tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39556783426065643082024-02-20T03:30:13.327-06:00Insights and ForesightInsights about the past and present environment, and foresight about the future.Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.comBlogger731125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-24408794329289786012020-10-13T09:41:00.002-05:002020-10-13T16:22:21.802-05:00Liberty, Freedom and RightsI am writing about liberty, freedom, and rights because I
think that we have become confused about their meaning. This attempt was
brought on because of many people saying that being told to wear a mask as a
part of a protocol to control the Covid 19-pandemic is a violation of their
rights as a citizen of the United States.
These words – liberty, freedom, and rights - are fraught
with emotion. IPaul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-21715583354354425862015-08-14T12:06:00.000-05:002015-08-14T12:07:57.693-05:00Leadership in the Interactive AgeFinally got around to archiving this work. Probably more accurately stated, my information technology tools finally allowed me to create this archive.
"Leadership in the Interactive Age" was one of significant accomplishments of my consulting career. It was a collaboration between my business partner, Donna Prestwood, our colleague, Barbara Benjamin, New York, and me. We met at least three timesPaul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-75242248393392272742013-11-07T15:52:00.001-06:002013-11-07T15:52:24.808-06:00Ten critical elements for an open innovation cultureStefan Lindegaard, INTRAP
In our Leadership+Innovation community on LinkedIn, Chris Thoen who is a R&D Director at Procter & Gamble, asked which elements are needed in order to create an open innovation culture. Our community had an interesting discussion and I want to share the key elements that came up.
- Willingness to accept that not all the smart people work for your company. Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-27642883761618134702013-11-07T15:50:00.000-06:002013-11-07T15:50:46.810-06:00Democracy at Work: A Cure for CapitalismThis was an interesting and thought provoking book. The author, Richard Wolf, has written an intriguing and valuable history of the development of democratic capitalism. I found this part of the book very valuable. I also learned from his distinctions and history of the development of socialism and communism. He reverts back to the ideas of Karl Max and defines capitalism not in terms of markets Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-64582316039744566422013-10-31T16:02:00.000-05:002013-10-31T16:02:18.882-05:00The Evolution of MusicWilliam Calvin in his excellent book The Cerebral Symphony, speculates in the excerpt reprinted below about how music evolved in us. It is one of the unsolved riddles of natural selection. The occasion he writes about here is The Woods Hole Cantata, a once a year performance by the scientists at Woods Hole who are also musicians.
“Many of the musicians, and most of the audience, are Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-363930646275032192013-10-10T14:17:00.003-05:002013-10-10T14:17:41.202-05:00Introduction to ComplexityThis is a re-offering of our popular "Introduction to Complexity" course, with some new material, homework, and exams.
In this course you'll learn about the tools used by scientists to understand complex systems. The topics you'll learn about include dynamics, chaos, fractals, information theory, self-organization, agent-based modeling, and networks. You’ll also get a sense of how these topics Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-71660558903230679442013-09-21T16:29:00.000-05:002013-09-21T16:29:15.608-05:00Bernie Krause: The voice of the natural world
Bernie Krause has been recording wild soundscapes -- the wind in the trees, the chirping of birds, the subtle sounds of insect larvae -- for 45 years. In that time, he has seen many environments radically altered by humans, sometimes even by practices thought to be environmentally safe. A surprising look at what we can learn through nature's symphonies, from the grunting of a sea anemone to the Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-66342257945978416242013-09-13T09:18:00.000-05:002013-09-13T09:18:39.256-05:00A Poet's View of ComplexityA poet's view of complexity:
"Nature gives us shapeless shapes
Clouds and waves and flame
But human expectation
Is that love remains the same
And when it doesn't
We point our fingers
And blame blame blame"
Paul Simon, You're the One
And it's not just love where we look for blame. Almost all human systems are complex systems, and looking for a cause in them is fruitless.Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-48205392195292970912013-09-05T16:37:00.000-05:002013-09-05T16:37:18.549-05:00Change, Entropy and ComplexityA video clip from Al Gore's speech on his book The Future. He talks about change, entropy and complexity. While I applaud his courage of introducing the concept of complexity in the public speech to a general audience and I love his metaphors, he doesn't quite get right. But it's a great attempt.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4463895Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-53789067740135078212013-09-05T11:54:00.000-05:002013-09-05T11:54:42.807-05:00The Future: Six Drivers of Global ChangeFormer Vice President Al Gore is currently the Chairman of the Climate Reality Project, co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufiled & Byers. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1985 and the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 1990. Mr. Gore is the author of several books, including Earth in the Balance and An Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-44565951701913559462013-08-28T08:18:00.003-05:002013-08-28T08:18:45.597-05:00The End Game for DemocracyPaul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-59741058947425110882013-08-27T14:31:00.002-05:002013-08-27T14:31:53.606-05:00America's Gilded Capital
Mark Leibovich covers Washington, D.C., as chief national correspondent
for The New York Times Magazine. In his new book, This Town, he writes
about the city’s bipartisan lust for power, cash and notoriety. It’s the
story of how Washington became an occupied city; its hold on reality
distorted by greed and ambition. Leibovich pulls no punches, names
names, and reveals the movers, the Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-63498038864189354332013-08-27T14:09:00.003-05:002013-08-27T14:10:26.899-05:00Big Debt on CampusThis really upsets me. From Mother Jones, September 2013
Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-41610860002720650712013-08-26T11:39:00.000-05:002013-08-26T11:39:01.526-05:00To Think“Thinking
done for totally personal reasons-even when it concerns other
people-usually has secure roots in our own intentions, values,
considerations, and desires. We usually know where we are coming from
and where we want to get to, and our thoughts can range without the
inhibition of other people's possible reaction. The business of the
brain is the construction of realities-the actual Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-22767264089189780532013-08-12T16:54:00.000-05:002013-08-12T16:54:33.502-05:00Useless InnovationI'm getting irritated by useless innovation. I see it everywhere. My attempt to define it is innovation that adds function or changes form without an increase in utility in order to increase price or comparative differentiation. Seen any of that?Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-54776813627368574972013-07-27T15:07:00.000-05:002013-07-27T15:07:40.549-05:00Two American Families: Complexity At Work?It’s a central premise of the American dream: If you’re willing to
work hard, you’ll be able to make a living and build a better life for
your children. But what if working hard isn’t enough to ensure success —
or even the basic necessities of daily life?
FRONTLINE’s Two American Families follows two ordinary families who have spent the past 20 years in an extraordinary battle to keep from Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-61241447981348026632013-07-22T11:31:00.001-05:002013-07-22T11:31:05.294-05:00The State of America's Middle ClassThe following was taken from "The State of
America's Middle Class in Eight Charts" by Jason Breslow and Evan
Wexler, Frontline, PBS. Click here for charts and article.
Wages are down
Middle class incomes have shrunk 8.5 percent since 2000, after
enjoying mostly steady growth during the previous decade. In 2011, the
average income for the middle 60 percent of households stood at $53,042,
Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-80499978304522157292013-07-09T16:49:00.001-05:002013-07-09T16:50:08.689-05:00Snowden, Polls and Critical Thinking<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-18118046232524473322013-07-01T15:06:00.001-05:002013-07-01T15:06:37.198-05:00Critical Thinking In JusticeAccording to Wikipedia, "Since the 15th century, Lady Justice has often been depicted wearing a
blindfold. The blindfold represents objectivity, in that justice is or
should be meted out objectively, without fear or favour, regardless of
identity, money, power, or weakness; blind justice and impartiality."
Isn't it curious that Lady Justice was always a woman, and that the first woman Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-77534331737945579632013-06-03T15:23:00.000-05:002013-06-05T09:09:22.516-05:00Critical Thinking<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-35238704684482698582013-05-31T08:49:00.000-05:002013-05-31T08:50:05.137-05:00Mary Meeker’s State of the Internet: Good, Bad or Somewhere In-Between? by Marissa Wong, Slide Share
"500 million photos are uploaded every day. Sharing of digital
information has grown 9 times in five years. And China is leading the
digital charge. If you haven’t seen it already, “Queen of the ‘Net” Mary
Meeker has uploaded her latest report on Internet trends.
Among the highlights: Emerging markets continue
to lead in the 8% year-over-year growth Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-38756530849289553812013-05-21T09:39:00.000-05:002013-05-21T09:39:02.346-05:00It’s the Best Possible Time to Be Alive<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-59505699455716400182013-05-09T14:47:00.000-05:002013-05-09T14:47:13.391-05:00How Money Walks
A
fascinating way to look at the transfer of wealth within the US from
1995 to 2010. The map below shows Travis County, Texas (home of Austin)
which has a net gain in wealth $2.72B. It gained that wealth from Harris
County, Dallas County, Los Angeles County, Santa Clara County and Bexar
County. It lost wealth to its neighboring counties of Williamson, Hays,
Bastrop, Burnet and Caldwell.
Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-17960938317671451382013-04-24T16:33:00.003-05:002013-04-24T16:37:44.814-05:00Atlas Has Shrugged: West, Texas <!--[if !mso]>
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<![endif]-->“Like almost anyone who lives in Texas, I have visited the
town of West, uncountable times. Nobody drives I-35 through the middle of the
state without stopping for the famous kolaches[1].
Hardly anyone else knows much about the Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3955678342606564308.post-58569966295369002662013-04-24T14:57:00.000-05:002013-04-24T14:58:36.876-05:00Well Informed Futility and Complexity<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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<![endif]-->I learned a new phrase on Friday's PBS TV program Moyers and
Company - well informed futility.
“In the absence of federal policies that are protective of
child development and the Paul Schumannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989445046339663270noreply@blogger.com0