You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2011.
The upcoming Labor Day holiday signals the end of summer. While some may try to hang on until the official end of summer on September 23rd, for many of us this weekend represents a shift in seasons. Days are shortening, nights are cooler, vacation is over, kids are back in school – everything is changing!
And as if this seemingly abrupt end of summer isn’t enough to remind us about the inevitable passage of time; a friend passed along this graphic representation of how Crayola crayons has changed in the past 100+ years. The “crayon-bow” is artist and scientist Stephen Von Worley’s visual chronology of Crayola’s standard box, from its humble eight color beginnings in 1903 to the present day’s 120-count lineup. You may view the interactive version here: http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/color/crayola-crayon-chart-bow/.
Suddenly, the 64-colors from my childhood (yeah, we only had 64) took on a new importance. Not only had a significant number of colors been added, others had been RETIRED. Lemon yellow, green blue, raw umber… gone. Even Indian Red was renamed Chestnut in 1999 in response to educators who felt some children wrongly perceived the crayon color was intended to represent the skin color of Native Americans. Then there are the newest colors: inch worm, jazzberry jam, mango tango and wild blue yonder.
Not only had the colors become more plentiful, they’d become more diverse, more specialized, more complicated. How’s that for a metaphor! So this weekend as you appreciate the remaining blossoms on your Razzle Dazzle Rose or notice the evening sky changing from Sunset Orange to Purple Mountain’s Majesty; remember that everything changes – and while there is comfort in the familiar (Crayola’s original 8 colors are still there afterall), change offers an opportunity for growth (even if it is one crayon at a time).
Have a great holiday weekend!
Last week’s resignation of Apple Inc. Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs has inspired thousands of news stories and blog posts and commentary. For me, these 7 innovation secrets from this guru of innovation sum it up nicely:
- Do what you love
- Put a dent in the universe – have a big vision
- Kick-start your brain–use creativity and have lots of different experiences
- Sell dreams not products – understand what people want to accomplish
- Say no to 1000 things
- Create insanely great experiences
- Master the message
“Keep Calm and Carry On” was a poster produced by the British government in 1939 at the beginning of World War II, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. It seems the entire world could benefit from this advice today.
If you look at recent headlines – from debt limit debates to S&P downgrades to financial market meltdowns, what is the one emotion that seems to drive all actions? FEAR! As Terry Savage wrote in this morning’s Chicago Sun Times: “Nothing engenders fear like a stock market crash. And fear causes economies to slow to a crawl.” Investors small and large, world governments, political parties; all ruled by fear.
But how do you overcome fear? Psychologists remind us that fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger – if we couldn’t feel it, we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate threats. They also remind us of the importance of balancing this powerful emotion. So, here are a few tips:
- Learn about the thing you fear. Uncertainty is a huge component of fear: Developing an understanding of what you’re afraid of goes a long way toward erasing that fear.
- Talk about it. Sharing your fear out loud with a trusted professional, friend or family member can help put it in perspective.
- Live and take action in the present. The things we fear often reside in the future – and are outside of our control. You can only control your actions in the present – what you think, what you chose, what you do - not the outcomes.
Six years before the “Keep Calm” poster was produced, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used his first inaugural address to assure the American people who were trying to survive the Great Depression: This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
Speak the truth. Face realities. Act. I hope these lessons from the 1930s will echo in the halls of Congress and the trading floors of Wall Street in the days ahead.
