Tag Archives: health

The Existential Necessity of Midlife Change

The Existential Necessity of Midlife Change

Easily bored?

Easily bored?

Pain Gets Largest Share of Attention

Pain Gets Largest Share of Attention

The Problem With Speed-Reading

Do you tend to scan or speed-read through material to figure out what it’s all about? Go straight to the Executive Summary, then stop? You might be saving time, but you may be missing out on some of the most interesting content.

In the 2001 DNA-sequencing race between the the government and Craig Venter’s Celera Genomics, victory was declared when only one half of the genome was sequenced (a haploid). In other words, they only sequenced what was inherited in one half, not the other.

Now the J. Craig Venter Institute has decoded the other half of Venter’s DNA and discovered that 44% of known genes displayed variations (between the versions inheritied from each parent). Additionally, after the sequencing of the first genome (actually a composite from 5 individuals) scientists had estimated that about 99.9% of all human genomes are identical. Looking at the other half, however, yielded a 46% increase in these locations from 2.8 to 4.1 million, lowering the 99% identical estimate down to the 98% to 99% range.

Life Affects Performance, Even for CEOs

My father would say, “I didn’t need a study to tell me that.” CEOs are human like the rest of us. Their performance suffers

  • about 21% for the two years following the death of a child
  • about 25% for the three years following the purchase of a mansion or an estate
  • a less predictable but definite decline in the afterglow of Superstar recognition from major awards or publications
  • from higher risk-taking and wild swingsin profitably for those who are narcissistic

As the WSJ’s(subscription may be required) Mark Maremont notes in his blog, the devastation of losing a child does not usually result in a rededication to doing our best at work. These studies remind us of our humanity, and help us to put our arms around how much impact it really has. My father was right; we did know that. What we didn’t know was how much it mattered.  

The thought from branes: Organizations ARE the people that are in them. Refusing to isolate the human from the task not only makes the workplace a more respectful place to be, it makes it a more successful place to be.