TED - Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom

Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom

The lecture on our loss of wisdom by Barry Schwartz helped open my eyes on the values we should be passing on to the next generation. The American culture has many recent examples of deteriorating virtues. And Barry illustrates the problems that is becoming pervasive in our society. Barry begins by defining what makes a wise person. He cites Aristotle, who believed that practical wisdom comes from moral will and moral skill. A wise person knows how to improvise, adjust, and deviate from rules when the situation is appropriate and proper. However, wisdom is neither inherent nor born, but cultivated through experience and learned from our mentors.

Barry states that rules and incentives are restricting and hindering the development of wisdom. Although rules are necessary to govern people, the problem lies in too many rules that restrains and constricts creativity and common sense. Similar to a previous post, he also believes incentives is a great tool used to motivate people to accomplish a task. However, it could motivate people with the short term goals in mind, which can leave devastation in the long term. Incentive systems will always be susceptible to be subverted by bad will. So, a balance must be struck between the quantity and scope of rules and incentives. Too much or too little can be a bad thing. But ultimately its up to people who are willing and capable to be wise that everyone else can count on and respect.

Heroes of great moral character are needed to inspire. They need to be celebrated for their paramount integrity and morality. Practical wisdom should be rewarded and respected. One of the foundations of wisdom is good will. If you have a strong sense of good will towards others, wisdom will follow.

Many of my heroes are here.

TED - How great leaders inspire action

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

A TED talk on how great leaders inspire people to act. Simon Sinek, a marketing consultant, articulates that there are specific qualities of people that make effective leaders and passionate followers. Regarding leaders, he includes both leaders of industry such as Apple and individuals such as the Wright brothers and Martin Luther King Jr. He breaks it down to the What, How, and Why. The Why is the key factor because it allows people to relate to the purpose, while the What and How provides the mechanism that fulfils what we want or need. Most marketing tactics market what a product does. But according to Simon, the Why is what creates followers and the reason we decide to adopt an idea or product. He attributes these decisions down to the primitive parts of the brain, while the more advanced parts of the brain processes the How and What.

People make decisions at different levels. Simon presents the idea of the law of diffusion of innovation to demonstrate where people sit on the scale. Early adopters are those who just get it and are eager to adopt the idea or product. Some people look to the early adopters, and some just don't ever get it. Ultimately, we follow those who lead, because we do it willingly for ourselves.

The most interesting parts of the lecture were the parts regarding the biology behind the reason we make certain decisions and the parts regarding the law of diffusion of innovation. Overall, the lecture was enlightening and curiously relevant. I am keenly interested to see the developments between the ever innovative Apple and the self proclaimed altruistic company Google after watching this TED Talk. Why do the two companies do what they do shall unfold as they're fiercely competing against each other.