I listened to this RSA lunchtime lecture this last Thursday - David Brooks was the speaker on the subject of a book he has just written.What follows is a mega summary of the lecture...
.... and then a bit more detail created from some the ideas that particularly struck me.
At the foot of this post are links to some other posts you may find useful.
Luke Robinson @LukeRobboUK
.@nytdavidbrooks "We focus much more on how to build a good career rather than a good character" #RSACharacter
1) be self aware of your good and bad points;
2) let that awareness and your experience of life (including love & suffering) affect the humility and empathy and generosity with which you treat others;
3) focus not on your value but on your service to others
and in a bit more detail ...
David Brooks started off by talking about incandescent people - like the Dali Lama - and their inner glow. In looking at such people he had started to think about how he could achieve that inner glow himself.
He then went on to describe 2 differing focus people seem to have in their lives
1) some seem to focus on their CV virtues - that is things they are good at, that are helpful for getting a good job and successful career
2) others seem to focus on their Eulogy virtues - the things that people will say about them at their funeral
- Today @nytdavidbrooks asks are you focused on your value to the marketplace or on the integrity of your inner life? @RSAEvents #RSACharacter
Luke Robinson He described these different approaches as "Adam 1" and "Adam 2" (taken from The Lonely Man of Faith by Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik)
Adam 1 - the CV virtues - so an economic focus typified by words like logic, practice & produce & perfect, calculating, shrewd, work focused, conquer, venture, win
Adam 2 - Eulogy virtues - so typified by words like humility, love, doing good, vocation, selflessness, generosity and self sacrifice
David suggested that our culture is out of balance with a focus on Adam 1.
So we are taught to brand ourselves, to have a good career, to focus on our self interest, to broadcast ourselves via social media. Children are told to love themselves, that they are wonderful inside - to be "true to yourself"
- Median narcissism scores have increased by 30% over 20 years. People losing ability to hold moral conversations. @ECISchools #RSAcharacter
Kevin J Ruth Indeed using Google Ngrams he said that we can see that the use of "economic" Adam 1 type words is increasing ...
whilst the use of "moral" Adam 2 type words is decreasing ...
He also mentioned a survey which asked College students which they would choose - a life of fame or a life of sex. Most picked fame
'80% of young people think they are really important' Hence increased desire for fame #RSACharacter
David then went on to describe how he had looked at various people to see how to develop a moral life and the activities that would help - bravery, gratitude, kindness, humility
David then went on to describe how he had looked at various people to see how to develop a moral life and the activities that would help - bravery, gratitude, kindness, humility
so he talked about Eisenhower ....
- 'Humility is radical self-awareness from a distance, the ability to see both your strengths and your weakness' - Eisenhower #RSAcharacter
Rashmir and how a childhood experience taught Eisenhower about acknowledging the anger he had inside - "the key confrontation is against yourself" - so he could manage his anger and so lead others
then David talked about Samuel Johnson - with his OCD tendancies
It's more empowering to confront inner flaws, which in turn builds character, rather than blaming others. #RSACharacter
and pointed out that such confrontation of our inner flaws increases our empathy for others
David next talked about Francis Perkins and her commitment to work safety that arose from seeing a fire in a factory where people threw themselves out of upper storey windows and so fell to their death - to escape the intense heat. He thought that Francis embraced a call within her - a vocation - what life was demanding of her
and the final example David gave was George Elliot - and how love humbles, how it ploughs open hard ground, how it de-centres us from from ourselves
We then turned to a Q&A - various quotes from the Q&A session are below
Dissatisfaction with neuroscience revolution brought @DavidBrooks420 to 'character' #RSAcharacter
David mentioned a reading list of 14 books he gives his students - this maybe close
David mentioned a reading list of 14 books he gives his students - this maybe close
- 'The Internet is a vast de-commitment device'-Is technology eroding an essential aspect of character building? #RSACharacter
- You get what you bring to social media - don't blame what 'tech' does; it's how you use it @nytdavidbrooks #RSAcharacter
"the message is the person - think of how Pope Francis is"
"Volunteering for worthy causes doesn't necessarily build character - that is confusing the external with the internal"
other posts on RSA, TED, other lectures, conferences, others blog posts
2015
in search of a fuller life - an RSA event with philosopher Theodore Zeldin
18 management practices to measure good management & 10 conclusions on the data gathered on such across firms and countries - summarised out of this paper - Why Do Management Practices Differ across Firms and Countries? - by Nicholas Bloomand John Van Reenen
algorithmically enhanced confirmation bias - 6 uncomfortable facts about how facebook affects what we see - from a post by @nathanjurgenson
10 thoughts on some possible insights (& questions) from the UK Election results
11 headlines on why we use facebook & social media - summarised out of a very rich buffer post by Courtney Seiteron
The 10 problems which mean the process to allocate scientific funding is broken
where does creativity come from? - a @RSAEvents lecture by mathematician @Cedric_Villani @alexbellos
how to innovate & survive - by @markf212 (Mark Payne)
where does creativity come from? - a @RSAEvents lecture by mathematician @Cedric_Villani @alexbellos
how to innovate & survive - by @markf212 (Mark Payne)
18 top tips and thoughts about using #social media to enable #community source = an article by Anatoliy Gruzd PhD & Caroline Haythornthwaite PhD
2014
Data Protection & Privacy - 8 issues from an International Conference
escape your social horizon limit & understand more - source = a blog post summarising the work of Jeffrey A. Smith, Miller McPherson & Lynn Smith-Lovin
OECD - challenges for the next 50 years - in an OECD report
Want to help somebody - shut up and listen - by ermesto sirolli
social media & death - 10 things you may not have thought about - #DORS conference
persuasion and power in the modern world and the rise of soft power - UK House of Lords
2013
UK Government Policy Blunders & their common causes - by Anthony King & Ivor Crewe
the development of the U2 spyplane - source = CIA historians Gregory Pedlow & Donald Welzenbach
considering culture and business process improvement - source = an article by Schmiedel, Theresa, vom Brocke, Jan, & Recker
ideas that may help you attract older volunteers - source = a paper by Brayley, Nadine, Obst, Patricia L., White, Katherine M., Lewis, Ioni M.,Warburton, Jeni, & Spencer, Nancy
physical factors which help people get better quicker - source = a paper by Salonen, Heidi & Morawska, Lidia
guiding principles on designing construction kits - by Mitchel Resnick & Brian Silverman
signs of overparenting - source = an article by Locke, Judith, Campbell, Marilyn A., & Kavanagh, David J
making ideas happen - source = a 99U conference
2012
how to spot a liar - by pamela myer
ambiguity, irreverence, commentary & judgement - by lauren zalaznick
measuring happiness - source = talk by jim clifton, jim harter, ben leedle
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