Matsis

"Only the path they each randomly took determined where they ended up. This doesn’t mean genes don’t matter, or birth place doesn’t matter… it just means that random choices have just as much to do with guiding our fate as our skills and work ethic." - Matsis

"Although a job is often regarded as a purely economic transaction, in which people exchange their labor for financial compensation, the brain experiences the workplace first and foremost as a social system. Like the experiment participants whose avatars were left out of the game, people who feel betrayed or unrecognized at work — for example, when they are reprimanded, given an assignment that seems unworthy, or told to take a pay cut — experience it as a neural impulse, as powerful and painful as a blow to the head. Most people who work in companies learn to rationalize or temper their reactions; they “suck it up,” as the common parlance puts it. But they also limit their commitment and engagement. They become purely transactional employees, reluctant to give more of themselves to the company, because the social context stands in their way. Leaders who understand this dynamic can more effectively engage their employees’ best talents, support collaborative teams, and create an... more... - Matsis from Bookmarklet

"Although Burt found a strong correlation between the performance of managers and their affiliation with well-connected colleagues, the relationship disappears when the manager’s own network is held constant. That is, if two people have well-connected friends, then the person who is herself well-connected performs well and the person who does not have her own network of valuable contacts does not do well. Well-connected people have their own interests and need not associate with those who contribute nothing to the relationship and only seek to use them. What really matters for performance is a person’s own network and not that of her friends." - Matsis from Bookmarklet

“It is not being in the know, but rather having to translate between different groups so that you develop gifts of analogy, metaphor, and communicating between people who have difficulty communicating to each other,” says Burt. - Matsis

"How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect" - Matsis from Bookmarklet

So sad. - Matsis from Bookmarklet

Pretty cool. I'm sure it's also useful somehow. - Matsis from Bookmarklet

"World Reaction to Obama Winning the Nobel" - Matsis from Bookmarklet

We want custom service without the memory. Maybe we're confused or maybe the question isn't asked correctly. - Matsis from Bookmarklet

"British Sports psychiatrist Steve Peters has this theory about our "inner chimp." The chimp being those impulsive thoughts, emotions and actions that undercut what we are trying to, or meant to, do with our lives." - Matsis

"Google’s Wave will crash hard onto the beach of overhype." - Matsis from Bookmarklet

"3. The mindset change from “hoarding information is the way to get ahead” to “sharing is the way to get ahead” The way to achieve #3 has been, if not the holy grail of KM, then its persistent bane. And how will we get to this shift? Put the knowledge sharing in the flow, McAfee says. That should sound familiar to KM types as mantra #4: build it into the business processes. What’s different this time, is that the tools really are becoming so pervasive, easy to use, and just plain sensible, that we really might get there." - Matsis from Bookmarklet

"Between self-aggrandizing FriendFeeds, bottom-feeding link baiters, and perpetual Twitter spammers, finding cool online friends can be challenging. Michael G. Noll and Ching-man Au Yeung created the SPEAR (SPamming-resistant Expertise Analysis and Ranking) algorithm in the hopes of separating the social media wheat from the chaff. This morning the two postgraduate students offered their findings to Delicious in a blog post. " - Matsis

Unfortunately, I have no idea if there's any way to make use of this algorithm anywhere. - Matsis

"Perhaps this is just the first step. The text based Twitter will be replaced with an audio based “Grunter.” Rather than spend a full 140 characters, you have your choice of 10 gutteral grunts registering surprise, anger, sadness, joy, etc. Then we can move to the next phase: Grimacer. Just pictures depicting how you feel." - Matsis

It's a bit ironic that you 'liked' this Nathaniel. I guess you're already using grimacer! - Matsis