Thanks to brain imaging scientists now know that your brain keeps growing as long as you’re alive.

Quite a difference from the old view that your brain stops making new neural connection around puberty.

Another new idea is that your brain needs just as much exercise as the rest of you, especially as you age.

Thinking is essentially a process of making neural connections in the brain.  To a certain extent, our ability to excel in making the neural connections that drive intelligence is inherited.  However, because these connections are made through effort and practice, scientists believe that intelligence can expand and fluctuate according to mental effort.

It’s simple; we’re talking Pilates for your brain.

And a simple way to do it, thank to some of the leading brains at Stanford and, what else, but a startup.

Now, a new San Francisco Web-based company has taken it a step further and developed the first “brain training program” designed to actually help people improve and regain their mental sharpness.  Called Lumosity, it was designed by some of the leading experts in neuroscience and cognitive psychology from Stanford University.

UPDATE: While Lumosity has been debunked by the FTC, the science of using your brain and building new neural paths is well founded.

And, like physical exercise, you don’t want to wait until age makes the exercise a necessity.

Your brain will thank you. And as you age your family, friends and the healthcare system will all thank you.

After all, you don’t want to end up an old codger or biddy.

Flickr image credit: tellatic

Beyond anything you have, your most valuable possession is your mind. It is the source of your past, present and future; it can attract or repel; both pain and happiness reside in it, along with all other emotions. Your mind is magical, cherish it.

Buddha understood this when he said, “The mind is everything. What you think you become.”

Plato had an unusual view of the mind’ action that I really like, “When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.”

James Dewar reminds us of an important prerequisite of successful mental effort, “Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open.”

And Henry Ford tells us that learning is what keeps us young, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

But it is William Shakespeare whose words are most appropriate in these days of Facebook, Twitter and all things social, “Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes.”

Flickr image credit: saurabhmyworld

John Warrillow, at BNET, writes that the best question for weeding out victim mentality is “Tell me about the last time you made a mistake.”

He says that if the person accepts full accountability and doesn’t try to excuse or blame anyone else he almost always hires them.

While I agree it’s a great question and that the response tells you a lot about the candidate, I disagree that taking full responsibility necessarily makes a good hire.

There is a substantial difference between making excuses and a situation that leaves the person with no choice but to make the mistake.

There are too many managers who set their people up to fail, whether unintentionally or not. (Yes, there are mangers who do it intentionally.)
There is a difference between stating why the mistake was made and describing what could/should have been done differently and playing victim.

I advise creating a different dialog.

Manager: Tell me how [whatever].

Candidate responds.

Manager: Is that how you would have done it if you were in charge?

Candidate responds yes or no.

Manager: Why?

Asking why gets you to what you really want to know, which is how the candidate thinks.

How the person thinks is the crux, whether the candidate is a senior exec, admin or somewhere in-between.

And while it’s a good question to add to your interview repertoire I don’t think it’s strong enough to stand on it’s own as a ‘make or break’.

While discovering if the person has a victim mentality is useful, what is the advantage of hiring someone willing to take responsibility for a mistake that really isn’t theirs?

You need to know more; extenuating circumstances that at first may sound like an excuse can turn out to be plain facts.

Explore why the mistake happened, if and how it was rectified and what could have been done to prevent it.

In short, take time to dig deeper into any response that brings up a red flag, but do it with an open mind.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wadem/2808468566/

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born yesterday and has a holiday in his honor tomorrow, so today seems like a good time so share some of his thoughts. In the abundance of available quotes I looked for those that had broader applicability than the worlds of politics and religion.

Corporate training, mentoring programs and management coaching should have the same goals as King recommends for education.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically… Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.

There is a reason that IBM’s slogan is “Think;” that’s right, just that one word encapsulates its culture and everything it asks of its employees. IBM knows that critical thinking at all levels of the company is its true edge on the competition, as do many others. Sadly, more and more people seem to prefer pursuing silver bullets.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.

In a world where the various flavors of ideology encourage blind acceptance as opposed critical thinking, Kings words ring especially true.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

If you do choose to focus on building critical thinking within your organization it is to remember King’s belief regarding progress.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

Finally, if you are responsible for another person’s growth, whether at work, at home or in the general world, print out this bit of wisdom and tape it where you will see it every day.

Lukewarm acceptance is more bewildering than outright rejection.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave_mckeague/362318943/

Today is Earth Day and much will be written on what it will take to create a sustainable future for all life on our planet and it will be written by those far more knowledgeable than I.

The basis of the actions that must happen to assure a sustainable future is the MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) required to enable it. MAP is composed of three parts that are formed over time starting in early childhood. Mindset and attitude are the main focus; they are the ones most commonly written about and discussed.

But it is philosophy upon which the other two rest making it the most important and it is philosophy that most often is assumed or ignored—especially when it comes to young kids. After all, developing philosophy requires high level reasoning and common wisdom says that young kids can’t do it.

However, as is often the case, common wisdom is wrong.

Matthew Lipman, then a professor at Columbia University, argued that children could think abstractly at an early age and that philosophical questioning could help them develop reasoning skills. … Professor Lipman’s view opposed that of the child-development theorist Jean Piaget, who asserted that children under 12 were not capable of abstract reasoning.

To build a truly sustainable future is more likely to happen if the changes required are driven by the ‘P’ in MAP, rather than by unthinking dogma and ideology.

You would think that anything that helped kids develop the kind of life skills that make for better citizens would be welcome, but the ability to conceptualize and reason are no longer the focus of education.

…many school officials either find the subject too intimidating or believe it does not fit with the test-driven culture of public education these days.

Building a sustainable future isn’t a function of multiple choice questions, so we, today’s adults, had better choose wisely the tools that are required and then see to it that the tomorrow’s adults can use them—or there won’t be much future for their children.

Image credit: FlyingSinger on flickr

What do you think about, other than beer, food and fireworks, on this day that marks our freedom?

I have three suggestions for you.

How long since you actually read the Declaration Of Independence? What better way to spend some time with your kids/relatives/friends than reading, discussing and perhaps even thinking about it? Better yet, make it a tradition, a yearly habit that will yield enormous benefits—guaranteed.

If your thoughts include the troops fighting far away, then you can say thnks without breaking the bank. For less than you probably spent on your celebration you can click Over to Any Soldier and do something active for our troops, rather than just talking about how brave they are and grateful you are.

“Any Soldier Inc. started in August 2003 as a simple family effort to help the soldiers in one Army unit; thus, our name. Due to overwhelming requests, on 1 January 2004 the Any Soldier® effort was expanded to include any member of the Armed Forces in harm’s way.”

Finally, promise yourself that this year you’ll give yourself and those around you the greatest gift of all—room to change.

Embrace change yourself and encourage it in others.

Not all change is good, but all change is necessary. Even if you have to retrace your steps and change differently not changing is worse—it leads to stagnation, which leads to death.

Have a wonderful Fourth, I wish you much joy on this important holiday. But before you sign off to party, click over to Leadership Turn and watch a truly spectacular exhibit of grace and talent by the US Army.

Image credit: MykReeve on flickr globetraveler2 on flickr

Learn the secret of life

Image credit: dizznbonn on flickr

See all mY generation posts here.