made millionaire Mike Finley. In fact, you don’t have to be extraordinary in any of the headline-grabbing ways. What you need is the self-awareness to avoid wasting Financial Happiness.
“Money used wisely can give you financial security ”
Finley lists 10 of the most common money traps that lead to consumers going broke:
1- Making the appearance of wealth one of your top priorities by acquiring more stuff. The material trappings of a faux lifestyle, as seen in magazines and advertisements, are not good term happiness.
2- Working a job you hate, and spending your free time buying happiness. Instead, find fulfilling work Monday through Friday so you are not compensating for your misery with expensive habits during the weekend.
Even worse than living paycheck to paycheck- advance loan on your paycheck.
3- Living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about saving money. Don’t live for today, as if that’s all that matters. Have you already achieved all of your dreams by this moment? If not, embrace hope and plan for tomorrow. (Appreciating your life today doesn’t require unnecessary expenditures.)
4- Stopping your education when someone hands you a diploma; never reading a book on personal finance. Just about any expert will tell you that the most reliable way out of poverty is education. Diplomas shouldn’t be the end of learning; they should be a milestone in a lifetime of acquiring wisdom.
5- Playing the lottery as often as possible. While you’re at it, hitting the casino! Magical thinking, especially when it comes to money, is a dangerous way to seek financial security.
6- Running up your credit cards and making the minimum payments whenever possible. Paying interest on stuff you really don’t need is a tragic waste of money.
7- When you come into some free money, spending it. Feeling like you deserve it. By that logic, you’re saying that a future version of you doesn’t deserve the money, which can be multiplied with wise investments.
8- Buying the biggest wedding and the biggest ring so everyone can see just how fabulous you really are. Nothing says “Let’s start our future together” like blowing your entire savings on one evening.
9- Treating those “amazing” celebrities and “successful” athletes as role models. Trying to be just like them whenever possible. As far as we know, there’s only one you the universe has ever known. Don’t dilute your unique individuality by chasing an image.
10- Blaming others for your problems in life. Repeat after me: I am not a victim. The victim mentality is an attempt to rationalize poor habits and bad decision-making.
“If you’re feeling uncomfortable with your financial situation, don’t just sit there in a malaise of ‘If only I had more money,’ ” Finley says. “Instead, use it as motivation for a better life; that’s why the discomfort is there.”
Like most North Americans, Mike Finley was raised with no education in personal finances. Joining the Army out of high school, he realized he didn’t understand money management and began the task of educating himself. After 26 years in the service, during which he practiced the principles he learned, he retired a millionaire. Finley is the author of “Financial Happine$$,” and teaches a popular financial literacy class at the University of Northern Iowa. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.
The
importance of communication cannot be overemphasized since it is the
cornerstone of civilization. From the very origin of the human race,
communication was the means of conveying feelings, emotions and
desires. It is this necessity to communicate that led to the
invention of languages that are ever evolving even to this day.
Importance
of communication skills
David Hume, the 19th Century philosopher, was not wrong in stating that the art of communication is the language of leadership. This is why great orators proved effective leaders. Paul J Meyer, the founder of Success Motivation School, was also of the view that communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success.
Business
schools are seized of the fact that effective communication skills
are a must-have for success in the business world. According to QS
TopMBA.com Jobs & Salary Trends Report of 2018, there is an
increasing demand for MBAs trained in communication skills for
effective interpersonal relationships and leadership.
This has prompted business schools to give priority to improving the communication skills of its students, particularly those undergoing MBA programs.
Need
for teaching communication skills in B-schools
#1
In delegating
B-school
grads require leadership skills in their future positions. And to be
effective leaders, they need to hone their communication skills to
explain what their expectations are from the team. The more clearly
these responsibilities are defined, less will be the chances of
miscommunication and mistakes. By effectively communicating, leaders
can explain the role of each team member to get things accomplished
faster.
#2
In inspiring and motivating
Good communication skills help leaders interact more personally with their team members. This personal touch acts as a morale booster and a great motivator, thereby lifting the spirits of team members. The result is increased productivity and cohesiveness as a team. This is in contrast to ordering people around, which may get the work done, but may cause resentment too and undermine the motivation of the team. Inspiring words from leaders are much more effective than words of command. The B-school students should be taught how to ask about employees’ feelings and what appropriate responses should they provide.
#3
In improving listening skills
Communication
is not only conveying, but also receiving. It is a two-way process.
So, leaders should learn to be good listeners too. This will not only
encourage the team members to open up to their leaders, but also
encourage them to convey their ideas and opinions. This two-way
interaction creates a kind of bonhomie between the leader and the
led.
#4
In making sales
What is commonly known as ‘shop talk’ is persuasive communication that helps the marketing personnel convince their customers into buying marketed products. Such communication skills require clarity in explaining the product or service to the customers that the marketer is selling. This is what converts it into sales, builds relationship with customers and widens the network.
#5
In handling crises
Businesses
often suffer from crisis of one kind or the other. In most cases,
timely action helps in overcoming such crises. However, timely action
happens with good communication skills, which helps explain the
crisis to all concerned in the quickest possible way. Communication
skills also help in conveying the news of the crisis to the public
and the media in the most favorable way, as also in steering clear of
any controversies that may crop up due to such crises.
#6
In spreading charisma
Great
speakers and orators are a charismatic lot and become the cynosure of
the public. This is due to their art of communication that charms and
motivates people to act at their behest. For business leaders, such
charisma works like a charm for networking with key people and
potential customers, as also to push their employees and team to do
better in a constructive manner.
Conclusion
Effective communication is one of the most vital tools in business today. It not only enhances teamwork but also facilitates high performance and improves workplace culture. This is the reason why such skills have become indispensable for success in business and have made B-schools sit up and take notice. For the Silo, Merin Mathew.
The MBA is inherently a generalist program, which aims at educating students on how to become better managers and handle businesses successfully. But quite recently, a lot on business schools have incorporated a large number of ‘specializations’ to their MBA courses to give students a deeper dive into the subjects of their choice. For example, the INSEAD MBA boasts of a choice of 75 elective courses for the students.
The world is changing at a fast pace. With the introduction of new technologies and the demand for skilled professions to manage those tasks, novel modules like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience which were barely significant a decade ago have been incorporated into many major MBA programs around the globe. Be it an MBA in Canada, the US or the UK, these specializations help in preparing students for specific business challenges that they would face in the fields of their choice. It also greatly helps in certain specific sectors such as hospitality, healthcare, luxury, and sports.
There is a
pressing need to diversify the portfolio of courses to meet the
latest market trends, requests by students and the dynamic
requirements of recruiters.
Here we would be discussing the various specializations to help you choose the best career path in your management endeavor.
1. Marketing
With the increasing competition in the marketplace, there is a need for excellent marketing skills and competitive positioning to differentiate your products and services and ensure a long term and sustainable profitability. Students opting for this specialization get useful insights into key marketing strategies such as competitive analysis, market research, consumer behavior analysis, business ethics, product and brand management, digital marketing, advertising, and e-commerce.
2. Human
Resources
This specialization involves a systematic and organized study on how to acquire, manage and retain workforce within an organization to achieve the goals of the organization. HR managers also ensure that there is a cordial relationship between the management and the employees. They may also be required to organize and coordinate various activities like off-site visits and employee get-togethers to keep alive the office culture.
3. Finance
If you are excited about financial data and numbers, this specialization is for you. It accounts for almost 22% of the MBA career choices, and this trend can be attributed to the higher pay packages offered and the wide varieties of job opportunities as compared to other streams. It gives you thorough insights into the functioning of the financial world and the knowledge of various financial theories that would help you to solve various business problems that you might encounter. Common job profiles include investment banking, credit risk management, and portfolio management.
4.
Information Systems
Digital
innovations and the introduction of technology in almost all
industries has produced a growing demand for professionals who
possess sound managerial skills coupled with advanced technical
expertise. It gives you knowledge about the emerging technological
innovations in the field of IT and enables you to handle areas like
network security, systems analysis, data analytics, supply chain
management, and e-business along with managerial decision-making.
5.
Consulting
The scope of
higher pay packages and the opportunity to travel to places lures MBA
graduates into going after this profession. You may be expected to
provide opinions and solutions to the issues faced by the
organization, or even take the responsibility of handling projects
beyond the scope of the internal staff. Common job roles offered are
IT/technology consulting, strategy consulting, operations consulting,
investment consulting and advertising.
6.
Operations Management
This specialization teaches students to effectively manage the planning, organization and production/manufacturing of products and services to maximize the overall efficiency of the organization. You can consider this specialty if you have interest in logistics or supply chain management.
7.
Entrepreneurship
If you want to establish your startup with the available resources, this specialization is for you. It offers critical business development and management knowledge that is required to set up and run a business successfully. Moreover, it teaches the requisite skills that entrepreneurs must possess to pitch their ideas and secure funding. The curriculum incorporates theoretical teaching with practical projects to give the students a taste of the real world.
Jungian Psychology uses art-therapy, dreams and imagery in mapping personal and collective unconscious, archetypes and complexes. Jung believed that there were fears and thoughts that children and adults exhibit that are “remarkably similar across time and culture” (allpsych.com) image: skycladtherapist.files.wordpress.com
The human brain is a wonder of the universe, but our understanding of it can seem contradictory, says Steven Jay Fogel, author of the book Your Mind Is What Your Brain Does for a Living.
“On the one hand, we’re often told of those crucial years that our brain develops in childhood, when we’re rapidly progressing in development of our language and other skills, and our preadolescent and teenage years, when our brains undergo a sort of second Big Bang of learning,” says Fogel, (www.StevenJayFogel.com).
“But although it may seem that the brain is pretty much set by adulthood, it remains malleable throughout adulthood; it continues to change as we learn and adapt.”
Most of us are unaware that elements of our inner child’s development are constantly tugging at us, and we don’t have a clue that it’s happening, he says. In Jungian therapy there’s a concept called the dark side, or shadow side, the place in our unconscious to which certain feelings and thoughts are banished because they don’t support our image of ourselves, he says.
Steven Jay Fogel is a longtime student of human behavior and development.
“That is our inner child responding to the emotional pain we experienced and interpreted with the limited understanding we had when we were very young. It continues to steer our reactions and behavior as adults, often in inappropriate ways,” Fogel says.
Awareness creates an opportunity for change. Fogel reviews how our adult brain can take command of the inner child:
• Recognize the elements of your self identity that keep you trapped. Our identity – how we want the world to see us – develops, in part, as a response to avoiding pain. Our identity may change from one situation to another (in the same way a chameleon changes its body color to match its surroundings) as we slip on the persona we believe is expected in a particular environment or social setting. This automatic behavior is the opposite of making mindful choices, and it robs us of the joy of living in the moment and inhibits spontaneity.
• Be aware of when you’re acting. Many of us live our lives as though we’re playing parts in various movies, navigating different storylines every day. You may be the righteous Clint Eastwood manager at work and then shift into the town drunk during happy hour, and later the loving husband and father during brunch the following weekend morning. When you’re playing these roles, you’re not in the present.
• Be skeptical of what the voice in your head may tell you. It’s not easy to recognize and quiet the mental chatter associated with the different roles we play. We’ve become so accustomed to the voice in our head, that we don’t realize its messages are programmed – and not necessarily the truth. Is your voice telling you to feel guilty? Ashamed? Angry? Is that rational? If not, it may be your inner child acting out of a childlike fear.
“Instead of simply responding to what we’re hardwired to think and react, we can hear, in mindful repose, those promptings as simply chatter,” Fogel says. “When you’re mindful, the inner child’s chatter can be seen for what it is, and you will be free to take a more mature directionin your day-to-day living.”
Steven Jay Fogel is a longtime student of human behavior and development; he has studied with psychologists, educators, and rabbinical scholars. Your Mind Is What Your Brain Does for a Living, (Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2014), is his third book. He is also the author of My Mind Is Not Always My Friend: A Guide for How to Not Get in Your Own Way (Fresh River Press, 2010) and The Yes-I-Can Guide to Mastering Real Estate (Times Books-Random House). For decades he has been an active participant in the human potential movement, inspiring and mentoring others to seek their true selves. Fogel is a principal and cofounder of Westwood Financial Corp., one of the largest owner-operators of retail properties in the United States. He is a licensed real estate broker and past chairman of the California Arts Council.
Supplemental- Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. The concept of synchronicity was first described in this terminology by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s.
The concept does not question, or compete with, the notion of causality. Instead, it maintains that just as events may be grouped by cause, they may also be grouped by meaning. A grouping of events by meaning need not have an explanation in terms of cause and effect.
Great vantage point! A “terrace photograph” from Kim’s new book.
“It’s important in today’s world that we counter all the bad news we read or hear about by savoring positive moments as if our lives depended on it.” So says author/photographer, Kim Weiss, who every days stops to “smell the sunshine” and photographs nature scenes from her 14th story balcony. This daily ritual, now documented in a small gift book and peppered with inspirational words is called Sunrise, Sunset: 52 Weeks of Awe & Gratitude, Weiss’ offering that reminds us that there’s more to life than what the media shows to us. A significant portion of the proceeds from book sales is donated to AVDA – an organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence.
Kim Weiss- “Sunrise, Sunset” author/photographer
“I never thought that my hobby of photographing the sun would turn into my ‘passion project,’ never mind a book,” says photographer/author, Kim Weiss about, Sunrise, Sunset: 52 Weeks of Awe & Gratitude (HCI Books) “Odd as it is to go from publicist to ‘author,’ I was moved to share the sense of awe I get to experience every day from my 14th floor terrace.” Her universally loved sunrises (& sunsets) fill the pages, accompanied by the sage words of inspiring people we admire. Each week commentary from people like Candace Bushnell, Lisa Nichols, Jack Canfield, Joan Halifax, Marty Becker, Marci Shimoff and many, many more complement the visual beauty of the sun rising and setting.
“I’m actually thrilled to see that a growing number of admirers of my photographs have convened on Facebook and Instagram and not only like my pictures but are inspired to post their own,” says Weiss. “We’re many thousands strong and have posts from Nova Scotia to Guam.”
Another lovely photo from Kim’s book.
Sunrise, Sunset, (which happens to fit nicely inside a bag, or perch on a nightstand), is the ultimate gift book for saying “thank you,” sharing a blessing, or offering an oasis for spiritual awakening. From sunrise to sunset this book will be a perennial source of inspiration.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kim Weiss (Boynton Beach, FL) has been a publicist in the book industry for many years and coaches other writers aspiring to be bestselling authors. Her love of nature and photography began when she was just a little girl and bloomed into the writer and photographer she is today. From her 14th floor terrace she witnesses the beauty of nature and captures it through the lens of her camera. As a storyteller, Kim has contributed to the hugely popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series and The Ultimate Bird Lover.
You have probably always wanted to write a book. You have probably tried to start writing it several times and gave up. Or maybe you did write it, but it didn’t quite turn out the way you wanted it to. You have most likely been scared and frustrated by the writing process, as well as exhilarated and thrilled. And you probably wondered how you could tell exactly what you wanted to tell, and tell it well.
I’m not going to give you an answer to your burning questions. I’m still searching for it myself. But I will maybe alleviate your pain in sharing with you my own search on the way to telling my stories in the best way I can. After four years of writing full-time, I have turned a corner and am no longer scared. No, this is a lie. I am scared, but being scared no longer stops me. And the answer is simple: study the craft of writing. How? By doing it and by learning how others did it before you.
When I started out, I charged ahead like mad, high on the possibility of writing my very first book and actually doing it. I disregarded rules and channeled my inner self on the page, believing it was true art (not that I understood what that meant). I was fine for a while. But on my fourth book I got lost and quickly finished it because I didn’t know how to make it better. And on my fifth book I got stuck and had to scrap everything and reengineer my entire writing process. Why? Because I ignored the rules. I thought writing was an expression of something intangible and divine that couldn’t be touched lest it be wrecked by such rudimentary and boring things as plotting, theme development, grammar, character arcs, etc. And I was wrong, and maybe because you read these lines you will trust that what I’m sharing with you is true and will spare yourself the pain I went through (or maybe you won’t, but you will remember these lines when you hit rock bottom).
Know what they expect 😉
Writing isn’t some nebulous ethereal substance to be caught from the air and randomly spun into a story. Writing is both an art and a craft, and the two can’t be separated from each other. If you’re a painter, you must know the types of paints and brushes you use. What would happen if you didn’t? Same with writing. The boring grammar is not boring at all. It’s a wonderful tool to help you say exactly what you want to say the best way you can. It’s a tool that you have to learn and allow yourself to be awkward with, at first, and keep practicing until you master it, and it becomes a skill that you don’t have to think about.
Jemaine Clement as frustrated author Dr. Ronald Chevalier in Gentleman Broncos.
That frustration we talked about, remember? It comes from the feeling that something isn’t right, but you can’t pinpoint what exactly. Studying the craft of writing will show you what’s wrong and how to fix it. Without it you’ll be lost and tempted to give up.
But there are so many ways to write! You might be thinking. There are writers who plot, and writers who don’t! You’re right, of course. But here is what I’ve learned. Until you study the rules of your craft, you won’t know how to break them. And by not studying the rules at all you’re robbing yourself of a chance to learn how to tell your tale and tell it well. You might get lucky and stumble on it. You might not. Are you willing to spend days, months, years groping around in the dark? That’s what I did, and it’s not an easy road. I nearly quit writing altogether several times, that’s how bad it got.
So where do you start? You start by doing and learning. What do I mean by that? Simple. Start writing your tale. Just start. When you get blocked and don’t know how to proceed, look at what’s stopped you and study it. Read about it. Is it grammar? Revisit your grammar. Is it sentence structure or style? Read about style. Is it your character who gives you trouble? Study how to write characters. Plot problems? Learn about plotting. And so on. You will find that every time you get stuck you will get unstuck, and with new knowledge keep charging forward. You will see that learning how to write well takes time, and you will allow your tale to be bad and awkward and messy, because you will know that it’s normal, and this is what will keep you from quitting. That’s huge. I wish someone told me this when I started.
I had to find out for myself. I hope my telling you this now will keep you from quitting. We need your tale. We want to read it. So tell it. And while doing so, learn how to tell it well. It may be that it’ll take you ten bad tales to arrive at one good one. Or maybe twenty. Or thirty. But never give up. Do and learn, do and learn, and you will get there. And now I’m done telling you my tale about how I learned that to tell my tale well I needed to study how to do it. Your turn.
Shackled but making waves- Jay Platt swimming from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco with his hands and feet tied.
For as long as he could remember, Jay Platt wanted to be a U.S. Marine, and for nearly 15 years, he lived that dream. But in 1998, a rare condition called von Hippel Lindau syndrome (VHL), attacked his eyes, brain, spine and kidneys, forcing his retirement from the service.
“Before VHL I pretty much felt untouchable – until I started having symptoms and the eventual diagnosis,” he says.
“I was scared, confused and angry” Jay Platt explains some of the emotions that he has learned to conquer.
“I was scared, confused and angry for a number of years; I couldn’t understand why God would do this to me. I went from feeling invulnerable to officially being considered handicapped.”
After a personal journey of acceptance, Platt re-calibrated his sense of purpose by accepting challenges many world-class athletes wouldn’t consider. Along with a record-breaking Mississippi swim while blindfolded, handcuffed and shackled, he swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco with his hands and feet tied, and he was one of fewer than 300 people to hike the more than 2,100-mile southbound Appalachian Trail.
Platt, who is the subject of the new documentary, “Living Unstoppable,” (www.LivingUnstoppable.com), explains his transformation and how others might apply the lessons of his journey to their own lives:
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• The motivation of “can’t” … Something is triggered in people when they’re told they can’t do something. Those who want to do what they “can’t” eventually find a way if they’re motivated and determined. “I don’t care who you are – everybody goes through something in life; nobody gets through unscathed,” he says. “And everyone, at some point, faces something they believe they can’t do – but want very much. If you haven’t yet, you will, and coming to terms with it will be a process.” Use it as motivation for living life to the fullest, and let it show you how beautiful our time on Earth really is, he says.
• The lesson of the severely handicappedlittle girl: Platt experienced a long period of despair, hopelessness and rage against the universe. One day while at the park, he heard the pure joy in the laughter of a severely handicapped girl who was being pushed in a wheelchair by her mother. “ ‘Listen to the birds, Momma,’ I heard her say – she was just so happy to experience that simple pleasure,” he says. “That has stayed with me ever since; if that little girl could get past her suffering and appreciate singing birds, then I could do much better.”
• A promise to contribute to the greater good: The onset of his VHL symptoms, which included vision problems in his left eye and disorientation, was a very scary period for Platt. During this period he made a promise to himself and God to devote his life to others if he survived. He has kept that promise – his Appalachian Trail hike alone raised $109,000 for charity.
• You are still you; don’t let tragedy totally define you: While Platt is officially retired from the USMC, he is still the same guy who fully lived a proud life as a Marine for a decade and a half. While how you respond to hardship says much about one’s character, you don’t have to remain psychically stuck in the worst part of your life by identifying most with a weakness. Use a handicap, for example, for what it’s worth – something that helps you strive for significance and fulfillment in life. For the Silo, Ginny Grimsley.
About Jay Platt
Jay Platt was medically retired from the Marine Corps in 1998 after suffering complications from von Hippel Lindau syndrome (VHL), a genetic disease that resulted in brain and spinal tumors, kidney cancer, and the loss of his left eye. When told his future would be considerably dimmer than his past, Platt set out to rebuild himself physically, mentally and spiritually, and to challenge himself by setting demanding physical goals. He was one of fewer than 300 people to have hiked the more than 2,100-mile southbound Appalachian Trail; one of three to swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco with hands and feet tied; and the only person to swim across the Mississippi River while blindfolded, handcuffed and shackled. The proceeds from his adventures and sales of his documentary benefit non-profits, including the VHL Family Alliance.
What do you do when you end up losing everything in a natural disaster? You pick yourself up and really haul the proverbial ass on getting your ducks in a row. One never knows just how blessed you are until it’s all gone.
Just the simple thing of buying towels, toothpaste, toothbrushes and utensils (after losing everything) adds up to hundreds of dollars. But where do you turn when absolutely everything is gone and you spent your last dollar on a house but you literally have nothing to put in it? There are wonderful charities out there to help you get back on your feet such as the Furniture bank of Metro Atlanta. They helped our family with furniture when we lost everything in August of 2017 due to Hurricane Irma and had nothing but our new floor to lay on.
I wanted to give back and so I got an old piece of furniture to ‘redo’ for their February 22nd furniture gala which raises money for their worthwhile foundation. The old furniture I worked on was a 1910 hat rack which at the time of purchase was falling apart. I created two sculptural cathedral agates in paint and resin to go on either side of the turn of the century mirror. I then stripped, sanded, studded, wood burned, wood carved and added leather and succulent gardens at the bottom. After that, I create handmade conchos and metal stars to add a bit of southwest flare. Now the old hat rack is transformed into a southwest jewelry doorless armoire.
Painting the cathedral agates.
For a final touch, I stashed it full of handmade- one of a kind jewelry! In many ways, I feel like I have responded positively to such a tragic event. Remember when tragedy strikes, you have a choice on how you will react and move forward. Art is one of the best ways of digging yourself out of a void.
Explore the spectacular royal arts of one of India’s greatest former kingdoms, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where alluring jewelry, lavish tents and canopies, vibrant paintings, and opulent decorative arts tell stories of kingship, strategic alliances, the role of women, and life at court.
Photo- Neil Greentree
Treasures of a Desert Kingdom features masterpieces drawn from the collection of the former royal family, most of which are on display outside their palace setting for the very first time.
Rolls Royce Silver Shadow Mehrangarh Museum Trust
While the stunning objects highlight India’s multifaceted past, they reveal a lasting cosmopolitan culture that was sustained by a delicate balance between local and external influences, and tradition and modernity.
Rajasthan Spice Box for Paan or Betal nut. Photo- Neil Greentree
For the Silo, 
6. Take a warm shower: It’s as common as the chicken and egg debate: should you shower in the morning or at night? The answer is actually both, but especially in the morning because a warm to hot shower will increase circulation in the skin, and help awake the nervous system.
Aadil and his wife, Savitri, are the founders of Purna Yoga, a holistic synthesis of yogic traditions based on the work of 
You have probably always wanted to write a book. You have probably tried to start writing it several times and gave up. Or maybe you did write it, but it didn’t quite turn out the way you wanted it to. You have most likely been scared and frustrated by the writing process, as well as exhilarated and thrilled. And you probably wondered how you could tell exactly what you wanted to tell, and tell it well.
you get stuck you will get unstuck, and with new knowledge keep charging forward. You will see that learning how to write well takes time, and you will allow your tale to be bad and awkward and messy, because you will know that it’s normal, and this is what will keep you from quitting. That’s huge. I wish someone told me this when I started.
